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About Frank Gruber


Frank Gruber is an entrepreneur and new media journalist focused on sharing his Web product expertise and analysis on Web 2.0, social media and emerging technologies in articles and videos online. His works have been featured in TechCrunch, iMediaConnection, ReadWriteWeb Network and on his popular personal tech blog, Somewhat Frank, which he kept religiously from June 2005 till December 2009 when he redirected energies towards building the Tech Cocktail digital media business, which he co-founded in 2006.

Frank has been dubbed by the Washingtpost Post and LATimes as a “digital nomad” for his on the go work anywhere and everywhere lifestyle. Frank has been listed as a blogger every Isreali startup should know by the Isreali publication, The Marker. Frank was named one of 100 DC Tech Titans by Washingtonian Magazine in May 2009 and May 2011. Frank is also one of Forbes Top 20 Most Media Connected in Tech.

Frank co-founded Tech Cocktail in Chicago (Frank’s hometown – Go Cubs!) in 2006 to help better connect and amplify the local technology signal and have some fun doing it. Since 2006, Tech Cocktail has grown to become a media company offering technology news, events and community-powered projects open to technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs & professionals interested in the latest technology innovations.

Frank has experience bootstrapping on a variety of start-up endeavors. Frank is a co-founder of Shiny Heart Ventures, a technology start-up focused on building community driven products that remind people of the joys of life. Shiny Heart Ventures first product, Thankfulfor.com is an online gratitude journaling community that has been praised by CNN, TechCrunch and CBS News among others. Shiny Heart Ventures is also co-producer of Digital Capital Week (@DCWEEK), a 10 day festival in Washington DC focused on technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation’s capital.

Frank was formerly a product strategist and evangelist for the Aol social networking group, which included such products as AIM, SocialThing, Goowy, Bebo and ICQ with a focus on communications and lifestreaming products. Frank was instrumental in connecting Aol with a number of industry experts, media and start-ups (some of which were acquired by Aol). Frank’s previous team was also responsible for the launch of the widget driven myAOL personalized homepage/startpage product in 2007. Frank departed Aol right before the Aol spinoff January 1, 2010 (as covered by TechCrunch).

Frank currently lives in Washington, D.C. but travels a lot as he circles the globe speaking, hosting events and helping entrepreneurs, startups and technology communities amplify their local technology signal.

You can find Frank on: Google.

 

Recent Post by this Author


June Offers The Psychological Guide To Starting Up At Tech Cocktail

Somewhat Frank Thoughts - The Psych Guide

Starting and running a business is much like a crazy game of poker, with high stakes. It takes a strong mind to endure the ups and downs. You need to have motivation and passion to see the course to success – and even with that, sometimes things don’t work out the way you planned. It can…

Announcing Tech Cocktail Celebrate: Our National Startup Competition & Conference in Las Vegas – October 23-25, 2013

Tech Cocktail Celebrate 2013

I’m very excited to announce our newest event, Tech Cocktail Celebrate. We’ll be holding a startup competition and conference here in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 23rd-25th. We’ve been holding regional startup showcases across the country, from Boise to Boston, Dallas to DC, uncovering the hottest startups in more than 25 cities. The winners…

Startup America Winds Down. Rolled Into UP Global With Startup Weekend

UP Global

After two and half years of helping to foster entrepreneurship, the Startup America Partnership has announced they will be rolled into Startup Weekend, which is backed by the Kauffman Foundation. The two brands will live under the new brand, Up Global which according to their announcement is backed by the Kauffman Foundation, the Case Foundation,…

Yahoo! Acquisition Of Tumblr Gets Them Fresh Street Cred

marissa's yahoo tumblr announcement

Today as we reported earlier, Yahoo! agreed to acquire New York based microblogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion. The bold move by Yahoo!’s CEO Marissa Mayer, which she announced on her Tumblr with an animated gif, has been the subject of analysis from just about everyone. For some, the billion dollar price-tag generated serious sticker-shock,…

Tech Cocktail Receives $2.5M Investment from Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project

tech cocktail downtown project announcement

Today, we’re excited to announce that Tech Cocktail has taken a $2.5M investment from Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project (Hsieh is also the CEO of Zappos.com). Over the next year, Tech Cocktail will focus on deepening the coverage, exposure, and resources we currently provide to new startups and startup regions all across the United States and…

