FreeOsk Automates Free Samples

You see some crazy new things at tech conferences. One of our favorites at Chicago TechWeek was the large booth full of Pringles. Kendall was happy to explain.

FreeOsk will be placed in retail outlets across the country and stocked with whatever free samples the retailer wants to give out. Beauty supplies, food, travel products. Anything that will fit through the vending slot.

When the customer comes in, they can just swipe their loyalty card and a free sample comes out. In outlets like drugstores or WalMart, the free sample offerings could change every week, giving customers yet another reason to come back.

Check out our quick interview with Kendall from FreeOsk.

Check out more of our Chicago TechWeek startup coverage here.

A Must Attend Conference For Startups Everywhere Else, Early Bird Discounts Going Away

The inaugural “everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference” was heralded by forbes.com as a “Must attend” This one of a kind conference caters to the collective trials, problems and victories unique to startups “everywhere else”, giving founders from anywhere USA access to the kind of conference that typically costs thousands of dollars to attend.

The first conference, held February 10-12th in Memphis Tennessee was attended by over 1200 attendees from 43 states, 7 countries and 3 continents with over 75 startups in the startup village from an equally large footprint across the country, and around the world. Attendees were treated to keynotes, workshops, networking, pitch contests and three great after party events.

On day one all of the attendees went together to the Memphis Grizzlies vs Minnesota Timberwolves game. The other, overflowing parties included one at the world famous Ernestine and Hazels (a brothel over 30 years ago) and Raiford’s a one of a kind discotech djed by an old man with a cape that brought the house down. Far and wide people are still talking about that party.

We’ve got some amazing things lined up for our next Memphis conference February 17-19 2014 and an even bigger announcement at the end of July (stay tuned).

We have longer sessions, even better content, catered breakfast and lunch sessions, learning sessions on marketing, branding, startup accounting and legal issues and much more. Mike Muhney the godfater of CRM and founder of ACT, Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, Jonathon Perrelli, Danny Boice, several 500 Startups founders, YCombinator Founders and Techstars founders and many more have already committed to the next conference and we’ll have a bunch more announcements in the coming weeks.

With that in mind you want to act now and get your attendee tickets or startup village booth during the early bird discount period where you can get tickets to the next conference (and startup village booths) at the same rate as last year. Attendee discounted tickets are $59 and Startup Village booths (including 3 tickets) just $395. These discounts absolutely end July 6.

Startup Village booths get:

3 conference passes for your team. Exhibitors will have the same access as paid attendees to everything found here
Tickets to all of our after conference events
pitch contests
8×10 exhibit booth space
6 foot table
Description in our professionally printed program
Description on the everywhereelse.co website (startups will be posted starting October 15)
Early access on to set up and late access to take down
Yes you can purchase extra tickets for team members beyond the initial three tickets. Those “exhibitor guest” tickets are only $50
Can we sell stuff at our booth YES
Can we demo our app at our booth YES
Just so we’re clear if your team is 3 people or less, you DO NOT need to buy additional attendee tickets.
We do ask that your booth is manned by at least one human being from your team during all exhibition hours but feel free to rotate that human and enjoy the rest of the event.

I’m Up All Night To GetLusty, Check Out This Chicago Startup

“End Boring Sex”

That’s the motto of Chicago startup GetLusty. GetLusty is an online platform geared towards married couples and couples in long term relationships. “Sometimes the lust just runs out, and you’re still very much in love,” founder Erica Grigg told us at Chicago TechWeek.

Grigg, who previously founded a digital agency, started GetLusty after the lust in her marriage died out. She’s not ashamed to let people know that her and her husband’s sex life had become repetitive and it was the same thing every time.

The Ladies Home Journal reports that Grigg’s sex life dried up because she and her husband couldn’t communicate properly about it. “She was too nervous to explore what turned her on, and her husband was equally dudly (not studly) in his inability to reassure and encourage her,” wrote Amy Keyishian writer for the Ladies Home Journal.

