At last night’s meet-up I met a guy named Todd Sharp who created SlideSix.com, a presentation sharing system that supports PowerPoint/PowerPoint 2007, PDF, OpenOffice, and MOV files. It supports uploading and embedding of slides in any web page. It’s not much to look at right now, but I works correctly and it’s a testament to what one man with a dream can accomplish in this dirty, harsh world.
Todd built the service from the ground up and it works using a Flash-based interface with plenty of additional features including on-the-fly video and audio recording. The system also allows for the creation of a “branded” presentation experience where all of your presentations are presented as a cohesive whole. Yeah, I didn’t get that part either.
What’s really important is that Todd is basically creating this in a vacuum in Medina, Ohio and it just goes to show you that good programmers and ideas aren’t just coming from the confines of some programmer cage in the Valley. Good on ya, Todd.
Note: Please think before you troll. Todd is the very definition of a start-up: an enthusiastic business-owner who made something from scratch.
See all
Post
John - I can’t thank you enough for the post. Thanks again for coming last night. There are a ton of talented folks here in Ohio. It is excellent to see some coverage on TC!
Hi Todd,
I just wanted to say that it is great to see Flex apps like this coming from small companies who ‘get it’. I too run a small company in Sydney Australia and we’ve been developing a CMS in Flex for a few years now - we’re planning to launch the beta in a few months - so I know how hard it is to get something up and running when you’re just a small team (or single person).
How do you plan to monetize your product? Please don’t say advertising!
Holy Cow!!! Todd, this is badass!! Way to get out there my man.
This is a great service that I’ve seen grow and Todd’s improvements have been very well executed.
Its a great example of a Flex/ColdFusion application with some other cool stuff. Check out the cool credits page:
http://slidesix.com/credits
I have used the service for a few presentations now. Its been great thus far!
Todd, great app!
Time to take advantage of the TC feature and traffic my friend.
Hope your growth continues well.
-Will
P.S. John B. what’s up with the NYC meet-up
Wow, people are really making use of Flash.
There should be a web standard without backwards capabilities.
Way to go Todd!
This is great, but PresenterNet has been doing this for four years including interactivity, stand alone presentations and even moderator led presentations right on your own website. Why is this news?
STFU!!!!
Just to clarify, the presentation viewer and management console are built in Adobe Flex. So yeah, the end result is still a SWF, but Flex is much more powerful (and easy to use) then pure Flash IMHO.
The Flash player offers the same functionality for swfs created by Flash and Flex. But Flex has some pre made components and mxml to make development faster and easier. Still, I use the Flash IDE and AS3 to make RIA’s because it’s easier to make the UI look good. Anyway great job on your site and product… I know how hard some of this stuff is to do.
Todd,
Congratulations for making TechCrunch, making the CF world look good.
Great job Todd, and good on TC for going beyond the east/west coasts now and then. As someone originally from Detroit and now in Raleigh, NC, I can attest that there’s a lot of talent, knowhow, drive and innovation in “flyover” country. Would love to see more coverage like this from TC and other media!
Hey… I know Todd!
Yeah it’s a great site…. gotta love me some Flex goodness!
Is this unusual? I ask with sincere curiosity, not in a spirit of trolling at all.
I mean, aren’t there a lot of us building fairly complex web-based apps in our spare time, by ourselves, without partners or hired help or funding? I’m doing it — and I’ve just sort of assumed, all this time, that the world (and especially the TechCrunch readership) was full of others doing the same.
Isn’t that what the Elevator Pitch features are all about? More people passionately creating stuff than room to write about them?
(OK, my web app isn’t a business, at least not yet; it’s just a free resource for anyone who cares to use it. But the commitment of time and energy, and the feeling of “one man with a dream,” are probably similar.)
I’m asking the same question myself… I’ve spent the last 6 months learning Ruby on Rails, so I can build web apps… I really don’t see how it’s unusual that “one man with a dream” can build a great web app at all… It just takes work…
of course I admire and applaud Todd for doing that..
Charles, You are correct, I don’t think Todd’s story is unusual. The case here is that John was in Columbus visiting family and decided to have an informal meetup. He posted about it on CrunchGear: http://www.crunchgear.com/2008.....-columbus/
In the post, John asked people to bring marketing material. Which is exactly what Todd did. He drove 2 hours down to Columbus on the off chance that he’d be featured in TechCrunch. And he was, which I think is awesome.
So there you go. Todd saw an opportunity, took advantage of it, and was featured.
TechCrunch should do a little bit more of these informal gatherings in the not so usual places. I’m sure they’ll be able to find a gem or two out there.
“Note: Please think before you troll.”
Why is it necessary to say this? First of all, it’s a no-brainer. Everyone _should_ think before they reply anything. On the other hand, a lot of people don’t, and some never will. That’s still called ‘free speech’.
And there’s some real value in criticism, no matter how harsh. (well unless it’s “you suck, F* U loozr”).
To me that last request makes it look like the author befriended someone, and wants to protect them from criticism.
I don’t see such a comment at the end of an article about Yahoo e.g.
The “think before you troll” had the effect of setting my expectations very low. I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see the website - it looks highly professional, and exceeded my expectations.
Good to see more great stuff coming out of Ohio. Sorry I didn’t make it to Columbus, been working on my own little kick-a$$ application myself - can’t stop for drinks!
The site does look professional, but what is its point for existence? We already have slideshare, slideboom, myplick, authorstream, just to name a few. I don’t see any new features from this site that are better than the established ones.
Hey Congrats on making techcrunch! SildeSix has come a long way since the first time I saw it!
Great to see all the presentations that people have uploaded.