Over the past twenty months, I’ve been meeting with entrepreneurs throughout the Bay Area, trying to get a handle on the fast-moving technology boom that is sweeping through our communities.

In the process, I’ve profiled hundreds of startups and the people behind them.

Now, thanks to a partnership between 7x7 and Hyperink, we are issuing our first ebook, 30 Startups to Know Now, based on that work.

We’ve selected a representative sample of companies across multiple sectors to include in the book, grouped broadly under three headings: Community & Utility, Consumer Services, and E-Publishing & Content Management.

For several years now, it’s been clear that a revolution is transforming the publishing business. The old ways of producing print products -- newspapers, magazines, and books -- are being supplanted with digital processes and products that are much cheaper, faster, and easier to distribute.

Blogs, websites, mobile apps, and ebooks all encourage interactivity, sharing, comments, and updates. In this way, a blog post or an ebook is never really finished, but always able to be improved upon.

With our ebook, I’m excited to be able to share some of the best stories I’ve discovered to date with a broader audience, and I’m hoping to hear from readers of this blog what you think about it.

Since it is a “first,” this is also an experiment, not just for me, but for Hyperink and 7x7 as well. None of us know whether this format will prove to be popular or useful, but we hope it will be.

So please check out 30 Startups to Know Now, and tell us your reactions.

What would you like to see in future ebooks we might produce? And, what other Bay Area companies do you think we should look into that are part of the incredible boom in creativity that is sweeping the planet?