Cocktails with Courtney & Advaya

Taking advantage of one of the 32 Pedicabs in NYC, I hopped aboard one in the fresh Fall day en route to this month's Cocktails with Courtney. Sponsored by Advaya and held at The Gemini Lounge, we entertained well over 200 interesting, interactive sorts. Advaya is an outgrowth of Bigstar.com, utilizing the email campaigns they used internally and now as a service to outside clients. CEO David Friedensohn was looking exceptionally slick and trim in his fine brown light wool suit and salmon-colored tie. Joli Halper and the Advaya team were on hand to show off their product and to give away fun orange pens. We met many new attendees and saw many old familiar faces. Adeo Ressi (of Xceed) whispered that he has a new gig that he'll announce shortly and Vantage Point Venture Partners Jim Marver introduced me to his Stamford, CT-based partner William J. Marshall. Longtime supporters Grand Central Holdings' Greg Belmont, Constellation Ventures' Melissa Blau, James Taranto and Sun Microsystems' Steve Introcaso all came out to meet and greet others. Expression Engines' Hani Elnaggar and John Follis shared some complementary cocktails and Quidnunc's Alyssa Gelbard one the DVD raffle from Advaya. David Friedensohn donated his own bottle of Perrier Jouet Fleur for the raffle too, which an account exec from Ikano was the happy recipient of. My good friend James O'Connor (of Mercury Interactive) came showing the symbol of hospitality--with a Pineapple in his hand. Cooper, Brown & Behrle Erik Kvam came to the Morning Circle and our event tonight. Izumi Aizu knows what to do when in town--just arriving in JFK from Tokyo, he and a pal came right over to our soiree for a nightcap!