Monica Selby - 11/16 - Serious Startups

How An Online Platform Could Save Your Mental Health

According to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a full 20% of American adults experienced mental illness in the past year. Most often, these illnesses came in the form of depressive or anxiety disorders.

Yet, the stigma around mental disorders is still prevalent. In our startup culture, we champion the hard-headed, never-say-die entrepreneur. We glamorize the battle to start up and the sacrifices to health and family that many founders are willing to make. And, in the last year we saw not one but two high profile suicides.

Jonas Jones saw firsthand how mental illness affected behavior when he taught in south central LA and the bayous of Louisiana with Teach for America. After he left that organization, he volunteered his time leading groups for local youth.

During that experience he saw for the first time a therapy called “parent child interaction therapy.” Rather than sit with a mental health professional, the parent and child would sit in a room together and the therapist would be behind a two way mirror. An earpiece allowed the therapist to coach the parent through the conversation, and over time helped rewire both the parent and the child for positive interaction.

Jones thought, “There has to be a way to scale this.”

He founded Tao Mountain Inc, a company devoted to building secure online platforms that provide reliable information on a variety of mental health issues. The platforms provide videos, articles, and public discussions around topics such as depression, trauma, eating disorders and more. Profiles are 100% secure, and no one can see what a member is searching for or reading up on.

The first platform is parentchildinteractive.com and focuses on helping parents help their children. Members have access to a wide array of licensed therapists and behavioral experts, all of whom are cleared by an advisory board.

The platform is free to members. Revenue for the company comes through the fees paid by the experts who post videos and facilitate the discussions. The use of an online platform helps these providers scale their own practices and help more people.

Tao Mountain is also able to do a “skin change” and offer branding for corporations that want to provide mental health services to its employees. The example Jones gave me was of the Honolulu police department. Before his company came along, mental health services were offered on a certain floor of a certain building and EVERYONE knew it. If you were seen there, well, obviously you had problem.

The online platform allows members of the force to get the help they need, in the security of their own homes.

Parentchildinteractive.com is fully launched and functional. In the coming months, Tao Mountain will also launch an adult mental health site and a special needs site with the same services.

Tao Mountain is one of the presenting companies at this year’s Angel Capital Expo.

Crowdsource Your Next Concert With Rabbl

One of my favorite things about covering startups is that I often discover problems I didn’t even know existed.

For example, I didn’t know what musicians went through to book concerts. It seems easy to me: call a venue, come play when they’re open anyway, go home.

It turns out I was pretty naive. Booking is actually a cumbersome process that puts a lot of financial pressure on artists who are already strapped. And that’s when they can get in touch with venues, which is hard to manage without connections. With hundreds of emails a day, venues are likely to just default to who they know, even when there isn’t as much demand for the artists.

Besides the issues with booking, there’s a disconnect between a music industry that says “it’s all about the fans” and the reality that fans rarely have a say in when or where their favorite bands play.

Rabbl–a concert crowdsourcing platform–looks to solve all these problems.

CEO and cofounder Wade Lagrone put it this way: “We are taking a marketplace that works on handshakes and back room deals and making it transparent and efficient.”

Here’s how it works:

A band sets up a “rabbl” asking fans if they should play a certain town during a certain week at a certain ticket price. Fans vote YES with their credit card, to be charged only if the show gets booked. If the rabbl reaches its goal, bands look around for a venue, using the already-sold tickets as proof that they will draw a crowd. After the show happens, the band gets the ticket money from the rabbl.

As Lagrone explained, it helps touring artists and fans, but it also takes a lot of risk for the venues out of the process. These venues need to book shows, but whether or not the band will sell tickets can be pure guesswork.

Angel Capital Expo

Along with the consumer-facing portion, the platform signs up partner venues. These venues publish their guidelines for getting booked. For example, they can say an artist needs to sell 30 tickets through Rabbl at $8 a ticket. When a musician reaches that goal, they know they’ll be booked. Clear standards make a true marketplace, replacing the unclear booking process of yesteryear.

