Comments Off on DC HealthTech Startup MedClimate Presents At TechBUZZ0LikeLike 2,094
MedClimate, a DC area startup in the HealthTech field, presented last week at TechBUZZ as part of Capital Connection 2012.
MedClimate is looking to take a problem that many new and expectant parents face with doctors and that is, getting questions answered without increasing wait times in already packed waiting rooms. As Tim Barnes, Founder of MedClimate, points out in his pitch, everyone has experienced long waits at doctors offices.
What you may not have considered is that as information has become more and more available to patients, including new parents and expectant parents, wait times in waiting rooms are increasing because more patients are asking more questions. This definitely makes sense when you’re the parent, or patient, but never in the waiting room itself.
Through a disruptive approach to appointment management and using things like videos, video messaging, and making web and mobile appointments, medclimate hopes t o streamline care and make wait times less painful. They plan on doing this all and still allowing for an increase in patient/parent care questioning.
MedClimate plans to use video conferencing to allow patients to ask questions and get immediate feedback from their doctors from the comfort of their own home, or office, while still allowing the practitioner to collect payment via insurance.
The ultimate goal is to not affect everyones already busy schedule with unnecessary appointments.
Comments Off on E-vite founder John Bracken Shows Off HIs New Startup Speek VIDEO0LikeLike 3,982
Before “Startup” was one word, before Facebook and Google alumni were the “in crowd” in the startup scene, and before everyone had cable internet, a new revolution was happening in the Washington DC area. That revolution was AOL alumni founding startups.
John Bracken is one of those AOL alumni. At the time, the largest consumer online service was based in Northern Virginia. We call it a consumer online service because Steve Case said last week at an event that it wasn’t before AOL turned six years old that the service could actually access the internet. Commercial companies were banned until then.
If you think you’ve heard Bracken’s name before you might have. He was a co-founder for e-vite which was the original online invitation and event service. This was years before Eventbrite.
Well Bracken is back and just like e-vite, Bracken’s new startup self serves a problem that he has had with conference calls. A problem that he knows others have. In fact a startup in the conference call space, UberConference, won the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield Cup last week in New York.
Bracken’s startup is called Speek and it allows people to initiate conference calls much easier than they could with traditional conference calling methods. With Speek, long gone are the days of tedious 800 numbers to remember, and unusually long codes to remember.
Comments Off on DC Startup: Naaya Great For Kids, Great For Parents VIDEO0LikeLike 2,589
Washington DC area serial entrepreneur Amir Hudda is at it again. This time though, he’s created a new startup for his kids. Hudda has had several successful exits bringing tens of millions of dollars in profit to his investors.
The story goes a bit like this. As busy as Hudda is, he and his wife still noticed that his children spend a great deal of time on the computer. Furthermore they spend even more time on iPods,iPads,iPhones and as Hudda puts it “i-everything”. With his background in technology he wanted to do something about this problem but he didn’t want to strip his children of technology.
That’s we he founded Naaya. Naaya is a web and mobile based learning platform that provides a lot more than simple coloring games and match the picture games. The World Of Naaya takes kids through a fully immersive experience where they explore worlds, while learning robust curriculum targeting reading, social studies and 21st century skills.
While there are a lot of companies offering e-learning through the web and mobile Naaya is the first that isn’t targeting just kids and students. Hudda wants parents, teachers and schools to get involved as well.
Naaya features an entire parent portal that will offer reporting to the parent on what the child has been learning, messages they have been sending and receiving, and target areas where the child may need help.
Comments Off on DC Startup: Hitch An Uber Alternative To Taxicabs VIDEO0LikeLike 2,758
We were asked several times at the TechCocktail event Thursday night who our favorite startup was at TechBUZZ earlier in the week. In my opinion it was a three way tie between Syllabuster, Cont3nt and Hitchrides.com
Hitchrides.com is another alternative source for transportation in the form of an app. It blends crowdsourcing, social networks and transportation. Hitch is good for the environment and for the user.
David H Miller the founder of Hitch says that Hitch is a way for drivers to make money whether they are driving to or from work, down the street, around town or a long ways away. It’s like the ride-share section of Craigslist but safer, more efficient and for money.
