It’s always nice to see people who have had a successful exit from their business do good things for the community. I covered the story recently of the sale of Kiwi LMS provider Litmos to Callidus. I’ve always been really impressed by Litmos founders Nicole Fougere and Rich Chetwynd – both for the fact that they’ve bootstrapped a very successful business, and done so without over-hyping it – but more so for the simple fact that they’re both great people who have always been open and happy to share.

That seems to have continued post-exit, for today the pair are announcing Booster Seat 2011, a program whereby a Kiwi startup can spend a month in San Francisco, gratis. The package that Nicole and Rich are giving away includes;

  • Return flights for 2 people to San Francisco
  • Accommodation in San Francisco for 30 days
  • Up to 2 desks at the new kiwi working space “The Landing Pad” to work from

There’s no strings attached, companies need only contact the pair and explain why the trip would be useful to them. Nicole and Rich (with some help from IceHouse CEO Andy Hamilton) will judge who they deem to be most worthy and that’s it – the winner will be on the way to the Bay Area.

Spending as much time as I do in the US I get a real awareness of just how much difference US exposure can make to a business. On behalf of the Kiwi tech community I’d like to tip my hat in the direction of Nicole and Rich for setting up this initiative. You guys rock!

Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

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