May is Healthy Entrepreneur Month at Tech Cocktail presented by Coromega

Somewhat Frank Gruber Thoughts - May 2013

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It can often times be tough on your physical and mental health as you skimp on sleep, skip food, and rack up stress points, which can lead to illness and downtime. While a little stress is normal in everyday life, chronic stress can turn to distress and that’s when…

Jermaine Dupri Shares Thoughts On Music, Technology & Ghetto Metrics [Video]

Jermaine Dupri speaks at Tech Cocktail Week

Back in 1992, Jermaine Dupri (or JD to many) brought Kris Kross to the nation’s attention by producing the hit song that made us Jump. He went on to have his own successful rapping career, which included throwing rhymes with Jay-Z, Lil’ Kim, and more as the youngest producer with a number one record. He…

Allen Stern, Early Tech Blogger and Entrepreneur Passes Away

Allen Stern

Today I got the sad news that tech blogger, entrepreneur and health and fitness blogger Allen Stern had passed away.  The cause of death has yet to be disclosed. This came as a shock to me as Allen had spent the last two years devoted to changing his lifestyle and improving his health. It was…

Facebook Home: To Put Your Friends First In Your Mobile Experience

Facebook Home

Today Facebook announced Facebook Home “a new way to turn your Android phone into a great, living, social phone.” Facebook is calling Home the next version of Facebook. What does that mean exactly? “Today our phones are designed around apps and not people. We want to flip that around,” Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained….

Downtown Project Startup Buys 100 Teslas, Aims To Replace Your Car

Project 100

Buying and maintaining a car is something many of us have been accustomed to since our sweet sixteenth birthday. But there has been a trend to go car-less and with this trend, new services like Zipcar, Uber, Lift, Sidecar and more have launched to provide options when you have no wheels. Today, the Downtown Project,…

Justin Thorp Joins The Tech Cocktail Team To Continue Community Development

Welcome to Tech Cocktail Justin Thorp!

Today, we are excited to announce that Justin Thorp is our newest addition to the Tech Cocktail team by way of Washington, D.C. We’re so happy to have Justin on board given his deep experience as community organizer of the DC Tech Meetup as well as former community developer for AddThis and most recently with…

VegasTechFund Startup Romotive Moving To SF To Continue Robotic Success

Romotive

Building robots from the Ogden luxury apartment building in downtown Las Vegas, Romotive has been a poster child for the VegasTech movement and one of the first VegasTechFund-funded companies. Today, they announced they will be moving their company from Las Vegas to San Francisco. Obviously, there are a couple of ways you can look at this…

Hearst Ventures Backs Science Studio With $30 Million Fund

Funding News

Hearst Corporation’s venture arm, Hearst Ventures, is making a minority equity investment in Science Inc, the Santa Monica, California tech startup creation studio. According to All Things D the deal is close to $30 million for a stake above 20 percent. “Hearst is continually looking for smart investments that bring value and intelligence to the company…

The Internship Movie: Spotlights Google’s Campus and Culture On Big Screen

The Internship Movie

This summer, aside from the opportunity to intern for companies and startups around the country (like this opportunity with Tech Cocktail), you can watch a Google internship play out on the big screen. The Internship features Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as ex-salesmen who defy the odds by talking their way into an internship at Google. Watch The Internship movie…

Kevin Willer Departs CEC and 1871 for Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund

Tech News

The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), the non-profit organization committed to supporting, promoting and growing the startup community in Chicago, today announced that CEO Kevin Willer will be transitioning from his role as CEO to become a partner in local seed stage venture fund, Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund (i2A). Kevin had this to say: “I’m proud of what the…

Building Culture through Inputs and Outputs with Matt Dorey of Factory Zero

TCWeek Sessions Matt Dorey - Factory Zero

With his first interests being tae kwon do and computer programming, Matt Dorey shifted his focus and worked on his parents’ business at the age of  fifteen. In doing so, he realized he wanted to be successful. This realization changed his focus from tae kwon do and computer programming to being a success – which, in…

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