Comments Off on DC Startup: Cont3nt.com Was Just About King At Capital Connection TechBUZZ0LikeLike 3,273
(photo: dcfounders.com)
This year at Capital Connection/TechBUZZ in Washington DC, Cont3nt was just about king. Cont3nt is an awesome new platform that helps monetize citizen journalism in new ways. The theme around the site is free press and free money and it’s the brain child of founder Anton Gelman.
Before we dive all the way into the story, this particular story isn’t just about Cont3nt, it’s also about Gelman who’s family came to the United States as refugees, to seek the very freedoms that power Cont3nt. It’s also about Gelman because he is one of the nicest people in the DC startup community and a master networker. While we are in DC quite a bit we’re not based there, yet we manage to bump into Gelman at every single event.
By the time last Thursday night had rolled around we had scene Gelman’s pitch for cont3nt four times, never skipping a beat.
So what is cont3nt? Well you can learn more in the pitch video below but in summary, cont3nt is a platform for free lance semi-pro and pro videographers to post content and monetize it at the same time.
The problem today is that social media is kicking traditional medias ass in sourcing video content for major news events. While it takes major news networks hours if not days to prepare to source a story, and hundreds of thousands of dollars to boot, the citizen journalist and the semi-pro and pro freelancers can jump on the news in minutes. Sometimes, they luck into a story as it unfolds before their eyes.
Using content’s proprietary delivery methods the top traditional media firms in the world can get access to this content in minutes rather than hours or days.
Cont3nt offers a variety of methods for selling content on the site to freelance journalists. The journalist can decide if they want to sell an exclusive piece to one outlet or license it out to several.
While cont3nt bills itself as citizen journalism, by Gelman’s own admission it’s the first market place for freelancers with some experience to get their pieces sold. It almost mirrors the “stringer” system that died sometime in the 90’s. (I used to string for CNN Radio and Gannett).
There are other consumer focused citizen journalism sites out there like rawporter which is designed for anyone with a smartphone to report the news and get paid for it,
People seem to like it. That’s why Cont3nt was just about king at the recent Capital Connection/TechBUZZ conference. Gelman and cont3nt were selected a week before the conference by Startup America as their entry into the TechBUZZ competition. With minimal time to prepare Gelman pitched on Wednesday of last week at TechBUZZ.
Cont3nt was selected as one of the top 3 best of the buzz at TechBUZZ and had to pitch for a second time on Wednesday and then on Thursday again as an entry into the “main stage” pitches as part of Capital Connection.
To top that off, Gelman also pitched one more time on Thursday night at the TechCocktail event featuring a keynote from Startup America CEO Scott Case.
Capital Connection is an event 25 years strong, puling together all facets of the private investment industry. The day and a half long conference this past week included one day of early stage, and pre-funded companies called TechBUZZ while Thursday featured many of the regions biggest growth companies.
Wednesday’s TechBUZZ event featured 28 startup companies. 26 were vetted by the TechBUZZ committee while the 28th company was selected in conjunction with Startup America. The Startup America winner was CONT3NT.
One of the best ideas that we saw on Wednesday was Vienna Virginia based Kinergy Health. Kinergy Health was founded by health tech serial entrepreneur and CEO Neil Agate and connects family members, doctors and caregivers, managing a loved ones care, in the cloud.
As someone who has spent a good deal of time in the hospital in the last two years I can tell you that the idea behind Kinergy Health’s MyKinergy product resonated with me and my loved ones when I described it to them.
If you’ve ever been to the hospital, whether your a kid, in your thirties like myself, or well into your elder years, the time between doctor visits and the miscommunication that comes with those visits can be nerve wracking for the patient and their family. Your primary care doctor gives one order while your internist or oncologist gives another, and no one seems to know when you’ll ever go home.
While at the Capital Connection/TechBUZZ conference in Washington DC this week we got to meet Chris Hertz and Craig Zingerline, the co-founders of Washington DC based startup Barrel Of Jobs. They were one of 28 new startups that presented their business in a four minute presentation on Wednesday at the conference.
Of course by the name, Barrel of Jobs, you already know it has something to do with jobs and careers. With Barrel of Jobs though, we’re not talking bout the next monster.com or Career Builder. Barrel of Jobs is a social recruiting platform to connect employers to the best candidates. Barrel of Jobs is using the social web to help recruiters, employers and even startups, find the best talent.
