Follow Friday: 30 Angels And VC’s To Follow On Twitter

It’s Friday morning which means its time for another great list of startup related people to follow on Twitter. Last week we brought you this awesome list of startup rockstars.Earlier lists have included these 50 women in startups to follow and another great list we had was 100 Techstars mentors to follow.

One of the most important things to our readers is the money, so this week we’ve got 30 angel and vc’s to follow on Twitter. Here we go!

Blair Garrou, founder the Mercury Fund (and speaker at Everywhere Else Cincinnati)
Paul Graham, Y-Combinator
Real Ventures
Y-Combinator
RedPoint Ventures
Joe Medved, SoftBank Capital
Andreessen Horowitz
Amish Jani, First Mark Capital NY
Bessemer Venture
Founder Collective
Ron Conway, SV Angel
Benchmark
UpFront Ventures
Greylock Partners
Eric Paley (founder) Founder Collective
Steve Case, Revolution
Michael Arrington, CrunchFund
Accel Partners
Mercury Fund
Google Ventures
Sequoia Capital
Steve Blank
John Doerr
Ben Horowitz Andreesen Horowitz
Mark Cuban
First Round Capital
Aaref Hilaly, Sequoia
Max Levchin, Paypal Founder, now investor
David Cowan, partner Bessemer Venture Partners
Don Dodge, startup guy and investor

Chicago Startup WeDeliver Puts A Winning Spin On Deliveries

At first glance WeDeliver, a Chicago startup, looks like a hybrid between your typical delivery service and a courier service. That’s probably because it is, with a twist.

WeDeliver connects local businesses to their customers by providing same day delivery of products and goods. Sure delivery and courier services aren’t new, but crowdsourcing the service is.

WeDeliver takes on and vets delivery drivers who are looking for a little extra money delivering anything from clothing, flowers, and knick knacks, to small appliances, bicycles and other goods. The drivers use their own vehicles and are properly vetted by the company. Because they have a fleet of drivers with their own vehicles, WeDeliver is able to offer a wide range of delivery services from people who need something that will fit in a truck or a passenger seat, to something that needs a small van or small truck, and everything in between.

What sets them apart and positions WeDeliver for success is the hands on approach their founders and staff are taking. Where there are some apps that are trying to automate the process, they know that some human interaction needs to be involved for vetting, dispatching, and matching up deliveries, customers, and drivers.

Earlier this summer when we were at Chicago TechWeek, the crowd was buzzing for WeDeliver. They had about ten people with them and you could spot a WeDeliver shirt anywhere. They all talked up the service very well, to the point where it won the startup contest!

We got a chance to interview them, check out the interview below.

What is your startup called?

WeDeliver

What does your company do?

WeDeliver connects local businesses (small and medium sized) to their customers by providing same-day delivery of products and goods.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds?

Kirk Lashley, Co-Founder, CTO

Kirk, a native of Trinidad and Tobago and tech entrepreneur determined to solve real world problems, was a grad and Dev Engineer at University-West Indies. Kirk has more than 15 years of professional software development experience and was the owner/operator of a Web design company in Trinidad. Currently, he’s an organizer for Startup Weekend Trinidad and Tobago and Startup Weekend Chicago. Kirk’s passionate about sharing his technology and entrepreneurship in these startup ecosystems.

Jimmy Odom, Founder, CEO
Jimmy is founder/CEO of WeDeliver and is responsible for the vision and business development of the company. He gained experience working for five years at an Apple store, as owner/operator of a gourmet pizza delivery service and at The Starter League. Jimmy is a serial entrepreneur at heart, and his mission is to build a brand whose primary focus is to create more transformational experiences rather than transactional ones.

Daniela Bolzmann, Co-Founder, CMO

Daniela, an entrepreneur with expertise in community development, was most recently Director of Product Marketing at SymbalooEDU. She grew it from a startup to a successful 200k community of engaged educators worldwide. Daniela is a graduate of the Miyahlo School of Business at CSUF and founder of SocialSkoop, a digital marketing agency. As co-founder/CMO at WeDeliver, she uses her powers to help businesses of Chicago connect with the local community.

Where are you based?

Chicago

What’s the startup scene like where you are based?