On-demand entertainment is the norm in our culture. Books, movies, TV shows–all of these we consume pretty much on our own terms now. Live shows are a holdout, and Rabbl is looking to change that.

Lagrone and cofounder Erik Needham are presenting at the Angel Capital Expo next Thursday. Check out Rabbl online and see if you can get your favorite band to come to your town.

BarTrendr Shows Off The Vibe Before You Get There

Let’s say you’re out one night, and you’re looking for the next good place to go. You could go to any number of bars, but at most of them, the atmosphere can be hit or miss. How do you decide where to go next?

Now, you can open up the Bartrendr app and look over the shoulder of people at the various bars in town. Bartrendr users will check in to a bar and tag a particular vibe to give an idea of the atmosphere that night. Is it loud and fun or more laid back and mellow? Through the Bartrendr app, you can know before you go.

Cofounder Devon Bergman described it almost like a chat room for each bar. A friend across the country can even pop into the app and ask what you’re drinking and how the night’s going. A stranger across the room notices you’re drinking the same thing, and there’s suddenly common ground.

Personally, what I love about Bartrendr is that it’s not just the next fun consumer app. To put it in Bergman’s words, “We’re not just young techies building a cool consumer product.”

Don’t get me wrong. Bartrendr IS a fun consumer app, and I definitely wanted to know when it’ll be available on Android. But, baked into the consumer side is a business model that offers a lot of benefit to everyone involved.

Alcoholic beverage companies spend more money marketing than any other industry in the world. Also, bars are the most checked-into (is that a word?!) places on Foursquare and Facebook. So, it makes a lot of sense to combine those two things and give beer, wine, and liquor companies access to the mood and vibe of any given bar at any given time.

Bergman assured me we’re not talking about obnoxious banner ads. Let’s say you’re meeting friends for drinks and you start with a martini. You mean to stop there, but soon more friends arrive and you order a second. As the night goes on, it’s probably wise to switch to something else.

At this point, a beer company can pop into the app with a fun quiz or trivia fact. Ideally, it’s unobtrusive, a fun addition to the night. But, it will also suggest the perfect beer to switch to, now that the time has come.

Bartrendr has a great team working on it, too. Bergman and his cofounder Francois Modarresse both worked at Dolby before leaving for their startup, and they’ve recruited a former design director from Facebook and a CTO whose previous accomplishments include building several major cloud-based music services.

Bartrendr soft launched in San Francisco over the summer and saw quick adoption rates. They’ve signed on some huge names in the beverage industry and are bringing more in.

Bartrendr is presenting at this year’s Angel Capital Expo. They will use those funds to finish building out their Android app and a few other engineering tasks.

They’re already adding zip codes, so check them out online or in the App Store.

Fetchnotes Makes Note-taking Social

With 3 kids, a husband, and a website to run, it’s safe to say my thoughts are pretty scattered. In any moment I could be thinking about a book to read to my kids, the startup I can’t wait to write about, or what’s for dinner. And, just as quickly as I think about those things, I forget them. Pen and paper are my normal note-taking tools, but after awhile it becomes hard to locate the notes I need to remember.

I am Fetchnotes’ perfect user.

We’ve talked about Fetchnotes before. The note-taking app uses hashtags to allow you to build a system that works for you, instead of forcing you into a one-size-fits-all program. (Here’s looking at you, Evernote.) The whole interface is really simple and clean. In my case, I can open the app and hashtag #kidsbook, #startup, and #dinner in 3 different notes and go on about my day.

Since their launch last year, Fetchnotes has attracted 80,000 users who have used the app to keep over 1 million notes. As the product grew, the team realized that people needed a system that was both productive and social. Sometimes, you just need to share a note with someone.

