My Favorite Startup Wisdom Came From Critics

My mentors are not the bite-sized platitude types. And no entrepreneur I know ever actually listened to advice — otherwise, we would all be IP lawyers like our parents wanted us to be.

Sure, we nod in agreement with the advice we get, but only because the advice we get is pretty benign to begin with: hire people who complement your weaknesses, fall in love with the problem you are solving and not the product, get in touch with your customer’s feelings, add cheerful touches of color to your office, etc. I can feel you nodding.

Truly “good” advice, on the other hand, burns like dirt in an open wound. The scar tissue that forms is the armor you need to survive the entrepreneurship battle. What kind of advice is that? It’s what you remember verbatim after all the compliments are forgotten: the criticism.

Listed below, then, are my absolute favorite pieces of “advice” — and how each shaped my career to date:

1. “You know you aren’t good enough, right?” In the Lifetime movie of my life, I have a snappy reply, like, “Move over old man, ‘cause ladies are doin’ it for themselves!” In real life, I was stunned into submission as the advice-giver planted a big wet kiss on my cheek and whispered something about me reminding him of his daughter. Yuck!

But here’s what’s even more shocking: I agree with this criticism. I am not good enough to do a startup on my own. I am not a truly gifted and creative physics savant, but my co-founder and CTO, Robert Kester, is! I am also the type of person who would forget to pay quarterly payroll taxes. Luckily, the lovely Kayla Porche, our Accounts Manager, would never allow any such nonsense, and so our ship runs very smoothly.

I am not good enough in more ways than I can count, but I am very good in the few things that a CEO needs to be good at: I have excellent taste in people and technologies, I have a vision the whole company believes in, I can sell ice to Eskimos, and I am arrogant enough to ignore old dinosaurs who think they are doing me a favor.

2. “You won’t make any money.” Keep this between us friends, but I would totally do this job for free. Today I can earnestly say that my colleagues and I made the world a better place. And we do, in fact, make quite a bit of money — go figure!

On day one, you and your co-founders need to decide exactly when you want to cash in your chips and exit the company. The path you choose needs to fit your personality type as well as the true potential of your company.

Do you want to sell the company in two years for mega-bucks? OK, then you should probably follow the traditional VC route that looks to sell fast and inflated (think force-fed duck for foie gras). Generally, the company will need to have a massive market size and be easily scalable. This rules out most companies.

If you are a young founder, there is a very high chance that you will be pushed aside. Are you OK with that? When you spend your money, will it bring you joy?

Do not forget the joy multiple when considering how much money you want to make. When I go buy a new car, I get the happiness from the car and the extra joy from remembering how I came to afford that car. Unfortunately, I meet too many depressed founders who seem a bit lost. If the money does not bring you long-lasting pride and joy, then it was all for naught.

3. “You’re a b—h.” I was 12 years old when someone close to me first called me the b-word. I am all grown up now, and my response is, “Yes, but I’m a glorious b—h.”

I don’t get this said to my face so much anymore, but I still get that look. If you are confused about what this look is, try an experiment: Disagree with a 40-something-year-old VC about one of their recent investments.

Yes, ladies, being a young female entrepreneur is going to be much less fun for you than your male counterparts. The boys get more dates and the girls get thinly veiled hostility. You will not be liked for your success. But you’re not doing this to be liked, are you? (See: Sheryl Sandberg’s 2010 TED talk.)

Ignore the people trying to bring you down a peg. And do not, not, not give up and become an attorney/consultant/doctor. I am sick of being the only young woman on the entrepreneurship panel. Please join me!

Finding the starting line will be the hardest part. It may take years to form the right company, but you will be successful because you, my friend, are a glorious b—h.

Allison Lami Sawyer is the CEO and co-founder of Rebellion Photonics.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Now Check Out Warner Music Executive Ping Ho Gives Important Advice For Music Startups

Miami Startup Geopon Prefers “Mobile Advertising” Over Coupons, Loyalty & Rewards

While we were at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013, we got a chance to talk with Ido Meos, co-founder of Miami startup Geopon. As he explains it, Geopon is a mobile advertising platform, not to be confused with coupons, loyalty and rewards.

Obviously loyalty & rewards is the cramped up space this year, along with anything social, local and mobile. Meros says that Geopon, which offers mobile coupons, offers, and reward based digital punchcards, is actually a lot different. According to him, Geopon’s edge is that they are serving up menus for restaurants when they give away a restaurant coupon. When they have an offer or a loyalty deal with a movie theater, they also deliver the latest showings.

