It’s Demo Day In Indiana At Velocity

Velocity Indiana, Startup, Startup Accelerator, Demo Day

Southern Indiana’s startup accelerator, Velocity, is graduating their summer session today (August 29). The accelerator, a stone’s throw from Louisville, Kentucky, has managed to attract top startups not just from the region but as far away as California.

Each of the five teams in the Velocity accelerator received $20,000 in seed money in exchange for a small amount of equity. They also received free workspace and access to mentors from across Kentucky, Indiana, and the region.

These are the five teams launching from Velocity:

 

collabra-300x120Collabra- Collabra allows musicians and fans to create, collaborate, and share music in a new and innovative way. Combining a novel song arrangement platform with an easy-to-use recording suite, Collabra enables musicians around the world to connect and create music while engaging fans in the creative process for the first time ever. Due to its low-barrier-to-entry approach, for musicians and fans, as well as a robust feature set, Collabra has the potential to change the music creation process forever.

large-insights-300x120Large Insights- Large is laser-focused on generating insights from data to increase client revenues, and we do that by establishing digital and social business goals, tracking activity and measuring success.

change-my-school-300x120Change My School- Change My School is a platform for students, teachers, and parents to upload and watch videos. It is available to users of all ages and provides a video contest platform. The winning videos each month receive $1,000 for items such as supplies, projects, or technology. It also provides students and teachers opportunities to incorporate creativity, video technology and project based learning into their classrooms.

steel-fashion-300x120Steel Fashion- Steel Fashion provides a free styling software service that allows men to style clothes they have, want, or are looking to purchase. They can discover and purchase new brands easily by identifying brands they already like. Confidence and creativity are easily harnessed when visiting Steel Fashion.

 

greek-pull-300x120Greek Pull- Greek Pull enables a Fraternity or Sorority chapter to reach their target markets in an efficient way. Those target markets are potential new members, their alumni and the Greek Community. Because of this, GreekPull differs from other social media solutions because GreekPull is focused on bringing those target markets to chapter houses. The network is exclusive to Greek Life and helps chapters with efficient marketing. We bring Fraternity and Sorority target markets to Greek Chapters so they can be easily contacted, creating an efficient communication tool.

 

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SLIC Games Is Another Great Louisville EduGames Startup

SLIC Games, Gadzookery, Louisville startups, Kentucky Startups, startups startup interview

When you think great educational game startups, the first place that comes to mind probably isn’t Kentucky. But here at Nibletz, we make sure you know about the great startups everywhere.

SLIC Games (pronounced slick), the creator of Gadzookery, is the second great Louisville startup focused on creating amazing educational games. The first we told you about was Kodable. We first reported on Kodable back in November. Now, thanks to that Louisville startup my six year old is learning how to code.

While Kodable focuses on teaching children to code through a fun interactive game, the folks at SLIC (also based in Louisville) believe that games are for everyone, even adults. That’s why Gadzookery is fun for all ages. In fact, SLIC games co-founder Simon Brooks prides himself on the fact that Gadzookery is teaching without the learner even knowing.

We got a chance to talk to Brooks about SLIC, Gadzookery and Louisville. Check out the interview below.

What is your startup called?

SLIC games LLC (pronounced Slick) is named after the original founder Simon, and his three pets Lexy, Izzy, and Chelsea. Lexy & Chelsea are two big old mutt dogs, and Izzy was his cat. Unfortunately Izzy died during the development of Gadzookery, but he lives on in our games in both our company logo and virtual currency.

What does your company do?

Primarily we’re a gaming company with the focus on making them both social and educational. There are five original scalable games we plan to develop over the coming 18 months, although we do have other ideas that are little bit outside the box of gaming while remaining scalable.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds

Simon Brooks hails from London, England. He’s lived in Louisville, KY for approaching ten years. His background is mostly sales & marketing, and small business ownership. He’s creative with ideas, be it for new products, or improving systems within an office environment such as marketing tactics, client retention, and other general office procedures. Currently he has nine original app ideas including Gadzookery that he wants developed.

