Dallas Startup Dormitup To Save College Bound Students Trips To Target

As the college school year starts to wind down next month, dumpsters will start filling to the brim with all the colorful stuff students purchased headed into the school year from Target. A lot of the housewares and dorm room goods will still be in new packaging. Why? Because gearing up for dorm life can be confusing. Often times it involves lots of trips to the store for things students are told they need but actually don’t.

Well two cousins, Sagar Hemani (Missouri University alumn) and Shanil Wazirali (Texas A&M alumn) have set out to make moving into the dorm much simpler.

Their new startup Dormitup just opened its doors and offers a great new way for students and parents to get everything they need for the dorm in one click (or two). Dormitup provides predetermined packages that are filled with the things students actually need for dorm life.

Inbound college students and their parents can go to Dormitup’s website and order everything in one package. They can also customize their dorm room packages by color. Then everything is delivered to their home (or dorm room) ready to go. Students and parents can spend their last few weeks preparing for college, saying their good byes and having fun.

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

What is your startup, what does it do?

Dormitup.com offers a convenient, affordable, and exciting way for incoming college students to purchase their campus essentials! We focus on providing everything that an incoming college student needs and wants, while maintaining an affordable price and providing high quality products!

Our Story:

Entering college was an exciting moment for us! We were both convinced that the next four years were going to be the best years of our lives!

After receiving our room assignments, we started our research on what to bring to college. This was a tough process. We both felt the need to buy everything on the 3-4 checklists we could get our hands on. We didn’t know any better. All we kept hearing was to make sure to purchase Twin XL bedding. We didn’t even know what Twin XL meant. We dragged our parents from store-to-store trying to find the bare essentials. It wasn’t easy. We both spent nearly a week trying to find these essentials because everything was sold out in stores. Our parents were overwhelmed and extremely frustrated by this process. We don’t blame them; entering college was supposed to be an exciting moment, not a burden.

Just as we thought we purchased everything, we entered our rooms and noticed that they were completely empty. Our parents had to make 3-4 more trips to local retail stores just to make sure we were fully prepared and weren’t missing anything. Both of our parents spent nearly $700, countless amount of gas money, and valuable time through this process.

We knew there had to be a better solution to all this madness?

All throughout college we remembered this horrifying process and came together, wanting to save the lives of all students entering college. We didn’t want other incoming college students to experience what we went through. Upon graduating from college, we knew it was time to launch Dormitup.com to provide incoming college students and their families a way to get all of their dorm room essentials, without having to waste time, money, and their sanities.

Where are you based?

Dallas, TX

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

More and more businesses are growing, especially by young entrepreneurs. It seems as if entrepreneurship is starting to be well accepted by people, and more and more people want to own their own businesses.

What problem does your startup solve?

We provide an enjoyable, hassle free, and affordable college shopping experience for parents and students. We do this by offering incoming college students the ability to choose between our four dorm room essentials packages, the opportunity to customize their essentials by the colors and styles of their choice, and the convenience to receive their customized dorm essentials package at their door steps.

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

We’ve faced many challenges throughout our startup process. We’ve struggled anywhere from developing the products, to bootstrapping how we market our company to the public, to developing partnerships. The only answer to how we’ve overcome these challenges is being diligent. We’ve conducted years of extensive research and spent many late nights working and scratching our heads to develop the right products and business structure. Our investors and mentors have instilled in us to start small, but dream big, and that’s what we’ve been following. It’s diligence and perseverance that has brought us to launch our website today.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

We have our own Dorm It Up brand of products, which students will love! We also have a partnership with a major University!

What are your next milestones?

To aim to create a word of mouth business and a well established brand. Our objective is to have people talking about Dorm It Up when they think of college shopping. We aim to develop more and more University partnerships throughout the years, provide the best customer service to our Dorm It Up members, and get our packages in the hands of as many incoming college students as possible!

Who are your mentors and role models?

Our fathers and their third brother are our mentors and role models. They came from nothing and made themselves into successful businessmen. They have taught us the importance of working extremely hard with passion. Our mentors have also emphasized on being the start of something new and leading by example. They mentor us on a daily basis on what business decisions to make, how to be patient with business, how to make quick, yet intelligent decisions, and much more

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

We’ve had the pleasure of having our family and friends, as well as our mentors to guide and support us on a daily basis here in Dallas, TX. We have all the resources we need here for our business.

What’s next for your startup?

We are marketing our eGift cards at this time, which allow parents to purchase eGift card packages, and let their graduate customize their package the way they want it. We are continuously working to develop new partnerships and find opportunities to market to parents and graduating high school seniors.

Where can people find out more?

Visit dormitup.com for any information. Our Facebook link is facebook.com/dormitup. Find us on Twitter @dormitup

Now check out Austin startup Burpy

DC Startup Seva Call Is A Virtual Concierge In Real Time & By Phone

If you’re looking for a professional service provider the highly acclaimed DC startup Seva Call may be just the right thing for you. Seva Call is a virtual concierge service that links customers by phone to the professional services that they need.

Whether you’re looking for computer repair techs, heating and cooling pros, locksmiths, maid service professionals, plumbers, roofers, or any other kind of service provider, Seva Call can handle that for you.

The company, providing services in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston and New York right serves up the best professionals in the users area.

So in this day and age of text messages, native apps,and web based platforms, why a “phone call” service?

“Even for simple inquiries, only 7% of consumers polled prefer text over other means of communication. As the service need gets more complex, customers want even more personal attention, a majority preferring direct conversation with businesses#. Perhaps that’s why 76% consumers polled prefer small businesses, with their reliance on old fashioned personal attention rather than ridiculous hold times, automated messages, bureaucracy and now the highly impersonal use of text messaging to bypass all of that.” co-founder Manpreet Singh told nibletz.com in an interview.

Even though we’re at a time where we think everyone is online, Singh tells us that 61% of service providers still have no web website or don’t know how to market themselves or make themselves available online.

SevaCall combines the best of both worlds to consumers and service providers. Customers needing services go to the SevaCall website and from there they decide the service that they need. They enter their location, contact info, availability and service need and within minutes they’ll get a call from 3 service providers.

“In minutes, Seva Call’s algorithm selects the best companies based on the details provided plus quality assurance indicators like consumer reviews and social media interactions. In about 90 secs customers can talk to an area professional who knows about their needs and have determined that they are ready to help.Plus, contact details remain confidential.” Singh said.

They plan on releasing mobile apps on iOS and Android in the near future which will allow users to enter the services they need on their smartphone and still get a call back with potential service providers.

Check out SevaCall here at sevacall.com

This pitch from DC startup Speek resulted in a monkey tattoo on the cofounders ass.

Chicago Startup Birdfeud Is Building Debates (Feuds) Around Brands [interview]

It’s no secret that debates that fill up a comment section on any blog, tech site, journal or review site, provide a very high level engagement. Not only are the debaters engaging but more and more viewers hone in on the best debates and watch them grow.

A Chicago startup, called Birdfeud is taking advantage of that instinctive behavior, and turning it in such a way that brands and agency’s benefit from the engagement. The company is targeting any brand that wants to target users with high engagement topics. In essence they are marketing brands in a very deliberate way that appears absolutely non deliberate.

It seems to be a method that’s creating success for the Chicago startup based at 1871.

All of the founders previously worked together at Spartz Media, a social media agency that served over 160 million pageviews per month. It was there that they observed first hand how arguments, debates and feuds sparked engagement that was off the richter scale.

