Tag Archives: local event

Cruzio’s Open House Extravaganza 6.0: A Resounding Success

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Last Friday, thousands of excited people partied with us in our coworking and technology hub at this year’s Cruzio Open House Extravaganza 6.0. Community members sipped complimentary beverages, danced to fantastic tunes and enjoyed delicious food as they admired the wonderful work our Cruzioworks members do every day. Let’s take a quick tour:

Cruzio's own Ani Zickuhr's animated depictions of cats lined the walls.

Cruzio’s own Ani Zickuhr’s animated depictions of cats lined the walls.

Cruzio welcomed art enthusiasts, as visitors browsed pieces by local artists Doug Ross, Verna Knapp and Cruzio’s own Marketing Associate, Ani Zickuhr. Ani’s pride and joy, her adorably animated depictions of cats, lit up the entry wall, welcoming our guests into the party.

Through the door into our atrium, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing and our fantastic Cruzio volunteers were pouring up delicious free local brews and wine for all of our beloved community members.  Their India Pale Ale was particularly tasty, and very popular with everyone who had a sip.

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Community members gather to enjoy the sights, sounds and tastes of the OHE

From there, guests walked into the Cruzioworks main event space, where our works members showed off their passions, projects and professions. Visitors could hear from city council candidate Robert Singleton, get advice from co-active life coach Karen Gray, and learn about the potential future of a light rail in Santa Cruz county from Colin Young, Tom Padula and Autumn Cardone–all of whom are Cruzioworks members.

And of course, we were on hand to talk about fiber internet in Santa Cruz, and how all of us can take part in bringing the future of internet into their communities. (hint: the survey here is a good place to start!)

Lisa and Alana educate visitors on the benefits of fiber internet at the Cruzio booth

Lisa and Alana educate visitors on the benefits of fiber internet at the Cruzio booth

When hunger struck, guests could head out back. There, the Ate3One food truck, coordinated by local and wildly popular food truck company Food Trucks-a-Go-Go, was serving up delicious meals like Philly Cheesesteaks, Naughty Fries, and Garlic Shrimp tacos.

Brian is ready to enjoy a delicious Philly Cheesesteak at the Ate3One Food Truck.

Brian is ready to enjoy a delicious Philly Cheesesteak at the Ate3One Food Truck.

Throughout the evening, everyone in the building was enjoying the smooth sounds of the always fantastic bluegrass band Full Moon Rooster. And in the band was Cruzio Team Member, and Field Operations Lead (we all like to have a wide array of abilities here at the office!), Ariel Carter showing off her wonderful talent.

Full Moon Rooster played bluegrass tunes all night long

Full Moon Rooster played bluegrass tunes all night long

The event was a spectacularly fun evening. As everyone shuffled out the door, their laughs echoed through the halls. Another fantastic OHE gone by.

The Cruzio crew celebrates a successful night.

The Cruzio crew celebrates a successful night.

One last thing: we want to give a tremendous thank you to Alana, Brian, Ani, Andrew, Robert, Natalie and Shannon. They’re the Cruzio staffers who worked hard all night, and helped to make this event a reality. That’s the crew from left to right in the picture above.

Not pictured above is Andrew’s mom Lisa, who was instrumental in helping us with everything from cleanup to running booths. Thank you Lisa!

And a special shout-out to Andrew, who’s hard work and determination was integral in making this event happen. Without his blood, sweat and tears, the OHE wouldn’t have been half the event we all enjoyed.

Andrew makes his eloquent speech at the end of the night.

Andrew makes his eloquent speech at the end of the night.

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Cruzio staffers Colin, Alex, Dave and Ali take kick back and enjoy the night

Cruzio staffers Colin, Alex, Dave and Ali kick back and enjoy the night

Chris Guillebeau discusses ‘$100 Startup’ @ Cruzio

Chris Guillebeau presented his new book ‘The $100 Startup’ on Monday, January 21st with over 175 people in Cruzio’s coworking space, Cruzioworks. Chris discussed the focus of his new book briefly but a majority of his time was spent as “Q&AA” which stands for Questions andAttempted Answers. Chris took questions from everything regarding his thoughts on self-publishing versus using a publishing company to which country he had left to visit (hint: he has ONE left…Norway!)

More information about Chris Guillebeau and ‘The $100 Startup’ can be found at 100startup.com

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Cruzio’s Open House Extravaganza 2.0!

It’s BACK!

With over 1,400 attendees last year, we knew we had to throw another awesome party. We always love an excuse to celebrate, promote and support small business growth, entrepreneurs and telecommuters in our state-of-the-art downtown facility. You’ll be able to visit and talk with over 40 new businesses in one spot!The night will be a celebration for the entire Santa Cruz community. It’s also a chance for our coworkers to display their artwork as part of the First Friday Art Tour. Come meet the folks, see our space, enjoy yummy food from three food trucks, tasty drinks, free swag, local music and more.

See you down here.

Open House

Open Counter Press Conference

The City of Santa Cruz and Code for America, a national nonprofit that uses talented web professionals to improve government services, are proud to announce the public launch of OpenCounter,  an online small business permitting system.

Designed and developed throughout 2012, OpenCounter reduces the confusion of starting a business by creating an online experience that helps small business owners discover the City forms, fees and time needed to set up shop and apply for them online in a single web session.

The smallest City ever to utilize a Code for America development team, Santa Cruz’s collaboration also saw the development of an open data portal at data.cityofsantacruz.com , new City Hall Wayfinding and newly painted bike lockers downtown.
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Cruzio Launches “Launchies”

We work hard at Cruzioworks. Many small companies and individuals have their own goals but also help each other and find interesting ways to collaborate. We work all sorts of hours, use tremendous amounts of Internet and drink amazing amounts of caffeinated beverages.

And frequently, one of our coworking companies finishes a project. Elegant, useful, creative, marvelous: many products and projects have emerged from the Cruzioworks primordial soup.*

When you’ve met a deadline — finished a manuscript — put together an organization that’s ready to go — it’s a great feeling. A time for the whole community to celebrate.

So Cruzio invented the Launchies. That’s our answer to the Grammies, the Emmies, the Oscars. Every Cruzioworks coworker who launches a product, service or company just needs to let us know. They’ll be feted with champagne and treats, get publicity, and best of all receive the attractive “Launchie” award suitable for display.
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Think Local First at Cruzioworks

Wonderful party/showcase last week when hundreds of people came to celebrate local business at the Think Local First mixer at Cruzioworks in downtown Santa Cruz.
Buying locally puts a much higher percentage of your dollars back into your own community where it can be used to foster a safer, cleaner, better environment in which to live in and raise children.

By the way, Cruzio Internet is 100% local. Locally owned, all employees live and work in Santa Cruz County. We understand the benefit of buying from businesses in our own community and we do so whenever we can.
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Techraising — Portraits

People we saw at the Techraising.

Everyone was pretty energized, even after a couple of late nights. I’m not good with names so I won’t even try to attribute all the photos… just the first few.

First up are the awesome organizers.  (Lots more info about the techraising on TechRaising.com ).

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