So, Fetchnotes set to work on a product update that will do just that. Launching today, the new update (iOS only at this time) will allow users to @-tag someone in order to

send them a note. The person you need to communicate with not a Fetchnotes user? No problem! The new update also incorporates your address book, so a non-user will get a text with the note’s details.

“I can literally add something to my husband Chuck’s to do list, by mentioning his name in a note and adding #todo,” board member Lucy McQuilken said in the press release.

The new update is a big step for the note-taking app. They are reaching to become more than just a productivity app. Fetchnotes wants to become your default note-taking and social app.

“Fetchnotes always starts with keeping track of what you need to do and what you want to remember,” CEO Alex Schiff said. “But this release finally bridges the gap to the people those things actually involve. Who you recommend music to, who you share shopping lists with, who you delegate tasks to, and so on.”

The update is iOS only today, but the team plans to roll out web and Android versions soon.

Check out the Fetchnotes website for more information.

Set Me Up Proves That Dating Apps Are Still A Thing

I know what you’re thinking. “Another dating startup? Why?!”

The guys at Set Me Up already know how you feel. Cofounder Abhishek Jain told me there are already 1300-1500 dating apps or websites out there. You can find dating apps that help you hook up, arrange a marriage, or even meet people who love horses as much as you do. So, why do we need another one?

“We’re different!” Abhishek told me. Of course.

But, as I learned more about Set Me Up, I have to admit I was pretty intrigued. Jain and his cofounder Jay Wadhwani see a fundamental flaw in online dating as it currently is. Most sites look to match complete strangers around common interests, regions, or demographics. That method completely ignores the traditional way of meeting someone–through friends and family.

“Online dating today stands sharply in contrast to the fundamental values people believe in as they’re building relationships. People don’t fall in love with online dating profiles or ‘resumes,’ Jain told me. “What’s important is the experiences you share with your partner. Our goal is to kickstart those experiences in the most basic way possible–an introduction through a friend.”

How does it work?

As a user of Set Me Up, you can click on a friend’s Facebook profile and search through their connections. If someone catches your eye, one click will send a message to your friend asking to be introduced.

Besides utilizing social media to make connections, Set Me Up is proud of their privacy screens. Even though the app uses Facebook, the company promises to never post on your wall or otherwise use your profile to market the company. They are also committed to never sharing who is on the app. Despite the ubiquity of dating apps, there can often be a stigma around them, and Set Me Up wants to make the process as seamless as possible.

I wondered if the app was more of a hookup app a la Tinder or if marriage was the ultimate goal of most users.

“In the middle,” Jain said. It’s mostly a dating app, which in theory falls somewhere between hooking up and getting hitched.

So, how’s Set Me Up doing in a world full of dating apps? The company launched out of private beta on November 1 and claim to already have 3 million profiles signed up. Jain credits their integration with Facebook for the fast ramp up. The connection to social media speeds up the process of signing up, which makes it easier for people to try out.

Angel Capital Expo

The company also plans to launch a mobile app in January, and with more people using mobile for more things, they expect to see Set Me Up grow even more.

Set Me Up will be a presenting startup at this year’s Angel Capital Expo, put on by the Keiretsu Forum.

You can connect with the Set Me Up app over at their website and watch for a mobile app in 2014.

Angel Investors Find Startups At Angel Capital Expo

On November 21, 300 accredited investors will invade the Microsoft offices for the 14th bi-annual Angel Capital Expo. They will meet 12 different startups who will all be given a chance to pitch their companies.

“But, Monica,” you say, “why are telling us about an event in Mountain View? I thought Nibletz was the voice of startups everywhere else!”

We are! Which is why we’re very excited to be a media partner for the Angel Capital Expo. The event may be in the Valley, but it is produced by the Keiretsu Forum, a global network of accredited investors. The Keiretsu Forum has 1,100 members in 27 chapters that span 3 continents. By their estimates, that makes them the largest network of angel investors in the world. Their signature event, Angel Capital Expo, features startups from around the world, brought together to pitch to a room of interested investors.

