Boston Archives - Page 5 of 6

Boston Startup Postwire: Share Private Content In A Highly Visual Way VIDEO INTERVIEW

If you’re a sales person with a few binders worth of clients, a rolodex filled with other clients and vendors and you spend way too much time at a fax machine, Postwire may be for your. Postwire is a new startup application launched by Boston based VisibleGains. The concept behind Postwire is actually very easy, the execution is why it was one of the finalists in this years Disrupt Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012.

Postwire allows business users to set up private, personalized web pages for clients so that forms, orders, and other paper based correspondence can be shared quicker and in a much easier to view way.

Now instead of spending all day at a fax machine, sales people, vendors and other business to business companies can post things to a private post wire page to correspond one to one.

“We developed Postwire with the goal of creating a super simple approach for helping professionals and clients get on the same page — literally,” said Cliff Pollan, co-founder and CEO at VisibleGains. “Sharing just the right information goes a long way toward helping your clients succeed. Now, everyone from small business owners to sales and account teams to physical therapists can easily offer each client a personalized resource page to reference at any time.”

We got to talk with Pollan at TechCrunch disrupt who took us on a little tour of Postwire and plans on taking us on a little tour of the startup scene in Massachusetts as part of our sneaker-strapped nationwide startup road trip.

Check out the video below:

Massachusetts Startup: iCache Releases Digital Wallet For iPhone

So far the only true NFC product available to smartphone users is Google Wallet. ISIS, the collaborative effort by AT&T, Verizon Wirless and T-Mobile is slated for a launch sometime this summer. However, Friday, iCache, a Massachusetts based mobile payment startup has released their GeoCard and iCache Geode Wallet.

This $200 accessory is part iPhone case, part card reader, part biometric security system and a whole lot of mobile wallet.

By now we have all realized that bar code scanning on a mobile phone is hit or miss, and anyone who has tried NFC has probably experienced that blank stare from the cashier like you just did the latest human chopping trick from David Copperfield’s arsenal before their very eyes.

Whether Google wants to admit it or not, we are still way ahead of the NFC curve and even further ahead of the NFC revolution.

In the meantime the folks at iCache have figured out safety, security and convenience with the Geode Wallet and GeoCard. The wallet supports all barcode based loyalty and reward cards and all magnetic stripe based credit cards.

For credit cards you simply use the enclosed credit card reader to extract your information to your phone. Then, when you want to use any of your credit cards, you select which one you want to use and it loads that cards info onto your Geode Card which is a rewritable magnetic stripe card. You have one card now, that’s safely and easily stored in the phone case that rewrites your info super quickly and securely onto your Geode Card.

What about safety and security?

The only way you can access the Geode Card on your wallet app is after use inning on using your finger print. Yes, iCache has included a biometric finger print reader. Only after your fingerprint is deleted can you access the wallet and the ability to rite write onto the rewritable card.

As for loyalty cards, they are just as easy. Simply take a picture of every barcode reward and loyalty card you’ve got and it captures the card information. Add a few notes if you would like and you’re ready to roll.

iCache already knows that barcodes are hit or miss on a smartphone or even iPhone screen with retina display, that’s why they’ve included an e-ink display on the back of the case which makes the barcodes as easy to read as on the cards themselves.

Now I know you’re thinking that $199 is a lot for any accessory but now that you really can leave the wallet at home, and it’s super secure, it’s worth every penny. iCache leaves no stone unturned.

Just don’t lose your phone.

Check it out for yourself at iCache.com

Interview With Boston Startup Jaxx, A Social App For Dudes

Jaxx is a mobile social application just for guys they call it “an app for your entourage”. Jaxx stands by the fact that women and men communicate differently. Where women need face to face interaction men prefer shoulder to shoulder.

That’s why the Jaxx app has three key elements. Jaxx allows men to form entourages of friends. Within the entourage they can “throw down” bets on games, “call out” friends to challenges and “roast” each other.

The roasting part was actually pretty funny. It’s a location portion of the social mobile app which allows you to leave a smack talking roast when your “bro” gets close to that area. For instance if you know your bro is going to play tennis you can leave a roast like “Man you hit like a girl” and when he gets to the tennis court he’ll get that message.

Jaxx launched a beta at TechCrunch Disrupt for iPhone and they plan on launching an Android app as well. They were handing out an investor prospectus at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 which said they were expecting major growth in 2013 an d2014 and they were seeking a $500,000 seed round.

