Damien Echols To Shed A Different Light On Technology at Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Damien Echols, Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, Memphis, West Memphis Three

Damien Echols author of “Life After Death” (photo: chicagomag.com)

Today the Memphis newspapers picked up on the story that New York Times best selling author, Damien Echols would be speaking at everywhereelse.co the startup conference. For those of you not familiar, he was one of three teenage boys arrested and eventually convicted of the brutal murder of three 8 year old boys in West Memphis Arkansas in the early 90’s. Echols, along with Jessee Misskelly and Jason Baldwin were eventually coined The West Memphis Three.

Baldwin and Misskelly were sentenced to life in prison while Echols was sentenced to the death penalty. Their case, imprisonment and trial spawned three HBO documentaries called “Paradise Lost” and eventually a more up to date documentary called “West Of Memphis” directed by Hobbit director Peter Jackson.

The attention brought on by the first Paradise movie sparked an interest in the case by several celebrities including Eddie Vedder the frontman for Pearl Jam, Johnny Depp, Dave Navarro of Nirvanna, The Dixie Chicks, Peter Jackson his wife Fran Walsh and many others.

Through fundraising, spreading the word and sparking a movement the West Memphis Three was eventually set free from Prison in 2011 after agreeing to an Alford’s Plea. Several celebrities were on hand, including Vedder who Echols considers a close friend, when they were released.

So why in the world would Echols come to a startup conference?

Echols is now a best selling author, movie producer and even helped out on the set of the current Hobbit movie. That’s not why though. Over the past five or so years there have been some discussions, as well as written pieces, to the effect of what would happen if you were frozen in time or if you had missed the last 20 years of technology. The same period of time that the boys were in prison, and Echols on death row, is often credited as the fastest growing time in technology.

Think about tech in the early 90’s. Beepers were for doctors and drug dealers, and mobile phones were either in bags, mounted to the car or too big for your pocket. Video games were just barely 16bit and some of the entrepreneurs who’ve created some of the biggest startups in the world were barely in pre-school.

Echols spent his entire prison sentence on death row which meant no tv, no day room, and certainly no access to technology. Several reports came out after his release from prison that included his first experience with a touch screen buttonless iPhone. What it was like to receive a first text message and how nobody at restaurants talks to each other any more they all sit and stare at their phones and text.

Googling Echols in recent day will reveal that he’s in no way short of any speaking engagements, in fact in arranging our fireside chat with him and Commercial Appeal writer James Dowd, it was said how interested Echols was in an engagement that talked about technology, culture and the way things have changed in 20 years.

Now nearly two years after his release Echols has traveled the world, even to New Zealand and around the country talking to people about his book and his life. He is a regular on Twitter and can provide a look at technology that some of us take for granted. This is the first time Echols has made an appearance like this in Memphis since his release.

See this unique Fireside chat at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Excelerate Labs Becomes Techstars Chicago

Today in a blog post penned by Techstars founder David Cohen, he announced that Excelerate Labs, the startup accelerator located at 1871 has become Techstars Chicago.

Excelerate Labs was founded by Troy Henikoff and Sam Yagan (OKCupid, SparkNotes and Match.com) in partnership with Sandbox Industries and New World Ventures.

We’ve covered several of the Excelerate Labs startups and have managed to make a few trips to 1871 over the last year. Their classes work hard, play hard and innovate. It’s one of the finest accelerators in the country, which has prompted Cohen and Brad Feld to invest in multiple Excelerate Labs graduates including: SpotHero, GiveForward and Tap.Me

Techstars has always started their programs from scratch. At one point they began endorsing a number of accelerators that applied their same methodology. That network was once known as the Techstars Network and has since spun out of the Techstars brand and into “Global Accelerator Network”.

For the first time ever Cohen is now turning to an existing accelerator, Excelerate Labs, to open Techstars Chicago.

“We were so impressed with what they’ve built that we asked them to join forces with us and turn Excelerate Labs into TechStars Chicago. TechStars and Excelerate have always been kindred spirits: we both put entrepreneurs first and believe in the power of mentorship.” Cohen said on the Techstars blog.

Troy Henikoff says, “We are excited to combine Excelerate’s deep roots in Chicago with TechStars’ vast alumni and mentor networks. TechStars Chicago will be an even stronger force in Chicago and will add incredible firepower to the TechStars platform.”