GetLusty is a well thought out, professional web platform. It features over 800 articles on how to improve your sex life. They also have a marketplace with hand selected merchants and a guide to curated, safe events. Nothing about the GetLusty website screams PORN. The content focuses on areas like: getting better sexual technique, improving communication, date more and date better, increasing adventure and staying healthy.

Grigg is adamant about GetLusty being about couples, to help couples improve their sex lives.

The company launched into beta just in time for Valentine’s Day this year. They were one of 70 startups featured in StarutpCity at Chicago TechWeek. Check out our video interview with Grigg below. Ready to end boring sex? Go to getlusty.com

Check out some more startups from Chicago TechWeek

Former Groupon Employee’s Startup Scalpr Is The Uber of Ticket Sales

Get this: Sometimes startups actually LEAVE Silicon Valley and move to “everywhere else.”

That’s what Scalpr did. They quickly found that the market for last minute ticket sales wasn’t hot in San Francisco. So, rather than finding an idea that fit the city, they up and moved to where they knew they’re idea was viable.

So, what does the Chicago-based company do? Basically, they make it easy to buy last minute tickets from other fans. For example, let’s say I had tickets to a Memphis Grizzlies game, but then my boss tells me I have to work late (jerk). Rather than letting the tickets go to waste, I can throw them up on Scalpr and let someone else enjoy the game instead.

Check out Kyle’s interview to see how it works.

We’ve got even more great startup coverage from Chicago TechWeek here.

Polish Startup Nearbox Wins Google For Entrepreneurs Trip To Chicago!

Google For Entrepreneurs hosted a contest in Poland and brought over a few startups to show off their stuff at Chicago TechWeek. Nearbox was one of those startups.

Nearbox is a social network of sorts, where you follow places rather than people. Each place has an online billboard where they can post messages, videos, and texts. It’s a great way to communicate with customers, friends, and even neighbors. They call it a “virtual mailbox,” where the place can leave a message.

In nearbox every place is a community, and anyone can join that community’s place. It’s a communication tool that brings the discussion to a hyperlocal level.

With Nearbox the person who’s administering the place can interact with that place’s community any way they want. Are you having a house party? You can send out the invite. Is your place a restaurant? Use Nearbox to post your food specials. Is your place a bar or tavern? You can post your drink specials or entertainment schedule. But more than just a bulletin board, Nearbox allows you to interact with everyone in your place’s community.

Schools, neighborhoods, businesses, and even rec centers can have a place on Nearbox, facilitating community involvement.

In addition to winning the Google for Entrepreneurs contest, the startup, which just launched a few months ago, has also won awards from T-Mobile , InternetBeta 2012, and Innovation Nest. They also closed a small $25,000 round which was plenty to get the idea off the ground.

They launched in Poland and plan to expand globally this year.

Check out our interview with nearbox below and for more info visit nearbox.pl

Check out these other startup stories from Chicago TechWeek.

Impatience Fuels Another Wait List Startup In Chicago

Impatience is one of the biggest problems that entrepreneurs try to solve with their startups. Last year at Chicago TechWeek, we saw two different startups tackling the problem of waiting in line: NoWait and LineChop.

The problem is very simple, especially in large cities like Chicago. Come Friday or Saturday night, the last thing you want to do is wait in line for hours for your favorite restaurant. This happens in almost any town in the country, and until now it’s just been something you dealt with.

NextMe is the latest startup from Chicago to tackle the wait list problem. A restaurant signs up for the service, and a patron checks in at the host stand. Then their name goes on the wait list, and when the table becomes available, bam, you get a text message.

This comes in handy when you’re eating at a restaurant in a large shopping center, or there’s a bookstore across the street you want to check out. Previously you would either have to wait for your name to get called over a loud speaker or carry around a pager with a very limited radius. Sure people would ask for an approximate wait time and try and go somewhere and come back, but that could be thwarted by an uptick in table turns or other patrons deciding to leave the queue.

NextMe wants to help you enjoy your wait. Check out our interview below and for more info visit them on the web at nextmeapp.com

There’s a whole lot more startup coverage from Chicago TechWeek Here.