Chicago is truly an amazing city with the unique ability to have both the intimacy of a small town and the “hustle and bustle” and power players of a large metro area. The Chicago tech and startup scene is underrated and can sometimes be overlooked in favor of the traditional startup cities. This has been an advantage to us though it is rapidly changing due to organizations like 1871, TechStars Chicago, The Starter League and people like Mayor Rahm Emanuel, JB Pritzker and Troy Henikoff, to name a few.

What problem do you solve?

We believe that our same-day on demand delivery technology will help local retailers gain a competitive edge against big box E-retailers, like Amazon, while also creating jobs and spurring local economic growth.

Why now?

Why not? The time is now for same-day delivery. The technology we are using for same-day delivery was not available previously. We are simply applying newer technology to an outdated courier industry that still runs off nextels and bad service.

What are some milestones your startup has already reached?

We won 1st place at Startup Weekend, November 2012
IBM Global Entrepreneur Mentor Day Winner, June 2013
We won Techweek Chicago LAUNCH, June 2013

What are your next milestones?

We are on track to have more than 250 merchants and more than 100 drivers by year’s end.

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

Website: https://www.wedeliver.us/

25 Tips From The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Starting And Running A Business

Author, entrepreneur, and startup founder James Altucher is known for his crass, tell-it-like-it-is style of writing. 90% of the time he shoots right from the hip, and he’s always right.

Altucher has written nine books and one comic book. He’s created a web series for HBO and is currently working on one for PBS. He’s proudly built 20 companies and failed at 17 of them. So when it comes to starting up he knows what he’s talking about.

The other day on Facebook Paul Singh reposted “The Ultimate Cheat Sheet For Starting And Running A Business” by Altucher. When I read through the list, I cracked up. I also knew he was absolutely right on the money. Some of these tips are great!

Altucher published the list with his answer to a question or a tip with no explanation, telling the audience to “listen to me.” If you’re an entrepreneur, you should.

Here are the first 25 tips. Continue on to Altucher’s blog for 75 more that are just as important.

1) C Corp or S Corp or LLC? C-Corp.

2) According to Sun Doc Filings, California and Delaware are excellent states to incorporate in. From your perspective, what state should you incorporate in? Delaware.

3) Should founders vest? Yes, over a period of four years. On any change of control the vesting speeds up.

4) Should you go for venture capital money? First build a product, then get a customer, then get friends and family money (or money from revenues which is cheapest of all) and then think about raising money, But only then. Don’t be an amateur.

5) Should you patent your idea? Get customers first. Patent later. Don’t talk to lawyers until the last possible moment.

6) Should you require venture capitalists to sign NDAs? No. Nobody is going to steal your idea.

7) How much equity should you give a partner? Divide things up into these categories: manage the company, raise the money, had the idea, brings in the revenues, built the product (or performs the services). Divide up in equal portions.

8) Should you have a technical co-founder if you are not technical? No. If you don’t already have a technical cofounder you can always outsource technology and not give up equity.

9) Should you barter equity for services? No. You get what you pay for.

10) How do you market your app? Friends and then word of mouth.

11) Should you build a product? Maybe. But first see if manually your product works. Then think about providing it as a service. Then productize the commonly used services. Too many people do this in reverse and then fail.

12) How much dilution is too much dilution? If someone wants to give you money, then take it. The old saying, 100% of nothing is worth less than 1% of something.

13) Do you listen to venture capitalist? Yes, of course They gave you money. But then don’t do anything they ask you to do.

14) What if nobody seems to be buying your product? Then change to a service and do whatever anyone is willing to pay for.

15) If a client wants you to hire their friend or they won’t give you the business (e.g. like a bribe) what should you do? Always do the ethical thing – hire the friend and get the client’s business.

16) What do you do when a customer rejects you in a B2B business? Stay in touch once a month. Never be angry.

17) In a B2C business: release fast. Add new features every week.

18) How do you get new clients? The best new clients are old clients. Always offer new services.

19) What’s the best thing do for a new client? Overdeliver for the first 100 days. Then you will never lose them.

20) What if your client asks you to do something not in your business plan? Do it, or find someone who can do it, even if it’s a competitor.

21) Should I ever focus on SEO? No.

22) Should I do social media marketing? No.

23) Should I ever talk badly about a partner of an employee even though they are awful? Never gossip. Always be straight with the culprit.

