Everywhere Else Archives - Page 81 of 145

Meet The Founders Of Miami Startup: CloudShopper

This story originally appeared on our content partner site StarTropica.com

“We didn’t set out to do a Startup we’re doing a Business”, Ulises Orozco, co-founder ofCloudShopper, a free shopping comparison add-on already popular in the market place told me when our conversation turned a little too much into startup blabber as if wanting to draw the line between the social and fashionable side of “having a startup” and the simple execution of a business plan.

Simple it is, and also lean. So lean it only appears in your browser at the exact time that you need it, nothing more nothing less. Unlike most existing browser add-ons CloudShopper is invisible and it only pops up when you search for a specific product in a shopping portal offering you price comparisons of the exact same item in other websites, so that you can choose the lower one. One click and you are off to see it, and very probably buy it.

It’s sleek, non-intrusive, efficient, and accurate, no longer it has amassed 17,000 downloads in almost a year with very limited advertising; as big as that number is it’s not even near to what their goal is, they actually need much more than that to really start seeing the kind of return they are expecting, that’s why they are conquering every browser platform in the market. It is already available in Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Explorer, and Opera, and they are soon releasing the iPhone app.

What’s so amazing about CloudShopper is how simple it is for the user but how complicated it is to implement on the back-end. The add-on is available in 2,500 e-commerce websites from Amazon and Wal-Mart, to Sears and Target, you name it, and they are there. This implied setting up connections with many of those portals through their APIs, but at the same time making a different piece of software for each of the existing Browsers to then bring it all together under a clean user interface. And they did it all in just under a year of work.

Continue reading at our partner site StarTropica

Have you heard about this yet?

Memphis Entrepreneur Aaron Prather Launching New Startup This Weekend During 48 Hour Launch

It’s 48 Hour Launch time in Memphis Tennessee. This weekend entrepreneurs from across the state (and some neighboring states as well) have assembled for a weekend of launching new startups, hackathon style.

Nearly 50 entrepreneurs, developers, marketers and support people are working on three great startup ideas. The three selected ideas will work to develop those ideas over the next two days and turn them into actual viable startups. Sunday they’ll show off their new startups to the toughest judges of them all, a room full of their peers.

48 Hour Launch is a unique concept in the weekend startup hackathon. As a product of Launch Memphis, the 48 Hour Launch teams have access to continuing resources to develop their ideas, way beyond Sunday.

As a testament to that concept, Richard Billings, the founder of Memphis startup ScrewPulp, spoke to the crowd before the Friday evening pitches. Billings alternative independent publishing platform was hatched in June at Launch Memphis’ last 48 Hour Launch event. Today, Billings has staffed up and even moved the company to office space downtown. Their designer is working on the front end, a developer is working on the back end and Billings is working on developing the business and laying roots in the publishing community.

Aaron Prather, the founder of Memphis startup Stiqrd, was on hand for 48 Hour Launch. Prather is no stranger to Launch Memphis or their cohort based accelerator, Seed Hatchery. Pranther’s startup Stiqrd accelerated at Seed Hatchery two years ago.

This weekend though Prather had a great idea. He’s building a tool where online news consumers can use a widget, or browser plugin to let publishers, bloggers and writers know that they want follow up to the stories they read online.

If you’re familiar with how sites like Reddit and the hub at Startup Revolution work, you can get notified every time someone does anything with your message. Pranther wants it to be that easy, but in reverse, to let writers and publishers know, “Hey I’ll read a follow up on that”.

The idea is great for publishers, because as Prather put it, there’s guaranteed eyeballs on stories not even published yet.

Check out Pranther’s Friday pitch below:

Linkage:

Listen To Places Through People With Chicago Startup: EvzDrop INTERVIEW

Chicago startup Evzdrop has put a new spin on social discovery. Rather than going somewhere and seeing who’s around you, you can “listen” to places using Evzdrop’s website and mobile app. Essentially what Evzdrop is doing is combining event discovery with people discovery, in reverse.

To understand this better here’s how it works. When a user goes somewhere they do a drop, basically putting a pin down where they are at. “Dropping” is Evzdrop speak for checking in. Once you check in or “drop” you can leave a tip or comment about the place. Through your setting you can decide if you want to share your “drops” with people in your network or the public at large. Or, if you rather just lurk in the shadows you can go into “stealth mode” kind of like those startups that think they have original ideas.

You can update your drops as well. For instance if you go to your favorite burger joint and they’re out of milkshakes, that may be important information people need to know. Or perhaps you’ve gone out to one of your favorite clubs but tonight it’s a pure sausage fest.