Now, through their own startup, users can join into hot button discussions and debate while simultaneously being exposed and engaging with brands. While the concept may seem unorthodox in the social media space, when you take a look back at what they’re doing it’s actually genius.

We got a chance to interview Andrew Parnell, co-founder and CEO of Birdfeud. Check out the interview below.

What is BirdFeud?

Birdfeud is a social marketing company with a B2B focus. Our products help brands and agencies connect with and engage end users.

In layman’s terms, how does it work? (In other words how would you explain it to your grandmother)

A lot of people use social networks like Facebook and Twitter. They discuss, argue with each other, and have passionate conversations about all sorts of different topics, including brands and companies. We let those brands and companies gain value from these conversations by bringing the conversation to their web site while still maintaining the social element.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

The founders previously worked at Spartz Media, where we cut our teeth on social media and the internet startup climate. We helped grow the business to 25 employees serving 160 million pageviews per month to an engaged audience of millions.

Andrew Parnell (CEO) has a background in business administration, consulting, and project management. Working at the Acquity Group he advised companies like General Motors and the New York Philharmonic.

Andrew Weber (Director of Technology) has a deep development and technical architecture background, heading up the development team at his previous business as well as running the Midwest Sports Car Club.

Vladimir Jornitski (Director of Information) has an educational background in economics and an operational background in project management at Thomson Reuters, data analysis, and research management.

Henry Vasquez (Director of Marketing) has a background in operations and political science, and is the Vice President of Operations at Spartz Media.

Where are you based?

We’re based out of the startup coworking space 1871 in Chicago, IL.

What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?

Through enthusiastic public and private development Chicago is advancing itself substantially as a startup center. Working at 1871 allows us to be in the locus of activity for this development, meeting a lot of people working in adjacent or similar problem spaces that we can learn from and help out in turn.

How did you come up with the idea for BirdFeud?

We’ve been working in both the social space and with companies and brands for some time. Initially, we began by looking at the current limitations of social networks like Twitter from a user perspective- difficulty seeing the best content, lack of managing ongoing conversations- and then unified it with our understanding of the limitations of social media from a brand management perspective, following on from conversations that we had with companies having difficulty getting social to work for them.

How did you come up with the name?

Birdfeud’s name was settled on fairly quickly as a catchy conflation of the ideas of debating and group participation that are core to the use of the tool.

What problem does BirdFeud solve?

Companies and brands, even those with a strong social focus, have trouble actually making social media generate value for their business. Follower counts grow but most of the audience that brands reach never come back, and certainly don’t engage with the brand on a consistent basis. Birdfeud solves this problem by engaging end users in topics relevant to both their interests and the brand that gets the ball rolling on the conversation.

What’s your secret sauce?

Birdfeud leverages the open access Twitter and Facebook APIs to embed social content (Twitter tweets and Facebook posts) into an embeddable iframe. This allows for a business or brand to embed that social content, algorithmically sort it, and manage it, right on their website. The conversation will continue in social channels- with links pointing back to the website, Facebook page, or other promotional vehicle for the brand.

Are you bootstrapped or funded?

Birdfeud is currently on bootstrapped funding, although we’re currently looking to raise about $200,000 for a round of funding. We’d be more than happy to talk to any potential investors for part or all of our funding request; let us know at parnell@birdfeud.com .

What are some milestones you’ve achieved?

August 2012: We had a fully functional beta of Birdfeud live on our website, http://www.birdfeud.com/ .

September 2012: We started onboarding ‘case study’ clients to prove out the ability to engage users.

February 2013: We ‘go to market’ to start finding paying clients.

Present Day: We have 4 signed contracts for paying clients and are beginning conversations with enterprise level customers for larger campaigns.

What’s your next milestone?

We’re looking to have 10 paying clients launched by the end of March and are currently on pace to do so. Past that, we’re looking to be a profitable company by EOY 2013 with 50+ paying clients on-boarded.

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

We initially began with a more B2C focus: “let’s fix what we don’t like about social media.” Pivoting to our current B2B focus was a choice that took us out of the realm of areas that we were, with our business experience, fully familiar with. In the end we had to make an analysis of what the best opportunity for our product was and what the correct alignment was between our solution and the actual problems out there in the market. A rational examination and the willingness to potentially venture into a business own paid off, with our business now much more clearly milestoned.

Who are some of your mentors and business role models?

We’ve been able to draw upon a fantastic support and advice network while building our business out in Chicago. David Culver at VentureSHOT has given us invaluable advice for getting the business sustainable and taking it to market. We’ve also been able to draw upon the experience of other mentors like Robert Jordan of InterimCEO, Corey Angst at Notre Dame University, Mike Moyer, Jay Lindgren, and Kevin Willer.

What’s next for BirdFeud?

As stated above, we’re currently in the sales phase for Birdfeud, really proving the model out with clients across our target range (from bloggers to small businesses to larger enterprise clients). We’ll continue to garner data and feedback from clients as we look to develop the tool further. We’re also looking towards our current funding round to really be able to scale the model out and reach more agencies and enterprise clients at the top end.

Where can people find out more?

There’s a lot of information about Birdfeud available at our website, http://www.birdfeud.com . Those interested in contacting us as potential clients can also look at http://www.birdfeud.com/partners or email our CEO at parnell@birdfeud.com . Finally, Birdfeud can (of course) be found on Twitter: @birdfeud .

Check out Briefskate the first startup to build a physical product on the startup bus.

Chicago Reviews Startup G2Crowd Taking On Gartner Not Yelp

The Chicago based team behind Big Machines, a company that specializes in cloud based product configuration, and sold to Vista Equity Partners and JMI Equity at a valuation of more than $100 million dollars is back. This time they’ve attacked a problem that IT professionals and companies around the world are having every day; finding great reviews on software.

Their video explains it best, you’re not going to ask a car dealer for his “honest opinion” on the vehicle you’re looking at. If you do, you’re going to get whatever it takes to sell the product. You’re not going to look to tech review magazines and online sites because they’re riddled with “product placement” and paid for reviews.

So G2Crowd decided to create a community of crowdsourced reviews from actual users. Today they have over 2500 members and 10,000 ratings on various software packages, mostly aimed at enterprise companies.

A company with 500-10,000 employees is looking at a pretty big capital expenditure when it comes to CRM software, or other productivity software. Licenses can run in the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

G2Crowd offers users, or readers, a much more rounded picture of the products they may end up purchasing.

You would think that a startup like this was coming directly at Yelp, however TechCrunch reports that’s not the case at all. While serving the needs of software purchasers with reviews, they’ll also provide a paid for research service, much like Gartner and other companies like it. With their broad range of reviews, and user base they plan on offering these research reports at a much lower cost, like $99.

After their first successful exit with BigMachines, when CEO and co-founder Godard Abel launched G2Crowd they naturally decided to remain in Chicago. We talk with the G2Crowd team about Chicago’s startup scene and what they’re doing differently in the reviews space with G2Crowd. Check out the interview below:

What is your startup, what does it do?

G2 Crowd is a site for trusted reviews of business software. We are changing the game by creating a motivated community of real users sharing real reviews in real time so companies can select software in much the same way that we use reviews on Yelp or Amazon to pick a restaurant or hotel. New insights based on authentic reviews encourage informed decisions and collective learning; companies can use G2 Crowd to compare software and find the one that’s right for them based on the experiences of actual users.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Godard Abel, cofounder/CEO

Matt Gorniak, cofounder/COO

Tim Handorf, cofounder/Products

Mark Myers, cofounder/Design

Mike Wheeler, cofounder/Engineering

The cofounders all worked together at another company, BigMachines, which was founded by Godard. After the successful sale of BigMachines, they were looking for a new project and started G2 Crowd. More info on the team can be found here.