At this point in time Jaxx is more of a novelty than anything serious. There are several social networks revolving around sports that men may find a lot more appealing, and a bit more mature. Judge for yourself though, check out the video below:

Linkage:

Check out Jaxxapp here at their website

See more of our TechCrunch Disrupt coverage here

We’re on a sneaker-strapped, nationwide startup roadtrip, more here

5 Trending Angel List (Angel.co) Startups From Everywhere Else

Chances are if you read nibletz.com regularly, you are a startup, accelerator,incubator or angel from “everywhere else” just like us. So I’m sure you’ve probably noticed in your daily check to angel.co that all of the trending startups are almost always from Silicon Valley.

We’ve decided to highlight some of the trending startups from “everywhere else” that can be found on angel.co. So here’s our first list of five.

NetPlenish (Los Angeles)

NetPlenish is an innovative way to keep track of the things you regularly buy from the store, albeit razors, gatorade, coffee, socks, diapers etc. It hold all that information in a list for you in the cloud. NetPlenish then finds the best prices for everything on your list. This could be at K-Mart, WalMart, Target, Wahlgreen’s or which ever NetPlenish merchant partner has the best price.

Then, once a week you’re notified by NetPlenish either with a push notification or email, that they’ve done the research and found the best prices for the items you need. They get each item at the vendor with the best price and then voila in a few days your items are at your doorstep.

Talk about the king of convenience.

Find out more about NetPlenish here.

FormLabs, Boston

FormLabs in Boston is hoping to make 3D printers actually attainable. Right now companies like Makerbot and others have 3D printers that they can sell to you but they are often thousands of dollars.

The FormLabs 3D printer is going to be low-cost and print in 3D right out of the box.

Co-Founders Maxim Lobovsky and David Cranor are hiring right now and we’re hoping for a roll out soon because I want to start making action figures in my basement.

Find out more about Formlabs here

Mile High Organics, Boulder

We all know that Boulder has a thriving tech scene. In fact TechStars is based there and it’s like a little metropolis of all the next best ideas.

Mile High was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch section as the Nation’s First USDA -Certified Organic Online Grocer.

Mile High Organics is America’s First Certified Organic Online Grocer. Members order online and receive convenient, scheduled home or office delivery of local, organic, non-GMO (non-genetically modified) produce, dairy, meat, seafood, groceries; health, home and beauty products. We have over 500 SKUs and growing.

Mile High is backed by Dave McClure and 500 startups.

If you’re into organic food, now you can order from Mile High, get your every day supplies from NetPlenish and never have to leave the house again, where we know you’re incubating that next big startup.

Mass Challenge Announces 125 Startups In Third Session

MassChallenge kicked off the week by announcing the 125 startups that have been chosen to participate in it’s third edition of their accelerator program/competition. MassChallenge is the largest accelerator competition on the east coast.

This years class of 125 startups includes 90 startups from the Boston area, with the other 35 coming from all over the country.

There are 46 tech startups, 25 social startups, 21 in bioscience and life science, 11 in clean tech and energy and 22 in miscellaneous categories.

Here is the complete list.

Energy & cleantech

Arbsource
Black Island Wind Turbines
Bootstrap Compost
Dynamo Micropower
HydroConfidence, Inc.
Invisergy
NBD Nanotechnologies
RainBank Inc.
Solar Tri-Gen
TireTech
Zagster

General

ARCBAZAR
Bio-Fiend
CrewTide
Cryoocyte
Fetch Storage
FX Aligned
GG’s Originals
HelmetHub Corporation
JGOOD
LiquiGlide
LittleBonsai, LLC
Memory on Hand
Ministry of Supply Inc.
Modalyst
Pegasus Performance
Roammeo
RouteSprout
Strong Arm Technologies, Inc.
Sweet Corn Tortilla Chips Inc
TableZest
Te Tama
Zoora

High tech

42stats
A.I.type Ltd.
Akselos
Appsembler
Atomic Tower, Inc.
Bottol
Bounce Imaging
Calcbench
Capital Market Exchange (CMX)
Citybot, Inc
CoachUp
Delightfully
Distinc.tt
docTrackr
Dpicd
Drones For Peace
FansFave
Fantasy Politics
HandyBook
iAgree
IntegralReach
Kahnoodle Inc
Kanopy
Kernel Corp. LLC
Klypper Inc.
Lifeables
Magru
MegaMIMO
Mindcrimp
MOVL
Nordic Technology Group (NTG)
Nsyrt Corporation
pymetrics
Recruiterbox
Schmooze Butler
Securigin Inc.
SocialMadeSimple
Stable Solutions
STUI
Texifter, LLC
Tomorrowish
ToolSense
TripReactor (formerly WaySavvy)
Veenome
Vsnap
Wanderu