The Keiretsu Forum is unique because it is not a fund. They don’t invest as an LLC, and the members are not required to put up a certain amount. Rather, the members of the Forum facilitate deal flow by sharing resources and due diligence. In other words, each individual investor makes his or her own decisions, but they do so in the support of a large community of other angels.

So, who are the lucky 12 companies who will be presenting to a room full of actual investors? Most of them are in the series A or B phase and have already secured some kind of funding. They span industries from healthcare to real estate to technology. We’ll be featuring several of those companies in the coming days here at Nibletz.

The schedule on the day of the event is intense. A full morning of pitches, followed by a short break, then more pitches. After the event, interested investors can sign up with companies to start the due diligence process.

The way I see it, the Angel Capital Expo is like your typical Investor Day, except it actually ends with real deal flow.

Boulder Startup Announces Thousands & Thousands Of Tiny Robots

This morning Modular Robotics announced a Kickstarter campaign that will bring “thousands and thousands of tiny robots” into the world.

Modular Robotics is the company behind Cubelets, magnetic blocks that can be snapped together to create robots. The toys have experienced some popularity. Time had this to say about the products:

Think of them as gateway drugs into the world of robotics: First, you learn about the basic concept of robotics by connecting Cubelets. Then, using the API, you get a taste of programming. Then you’re hooked, learning C and making your Cubelets do all kinds of things.

Next thing you know, you’re a engineering student at MIT and, boom, high-tech labor shortage over. You’re welcome, America.

Lofty goals for a small company in Boulder, but with its newest creation, Modular Robotics is just raising expectations even higher. After 2 1/2 years of development, Modular Robotics is launching MOSS.

MOSS follows the same idea as Cubelets: tiny robots that require no knowledge of electronics or coding. However, MOSS allows for more dynamic building. Cubelets were blocks that clicked together. MOSS incorporates spherical ball bearings and “rare earth” magnets to connect the modules. The magnets create joints and hinges, allowing the wheels of the car above to actually turn like regular wheels.

With the launch of MOSS, Modular Robotics is also rolling out a few iPhone apps that will allow builders to control their robots from their phones using bluetooh technology. Robots and remote controls in one toy? I’m sold.

Most toys and consumer electronics are built outside of the United States, but Modular Robotics thinks they know a better way. They’ve built a factory in Boulder and all parts of MOSS will be assembled right there. “We get to build robots that help us build robots,” they point out on the Kickstarter page.

Smart toys are increasing in popularity as the world changes. There are competitors in the space, like New York-based Little Bits. However, Modular Robotics offers a simpler experience. Pull the toys out of the box, click them together, and watch your robot work.

The Time excerpt above plays perfectly on every parents’ deepest desire: for our children to be successful. In past years parents plopped their kids down in front of Baby Einstein in hopes of increasing their intelligence. Today’s savvy parents know that if our kids are exposed early to STEM, they may actually have a job later in life. (Unlike most of us, who wasted our time with silly humanities degrees…)

MOSS is officially on Kickstarter, and backers will be the first customers with access to the new toys.

Atlas Demos The Next Fitness Band At Techstars Austin

As a college track coach and marathoner, my husband swears by his GPS watch. I have plenty of friends who love their FitBit or Nike FuelBands. I have to say, though, I didn’t really get the whole wearable tech, fitness analytics thing. Why can’t you just go for a run and do a few crunches for crying out loud? Why the hell do we have to measure EVERYTHING?

I didn’t get it, that is, until I stumbled across recent Techstars Austin graduates Atlas Wearables.

The idea for the Atlas wristband came when CEO Peter Li developed a platform to help motivate his fellow students at Johns Hopkins to get fit. He realized that most of the tools out there only measure subsets of fitness–number of steps for example. He realized customers really needed in depth analytics on what works and what doesn’t.