24) I have lots of ideas. How do I pick the right one? Do as many ideas possible. The right idea will pick you.

25) What is the sign of an amateur? Any of these things:

asking for an NDA
trying to raise VC money before product or customers
having fights with partners in the first year. Fire them or split before anything gets out of control
Worrying about dilution
Trying to get Mark Cuban to invest because “this would be great for the Dallas Mavericks”
Asking people you barely know to introduce you to Mark Cuban
Asking people for five minutes of their time. It’s never five minutes so you are establishing yourself as a liar.
Having a powerpoint that doesn’t show me arbitrage. I need to know that there is a small chance there is a 100x return on money.
Catch 22: showing people there’s a small chance there’s 100x return on their money. The secret of salesmanship is getting through the Catch 22.
rejecting a cash offer for your company when you have almost no revenues. Hello Friendster and Foursquare.

Check out the rest of Altucher’s list here!

James Altucher image: thoughtcatalog.com

A Startup World In An Infographic

We know that startup scenes are booming across the United States, but other areas around the globe are also growing, sometimes even faster than their US counterparts. A recent infographic published by the Australian arm of Intuit highlighted the latest Startup Genome data from across the globe and found out that out of the top 20 startup ecosystems across the world, the US only lays claim to six.

Obviously Silicon Valley still ranks in at the top. That’s quickly followed by Tel Aviv which came in second. Many actually refer to Israel as the “startup country,” although most of their startup activity is concentrated in Tel Aviv.

Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston, and Chicago round out the rest of the US entries in the data set.

One of the most interesting pieces of data points to the fact that many entrepreneurs are migrating away from Silicon Valley to other cities across the globe. 35% of startup founders in Waterloo, Canada previously lived in Silicon Valley. The same holds true for 33% of the founders in Singapore and 31% of the founders in Toronto.

Guess who works harder?

If working long hours is an indication of actually working harder Singapore, not Silicon Valley, takes the cake. Singapore entrepreneurs average 11 hours per day while their counterparts in Silicon Valley work an hour and a half less.

Check out all of this intriguing startup city data in Intuit’s infographic below.

Startups In The Fastlane: Velocity Startup Collabra Music

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, 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.

Where 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.

Former Lightbank Associate James Dickerson & Untether.tv Founder Rob Woodbridge Added To Everywhere Else Cincinnati Line Up

You see we weren’t kidding when we told you that Everywhere Else Cincinnati was going to be the place for startups everywhere else. We’ve made a top tier conference affordable for bootstrapping startups all over. Our nearly 30 speakers are the caliber of speakers you would find at tech events in San Francisco, New York, and London.

Today we have the privilege of announcing that Lightbank associate James Dickerson and mobile guru and untether.tv founder Rob Woodbridge have joined the lineup of amazing speakers for the conference.

James Dickerson, Former Lightbank Associate, and founder of Leap

James Dickerson is the founder of Brandery alumni startup Leap. Starting a company is nothing to him, though.

Immediately after college he spent 30 days in the desert with just a blanket, a knife, and a poncho. He then cut his teeth in the sales world as a beer salesman, and anyone who’s ever done that knows how hard it can be. He created a startup called Wellthy that was accepted into The Brandery and then came out as Leap.

Dickerson wasn’t content with being a startup founder. He wanted to make a difference and an impact so he used a pitch deck to get his current position as an associate at LightBank. Lightbank is no stranger to startups everywhere else. Built on the success of Groupon, their portfolio reads like a who’s who of startups from everywhere else: Belly, BenchPrep, Zaarly, SpotHero and Contently don’t even scratch the surface when it comes to their top tier portfolio companies.

Rob Woodbridge, founder untether.tv

To tell you the truth we were scared to book Rob Woodbridge. By his own admission he “never stops talking.” It’s good talk, though, and he’s preaching the entrepreneurial gospel and the gospel of mobile rockstars.

His technology story starts in 1993 the year before Netscape released the first mass market web browser. He started one of the first internet service providers in Ottawa, the kind that you dial into their servers (Never mind you may not know what I’m talking about, but this was a big thing before you ordered internet from your cable company). That company started building custom software applications by 1998 (if you’re keeping score that’s when Mark Zuckerberg was 14).