So Geopon is an all in one shop for merchants. They are able to create mobile advertising campaigns based on which engagement platform they, and the merchant feel, are the best to reach their customer base.

They also try and touch the users at least twice from every engagement. They want to give out a coupon to get a customer in the door and then help the merchant retain the customer through loyalty/reward based incentives.

Each of the individual spaces are pretty crowded, but providing a one stop destination for local businesses to try various programs could prove profitable for Geopon.

Check out our video below and for more information visit geopon.com

Check out over 30 more startup stories from TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013.

Indiana Startup Stacked Labs Takes To Kickstarter With Their Go Go Gadget iPhone Case System

Indiana startup Stacked Labs, headed by Ryan Lantz is taking to Kickstarter with one of the most ingenious iPhone accessories I’ve ever seen. I was originally going to title this story “Indiana Startup Stacked Labs Takes To Kickstarter To Take On Mophie” but once I spent a little time on their website at gostacked.com, their product is about so much more than charging.

GoStacked is an interchangeable iPhone case system, now we’re not talking about pink cases, neon cases or rhinestones, we’re talking abut accessorizing your iPhone with things you could really use. The GoStacked system features a protective case with a port where you can slide in a GoStacked card.

Right now, Stacked Labs is prepared to launch with a GoSolar card and a GoBattery card for those that need charging power on the go. The cards are much more easy to manage when you’re on the go. Three or four cards will actually fit in your pocket. GoStacked has just about answered the call as to what to do when your JuicePack runs out.

With the GoStacked modular system you could in essence by three battery cards and insure your phone will never lose charge.

Now in the infamous words of the late great Billy Mays, “that’s not all”.

StackedLabs is working on developing some other really cool cards. These new card ideas include:

A wifi booster card
Speaker
Key Fob to interact with your car
Hard Drive
NFC Reader
FM Transmitter

We hear there may be even more ideas beyond those.

Stacked Labs is an Indiana startup focused on technology to help people with their every day needs. It’s founded by brothers Ryan and Troy Lantz. Who have the technical and business backgrounds to pull something like this off.

Right now they are a little over 20% of the way to their $75,000 kickstarter goal. I’d fund the whole thing if I could, the GoStacked case system adds just about every function you could ever want for your iPhone in one modular system.

You can support GoStacked on Kickstarter here and find out more about them here.

What else is going on with Indiana startups find out here at nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups Everywhere Else.

Female Founder Spotlight: Jess Butcher CMO & CoFounder Of Blippar

Jess Butcher is the CMO and Co-Founder of Blippar, and chief proponent and evangelist for the new verb “to blipp.” Follow her @jessbutcher.

Who is your hero?

Margaret Thatcher. Like her or loathe her, Britain’s first female prime minister made her way in a man’s world and changed the way we think of women politicians.

What’s the single best piece of business advice that helped shape who you are as an entrepreneur today, and why?

Stop benchmarking yourself against other successful entrepreneurs or business people – it wastes valuable energy! Your personality and circumstances are unique and there is no right or wrong way to grow an innovative business. Yes, learn from others’ experiences and be inspired by them, but also make your own rules and navigate your own path. Trust your gut instinct as much if not more than the numbers, and surround yourself with people who you respect and enjoy working with.

What’s the biggest mistake you ever made in your business, and what did you learn from it that others can learn from too?

I don’t really associate with the word “mistake,” preferring “learning!”

The occasional error of judgement or wrong move can often move your business faster than the right ones. To be honest, I don’t think we’ve made any big errors of judgement — only wasted time and effort that could have been better spent — but you tend only to appreciate that in hindsight, and re-focus accordingly. Knowing when to stop and draw a line under a particular strategy or approach is critical. About-turns are not weak, they’re strong and demonstrate good leadership, but they need to happen quickly and be communicated decisively.

What do you do during the first hour of your business day and why?

A bit of Twitter and industry website browsing first thing on my train commute (to put my head up and check out what’s happening around us), then a good half-hour of writing and rewriting to-do lists and priorities for the day. The sheer number of balls I’m juggling means I’m constantly scribbling down to-do lists. (And I haven’t yet found a to-do app that is as satisfying as my multiple scraps of paper when it comes to drawing a heavy line through a completed item, a big bold star or a screaming, underlined caps item in red!)

What’s your best financial or cash-flow related tip for entrepreneurs just getting started?

Don’t pay yourselves until you have to! That, and hire a good finance director. This isn’t always possible from startup, but having that skill set within your founding team seriously helps. If you’re fortunate enough to have a product or service that you can trade for another, then “in kind” deals can help a lot with cash flow in the early days.