With that understanding, Atlas is focusing their efforts on showing the type, speed, and quality of the exercises, helping consumers understand what they need to do to lose weight and get fit.

What makes Atlas unique is that it’s not a one-sport wonder. That GPS watch my husband loves will never be able to tell me the quality of the push ups I just did. The Atlas wristband aims to do that, as well as track analytics across other sports like swimming, yoga, and cycling.

It’s an understatement to say that Li and his cofounder Mike Kasparian are qualified to build this type of product. Li has a masters degree in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins. Kasparian studied electrical engineering at Boston University, then designed circuitry for defibrillators at Philips. Combine that with a mutual love of fitness and sports, and it’s obvious this team knows what they’re doing.

It’s still early days, though. Last week the Atlas team graduated from Techstars, but we all know Demo Day is just the beginning. In the coming months, the team will test the wristbands with local gyms and personal trainers to see how well the technology works and what features need to be included. They have already started work on the next iteration and will be offering a small batch to a few early adopters. (Reserve yours here!)

Fitness and health awareness is growing quickly. Consumers are beginning to understand the importance of a good sweat to get and stay fit. Atlas is poised to bring good old-fashioned exercise into the 21st century.

And, it looks like I might finally jump on board, too!

Crowdfunding Goes Feminine

For every great idea, there are a million verticals, and crowdfunding is no different. Did you know there’s a crowdfunding site specifically for veterans? Are you trying to get a park or sports project funded? There’s one for apps, local communities, and nonprofits.

And now, there’s one for women.

Nap Time Startups is still in early days. CEO Vicki Lemay and her team have only been working on it since March of this year, but they’re already planning a beta launch by December.

So, why do women need a separate crowdfunding platform? Are women not getting funded over at Kickstarter or Indiegogo? Lemay’s answer is that Nap Time Startups will offer a completely different experience from the industry giants. They aren’t just a “platform.” Instead they are seeking to build an ecosystem of support from crowdfunding coaching to advice on financial models.

“When the women entrepreneurs join our crowdfunding ecosystem of business coaches, crowdfunding donors, affiliate mentors/advisors and potential equity investors, we all have the same goal – to achieve success,” Lemay said in an email.

Nap Time Startups also hopes to help donors and investors see the potential in a company or product, which could mean entrepreneurs move beyond crowdfunding into straight investment.

As a mom, the name Nap Time Startups brings up visions of women working away while the kids nap. I asked Lemay if they were targeting moms in particular.

“After so many women entrepreneurs that were not moms with children at home reached out needing crowdfunding and business coaching, we expanded our outreach and are absolutely focused on all women entrepreneurs,” she answered. “Everyone needs a nap, right?”

With such ambitious goals, the team at Nap Time Startups probably does, but they probably won’t be taking one soon. Lemay and her team hope to have the Beta site ready to go by December 5 and are already signing up future users. They also have to plan for their competition. There are a few other women-only crowdfunding sites out there. Plum Alley operates a site that incorporates an e-commerce site so women can sell their wares on the same platform they use for fundraising. Like Nap Time Startups, Chic CEO also aims to incorporate education and support in their platform. And, of course, there are Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

But, we all know that ideas aren’t the most important thing in startups. Execution is. If Nap Time Startups can launch a great site and have great mentorship, they have a shot at creating a unique ecosystem that lots of women will love.

If that’s you, check out Nap Time Startups and sign up for the beta.

PandoDaily Bets on the South

Sarah Lacy & Gary Swart at Southland 2013

Just a little while ago, media company PandoDaily announced a new partnership with the Southland conference in Nashville, TN. PandoDaily will provide the programming, and Launch TN, the public/private organization behind the conference, will provide the Southern culture.

I spoke with PandoDaily’s Editor-in-Chief and CEO Sarah Lacy by phone this morning, and it was obvious the Southern girl in her is excited to strike up a partnership in the region.