In 2000 Woodbridge founded a company called getHOW. Soon after the internet bubble burst, and Woodbridge then linked up with SystemScope. After that, he joined OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Center to run the Ottawa Capital Network.

Now he’s the founder of untether.tv which is dubbed “Casual Conversations With Mobile Rockstars.” He’s also the three time emcee of uxcamp Ottawa.

That makes 23 awesome speakers we’ve announced so far, with a couple more big announcements next week. Now would be the time to get your early bird discount ticket or your startup’s early bird Startup Village booth. Here’s the list of speakers we’ve announced so far.

Blair Garrou, Managing Director Mercury Fund
Joe Medved, Partner SoftBank Capital
Naithan Jones, Founder AgLocal
Derek Flanzraich, Founder Greatist
Andrew Warner, Founder Mixergy
Andy Sparks, Co-Founder MatterMark
Wil Schroter, Founder Fundable
Jake Stutzman, Founder Elevate.co
Jonathon Perrelli, Managing Director, Fortify Ventures
Justin Gutwein, Filmmaker and Entrepreneur Startupland.tv
Mark Hasebroock, Founder Dundee Venture Capital
Jason Healy, Founder Blu
John Bracken, Founder Evite and Speek
Dave Knox, CMO Rockfish, co-founder Brandery
Patrick Woods, Managing Director a>m ventures
Sarah Ware, Founder Markerly
John T. Meyer, Founder Lemon.ly
Raghu Betina, Managing Partner The Starter League
Ryan O’Connell, VP Influence & Co
Blake Miller, Managing Director Think Big Accelerator
Michael Bergman, Founder Repp

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Go IdeaCat Is Giving The Idea Marketplace Another Go

Some out there believe an idea is only as good as its execution. We’ve profiled a number of startups that have tried to put some kind of spin on the idea marketplace, where you can go and sell an idea to someone else. We’ve even talked about how startup leaders like David Cohen of Techstars believes that the idea marketplace will never work, and for good reason.

Now, two bright entrepreneurs from a little town outside of New York City have decided to try that idea marketplace again. Jordyn Rikard and Kyle Jergensen have a startup called Go IdeaCat.

So why does this startup have a better chance to succeed?

First off it’s in the pricing. “Investors then place a starting bid of $5 and bids can rise up to $100! Once the bidding is over, the full idea is released to the investor and the idea creator gets their cash,” Rickard explains.

Previous iterations of this same idea have had the ideas on the marketplace for tens of thousands of dollars. In order to get that kind of money you need to be a proven, multimillionaire founder.

Rickard and Jergensen are targeting people who think they may have stumbled onto the next big idea but don’t have the time or know how to execute.

Will it work? Time will tell. In the meantime check out our interview with Rickard below.

What is your startup called?

Go IdeaCat

What does your company do?

Go IdeaCat is an idea sharing network that connects investors with individuals who have great ideas but not the time, resources, knowledge or money to make them a reality. A great idea should never go to waste. Users start by signing up and listing ideas for free. Ideas are kept a secret except for the category the idea falls under and then three specifics chosen by the user as a teaser to the main show. Investors then place a starting bid of $5 and bids can rise up to $100! Once the bidding is over, the full idea is released to the investor and the idea creator gets their cash.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds?

Kyle Jergensen and Jordyn Rickard are the founders of Go IdeaCat. Jordyn Rickard is a freelance writer and marketing guru that currently works full time for Kea Advertising, a full service marketing agency. She’s got the creative brains and the determination to take Go IdeaCat to the next level.

Kyle Jergensen is another creative mind with a degree in Economics and a background in business. He keeps the business on the ground and takes care of everything behind the scenes. Not to mention he has ideas flowing a mile a minute!

Where are you based?

We’re based out of Suffern, New York. A small suburb located just 30 minutes from NYC.

What problem do you solve?

We solve the problem of the dreaded dead end. It’s a bummer when someone has a great idea but can’t make it happen. What happens to the idea? It just sits there or gets forgotten about. By connecting motivated business minds direct with creative brains, we solve the problem of stifled creativity.

Why now?

Good ideas don’t wait. The world as a whole is evolving in every way and creative minds are everywhere. There are millions of great ideas that deserve to become a reality. The next great idea could benefit society as a whole. We just need to make it happen!

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

We’ve just launched a teaser site to get the word out about Go IdeaCat while we work feverishly behind the scenes to get the real site up and running.