Life sciences & health care

Akrivis Technologies
Automated Medical Instruments, Inc.
CardioWave
Cellanyx Diagnostics
eTransitions
Guided Surgery Solutions
Imagnus Biomedical
Ionu Biosystems
iSpecimen
Lab Automate Technologies Inc
Nanoly Biotech
Neumitra
Noor Pharmaceuticals
OnDeckBiotech
PhotOral, Inc.
Quantamerix
Sextant Therapeutics Inc
Ubiqi Health
Vaxess Technologies
WindGap Medical Inc.
Yosko

Social impact

ArtPulse
Chartus.org
Design Museum Boston
EcoValuePoints
Freight Farms
Global Research Innovation & Technology
Gradeable
IoVista
Lovin’ Spoonfuls Inc
LuminAID Lab
Market Publique
Native Brain
NBA Math Hoops
Persistence Plus
Prepmatic
Prime Student Loan Guarantor Corp.
Project Dots
RallyPoint Networks, Inc.
Recovers.org
RetiCue
SilviaTerra
Soundfest, Inc.
Spill
TinkerStories
Zimba

MassChallenge has been the catalyst for growth for lots of great startups. We recently interviewed Brass Monkey, a MassChallenge startup at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 last week. Good luck to all 125 startups from “everywhere else”.

Linkage:

Source: Boston Business Journal

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” check out these competition stories

We’re on a sneaker-strapped, startup road trip and could use your help getting on the bus

Boston Startup: KontrolTV Is Another Cuban Backed Startup Who Won Another Huge Contest

Daniel Gnecco and his father Juan Pablo Gnecco founders of MOVL/KontrolTV (photo bu.edu)

Just moments ago we wrote about Mark Cuban backed startup Kisstixx out of Utah who just won the United States Small Business Administration Video Contest. Kisstixx was able to convince Dallas Mavericks owner and venture capitalist Mark Cuban to shell out $200,000 of his own money on national tv, for the innovative lip balm startup.

KontrolTV was a little different. As our friends at Bostinno.com report. Daniel Gnecco, a senior at Boston University this past school year, convinced Cuban to invest in his family run startup MOVL. The younger Gnecco is a co-founder in the video startup with his father Juan Pablo Gnecco.

As the story goes, Daniel saw that Cuban would be speaking at an entrepreneurship event at Babson. Daniel was able to get into the event and then have some face time with Cuban after he finished speaking.

Cuban reportedly emailed Daniel later that day and immediately started negotiating a deal with MOVL. The talks were interrupted by the ending of the NBA walkout but once basketball resumed so did the discussions between Cuban and the Boston startup.

According to bostinno.com Cuban invested $500,000 into the startup that lets you link your television experience with your social activity via your mobile device. It’s a little more robust than GetGlue.

Boston Startup: DailyFeats, Achieve Your Goals For Health & Well Being INTERVIEW

Sure everyone sets a New Years resolution and typically within a few weeks (if not shorter) the resolution is all but thrown out the window. You’re intentions may be great but the drive, and motivation isn’t there. The same can hold true when you set a goal, like losing weight to fit into a swim suit or quitting smoking.

Well a very cool startup in Boston called DailyFeats is here to help you stay on track, and motivate yourself to achieve your goals and it’s working.

DailyFeats is a reward based habit tracker. It takes your big goals like, quitting smoking and helps reduce them into smaller, more achievable goals, like baby steps. Maybe you need to decrease your cigarette intake or, cut back on the bars you go to where you tend to smoke more. Perhaps you need to eliminate a small stress trigger that signals you to smoke a cigarette. If you can achieve these smaller goals, you can ultimately conquer your bigger goals.

DailyFeats offers a two-fold reward system. The user can request what they’d like to receive for achieving their goal or they can earn points which can be converted to actual dollars and then donated to charity, essentially paying it forward.

DailyFeats was co-founder by two brothers Veer Gidwaney and Vinay Gidwaney along with their science advisor Meghan Searl.