Within the last few months Greg Gorman joined SLIC games LLC as tech lead. In his career, Greg has worked on projects ranging from the Artificial Heart program, to automated analysis of CAT scans for non-destructive evaluation of space shuttle engine blades.

Greg currently has aimed his focus on mobile app and mobile web development.

Greg evolved from the initial web developer at TechRepublic, to Director of Application Development, building the team that built the site. TechRepublic went from whiteboard concept to a website with 16 million page views per month in less than two years.

Greg grew up in Louisville, KY and received Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degrees in Engineering Math and Computer Science from the University of Louisville.

What problem do you solve?

Gadzookery is a very educational game aimed at all age groups, even adults. The problem with educational games is they’re either aimed solely at kids, or just plain old boring. Gadzookery educates without the user even realizing as it’s fun. It’s vocabulary building, and boosts creative writing skills.

Why now?

Simon started this project well over one year ago by himself. His dream was to get the game launched in a timely fashion and be the sole owner laying back on a beach somewhere exotic. All the work was outsourced. The problem was with designers and developers. They were either very slow, or in the developers’ case, crooked. We’ve gone through four different developers in getting the game launched. Simon has an absolute nightmare outsourcing story that he plans to share with would be non-techie tech entrepreneurs at some point. He’s learned a lot along the way, and realized in this industry often less is more. This is the reason a founding tech lead was brought in, to drive the business and make the right technical decisions.

What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?

After around 18 months trying to get launched, just getting the game launched feels like a massive milestone!

However along the way there have been some bright spots:

Last year due to delays and spiraling costs Gadzookery was listed on Appbackr (a crowdfunding for profit portal). It actually did very well there. Most companies struggle to raise $500 but Gadzookery raised a little over $10,000 It was going head to head with an app called ‘Old School’ which was officially licensed by Paramount Pictures. More of the appbackrs liked Gadzookery over Old School. That felt really good.

There was another small feel good moment. Simon’s biggest inspiration in the gaming business are the Bettner brothers who co-founded Words With Friends. Much to Simon’s delight at the time one of the brothers gave him a small endorsement. To most people that’s just a small moment, but to Simon, with all the stress of outsourcing he was going through that was a huge moment. Gadzookery is unofficially already also getting known as Sentences With Friends as that’s the style of game play so the connection is quite apparent.

What are your next milestones?

We do need to submit some upgrades to Gadzookery first, but after that the first milestone is 1 million downloads of Gadzookery Free. That’s just the start as future goals include a daily user base of 10 million plus, and having the game played in classrooms. Another goal is to have the game played on a national T.V show, such as  a satire talk show, where the host and guest play against each other using for the target word a topic that is currently trending.

Short time milestones or goals, include building a very strong in house team so that outsourcing is never even an option, and the full vision of SLIC games LLC materializes.

Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?

https://www.facebook.com/Gadzookery

https://twitter.com/Gadzookery

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Startups In The Fastlane: Velocity Startup Collabra Music

FastlaneVelocity

A number of statups in accelerators have attacked the music collaboration space. It seems artists and musicians everywhere are looking for the best way to hop online and collaborate with each other. Back in May we saw the demo day presentation from Memphis Seed Hachery startup Musistic, promising to be the Github for musicians.

Collabra Music, Louisville startup, Velocity Indiana, startup, fastlane

Collabra Music, a startup currently accelerating at Velocity in Indiana (outside of Louisville), is taking that idea a step further by adding friends, family, and fans into the mix. Collabra Music is about collaboration as much as it is about sharing, performing and discovery.

“We have a big vision for Collabra that connects amateur and independent musicians across the world, creating a collaborative space that inspires new innovation in musical creation and integrates listeners like never before. In developing Collabra and working with many musicians, we came across a common problem, especially for amateur musicians and music students. Many musicians felt that Collabra could help them overcome their struggles in learning, enhancing their experience, and engaging them with their musical practice in more rewarding ways,” co-founder Ryan Michaels told us in the Fastlane interview.

Check out the rest of their Startups In The Fastlane interview below.

collabrascreen2Where is your startup originally from?

Louisville, Kentucky

Tell us about your current team?