What are your next milestones?

Our next milestone will be the official launch of the site! Expected within the month.

Where can people find out more?

To find out more about GoIdeaCat head to www.goideacat.com

Why Your Startup Should Get A Startup Avenue Booth At Everywhere Else Cincinnati

Update 8/29/2013- After being contacted by the legal eagles at SXSW we had to change the name of the startup exhibition at Everywhere Else Cincinnati, from Startup Village to Startup Avenue! Nothing else has changed as far as the Startup Avenue ticket, section, and features are concerned.

The Startup Avenue booths at Everywhere Else Cincinnati are going fast. We have just two early bird discounted booths left at $495 before the price goes up to $749.

Yesterday we brought you 42 reasons to attend Everywhere Else Cincinnati, the national startup conference specifically for startups everywhere else. Our mission is to help startups “Start Where U Are”.

One of the unique things about Everywhere Else is that we make it possible for even bootstrapped entrepreneurs and founders to attend and get a top shelf startup conference experience. For example, early bird attendee tickets are just $99 and early bird Startup Village booths are only $495 (and include 3 attendee tickets). Compare that to some of the other big conferences which cost up to 10x more.

Startup Village will give your startup the opportunity to showcase in front of hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs, and other founders. You’ll be able to rub elbows with angel investors and VC’s from your local region and from everywhere else.

Not only do we have some great VC and angel firms already committed to attend and even speak at the conference (like Fortify Ventures, Dundee Venture Capital, SoftBank Capital, The Mercury Fund and Lightbank), but Everywhere Else Cincinnati is the lead-in to The Brandery’s demo day which is one of the most well attended accelerator demo days outside Silicon Valley. Many of those investors will be at Everywhere Else.

You’ll be able to network with other founders, designers, and developers and possibly find your next rock star teammate.

Your startup will compete against the other startups in the Village for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes that will help your startup get to the next level.

The Startup Village Booth registration includes 10′ x 10′ booth space with 8′ table, 3 attendee tickets, 1 VIP ticket to the investor & startup only luncheon, a chance to pitch on stage, and more. Register for your Startup Village with the early bird discount below.

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Detroit Startup Rapt.FM: From Startup Weekend To Giving Away Major Record Deals

Last week when we wrote about Detroit startup Grand Circus, we talked a bit about Detroit’s entrepreneurial past and that it was fueled by the automotive industry (see what I did there) and music. Startups are crucial to rebuilding the city that was once a beacon of industry in the US. It’s startups and entrepreneurs that are going to help drive Detroit out of bankruptcy and back onto the national stage.

We knew it wouldn’t be too long before we heard about a great music startup in Detroit. Sure, in the 1950’s the music startup that fueled Detroit was Motown, and it was driven by R&B music. Today though, Hip Hop and Rap have taken the place of upbeat party R&B music, the kind that gave Motown its name.

Rapt.FM isn’t a new hip hop record label. Those are a dime a dozen. They’re an entirely new platform for aspiring rap artists. Rapt.fm allows people to rap and collaborate with anyone in the world and have a live audience to watch, chat, and vote. Its also a discovery platform for up and coming artists. Rapt.fm has already given some lucky rappers the chance to open for Mos Def and Royce Da 5’9. Now they’re giving away a recording contract with Tommy Boy Records (think Digital Underground, Naughty By Nature, House of Pain).

We got a chance to talk with CEO and co-founder Erik Torenberg who started Rapt at a Startup Weekend in 2012. Check out our interview below.

What is your startup called?

Rapt.fm

What does your company do?

Rapt.fm is a platform where people can rap with anyone in the world and have a live audience watch, chat, vote for who they like best. It’s also an artist discovery platform — contest winners won the chance to open for Mos Def, Royce Da 5’9, and next month one winner will get a record contract with Tommy Boy Entertainment.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds

Erik Torenberg started the company at Start Up Weekend January 2012 (along with Co-founder Jamie Pitts) because he wanted to learn how to rap. They then won the competition, and a couple other competitions, and realized there were a lot of people like Erik who wanted to rap, and even more who found watching rap entertaining.

Where are you based?

Madis@n Building, Detroit

What’s the startup scene like where you are based?