Cap Innovators Startup BidRazor Is Shaving The Time Off Contractor’s Bids…By A Lot

We ran into a handful of good St. Louis startups at Chicago TechWeek, including our friends at Bonfyre, a classified ads startup Ad Freeq, and BidRazor, a graduate of the most recent class at Capital Innovators.

Mike Pulley and his co-founder Cameron Larsen have developed a platform for contractors that shaves the time it takes to bid on a project down from 20 hours over 3 or 4 weeks to just 2-4 hours. The main ingredient in shaving the time is “standardization” Pulley told us in an interview. Basically the app takes into consideration historical data on previous projects along with other mitigating factors that allow the contractor to more easily bid out the job.

BidRazor is the first of the duo’s apps that they are developing to help the contracting industry. They are also working on a project management app to help contractors keep better track of every piece of data they need for a building project. That was actually their earlier idea, but then they figured that contractors have to win the job before they can manage it. So far that’s paying off.

Having just graduated from the accelerator, the company already has customers and revenue, and the response has been phenomenal. Cutting back on the time it takes to bid out a project is allowing contractors to spend more time on their current projects, and in some cases, spend more time with their families. It’s a win for everyone.

They also already have a major partnership with Magic Plan, an app that creates floor plans. Now contractors can have bids and floor planes right on their iPhones or iPads.

Check out our video interview below and for more info visit them at bidrazor.com

We’ve got more startup coverage from Chicago TechWeek here.

The Evolution Of Chicago’s Tech & Startup Scene In An Infographic

We travel all across the country and check out startup communities and ecosystems everywhere else. One of the ones that caught our eye early on is Chicago.

Going back to the early 1900’s Chicago has had hustle. Much like many don’t want to succumb to the fact that drug kingpins (the ones that don’t get caught) are the grittiest of hard working entrepreneurs, Chicago has heart, hustle and loyalty that can date back to the seedy underworld that once played home to the most notorious of gangsters Al Caone and later Sam Giancana.

Why in the world did I go there? First off it’s history but secondly the Chicago startup ecosystem is an extremely loyal bunch. They help each other in good and bad and they lift each other up whenever and where ever they can. That’s why, despite the fact that Chicago produces 100 startup events a month, the entire community comes out for Chicago TechWeek.

Staples in industry like United Airlines, Fannie May and Sears grew up in Chicago, with countless others.

And then when technology took off (and despite what PandoDaily once said) BOOM! Chicago’s tech ecosystem and infrastructure skyrocketed which is still what it’s doing today.

Most recently we know the stories of GrubHub and Groupon but back in 1984 (yes 1984 before many startup founders were born), IT mail order powerhouse CDW was founded in Chicago. Millions of people have bought computers, storage, printers and other peripherals from the three letter giant.

Chicago also revolutionized and re-invented the classifieds department across multiple categories starting with CareerBuilder in the mid 90’s. Then in the late 90’s cars.com and apartments.com launched, in Chicago. Chicago also has one of our favorite regional startup sites to visit, builtinchicago.com.

Let us also not forget that Motorola is based right outside of Chicago.

All of this is why one of Chicago’s other big startups, BigMarker, went ahead and made this trusty infographic highlighting the history of Chicago’s Tech Scene as a celebration of their tech community on TechWeek.

Oh and regardless of size, Chicago holds one mean tech party during TechWeek second only to the VegasTech party at SXSW.

Click here to actually read or print this thing (enlarge)

Here’s more Chicago Techweek startup coverage.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Praises Chicago Tech & Startups At Chicago TechWeek

For the second year in a row Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed out day two of Chicago TechWeek, congratulating We Deliver, the winner of the TechWeek Launch startup contest.

At the beginning of his remarks Emanuel congratulated TechWeek on improving the attendance and excitement of the conference, now in it’s third year. The mayor also had the chance to recognize the two people in the audience wearing Chicago Blackhawk’s jerseys. It was also “Black Hawk Day” where over 1 million Chicago area residents were in downtown Chicago for a parade to celebrate the Black Hawk’s Stanley Cup victory over the Boston Bruins.