Our CEO Ron Karroll is a self-starting non-conformist with a penchant for coding that has been the driving force behind the development of our core product. Ron left his full time job with Humana to lead the charge for Collabra Music and help launch what he hopes will be the next evolution in musical creative collaboration.

Ron determination and drive is buffered by his cautious and calculating musical co-founder Ariel Caplan. Ari is an actuary and master of data and analytics. He and Ron developed the vision together, outlining a new methodology that speaks to today’s participatory listener audience. While Ron mans the software development Ari manages the financial and organizational development for Collabra Music.

As musicians they were both passionate about creating a product that bridged the physical gap between musicians as well as fans connecting to create and collaborate on musical projects online.

Ryan Michaels loves music, he simply loves to listen and he’s always learning guitar. Ryan is well-versed in lean methodologies, grassroots organizing and fundraising. He has diverse experience in customer service, education, and community outreach. He joined Collabra to help develop and execute our marketing strategy and solidify our core team and organizational structure. His energy is pretty much limitless.

What does your startup do?

Collabra Music is an online platform that allows members to connect to create music, collaborate on musical projects, and share their projects online with friends, family, and fans.

We have a big vision for Collabra that connects amateur and independent musicians across the world, creating a collaborative space that inspires new innovation in musical creation and integrates listeners like never before. In developing Collabra and working with many musicians, we came across a common problem, especially for amateur musicians and music students. Many musicians felt that Collabra could help them overcome their struggles in learning, enhancing their experience, and engaging them with their musical practice in more rewarding ways.

Collabra is a solid platform for creative collaboration and now we are releasing the alpha phase of our educational layer for instructors and students to connect and engage through the often painful process of learning an instrument. Collabra connects musicians together to help and hold one another up through the creative and experiential challenges they may face, keeping them committed to their passion for music.

What are your goals for the accelerator program?

Our goals for the accelerator have been somewhat informal as we truly didn’t know what to expect of this experience. We have spent significant time outlining our customer segments, engaging in discovery, validating hypotheses, and formatting our business model. In addition Velocity has been helpful in outlining a number of mistakes and failures we most likely would have made without a cautionary example in education. The knowledge, training, and experience this has provided our team is invaluable and we are incredibly grateful for the relationships we have built this summer.

What’s one thing you’ve learned in the accelerator?

The one thing lesson we learned the most frequently is to appreciate the values in our failures and to embrace our failures along the way for what we could learn from them and apply to future successes. The accelerator encourages you to act on the information you have and hope to succeed but prepare to fail, from every failure a lesson can be carried forward and applied to increase the chances of your next attempt at success.

We also learned to be honest and aware of our team’s strengths as a team as well as the strengths and weaknesses of our individual members. Embracing this awareness has allowed us to act to balance one another strengths and weaknesses.

What’s the hardest piece of advice you’ve had to stomach so far?

The most difficult advice has not been a specific fact or direction, but rather the fact that nearly every piece of advice we’ve received has in some way contradicted the advice of another mentor. What started as a carefree balancing act of pursuing a few courses of action has snowballed into a high speed cross-fire environment in which you are forced to take rapidly growing banks of conflicting advice and make determinations of action with a predetermined acceptance for failure and the satisfaction in knowing that at least in failing fast you do so at the least cost of time and resources.

What is your goal for the day after demo day?

After demo day we are finalizing our runway for the final months of 2013. Our draft plan has been consistently evolving over the course of this summer as we have worked through a number of growing periods of development and discovery. We have a reasonable runway but long term survival and success in securing revenue in our market will require an infusion of cash to adequately cover our overhead costs and operating expenses for 2014. We have been developing relationships with potential Angel investors and hope to have outlined soft pledges and follow up for equity terms and financing in the months following our demo day presentation.

Why did you choose this accelerator?

We are proud to be a part of Velocity Indiana’s inaugural class, we applied to a number of tech accelerator programs across the country but had our hearts set on Velocity because it kept us close to home, to our roots. The entrepreneurial community has been a blessing in resources and we are fortunate to have been able to establish so many close-knit relationships with the local business leadership here.

If you relocated for the accelerator are you staying in your new city?