These drops make event and people discovery for other users a breeze. Now people can look at all the places they want to check out. Users can search for a place or see what’s trending. When they do that, they’ll see all the drops from the people there already. They’ll know if it’s hot or not, by just looking at the drops on the mobile app.

If you’re the “dropper” your drops can be voted up and get you points by the more people that check out your drop. Evzdrop calls this whole thing listening in. So now you’re listening into places rather than just checking them out.

To put it another way. FourSquare is great for checking in you want to check in and get points, and show all your friends that you’ve checked in to such and such place. You may even want to be the mayor (do they even do that anymore). With Evzdrop they’re giving the drops a real purpose. When’s the last time you went to FourSquare to see if a place was hot? You looked for the people right? Evzdrop puts that idea in reverse.

We got a chance to talk with the Evzdrop team. Check out the interview below:

Waterloo Canada: What Do You Do When Your Tech Giant Fails?

Waterloo Canada is the home to Research In Motion (RIM) the creators of the Blackberry. For nearly twenty years the Canadian company was the leader in the smartphone space, basically because there were no decent challengers. Palm/Handspring tried to compete with their Treo line and then the Pre line. Several companies tried to implement the original Windows Phone into some kind of Blackberry contender but time and time again Blackberry prevailed.

Until 2007.

Depending on what sites you read, or who you ask, many people believe that RIM felt unstoppable. There was no way that this “smart phone” with a touch screen was going to be able to displace the top seeded Blackberry. Once Google released Android on several different OEM’s the writing on the wall was clear, RIM needed a new game plan. RIM stuck to their guns though because they thought they had the enterprise market cornered. They didn’t.

But this isn’t the story of a falling tech giant. It’s the story of a great city in Waterloo Canada. It’s the story of an incredibly solid startup eco-system that until a few short years ago, lived in the shadows of RIM.

Sortable published an amazing infographic (below) that highlights some of the amazing things going on in Waterloo Canada. You’ll probably read this article and look at the infographic and be just as surprised as we were.

Waterloo serves as the Canadian headquarters for technology giants; Google, IBM,McAfee, Oracle and Electronic Arts (EA). From that, and Waterloo’s thriving tech startup community, over 30,000 people in Waterloo are employed at tech firms. All of that combined is good for $25 billion in revenue from Waterloo’s tech sector. Wow!

550 tech startups call Waterloo home
850+ tech firms call Waterloo home
531 new companies started in the last three years
1,000 open tech jobs
VC and private equity investments have gone from $7 million in 1997 to $300 million today

Shocked?

Canada has great entrepreneurial pockets throughout the country. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and of course Waterloo have all graced the pages of nibletz.com with startup news stories and interviews. That’s why Waterloo is known as Canada’s innovation hub.

While it wasn’t cited in this particular infographic, RIM has served as a breeding ground for great startup founders, similar to the way Google does for Valley startups. It’s apparent though that solid people in the tech industry should have no problem finding work as RIM continues to crumble. It was reported back in August that RIM is laying off 3,000 employees.

Sortable Waterloo Region Tech Infographic

Linkage:

Check out our Canadian coverage here

Canada counts as “everywhere else” so click here.

Startup Puerto Rico’s Kendall Quinones On Sharing Talent

The Startup America Regions Summit this week in Chicago brought together 150 Startup America champions from across the country and Puerto Rico. Kendall Quinones, the founder and CEO of EdTech startup in Puerto Rico, Sparkative, was on hand for the summit and sharing ideas that work for Puerto Rico throughout the event.

Quinones talked in depth about one of the big challenges they are facing in Puerto Rico. They are having a hard time engaging some of the “feeders” in Puerto Rico, to get involved with the startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Puerto Rico is known for their manufacturing and when it comes to job creation Quinones points out that in Puerto Rico they use factories as a band aid for job creation.

It’s much easier to employ more people in Puerto Rico by attracting more manufacturing than it is to try and entice say a game development studio to come to Puerto Rico. A factory that can employ hundreds at minimum wage is actually the easier way out and one that the Puerto Rican government seems to use often.

For those active and engaged in the startup and entrepreneurial community in Puerto Rico and in Startup Puerto Rico, the culture is a complete 180. In their region they share, share, share and share some more. Their growing startup and entrepreneurial base, is encouraged to share resources, and ideas across the country.

One thing that’s also shared is talent.

