Columbus Startup: Objra Provides An Easy Do It Yourself HTML 5 Platform

Objra,Columbus startup,startup interviewA one man startup in Columbus Ohio called Objra is making it easier for people with just a little bit of graphics experience to reach past animated gifs and do actual animation renders using HTML5.   Objra’s founder Eddie Bowen created Objra after noticing the poor methods used to share graphics on sites like Reddit.

“It struck me that jpegs and gifs are terrible ways of sharing graphics, but there isn’t an easy alternative. It’s just one step from rendering vector graphics to animating vector graphics. Then a light bulb went on and I realized I was fumbling towards a great design product.” he told nibletz.com in an interview. With that Objra was born.

For lack of more technical verbage, Objra allows anyone to get to their website and create animations using simple drag and drop placement. You can watch the animations render before your eyes, edit, and change whatever you would like before downloading them to share. If you’re on a budget or looking for something fast and easy, Objra may be the way to go.

We got a chance to talk with Bowen about Objra. Check out our interview below.

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Memphis Startup Restore Medical Raises $2.5 Million Seed Round

Restore Medical Solutions, Memphis startup, Zeroto510,funded startup

Shawn Flynn (L) Ryan Ramkhelawan (R) founders of Restore Medical Solutions

Memphis’ startup community has kicked it into high gear as of late. In 2012 Launch Your City, the organization behind the Seed Hatchery starutp accelerator, the Launch Pad free coworking space and Launch Memphis, the curriculum arm behind Memphis’ startup ecosystem, had a big year. They saw two cohorts go through their Seed Hatchery program this year. One group of web/tech entrepreneurs took their startups through Seed Hatchery. The other group went through a collaborative effort between Seed Hatchery and Memphis BioWorks called Zeroto510.

The Zeroto510 program is a medical device startup accelerator that relies on Bioworks for the medical part and Seed Hatchery for the startup, and business development portion of their training. After a rigorous accelerator program, and an intense demo day in May, the six startups in the program saw 85% follow on funding. Four of the graduating startup companies received $100,000 investments from MB Ventures and Innova. The fifth startup, Restore Medical Solutions, raised a $2.5 million dollar Series A round.

It’s no wonder that Restore Medical Solutions was able to close such a large round. Co-Founder Shawn Flynn announced that the company had a $3.75 million dollar purchase order, during his investor day pitch.

Restore Medical Solutions has come up with a concept and system to more efficiently sterilize surgical instruments. When we first met with Flynn and Co-Founder Ryan Ramkhelawan explained that not only was the current system for sterilizing surgical instruments filled with flaws, to a degree it’s also dangerous.

Currently surgical instruments are grouped in sets according to the surgery that the operating room is performing. The instruments are kept in a sterile container/tray until they are brought up to the surgical suite and used. However, if one piece of equipment is either missing, or shows signs of not being completely sterilized, the entire set is deemed unusable and another set is ordered up.

The problem with that is most hospitals don’t have a bunch of reserve sets for the operating rooms. The sterilization team has put together the sets based on that days surgeries. Waiting on instruments to be re-sterilized and recompiled can take hours. At that time the patient is either kept under anesthesia or they are woken up, either option can have risks.

Not only that but some hospitals still use sterilization procedures that are likened to the way silverware is washed in a restaurant, everything dumped on one big tray and run through a dishwasher type sterilization machine. The problem with that is the instruments at the bottom may not be as sterile as the instruments on the top. This is often the cause of hospital born infections.

Restore Medical Solutions system makes the process quicker, more efficient and completely sterile.

Flynn and Ramkhelawan get anxious and excited when talking about their process and the upside potential for hospitals. With the reduction in time, the more efficient sterilization and the cut down on infections, Restore Medical Solutions is in the business of sterilizing instruments, but more importantly to the bottom line, driving costs down. Quicker turn arounds in the sterilization process also mean quicker turn arounds in the operating rooms, and more surgeries.

How much money? We’re not talking a thousands here or a thousand there, we’re talking tens of millions of dollars per hospital.

The duo behind Restore Medical Solutions has already pitched a number of hospitals in Tennessee and along the east coast. To date they are proud to announce that they’ve at least secured a follow up meeting and in other cases, purchase orders.

While a $2.5 million dollar Series A round is great for the company and will allow them to start producing to fulfill their purchase orders, it wasn’t always easy. Both Ramkhelawan and Flynn quit their good paying day jobs in Atlanta to relocate to Memphis for the ZeroTo510 program. The program gave them a $50,000 seed round but waiting for that initial funding they were sneaker-strapping it like the rest of their cohort.