As the baby boomer generation starts to retire, recruiters and HR Departments are looking to find the best young talent possible. With the current generation in the talent pool we’re all accustomed to the traditional online tools for jobs. Tools like monster.com, Career Builder and other job websites are getting crowded with jobs and applicants. Because of this, more and more talent seekers are turning to the social web to find the best applicants.
Their is a problem with the way recruiters are using the social web right now though, and that is that they really can’t penetrate past the first node in terms of finding applicants. Another problem is the fact that some of the best candidates are already employed, and they’re passive job seekers. This means that they’re employed but may consider changing employers if the best opportunity was presented to them.
Capital Connection TechBUZZ ’12 Had Steve Case as the Keynote speaker at the end of the two days. In 1985 Steve Case founded AOL. It was the first internet company to go public, it was the largest media acquisition of its time.
When crowdfunding was brought up he spoke about the ability to raise funds for projects via indiegogo or kickstarter Recently he has been spending a lot of time in Washington DC convincing the US Government to deal with entrepreneurial issues and American jobs. When asked how he feels about crowdfunding (JOBS Act) he mentioned the fact that it has been passed and is waiting for the SEC to finish their part. The law had previously stated that it was illegal to sell private equity to investors online. “You can sell the whole business – 100% but you will go to jail if you sell 1%” Case stated “for the first 6 years it was illegal for us to connect to the internet.” The JOBS act focuses on modernizing an extremely old system.
In this short clip he discusses the benefits he sees in crowdfunding for startups and where it will may have the biggest benefit. As we are well aware, if you are in North Dakota, Philly, St Louis, Chicago, or Everywhere Else – it is very difficult to get covered by media outlets or to raise seed or angel capital. This is where we come in. We are planning on driving across the country for just over a year meeting with startups, incubators, accelerators, and their towns. While we cannot directly assist in helping you raise capital, we are sneaker strapped ourselves, we can help get your names out. We will come to your city and spend time with you. We don’t discriminate against a lack of funds being raised or lack of angels in your region. We only care about meeting startups who are making a go at something new.
We do need some help though, which explains the title of the article, our case has been made by Steve Case himself. Take a look below:
Comments Off on DC Startup Syllabuster Is A Life Saver For College Students: Capital Connection 2012 Interview Video0LikeLike 2,146
Georgetown student Carlos Cheung pitches his startup "Syllabuster" at Capital Connection/TechBUZZ (photo: nibletz inc)
At Capital Connection 2012/TechBUZZ we got to hear Carlos Cheung pitch startup Syllabuster. During the pitch he kicked off his four minute pitch session immediately diving into the problem that Syllabuster solves.
College students party hard and study harder, but sometimes the partying takes over. Now Syllabuster isn’t just an app for partying college students, a lot of college students have busier lives now than they ever had in the past, and may ever have in the future.
Syllabuster is an innovative new academic management platform, designed by college students for college students. It has a user friendly UI and unlike other academic management apps a student actually designed it. Cheung is a student at Georgetown so you know that it’s solid.
We talk with Cheung came up with the idea of Syllabuster at Startup Weekend DC and was able to attract three rock star cofounders including co-founder and CEO Minh Nguyen who sold his startup Plaxo to Comcast for $150 million dollars. Brad Birdsall and Matt Gaidica also joined Syllabuster as co-founders. Birdsall and Gaidica’s startup Lander.com is being acquired by scan.com
Cheung is hoping to move Syllabuster to a public beta in the coming weeks and launch officially in the fall when students are preparing for yet another busy and hectic year. Syllabuster currently have a working prototype and a Launch Rock set up on their website for people to sign up for the beta, and for news about this innovative platform.
Comments Off on Baltimore Black Owned Startup: Point Click Switch Presents At TechBUZZ DC0LikeLike 2,058
Point Click Switch CEO & Co-Founder Phil Croskey Speaks At TechBUZZ DC (photo: Nibletz inc)
Phil Croskey,, CEO and Co-Founder of Black Owned Baltimore Startup, Point Click Switch took the stage today for four minutes to talk about his business which has a solid foundation to stand on because “everyone needs electricity”.
Point Click Switch is a web based application that helps people who live in de-regulated states discover, compare and sign up for utilities. The deregulated states are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida,Georgia, Illinois, Indiana,Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan,Montana,Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington DC, and West Virginia.