What is the startup culture like in Chicago?

Overall, it’s enthusiastic and supportive. We know we’re not Silicon Valley or New York, but the startups here embrace the underdog role and make the best of it. There are lots of events and resources for entrepreneurs to connect with each other.

What problem does your startup solve?

The current approach to buying business technology is broken. Buyers spend too much time sifting through spin, reading outdated analyst reports, and sitting through endless meetings. After all this, buyers still lack the confidence in their choice of technology, and most projects fail to meet their expectations. Because most companies choose new systems only every few years, they lack the expertise to efficiently select the best software, and most have nowhere to turn for input from peers implementing similar systems for similar companies. Also, traditional technology analysts such as Gartner rely on a legacy model of highly paid experts publishing their opinions only every two years or so, with a focus on products from large vendors that are typically also clients of the same analysts. This process delays the emergence of more innovative solutions, and buyers might miss newer technologies that could be a better fit.

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

The initial process of getting our site live. Putting together a site that we were ready to show off was a ton of work, but we also had to balance that with just getting something out there. It’s very tempting to wait until the site is as close to perfect as possible before standing it up, but it was important to us to approach this from the lean startup perspective and get something out there. Since the first version of our site went live, we’re continuously getting feedback and making changes and improvements based on what our users tell us.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

We now have nearly 2,500 users and more than 10,000 ratings and reviews of business software.

We decided on, pursued and launched our first product that would bring in revenue.

We’ve grown the team to 9 full-time employees.

What are your next milestones?

Our next milestones revolve around our premium research. We also always have goals with regard to the size of our user base and the number of reviews we have. We’re constantly focused on growing the community and gathering a critical mass of data.

Who are your mentors and role models?

We look to entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Marc Benioff for inspiration on innovation and developing and sustaining a successful company. All of us have read Peak by Chip Conley and The Lean Startup by Eric Ries; in fact, those two are required reading for anyone who joins our team. The concepts in those books help shape our company.

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

The startup environment here is so much more supportive than Silicon Valley. Instead of intense competition and scrutiny, startups here tend to work together and root for each other, which is encouraging. The Chicago area provides a large pool, and we also like being in the midst of thousands of companies that use business software and represent prospective customers and users of our site. There aren’t too many disadvantages, but one would be that most of the major tech events happen out there, so we have to travel to get to them.

What’s next for your startup?

We’ll be broadening our focus into other categories in addition to CRM. We’re also going to be rolling out more tools to help companies with the software selection process, and we’ll be exploring ways for our users to connect with each other and more directly share their expertise.

Where can people find out more?

People can head to www.g2crowd.com to find out more. Follow them on Twitter @G2Crowd.

Sir Richard Branson offers these 4 tips on avoiding startup mistakes.

DC Startup SnapDash Can Help You Make Funny Photos, Even If You’re Not Funny

If you’re one of those people that combs the meme sites for the funniest memes, or recycles people’s old Facebook status’ on Twitter and vice versa to project a humor you don’t naturally have, no worries. There’s a photo app that will help you strike those funny poses even if you’re flat and boring.

SnapDash gamifies picture taking by suggesting poses and funny things to do . The new Washington DC startup has an idea generator which helps people come up with awesome photos. Now, if you are funny, SnapDash still offers great suggestions that will make your humor stand out.

“Our theory is that the entire world likes looking at funny photos, so we want to make them easier to create and provide an addictive experience for doing so.” Daniel Hanks, co-founder of SnapDash told us in an interview.

Check out the rest of our quick startup interview below.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Daniel Hanks

Prior to leaving the illustrious world of full-time employment to become a fledgling entrepreneur, Daniel served three years as the head of Corporate Strategy for The Teaching Company / The Great Courses in Chantilly, VA. Previously, he spent a number of years in investment banking and software/tech-focused private equity.

Meredith Balenske

Meredith is currently the Director of Communications for Bloomberg L.P. in Washington, D.C. responsible for the external positioning and communication strategy for the Bloomberg properties and personalities in Washington.

Where are you based?

Washington, DC

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

It’s probably not the most helpful answer, but I don’t really feel like I’ve earned a right to an opinion on this yet. Here’s what I do know already, though: a tight, energetic group of individuals (i.e. 1776, Foster.ly, DC Tech Meetup, a handful of specific people, and so forth) sensed a vacuum and the opportunity it provided, and a yeoman’s effort has been expended so far to continue and grow this groundswell of excitement. We have been heads down for the most part, but we feel confident that we are based in a city in which a lot of smart, hard-working people are determined to make great things happen. We clearly do not have the density that one would find in the Valley, but that’s life. You manage.

What problem does your startup solve?

We like to think we are putting a unique spin on something that has been around since the inception of cameras – the urging to “do something funny.” SnapDash randomly provides a little boost of creativity and adds a short timer, therefore capturing pure instinct. The result is a visual, full-body version of a word association game. And, on a macro level, we are using a combination of unpredictability and humor to try and combat the overwhelming sense of “success theater” that now permeates social media.

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

As with all companies that are not yet fully walking and upright, every decision has carried with it some weight; yet, for us, a relatively major inflection point came when I left my previous job and dove into SnapDash full-time. This fact alone won’t make anyone’s socks go up and down, as people are making this same leap all the time, but it really served to crystallize my desire and purpose. I also learned that you can, in fact, eat too much French bread pizza.

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

Don’t have an opinion on this yet, other than my answers above.

What’s next for your startup?

We are going to be focused for the near term almost entirely on user acquisition and building out a strong base. However, we have a number of plans for various product extensions, in addition to working alongside brands that aiming to engage with their fans and customers in a fun, unique way.

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

Our website is www.snapdash.net, and people can follow us at @snapdashapp.

DC Mayor Vince Gray Is High On DC Startups, Check out our video from SXSW

Boston Startup: CareerApp Gives Jobseekers The Building Blocks For Success

While there are hundreds of startups in the jobs space, Boston startup CareerApp has a totally different approach. They aim to give job seekers the building blocks to success. Building blocks are the foundation to the app itself.

CareerApp is divided into 15 building blocks that are easy to understand, navigate and use to build a user’s CareerApp profile. The 15 blocks are:
Basic Info
Web Presence
Resume
Education
Work Experience
Technical Skills
Personal Skills
Passions & Hobbies
Goals
Awards & Certifications
Interview Questions
Office Preferences
References
Skill Tests
Portfolio

These 15 building blocks give a round picture of the overall candidate. The blocks are also extremely thorough. This allows the user, or jobseeker, to complete a detailed profile and then through one click, send that complete picture to jobs they want to apply for.

Phoebe Farber, the founder of CareerApp told nibletz.com in an interview that the next piece they are working on is a tool for career fairs. By working with the producers of job/career fairs, CareerApp can allow on-site candidates to quickly apply to each job or career they are interested in, while they are at the career fair.

This is going to save both job seekers, and recruiters a ton of time. It’s also green-er.

We got a chance to interview Farber, who was named “Ms. Future Business Leader” in 2009. She says she’s still trying to live up to that name.

Check out the interview, below.

What is CareerApp?

CareerApp is the “Common App for jobs” – candidates create a single, strong job application and can apply to multiple positions with one click.