Both men left families back in Atlanta and Ramkhelawan and his wife had just had a new baby daughter. With kids, families, and houses in Atlanta these two middle aged entrepreneurs set out to live the ramen noodle eating, hipster lifestyle. They immediately went on the grind to make things happen.

And happen it did.

After finding out about the ZeroTo510 program from a friend of Flynn’s who has a marketing business in Memphis the two made the trip to Memphis to scope out the city and the program. They immediately fell in love with the town. They are sharing an apartment literally within feet from the new corporate headquarters for Restore Medical which officially opens Friday.

For what they’re doing, both entrepreneurs admit that the Memphis startup ecosystem is further along than things are in Atlanta. New initiatives have begun in Atlanta which will be great for the region but Memphis is already doing it. Also, Jackson Tennessee is doing it as well. Both entrepreneurs spend time in Jackson, helping to further that cities entrepreneurs along as well.

Flynn and Ramkelawan give a lot of credit to Launch Your City’s Eric Mathews and Bio Works’ Allan Daisley who were instrumental in the Zeroto510 programs inaugural class.

Linkage:

Check out Restore Medical here

Check out Zeroto510 here

Apply for Seed Hatchery’s next session here

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UK Startup: Charity Kick, A Fundraising Platform With A Daring Twist

CharityKick,UK Startup,startup,startup interviewYou know that crazy guy or gal in your group that will do just about anything? All you have to do is dare them? Well imagine if those dares could be done for pledges and the pledges were made for Charity? That’s the idea behind UK startup CharityKick.

Do you want to dare someone to bungee jump from a crazy place? Would you like to dare someone to eat 27 hot dogs in one sitting? Whatever the dare, you can raise money to entice someone to do it. But with CharityKick, the dare doesn’t actually have to take place.

For this to work you have to find someone daring, and you also have to find the dares. From there you can make a go out of fundraising by encouraging people to pledge money for the dares to be fulfilled. Take the hot dog guy for instance. Once someone accepts the challenge, you set up a pledge page and call on that persons friends, family members, co-workers, and heck, even complete strangers, to sponsor the dare. Once the dare is set, people can pledge funds for charity to egg the person on to do the dare.

Mat Wurm and Greg Fournier are the two crazy social entrepreneurs behind this big idea. They’re currently based in the UK but are establishing a presence in the United States as well. Of course everyone knows how crazy we Americans are.

We got a chance to talk with Fournier about Charity Kick. Check out our interview with him below.

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Easily Build Facebook Fan Page Apps With Norwegian Startup iFrapp

iFrapp,Facebook apps,Norwegian startup,startup interviewMore and more businesses, artists, musicians and even people are turning to Facebook fan pages to engage their audience. With that, the use of apps on Facebook Fan Pages continues to increase as well. It seems more and more people with Facebook fan pages want to engage their audience by holding contests, showing off products, embedding videos, sub pages, surveys and more. However most people think they can’t design these things on their own.

Well now they can, thanks to Norwegian startup iFrapp.

iFrapp is a do it yourself app builder for Facebook fan pages. It lets you take multiple types of engagement from your Facebook page, easily put together new features and then align them with your current themes and backgrounds.

The team at Norwegian social web agency Fennek and Friends created the startup to help companies big and small, increase their engagement on Facebook fan pages. They used their mix of experience in development, social media, innovation and marketing to come up with the tools baked into iFrapp.

We got a chance to talk with the team behind iFrapp, check out the interview below.

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Holiday Goodies: Lego Comes Through For 11 Year Old With Asperger’s

Lego, Asperger's Boy, James, HolidayFrom time to time I may drift on writing about startups during the holidays, one of my favorite times of the year. This is one of those times. I read a great story today found on consumerist.com.

Typically, theconsumerist.com works as a warning to buyers and consumers across the country and around the world. You usually find customer service worst practices, and read stories about big companies screwing over the lifeblood of their business.

Theconsumerist is also like a snopes.com for consumers of sorts.  Sometimes when you’ve heard of a deal that’s too good to be true or a big box store running an ad for something that doesn’t quite add up, you can get the real deal from theconsumerist.com. While a lot of their stories aren’t “good guy” stories it’s an important site to keep up with the consumer world around you.

Well they changed up today, probably in that holiday spirit, and reported about something over the top that Lego has done. Lego has been the reigning king of the building block world. If Apple designed building blocks, they would undoubtedly be legos.

Well an 11 year old Massachusetts boy with Asperger’s Syndrome developed a love for Legos. The blocks were a toy that he used as part of his social therapy.  A little over two years ago, James, saw a lego set he fell in love with, the Emerald Night Train Set. The set cost close to 100 dollars. It has over 1000 pieces and a working train when it’s all complete, with a motor.

After two years of saving birthday money, holiday money and allowance James finally had enough to get the beloved train set. But it turns out that the set had been discontinued. Once Lego discontinued the set the cost immediately doubled on Amazon and Ebay from collectors trying to make an extra buck. Of course no one is blaming them, that’s what happens with Lego sets. However $214 was out of James’ price range.

James took to emailing Lego, this is what he said:

“For two years I kept all the money I got for birthday and holiday gifts, some of my allowance and some money I got for participating in a research project. At last, a couple of months ago I had my $100 and was ready to buy the LEGO set of my dreams. My mom started looking for it online and could not find any. We checked the LEGO store in our area and they didn’t have it either.

I was completely crushed. You’ve stopped making it! I got another LEGO set, thinking I could forget about the Emerald Night, but every time I see it anywhere online I get very sad and disappointed. I still want the Emerald Night so badly, but there are none to be found. Do you have any at your corporate headquarters? Perhaps I could get one that way? If you have any other ideas, I would be happy to hear them. I have never wanted a LEGO set so badly ever in my life.”

Lego originally wrote back thanking him for writing and explaining the set had been discontinued. However 2 days before his next birthday James received a mysterious box in the mail with the following note:

‘The Emerald Night Train is a wonderful set, so we can understand why it is your dream to own it. I commend your willpower and patience to save money for over two years just to purchase this. We have located an Emerald Night Train for you, James, and included it in this package! I am sure you will enjoy building it and cherish your time playing with the train. Fans like you are why we are so lucky as a company. Who knows, maybe you will be working for The LEGO Group one day! You certainly have the heart and passion for our bricks to do so! Happy building, James!”

Watch this heartwarming video of when James received the Lego set in the mail accompanied by a letter from Megan the Lego employee who fulfilled James’ wish (It’s ok to cry)

A PR person with Lego explained that after they discontinue a set of Lego’s the company holds onto a few for archives, museums etc. They were able to locate the Emerald train set and sent it to James free of charge. James had purchased a different set of Lego’s with the $100 he saved up.

Linkage:

Source: Consumerist

Go on, check out Lego’s site

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California Teenage Serial Entrepreneur Creates EdTech Startup StatFuse

StatFuse,California startup,startup interview,startup,startupsJeet Banerjee is a 20 year old entrepreneur from Fullerton California, a town outside Los Angeles. He started his first startup at age 17 and sold it. Since then he’s had numerous other innovative ideas and he’s also written a book called “The Pursuit of Passion: Entrepreneurs Guide To Turn Hobbies Into Successful Businesses.”. Now he’s teamed up with 18 year old Supan Shah to create an EdTech startup called StatFuse, that really benefit students in their age group.

Their idea actually came out of a bet. Shah bet Banerjee that he could get into Harvard. There was a lot riding on this bet and neither young man wanted to wait the four months it takes to find out if he was accepted. They were shocked to find there wasn’t a website where they could quickly enter grades, extra curriculars and test scores to see if getting into Harvard was even a possibility.

Like all other great startups, this idea steam rolled into an entire suite of patent pending tools for prospective college students to use. Now StatFuse can estimate your chances at getting into a school, keep track of your applications, provide tips to improve chances of getting into colleges and even give virtual campus tours.

While there are other college preparation tools out there, StatFuse has been created by two incredibly intelligent founders who are currently at the age where their tools would be the most relevant.

We got a chance to interview Banerjee, check out our interview below.

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Replace Your Next Events Sign In Sheet With Dallas Startup SimpeSign.In

Simplesign.in, Dallas startup,startup interviewA brother and sister founding team have come up with a new Dallas based startup, SimpleSign.in, that will replace the sign in sheet for your next event. We know that eventbrite has event management tools like sign in sheets, however SimpleSign.in allows groups and event organizers that don’t need everything else that comes with eventbrite to have an equally as easy to use sign in system.

Once on site, event attendees can use their smartphones to sign in to your event. Once they’re signed into the event they are “logged in” to the event. You can use this “login” to hold votes during your meeting and solicit instant feedback through the course of your event.

Professional and civic organizations, universities, clubs, churches, conferences and businesses can all benefit from the ease of use of SimpleSign.in

Simplesign.in has baked in features of much larger event software into something that can be used and planned for well in advance or set up on the fly.

Users hosting an event just log into simplesign.in and from their they can create an event in under a minute. An event host can set up how much info they want to capture at sign in including name, phone number, address, email address and other fields. When attendees arrive they’ll either scan the events QR code or insert the events password and then they’ll be logged into the event.

After everyone has signed in the event organizer will be emailed a .csv spreadsheet file that has all of the information they requested when they set up the event.

When event hosts use simplesign.in for the registration process ahead of the event the organizers can use the spreadsheet to create email lists, name badges and other important documents that go along with an event.

Nate Bleker and his older sister Anna Bleker are the founding team behind simplesign.in. Nate is handling the technical aspects while the design is being handled by Anna.

We got a chance to talk with Nate about SimpleSign.in, check out the interview below.

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Accelerate Your Startup In Hawaii, BlueStartups Now Taking Applications For Spring

Blue Startups, Hawaii startups, Hawaii startup acceleartorWho wouldn’t want to accelerate their early stage startup surrounded by blue water, sandy beaches and the tropical paradise that is Hawaii? Well we just heard, by way of our friends at Alohastartups.com, that Blue Startups is now taking applications for it’s Spring 2013 accelerator class.

Blue Startups is a member of the Global Accelerator Network (formerly TechStars accelerator network) and with that you get the standard $20,000 seed investment and $100,000 in services including things like web hosting, $60,000 in Microsoft Azure credits, $12,000 in SoftLayer hosting, $10,000 in PayPal transaction credits, as well as some other great business services that will help your startup.

The spring cohort will run from February 8 through May 9 2013 with Demo Day happening May 10th 2013. Brad Feld will be the keynote speaker at Blue Startups demo day.

Blue Startups features a mentor network of over 50 leading mentors reaching from China, Japan and Silicon Valley.

They will host up to 10 startups in their spring session and have work space available for up to three people per startup team. They will also have one on one meetings with an assigned mentor every week who will help develop the startup and the startup team and follow their progress throughout the session. Other mentor sessions will be available throughout the course of the program.

The early application deadline is December 15th with the final deadline January 15, 2013.

Linkage:

Learn more about Blue Startups here

Apply for their spring session here

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Ottawa Startup NoteShares Wants Social Document Sharing INTERVIEW

Noteshares,Ottawa startup,Canadian startup,startup,startups,startup interviewOttawa entrepreneur Brenden Palmer knows there’s a better way to share documents. There’s more to sharing documents than just allowing access. That’s what separates his Ottawa startup NoteShares, from cloud based document storage lockers DropBox, Box.com and their hundreds of clones.

Palmer tells nibletz.com:

“We are not a hard drive in the cloud, and that is not what our premise and model is. We focus on creating a social community around user uploaded content. The point of using the platform is to share your documents and content, whereas other services and platforms like Dropbox, and Box.com simply allow you to have access to that content anywhere (which we offer as well). The differentiator is the ease of use and access that allows you to share this content and these documents with others who are using the platform. We don’t just allow access to share this content, but the social aspect around the document is the most prevalent aspect of our service and platform. Another thing that differentiates us is that we are launching our platform as a free web service.”
We wanted to dive in and make sure that Palmer wasn’t just another DropBox copycat. Obviously DropBox has been very successful and in their success they’ve generated a startup a day.
Adding a social aspect to documents makes them more open to discussion, commenting and discovery. Traditional cloud based lockers are really just dressed up ways to share attachments.
We got a chance to talk with Palmer in depth about Noteshares. Check out our interview below:

Ft. Lauderdale Startup: clearCi Makes Finals In Upstart Competition

clearCi,Ft. Lauderdale startup,Florida startup,startup competition, Upstart 2012Last month we covered Ft. Lauderdale startup clearCi by way of our content partners at StarTropica. ClearCi simplifies competitive intelligence, which for any company, can be a big factor in their success.

Back in the 70’s  and 80’s “competitive intelligence” may have been viewed as spying, however it’s common practice in today’s business world, in fact if you’re not doing it you could end up losing customers, and an overall grip on your business. The problem though, is in the fact that there is so much competitive intelligence available. clearCi makes it easy for companies both big and small to streamline their competitive intelligence and find the most important information available, to make decisions.

The young Ft. Lauderdale company is making in impact in South Florida, and now across the country. They’ve been selected as a finalist in not one but four categories in the upcoming 2012 Up-Start Cloud Awards.  The finals for the awards will be held in San Francisco on December 12th where Emmanuel Trenche and clearCi’s founder and CEO, Joe Levy, will be on hand to help garner votes and pitch their startup.

“The first round was entirely based on gaining votes from our customer base and general public,” said Emmanuel Trenche, VP of Marketing Communications at clearCi. “Going up against Microsoft, Dell and SIlicon Valley startups made us think creatively to stand out.”

clearCi was selected as a finalist in the following categories:

Best Cloud Business Intelligence/Analytice
Best Big Data Solution
Best Cloud Service Provider
Best Industry Application

Linkage:

Check out clearCi here

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Startups Get Your Seed Hatchery Application In Before Christmas (Dec 23 Early Application Deadline)

Seed Hatchery, Memphis startup,startups,startup acceleratorWhile Santa is making his list and checking it twice, early stage startup founders across the country and around the world are checking off startup accelerators on their list. Seed Hatchery, the startup accelerator in Memphis Tennessee should be one of those accelerators. They’re looking for the type of entrepreneurs that are committed to growing their startup long term and aren’t afraid of hard work.

Seed Hatchery is now taking applications for their third class. The cohort based accelerator will begin in February and run for three consecutive months. At the end of the session you and your company will be ready to pitch real investors for opportunities to invest in your business. In the meantime you’ll be backed by the 3M’s Money, Mentors and  a marine style bootcamp, in Memphis.

Although sometimes overlooked, Memphis is one of the most entrepreneurial minded cities in the world. Going back nearly 100 years, Memphis Tennessee was the epicenter for this little thing called “cotton” you may have heard of it. It was cotton and the cotton exchange that spurred one of the largest investment banks in history, Lehman Brothers.

Beyond that, other globally known phenomena like rock music (the blues), Elvis Presley, and R&B radio have their roots firmly planted in the Bluff City.

Is that not enough? Perhaps you’ve heard of this company that delivers packages via planes and trucks, overnight, yes FedEx was born and based  in Memphis. Holiday Inn was born in Memphis as was Serv Pro, and Autozone.  Even Debbi Fields, Yes Mrs. Fields as in cookies, calls Memphis Tennessee home.

With an entrepreneurial pedigree like that you can be assured that the mentor pool for the 2013 Seed Hatchery CoHort will be stronger than most regional accelerators Seed Hatchery’s size.

Seed Hatchery was the partner for the recent Zeroto510 medical device accelerator in Memphis where 5 of the 6 teams received follow on funding of over $100,000. One of the teams went on to immediately raise over 2 million dollars. While some startup communities are still just getting started, Seed Hatchery is backed by Launch Your City which has been working on strengthening entrepreneurs and their startups for the last six years.

If you’re a Memphis area entrepreneur or in any area and ready to relocate to Memphis it’s a great place to work and a great place to build a business. Not only that, but even though the accelerator is in the thick of the winter, it’s never ver cold in Memphis.

If you’re startup is chosen to participate you’ll receive a seed investment of $15,000, access to a very strong mentor network and a strong investment community. Seed Hatchery is looking for startups that are in the area or willing to relocate for the entire 90 day cohort and stick around Memphis to tap into the investor, entrepreneurial and startup community in the region after that. To kick off your stay in Memphis TN every team and their members selected for Seed Hatchery will receive a free ticket to the three day startup extravaganza known as “everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference” where you’ll get to see the great speakers already announced and have a small group session with recent graduates from TechStars, 500Startups, The Brandery and previous graduates of Seed Hatchery.

Applying is free and the application is open now. It’s not for the faint at heart but if you’re passionate about your idea and hard working, if you’re not afraid of rolling up your sleeves this is for you.

Hit the links below.

Linkage:

Here’s the application for the 2013 Seed Hatchery cohort

Seedhatchery.com

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Interview With Berlin Startup VERSUS IO, Compare Anything

startupLast month we brought you a story about Berlin comparison platform startup VERSUS IO. They recently added 240 cities to their comparison platform which takes comparing two things and brings it down to it’s simplest form.

The internet is great for comparison shopping. Every major online retailer like Amazon, Best Buy, Carphone Warehouse and everyone in between, offers some kind of side by side comparison of products. Just about every time I go to make a major electronics purchase, I comparison shop something online.

Sure you may want to compare the iPhone 5 vs the Samsung Galaxy S 3, or the Galaxy Nexus vs the iPad Mini. But what if you wanted to compare other things? What if you wanted to take a European vacation and wanted to weigh France vs Italy. Well Versus IO allows you to do that comparison too.
With their recent addition of 240 cities to compare it makes deciding your next vacation a breeze. The team at VERSUS IO is in the process of creating the go-to site for comparing anything and they are well on their way. In fact they plan on providing comparisons on 640 different verticals.
We got a chance to talk with VERSUS IO, founder and CEO Ramin Far who previously headed MTV Networks’ North European online departments.  Check out our interview below.

Worry Not! John McAfee Still On The Lam

John McAfee, everywhere else, tech, BelizeIf you read any tech blogs than you are most likely aware that John McAfee the multi millionaire behind the McAfee security suite is “on the lam” in Belize.  He’s wanted for questioning in the murder of his neighbor in Belize, 52 year old American businessman Gregory Faull.

The Belize government has said repeatedly that they only want to talk to McAfee.  It seems that there was a dispute between McAfee and Faull over McAgee’s dogs who ended up getting poisoned. This all happened before Faull himself was found dead.

McAfee has turned into some kind of rogue underground hero. He’s been blogging and tweeting, while trying to avoid “capture” by the Belize police. He’s told anyone who will listen that he is afraid he would be killed if he was captured by the authorities.

His mental state has been in question all the while.  In one interview, with a journalist who’s been favorable to McAfee for quite some time, McAfee played Russian roulette while the interview was being conducted. There have also been wide internet reports that McAfee enjoyed experimenting with “bath salts” for recreational use.

Since this crazy fiasco began McAfee has been keeping people up to date on Twitter and on his personal blog, whoismcafee.com. As we headed into the weekend McAfee went radio silent and his back up blogger went to work setting the plan in motion in case McAfee had been captured.

McAfee penned a blog entry a short time ago indicating that he was still in hiding with friends and he was safe but “not quite out of the woods yet”. He’s in the company of Vice Magazine.

McAfee wrote:

I apologize for the silence, and misdirection.  I am currently safe and in the company of two intrepid journalist from Vice Magazine, and, of course, Sam.  We are not in Belize, but not quite out of the woods yet.  I will do a more detailed posting later today if all goes well.  My “double”, carrying on a North Korean passport under my name, was in fact detained in Mexico for pre-planned misbehavior, but due to indifference on the part of authorities was evicted from the jail and was unable to serve his intended purpose in our exit plan.  He is now safely out of Mexico.

McAfee reports that he is getting his companion Sam safe, and after she is safe he will return to Belize because he can’t keep up this fight in “exile”.

Yes, your computers are being protected with software developed by this man.

Linkage:

McAfee’s Blog

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Kauffman Foundation Takes 1 Million Cups Startup Pitch Event Global

One Million Cups, Kauffman Foundation,startup,pitch eventA startup pitch event that the Kauffman Foundation created this spring, is going global. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has been driving startups through global events by participating heavily with Startup Weekend, Startup America and sponsoring many startup and entrepreneurial events across the globe.

1 Million Cups is an informal weekly meetup, that until now, only occurred at Kauffman’s Kansas City headquarters. Each Wednesday morning two startups get to pitch a group of their peers over coffee. The Kauffman Foundation has already seen 64 pitches during the first 35 meetings.

Last month, during Global Entrepreneurship Week, Des Moines Iowa became the second city to host 1 Million Cups events. Nate Olson, a Kauffman Foundation analyst, and the 1 Million Cups coordinator hopes to add 20 more cities by the end of 2013. In Q1 2013 the foundation plans to bring Cedar Rapids IA, Omaha Neb, Lincoln Neb, and possibly Columbia MO online as well.

“We are expanding from the interior of the country outward, so don’t look for us on the coast just yet” Kauffman Foundation Vice President Thom Ruhe said in an email to the Kansas City Business Journal.  Rhue hinted that bigger startup hubs, like Silicon Valley, are more “entrepreneurially aware”.

The Kansas City meetups host 120 people each week, from the tech sector. They’re attracting entrepreneurs, wantrerpreneurs, outside advisers and others.

To continue their expansion the Kauffman Foundation is seeking out entrepreneurs in other cities that can host the weekly pitch events and of course provide free coffee.

Linkage:

Check out 1 Million Cups Here

Source: KC Business Journal

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