From Grand Circus piece: “Detroit startup scene is booming – SA Today names Detroit one of the “10 Great Places to be Inspire by Innovation” Fast Company’s piece “How A Young Community of Entrepreneurs is Rebuilding Detroit” called the city a “refuge for techies looking to tackle real problems.” The New York Times also spotlighted Detroit’s tech scene, nothing that hiring in the city’s tech sector is pulling developers from the coasts. Detroit has seen a 10 percent year-over-year increase in tech job listings, which makes the city the fourth in the nation for total employment in the tech industry”

What problem do you solve?

We provide place for users to find others people to rap with, to build their fan bases, and to launch their rap career — from rapping in their basement to opening on stage for a platinum rap artist or winning a record contract. Rapt.fm is going to expand to other music genres in the future.

Why now?

Most other music sites focus on hosting, but not on live interaction between artists and between fans and artists.

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

— In only 6 hours a week, during the month of July we had 7 K users, returning users of which spent an avg of 25 minutes on the site, and 60% of all users were returning

— Launched Partnerships with heavy hitters in music industry.

What are your next milestones?

Launching the full-website September 5th (open 24/7)

Where can people find out more?

rapt.fm Facebook

Is It Time To Slowdown? After Three All Nighters Bank Of America Intern Dies

Intern Death, Moritz Erhardt, Startup Tips

(image: gawker.com)

As entrepreneurs and startup founders, we often work just as hard, if not harder, than interns working for the top firms on Wall Street. Or in London as the case was with 21-year-old Moritz Erhardt.

The young man was a college student who was living at Charedale House in London while working through a rigorous internship program for Bank Of America Merill Lynch’s London office.

Gawker.com reports that Erhardt had come home after three all nighters, had a seizure, and passed away in the shower.

“He was popular amongst his peers and was a highly diligent intern at our company with a promising future,” Bank of America said in its statement. “Our first thoughts are with his family and we send our condolences to them at this difficult time.”

Many summer interns from other investment banks are talking about Erhardt’s death on Wall Street Oasis. While some seem to be sympathetic to the passing of the college student, there are actually many who are critical 0f his situation, saying that you have to work hard to advance in the investment bank world.

Startups are often in the same position. Hackathons are a startup staple. Of course, these aren’t “every day,” and most hackathons do encourage a little bit of rest. But as one person on Wall Street Oasis points out, to pull three all nighters had to have involved a lot of caffeine. Caffeine is even more common for startup founders than hackathons, and what work space doesn’t include coffee, Red Bull, and soda.

Back in May the sad story about our good friend and “Bad Ass Startup Chick”, Denver Hutt was a wake up call to some of us.

When is it time to re-charge the batteries? Comment and share below.

Georgia Student Wins Burn Notice Science Challenge For Laser Communications Device

The hit USA Network TV show Burn Notice wrapped up its second annual Burn Notice Science Challenge earlier this month. The contest targets high school students and asks them to come up with some kind of new science technology that the characters on Burn Notice would benefit from.

If you’re not familiar with the show, it chronicles the life and trials of Michael Weston, a former CIA agent. Weston was once “burned,” meaning that he was dumped by the CIA and had to fend for himself. In this final season, Weston and his gang of rogue spies based in Miami are back working with the CIA again.

Some might equate Burn Notice to a present day MacGyver. Throughout the show Weston tells the viewing audience what he’s doing and why he’s doing it, talking about the toys and gadgets that he is playing with.

As for the contest, it’s put on by USA Network and a prestigious group of scientists judge it. The shows creator Matt Nix said in a statement, “I was blown away by all the creative, clever entries we received – these are some seriously brilliant kids. STEM has always been a passion of mine, and I’m thrilled we were able to give these students a chance to demonstrate their talents in this area.”

The USA Network is no stranger to innovation, startups, and technology. USA Networks founder Kay Koplovitz is also the founder of SpringBoard, a women-centric accelerator/incubator hybrid helping women with their startups. She is also a frequent speaker at startup events including SXSW.

This year’s big winner in the Science Challenge is Craig Owenby, a 2013 graduate of North Gwinnett High School outside of Atlanta. He created a laser communications device that utilizes fluctuating brightness and electrical impulses to audibly transmit messages from more than 100 feet away or around a wall.

It’s our understanding that the technology would actually work, and it would be ideal for situations where cell phone or other radio wave signals were disrupted or unable to penetrate. It would also be a good alternative when you were worried about your messages being intercepted.

The producers of Burn Notice must have felt the same way. Owenby won a $10,000 scholarship and a paid trip to the set to meet the shows stars and creators.

Knoxville Based bounceit Launches Social Decision Making Platform

A group of Knoxville entrepreneurs has launched a new and exciting social decision making app called bounceit. Now social decision making isn’t anything new, we’ve seen several startups try and succeed in this space.

Startups like Brooklyn based JustDecide come to mind when we think about social decision making platforms. Where others have fallen short in the past though, the crew at bounceit has figured out ways to make social decision making more fluid, easy to take in and easier to decide and vote on. Their highly visual platform makes the entire process more intuitive.

Users begin by uploading a question or statement, accompanied by a photo: “Should I buy this outfit?” “Is this car cool?” “Want to go out after the game?” Other users vote your question up or down for yes/no, or like/dislike. A realtime line graph shows you all theirresponses over time to aid in your decision making!

Until bounceit, many people relied on Facebook and their own social networks to help make decisions; “With bounceit!™, a user can post an opinion, decision, idea or just a cool photo, and thanks to our unique line graph they’ll actually see instantly if people agree or not. It’s crowd-sourced decision making at its best! With our graphing capabilities, a user immediately sees if something is a like or a dislike. You can see whether there is overwhelming agreement or any struggle it has gone through among users. That tells a much more powerful story than a bar graph or percentages.” co-founder Gary Hardin told nibletz in an interview.

Hardin explained, “People today research and bounce ideas off friends before they do something or buy an item. bounceit!™ streamlines that process for them. Crowdsourced sharing and decision making is everywhere now. We just make it more fun and in one centralized location!”

Bounceit is now available in the iTunes app store, download it here. For more information visit bounceit.com. Check out Bounceit in person at Everywhere Else Cincinnati.

42 Reasons You Should Attend The National Everywhere Else Conference In Cincinnati

Downtown Cincinnati is preparing to play host to the national Everywhere Else conference September 29-October 1st at the Duke Energy Convention Center. Over 25 top shelf speakers from across the country will be featured in keynotes, round tables, panels, and workshops catering to startups from everywhere else. The goal: to help entrepreneurs “start where you are”.

Startups, entrepreneurs, developers/designers, students, press, and investors from around the world are heading to Cincinnati for the big event. Here’s a great list of reasons why you should get an early bird ticket or early bird Startup Village booth for the biggest startup conference everywhere else.

Startups

Meet & talk to investors
Get a booth to showcase to our 1000+ attendees
Find new talent
Learn from our amazing speakers
Close new deals & partnerships
Top startups will get to pitch on stage

Entrepreneurs

Learn from other top founders & investors
Find out about the latest trends
Meet the speakers & investors
Find a co-founder
Make new partnerships

Investors

Find the hottest startups
Hangout with other investors
Meet awesome entrepreneurs
Enjoy great content
Learn from like minded investors

Developers & Designers

Meet cool startups
Learn from the best
Find new customers or jobs
Network and party
Improve your skills

Corporate Execs & Marketers

Find new partnerships
Top notch networking
Meet decision makers
Find news customers or jobs
Dip your toes into entrepreneurship
Discover the latest trends

Students

Boost your CV
Meet your next employer
Be amazed by our speakers
Learn about top startups
Make important contacts
Kickstart you career

Volunteers

Support the startup community
First 15 get a free ticket
Work along side the Nibletz team
Access to parties
Boost your CV
Get a free t-shirt

Press

Guaranteed News
Interview startup founders
Access to speakers

Oh and of course the Parties! Get your early bird attendee or Startup Village booth below. Here’s an up to date list of speakers (and we still have more to announce)

Blair Garrou, Managing Director Mercury Fund
Joe Medved, Partner SoftBank Capital
Naithan Jones, Founder AgLocal
Derek Flanzraich, Founder Greatist
Andrew Warner, Founder Mixergy
Andy Sparks, Co-Founder MatterMark
Wil Schroter, Founder Fundable
Jake Stutzman, Founder Elevate.co
Jonathon Perrelli, Managing Director, Fortify Ventures