Quick: What’s ONE thing you recommend ALL aspiring or current entrepreneurs do right now to take their biz to the next level?

Possibly a slightly strange one — but if you haven’t already got one, find a good “better half” or at least draw closer to those real friends in your life whose support you’ll need. The life of an entrepreneur is all-consuming, with a poor work-life balance and a roller coaster of highs and lows. Having one personal, special cheerleader who celebrates your highs with you and brings you out of despondency during the lows makes all the difference and keeps you focused and balanced.

What’s your definition of success? How will you know when you’ve finally “succeeded” in your business?

For us, there’s a simple measure of success: when to “blipp” becomes as ubiquitous a verb as googling or tweeting, and as habitual an everyday behavior. Everywhere we go in our daily lives, we will be surrounded by physical images and objects annotated with Blippar ‘b’ instructions, which tell you why each is worth blipping and unlocking for a unique content experience. We will simply look at the world around us through an enhanced Blippar lens — whether via our phone or maybe even hardware we wear — and the world will instantaneously jump to life with additional content experiences.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab , a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Check out these other Bad Ass Startup Chicks

Arrington’s Favorite Game, NY Incubator Betaworks’ Dots, Hits 25M Played In A Week

Last week at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013, Mike Arrington had a sit down with Betaworks’ John Borthwick. After that, the founder of TechCrunch and the Managing Partner at CrunchFund was able to get Borthwick to give him an early release of a game that just hours later would turn into a megahit in the iOS app store. That game was Dots.

Through a series of tweets, Arrington has kept us up to date with his progress, showing off a score of 290 on May 3rd

Only to top that score and reach 442 later that afternoon.

It’s probably safe to assume with big things happening at CrunchFund, like MG Siegler leaving for Google Ventures, Mike’s been a little busy lately and hasn’t had time to brush up on his Dots.

In the meantime though, since it’s release last week Dots has already seen 25 million games played. It’s an addictive little bugger. It’s like that game of dots you would play in grade school on a piece of graph paper, except as an app and with a spin. You can get points every time you connect two or more of the same colored dots.

I’ve been playing the game since day one as well but can’t get past a score of 357. Several of Mike’s followers on Twitter thought he was cheating, but he’s just figured out the strategy. Mike explains to Trustev CEO Pat Phelan:

Since it’s release Dots has reached #2 on the free iOS apps chart. They also predict they will have one million players by the end of the day.

You can download dots for your iPhone here.

We’ve got over 30 startup stories from TechCrunch Disrupt here.

Top Cities For Women Entrepreneurs In A Pretty Infographic

You love infographics right? Well lately we’ve been talking a lot about the gender divide and promoting women entrepreneurs from “everywhere else” as best we can. We recently told you about a new Memphis accelerator for women founders. Also in Memphis we highlighted Pink Robin Avenue and it’s founder Danielle Inez who grew her startup out of a 48 Hour Launch weekend, to the finals in the Black Enterprise Magazine Elevator Pitch Contest. We also regularly feature a “Bad Ass Startup Chick”.

Well the fine folks at Intuit, the finance company behind products like Quickbooks, have commissioned an infographic using data from Forbes and nerdwallet, highlighting the best cities for women entrepreneurs.

Coming in at number one was Silicon Valley, however the rest of “everywhere else” faired quite well.

Seattle came in at the number 2 spot with a score of 63. Washington DC, Minneapolis and Portland Oregon rounded out the top five. All five cities had more than 30% women owned businesses.

The survey sample for the data consisted of 552 female business owners. 66% have said they are more optimistic about growth in women owned businesses than they were last year.

Dollars and cents.

The most recent data from 2007 says that 7.8 million women owned businesses in the United States, counted for $1.2 trillion dollars in revenue. That’s up from 5.4 million women owned businesses just ten years prior.

Check out the infographic below provided by Intuit.

Check out more women owned startups at nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups Everywhere Else.

Mark Cuban Leads $1 Million Dollar Round For Florida Startup LinguaSys

LinguaSys,Mark Cuban,Florida startup,startup

Mark Cuban (photo: JD Lasica flickr)

Florida startup LinguaSys is the latest startup to graduate out of the Technology Business Incubator at the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University (TBI). The company provides translation and multilingual text analytics to businesses and government.

They’re also the latest startup to catch the investment eye of billionaire Shark Tank investor and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban. Cuban has reportedly led a seed round of funding of $1 million dollars that will allow the company to expand into their own offices in Boca Raton.