In the video below Quinones talks about how at his company, Sparkative, he encourages his people to work on Sparkative and in their free time devote a few hours to other Startup Puerto Rico members that may need their services. Whether it’s a designer, an engineer or a marketer, it seems that Puerto Rico is all about sharing.

The biggest purpose of the Startup America summit was to share best practices, and even failures so that the 30 regions currently in the Startup America partnership can grow together.

Although at times it may seem like Puerto Rico is worlds away, it’s clear that their fully engaged in not only their own community but Startup America as well.

Here’s the video clip:

Linkage:

Check out Quinones’ company Sparkative here

Startup Puerto Rico here

Startup America here

oh and this too

A Travel Startup For The Young Sexy & Broke NY Startup: Off Track Planet

Brooklyn based entrepreneur Freddie Pikovsky is no stranger to startups. Pikovsky is the founder of Brooklyn’s Dumbo Startup Labs, a hot spot for entrepreneurial and startup activity in Brooklyn. In fact our good friends at Justdecide.com work out of Dumbo Startup Labs.

In a true testament to the power of The Brandery startup accelerator in Cincinnati, Pikovsky, who could have easily gotten his latest startup into any incubator or accelerator in the New York region, applied to, and got accepted at, The Brandery. It was The Brandery’s focus on marketing and branding that Pikovsky was hoping would help shape Off Track Planet. It’s apparent that his decision to take a 3 months sabbatical from Dumbo Startup Labs and head to Cincinnati paid off.

Off Track Planet, in it’s 1.0 form, had already attracted the attention of young, broke, millennials who loved to travel. Pikovsky knows this market well. In fact he worked alongside Diego Saez Gil, founder of inbed.me which for politically correct reasons became wehostels. Pikovsky ventured out on his own with Off Track Planet to target a different segment of the $108 billion dollar a year travel industry.

Off Track Planet targets the millennial generation by offering great content on the best places to travel to, affordable things to do, even great swag and gadget ideas for the millennial traveler.

“In order to change the world, we must see the world first. The new Off Track Planet makes it easier to explore, plan, share, and experience the world in a way that makes sense to our generation.” Pikovsky said in a statement.

In addition to a relaunch of the Off Track Planet online offering, Pikovsky has added a traditional print magazine and has also written a book that will be available at Urban Outfitters. The attraction to the millennial traveler is definitely there. In his introduction of Off Track Planet at the Brandery Demo Day, OTP Mentor and DFJ Mercury Managing Director, Blair Garrou said:

“Off Track Planet is not for the 80 million baby boomers but for the 80 million millennials.”

Check out Pikovsky’s pitch video below from The Brandery’s Demo Day:

Linkage:

Find Off Track Planet here

Brandery here

Everywhere Else Here

Israeli Startup: Vidimind Lets Any Brand Become A TV Provider INTERVIEW

So hearing about Israeli startup Vidimind got me thinking, how cool would it be if Nibletz could own it’s own TV service. You could get a cool Android powered Nibletz TV service box for your home, and then use that box to stream tv, access tv apps and games, all the while under the brand “Nibletz TV”. Pretty bad ass huh…

Well that’s exactly what Vidimind does. This innovative Israeli service allows any company to purchase it’s white label tv service. The service is offered through an Android powered set top box. The box can be plugged into the TV or shared via wifi to smartphones and tablets in your home as well.

Through Vidimind the end user gets a robust tv service via their set top box. The company, or brand, gets access to vital subscriber data and can offer subscribers custom data as well. Brands and companies can offer deals, promotions, contests and more through the Vidimind box giving companies an advertising vehicle, in the living room, that’s rivaled by nothing else available on the market today.

With the power of the internet, Android and a set top box, any company in the world can become a tv service operator.

We got a chance to interview the team behind Vidimind. Check out the interview below:

Brad Feld On “The Boulder Thesis” VIDEO

Author,founder, entrepreneur, investor and all around startup evangelist Brad Feld was on hand in Chicago on Tuesday for the Startup America regions summit. Feld is one of the founders, and Managing Director of Foundry Group and has been enamored in startup culture for over 15 years.

Feld’s latest book “Startup Communities” was published earlier this month, and in addition to speaking Startup America and 1871 hosted an official launch party for Feld’s book which included signing copies and free books for the first 40 in line.

Feld’s book serves as almost a handbook to other entrepreneurs and startup ecosystem leaders looking to build startup ecosystems in their town. Feld feels that most communities can support a startup ecosystem if they follow some basic guidelines. Boulder Colorado is one of the most well known and respected startup communities outside of Silicon Valley. Boulder didn’t grow into the startup community it is today, overnight. Feld points out that its been growing over the past 15 years and continues to grow.