Our focus is to allow new grads to showcase their past achievements and positive traits, in and out of formal work experience, and express their potential. Employers then receive a robust application and also have the opportunity to search the candidate pool to find candidates. We don’t believe that a resume is enough and we’re addressing pain points for candidates and employers.

We’re also just starting to build a Career Fair tool that’s centered around CareerApp and helps students and employers connect before, during, and after the event. So we’re excited about all that’s ahead!

In layman’s terms, how does it work?

You can visit our site, CareerApp.me, register, and complete our well-rounded application. We bet that it’s not like any other job application you’ve filled out! From there you can share the profile that’s generated and/or go apply for jobs at participating companies. We’re also building out a mobile app that should launch in the fall with our Career Fair product.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Phoebe Farber is the Founder & CEO. She grew up in scenic town in “upstate” New York – as true New Yorkers would call it – although the sleepy town of Carmel is about an hour north of NYC. As a child and young adult she was heavily involved in Tae Kwon Do where she earned my 3rd degree black belt and over the course of 8 years learned discipline, respect, and a passion for sales and business.

She was active in the Future Business Leaders of America all through out high school and had the honor of serving as a NY State Officer for two years. She met the most amazing people there and stay involved with the state organization to continue working with officers and helping out in any way she can. FBLA helped set the foundation of her business skills and her crowning achievement was winning Ms. Future Business Leader in 2009- an award she is still trying to live up to.

In late 2011, she got the idea that if there could be a Common App for college that there could be a parallel for entry level jobs, and she started Prospective Plus and the CareerApp. She is currently working on her venture full time as a senior at Northeastern University and will graduate in December 2013.

Jake Wood is the Co-Founder & CTO, Jake has been writing code since he was six, back in the days when Visual Basic was somewhat popular. Nowadays, most of his work has been in enterprise web development, creating solutions for the finance, insurance, and airline data industries. He is a junior at Northeastern University, and has over 2 years of technical internship experience under his belt, in addition to the first-hand experience of starting a non-profit radio station at his high school, as well as other local business endeavors. When not trying to start something crazy successful, Jake likes rock climbing, hiking, and camping in his home land of Colorado.

Where are you based?

Phoebe and Jake are students at Northeastern University, so the company is based in Boston, MA.

What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?

Boston has an amazing start-up culture. There are over 100 start-up’s coming out of Northeastern alone with a great venture accelerator and the #6 best Entrepreneur’s Club in the country. Boston is a hub for investors, successful start-up’s, networking and learning events, and much more. It’s definitely one of the top places in the country to be when starting a country.

How did you come up with the idea for CareerApp?

I was applying for my second co-op and just spreading my resume around. Even with what I considered a polished resume and the experience I had – I was still getting passed over for interviews for amazing positions.

I had an immensely frustrating week where I had 6 interviews in 4 days with no offers, so I started applying to jobs on career portals and searching through job boards. After a couple hours I was left with a headache and was confused about why we needed to fill out different applications for each job. This issue was solved for college applications when the Common App came about I wanted to see if the same could be done for entry level jobs.

What problem does CareerApp solve?

We are offering a gateway for new graduates and employers to meet for potential employment. Employers today are not getting enough information from a resume and have no way to access that necessary information. We make it easier for qualified candidates to offer more information about themselves and get to that initial interview.

Also, a lot of start-up’s and SMB’s are currently accepting applications via email and CareerApp allows them to organize their available jobs through our platform. Our technology can also multiple applications – like accepting applications for temp agencies and staffing firms, a portal for VC portfolio companies, and a Career Fair tool.

What’s your secret sauce, what makes you different?

We’re a very passionate, persistent, and curious team. We’re always learning, meeting new people in the industry, and looking to see how we can go to market. We’ve also had it drilled into our heads for the past several years what employers are looking for and how we can express our potential to compensate for our lack of formal work experience – so we’re interested in solving this problem.

Why now?

There is also a lot of innovation in this space as the archaric and intensely new solutions compete fiercely. Professional networking, the resumes, interviewing, and more are all growing and changing and now seems like a feasible time to change things up.

Have you faced any challenges specific to being a woman founder?

This is a tough question. Since I’m still in college, I’m not married with kids so I haven’t faced any of those work/life balance issues. I think that I’m still figuring out how to be in certain situations and how to be likable and confident while pursuing my professional goals, which I consider a female founder challenge. We’re also fundraising and I see that few investors are women and as a non-technical female founder I might face an uphill battle. Overall, I haven’t faced any true discrimination and think that my journey is like any other entrepreneurs’ – I’m working on myself as a young professional and my product and learning as I go.

What are some milestones you’ve achieved?

I was offered a scholarship to go on co-op for myself, so that gave me 2 wonderful assets- time and money. I’ve also brought on a great co-founder, so after working on this venture solo for awhile, I now have a great team.

We also launched and got our first students and companies involved in the site – so that’s been great. Seeing that people are interested in what we’re doing is very encouraging.

What’s your next milestone?

Right now we’re looking to be accepted to a summer accelerator – the mentorship, capital, and incubation would be amazing at this point. We’re also fundraising and looking to build our team and advisory board as we focus on biz dev.

Who are some of your mentors and business role models?

I really respect successful entrepreneurs – people who started amazing companies and either exited them, stayed on to grow them, or left to continue on as a serial entrepreneur. People such as Reid Hoffman (Co-Founder of LinkedIn), Jeff Taylor (Founder of Monster), Jeff Bussgang (Co-Founder of UPromise, General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners), Dave Balter (Founder of BzzAgent, Co-Founder of Smarterer, Co-Founder of Intelligent.ly), Seth Godin, Dharmesh Shah (Founder of Hubspot), Art Papas (Founder of Bullhorn), and more.

I also have several female business role models such as Ivanka Trump (EVP of Dev. and Acquitions at Trump Org.), Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook), and Barbara Corcoran (Founder of The Corcoran Group).

I’ve enjoyed reading these people’s books and blogs, article about and by them, and, in some cases, got to meet them. They’re all so creative, knowledgeable, insightful, intelligent, and innovative and I look up to them as I begin my professional life.

Where can people find out more?

Be sure to visit us at CareerApp.me, follow us @CareerApp,

Check out these great startup interviews at nibletz.com the voice of startups everywhere else.

DC Startup SlyReply Makes Sign Up Sheets As Easy As They Should Be

Remember the good ole days? They weren’t so long ago,but you could put a sign up sheet on your dorm room door, classroom door, office refrigerator, home refrigerator etc. You’d write what the sign up sheet was for, draw a bunch of lines and voila, done and done.

Well DC entrepreneur Tom Hessen realized how complicated people were making signups, and decided to do something about it.

With his DC startup, SlyReply, the sign up sheet is again just as easy as it was when you created it on the back of a piece of scrap paper.

Set up a sign up sheet, dictate how many people can sign up, and when it’s full it’s done. Sign up for a class, sign up for tutoring, sign up for burgers and beers, whatever you need a sign up sheet for SlyReply makes it as easy as a couple clickity clicks.

We got a chance to interview Hessen. Check out the interview below.

What is your startup, what does it do?

Our startup is SlyReply.com, an online web application that allows users to create sign up sheets for any scenario or occasion and then share with a group. Sign up sheets can be shared by email, posted to Facebook, or linked to from any website, blog, or social media site. People view the sign up sheet and then sign up for one or more items such as a date, time, or an item the author created (ex. hamburgers for the upcoming tailgate). When an item reaches its maximum number of sign ups as defined by the author, the item can no longer be signed up for.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds

Tom Hessen founded SlyReply and now leads the company as CEO. Tom Hessen launched SlyReply.com while enrolled as a full time MBA student at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Tom previously developed 2 other web applications prior to SlyReply that provided many lessons learned.