Point Click Switch is like an Expedia or Hotels.com for your energy choices. The site aggregates 7-10 of the most competitive offers and allows the user to compare rates and offers side by side from the comfort of their computer.
When the user is done making their selection, Point Click Switch allows them to initiate service through their site. They will still be billed by the utility itself and they will also still call the utility directly with outages and problems.
Croskey told us that he thinks the rest of the country will eventually adopt the deregulation of energy and electricity which will add an even larger base for Point Click Switch.
Comments Off on Disrupt Is Like Shark Tank, Capital Connection & TechBUZZ Are Like Pitching To Trump0LikeLike 1,765
We saw some of the best and brightest new startups from primarily the greater Washington DC area, at TechBUZZ today. TechBUZZ kicks off the annual CapitalConnection conference which focuses on private equity, startups, growth companies and emerging trends.
Capital Connection is celebrating its 25th anniversary super serving the private investment community in the greater Washington DC area. When Capital Connection first started out most of the investors invested in companies within 100 miles of their homes here. Nowadays with the global change in startup climate, angel funding and venture funding, the hundreds of investors at the conference represent a global community.
Although we’ve been to Launch, DEMO and TechCrunch Disrupt (even yesterday), Capital Connection feels different. It’s a more seasoned crowd of investors ranging from angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity firms and more. Where you get the feeling that the angel and VC firms we read about in TechCrunch and PandoDaily every day, are great people but even fairly new themselves, the Capital Connection conference feels like more seasoned, and dare I even say “old money”.
A better analogy may be, that where pitching at TechCrunch Disrupt, DEMO or Launch would be like pitching to Shark Tank, Capital Connection feels more like pitching to Donald Trump.
Where we wore shots and nibletz t-shirts yesterday we’re in slacks and polos today and possibly a bit underdressed. If you’ve ever been to a startup conference it’s typically shorts, crocs and your startups t-shirt. Presenters today are in long sleeves, some with their startup t-shirt hanging out and some in ties and jackets.
All of this atmosphere makes the pitch seem a little more formal and probably a little tougher on the startup.
We’ll be bringing you coverage over the next couple of days from this amazing conference.
Thursday (May 24) Is a day of two cases first Steve Case (L) then Scott Case (R) (not related)
This week on the nibletz startup road trip we will be in New York for Disrupt and DC for Capital Connection and an event with TechCocktail.
Capital Connection is a one and a half day convention/conference being held in Washington DC Wednesday May 23rd and Thursday May 24th. It’s one of the nation’s most respected industry conferences and showcases emerging, growing companies (startups).
“For 25 years, Capital Connection and now TechBUZZ, have brought together a high-powered cross section of the nation’s technology-based, high-growth ecosystem. Attendees include senior players from across the industry – investors across the continuum of capital, professional advisors, technology product and service firms, and, at the center of it all, innovative entrepreneurs.” source
The conference is divided into two tracks one on Wednesday afternoon and the other on Thursday. Wednesday afternoon is “TechBuzz” and features early stage startup companies. The TechBuzz companies will square off in a familiar quick pitch setting. Each company will have 4 minutes to present and two companies will present simultaneously, according to their website.
Later on Wednesday afternoon the best of the TechBuzz presenters will square off again in a “semi final” type round called “Best of the Buzz”.
The Capital Connection presentations involve early, expansion and growth companies that have been vigorously vetted prior to their presentation. During the application process, the companies presenting in the Capital Connection presentations are scrubbed for “the soundness of their financial model as well as the innovation and potential of their ideas”.
Over the 25 years of the Capital Connection conference it’s been a virtual who’s who of the best tech in the region has to offer.
The Thursday afternoon festivities will be capped with a keynote by AOL founder and Chairman and CEO of Revolution, Steve Case.
Later on Thursday evening we’ll move over to the TechCocktail sessions event with Startup America CEO and Priceline Founding CTO T. Scott Case. The other case (Scott) gives great, almost guy next door presentations on startups, the startup ecosystem and Startup America.
Nibletz Staff
MedClimate, a DC area startup in the HealthTech field, presented last week at TechBUZZ as part of Capital Connection 2012.
Kyle
Cameron Wright
