After a long search, we’re happy to introduce Alain Wong as our new Community Caretaker. I’ve known Alain since he joined our friends at Standout Jobs two years ago, and he really made an impression on me, both through his warm and open personality, as well as his interest in social entrepreneurship and community-building. Alain embodies the Akohan spirit, having recently biked 3000km from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico to promote and raise funds for micro-credit.

When he’s not biking around the world or helping us spread the Akoha love, Alain teaches and competes as a professional swing dancer. Stealing a line from my friend Ben Yoskovitz, that’s just the type of person we like to have on our team, passionate and multi-talented.

• Alain Wong

  Community Caretaker

  Fresh off his previous adventures — working at his first startup and then riding his bike down the Pacific coast — Alain will do anything to put a smile on your face. Having studied business, law and the art of gifting, he works hard everyday to keep the the Akoha team focused on you, the player. More than anything, Alain is a good listener — so don’t be shy!

  In his spare time, you can find Alain cutting a rug to traditional jazz, teaching Lindy Hop, DJing, and blogging about the swing dance scene.

  

We’re still on the lookout for more great people who share our vision at Akoha. View our job openings here.

Ever wonder what the team is up to when we’re not building Akoha?  We’re solving The World’s Most Challenging Puzzle! Here is a photo of Anthony and Simon on Tie Friday holding the 36 Cube puzzle after they solved it. Just so we don’t spoil the fun we’ve greyed-out most of the towers. There are some smart cookies working here!

I’m very pleased to welcome some new Akohans to our team.

We’re constantly looking for great people who share our vision to help build Akoha. In the past couple of weeks, we had two great friends of the company make the jump to Team Akoha.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Erik Wright for a decade since he first joined my last startup in 1999. Since then, Erik has worked for a number of Canada’s leading startups, ran a team of developers at my previous company Radialpoint, started his own company, and worked throughout Canada and in Silicon Valley as a coder and engineering manager. We’re really happy to have him join Akoha as our Geek Ringleader.

• Erik Wright

  Geek Ringleader

  Erik joined his first Internet startup at the tender age of 15 and hasn’t looked back. Over the years, he has developed a passion for good software development matched only by his desperate need for an after-lunch espresso. Along the way, for reasons that remain obscure, he has earned the nickname “Doctor”. In his next life, Erik would like to wear the polka dot jersey.

  Find Erik on LinkedIn, via Twitter, or in the mountains.

  

We’re also pleased to welcome Mark Macleod as our Chief Money Guy. Mark is famously known around Canada as StartupCFO. Mark is a veteran of a number of startups, has been instrumental in building and growing venture-backed technology companies. Mark has deep understanding of web business models, startup metrics and business analytics. Since the first public preview of Akoha, which he wrote about the opportunities and challenges Akoha faces as a company, Mark has been one of the advisers I’ve turned to. Mark mentioned working with Akoha on his blog recently and we’re lucky to have him join us.

• Mark Macleod

  Chief Money Guy (CFO)

  Hailing from the Isles of Scotland, Mark’s frugal nature makes him genetically programmed to be a CFO. Since 1998, Mark has been leading finance for venture-backed technology startups. His previous adventures include Silanis Technology (AIM: SNS), Hexago, Terrascale Technologies (bought by Rackable Systems - NASDAQ: RACK) and Mobivox. Currently, he is CFO for Tungle and Akoha. He also advises several other web startups.

  When not chasing term sheets, closing deals or digging into operating stats, Mark likes to pop on his headphones and rock out. A former nightclub DJ (aren’t all CFOs?) Mark’s modeling prowess is enhanced by loud beats.

  Mark combines his dual passions of writing and startups on his StartupCFO blog. He also hosts a social network for tech CFOs and entrepreneurs. You can find him on Twitter.

  Mark is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from McGill. He has also perfected the art of staring coldly over his glasses when people ask to spend money.

  

You can meet the entire group of Akohans on the Akoha Team page.

We also have a number of team members who have left Akoha recently and joined our group of Akoha Alumni.

Sean Power, who worked with our community of Akoha players as Community Gardener, has a new book on Watching Websites being published by O’Reilly Publishing. With a growing career as an author and speaker, Sean is joining our illustrious group of alumni. We wish him success for his new book.

Todd Brown has been watching the Akoha piggy bank as our El Luchador Financiero. In addition to making sure our vendors and team get paid, he was kept busy counting our nickles and dimes, and putting them in nice spreadsheets. Todd is about to go traveling in East Asia where he’ll be spreading the Akoha spirit. He’s part of our advance team for opportunities on the beaches of Thailand. Enjoy your travels, Todd!

Also joining our alumni is Rosalie Zegarelli, who left Akoha late last year to focus on the most important Akoha mission she created: being a mother. Rosalie came by the office to introduce her new baby to us and got more karma points than Akoha currently can track

Fellow Akohans,

Akoha will have a chance to present at TED 2009.  This amazing opportunity will give us a chance and platform to spread the message of Akoha to others, in hopes of igniting their inspiration and motivations to spread kindness through play.

TED 2009 is a conference whose mission is to showcase the ideas of thought leaders to change the world.  Standing for Technology, Entertainment and Design, it brings together masters of these fields that enlighten the listeners with inspirational topics.  Previous speakers have included people like Richard Branson, Bono, Paul Simon, Jeff Bezos, Al Gore and many, many more.

Past TED Talks

There are many astounding TED talks that continue to inspire others to bring about world change.  For example, Bono’s call for action at TED resulted in one million people signing up for the ONE campaign whose goal is to eradicate poverty.  TED videos can be found on the TED Talks page.  Additionally, there is content on YouTube (search for TEDTalksDirector).

Inspiration and Action

By using the TED videos as inspiration, we want you to get you involved.  In the coming days leading up to TED 2009, Akoha will be announcing new missions, upcoming changes to the Akoha site and various ways that you can get involved with Akoha.  Stay tuned to this blog by subscribing to the Akoha RSS feed for more updates.

You can follow us on Twitter too:

• The Official Akoha Twitter Account
• Our CEO Austin Hill is on Twitter.  He talks about what it’s like to be a serial entrepreneur and to inspire world change.
• I’m the Akoha Community Manager, and you can find me (Sean Power on Twitter) as well.  I’ll make sure @akoha and @seanpower follows you back, though it might not happen right away.

Trying to figure out how to play your next Akoha card?  Check out this blog post that outlines a few tips on how to play Akoha.

Want to talk to us?  Find out different ways that you can reach us on our blog.

Tap
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.

At Akoha, we have been very, very, very busy. So busy, in fact, that Éric and I have no time to take care of the growing number of computers that we are using. We must, it appears, get some help.

Now, we’re looking for someone bright, energetic, and loving in their care of Ubuntu systems. We use a wide range of interesting technologies and you certainly will not be just a system administrator.

You’ll be a Unix Pipefitter!
(en français)