Tom has worked at 2 venture backed software companies, interned with a VC firm, and worked at Accenture doing IT implementations.

Where are you based?

Washington D.C.

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

Washington D.C. has a vibrant start up culture that has really grown in the past few years. Historically the Federal Government and government contractors have dominated this town but there is now a huge tech presence here. Large tech companies like AOL have lead the way but now there is a tremendous amount of start up activity. There are people working with tech companies and entrepreneurs at every stage and a growing number of seed and angel investors to go along with the VC firms.

What problem does your startup solve?

If you need to meet with 10 people individually, how would you get them scheduled into 10 different meeting times? A teacher needing to meet with parents for parent/teacher conferences is a perfect real world example of this scenario. Or how would you get your volunteer team to sign up for various tasks that need to be completed for an upcoming event?

Historically the paper sign up sheet has handled this job. However the paper sign up sheet rarely applies today in our digitally connected world. Instead email, spreadsheets, Google Docs, and other tools have been shoehorned into solving the problem of the digital sign up sheet. These tools are inefficient, cumbersome, and not designed for this problem. SlyReply directly tackles the problem of group sign ups in our online world.

What has been surprising is just how many situations need a sign up sheet. Here are a few of our favorite sign up sheets that have been created.

Schedule staff member interviews for President Obama’s reelection campaign

Schedule employees that want to sign up for Ann Inc.’s (parent company of Ann Taylor and The Loft) corporate training

Coordinate the volunteer shifts of riding the bicycle powered generator at the Occupy Wall Street camp in New York City

Schedule employees to receive free massages.

Schedule college students to conduct new food testing at Wendy’s restaurants

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

Tom developed the initial MVP with just enough development skills to complete the project. After SlyReply started to grow despite not being easy to use or much to look at Tom realized the app needed to be designed and developed by professionals. Finding talented people that fit his bootstrapped budget was very difficult. Weeding through the countless number of designers and developers took a lot of time. Tom finally found a tremendous design talent in Jonathan Patterson and development team in Bolster Labs. This team designed and developed the current version of SlyReply.com, which is fun, inviting, and capable of scaling to address the large need.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

Some of the milestones that we have achieved include:

Successfully vetted concept and business model with MVP

Rebuilt app from the ground up with modern design and software platform

Implemented premium (paid) accounts

Had paying customers in the first month premium accounts were offered

All 5,000 users have learned about SlyReply via word of mouth

What are your next milestones?

The next milestones are all growth related. We are working to accelerate the growth of new user registrations and sign up sheets that are created. Another milestone includes being featured in 2-3 tech publications!

Who are your mentors and role models?

One role model that has had an impact on the company is Edwin Miller, CEO of 9Lenses. Tom worked for Edwin while he was the CEO of Everest Software. Edwin has been a successful CEO of both public and private tech companies and has demonstrated what it takes to build a great team that wants to excel every day.

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

One disadvantage of growing a startup outside of Silicon Valley is that raising money is more challenging and conservative. We haven’t tried raising money yet but know the environment is more difficult. One advantage is that it is easier to stand out because there aren’t thousands of startups competing for money, talent, press, etc.

What’s next for your startup?

We are continuing to execute and improve our software to get it in the hands of more people. Each person that creates a sign up sheet shares it with a group of people, which then become aware of SlyReply. We are improving the user experience and continuing to drive awareness through various channels.

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

People can learn more at www.slyreply.com or follow us on twitter @SlyReplyApp

Now’s your chance to get your startup on Shark Tank, click here.

Houston Startup: Mrked Buy A Cell Phone Case, Teach A Girl To Read

I technically got out of the cell phone accessories writing business last year when we sold Thedroidguy, however in Austin at SXSW we met Akil Momin the founder of Mrked.

Mrked offers 5 stylish and protective collections of iPhone cases; Crayon Box, Double Dutch, Honor Roll, Classroom and Jungle Gym. Their protective cases have an element of style that you don’t find in run of the mill cases.

What makes Mrked worthy of the pages at nibletz.com the voice of startups everywhere else, is the social spin they put on their company.

The young Houston based startup set out when they built their accessory company to do something social with it. That’s why they partnered with Room To Read an organization that provides education to girls in Asian and African countries.

“We believe in investing in the future, this is why we are supporting the works of Room to Read to help provide access to quality education to girls in Asian and African countries. Education empowers and enlightens people of all genders, and this brings about positive changes in many areas. Statistics show that educated parents raise educated children and that mothers are especially influential in this process. Educated women are able to live productive and enjoyable lives and raise families that do the same. This means that providing girls with proper education is the single most vital tool in eradicating inequality and poverty in the short and long term.” Momin says on the company’s website.

All three founders of Mrked have parents that migrated from South Asia to provide their sons with a better education. Mrked is their way of giving back.

You can check out the cases at Mrked here.

Check out these other 60 startup stories from SXSW 2013

Dress Your Personal Web Presence To Impress With Detroit Startup Workfolio

There are thousands of “do it yourself” (DIY) solutions to designing your own web page. There are blogging platforms, free overnight do it yourself web tools, and many more. When it comes down to it though, most of them are about saving time and sacrificing design.

Well a Detroit startup called Webfolio is looking to change that by helping users create a “stunning personal website in minutes”.

The startup, founded by Charles Pooley and Aaron Smyth, comes with everything people need to create their own beautiful website in a very short amount of time. Simple editing, magazine quality blogging, file and media hosting, promotional tools, traffic analytics and personal domain and email services make Workfolio a one stop shop for whatever your personal web needs are.

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

What is Workfolio?

Workfolio is a web application that allows anyone to create a beautiful, distinctive website to highlight their personal brand.

In layman’s terms, how does it work (In other words how would you explain it to your grandmother)?

We make it easy for anyone to create a website, removing many of the technical and content-writing hurdles that complicate the process for the average person. We help users register their own domains, choose a beautiful website theme, and create high-quality content so they can feel great about their website and get back to business.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Charles Pooley is the CEO and visionary force behind Workfolio. He comes to Workfolio having previously run a successful marketing and design agency, and having served as a technology executive at a publicly-traded company.

Aaron Smyth is Workfolio’s technology lead. He previously worked as a developer for CafeMom and FoxNews.com, and was the second employee at a successful New York startup company. In addition to his product development experience, Aaron is an instructor in front-end web development at General Assembly in New York.

Where are you based?

Workfolio operates from Detroit and New York City.

What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?

Detroit and New York have very different startup cultures. Because Detroit’s tech scene is still small, the atmosphere is very collaborative, and there is a greater opportunity for individual companies to be recognized within the community.

We chose to open an ofﬁce in New York in order to take advantage of the tremendous network of technology entrepreneurs, investors, and media that exists here.

How did you come up with the idea for Workfolio?

About a year ago I was invited to do a number of speaking engagements, and I decided I needed my own website to help build my personal brand. I tried to use several of the popular website builders but found them to be complicated and frustrating. I realized that if I was having such a problem, being a designer and a fairly technical person, then this process must be close to impossible for less tech-savvy people. We ran a survey and found that 80% of respondents wanted their own website, but only 7% of them actually had one. And when asked why, the two most popular reasons were exactly what I encountered — people thought it was too difﬁcult to set up their own website, and they had no idea what content to add to the website once they set it up. I took these results to my partners, and Workfolio was created shortly thereafter.

