I am writing this from the exhibition pavillion at DEMO Fall 2007, which is a conference for the technology industry where new tech startups are showcased. PeopleJam was selected to debut at this event, one of 70 companies selected from a pool of more than 1000. This is quite a distinction. We were really excited by the prospect of showcasing this new online community here in front of a crowd of over 1000 technology investors, innovators, journalists and pundits.

DEMO is a unique event because each company has a chance to present their technology in front of the entire group of attendees. Six minutes to tell your story to a pretty tough room.

It's exciting and thrilling but also somewhat nerve-wracking to demonstrate new technology in front of an audience. No matter how much effort you've put into preparation and testing, there is always a terrible gnawing feeling that something might go wrong.

I'm happy to report that everything worked flawlessly. The complex technology that makes PeopleJam work ran beautifully. Pages loaded smoothly. Our videos played without a glitch. The community content made a big impression on the attendees. And my business partner Matt Edelman did a spectacular job of explaining how the whole site works in plain English.

It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of a tough crowd and speak calmly and clearly, with passion and purpose, about a project that you've devoted the better part of a year towards launching.

I'm proud of Matt. And I am deeply endebted to the amazing team of developers, designers, editors, community coordinators and the rest of our team who have made this possible. Our webmaster, Jennifer, and our head of operations, Bruce, have not gotten much sleep during the past few weeks. They have done a terrific job. Thank you all very much for the tireless effort.

Moreover, I am really amazed and impressed by the terrific posts from our community. People are writing really heartfelt commentary and useful advice. Most impressive to me are the many encouraging words of support that our membership have offered when a member has posted a goal.

Keep it up, folks. I love it. I am grateful to every person who has contributed content and commentary at PeopleJam.