“I really believe there are some great companies in the South,” she said. “It may not be as dense as the Valley, but there are definitely great companies to be discovered.” (Of course, here at Nibletz we knew that, didn’t we?)

That sentiment plays out in much of Lacy’s career, both with her books and during her time at TechCrunch. Her second book Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky: How the Top 1% of Global Entrepreneurs Profit from Global Chaos was all about discovering entrepreneurs in emerging markets, and her final project at TechCrunch was the historic Disrupt Beijing.

“Some of the companies we saw in China are some of the best companies I’ve seen anywhere,” she stated.

With that discovery in mind, Lacy was eager to talk about some of the innovations the Pando team will be making to the traditional startup competition. We’re all familiar with the endless pitching that happens at tech conferences. There are dozens of companies, but because it has little benefit to the audience, few of them stay to listen, effectively undercutting the most important moment for the startup onstage. There are also strange dynamics when an investor is expected to offer feedback on a company he or she’s had 5 minutes to understand.

At Southland 2013, startups in the competition had to go through a selection process to be chosen. Under PandoDaily’s direction in 2014, that process will be even more rigorous and will result in only 10 companies competing. Conference-goers can sit through 5 pitches a day, right?

To guarantee that, Lacy will also innovate the actual format. Startups are often at a disadvantage during a pitch, because when an investor asks a smart question, it can appear disrespectful or argumentative for the founders to argue a point. However, if they’re quiet, they don’t get to fully defend their company. At Southland 2014, each startup in the pitch contest will have a personal coach in the industry. This person will spend time with the startup and get to know their company. Then, they will join the startup onstage and act as an advocate during the judge’s questions.

There’s nothing more entertaining that 2 experts verbally sparring, am I right?

Lacy was also excited about some of the video and audio they plan to experiment with.

“The best things about conferences happen backstage, and those are stories that don’t get told,” she said.

So, at Southland 2014, there will be cameras rolling backstage to catch some of those stories for the PandoDaily team to use.

I asked Lacy if this signaled a shift in content strategy for them, and if the fundraising rumors were true. Of course, she wouldn’t comment on the fundraising, but it would definitely make sense for them to begin seeking capital from outside of the Valley. Because they’ve raised money from almost everyone in Silicon Valley, they are free from any one investor owning a large portion of the company. As a media company covering these investors, that makes it easier to be less biased in coverage. If they’re beginning to branch out, raising money from the big VC’s everywhere else makes sense for the same reasons.

As far as shifting coverage to outside of the Valley, Lacy kind of shrugged that off, too.

“We aren’t putting reporters on the ground in every region or anything,” she said. “But we do hope to uncover the best startups around the country and connect them with our audience.”

The truth is, the South doesn’t get enough love. We’re often connected with horrible statistics in racism, education, obesity, and poverty. But every Southerner, including Sarah Lacy, knows there’s more to the story. There are amazing companies down South, doing things only a Southern company could do.

And, they’re servin’ it up with a, “Hey, y’all!”

Upstart Graduates 5 New Female-Led Companies

It seems that everywhere I go, people are talking about women in tech and women in startups. Everyone has an opinion on why it’s hard for women in tech (or IF it’s hard). Some think the solution comes from changing institutions to accommodate families. Others think women just need to embrace careers and quit being timid.

There are plenty of opinions, but we in the startup world know that execution matters more than theory. Yesterday in Memphis, execution was on display.

The people behind Start Co in Memphis, TN are actually doing something to advance women in tech, and the fruit of that labor was seen in the 5 teams that presented at Upstart’s Demo Day. I talked about Upstart in July, and like most Demo Days, it’s amazing to see how far the companies have come in a few short months. Of course, it’s still early days for all the companies, and everyone knows the real work begins after Demo Day.

WeddingWorthy.com–WeddingWorthy.com was a late addition to Upstart cohort, but when leaders saw how serious founder Tameesah Desangles was about her business, they felt she’d earned a place at Demo Day. Desangles’ company is a visual shopping platform for brides and their bridesmaids. There are thousands of things to buy for a wedding, and with 25 retailers on board, there are plenty of options.