Our two founders are from Louisville; our third core partner packed his bags to join us for Velocity all the way from Southern California and will be staying on with us here in Kentucky as we move forward from Velocity.

What’s one thing you learned about an accelerator that you didn’t know when you applied?

We didn’t realize how many opportunities were present to learn from and experience. To truly make use of all the resources of an accelerator program you need a committed team, willing and able to engage and participate reliably when and where they are needed. It can be difficult and there will likely be missed opportunities, but having the resources in time to follow-up and lead the people helping you build your project is essential in appreciating the value in an accelerator program.

The physical and financial resources are a blessing, but the pool of talent, knowledge and experience that is available to offer guidance and leadership in overcoming challenges and obstacles is incredible.

Where can people find out more?

Check out our product at www.collabramusic.com and follow us at any or all of our social networks. You can also sign up for our newsletter and following our blog.

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Meet The Five Startups In Indiana’s Velocity Accelerator

Velocity Indiana, Velocity accelerator, Jeffersonville Indiana, Kentucky startups, acceleratorWe already know that Indianapolis has a strong startup scene. Fort Wayne and Valparaiso are also bursting at the seams with new entrepreneurial activity. But, right across the river from Louisville, in Jeffersonville, Indiana, Velocity is about to graduate their first class of startups.

Each of the five teams in the Velocity accelerator received $20,000 in seed money in exchange for a small amount of equity. They also received free workspace and access to mentors from across Kentucky and Indiana.

We’ll be on hand to see these startups graduate from the program in front of a room full of investors later this summer. In the meantime here are the five teams that are accelerating at Velocity.

collabra-300x120Collabra- Collabra allows musicians and fans to create, collaborate, and share music in a new and innovative way. Combining a novel song arrangement platform with an easy-to-use recording suite, Collabra enables musicians around the world to connect and create music while engaging fans in the creative process for the first time ever. Due to its low-barrier-to-entry approach, for musicians and fans, as well as a robust feature set, Collabra has the potential to change the music creation process forever.

 

 

large-insights-300x120Large Insights- Large is laser-focused on generating insights from data to increase client revenues, and we do that by establishing digital and social business goals, tracking activity and measuring success.

 

 

change-my-school-300x120Change My School- Change My School is a platform for students, teachers and parents to upload and watch videos. It is available to users of all ages and provides a video contest platform. The winning videos each month receive $1,000 for items such as supplies, projects, or technology. It also provides students and teachers opportunities to incorporate creativity, video technology and project based learning into their classrooms.

 

steel-fashion-300x120Steel Fashion- Steel Fashion provides a free styling software service that allows men to style clothes they have, want, or are looking to purchase. They can discover and purchase new brands easily by identifying brands they already like. Confidence and creativity are easily harnessed when visiting Steel Fashion.

 

 

greek-pull-300x120Greek Pull- Greek Pull enables a Fraternity or Sorority chapter to reach their target markets in an efficient way. Those target markets are potential new members, their alumni and the Greek Community. Because of this, GreekPull differs from other social media solutions because GreekPull is focused on bringing those target markets to chapter houses. The network is exclusive to Greek Life and helps chapters with efficient marketing. We bring Fraternity and Sorority target markets to Greek Chapters so they can be easily contacted, creating an efficient communication tool.

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UpTech Accelerator Announces Second Cohort

UpTech accelerator, Northern Kentucky University, NKU, Greater Cincinnati Venture Association, Cincinnati startups

On Friday morning UpTech, the Northern Kentucky accelerator just outside of Cincinnati, announced their second class, dubbing it “the next eight big ideas.”   UpTech reports on their blog that 78 startups applied to the program and were narrowed down to 22 semi-finalists. The eight startups selected represent a variety of spaces, a few of them we’ve already covered here at Nibletz.

The eight startups will move into the accelerator’s new Covington headquarters on September 9th. They’ll also receive $50,000 in seed capital, an executive mentor, access to an entire network of mentors and advisors,  a one-year Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce membership, a one-year Greater Cincinnati Venture Association Membership, and access to resources from Northern Kentucky University’s Center for Applied Informatics.