How did you come up with the name?

We struggled for a long time to come up with a ﬁtting name for our product. We eventually landed on Workfolio because it concisely conveys the essential function of the product (and we also think it’s catchy).

What problem does Workfolio solve?

If you’ve ever tried to set up your own website, you probably remember feeling frustrated trying to get your website hosting, domain, and code to work together. If you somehow managed to get those to cooperate, you then had to create or buy a design theme, and let’s face it — most of us are not good designers. Then you’re left with another big question: what content goes on my website? Most people get stuck just after purchasing their domain — the learning curve is just so steep. We eliminate the technology and design hurdles for you, allowing you to focus on the important part — creating content to let the world know what you’re all about.

What’s your secret sauce?

We believe design and user experience are the keys to the success of every application. If we can ﬁnd a way to get users to share their content and feel good about the sites they create, they will be loyal customers for life.

Are you bootstrapped or funded?

Workfolio is funded by angel investors.

What are some milestones you’ve achieved?

We’re still in the early stages of the business, so most of our milestones have been related to product development. We have hit every product development milestone we have set so far.

What’s your next milestone?

Since our soft launch, our milestones have shifted from product development to customer acquisition.

Who are some of your mentors and business role models?

Randy Whitaker, the Executive Vice President of Operations for Victoria’s Secret, Dr. David DiChiera, the founder of the Detroit Opera, and Dave Hill, former President of General Motors Trading, stand out as the three people who have been most inﬂuential in helping me develop as an executive. I also admire a number of thought leaders in business, Tom Peters for example, and designers such as Jonathan Ive at Apple.

What’s next for Workfolio?

We have several new product enhancements in the works to provide more customization options for subscribers.

Where can people ﬁnd out more?

The best place to learn about us is on our website: workfolio.com. Follow us on Twitter, as well: @WorkfolioHQ

We’ve got more great startups from Detroit here.

Do you have your startup village booth for everywhereelse.co yet?

Madison Startup PieCharter Is Getting Startups Off The Ground

Madison Wisconsin startup PieCharter is the latest startup tackling the issue of getting entrepreneurs connected to the resources that they need in order to bring an idea from the idea stage to a startup.

PieCharter “…connects budding entrepreneurs with freelance designers in order to create startups. It eliminates the single biggest barrier any entrepreneur faces when starting a new business, money. The site allows entrepreneurs with an idea to post and create a new project then hire contractors to do work that they themselves cannot do by offering the contractors equity in the new project.” John Scheflow, co-founder of PieCharter told nibletz.com in an interview.

Early stage startups often resort to giving up equity to designers, developers and other personnel that come on board in the earliest stages because they can’t afford to pay them. This process gets really sloppy by the time it comes to actually do a cap table and issue stock certificates. Time and time again, founders, or employees who think they are founders, have some kind of misunderstanding when distributing equity.

Scheflow said “…PieCharter creates a platform to hold people accountable for their promises of equity, and also allows freelancers the opportunity to take on projects to build a portfolio and work with companies they believe in.” Thus eliminating the equity free for all that sometimes happens when splitting up the pie.

Scheflow along with his co-founder Richard Magness are law students at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Magness hails from Eureka Springs Arkansas, however before law school in Wisconsin he spent 7 years in Japan working as a free lance web designer. He co-founded flutterscape.com and is also the art director at Diveboard.com. Scheflow majored in journalism at the University of Miami before moving to sunny Wisconsin and is originally from Elgin IL.

While there are plenty of startups out there that are trying to solve the work for equity issue, PieCharter has a few elements that make up their secret sauce. First off, with PieCharter he equity “pie” is visualized and easier to understand. Also both Schefulow and Magness agree that their legal experience and education fits into their secret sauce as well.

“We were aware of some of the legal issues like securities law that our website raises, which has helped us plan around these issues from the beginning. Other than that it’s caffeine and the feeling that working on the site is better than doing any of the other work we have to do.” Scheflow added.

To date the duo has been accepted into the University of Wisconsin Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic. They’ve also built out two prototypes. Their next milestone is an alpha launch and eventually fundraising.

While they don’t have formal mentors both Magness and Scheflow are getting a lot of experience and help in school. They also look up to the Beastie Boys.

“…we’re definitely huge fans of the Beastie Boys. We like people that do what they want to do, and that’s what we’re trying to do with PieCharter. We’re doing what we want to do, and hopefully PieCharter will help people start the projects they want to start.”

PieCharter hopes to move to a closed beta soon. You can find out more at piecharter.com and by following them on Twitter @piecharter.

Now check out 4 Startup Co-Founders You Don’t Want.

Move Over Gary Vee Splitbin Says They’re The “Wolverine” Of Wine Startups [interview]

According to the founders of New York startup Split Bin, Chris “Hannibal” Fava and Todd “Niko” McCarthy, they’ve re-invented the wine startup.

“Splitbin is the Wolverine of wine sale sites…in beast mode…on steroids…to the extreme. While other wine sites just sell assorted high price booze, we offer high quality, low cost wine in a way everyone can understand. Oh yea, we’re also the first wine site in the world to give you the choice to split the cost and buy with friends.” Fava told nibletz.com in an interview.

Essentially Splitbin wants to become the easiest way to buy win and have it delivered, whether you’re drinking alone or having an open house party.

One things for sure, judging by our interview with them, Splitbin has the fire to succeed (and probably attract Gary Vee, who may be just a tad crazier than them)

Check out the interview below.

In layman’s terms, how does it work? (In other words how would you explain it to your grandmother)

If you like wine, but get confused by the culture, and intimidated by high prices, then Splitbin is your horse. We offer affordable wine deals, delivered quickly, with no minimum order requirements. Since we are not, in principle, a “wine club”, we don’t require our Splitbuds to adhere to a buying program. Just log in, check out our new juice, and pick what you like, when you like.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Our founder, Chris “Hannibal” Fava, an avid big game hunter, is always after the next animal ready to be taken down. After filling his study with boar and bear busts, he targeted the bloated wine industry and decided to start filling his wine cellar.

Todd “Niko” McCarthy, Splitbin’s CMO and resident chef/DJ, is into wine but also enjoy a nice bullfight on acid. Amateur Formula 1 racetracks in Eastern European capitals are where he finds his happy place. After reading Tim Ferriss’ “4 Hour Work Week” he dedicated himself to digital marketing…and to discovering the elusive 3 hour work week.

Part of our Shadow Ops team, Tom “Bootsy” Collins, is our enigmatic guiding light, a guru of sorts. When upright, you’ll usually find him ensconced in a Burmese jungle searching for rare snake wine, or fending off ivory poachers in Zimbabwe. Currently, his mission is to show wine producers of the world to a new audience, helping the otherwise shunned, marginalized, overlooked drinkers of the world discover great juice at exceptional value.

Where are you based?

Brooklyn, NY (aka Bucktown, USA)

What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?

Ready to be crushed.

How did you come up with the idea for Splitbin?

We’ve lived in group houses and have gone/held our share of group dinners where one person gets stuck with the tab simply by being a good host. We could always split tabs at bars and restaurants, so why the hell couldn’t you do it online? We all liked to cook, eat, and drink together, but we wanted a way to make it easier to get together without one person having to buy everything. Living and working in cities also makes it harder to get to stores and learn about new wine, let alone carrying the damn stuff.

