Kyle
We’re starting to see more and more great stories of one startup from “everywhere else” helping another startup from “everywhere else”. That’s the case here with the story of Arizon based Military Startup AlphaStripe.
AlphaStripe provides a multimedia platform for military veterans and participants in wars and conflict situations to record and share their stories. The Arizona startup is made up of several ASU entrepreneurs, two of which were previous founders of ASU Edison startup companies.
We’re fortunate at nibletz.com to have two former military people on staff. One of our co-founders and Editor at Large, Brent Fishman, was active duty military and said:
“As a former soldier in the United States Army, I can understand the need for something like AlphaStripe. When we come back from a deployment and settle into civilian life, AlphaStripe will help those who have been through it, cope by being able to share and relive those moments with other troops and our families”.
Our Florida based east coast editor Alex Smith, who served in combat on two tours to Iraq and one to Afghanistan, as a United States Marine, added:
” Peace of mind. When it comes to deployments, many of us hold on to the memories as long as we can and unfortunately PTSD keeps those negative memories playing on constant loop. To have a platform such as the one above, I feel that the user would benefit from not only sharing their life experiences with others that can relate, but also with the healing progress that many Armed service men and women that have undiagnosed cases of PTSD”
Smith, who was diagnosed with PTSD, often deals with it by talking about his experiences in the military as often as he can. He takes great pride, when we are at conventions and other events, to sync up with those mobile, wireless and technology companies that are either founded by former military people or who’s technology has aided the military.
More after the break
“We have talked to veterans in the US and in other countries, and there is a specific need to share stories and reconnect” said Peter Chinnici, Chief Veterans Officer for AlphaStripe. And Chinnici should know, having served two deployments for the US Marine Corp in Iraq.
The ‘telling stories’ core of the product will be underpinned with strong social and commercial elements that will allow people to connect and do business as the platform develops. The market is huge, with more than 92 million current military members (active + reserve) across 173 countries. Based on recent US Census figures, the number of military veterans in the United States in 2010 was 21.8 million.
AlphaStripe just won AppSumo’s Lean Startup Challenge. AppSumo is a daily deals app based in Austin Texas. They are also big advocates of Eric Ries “Lean Startup” method.
“We are honored to win the AppSumo competition and are excited to be launching AlphaStripe to the wider market very soon,” said Eli Chmouni, co-founder and CEO of AlphaStripe. “Based on our research, veterans want to share their stories of conflict but do not want to do it on public social channels, such as YouTube, where their serious and emotional video is posted next to videos of kittens.”
Linkage:
Are you military, sign up for AlphaStripe’s beta here
Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here’s more new stories from, everywhere else.