These are the eight startups that made the cut:

  • 3DLT.com: Recently named “Innovative World Technology” by SXSW V2V, 3DLT.com is the “iStockphoto” for 3D printable designs.
  • Bearhug Technologies, LLC: Bearhug Technologies is a web-based, connected care platform for behavioral health providers. It enables behavioral health providers to securely use the Internet to locate, connect, and communicate with other healthcare professionals.
  • Bright!Tax: With clients in over 50 countries worldwide, Bright!Tax is a cloud-based, US income tax preparation firm most sought after by the six million Americans who are living abroad.
  • Inteo: Inteo is an interactive tool for mathematics-based studies which continually measures and updates student performance. The software provides real-time insight into student achievement, which helps teachers tailor coursework and assess preparedness for state exams.
  • Liquid: Liquid builds mobile software to collect, store, analyze, and organize any and all data.
  • New Home Marketing Services: New Home Marketing Services is helping home builders better understand their business opportunities and their competitive landscape with the world’s first customized, real-time data portal to daily marketplace activity. New Home Marketing Services provides powerful data tools through an easy-to-use dashboard that allows for enhanced decision-making regarding inventory management and profitability.
  • Tixers: By trading your tickets to Tixers, they guarantee the value of your ticket, and you receive points (credit) almost immediately that you can use for other tickets on Tixers.
  • Touritz: Touritz allows local historians and tour guides to create and upload walking tours and videos, which can be viewed and downloaded to mobile devices. Touritz is cultivating a community of tour creators to share local landmarks and historic sites, art gallery and museum tours, scenic locations, and family destinations.

You can find out more about UpTech here.

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Kentucky Startup Givr Launches Frictionless Giving To Charitable Causes

Givr,Kentucky Startup,Mobile PaymentAs the mobile wallet space and frictionless payments for consumers continues to explode, socially charged entrepreneurs are starting to explore using that technology for good. Specifically, socially conscious startups are starting to embrace technology, and mobile technology to facilitate charitable transactions.

Last week in Memphis Tennessee, Pam & Tom Cooper launched their startup Boosterville, out of the Seed Hatchery accelerator program. Boosterville embraces mobile technology, incorporates loyalty, rewards, mobile payments and fundraising, all in one easy to use app.

Now we drive up the road to Danville Kentucky where Brock Klein along with Brushfire Interactive started Givr.

Givr is a native iPhone payments application dedicated to helping charitable organizations achieve their giving goals.  The Givr app provides users with an elegant, frictionless giving experience that dramatically reduces the time and stress associated with mobile giving.” Phoenix based Brushfire’s Brandon Clarke told us in an interview.

The logic here being that as it gets easier to actually donate money to a cause or charity, more money will be donated. This has been shown time and time again when natural disaster’s have struck and the Red Cross has mobilized donations via text message. With the simplicity of using a mobile phone to quickly donate money, more money comes in.

Check out the rest of our interview with Givr below.

sneakertacoWho are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Givr was founded out of a passion for technology and philanthropy by Brock Klein. After studying economics and statistical analysis at Centre College in Kentucky, Brock worked in the financial services industry.  His evolving interest in digital development led him to Phoenix, Arizona based BrushfireInteractive, where he worked as project manager.   With the support of Brushfire’s founder, Gabe Cooper, Brock began to refine the scope of Givr and development began in the Fall of 2012.

Where are you based?

Danville, KY (Central Kentucky)

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

Nascent.  Startups have been coming out of Kentucky for a while but the community is just beginning to get connected and evolve.

What problem does your startup solve?

Remove the friction with routine giving.  Don’t have cash on you?  Don’t have a checkbook?  Not in front of your computer?  You can still give to a cause or organization important to you.

 

What is one challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

One of our greatest early challenges was defining the scope of the project, balancing big dreams with a lean launch.

 

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

Our first milestone was closing our seed round of financing, catalyzing our development process.

Our biggest milestone was launching our iOS app in the App Store.

 

What are your next milestones

Our next milestone is 100 nonprofit organizations adopting our platform with at least 1,000 users (Givr’s) using the app for their routine giving with these organizations by the end of the year.

Who are your mentors and role models?