How did you come up with the name?

Have you ever seen the movie Face/Off? It’s like that. Except you Split the Bin.

What problem does Splitbin solve?

Global Warming and making sure mark-ass tricks pay for what they drink in groups.

What’s your secret sauce?

Oooohhhh, you’re dirty…we like that, but we’ll keep the answer clean. You can eat it with anything, but our secret sauce would be a beurre blanc with capers and tarragon. It’s almost like a hybrid Bearnaise and absolutely rocks with roasted salt potatoes or a nice fatty salmon. It’s actually something that is fun to mess around with at home, it just involves a bit of patience, and a shit ton of butter.

Are you bootstrapped or funded?

We like to consider ourselves strapped and sometimes we wear boots. But yeah, we haven’t taken any angel or VC clams yet.

What are some milestones you’ve achieved?

Doing the Seven Summits carrying a full case of Cabernet (without extra oxygen) was Bootsy’s major achievement of fall 2012. Getting our business up and running was a minor miracle…doing this interview with the fine folks at Nibletz sure counts as one

What’s your next milestone?

Getting every man, woman and child (over 21) hooked on wine.

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

Figuring out you can’t easily build a website just because you know how to share google docs or have a great smile. Also, figuring out which growth driver is most efficient in our user acquisition strategy.

Who are some of your mentors and business role models?

Our role models are Dave Chappelle (post Africa), the dude that sold his picture app to facebook, Eric Ries and Zack Morris.

Our mentors include some highly experienced pros in the NYC advertising world (Woods Witt Dealy & Sons) as well as Neil Jacobs, who has provided invaluable startup legal counsel as we’ve gotten going.

What’s next for Splitbin?

First priority is bailing our CTO out of jail in Cancun then bussing him back to BK to complete our mobile app (Mexico is fun, but the dude needs to get cracking). It’s still in development, but this app is going to change the world. We are a national company, but have been pretty Beast Coast dominant since launching. We want to really focus on getting the word on Splitbin out to all our homies in the south, midwest and the Best Coast, letting them know that we’ve got the best wine deals going

Where can people find out more!

Check us out on Facebook/splitbin – we post deals, free mixtapes, and all sorts of tomfoolery to help you get through the day

You can find us tweeting trivia questions for wine deal discounts @splitbin or engaging in topical political discussions like #whatismetrobutt?

Ready for a glass of wine? Check out splitbin.com

Zack Morris may have been the inspiration for this startup too!

Austin Startup Burpy Is The Latest In The Grocery Delivery Phenomena [video][sxsw]

We got a chance to catch up with Aseem Ali, one of the cofounders of Austin startup Burpy.

The Burpy platform allows you to order groceries, beverages, snacks/candy, beer, health and beauty needs, cigarettes, household essentials and more. Essentially, anything that can be purchased at WalMart can be delivered via Burpy.

“Our vision was inspired in the kitchen of a friend’s house on August 30, 2012. We were all gathered for a surprise birthday party and were busy baking a cake for the special occasion. Once we pulled the freshly baked cake out from the oven, we realized we didn’t have any candles! With decorations left to arrange and more guests arriving every second, there was no time for anyone to run out and get candles. This left us with a bit of a problem.

That is when the idea for Burpy came to life.

We created Burpy with the goal of uniting traditional “brick & mortar” stores with a 1-hour delivery platform to make shopping a breeze. Burpy’s unique service provides instant delivery of thousands of products whenever and wherever you want! Simply choose products from our easy to use website or mobile app, and we’ll deliver them to your location in a “burp.” If you use it in your home and it fits in a grocery bag, chances are we have it. Plus, our inventory is constantly growing so we’re always looking out for you.” their website says.

At the moment they are in a public beta in their home city of Austin Texas but Ali tells us in the interview video below that they plan on expanding to other big metro areas in Texas as quickly as possible.

This may be the way to go in terms of order and deliver startups. A few weeks back Zaarly shuddered their original “reverse Craigslist idea”, paving the way for Burpy and other similar services to succeed.

Now of course we asked Ali why the name “Burpy” and he explains the answer in the video. All of the founders are students at UT Austin.

You can check out Burpy here at burpy.com

Here are over 65 startup stories from SXSW 2013.

Bizoogo Is A Modern Bulletin Board Connecting Founders, Startups and Entrepreneurs [interview]

The latest “cofounder platform” promising to connect cofounders to launch the next wave of startups is in London and has a great name. London startup Bizoogo, is allowing UK entrepreneurs to search, connect and collaborate with partners and co-found new businesses.

“The website is organised as a Noticeboard for “People” and “Ideas”. If you’re looking to find a co-founder to help develop your business idea, search our database of “People”; if you want to contribute your time and skills to a new startup opportunity as a co-founder, search our database of “Ideas”.”

“To get started,you sign up for free; update your profile by specifying your location, expertise and the industries you’re interested in. If you have a startup idea, post a brief, specify your location, the industry of your idea, and the expertise you’re looking for in a co-founder. Now you can find or be found according to location, expertise and industry preferences. You can shortlist your top picks and connect privately or publicly via our messaging features. And when you’re ready to meet, come along to our monthly co-founder networking meetups to find out whether the connection is as good face-to-face as it is online.” Erez Nounou told nibletz.com in an interview.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Erez Nounou (CEO) – Erez started out as a commercial lawyer before jumping ship and getting involved in the London startup scene. Alongside founding bizoogo, he has also been involved in digital media and angel investing.

Nicolás Klein (CTO) – Nico is our all-knowing technical guru. From Buenos Aires, he’s been programming for over 6 years and has several desktop and mobile (android) applications to his name. He’s now working on the next set of game-changing features on bizoogo.

Where are you based?

London, UK.

What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?

The London startup scene is buzzing. We’ve got some of the best support and infrastructure in the world and the quality of our startup and investment community continues to improve and influence the European tech space. It’s a good time to be a startup in London, and as a grassroots entrepreneur community, we’ve got great seats.

How did you come up with the idea for Bizoogo?

The idea came about as a solution to my own startup dilemma of having an idea but not having the technical skills or the industry know-how to develop it. Starting up can be expensive and before proof of concept, risky. It seemed like a good idea to have a go-to, where you know from the start there’s a bunch of people from a range of industries and areas of expertise available and interested in working together, either to eliminate bad ideas early or to validate and develop good ones. That would give us all a cost-effective opportunity to start new businesses and to build better resourced teams from the start.

How did you come up with the name?

It all stemmed from the root word ‘zoog’, which in Hebrew means partner; the website is a place where entrepreneurs are able to find the partners they need to ‘go into business’. Put it all together and you get bizoogo – you go into business! The interlinking O’s in the logo design represent the partnership made up of ‘People’ and ‘Ideas’.

What problem does Bizoogo solve?

With an “ambition gap” in the UK that sees more than 44% of the population wanting to start a business but not doing it, and that “gap” largely follows worldwide, our aim is to bridge the gap by matching the ideators with the technical help they need to execute. Working together lets both sides bridge the creative, technical and financial gap that holds them back; it’s also a really easy, effective and fun way of validating ideas and building a community for those of us that are new to the scene and just scratching and exploring the surface.

What’s your secret sauce?

It’s informal, easy to use, clear in purpose, non-discriminatory and effective. Members across all industries and areas of expertise are able to connect and work together in partnerships that share the talent, time and cost of developing a new business. Instead of paying disconnected freelancers at a time when risks are high and money is limited, anyone can now find the people they need or collaborate on the ideas they like, with a shared interest to make it work. We also realise that lasting relationships don’t exist virtually, so having face-to-face opportunities to meet really helps.