We got a chance to talk with DailyFeats about the startup and how they can help people achieve their goals for health and well being.

Check out the interview, after the break
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Boston Startup: Brass Monkey Is A Fun Interactive Mass Challenge Grad VIDEO INTERVIEW

We found an awesome startup out of Boston Massachusetts called Brass Monkey. In addition to having an uber cool name the technology is cool, innovative and fun, a definite recipe for great success.

Brass Monkey allows the user to play fun, interactive games on their computer’s monitor or any other monitor with a browser, using their iPhone as a controller. The iPhone controller utilizes all the sensors in the iPhone to create an interactive experience. In the demo video below we check out a golf game, similar to Wii Golf, that allows you to use the iPhones motion sensors to control the iPhone like a golf club.

There are currently 10 games available. Brass Monkey has a free SDK for developers who are interested in developing games on their system.

Brass Monkey is a recent graduate of the Mass Challenge program, which they credit as a large part of their success thus far. They also received a $750k round of funding in January of this year which included the co-founders of Kima Ventures, Jeremie Berrebi, David Beyer, CEO of Chart.io, Founder and Managing Director of Boston Seed Capital Nicole Stata, and more.

Check out the video below:

Boston Startup: About Last Night The Ultimate Night Life Social App

We love About Last Night for several reasons. First off the crazy Bostonian serial entrepreneurs who co-founded About Last Night are pretty awesome. About Last Night is one of several startups that are incubating in their own personal incubator. Brothers Darren Dodge and Derek Dodge have a bunch of their own startups “cooking in the microwave, we just open the door and check on them” says Darren.

But really, the great thing about About Last Night is the robustness of the platform. They left no stone unturned, but at the same time the UI is appealing and not too cluttered.

About Last Night is about sharing the good times you had last night. The About Last Night crew showed off good times spent Sunday night in Times Square, at Bubba Gumps and other fine establishments around New York.

The app allows you to follow people you don’t know (like Twitter), People you do know (like Facebook) and your favorite night spots and locations (like a reverse FourSquare), again it’s like leaving no stone unturned. It feels a bit like path, but it’s more about the jello shots you did at the Ale House, not waking up at 7:35 with a hangover and brushing your teeth.

They’ve been working on About Last Night for the last six months and they’ve come out with an easy and fun to use app. They’ve got plenty of time to work on even more startups, ya know with the Red Sox sucking and all…

Check out the video below:

Linkage:

Find out About Last Night here

More TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage here

We’re on a sneaker-strapped nationwide startup road trip, check it out here (and support us please)

Boston Startup: Wizgig, Crowdsourced & Expert Advice In 150 Characters Or Less

A new Boston area startup called Wizgig launched in March offering the wisdom of both experts and the crowd. The caveat, all of the wisdom comes in 150 characters or less. It’s like Twitter for wisdom with 10 more characters.

Wizgig co-founders Matt Murphy and Mark Boswell feel that by limiting the advice tips to 150 characters users will get right to the point, without the clutter. We’ve all been there, reading three and four page expert advice columns and finding that the meat and potatoes is no more than a few sentences.

The trick is going to see if the tips can be in intelligent, easy to understand language. We’re even guilty of shrinking some of our tweets down to hash tags, and internet lingo.

Here’s an example of a Wizgig tip, this one is on interviewing:

Prepare beforehand and research the company, the people, the culture, etc. Be prepared to match your skills and background to the company’s needs.

Here’s another on quitting smoking:

When you do your spring cleaning, make sure to get rid of all the ashtrays so they don’t remind you of smoking.

All of the topics are laid out in a nice looking design and easy to navigate. With 150 characters or less you can view many tips at the same time. This is what the teaching category looks like.

Although I tend to be modest about it, I often speak as a “twitter expert” at conventions and conferences. I think my use of Twitter since the very beginning is why I was so intrigued with Murphy’s pitch to nibletz. I got a chance to talk to Murphy about starting up Wizgig.

Check out the interview, after the break
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Boston Startup: CoachUp An Online Marketplace For Personal Coaches

A new startup has launched out of Cambridge Massachusetts this week called CoachUp. The premise is simple, in fact it’s surprising that no one had attempted this before. CoachUp connects personal coaches with athletes for any sport.