We wouldn’t be where we are today without the mentorship and counsel we’ve had.  One of our early investors, First Southern National Bank, has consistently given invaluable counsel – particularly the chairman and founder, Jess Correll and the Director of Culture and Outreach, Dan Lewis.  Gabe Cooper and LorenKutsko of Brushfire Interactive have also given consistent and indispensable advice and insight into the mobile giving space.  Finally, Brian Crall, an executive coach and successful business leader, consistently points us in the right strategic direction.

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages growing your startup outside of Silicon Valley.

Quiet.  We’ve been able to put our heads down and focus on our product and our mission.  We’ve had all the benefits of top line expertise without any of the noise.

 

What’s next for your startup?

We’re moving into the broader launch of our platform.  “How can we help people express their generosity through mobile?”  Wherever that answer leads is where we will go.

Where can people find out more?

People can see our product at www.givrmobile.com.

Startup America and Startup Weekend have merged, story here.

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Impulcity Flips The Switch Just Ahead Of Everywhereelse Conference

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Impulcity, a Kentucky startup that relocated to Cincinnati for The Brandery last summer, has just launched to the public.

We’ve been tracking Impulcity since last June when co-founders, Hunter Hammonds and Austin Cameron were still working out the details of the concept. Over the course of The Brandery accelerator, and since their graduation last October, Hammonds and Cameron have iterated and iterated again to make sure they offer the best possible hybrid event discovery experience.

Sure their are event discovery startups popping up everywhere but Impulcity has paid close attention to all the details. The app provides a robust back end and access to events across the country, covered up with an eye popping UI that’s extremely easy to navigate.

Impulcity signed up to present at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference early on and showed up alongside other Brandery graduates Crowd Hall, Brandery GM Mike Bott, and the companies former hustler, now Nibletz CEO and co-founder Nick Tippmann.

Just days before the conference Hammonds reached out to us to tell us that we would get a special treat as the app finally met his strict guidelines and was released in the iTunes App Store.

Over 2,000 people were on Impulcity’s email list and at launch Hammonds to the KyPost.com that they were seeing a new user every minute.

Cameron and Hammonds had to leave the conference early to insure their launch went smoothly back from their headquarters currently located at The Brandery. The startup has raised $400,000 to date and is looking to relocate into their own 1500 square foot space the KyPost reported.

Kentucky Startup Tagapet Brings The Pet Tag Into The 21st Century

Tagapet,Kentucky startup,startup,startup interviewAs an animal owner all of my life I know the feeling when you’re dog has run off. Luckily I’ve never permanently lost an animal but I know several people who have.  Microchips are great for recovering animals but what many pet owners don’t realize is that microchips can only be read with microchip readers at your local vet’s office, and if you’re lucky, the shelter.

With the rise in use and popularity of smartphones many people who’ve lost a pet wish they had a microchip reader built into their iPhone or Android device. While that’s not possible, a Lexington Kentucky startup called Tagapet, has a solution.

Tagapet’s new pet tag incorporates both QR code and NFC technology. This means that NFC equipped smartphones, and bar code readers (available for every smartphone these days), someone who finds your pet can easily find important information. The QR code on the tag can be coded with all of your important owner information including contact info and even animal allergies. The QR code actually has a huge benefit over traditional engraved collars by allowing a much larger data field to incorporate complete contact info.

Not only that but Tagapet has also incorporated GPS so that when the lost pet is scanned with a smartphone the owner is notified of their GPS location, making reuniting pet and owner, even quicker.

We got a chance to talk with the brilliant team behind Tagapet. Check out the interview below.

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Louisville Startup: Kodable Teaching Kids 5 And Up How To Code

Surfscore,Kodable, Louisville startup,startup,startups,startup interviewWhen you start talking to technical co-founders of today’s startups, most of them talk about how they’ve been coding in some form or another since they were little kids. Such is the case for Jon Mattingly the co-founder of Louisville startup SurfScore and their newest product Kodable.  Mattingly started “fiddling” with computers at the age of 6, and now he and cofounder Grechen Huebner are setting out to teach a new breed of grade school kids how to code.