Feld has been working with Startup America since it’s inception, in fact Startup America CEO Scott Case counts Feld as one of his most trusted advisors out in the field, working in the trenches with startups every day.

During his Startup America talk Feld highlighted the foundation, or framework found in his book “Startup Communities” about building startup communities.

The startup communities have to be led by entrepreneurs
These entrepreneurs have to take a very long term view (20 years)
They have to be inclusive of anyone who wants to be inclusive of the startup community in any way
You have to have activities and events that engage the entire entrepreneurial community

Feld prides himself on his genuine accessibility and is anxious to talk with entrepreneurs and startups from everywhere. He’s a top rate connector and if you’re headed to Boulder he will gladly share members of his network with you that he feels you will benefit from. He’s willing to help just about anyone, however before he helps you he often gives out tasks to do, nothing too hard, but rather questions to answer or information to find out, usually helping yourself in the process. These tasks usually separate the serious from the not so serious.

In the same spirit as his email accessibility Feld stuck around most of the day talking with the Startup America champions about just about anything. In fact we talked about startups, tennis and Australia and how they all interconnect for Feld and his family in February.

Check out the video from his talk at the Startup America summit below:

Linkage:

Check out Brad Feld’s site here

Startup America Here

Everywhere Else here

Chicago Ideas Week: Kara Swisher On The Next Big Thing VIDEO

We are in Chicago this week for the Startup America regions summit for Startup America Champions. We’re actually attending as Champions rather than media. Our good friend Frank Gruber at TechCocktail is also attending the summit as a regional champion from Washington DC.

While we did a little bit of actual work at the summit for the most part it’s been a great learning experience. In fact, when I tried to continue working after lunch, Startup America CEO Scott Case personally came and got me to make sure I was learning and not working. All the sessions on Tuesday were definitely worth it.

That doesn’t mean we couldn’t work at night after the summit was over.

It’s idea week in Chicago through October 14th. It’s a week long series of entrepreneurial, startup and innovator events, talks and lectures very similar to startup week happening in Austin Texas. As part of Idea Week, Startup America Chairman Steve Case (no relation to Scott), spoke in a mega talk Tuesday evening.

Case drove home many of the important points from his talk earlier in the day at the Startup America summit. He also went into a little history of AOL and briefly talked about the Time Warner merger.

After Case cleared the stage, they introduced the next guest (which we hadn’t read the program so we didn’t know) Kara Swisher.

Swisher is an authority on startups, technology and silicon valley. She was one of the reporters featured prominently in the 60 minutes interview with Mark Zuckerberg and she, along with Walt Mossberg, head up AllThingsDigital. She’s a great interviewer and an equally as good interviewee.

Most of the interview was in true Swisher banter, great down to earth, and real tech talk sprinkled with her signature humor. In fact one of the funniest points in her talk was when she made reference to the fact that she’s been married to a Google executive for 14 years, Swisher than pointed out that she is a lesbian (which she’s always been out), and in “straight years” that would be 97 years of marriage.

She referred to Google Glasses as “creep glasses” and Google+ as not a social network.

At the end of the interview (the part in the video below) she was asked what she thought the next big thing would be. Her answer may surprise you, and again, even this answer was full of humor, that’s for the most part true:

Linkage:

New York Startup: AppBoy Is A Must Have For App Developers INTERVIEW

The app economy is exploding, and as this global phenomena continues more and more app developers have turned from “Fred in the shed” developers to serious (or semi-serious) startups.

App developers are realizing though, to make it in this global app economy they need to have access to the best tools available to them. More than ever, app developers need to know their users. App developers need access to every piece of analytical data available to them. With over a billion apps available across all ecosystems, app users have an element of choice they’ve never had before. App developers need to make sure that they can hold onto that user for as long as they can. Once you lose a user it’s hard to get them back.

All this analytical data is what Mark Ghermezian and his New York startup Appboy, specialize in. But one thing that Appboy odes that separates themselves from just another app developer dashboard, is they bring the data back to app developers in a clean, visually appealing UI and data that’s easy to understand and interpret even for beginning app developers.

Appby is about more than just data though. Ghermezian understands that app users are customers, and as such Appboy positions itself as the first app CRM solution.