Co-Founders Jordan Fliegel has been a professional, personal basketball coach for the last five years. In an interview with nibletz.com he told us that before CoachUp personal coaches relied on Craigslist, word of mouth and ads in Ice Cream Shops. Some personal coaches have the advantage of being team coaches at the same time and can offer their services as a personal coach on the side. The same way some teachers tutor.

“For athletes (or the parents of young athletes), it is really hard to find a good private coach in their sport, in their area, at a price they can afford, at a time that works for them. After all, most private coaches don’t have websites. Even if you can find a coach through a referral, it is very hard to compare that coach with others, even harder to verify the accuracy of that coach’s reviews (if they have any), and impossible to know if there may have been a closer, cheaper or better matched option elsewhere.”

The market for personal coaches is more lucrative than some may think. Kids, especially teenagers and high school students often use their sport of choice as a vehicle to get scholarships and go onto higher education. They sometimes rely on the use of a personal coach or athletic trainer to refine their sport and better their skills.

Because a lot of their clientele are parents looking for a coach for their kid Fliegel and co-founder Arian Radmand take vetting coaches very seriously. Right now, while the service is launching in the Boston area, coaches go through a phone interview, and if parents want to run more extensive background checks CoachUp has an affiliate relationship with a background company.

More after the break
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Boston Startups: MassChallenge Downplays Voter Fraud

When you’re dealing with a gigantic pool of potential web based, software and technology startups, you know in the back of your mind that there are coders within the pool capable of “fixing the system”. While many hosts of startup competitions are hopeful that fraud won’t occur they still do their best to block it from happening. MassChallenge unfortunately wasn’t able to stop some voter fraud in the public vote.

In a blog post on May 3rd MassChallenge wrote:

Some MassChallenge 2012 entrants have contacted us regarding inappropriate use of the public voting function of the Startup Profiles. Throughout the application period some users have engaged in vote fraud and, just as the deadline was about to pass last night, several users used scripts to down-vote many of the other startup profiles. These folks seem to think that the best way to get ahead with their startup is to invent success by falsely boosting their public voting score.

MassChallenge used a public vote to narrow the pool of potential startups in the contest from 1200 to just 300. MassChallenge CEO John Hawthorne declined to comment to the Boston Herald this past monday on what he called an “inappropriate use of the public voting function.”

More after the break
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Boston Startup: Abroad101 Poised To Become The TripAdvisor For Studying Abroad

Here’s another great startup idea coming out of Boston Massachusetts, in fact it’s hard to believe that no one else has done anything like this. Abroad101 was actually founded in 2007. In 2010 they won $50,000 as part of the inaugural session of MassChallenge.

So what is Abroad101. The web based service is the brain child of childhood friends Mike Stone and Mark Lurie. They’ve developed a web tool that pulls data from participating colleges on programs to study abroad. There was obviously a need for students who study abroad to find the best programs that meet their educational needs. As Xconomy reports Stone and Lurie knew all too well the “archaic” process of sifting through folders and brochures to match study abroad programs.

Abroad101 allows users (students) to search their growing database of official school sanctioned programs for studying abroad. They can learn everything from course curriculum, to attractions in the city, safety information and find reviews from students who have been through the same program. If this sounds a lot like TripAdvisor for students studying abroad that’s no coincidence, as executives from TripAdvisor are part of Abroad101’s advisory board.

More after the break
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Massachusetts Startup: Have You Heard Wins “ReThink Music” Startup Competition

from left: Rethink Music Genesis Project startup competition winners Adam Gottesfeld and Joey Seiler, co-founders of Have You Heard?; (photo: hyperbot)

Two Harvard Law School students, Joey Seiler and Adam Gottesfield and the startup they’ve founded called “Have You Heard” have one a music startup competition sponsored by ReThink Music Berklee and Babson College. You may be wondering what studying and law have to do with this music based startup, well nothing, but it’s a great idea.

From my days in top 40 radio in medium and major markets the hardest thing for a music director in a radio station to do is actually listen to new music. On any given Tuesday (new music day) there are anywhere from 10-30 “priority” records that the record labels want to get airplay. In the 90’s there was a competition called the AIR competition (Active Industries Research) a company founded by Jonas Cash who founded the Billboard Airplay Monitor. Music directors and Program Directors at R&R reporting radio stations would compete every week to guess where a track would end up on the charts. At the end of the quarter prizes, including BMW’s and 30,000 in cash were awarded to those that got the most right.

More after the break
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