Mayor Emanuel took a minute to recognize the new Google Motorola headquarters. The company is now an anchor tenant at the Merchandise Mart building, which houses TechWeek and over 200 startups in the 1871 co-working, incubation, and acceleration space on the 12th floor. The Google Motorola headquarters is the largest build out in Chicago history since 2005 with a total of 600,000 square feet within the walls of the Merchandise Mart.

When you put together the startups in the neighborhood along with the new Google Motorola headquarters there will be 8,000 employees in what Emanuel calls “the digital alley” which runs alongside the river. “8,000 employees that didn’t exist just four years ago,” Mayor Emanuel told the audience.

“I think the city of Chicago will become the mecca of startups in the midwest,” Mayor Emanuel said. “Just last year, worldwide, we went from 15th to 10th in startups.”

Mayor Emanuel praised 1871, calling it a startup itself because it just turned a year old. The mayor stressed the fact that Chicago has been known for the diversity in its economy, and he feels that the digital economy is becoming a pillar in the Chicago economy.

After his speech Mayor Emanuel toured the exhibit hall and even had time to play defense in a game of beer pong (with cups of water) on a C5 Beer Pong table. C5 is a Chicago startup.

Check out Mayor Emanuel’s remarks in the video.

Even more Chicago TechWeek Startup Coverage here.

What A Beer Pong Startup Part Deux [VIDEO]

Startups are synonymous with Ping Pong, Beer Pong, and Fooseball right? As a right of passage, many startups that move into a new office, get some kind of funding, or start generating revenue add a table game (or 3) to their office. Heck some startup offices have full arcades.

Back when we were at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 we met New York startup PaddleYou. They make custom affordable custom Ping Pong paddles. They actually made us one as well that you can see in this story.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel stops by to play defense on a C5 beer pong table (photo: C5 Beer Pong/Chicago)

So it shouldn’t surprise you that we found a Beer Pong startup at Chicago TechWeek. Actually, we discovered the Beer Pong startup last May when we interviewed them as Chippewa Five. Since then, cofounders Daniel Manriquez and Joe Mollo have shortened the name, improved the tables, and picked up some new customers.

They’ve shortened the name of the company to the much trendier C5 Beer Pong. They had several of their Beer Pong tables on display at Bar TechWeek throughout the three day conference.

The custom made Beer Pong tables aren’t just for frat guys. Zynga was their first customer, and Facebook has purchased a table from them as well. Cab hailing startup Hailo also has a C5 table which was on display at TechWeek.

Last year when we interviewed them we didn’t get to see their tables up close. After seeing them at TechWeek, we may just have to get one in the Nibletz office and for the everywhereelse conference.

Check out our video interiew with Mollo below and for more info visit c5beerpong.com

A lot more TechWeek startup coverage is here.

Chicago TechWeek Has The Sexiest Startup City In The Country

Most big tech conferences have some kind of startup exhibition area. They go by various names: Startup Village, Startup Alley, Eureka Park, etc. This year, Chicago TechWeek has “Startup City,” and we love it (homage to Patrick Stump).

There are 70 startups in Startup City, and we’ll have a lot of profiles and interviews coming soon. But as we toured the Startup City, we couldn’t help but notice that there’s no shortage of startups on the racier side this year.

Get Lusty is a Chicago startup designed for married couples and couples in long term relationships that want to improve their sex lives. The company founders are a husband and wife team that found the bedroom was getting boring. Their solution? Launch a startup together, of course!

Savvo is the wine aficionado’s resource for all things wine.

F. U I’m Right is the ultimate argument platform, where you can get your social networks to support your argument. Interestingly, though, Boris, the company’s founder, told us he found that he was actually wrong a lot more than he thought.

There are a bunch of other great startups in Chicago TechWeek’s Startup City, but you can imagine why these instantly caught our eye. Stay tuned for more from TechWeek and Startup City.

We’ve got more startup coverage from Chicago TechWeek Here.