Artwardly–Leni Stoeva changed her business model quite a bit during the accelerator, but the final product is an art-leasing platform that connects high-end art and individuals and businesses. No more Fortune 500 companies with Aunt Ida’s black and whites in the lobby. With her connections in the art world, and some great developers building the platform, Stoeva is on pace to change the way collectors, businesses, and even museums source their art.

GemPhones–We’ve written about GemPhones before, and founder Kelli Meade is still going strong. GemPhones is electronic jewelry, combining the function of earphones with the style of necklaces. Lots of people flaunted their GemPhones at the after parties, and it’s really impressive how many styles are already available.

Stylecrook–A native of Bermuda, founder Zakkiyah Daniels came all the way from Thailand to participate in the Upstars accelerator. Stylecrook is a social shopping site that allows you to receive discounts when you enlist your friends to help you pick out clothes. Let’s face it, that’s how most women shop best anyway. Stylecrook is now making it digital.

Kids360Now–Audrey Jones started her presentation with a sobering story about children harmed at a day care and taken to a hospital, but because their parents contact information was inaccessible, the parents didn’t find out until pick up time. Kids360Now solves that problem by putting the information into the parents’ hands, and allowing them to grant access when needed. A daycare administrator can simply open an app on her phone in the even of emergency, rather than trying to reach a file cabinet.

The women of the first Upstart cohort made big strides in the 3 months of accelerator life. We at Nibletz are cheering them on as they continue to grow and develop their companies.

Refinery29, Vox, and the Content Trend That Won’t Stop

Last week, I wrote a little primer on content companies–what kinds are out there and how they’re making money.

This week two media companies are announcing some big fundraising rounds. Vox Media, based in Washington DC, announced closing on $34 million of a $40 million round. New York’s Refinery29 will close a $20 million Series C.

Vox Media is the publisher behind SB Nation and The Verge, as well as the newer Polygon. Their overall strategy centers around finding a vertical in which well-educated, fairly wealthy people are interested (sports, tech and gaming, so far) and developing the tech that will bring a great reading (and ad) experience. They sport the typical banner ads and are working on branded video series to keep the revenue coming in. Currently, the Vox Media properties see 60 million unique visitors a month, a number that makes expensive branded content a little more viable.

The Refinery29 story is particularly interesting because, as PandoDaily’s Erin Griffith reports, their funding will specifically help them pivot to a content-only company, as opposed to the content and commerce model they were experimenting with. In turns out that, at least for Refinery29, selling things directly wasn’t working out as well as expected. Only 5% of 2012 revenue came from commerce, while 95% was generated through ads and “branded experiences.”

Both companies rely on the typical advertising avenues, but they are also experimenting with branded content. This could work exceptionally well for these sites, which have a strong brand personality of their own.

Right or wrong, in tech we often look to investments as the first milestone to success. If investment dollars say anything, it’s a big moment for media companies, many of which are being built everywhere else. We’ve come a long way from relying only on individual blogs and AOL news, and these companies are trying to build brands that will stand the test of time. Can they do it? Investors seem to think so.

Fortune Names the 2013 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs

At Nibletz, we love to hear and tell stories of awesome women entrepreneurs. People often think that women are getting the short end of the startup stick, but when you look around, it’s easy to see female-led companies excelling in almost every space.

Fortune agrees that it’s important to celebrate women entrepreneurship. Since 2009 they have come out with a list of the 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs of the year. Women like Susan Koger of ModCloth, Sheila Lirio Marcelo of Care.com, and Rashmi Sinha of Slideshare have all been on past lists. In order to be considered, companies must have revenue in the $1 million to $25 million range. They aren’t necessarily household names (yet!), but the Fortune panel believes they have created innovative solutions that will become global.