Kodable is a new iPad game that teaches kids aged five and up how to code. This is taught by teaching the fundamentals of programming and problem solving in a fun way. Kids are learning these fundamentals without even realizing it.

“It introduces the basic concepts of programming, including conditionals, loops and functions, in an abstract way simple enough for young children to understand. Kids give the characters, called fuzzes, commands that guide them through a maze. This challenges children to think through a problem in multiple ways before deciding on a solution, then rewards them for choosing the most efficient path.” Huebner told us in an interview.

teach kids to code

 

There’s a variety of software out there now that teaches even younger children the fundamentals of reading. Huebner and Mattingly thought that if those skills could be learned at an early age, programming could be taught the same way.  Mattingly credits Hubener’s artistic ability with actually making these skills fun to learn and easy to understand.

Check out the rest of our interview with the SurfScore/Kodable team below.

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New Louisville Startup To Tackle App Discovery (AGAIN), Check Out Appszito

Appszito,Kentucky Startup,Louisville startup,startups,startup interviewApp discovery is a beast. I remember two years ago at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York there were three app discovery startups. A few months later at TechCrunch Disrupt SF (2011) there were another three app discovery startups.  The problem that all these startups are tackling is how to discover apps across multiple app stores and markets and finding apps in a somewhat logical way.

Louisville Kentucky startup Appszito is working on a search product that will allow smartphone users to easily find applications for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices.

Appszito uses a proprietary relational algorithm that matches smarpthone users with the best and most cost effective app solutions for whatever it is they’re looking for.

When you enter a specific type of app or need, like CAD for instance, into the Appszito engine it combs the iTunes app store, Windows Market Place and multiple Android app stores to find the most relevant search results. Appszito provides pricing information, platform and a brief description of the application that’s met the search criteria. In true search fashion it serves up the most relevant matches first, but the list of apps can be plentiful.

Users are directly linked to the download site for each particular app.

Appszito is hoping to solve the pain of searching multiple places with less than stellar results for the smartphone user. They are also looking to provide a resource for app developers to drive downloads based on relevancy.

We got a chance to talk to Appszito co-founder Rahul Ahir about his startup and the Louisville startup scene. Check out the interview below.

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Insider Louisville To Continue Spirit Of IdeaFestival With Call For Social Pitches

Insider Louisville,startup,startup contest,social entrepreneurship,social startup,Kentucky startup,IdeaFestivalIf you’re looking for a great startup ecosystem in the middle of the country to check out, Louisville Kentucky is one of the top cities on our list. Kentucky has one of the most active Startup America partnerships. They have some great acceleration efforts going on state wide, and they’ve brewed some great startups like Impulcity, WhyWait and Beam just to name three that fall off the top of our heads.

That’s why it’s no surprise the folks at Insider Lousiville are gelling off the success of the most recent IdeaFestival. Now that the festival is over they want to continue the forward momentum and spark innovation. To that end Insider Louisville is now calling for social entrepreneurs to pitch their startups for the possibility of investment, incubation, free office space and more.

In this blog post, Insider Louisville writes:

Give us your detailed plan for a self-sustaining, social-impact business based on the concepts of social entrepreneurism.

If we believe your idea has potential, we’ll get you face time with major philanthropists, entrepreneurs and economic development including Ted Smith, director of Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government’s Department of Economic Development and Innovation.

If your business plan is viable, investors and management gurus will help you forge your idea into a working enterprise … a startup with a reasonable amount of time and capital to prove its worth.

Smith went on to say; “Idea Festival was the appetizer – bring on the main course and let’s take a social impact business to the next level.”

Ideafestival just wrapped up last week in Lexington Kentucky. The four day startup and innovation conference featured a wide variety of panels, keynotes and other resources for just about anyone in Kentucky at any level in starting their own business or startup.

As for this call to action by Insider Lousiville, they’re specifically looking for social startups. They are looking for ideas that echo the fundamentals behind startups like Waterstep, a Louisville startup that oversees water purification in third world countries, or the now nationally famous Tom’s shoes that donates a pair of shoes to children in need for every pair of shoes you purchase.

Insider Louisville says that they’re looking for ideas from anywhere and the right idea could result in the startup getting help to move to Louisville Kentucky to build it out.

“This isn’t just empty Chamber of Commerce sloganeering. This is a call to action at the nexus where capitalism meets practical, sustainable social change.” Insider Louisville says.

Ready to submit? Check the link below.

Linkage

Source: Insider Louisville

Got an idea, email it to cheryl@insiderlouisville.com

More Kentucky coverage from Nibletz, the voice of startups “everywhere else”

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Can You Really Appify A Toothbrush? This Kentucky Startup Says Yes

With millions and millions of apps available between the iTunes App Store, Google Play Store, Windows Market and AppWorld there is an app for everything. In fact, it was apple who coined the phrase “there’s an app for that”.

Now apps are starting to incorporate with things in the real world and thanks to Beam Technologies, A Louisville Kentucky Startup, your toothbrush is one of those things.

Ok possibly not really your toothbrush but there is now such thing as the Beam Toothbrush, Beam Technologies first product combining a real life physical item that we use everyday with an app.

Just how appified is it? Will it turn on your electronic toothbrush? Will it remind you to brush your teeth? Will it let you know that you’ve been brushing long enough. Well at least some of those features are part of the Beam Toothbrush created by Alex Frommeyer, Dan Dykes and Alex Curry.

We got a chance to interview the Beam Technologies team about their startup and of course the appified tooth brush. Check out the interview below:

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Louisville Startup: Impulcity Smooth As Butter Event Discovery Now In Beta

Impulcity is one of the standout startups at The Brandery in Cincinnati. We finally got a chance to talk with Hunter Hammonds and Austin Cameron face to face about the disruptive mobile app they’re building.

When someone who does what I do hears the words “location” and “discovery’ we automatically think FourSquare, Google Places, and checking in. We think the space is crowded. We think “sure you’ve got something different”. Well with Impulcity, Hammonds and Cameron have something different. As soon as we arrived at the Brandery Hammonds immediately set up the private beta on my phone and for the rest of the evening I got a guided tour on Impulcity right from the co-founders.

After a night on the town, Hammonds challenged me and our co-founder Cameron Wright to name one event discovery mobile app, that served up local events, allows you to check into them, invite friends, and had a great UI. We couldn’t even name one, not like this.

As you can see they have a great visual user experience. From the main screen you see a highlighted event in visual form and then a grid of similar pictures promoting events around you. The top featured event can be swiped from left to right so that you can see all the highlighted events.

Once you’re in the event you can do a number of things which are all explained in easy detail. There are big inviting buttons for sharing, and what network you want to share with. There is a timeline feature for each event where people can chime in on their experience at the event and share pictures and text.

While Impulcity is from Louisville and building at the Brandery in Cincinnati they’ve already got over a million events in their database that will populate in the same beautiful visual way.

Impulcity says they help you discover, attend and interact with events around you and that’s certainly true. But you can bet on our road trip that we will continue to test and use Impulcity.

Linkage:

Sign up for early access to Impulcity here

Find out more about The Brandery here

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” and we’re road-tripping everywhere else click here

StartuPalooza Headed To Louisville KY September 18th

If you’re in Louisville Kentucky and ready to get your startup on than the Startup America Partnership in conjunction with Startup Kentucky has an event for you. StartuPALOOZA is headed to Louisville Kentucky on September 18th from 5:30pm-8:00pm at the Ice House (226 E. Washington Street, Louisville KY),

The event will feature a cash bar and free appetizers.

The event will feature an exhibition of the up and coming startups in the Louisville region. We know first hand their are some great startups in Louisville. Also, Startup Kentucky is one of the more active Startup America regions in the country, in fact you should follow them on Twitter here.

If you’re a Louisville area startup and interested in showing off in the StartuPALOOZA startup fairground than you need to apply here.

The event is sponsored by  by IdeaFestival, the statewide Innovation Network, the Office of Commercialization and Innovation, the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and Startup Kentucky, a Startup America region.

Linkage:

More on the event here

Startup Kentucky Here

Startup America Here

NIbletz, the voice of startups “everywhere else” would love to cover and participate in this event as part of the sneaker-strapped,nationwide startup road trip.