Know Who’s Around You At Events With 1871 Startup WeaveThePeople

Here are Nibletz we get out into the community and go to a lot (and we mean A LOT) of startup conferences and events. Sure, after spending the last 7 or so years in tech media there are a lot of faces I remember, but there are also a lot that I don’t know. Yes, I would love to know who’s around me at an event that I am at.

This is a problem that several big named startups have been trying to solve. At SXSW 2012 people discovery was the “big thing”: Banjo, Highlight, and several others wanted to help people know who was at SXSW. The problem was they were all GPS, location, and proximity based. The problem manifested itself when people would look for other people they knew who were right on top of them according to the app but could still be in the next building. When you’re in a building or an event with 1000s if not 10s of thousands of people, this is still a daunting task.

WeaveThePeople, a startup incubating at 1871 in Chicago, is solving the problem with a beautifully rich and graphical platform. Using pictures and profiles, you can easily see who’s at the event. It doesn’t drill down to who’s standing next to you, but with the big and bold visual aspect of WeaveThePeople, dusting off your glasses should make it easier to connect.

Paul Caswell, the founder of Weave The People, is from East Chicago where he’s lived for 15 years. (He’s a native of Manchester though; that’s where he gets the cool accent). He grew up coding, developing his first games at age 13. In 2000 Application Development Trends honored him with an Innovator Award. Most of his career he was developing for other people.

WeaveThePeople combines his love of coding and technology with solving a problem that he found first hand in the corporate world, the exact same problem I described above.

Check out our video interview with Caswell below and for more information visit weavethepeople.com

We’ve got a lot more startup coverage from Chicago TechWeek here at nibletz.com

Conferences.io Keeps Improving The Conference Experience

We ran into the guys from Conferences.io at last year’s Chicago TechWeek, and this year they’re even better.

Conferences.io is an app that improves audience participation during a conference. Say it’s time for a panel or fireside chat. Participants can go onto the platform and type in questions they might have for the speakers. Then, they can vote on their favorite questions, with the most popular ones rising to the top to be asked.

Conference staff can also create polls to gauge audience needs during the conference. For example, running late into lunch? A quick poll can let you know whether the audience would like a shorter lunch or a later afternoon.

Check out our interview with conferences.io, and stay tuned for more from Chicago TechWeek.

We’ve got more Chicago TechWeek coverage here.

Aereo Founder & CEO Chet Kanojia On Why People Love It [VIDEO]

Chet Kanojia, the founder and CEO of controversial TV startup Aereo, appeared at Chicago Techweek on Thursday in a fireside chat called “TV Broadcasting: Who Is Controlling The Remote.” BTIG Managing Director Rich Greenfield led the discussion on topics pertaining to disrupting the world of TV.

This was a very fitting topic considering that TechWeek kicked off with a screening of the movie Downloaded, a documentary that takes a look at the rise, fall, and influence of Napster, written, produced and directed by Alex Winter of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure fame.

Like music, the TV industry has had a lot of competition in recent years. NetFlix, Hulu, Sling, and several other companies have disrupted the world of watching television with rabbit ears or a simple coaxial cable into the side of your home. Highspeed internet, DVRs, TiVo, and satellite TV have contributed to that disruption as well.

So far most of the startups and new companies in the television space have centered around streaming cataloged content, with Hulu typically having the freshest of catalog content offerings. Some of the networks that have an ownership interest in Hulu can have their newest show episodes on the site the very next day.

Now Kanojia’s company Aereo is disrupting TV by offering broadcast television via the web in a streaming format which users can record and playback. Kanojia explained that it’s based on the fact that every American is entitled to antenna TV service, but “no one specifies what kind of antenna or how long the cord is.” It’s also based on the fact that recording television for private use dates back 30+ years, since the Betamax days.

Aereo has found itself facing some stiff lawsuits, which Kanojia was quick to point out, the startup is winning.

In the video below Kanokia explains the two keys to their success with their customers: simplicity and unbundling. Earlier in the day Kanokia used TechWeek as the venue to announce that Aereo’s next city will be Chicago, and the service will begin in September.

For more on Aereo click here. and watch the video below.

More startup coverage from Chicago TechWeek is here.