Justin Gutwein, Filmmaker and Entrepreneur StartupLand.tv
Mark Hasebroock, Founder Dundee Venture Capital
Jason Healy, Founder Blu
John Bracken, Founder Evite and Speek
Dave Knox, CMO Rockfish, co-founder Brandery
Patrick Woods, Managing Director a>m ventures
Sarah Ware, Founder Markerly
John T. Meyer, Founder Lemon.ly
Raghu Betina, Managing Partner The Starter League
Ryan O’Connell, VP Influence & Co
Blake Miller, Managing Director Think Big Accelerator
Michael Bergman, Founder Repp

And because John Hall of Forbes said our first event was one of the “Must-Attend 2013 Conferences for Entrepreneurs.”

Online Ticketing for Everywhere Else Cincinnati – “Start Where U Are” powered by Eventbrite

Image: downtown Cincinnati

Ohio Accelerator FlashStarts Sets Demo Day September 23rd, The Big Day For Crowdfunding

Cleveland startup accelerator Flashstarts will show off their first cohort in an investor demo day set for September 23. This date was chosen for its significance to startups across the country. It’s the same day that the SEC’s new regulations allowing general solicitation go into effect. It will be the first time in 80 years that startups can publicly fundraise beyond geographic boundaries, paving the way for crowdfunding for equity.

“In most communities, raising startup money has been a process stuck in the 19th century, limited to fundraising from friends and a few local angels,” said FlashStarts CEO and Co-founder Charles Stack. “With these new SEC changes, entrepreneurs can now use all modern marketing techniques to connect with the nearly nine million accredited investors across the U.S.”

The regulations will have a significant impact on startups by removing the geographic barriers to capital that have traditionally made it more difficult for startups outside areas like Silicon Valley, Boston, or New York to grow and succeed.

On signing the JOBS Act last year that enabled these new SEC regulations, President Obama said, “[S]tartups and small businesses will now have access to a big, new pool of potential investors — namely, the American people.”

“As capital is allowed to flow to ideas and entrepreneurs—regardless of distance and location—the country will enjoy a true national rebirth of capitalism, along with job and wealth creation,” said Stack.

One of the Flashstarts accelerator companies, Crowdentials, is deeply impacted by this change in the regulations. Crowdentials will provide a compliance platform to make sure those that use crowdfunding are doing it legally and within the regulations set forth by the SEC.

Here are the other nine startups graduating from Flashstarts on September 23rd.

AProofed allows writers and editors to collaborate with each other in a marketplace environment. The online cloud-based platform allows editors to become self-employed while improving writers’ academic performances.

BOLD Guidance navigates students through college applications and allows counselors and parents to view their progress. The online platform and app makes the college application process easier with step-by-step guides and automated deadlines, tasks and reminders specific to each application. www.boldguidance.com

The BranDR is committed to helping physicians create and maintain their personal brand identities online. Its mission is to revolutionize the way patients find, select and interact with their doctors, by allowing them to access personalized doctor profiles. www.thebrandr.com

Curiosidy is a new online platform for sharing and promoting life’s meaningful experiences. Users can write about experiences that have shaped them and draw inspiration and insights from a passionate, global community. curiosidy.com

LegalFunnel helps lawyers meet and engage with targeted clients through efficient lead generation and personalized online branding. www.legalfunnel.com

Ohio Independent Cinema strives to inspire an appreciation for independent films by making them more accessible for the general public. The company provides a new distribution option for independent filmmakers.

Smooth is a sophisticated, yet simple personal finance app currently in development. The program generates personalized recommendations that help users improve their standard of living and offers incentives for users to follow the recommendations. www.smoothplanner.com

Synthetic Intelligence sells Big Data cloud and consulting services. The company “makes Big Data go faster”.

RegulatoryBinder.com, a product of Trailhead CFR, is a web application for managing regulatory documents of physician-sponsored clinical trials. The app is the only platform that instantly enables physicians to coordinate a clinical trial without additional procedures or risk.

FlashStarts’ 2013 Demo Day will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST on September 23, 2013. Guests can attend in-person at the NPR IdeaStream Westfield Theater in Cleveland, Ohio, or online via live Internet broadcast. In-person attendance is limited to 250 seats and virtual online attendance is limited to 2,500 viewers. To request a ticket or learn more, visit www.flashstarts.com/demoday.