The TBI is an exceptional facility, and we are proud to have launched our business there,” LinguaSys CEO Brian Garr said in a news release. “It provided us with a stimulating work environment and a variety of resources which helped us to be successful.”

The company was founded in 2010 by three founders that have over 30 years of combined experience in the human language technology space. LinguaSys had their first product out to market within three months of forming.

Now LinguaSys has expanded to Germany and Australia as well as their Florida home base. They’ve grown to 14 employees and they’re also a partner with Salesforce providing their text analytics capabilities inside the Salesforce Marketing cloud.

For more on LinguaSys visit here.

Here’s how not to get an investment from Mark Cuban.

Code On The Beach, A Coder’s Conference In Paradise August 16-18th

Picture this, the thick of the summer of 2013 and you find yourself at the amazing One Ocean Resort in beautiful Atlantic beach. You’re there with hundreds of like minded coders, developers and software engineers, learning, living and having fun. Oh and did we mention your wife and kids are hanging out by one of the pools or on the sandy beach? This sounds like a great “working” vacation right?

It’s a reality at Code On The Beach, a software engineering conference in Atlantic Beach August 16th-18th. The conference will cover topics from ASP.NET MVC to Windows Azure to HTML5 to SQL to mobile. Friday will feature intro and beginner tracks while Saturday and Sunday will feature intermediate to advanced level content. Conference organizers have made the session length longer so you can “dive in”, but they’ve also structured the event so you can literally take some time and “dive in” to the ocean.

Intro sessions on Friday afternoon
Intermediate to Advanced sessions on Saturday and Sunday
Great hospitality with a full beach resort experience
Family-friendly: bring your spouse and kids
Top speakers from across Florida and the U.S.
Longer session length allows for deeper dives
Open Space track where you can speak on any topic you desire
Nightly hackathons to benefit local non-profits
Opportunities to meet local industry leaders and employers
Steps from the session rooms to the beach or beachfront pool
Walking distance to excellent local beach dining and nightlife
Early registration starting at just $99 (compare to other weekend conferences!)

So if you’re like me and constantly on the road to conferences and events leaving your husband or wife at home to tend to the kids, no worries, Code on the beach will be a vacation for them too:

Catch sun or waves at the beautiful Atlantic Beach
Lay back or splash at the beachfront pool, with poolside docent services (hotel guests only)
Relax and get quality treatment at the ocean view hotel spa (hotel guests only)
Visit the 24/7 fitness center for exercise (hotel guests only)
Walk to nearby beach shops, dining, and nightlife
Attend beginner programming sessions so they can get in on the conference action too
Hack on projects with you at nightly Hackathons by Ignite for local non-profits
Travel to nearby attractions like the Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens, Adventure Landing Water Park, and Talbot Island State Parks

You can get in on the early bird registration and a savings of $60 per night at the resort. The link to register for the conference is here. The link for hotel registration is here.

For more information visit codeonthebeach.com

While you’re checking out conferences, the early bird rate for attendees for Everywhereelse.co ends this weekend.

Chicago Startup BTSocial Launches The Social Network For Business Travelers

At Chicago Techweek 2012 we met Tim Hines the founder of BT Social. BT Social is “The Business Traveler’s Social Meeting Place”. It’s geared towards business travelers that travel a lot. Whether they travel by plane,train or automobile, as long as they stay in hotels and “travel” this is a place for them.

Think about that George Clooney Movie Up In The Air, where Clooney plays the role of a man who travels all over the country firing people. He lives a very disconnected life, he is rarely home and then meets a woman who travels just about as much as him. They spend the night they meet each other comparing loyalty cards and loyalty status for airlines and hotels.

Although it’s just a movie there are people out there in the world that travel as much as Clooney does in the movie.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could make travel buddies. You could find out if one of your travel buddies is in the hotel lounge that you’re staying at or maybe picking up a bite down the road. You could share travel itineraries with friends a lot and get alerts when you and one of your travel buddies is in the same city/state as you.

Well now you can as BTSocial has finally launched to the public.

The BTSocial team is solving the traveler’s problem of drinking alone at hotel bars or reading the same tired newspapers during airport layovers. The new app puts the power of networking in the hands of business travelers while on their trips. “Business travelers can now find current friends and colleagues and meet new ones through the app,” said Tim Hines, President. “The app is for business travelers looking to get out of their hotel rooms and create a social experience by meeting other travelers in real life,” he continued.

Built for the mobile web, the BTSocial Travel App is accessible on web-enabled phones, tablets and traditional web browsers. “We built a responsive app so that it works on any device business travelers prefer,” said Karl Jackson, CTO. “All of our features, including check-ins, function on any device. Plus users can avoid the clutter of a multitude of apps on their devices,” Karl continued.

The app’s features are what really set it apart from other travel tools. Users can check-in to any location around the world, whether it is a specific venue or an entire city. Once checked-in, users are visible to other users within the vicinity. “Checking-in is our way of raising your hand and saying ‘Hi. I’m here and I’d like to network,’” said Hines. “Check-ins are what truly drive the social experience of the app.”

Users can also use the Trips feature to plan to network during their travel downtime. Unlike other travel apps, it doesn’t ask for your itinerary, but focuses on the gaps of time during trips. When users create a trip, they can enter gaps like layovers or time between meetings to meet other travelers. The Trips feature also allows users to see other travelers that share similar gaps of time to entice meeting up.

The most unique feature of the app is Socials, where users can plan their own social events during their trips. Whether hanging out in the hotel bar or airport lounge, users can create a Meetup using the simple feature and invite other travelers. In addition, the events are visible to users that check-in in the vicinity.

In addition to the social features, users can also store their loyalty account numbers to avoid carrying those pesky cards. That’s not all, BTSocial even packed in a stats tracker so users can see how active they are on the app.

For more information on the BTSocial Travel App and to access it today, visit app.BTSocial.com.

Check out this Chicago startup that’s caught first lady Michelle Obama’s eye.

Dallas Startup University Passion, A Collaborative Community For College Students

What are you passionate about? Chances are if you’re a college student there are other students on campus that share your passion and collaborating could make your projects come together. Before the world of online platforms a college student with a side project, or that wanted to tackle an issue with a club, would post something on the bulletin board. From there they would get responses, presumably by phone, note or even email. Next, the students would meet and have to weed out those that were serious and could really contribute, and those who just want to be involved in something.

Enter Sam Hicks and his startup University Passion.

Collaborative platforms are nothing new. There are a ton of collaboration tools out there for almost every special interest. But, nothing out there is addressing college students, while they are college students. Sure there are students using cofounderslab and other platforms to get a jumpstart on startups but within the closed communities of campus there’s nothing out there.

Hicks is a marine biologist by trade and education. He’s an extremely bright guy and was able to get to the finals in TechWildcatters. The young entrepreneur from Mississippi left his home state the day before college graduation to head to Dallas because of their startup scene.

Check out our interview with Hicks below.

What is your startup, what does it do?

University Passion is a cloud based collaboration platform for student projects that creates a dynamic e-portfolio for college employers…

There are lots of interesting possible features: The website will contain a lot of valuable data about student projects, skills, education majors. Etc. I envision a web platform that could leverage the data of college student’s academia validation through projects.

A unique collaboration platform that connects students from across the globe to help complete projects – whether they’re building, brainstorming, or expanding a business.

Here’s a quick overview of how, the cloud based platform looks like:

Who are The Founders and What are Their Backgrounds?

Sam Hicks

Sam Hicks, Founder and CEO of University Passion, a student by occupation, an entrepreneur by profession, graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and started a custom aquarium business known as, Pristine Aquatics LLC.

Sam is a chemist, and biologist who know everything about marine life like the back of his hand; he’s a small business guru, tenacious salesman, and social media addict. His skills and experience earned him a $2,000 grant proposal from a world recognized and nationally known College in the States.

His passion for salesmanship earned him a top spot as the best salesman in his firm. As an entrepreneur, he believes in, passion, determination, persistence, and ACTION.

Chris Greene

Chris Greene is a computer nerd, writer, and webmaster for the University of Southern Mississippi Student Printz newspaper. He’s an avid blogger and drupal developer who loves using programming languages to help spread the knowledge and make it free for many to access it.

If he’s not writing programming languages, he can be found hanging out with friends and giving lives a meaning…

Where are you based?

I love hanging out mostly in Mississippi and Dallas, Texas.

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

Dallas is a beautiful city with a very affordable cost of living for growing startups. Since my early days in College, I’ve had the passion of participating in the Tech Wildcatters Spring 2013 class but I never knew I’d come out as a finalist.

In fact, University Passion was invited as a finalist to pitch to 30 perceptive Investors in the spring class of nationally recognized Techwildcatters.

Tech Wildcatters is a mentorship driven micro-seed fund and startup accelerator. Founding teams endure a three-month accelerator program ranked by Forbes as top 10 in the USA, and boasting a 4% acceptance rate. Learn more: http://techwilcatters.com/

The founder of Launch DFW, Alex Muse and the Co-founder of Shop savvy have been supportive; every month, they host successful tech entrepreneurs which gives us the opportunity to network and work hand in hand with over 100 techies.

Dallas universities are blessed with geniuses for interns and co-founders; few can be found in Southern Methodist University, and University of Texas at Dallas, Art of Institute.

Dallas is endowed with thriving startup communities such as Austin and Houston Texas.

What problem does your startup solve?

Like I said earlier, there has been no platform with good interface that makes networking among students easy. University Passion is the first of its kind!

Students normally find it challenging recording their academia experiences in efforts to become marketable to employers but with the University Passion cloud based platform, they find it easy to create and keep portfolio’s.

University Passion wants to inspire College students to make a living doing what they love and create businesses that support their passions. As a result of this, University Passion have produced remarkable College students who’re now making impact in their campuses.

What is one challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

Getting the validation of the first customer was a big challenge.

We have to develop the minimum viable product first, beta test it and address the issues. It has been an exciting journey so far; it’s an overwhelming experience when someone validates your company’s product which you helped grow from inception.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

We’re excited that Colleges and education institutions appreciate this platform; we’ve received over 100,000 responses from universities, which has geared us to take advantage of the niche market.

We’ve also partnered with 4 universities to launch the University Passion on their campuses.

We’ve pitched technology giants like: Tech Stars, Tech Wildcatters, and Kaplan and we’ve received positive feedbacks on the usability of the networking platform.

What are your next milestones?

Like every other growing startup, developing a strong technical and web development team has been our top priority. We’re also working on building connections and expanding the University Passion platform.

Who are your mentors and role models?

I’m a ‘’do it all alone’’ person, but I’ll always be grateful to Tech Wildcatters teams, program manager and the startups who’ve been solidly behind me.

Under30CEO has always made my day by delivering great contents.

Role Models: Steve Jobs has always been my mentor since my teenage years; here’s one of his favorite quote that always make my day:

“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough. It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing’’

Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Aristotle Onassis are also in my ‘’book of mentors’’.

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages growing your startup outside of Silicon Valley.

I don’t believe that the success of my business is in a location; I don’t believe one has to be in Silicon Valley to be successful. In fact, I’ve never been to Silicon Valley (though, I’ve heard that the streets are paved with gold); but I’ve witnessed startups scale and grow in other cities.

A businessman is like a man on a mission; if you allow the location of a place tie your business growth, you won’t go far in business; but if you’re hardworking and determined to face business challenges, you’d definitely succeed (even without being in Silicon Valley).

What’s next for your startup?

We believe in the possibility of a bright firm; and we’re constantly working hard to ensure that University Passion becomes a NO 1 cloud collaboration platform for college students.

Presently, we’re investing our time and resources in networking with other startups and upgrading the University passion platform.

Where can people find out more, and what is your Twitter username?

I’m more of a Facebook addict; but you can hook me up on Twitter; here’s my Twitter handle:@3amgrind; when I’m not on Twitter chit-chatting with my fellow entrepreneurs, you can hang with me via, Facebook or via, Angel list: https://angel.co/university-passion or just email me directly: sam@universitypassion.com

This young woman from Memphis took her startup from a 48 Hour Launch event to the finals for Black Entreprise’s Elevator Pitch Competition.

Mother’s Stroke Inspires NY Entrepreneur Chad Ruble To Create TapGram

Here at nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups everywhere else, we’ve profiled a few startups that have made the lives of those living with autism easier. Often times these technology startups come in the form of mobile or tablet applications to assist with communication. Whether it’s picture based short messaging or assigning pictures and graphics to simple sentences, doctors have praised the work of those entrepreneurs creating these kinds of apps.

Chad Ruble, a New York based entrepreneur has created something similar, but this time for his mother, who suffered a stroke.

We met Ruble on our sneaker strap road trip when we stopped at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013. It was there that he told us that communicating with his mother was very important to both her and him. So he went to work to create a mobile app that allowed her to send simple messages that were assigned to pictures.

TapGram lets users communicate by tapping large icons to signify moods and needs. After suffering a stroke TechCrunch reports that Ruble’s mother has been dealing with a condition called Aphasia which prevents her from processing language the way that she used to. TapGram was born out of a Microsoft Kinect hack that Ruble put together to help his mom write emails.

TapGram has been in public beta over the last four months and Ruble has found that people who suffer from Autism, brain injuries and of course strokes are using TapGram to assist in their communication.

Check out our interview with Ruble below and for more information visit tapgram.com

This Pittsburgh startup has created a robot called PopChilla for kids with Autism.

Norwegian Startup OogaBaby Is Instagram For Babies

I’m going to date myself here and say when I first heard the name of this Norwegian startup I thought about the fat baby dancing on Ally McBeal. I’m sure some of you are thinking, who the heck is Ally McBeal.

After getting over the uber cool name (and you know we love great named startups here at nibletz) we got to talking with the startups co-founder Gunnar Wold, about just what an OogaBaby is.

In the simplest explanation, OogaBaby is Instagram for babies. Using the OogaBaby app, gushing parents everywhere can upload baby photos to their hearts content. They can also track their baby’s height, weight and even the circumference of their heads. Parents can add milestones and special moments as well in this social network for babies and their parents.

Now as a parent myself I totally understand and get it, I just wish I had it five years ago. Speaking of which Wold says you can track your kid as long as you want but it’s primarily designed for baby’s up to age five.

Oogababy is great for parents and their friends with kids, but it’s also great for friends without kids. Why? Because with OogaBaby parents can stop flooding their Facebook walls with pictures of their babies.

Wold created OogaBaby after he became a father and realized there was really nothing like it on the market.

Check out our interview with Wold below and for more info visit Oogababy.com.

This Athens Georgia startup began with a bee’s dance.

Smokers Are Going To Love This California Startup, That’s Helping Veterans

Rob Howell is a Marine Corps veteran, who is trying to make life easier for smokers while at the same time helping veterans. He is the founder of a product startup that first tried crowdfunding with fundable.

HelpingHandz is the thing smokers have been looking for, for years, that protects the flame of a disposable lighter from the wind. There have been so many times that I personally have struggled with a lighter because of the crosswind. HelpingHandz is a ligher hood that fits around any standard sized disposable lighter, providing the shield the flame needs to stay lit. As an added bonus, HelpingHandz is also a keychain and a bottle opener.

As for the veterans, as a retired Marine Corps veteran, Howell will be donating a “significant portion of profits to programs that help veterans heal both psychologically and spiritually from traumatic combat experiences.” he said in an interview with nibletz.com.

The HelpingHandz product is one of those things that’s so simple you wonder why it wasn’t done before. The fact that Howell is helping sufferers of PTSD is a tremendous added bonus. Check out our interview with Howell below.

What is your startup, what does it do?

HelpingHandz (HHz for short) produces and sells a versatile lighter accessory that protects the flame of a disposable lighter from being blown out by inclement weather: wind, rain, snow, etc. Our product also functions as a bottle opener and keychain, making it the ideal tool for outdoor activities like camping, boating, or a day at the beach.

HHz currently works only with standard Bic lighters. We hope to have future designs that are compatible with other lighter models.

HelpingHandz is driven by the objective of helping United States Armed Forces combat veterans. The CEO and founder, Rob Howell, is a veteran of the Marine Corps committed to donating a significant portion of profits to programs that help veterans heal both psychologically and spiritually from traumatic combat experiences.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Rob Howell is the founder and CEO of HelpingHandz. After serving in the Marine Corps for four years, I moved to Wyoming to attended Central Wyoming Community College in the Environmental Science and Leadership Program. This is a program that works hand and hand with the National Outdoor Leadership School. While attending school, I worked for a local tree trimming company. My experience in Tree Care inspired me to start my first business, Continental Tree Care, a full service tree company that offered organic pest control and fertilization. Tree care required long, hard hours and a grueling amount of physical labor but it helped build a resiliency and determination within that served me well for my future inventions.

After six years with my first company, I began focusing on different invention ideas but came across a lot of issues getting the necessary patents. Finally, in January of 2012 I invented HelpingHandz and fell in love with the concept and mission of the product. I haven’t looked back since.

Where are you based?

HelpingHandz is an internet based company operating out of San Clemente, CA.

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

Southern California is a fertile environment for young entrepreneurs. While we haven’t actively started looking for investors yet, the response from our local community has been extremely positive and supportive. I think if you have a good idea or a good product, this is the place to be. It is a great place to start a business.

What problem does your startup solve?

Anyone who has ever struggled to light a cigarette/cigar on a windy day knows how futile and frustrating of a task it can be. It’s equally difficult to start a campfire or fire up the grill using a lighter outdoors in inclement weather.

HelpingHandz provides a cheap, easy solution to this problem. All you need is our product and a disposable lighter.

What is one challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

Overcoming a lack of experience in manufacturing and product sales has been the biggest challenge. While doing hours and hours of exhaustive research was helpful, the most beneficial learning tool for me was speaking with dozens of product and manufacturing professionals who had already established a disciplined, effective business process. While it’s taken longer than anticipated to bring this product to the market, I’ve always been confident my concept is a good one and after months of hard work and patience, we’re on track to launch in May 2013 with our first production run shipment!

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

2012 brought us a number of fortunate milestones — we filed for two necessary patents (one which has already been approved). We’ve filed trademarks for our name and logo. We’ve finalized the design and prototype phase for our product. We’ve launched our marketing campaign by building our webpage, producing a video demonstrating how our product works, and promoting our company via social networks and blogs. Also – we’ve completed other business systems like packaging, warehousing and shipping protocols. Finally, we’ve received quotes from dozens of manufacturers, and we’ve begun negotiations with a few large distributers we think are good fit for us.

What are your next milestones?

Our next milestone is funding. We’re looking for the right investor to help reach our funding goals. We need enough orders of HelpingHandz from our manufacturers so that we can fulfill our distribution chain and have enough left over to take on new customers without running out.

Who are your mentors and role models?

I’ve had had too many to name them all but I would definitely start with my parents — they taught me how to work hard and the importance of always keeping commitments. These values were further instilled in me by the Marine Corps.

There are countless friends and teachers that I’ve learned so much from. I try to take a piece of the good from everyone I meet, regardless of their status. I have learned a great deal from my life experiences. I look up to people who focus their efforts on helping others and who make positive impacts in their communities. I could also say that I am fortunate to have met people who have shown me the negative side of society because I gain a better understanding of what I don’t want to be.

What’s next for your startup?

Next is laying out the distribution map. We’re in discussions with major convenience store distributers right now that can help us reach our goal of being in fifty-thousand stores by the end of the year. We would also like to start a video contest in the near future, where people make their own videos showing how they helped someone in need of an HHz. The winner will be voted on by the HelpingHandz community and the grand prize will be something really amazing like a trip to Hawaii.

Where can people find out more?

We are currently running a crowd funding campaign on the website Fundable. Here’s the link https://www.fundable.com/helpinghandz. You can get more information about our product, watch a two-minute demonstration video, and pre-purchase a first run HHz (there’s also an option to purchase a limited edition gold-plated HHz). We also have a website, www.myhelpinghandz.com and we are on Facebook at HelpingHandz. My Twitter name, which I just signed up for, is Rob Howells @HelpingHandz1

Now Read: DC Startup Troop ID Validating Veterans Past & Present In The Civilian World

Maryland Startup CoFoundersLab Is About Much More Than Just Founder Dating

Serial entrepreneur, restauranteur, and startup junkie Andrew Batey, the cofounder of Los Angeles startup Hater, credits Maryland startup CoFoundersLab with helping to lead him to Jake Banks the founder of Hater. We ran into Batey talking with Shahab Kaviani, the founder and CEO of CoFoundersLab at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013.

Batey and Kaviani were talking about how CoFoundersLab is way more than just a place to find co-founders. There are several startups in the “cofounder finding” space. One of the most popular ones is Silicon Valley based FounderDating. Many entrepreneurs feel that FounderDating is too selective and doesn’t reach the core of the startup community.

Community is what drives Kaviani who’s already had his successful exits and is working on CoFoundersLab to help startups find the perfect team.

CoFoundersLab helps link cofounders through a profile based system. Kaviani is quick to point out that the perfect cofounder may not be that friend or relative you think you want to start a company with. Through their online system and their in person events, hosted in 25 cities so far, CoFoundersLab is about linking real people with each other to foster great ideas.

The non elitist community at CoFoundersLab is over 10,000 members strong and to date has helped 100 teams form. One startup founder came over to Kaviani’s TechCrunch Disrupt booth to tell him that not only did they cofounders find each other on CoFoundersLab but to date the team has raised over $2.7 million dollars.

CoFoundersLab is also about the community. In addition to finding a cofounder you may find other key team members within the community or find a community member that can help you get over a hurdle or a pivot.

CoFoundersLab was a finalist in the Startup Maryland, Pitch Across Maryland bus and they are also a member of the Fort in DC which is now housed at 1776.

It’s free to join CoFoundersLab however there is a pro membership available too that gives founders access to personality assessment tools and other tools to refine the cofounder search. There is a small fee, usually ten bucks or less, for their in person events.

Kaviani founded CoFoundersLab after realizing it was the founding team at the first startup he was part of, HyperOffice that became the widely known WebOS.

Go join CoFoundersLab now by clicking here. Watch our video interview with Kaviani below.

We’ve got over 30 more startup stories from TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 here.