Are you bootstrapped or funded?

Bootstrapped…investors, get in touch.

What is your goto market strategy?

We’re using social media to spread the word via facebook and twitter; we promote our events via meetup; we’re big on strategic partnerships and try to attend and get involved at as many industry events as possible.

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

The toughest challenge was finding the right people to work with. To start a new venture, you often don’t know where to start, who to ask or trust and there’s generally a lot of trial-and-error, particularly with freelancers. I think it’s a problem which knocks back a lot of people with business ideas because going beyond your own limited network is a step too far in the dark for most. We’ve created and personally used Bizoogo to help overcome that problem, and it’s fast becoming a really credible go-to community and first point of call for many UK entrepreneurs, because you’re sure to find a mix of different skills, experience and ideas, with the joint aim of collaborating and co-founding new ventures.

Who are some of your mentors and business role models?

We’ve got a solid network of experienced and exited entrepreneurs across digital and traditional business. I think we’re lucky in that we meet so many passionate and enthusiastic entrepreneurs through our events and our day-to-day that it always provides us with a good measure of inspiration and learning.

What’s next for Bizoogo?

We’re looking to create an end-to-end startup ecosystem where ideas are conceived, developed, grown and funded into profitable businesses.

We want the platform to become a creative, dynamic and ambitious hub packed full of ideas and professionals looking to get involved across the industries, and we want to make sure we’re able to help any business from idea through to sustainability. Watch this space!

You can find out more about Bizoogohere.

This California startup is making smoking marijuana more professional

New Jersey Startup Refundo Puts The Bank In The Palms Of The Hands Of The Underbanked

Mobile banking is nothing new. Just about every bank in the world has some kind of mobile presence that can be accessed in a variety of places. Most banks are starting to allow camera phone pics of checks for deposits, even PayPal allows you to add to your account using your phone’s camera.

New Jersey Startup Refundo has started with the mobile bank. “Refundo gives millions of Americans (68MM in the US alone) the opportunity to transition into the financial mainstream, by allowing them to open a bank account right from their mobile phone in 30 seconds or less. Their mobile bank account comes with a MasterCard debit card and mobile app which will provide them with their bank balance, transaction history, access to tens of thousands of ATM and deposit locations in the US, and more” CEO Roger Chinchilla told nibletz.com in an interview.

The underbanked and unbanked tend to be low-moderate income individuals who don’t have access to or can’t afford a traditional bank. With Refundo, if you have a phone, you have a bank.

We got a chance to talk more in-depth with Chinchilla, check out the interview below:

What is Refundo?

Refundo is a provider of high-quality and affordable financial products and services that are unmatched in this industry, tailored to meet the unique needs of the underserved communities.

Refundo founders Grimaldy Dominguez and Robert Chinchilla (photo: cnn.com)

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Roger Chinchilla CEO- Roger currently resides in New Jersey with his wife and 2 kids and is an avid open source developer. After brief stints at Queens College where he studied accounting and NYU where he studied computer science, he founded a tax preparation office in Elizabeth NJ. A year later (2005) he hired his good friend from high school that had recently graduated from college and wanted to put his knowledge to use.

Grimaldy Dominguez CFO- Grimaldy currently resides in New York City and currently controls the finances at Refundo. He graduated from Paul Smith College in NY with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Together with Roger, they built a tax practice that currently serves over a thousand clients annually with offices both in NY and NJ and clientele across the US. He currently oversees 150 professional tax preparation offices nationwide.

Bryan Amason SVP SALES & MARKETING- Bryan Received his BS Degree in CMP at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa OK. Bryan began his software career working for a privately held tax and accounting software company that was later acquired by Intuit. He worked in the tax software industry for 15+ years and has a lot of experience on how traditional tax software companies operate. He has always been ranked as a top sales executive earning ranks such as National Account Manager / Premier Accounts at Intuit. He managed a national/premier sales team of 5 while at Intuit, which managed millions of dollars in software sales.

Jeremiah Nivar COO- Jeremiah holds a BA degree in Accounting with a minor in Business Administration. He brings over 20 years of legal accounting and banking experience to Refundo. At the NYC Bar Association he was a staff accountant and handled the day-to-day activities of the association. He then became a member of an AM LAW 100 international firm for 12 years. He began as a portfolio accountant, transitioned to the role of escrow manager / banking liaison and finished his career as assistant to the treasurer.

Where are you based?

Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States

What’s the startup scene/culture like where you’re based?

Being headquartered so close to NYC is advantage for us, as the city has a thriving startup scene and is now firmly established as the number two innovation hub behind Silicon Valley. New York City is big on several industries including tech, finance, and media, which give us the opportunity to draw on a wide-range of resources.

How did you come up with the idea for Refundo?

My co-founder, Grimaldy Dominguez, and I grew up in Queens, New York watching workers pay enormous fees to simply cash paychecks at check cashing locations. In 2009, two years after launching the accounting software company Rushtax, we realized an opportunity to help this underserved community. Many of the customers who turned to us for tax preparation did not have a bank account to deposit their tax refund. Seeing the dire need for a change, we decided to create a solution that would allow our clients to establish and access a bank account right from their mobile phones.

How did you come up with the name?

At the time, we were focused almost entirely on tax refund products, so it was a logical approach. I just added an “o” to Refund. It doesn’t get easier than that. The name complements our philosophy: No junk fees. The fees that we do charge, however, are market competitive, often below industry average, and always fully disclosed. We refund the junk fees that traditional banks like to charge. That’s Refundo.

What problem does Refundo solve?

Due to the recent financial system crisis, financial institutions began targeting those who maintained low account balances by introducing some new, and not very transparent, fees; resulting in an increasing amount of people with no access to traditional and the most basic bank products. Refundo aims to tackle these social problems head on with an incredible mobile banking experience minus the unnecessary (junk) fees that are usually associated with this type of product. Mainly founded on the principle that the underserved community deserves an easy to use and fresh alternative to banking, as they know it.

What’s your secret sauce?

I would say our secret sauce is being committed to our broader social mission of achieving long-term, meaningful change for marginalized communities and utilizing technology to make this change. With the right team -working towards the same common goal- and technologies, all kinds of obstacles can be overcome.

Are you bootstrapped or funded?

Bootstrapped

What are some milestones you’ve achieved?

Refundo now employs a team of 25 with experience from all across the financial services industry and over 500 tax professionals nationwide now offer to process returns through our program.

What’s your next milestone?

Our next milestone is to launch our mobile banking application to the general audience, people who are actively seeking a banking product that fits their need. We are currently in QA testing and expect to launch beta in March 2013.

Who are some of your mentors and business role models?

I don’t really have business role models or mentors. I just try to emulate chess grand masters.

What’s next for Refundo?

Ingenuity is what started Refundo in the first place, so the revolution does not end here. Our plan is to introduce our great product to the rest of the World. We are actively seeking partnerships in Latin America and Canada with established businesses, where the percentage of underserved customers is significant and keeps rapidly increasing every day. Three of our Four founders are 1st generation immigrants who understand the underserved community in LATAM better than anyone else. Equipped with groundbreaking technology, awesome products, and a clear understanding of the market, our team is the best for this particular mission.

Where can people find out more?

Request your invite at: www.refundo.com Follow us on Twitter: @refundo Like us on FB: facebook.com/refundos

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