“I congratulate Excelerate Labs and I am pleased that TechStars has identified Chicago as one of the best places to start a technology business. This advancement is a huge step forward for the city’s technology economy and will fit hand-in-glove with the other efforts being made to promote entrepreneurship and create new jobs around Chicago.” – Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Applications for Techstars Chicago are open now. The first early bird deadline is March 1st, the final deadline is March 15th. The program will begin May 29th and end on August 29th. To apply click here

Join Pat Riley, Managing Director of the Global Accelerator Network, along with several of their accelerators at the biggest startup conference in the U.S. everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Startup America’s Donna Harris & Startup DC’s Evan Burfield Launching 1776 DC

1776, Donna Harris, Startup America, Startup DC, Accelerator

Startup America’s Donna Harris interviews Steve Case (photo: Nibletz Media)

On the heel’s of the Startup America Partnership’s second anniversary a new initiative, incubator and accelerator are launching just steps from the White House. It was on the White House lawn on January 31, 2010 when Startup America was officially launched.

The new epicenter for entrepreneurship in Washington DC will be called 1776 and is being spearheaded by Startup America’s Managing Director, Donna Harris, and Evan Burfield, Chair of Startup DC. These two have worked hand in hand, over the past two years nurturing the Startup America Partnership an organization that supports startup communities nationwide. Harris will transition away from her role at Startup America over the next month.

“1776 is a fantastic example of the entire community rallying around a very bold idea that taps the unique assets of the community rather than replicating what others have done,” said Scott Case CEO of the Startup America Partnership. “I couldn’t be more thrilled that Donna, who was the architect and leader of our National Regions Initiative, and Evan will now focus their expertise on making this bold vision a reality in DC.”

“Washington is one of the most powerful cities on earth, and it has the potential to become an incredible nerve center for startups seeking to tackle big national challenges like education and healthcare,” said Donna Harris. “1776 will be a single rallying point to tie startups into the region’s significant wealth, expertise, and extraordinary advocacy community, and will create a global brand for what makes the DC community unique.”

Harris oversaw the creation of Startup America “regions” across the country. Over the course of the past year Startup America began looking to empower the regions, and their regional champions so that the organization itself could take a backseat while startup communities across the country blossomed.

1776 will provide co-working space, curriculum to help build entrepreneurs and startups, and an accelerator program. The also plan to continue a trend currently in place at Startup America where people and trends that are reinventing America share the spotlight.

“Our goal is to build an explosive entrepreneurial economy based on the assets unique to Washington, DC,” said Evan Burfield, co-founder of 1776. “1776 will have a number of strategies to help the hottest startups in the world — the ones with the bold ideas for tackling the big problems — to navigate regulatory minefields, develop scalable business models, and drive revenue.”

1776 will hold an open house and press conference on February 6th at their campus, 1133 15th Street NW, 12th Floor. DC Mayor Vincent Gray, Startup America CEO Scott Case and other notable national figures from the entrepreneur community will help kick off the new initiative.

For more information sign up for 1776’s email list here http://1776dc.com/

Scott Case and several other’s from Startup America and it’s regional partnerships will be on hand at the biggest startup conference in the U.S. everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, limited number of tickets still available.

Minnesota Startup Mardil Medical Raises $6M From Malaysia

In a bit of interesting funding news, Mardil Medical, a medical startup from the Twin Cities has received a $6.125 million dollar round of funding led by Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM).

Some may find that this investment from AIM is a rather risky endeavor. Mardil is in the process of going through the most capital intensive route to regulatory approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Not only that but the company’s technology incorporates the assets acquired from a failed medical technology startup that raised and spent over $100 million dollars in venture capital before throwing in the towel.

That isn’t stopping Mardil and it’s CEO Jim Buck from developing a technology that treats a heart condition called functional mitral valve regurgitation. This condition occurs when blood leaks from the heart’s left ventricle, through the mitral valve and into the left atrium, when the left ventricle contracts. It’s the most common form of valvular heart disease, a leading cause of death in pregnancy.

The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal reports that, like most medical technology companies, Mardil is going to begin with overseas clinical trials. Buck decided because of this, it was only natural to seek funding overseas as well. Mardil will begin testing in Kuala Lumpur. After initial testing they will have to bring their research back to America to hopefully land FDA approval.

In addition to the $6.125 million dollar round, they plan on closing another $5 million dollar round later this year.

See the great startups from ZeroTo510 a medical device accelerator in Memphis who fast tracks businesses to prepare for a 510K approval from the FDA. This approval is much faster than the traditional route. The inaugural class from ZeroTo510 will be in the Startup Village at everywhereelse.co

Seed Hatchery Announces 6 Team Class Of 2013

Memphis’ tech startup accelerator program, now in it’s third year, Seed Hatchery, has unveiled the six startup teams participating in it’s 2013 cohort. The cohort will begin next week on February 8th and end with a Demo Day during the legendary Memphis in May Barbecue Festival. The applications were plentiful and this years class features five local startups as well as one startup from Indiana. Also new for Seed Hatchery, and a growing trend across America, three of the startups are led by women.

Seed Hatchery teams will receive seed funding as well as an intense mentor driven program designed to cultivate their idea stage businesses and turn them into viable companies/products.

This year’s Seed Hatchery program will be full time. It also features teams that have been heavily vested in the Memphis startup ecosystem driven by the efforts of Launch Your City/Launch Memphis. Most of the teams, prior to even applying to Seed Hatchery, elected to participate in the Startup Village as part of the upcoming evverywhereelse.co, The Startup Conference.

Here are the teams:

Mentor.me

Mentor.me is led by Brittanny Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick pitched her startup at the Upstart Memphis 48 Hour Launch in December. Fitzpatrick has been working for the Ronald McDonald House in conjunction with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, which led her to developing this idea.

Mentor.me is essentially a match.com system for matching mentors with mentees. Every year mentor organizations are faced with a problem stemming from mismatched mentors and mentees. This problem actually takes up more time and resources than originally matching mentors. Mentor.me will be an algorithm based platform that matches mentors with mentees in a more efficient way.

IncreaseIF

IncreaseIF plans to match provides cost-analysis software to help scientific researchers figure out which in-house resources should be used. Several factors go into the decision making process for evaluating using an outsourced firm by scientific researchers. These factors include cost, quality, delivery responsiveness, technology and cycle turn around time.

IncreaseIF, where the IF stands for, impact factor, will help automate these decision making processes and speed up the time of scientific research. The startup is led by software engineer Scott Finney, a Memphis local who’s been dabbling in the startup scene and anxious to push forward with this new idea.

Kangaroo

Kangaroo is another local startup co-founded by CEO Nick Redmond and Rachel Hurley, one of the three startups featuring a female founder. Hurley is very active in the Memphis local music scene where the passion for this startup came about. She’s constantly promoting singer songwriters and local bands through venues in town. Redmond is one of the songwriters and founders of Star & Micey a local band which was named the number one band to see live in Tennessee by Paste Magazine.

The idea is to create a social network around bands and music. Sure that idea has been done a hundred times but Hurley and Redmond are putting a brand new spin on it by incorporating geocaching. With Kangaroo they plan to create a platform where touring bands and bands in town can leave behind hidden treasures. Fans can also turn around and leave tokens of appreciation for their favorite bands

“We want to abolish the limited creativity and loss of the personal touch with social media today. Connecting with fans is the only problem musicians have, and this is a huge opportunity to connect people and musicians in a active, real-time environment. From seeking out left behind items by musicians, to taking their personalized walking tours, to following them across a coast, this app and site allows the fans the most hands on experience in social media.” Hurley said.

ScrewPulp Publishing

ScrewPulp is an exciting startup for Memphis. It was originally pitched at the 48 Hour Launch event in June of 2012, the same 48 Hour launch that attracted nibletz.com to Memphis in the first place.

At the event, founder Richard Billings described the problems with self publishing. Self publishers live off reviews, ratings and recommendations which are impossible to drive in any organized way. Screw Pulp allows authors to give their book away to the first 100 readers, in exchange for a review (good or bad), rating or recommendation. Once the engagement is made the “promo copy” of the book is the readers to keep.

After the first 100 books Screw Pulp goes with a sliding payment scale increasing the cost of the book while it gains popularity. Billings has become a fixture in the local startup scene. Since pitching ScrewPulp in that 48 Hour launch he has been to subsequent launch events where he’s provided feedback and mentorship. They also won the “Risk City” challenge in November as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. That contest involved the startups pitching their idea to Federal Court Judge John Fowlkes in open court.

SodBuster

Sodbuster is the startup that is relocating from Indiana. This startup has a different spin when it comes to founders. The husband and wife team of Tom and Pam Cooper both graduated from college in the early 80’s. They both have had long and prosperous careers in their field. Now they’re going all in on their social entrepreneurship startup.

The team has the benefit of Tom’s 30+ years of experience in programming running the gamut of programming languages from COBOL to C++ and newer languages like HTML 5 and Ruby on Rails.

Sodbuster is reinventing the way local nonprofits connect to their communities to communicate and raise money. They plan on doing this with a new e-newsletter format.

Musistic

Musistic was founded by Justin Olita, Vince Rogers and CTO Brian Wentzloff. This Memphis based startup wants to become the universal place for musicians to connect in a social network type setting. Once the musicians are matched up through an algorithm the platform will offer the tools necessary to collaborate with each other across the internet and even save the recordings.

Basically imagine a guitar player in Memphis, a bass player in New Hampshire, a drummer in Los Angeles and a singer in Texas. All four musicians can meet up through Musistic where their interests, styles and experience will be matched. They can then jump right into performing together from the comfort of their own homes.

“The problem is that there is no universal network for musicians to create, edit and share in real time and all startups for musicians are focusing only on selling and promoting the artist’s work.
Musistic will focus on the creation process” Rogers said.

For more info on Seed Hatchery visit seedhatchery.com here

Seed Hatchery startups will be featured at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, do you have your tickets yet? Get them here!

Disclosure: In the interest of journalistic integrity I am compelled to disclose that while I hold no equity interest in any of the startups in the Seed Hatchery program I am a mentor for the program and also on the selection committee.

Jhoombox A Set Top Box That Sings!

Washington DC startup Jhoombox has made the Android based set top box a lot more fun. In addition to doing the things that most set top boxes do, like provide access to Netflix, Hulu and a slew of other web based services, Jhoombox has a full featured Karaoke system as well.

Jhoombox’s combination of hardware and software is like a Pandora for karaoke. Some of the features include the ability to record your karaoke sessions and quickly upload them to YouTube. You can also collaborate with other Jhoombox users on the net and sing duets and group songs over the internet.

They came up with the idea because people love to do karaoke and a set top box is a way to bring all the content to one centralized location. Karaoke singers now have a library of hundreds of thousands of karaoke songs at their fingertips.

The company has been working on Jhoombox for the last year and held a private beta in the fall of 2012. They plan on launching to the public, first with a Kickstarter campaign in the spring of this year.

Jhoombox is fun and innovative and you can find out more at jhoombox.com

See several great startups from Washington DC including Speek at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Dell And Their Entrepreneur In Residence Ingrid Vanderveldt Join Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Austin is no stranger to startups and innovation. Neither is Dell. While some may consider Dell just a hardware company, in the 1990’s they broke record after record with their trusted, reliable mail order computer business.

One thing that makes Dell a unique company is that the company, along with their CEO Michael Dell isn’t afraid of iteration, trying new things and moving on. That’s one thing that has made Dell successful time and time again.

Dell has an entire team dedicated to entrepreneurship, startups and innovation. The team is led, in part by Ingrid Vanderveldt the company’s entrepreneur in residence. Vandervelt is a respected serial entrepreneur, who lives by a mantra she calls the “triple bottom line of people, planet and profits”.

Vanderveldt is working on a new venture while simultaneously serving as Dell’s Entrepreneur in Residence. She is also keeping up with her current companies Green Girl Energy and the GLASS Forum (Global Leadership & Sustainable Success).

Ingrid Vandervelt, Dell, Austin, startup,everywhereelse.co the startup conference

(photo: dell.com)

Back in June Vanderveldt came up with the idea for the Dell $100 million dollar Innovator’s Financing Fund. Vandervelt and the EIR board at Dell oversee the disbursement of the fund that’s helping startups in a variety of spaces. The fund’s first startup was Current Motor, a Michigan startup that is developing electric powered scooters.

Current Motors is using the financing from Dell along with Dell’s mentorship and other resources to create an e-commerce platform for their scooter business that can operate entirely on a mobile device the way shared biking apps and apps like ZipCar work today.

Dell will be on site throughout the entire conference. Representatives from their innovation team will be around to talk to entrepreneurs, founders and even investors about innovation and starting up. Members of their team will also hold office hours in the Dell Lounge which will be adjacent to the Startup Village. In the Dell lounge attendees will be able to hear more about Dell and their commitment to entrepreneurship, relax and get some work done.

Tuesday February 12th will open with a keynote from Vanderveldt, a highly sought after speaker in the startup and entrepreneurial world. She will talk about Dell’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship, her own journey in entrepreneurship which started in the 90’s and about being a woman entrepreneur. Her discussion will lead into, what’s looking to be one of our most popular panels, Kick Ass Female Founders from Everywhere Else.

Need a ticket or a startup village booth for the conference use the tool below. For more info on the conference click here

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Austin’s Incubation Station Prepares For Next Cohort

Austin’s consumer packaged goods startup accelerator, Incubation Station, is preparing for it’s next cohort.

Incubation Station is in it’s second year and is specifically targeting startups in the consumer packaged goods space. They’ve extended the application deadline until February 15th and plan on unveiling the selected startups to participate in the program at an event being held at “Abels on the Lake” on the evening of February 27th.

This accelerator in the CPG space is proving how startup accelerators in new verticals can be successful in cities across the country. Incubation Station applies the cohort based startup accelerator methodology to companies that make actual, consumer purchasable products.

The session at Incubation Station is 12 weeks and features intense training from go to market strategy, marketing, pitch, and business skills. Like most accelerators, the session finishes off with a demo day, which they call “Showcase Day” in the middle of June. Incubation Station participants will show their products and business models off to over 100 investors that specifically invest in consumer packaged goods.

Their first class included Thunderbird Energetica, Criquet, Whynatte, Primizie and Verb.

“After participating in Track 1 of Incubation Station we expanded our growth by 300%. We have broken through the borders of being solely an Austin-based company and now serve the entire nation,” comments Taylor Collins, founder and owner of Thunderbird Energetica. “IS helped mold our start-up company into an efficient, goal-setting powerhouse through the sound and strategic advice from the brilliant minds in the diverse mentor pool.”

“Incubation Station provided Criquet with all the tools that we needed to fine-tune our marketing strategy, product offering, and investment pitch,” comments co-founder of Criquet golf shirts, Billy Nachman. “Our mentors pushed us to focus on the core concepts of our business plan, helping to effectively reach our customer, and efficiently message our investor. Since IS Track 1, Criquet has seen consistent and significant revenue growth, helping us secure a strategic capital investment, which puts us in position to achieve significant milestones within the next 9 months.”

Incubation Station was founded by attorney Shari Wynne who’s MWR Legal, specializes specifically in the needs of entrepreneurs, investors and startups. She’s a past president of the Entrepreneur’s Organization Austin chapter and she’s an active mentor at Incubation Station.

Startups in the CPG space that plan on applying can do so by clicking here.

What’s acceleration all about, find out from accelerator leaders and graduates at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

Bonfyre: The Official App For Everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference

With everywhereelse.co the startup conference a little over a week away we want to make sure that everyone knows what app to use to keep up with all the action at the biggest startup conference in the U.S., whether you’re at home or at the event.

Bonfyre is the official app for everywhereelse.co the startup conference. Download the app today from the iTunes app store then join the Bonfyre for everywhereelse.co. You’ll be able to keep up with the schedule, panels, speakers, startup village and everything happening in Grind City February 10th-12th.

Bonfyre debuted their most recent version of their app at DEMO in Silicon Valley last fall. They also partnered with the Powder Keg conference in Indianapolis.

Just as they did with PowderKeg, Bonfyre will allow entrepreneurs, startup founders, investors, panelists, and startup support to keep up with all the conference go-ers in the event’s own channel.

Nibletz has been reporting on Bonfyre since last year. They’ve raised $750,000 dollars so far led by the St. Louis Arch Angels and Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square, who sits on Bonfyre’s board. To date, the St. Louis startup has partnered with the NFL’s St. Louis Rams for three games.

Not only that but one lucky person that downloads and registers for Bonfyre for the conference will walk away from Memphis with a brand new iPad Mini (16gb wifi only). It’s that easy.

Check out Bonfyre for everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference here

If you don’t have your tickets for everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference we don’t know what you’re waiting for, luckily it’s not too late.

Jacksonville Startup Weekend Entrepreneur Has Domain Name Ripped Off

Jacksonville just recently held a Startup Weekend event. The event, like most Startup Weekends, brought hordes of entrepreneurs, hackers, developers and designers together under one roof to build companies over a 54 hour period.

Jennifer Chapman, was one of those entrepreneurs.

She had an idea called “Pinstitute” an online education platform taking the concepts behind sites like Skillshare and applying them to Pinterest. Basically, a platform to buy and sell online classes to make the cool stuff you see on Pinterest.

“I’m relieved, I’m excited, I’m a little anxious that I’m about to take on this amazing new venture,” Chapman said after her first-place win reports the Jacksonville Business Journal. “This is amazing, it’s been an awesome experience.”

Co-founder of Banyan, and new Chattanooga resident, Toni Gemayel, was one of the judges for the Jacksonville event, giving some great advice to Chapman, “Don’t let anyone leave here with your idea”.

Unfortunately that’s what somebody did. Chapman couldn’t afford the $3800 for the premium Pinstitute domain name, and by the end of Startup Weekend, someone at the event had shelled out the money for it, someone not on her team.

“That was disappointing to hear that somebody would do that,” said Todd Smith, one of the event’s five judges. “At the end of the day, it’s the person with the vision and the execution who is the real entrepreneur.”

In the end it looks like Chapman will move forward with the idea, perhaps under a different domain. File this one under total douchebag.

St. Louis Accelerator Capital Innovator’s Introduces Fresh Class Of Startups

At an event held at Moulin in St. Louis last night, Capital Innovators, the region’s cohort based accelerator, announced their newest class of startups. The class will convene for a 12 week program at the T-Rex startup hub and co-working space.

T-Rex houses several other startups as well as winners in the Arch Grants program that gives grants to startups to relocate and build their business in St. Louis.

This is the fourth class to go through the Capital Innovators program. To date, Capital Innovators has invested in and graduated 24 other startups in a variety of industries. Startups like Systematic Revenue and Norsecorp, that have successfully gone through the Capital Innovators program, have also successfully raised follow on funding.

The Capital Innovators program sees their startups with $50,000 which runs on the higher side of accelerator seed funds. Typically accelerators fund companies with between $10,000 and $25,000 dollars.

These are the five startups in the 2013 spring program, along with their founders:

BidRazor, Mike Pulley
BidRazor gives contractors the power to create custom bids much more easily and quickly than traditional
methods.
Dead Inventory Management Systems, Brandon Twitty
Dead Inventory Management Systems (DIMS) is in the business of aiding manufacturing companies in
listing large amounts of idle electrical inventory online in the matter of seconds using our Quick LIST
system.
Juristat, Drew Winship
Juristat helps lawyers predict the future. We transform raw court records into actionable analytics,
allowing users to predict the behavior of judges, juries, and attorneys. Juristat can calculate the odds of a
favorable verdict, motion, or appeal.
Time to Cater, Ed Spinaio
Time to Cater is a free national catering concierge service that connects busy people with the perfect
caterer for their event to save them time and money. We handle all the details of any catered event from
order through delivery and presentation at no extra cost to our client.
TrakBill, Steven Marciniak
TrakBill is an advocacy platform delivering timely, customizable updates on legislation, with a social twist.
Find specific bills or search areas of interest, receive up-to-the-minute updates on legislative actions and
hearings, and advocate for your cause using social media. With TrakBill, you spend more time advocating
and less time tracking

The spring class will end on April 26, 2013 and Capital Innovators will hold demo day on May 8th.

Two of St. Louis successful startups, LockerDome and Bonfyre will be at eveywhereelse.co The Startup Conference Will you?

Holografyx A New Way To Display For Brands And Marketers

A few weeks back when we were at CES 2013 we saw a nifty new startup from Canada called Holografyx.

Earlier this month we brought you an interview we did with Russian startup Displair. Their technology created a multi touch display in thin air, which could be the wave of the future.

Holografyx is also doing something cool with display. They’ve created a way to holographically super impose text and other graphics on top of wares that are being displayed in a show case. Towards the end of the video you can see exactly what I mean. While it’s definitely not as earth shattering as Displair the technology provides yet another way for marketers to show off to customers.

They also have an interesting franchise model to push their “360 cube” show case system to market.

Check out the video below. For more info visit holografyx.com

The Rise of Silicon Beach: The Disruptive LA Tech Scene

The Rise of Silicon Beach: The Disruptive LA Tech Scene

Silicon Valley is where the big boys play – a high-tech haven that attracts some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. It’s where many of the world’s largest start-ups like Google, Facebook, and Twitter all got their start. Well, what about the rest of us? We want to play, too!

There’s Silicon Alley in New York, Silicon Hills in Texas, and in Los Angeles, you’ve got Silicon Beach, a 3-mile strip stretching from Santa Monica to Venice Beach, that’s home to over 500 up and coming tech start-ups.

In 2012, the aptly named Silicon Beach ranked number two in top locations for tech start-ups, following – of course – Silicon Valley according to Bloomberg. Silicon Beach attracted $1.3 billion in venture capital funding, while Silicon Valley attracted $1.8 billion. That relatively tiny gap in numbers speaks volumes about Silicon Beach’s impact on the tech front. Eddie Park, co-founder and technical Janitor at Smilu said “Right now people still think Silicon Valley is the place to be for start-ups, when places like Los Angeles and Austin are making great strides in being relevant in the start-up world.”

There are already some noteworthy players in the mix that have made names for themselves; start-ups like Grubwithus, a social dining site that allows members to connect over dinner at a local restaurant based on their interests, which has already secured $6.6 million in funding. Docstoc has secured $4 million in funding to provide small businesses with access to free business and legal documents. Viddy, another impressive start-up, has $36 million to play with and lets people capture and share quality videos with the world. According to Scott Lee, who owns the very successful start-up, “There is no better place for a start-up than Silicon Beach”.

Additionally, there are some well-established names taking up beachfront property in this up and coming tech scene, including Hulu, Google, and eHarmony. This isn’t surprising since Silicon Beach has a unique culture that reflects the growing tech influence in the area. “Los Angeles will be a force to be reckoned with in a few years”, said Geoffrey Michener, who worked at LivingSocial in Washington, DC for several years, but, nevertheless, he was missing something. “I loved the startup mentality, but needed a real startup”, he concludes. Southern California and the Bay area are at two completely different ends of the spectrum. Joey Tamer sees the LA tech scene as an evolution. “LA is a creative hub…it is being taken seriously as a hub for technology and not just content,” says Tamer. “I think LA will become an innovation hub for content and tech”.

The climate is new and fresh here, and there’s a laid back atmosphere, making it a great place for start-ups to get in the game. “The start-up environment is getting friendlier” says Amy Smart, founder of SMARTY. Every start is difficult, so newborn companies need all the help and support they can get. Amy was aware of this fact all along. “Ideas can’t grow without feedback and critical thought…keeping it contained…wrong thing to do because your idea can’t be everything it should”.

Tonya Lafontaine, a software developer, has been in the business for 20 years and has seen an evolution among start-up companies, especially those in the IT world. “This industry is fantastic for moms and telecommuting in the IT world is huge, I’m home, my children are a mile away from me.” Modern business is based on mobile and tablet apps, while laptops are starting to become things of history. “If your business has an app for a smartphone or a tablet, that’s where everything is going… and that’s all you need”.

Like the Bay area, they also have the opportunity to recruit fresh talent from top schools like USC, UCLA, and Caltech. Each of these schools has top-notch programs, and their graduates are well prepared for start-up excellence. However, when experience is considered, we come to a complete stop. “USC and UCLA graduates just don’t have the hands on experience” says Daniel Tudo, a recruiter for technology, media and web startups, who has already worked with high growth start-ups, although he claims that Silicon Beach is “incredibly competitive marketing for technical talents”.

Speaking of talent, there are also quite a few celebrities who have endorsed tech start-ups. Kim Kardashian, for example, is the face of ShoeDazzle, which offers personal styling and a retail service that allows members to receive a pair of shoes selected by Hollywood stylists each month. There’s also Honest Company, started by Jessica Alba that gives parents access to high quality, inexpensive family products. And then, there’s BeachMint, cofounded by Josh Berman – also the co-founder of MySpace. The company uses a host of celebrities to endorse their products, including Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Justin Timberlake, and Jessica Simpson.

Besides all of the celebrity buzz, Silicon Beach also offers a chance to directly connect with the community, find mentors, and make a place in the burgeoning tech scene. Amy Smart stresses the importance of community when it comes to start-ups. “Ideas can’t grow without feedback and critical thought…share your ideas with enough people who have different ideas and experiences”. To help facilitate connections, the Silicon Beach Festival, the first ever entertainment and tech start-up fest in LA, was held this past June.

In true start-up fest form, it included a Hackathon, Demo Day, Pitch Day, workshops, and panels. Students even had a chance to join in on the fun and pitch their ideas to win prizes. There were also big opportunities to hear from and connect with industry leaders who spoke at the event, including those from companies like Google, Ustream and Forbes. “As we transition from a manufacturing to a knowledge economy…universities are creators of knowledge and have a bigger role to play in that economy” said Fred, an engineer who has made a complete career change with his start-up. “I realized that I was more interested in the business side”, he concluded. Also, in true LA fashion, there was an entertainment panel that discussed topics like music discovery, hiring an entertainment developer, and broadcast media from those at the GRAMMYS, IMDb, and NBC.

Silicon Beach offers plenty of other methods of support and ways to get mentorship from those already successful in the industry. There are over 25 co-working spaces, like the newly started Hub in downtown Los Angeles, which covers the scene off the beach. CoLoft in Santa Monica, known as LA’s start-up hub, assists local start-ups in achieving their goals, bring them together, and even host their always sold-out Start-up Nights. “We also have numerous events, many of which are member only, and many which are not. Our most popular events are monthly meetups called Start-up Nights, and a quarterly event called Start-up Weekend LA” says Cameron Kashani Rasouli, co-founder of CoLoft, who’s been in the business since 2010. As far as the future is concerned, she is quite optimistic. “People are finally realizing that LA is a tech hotbed, and things are only looking up”. These events allow local entrepreneurs the opportunity to discuss their own projects and include an overnight mission to strategize and turn out cool new start-ups and ideas.

There are also over a dozen very popular Meetup groups for start-ups in the LA area. So support is everywhere – you just have to find it! When you think about the culture, LA certainly has its own distinct brand and value. “I love the city’s diversity and it’s youthfulness as a hub for start-ups. It’s not hard to get noticed here and founders are very friendly and collaborative” says Alex Benzer, who grew up in LA and has already built and sold his first company, before starting SocialEngine. “There’s already a strong ecosystem here in LA with basically everything you need to get your company started”. It’s all about glitz and glam and making things happen. What better place to create a start-up! There is no doubt that LA is great for hubs, entertainment start-ups, and media ventures. “It is easy to have an idea, but there’s a lot of sweat equity involved”, says Johnathan online program manager. Nevertheless, it offers a “big opportunity to market yourself in a social way”, he concludes. Silicon Beach is growing to show the other face of LA. “It has a sense of modesty, which is strange since LA is known for everything but that”, says Geoffrey Michener. Simply put, Silicon Beach is a sweet place to live life as an Internet start-up entrepreneur.

Frobot Is The RedBox Of Frozen Yogurt

Jeremy O’Sullivan and Melissa Nelson are two entrepreneurs in Southern Virginia. Nelson is a self proclaimed (well actually co-founder proclaimed) frozen yogurt fanatic. O’Sullivan is a CPA by trade but decided to jump out of the corporate world and into the startup world when the two of them launched FroBot.

Nowadays there’s a vending machine for everything. If you venture over to Asia there’s a wider variety of vending machines than even here in the states. But go to any major city in the U.S. and most airports and you’ll find a Best Buy in a machine, an Ice Cream machine, crazy new soda machines and even the Dippin Dots machine.

Nelson and O’Sullivan have created a new kind of vending machine called FroBot. FroBot is the smallest single unit frozen yogurt retailer and is as simple (or perhaps simpler) to use than even RedBox.

What about the quality of frozen yogurt in a machine?

Nelson tells nibletz.com: After extensive research we’ve found the best frozen yogurt comes from… freezing real organic yogurt, flavored with organic ingredients…not that cheap frozen chemical water junk that too many shops are serving. We’ll never serve a product that has ingredients using 10+ syllable words only a chemist understands.

Check out the rest of our interview with FroBot below