This year’s list includes a woman making the construction industry more “green” and the founder of ticketing company Eventbrite. Many of the women have built companies around problems they themselves encountered in every day life. Frankly, if Sari Davidson had invented the SippiGrip when my kids were babies, my life would have been totally different!

What I find interesting about this list, though, is the age of the women included. We usually think of startups as a youth-only space. Hoodies and all-night hackathons are for 20-somethings. However, the youngest woman in the group is 31, and the average age is 43. For the most part, they aren’t building tech giants, but they are solving real problems in innovative ways.

The ten women on this year’s list will be honored at the 2013 Most Powerful Women Summit that starts today in Washington, DC. Here are the women included:

Sarah Collins, Founder, Natural Balance
Sari Davidson, CEO and Chief Booginhead, BooginHead
Ann Hand, CEO, Project Frog
Julia Hartz, Co-Founder, Eventbrite
Leila Janah, Founder and CEO, Samasource
Jules Pieri, Co-Founder and CEO, The Grommet
Maria Rios, President and CEO, Nation Waste, Inc.
Lori Steele, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Everyone Counts
Lisa Stone, Co-Founder and CEO, BlogHer
Rose Wang, Founder and CEO, Binary Group

Find out more at the Fortune Conferences website.

Tackk Wants to Prove Tech Can Be Done Anywhere

Crain’s Cleveland Business Journal is reporting that Cleveland-based Tackk recently received $1.2 million dollars in a funding round led by ff Venture Capital out of New York. The 1-year-old startup helps users create simple web pages, a la Tumblr. In fact, Tumblr-size success is the exact mark they’re shooting for.

“We invest in companies where we think they can change the behavior of millions of people. I can see absolutely no reason why you can’t have millions of people using this,” John Frankel of ff Venture Capital told the Cleveland Business Journal.

“Ridiculously simple creation + sharing,” it says on the Tackk homepage. And, it is just that simple. The homepage allows you to drag and drop pictures, edit text, and play with colors, fonts, and backgrounds without even creating an account. (Registration is required if you want your Tackk up longer than a week.) The Tackkboard allows you browse Tackks on a variety of topics, and you can like and share your favorites.

Despite the comparisons to Tumblr, Tackk isn’t necessarily seeking to become a huge social network. CEO Christopher Celeste told TechCrunch’s Anthony Ha that they were more interested in helping people create and tag content, then push it out through whatever social media or physical way they desire.

The recent seed round will be used build out a mobile platform and make it easier to browse Tackks.

According to the Business Journal, investors suggested the team move to New York to complete the next stage of development. The team said no way, and they are now building what they hope is the next great content creation tool right at home in Cleveland.

As the voice of startups everywhere else, we at Nibletz think that’s a great decision, but it’s not one that every company makes. I asked Eric Bockmuller why he would want to stay in Cleveland, when all the money is telling him to move.

Our founding team was born and raised in Cleveland, we have a connection with the city that I think only fellow Clevelanders understand. We see an opportunity to create something special that typically doesn’t happen here. We know it may be more of a challenge, but we understand that we’re not just building a great Cleveland company. We’re building a great company that lives in Cleveland but impacts the whole world.

The second part of his answer was surprising: talent.

Many startups tell us it is hard to recruit good talent outside of Silicon Valley, but Bockmuller doesn’t see it that way. With tons of talented students graduating from the universities in and around Cleveland, the Tackk team is seeing many who are willing to stay at home and build the next great tech company.

Bockmuller also acknowledges that there will be challenges. Without success stories going before them, they have fewer mentors and examples than you find in the Valley. It’s also more time consuming to meet with investors when that meeting involves a flight. But Bockmuller is an entrepreneurs and has a cheerful answer for these challenges:

There will always be the questions around talent, money and scalability being based in Cleveland and we believe the opportunity to overcome those questions is now with Tackk…it only takes one to change a region.

Go check out Tackk and keep up with them on Twitter.