We got a chance to talk to Ghermezian about Appboy. Check out our interview below:

Utah Startup: Taxi, The Easiest Way To Present Online? INTERVIEW

Utah Startup Taxi has come to the rescue to anyone who needs to do online presentations. Whether you’re sharing a presentation for a meeting, sharing a presentation with a potential client, or need to send your pitch deck to a bunch of potential investors, Taxi may be the answer that you’re looking for.

Taxi lets users set up online presentations quickly and effortlessly. Taxi prides itself on simplicity with no need to set up plugins, no worrying about firewalls and no worrying that people on your conference call can’t see your screen. All you need to use Taxi is a web browser.

Need to share your presentation with someone on their mobile device? No worries, because it’s browser based the mobile experience is just as fluid on a smartphone or tablet, as it is on a desktop or laptop.

Taxi also offers seamless integration with HighRise so if you’re a High Rise user you’re still in business.

They offer a free version that allows you to share your presentation with one attendee at a time. They have affordable pricing plans all the way up to 100 attendees (just $20/month).

We got a chance to interview Taxi. Check out the interview below:

Boston Startup: SlideShark Solves The iPad/PowerPoint Problem

Although we love our Apple products around here, sometimes getting Apple to play nice with others requires a little work around. In this case we’re talking about the fact that PowerPoint slide shows never show up right on an iPad. This problem had thousands and thousands of startup founders in a frenzy trying to find the best way to get their pitch decks onto their iPads.

Sure a KeyNote presentation will play well on an iPad, after all it’s an Apple product, but what about those 30 million presentations created daily using Power Point (according to Microsoft)?

Power Point can be a vital business tool and with more and more people taking to Power Point out of the board room, it can be frustrating trying to get your slides to fit and play right on your iPad. Well worry no more, as Boston Startup Slideshark has you covered.

Slideshark is available for all iOS devices. They recently launched their iPhone version and according to the company, it plays well with iPhone 5 too. Slideshark covers three main Power Points (you see what we did there). Of course it’s a viewer that allows slides to be seen with fonts, graphics and charts in tact. Secondly, SlideShark allows users to share, track and manage their presentations in the cloud. And now, with the iOS version available, you can show your pitch deck during your elevator pitch, on the elevator, on your iPhone.

We got a chance to talk with the folks at SlideShark, check out the interview below:

Montreal Startup: Hypejar The Wikipedia Of New Products? INTERVIEW

Grant Yim and his team of co-founders at Montreal startup Hypejar are hoping that their startup becomes the “wikipedia of new products”. Hypejar aims to help manufacturers and startups with new products, generate buzz and excitement before a products official launch.

The web based platform promises to feature new and exciting products before they hit the market. Hyperjar users will be able to keep track of the upcoming products that they’re interested and get notified when those products officially hit the market. Users will also be able to vote products up and down in reddit style to indicate which products are more popular and which ones are more highly anticipated.

Hypejar is also targeting those smaller startups, and independent inventors. Inventors will be able to add their own products to Hyperjar and update their products “wiki”, to notify potential customers of new features, pricing and availability.

While Yim realizes there are plenty of sites out there that post reviews and product information after a product is released, there aren’t many sites that post information before a product is released. We know from our previous website that many manufacturers do vet out “review units” of products before a release, however Yim sees one of Hypejar’s main differentiators as the fact that users will have access to information on a large number of products before they get released.

Hypejar will become a vehicle for those early adopters who love to find out about the newest things first. It will also be a great vehicle for manufacturers, and inventors who need to gain traction for their products before they are released.

We got a chance to talk to Yim about Hypejar and the startup scene in Montreal. Check out the interview below:

Don’t Forget The Flowers An Interview With London Startup BelateMeNot

Have you ever forgotten a loved ones birthday? Are you one of those guys or gals that can’t even remember to send flowers. Well fear not, there is a London startup called BelateMeNot that will make sure you never forget the flowers again.

As you can imagine from the descriptive introduction or from the company’s name, BelateMeNot is a flower scheduled delivery service. It’s designed for people in a committed relationship or maybe someone who sends flowers to their family on scheduled days, to order the flowers one time for eternity and forget about it.

Lawrence Suss, a serial entrepreneur since high school, founded BelateMeNot to help men and women everywhere, who forget to send flowers. He likes to think of his startup as “relationship insurance”. No worries either, your loved one won’t receive a card that says “sent from BelateMeNot the scheduled delivery service” they’ll just think you remembered the flowers this time, and you’ll score major points.

We got a chance to talk to Suss about BelateMeNot and London’s thriving startup scene. Check out the interview below: