Conferences.io Keeps Improving The Conference Experience

by Monica Selby Monica Selby in Chicago TechWeek, Interviews, Startups
1 Comment 0 Like 3,357

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

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

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

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

We’ve got more Chicago TechWeek coverage here.

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

by Kyle in Chicago, Chicago TechWeek, Everywhere Else, Featured, New York, Startups, Videos
0 Comments 0 Like 2,693

Aereo,Chet Kanojia, Chicago Techweek, Startup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More startup coverage from Chicago TechWeek is here.

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We Catch Up With Sam Krichevsky From Cleveland’s LaunchHouse

by Kyle in Chicago, Chicago TechWeek, Cleveland, Everywhere Else, Interviews, Startup Communities, Startups, Videos
1 Comment 0 Like 4,445

launchhouse

LaunchHouse is the startup and entrepreneurial Mecca of Cleveland, Ohio. Like many facilities of its kind, LaunchHouse has an incubator, an accelerator, and co-working in their 22,000 square foot space.

We ran into the LaunchHouse team at Chicago TechWeek and got a chance to interview Sam Krichevsky, who’s really excited about the next level for LaunchHouse.

First, they are looking to expand their footprint across Cleveland, across Ohio, and across the region. Their model is working for startups at their earliest stages and continues to work and support ramp-up companies as well. They have touchpoints with every type of entrepreneur in the Cleveland area.

Next, Krichevsky is excited about LaunchHouse’s next batch of startups that will report to the accelerator in August.  This class includes 3 startups from outside the region and a variety of technology spaces.

Another thing that Krichevesky and the LaunchHouse crew are excited about is a “startup neighborhood” concept that they are working on. They are hoping to build a Live/Work/Play space to help attract and cultivate the best startups and entrepreneurs to Cleveland.

Cleveland is bustling with startup and entrepreneurial activity. Jump Start America is based in Cleveland. They also have the BizDom accelerator and a very active startup community.

Check out our video interview with Krichevsky below and for more info visit launchhouse.com

 

This Ohio startup launched a crowdfunding compliance platform.

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Picslinger Combines Photo Sharing And Gaming

by Monica Selby Monica Selby in Chicago TechWeek, Interviews, Mobile, Startups
0 Comments 0 Like 4,942

Remember those scavenger hunt games you played as a kid? In college, my sorority pledge class played them with Polaroid cameras. (Remember those?!) We’d race around campus, taking ridiculously embarrassing pictures and the team that embarrassed themselves the most usually won.

Now, with the ubiquitous smartphone camera, these games can be even more fun. At Chicago TechWeek, Kyle caught up with Picslinger, an app that combines photo sharing with scavenger hunt games. You can even earn real life flair with your pictures.

Check out Kyle’s interview, and stay tuned for more great startups from Chicago TechWeek.

Cultivate,Collaborate, Innovate With Nigerian Startup Insp-i

by Kyle in Everywhere Else, International Start Ups, Interviews, Startups
0 Comments 0 Like 4,008

Insp-I, Nigerian startup,startup,startup interview

When I was first contacted by Kingsley Otoide about his Nigerian startup Insp-I, I was a little skeptical. We’ve all received 100s of emails, typically credited to Nigeria, saying we could easily make 2, 5, and $20 million dollars by helping someone move some absurd amount of money to a bank in the US. Luckily for me Otoide had a great sense of humor and an even better idea.

That idea is a startup called Insp-I.

Through several overseas phone calls and Skype sessions, I learned that Otoide’s startup is about ideas. It’s not an idea marketplace though. Insp-I is a social network for ideas where someone can cultivate, collaborate, and innovate on an idea they have but may not have the resources to flush out.

Say you had a brilliant idea to try something different that you thought was the treatment for cancer. You’ve done enough research to know you’re on track, but you’re not a doctor nor a scientist. Insp-I wants to be the global place where you can take that idea, find people you think would be useful to help build out that idea, and pitch it to them. The next step after that is to collaborate and get the conversation going.

Otoide and his cofounder Kelechi Iheanacho envision a social networking platform where no idea is a bad idea. Sure we say that all the time, but what often makes a bad idea bad is the inability to follow through. By connecting the thinkers with the doers and vice versa, you create serendipity, and real innovation can get done.

Otoide and Iheanacho see their platform as a place where people with a good idea can share it with someone who can execute or help brainstorm it. Then, that same user can turn around and brainstorm or build someone else’s idea.

We got a chance to interview Otoide about this new idea for a new social network. Check out that interview below.

What is your startup called?

Insp-i

What does your company do?

Insp-i is the world’s first social network purpose-built for democratizing and engineering disruptive innovations.

In 2008, a 16-year-old Danish high school student thought to herself, “What if we made ozone in the lab and used it as a personal protective coating to help prevent skin cancer?”

Obviously, she lacked the domain expertise required to develop the idea. Fortunately, she got the opportunity to discuss her idea with a Nobel scientist. The eventual result of a series of interactions was Buckyozun, a product that gives 99.99% protection against all UV-radiation and has a large market potential in about 14 industries- including, the space industry.

Now, imagine what benefits yet await mankind if we proactively got domain experts in the various fields of human endeavor to rub minds with non-experts (e.g., domain experts from other fields, grassroots innovators in Africa or Asia, shop floor employees, students, etc). Simply put, the possibilities are limitless.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds

 

Kingsley Otoide
He studied medicine at the University of Nigeria before becoming a global marketing associate for Invent Resources, Inc.(IR), a US company founded by four top US scientists/inventors one of which is Dr. Richard Pavelle, the President. Through his effort, IR’s GTL technology was reviewed by some leading corporations (e.g. BP, Sasol, Lurgi, etc) and venture capitalists (e.g. Vinod Khosla).

Kelechi Iheanacho
He is the ‘silent founder’ because he is an officer and engineer with the Nigerian Navy.
Earlier, the founders built an Execution Risk Management (ERM) software for which a Nigerian patent number RP 15584 was granted.

Where are you based?

Lagos, Nigeria.

What problem do you solve?

The CULTURES and DESIGNS of the better-known of the existing social networks are such that they do not proactively catalyze the interaction of people from diverse backgrounds (i.e. disciplines, industries, nationalities, ages, experiences, etc.) Rather, people tend to connect with other people just like themselves. As a consequence, opportunities for serendipity, new knowledge and breakthrough innovations are stifled.
What we offer is a social network with a CULTURE and DESIGN that encourage people of diverse backgrounds to freely interact in solving the world’s many problems. Imagine that, with each post or tweet you write, you could actually target only the person or persons you wanted to engage in conversation with. For example, with one post or tweet you want to rub minds with 2 doctors in Brazil, 3 physicists in China, and 4 veteran plumbers in India in one space as predetermined by you. And you can have as many of such conversation spaces as you wish and at the same time. That is what our social network aims to do- and much more.

Or think of it as some sort of online version of breakout sessions at a conference where all of the world’s 7 billion people are in attendance. And that each attendee has the power to choose the people he or she wants at his/her table at each session while there are no limits to the number of tables or session that each attendee can create.
As is well-known, breakout sessions are conversation spaces for inspiration and collision of ideas as well as opportunities for new knowledge and breakthrough innovations.

Why now?

There is no better time. We are at a critical time when the world is in dire need of new knowledge and breakthrough innovations that can help solve its many problems.

 

What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?

 

Actually, we have been working on this project for the last 2 years. And we took all that time to validate the project idea with some of the world’s leading domain experts and innovation-focused institutions. Here is what some of them have been saying:
‘That is a wonderful idea. I have long shared that it is often from people outside a discipline that come up with the best innovative ideas!’
– Clayton Christensen, Harvard professor and co-author of The Innovator’s DNA.
“It’s an intriguing idea. I think the core insight that networks like Facebook focus on connecting you to people you already know, rather than people with unexpected perspectives and insights is a valid one – indeed, it’s one of the core ideas of the book I’m publishing next year.”
– Ethan Zuckerman, Director, Center for Civic Media, MIT.

‘I agree completely. Thanks for sharing!’
– Jeff Dyer, BYU professor and co-author of The Innovator’s DNA.

‘I agree that putting together “beginners’ minds” with experienced people can yield great results. We discuss this in much more detail in the book When Sparks Fly, published by Harvard Publishing on the topic of group creativity.’
– Dorothy Leonard, Harvard professor and co-author of When Sparks Fly.

‘Yes, I agree that the folks who work on the ground (on the factory floor, in the trenches, etc.) are often a terrific source of ideas and should be included in the conversation. The split between professionals and non-professionals is false and counterproductive. This was also one of the big insights of Japanese “lean” management and quality circles.’
– AnnaLee (Anno) Saxenian, professor and Dean at UC Berkeley School of Information.

Also, we have got the following individuals as Advisors:

 

Beth Kolko

She is a professor in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington. She is also a Founder and CEO of Shift Labs, an engineering and manufacturing company.

 

Jason Fraser

He is a co-founder and principal at LUXr Incorporated, the lean user experience residency based in San Francisco, CA.

 

David Verba

He is a former director of technology for Adaptive Path; currently, CTO & Founder Halcyon Engineering.

 

Jenny E. Jung

She is the Global Partnership Director at Blackbox.vc based in Atherton, CA.

 

Dr. Clifford D. Conner

He is the author of A People’s History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and “Low Mechanicks.”

What are your next milestones?

We have built a prototype to demonstrate our raw idea. And we want people from all over the world to try it out and give us useful feedback. At the same time, we are looking to launch our company in the US to take advantage of the unique startup nourishment that can be found there.

Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?

Please see our prototype www.insp-i.com, If you have a Twitter account, be sure to follow us @inspiglobal

Are “world changing” startups, really changing the world?

EE-FORENTREPRENEURS

Chicago TechWeek Kicks Off With Screening Of Downloaded

by Kyle in Chicago, Chicago TechWeek, Everywhere Else, Startups
1 Comment 0 Like 2,309

Alex Winter, Downloaded, Chicago Tech Week, Startups

Some consider Napster to be all about stealing music and pirating. Others consider Napster to be the pioneer for music services that are household names today like iTunes and Spotify.

Alex Winter calls it the story of one of Silicon Valley’s biggest failures and what it created. His new movie Downloaded chronicles the rise and fall of the first peer-to-peer file sharing service.

Last night 100 VIP’s, media, presenters, and entrepreneurs kicked off the Chicago Tech Week conference with networking, drinks, hor d’ouvres, and a viewing of Winter’s movie at the AMC theater in Downtown Chicago.

Originally, Winter wanted to do a dramatic movie, but he eventually decided a documentary would be more accurate. The film starts the Napster story when founders Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker were still teenagers. Winters went back several years and re-interviewed everyone that was involved.

Before the movie the audience got a look at the preview for Jobs, the new movie based on the legendary Steve Jobs, with Ashton Kutcher playing the main role. That too got big laughs from the audience of techies.

As for Downloaded, Winter has been showing the film at festivals and events. It was also shown during TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 back in May.

Napster paved the way for music consumption the way we have it today. Throughout the Q&A session Winter reminded the audience that  what the record companies didn’t get was that Napster wasn’t about free, or stealing, as much as it was about convenience. That’s why Winter is an admitted Spotify user and never really caught onto iTunes or the more radio-style streaming services.

During the Q&A Winter talked about Lars Ulrich and his part of the Napster story. Metallica was very upset when one of their newest songs made its way to K-Rock before it was even finished. After some digging they found out that the track had been leaked via Napster. Metallica went through the trouble of identifying over 200,000 Napster users illegally sharing their songs and decided to print out the list and deliver it to Napster.  It was an epic part of the movie.

Winter was asked if it was hard to get Ulrich to agree to the movie. He talked about how Ulrich was so upset about Napster, but for some reason praises Spotify.

Then the discussion turned to the very recent stories about Pandora and the lack of royalties artists are receiving. Earlier this week Pink Floyd and the band Cracker took to blogging about how they were seeing next to nothing in royalties from Pandora. Cracker’s front man David Lowry said publicly that for over 1,000,000 streams of their music, he received a whopping $17.

I asked Winter what he thought the perfect model would be.

“Well if I knew the answer I wouldn’t be here, I’d be on my yacht.”

He went on to explain his real answer. To him the perfect model would be for the labels to get back to cultivating artists like they did nearly 2 decades ago and embracing a model of technology that was convenient, easy, and instant. People would pay for that.

Check out the official Downloaded trailer here.

Chicago Tech Week started on Monday with events for the local tech community. The “TechWeek” conference kicks off this morning at 8am and has plenty of great speakers, startups, pitches, and parties. Stay tuned to Nibletz for up-to-the-minute coverage of all the best happenings.

Find more of our Chicago TechWeek coverage here.

CTW-INSPILONG

SoftWear Automation Bringing Garment Industry Back To U.S. By Way Of Atlanta

by Venture Atlanta in Atlanta, Everywhere Else, Startups
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SoftWear Automation, Atlanta Startup,Startup, Venture Atlanta

Steve Dickerson, founder SoftWear Automation (photo: TedX)

Five years ago, retired Georgia Tech automation professor Dr. Steve Dickerson was getting ready for a seminar on the future of robotics.  In preparation, he asked what the biggest need in robotics was today?  The answer came quickly – automation of the garment industry.

To the Lowest Cost Provider Go the Manufacturing Contracts

Dickerson, a mechanical engineer and entrepreneur, grew up in Commerce, Georgia, where at one time there were three sewing operations. Today, most sewing is done overseas, where manufacturers have sought cheap labor.  Pricing pressures are so intense that clothing manufacturing has moved from China to countries with even cheaper labor like Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Vietnam.  Dickerson plans to change that trend and bring garment manufacturing back to the United States.

Dickerson, who co-founded SoftWear Automation, Inc. with Dr. Wayne Book, envisions technicians specializing in robotics supervising an entirely automated process, which will replace the need for seamstresses in factories and make the United States competitive in the garment industry again.

According to Plunkett Research, Ltd., in 2012 America imported more than $100 billion in textiles and apparel, while exporting only $22 billion. “In order to manufacture in the U.S., [you] have to be automated,” Dickerson says. “[Businesses] have to eliminate direct labor to make it profitable.”

Old Problem, New Solution

The loss of U.S. apparel manufacturing is not a new problem. In the 1970s and 1980s, government agencies recognized the issue and began developing projects to bring it back. These efforts failed in large part because an economical way to bring the industry back remained elusive — until now. In 2012, SoftWear Automation received $1.2 million from the U.S. government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is required by law to purchase military garments made in the United States.

SoftWear Automation’s robotics focus on more than just sewing. In place of seamstresses, the system will guide fabric through machines and transferred from one machine to another.

Continue reading at VentureAtlanta.org

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Las Vegas Startup imagoo Is Changing The Way Businesses Collect Feedback

by Kyle in Everywhere Else, Interviews, Las Vegas, Startups
0 Comments 0 Like 2,626

imagoo, Las Vegas startup, startup interview

We’ve all seen the movie The Social Network. We all know about Hot or Not. Polling is quite popular in the startup space. Whether you’re comparing two people you would like to date or two of your favorite songs, everyone has an opinion.

Well, a new startup in Las Vegas called Imagoo is looking to take that polling concept and make it extremely relevant to businesses, brands, and products.  While consumers have fun with these polling apps and love voicing their opinion on it, savvy marketers know this as a/b testing. Comparing product A to product B and seeing which one resonates with a user or a consumer is one of the most important tools a business owner, startup, or product manufacturer can use.

imagoo is bringing this same insight to any business. Available as a free iPhone app and on the Web, imagoo lets users upload photos to issue comparisons in the form of real-time polls, which are pushed to the imagoo community for anyone to vote on. It’s crowdsourced feedback in real time. And while users are having fun with the app – using it to ask other users which outfit they should buy while they’re still in the store, for example – businesses are getting on board, too.

Ranging from a casino to a clothing brand, businesses are already using the app to test their ideas in front of a random pool of customers before investing a ton of money and time into that idea. The implications are endless. A flower shop, for example, can now get reactions to two different bouquet arrangements before assembling them by the dozen in the store for customers.

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

 

EE-FORENTREPRENEURS

 

What does your startup do?

imagoo is a real-time social polling app and Web platform that lets consumers, brands, and businesses issue challenges and comparisons and vote on content. Users can get advice on purchasing decisions, debate politics and challenge rival sports fans. Using imagoo’s challenge feature, users can go head-to-head with friends or other users to see whose car is cooler or what ring is prettier.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds

Mickey Hernandez is founder and CEO of imagoo. With a background in economics from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Hernandez’s analytical skills and passion for problem-solving fueled his desire to launch a startup. Raised in Las Vegas, Hernandez watched the city slowly transform into a tech hub and is excited to be a part of the growing entrepreneurial community.

What problem do you solve?

imagoo takes social polling to a whole new level. Moving beyond standard comparison features, imagoo enables users to go head-to-head against their friends or other users on the network by issuing ‘challenges.’ The result is a real-time poll pushed to the imagoo community in which anyone can vote to determine the winner, whether the debate is about sports teams, politics, food, fashion, or dozens of other categories. Beyond this peer-to-peer social function, brands and businesses can use both the challenge and polling features to gather instant feedback data from their target audiences. With people passionate about what they like and what they own, the challenge aspect of imagoo gives users a platform to engage in friendly competition and ask questions of the greater imagoo community.

Why does it matter?

Countless decisions are made each and every day by individuals and businesses alike, yet there are very few resources that make this decision making process both as simple and as informed as they ought to be. With a platform like imagoo, people are given the opportunity to ask for suggestions, assert their opinions and give companies feedback in a manner that is as fun as it is informative.

What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?

In just about a month since our launch, imagoo has already accumulated around 17,000 downloads and seen more than 100,000 interactions on the app. We’re pretty excited about those milestones.

What are your next milestones?

We have a lot of exciting updates and new features in the pipeline. In the very near future, we will be incorporating power rankings. Stay tuned!

Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?

@imagoochallenge or on Facebook

How to avoid hiring the wrong person for your startup

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Why Is The Big Apple Becoming the Big Tech Apple?

by Guest in Everywhere Else, Featured, New York, Startups, Tech
1 Comment 0 Like 3,212

New York startup, New York Angels, Pervasive Group, Guest Post, Big Tech AppleThe rise of the New York tech scene is the most significant development in the American startup world since the tech bubble burst in 2001.

Ten years ago Silicon Valley was America’s only real startup technology hub, with minor outposts in Boston, Seattle, Houston, and New York. Now the American startup scene has a large, vibrant home on the East Coast.

New York is now leading the way in early-stage growth and fast becoming the home base for consumer-facing technology startups from across the globe.

Sure, the Big Apple still pales in size to Silicon Valley. But the gap is rapidly closing. New York was once only the fourth largest US market for startups. Now it is second and home to over 3,000 startups, as billboards across the city proudly proclaim.

What is causing this rapid growth and is it sustainable?

The cause of New York’s startup growth is the confluence of interested money, effective politics, and symbiotic blending of common interests. The Big Apple finally managed to harness the vast assets and capital available because of its status as the world’s financial capital and put that to good use creating companies. By most metrics, there is no wealthier area in the world than the greater tri-state of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Now companies are finally able to harness all that capital – both from institutional funds and angel investors – to thrive and create a sustainable startup market.

The city was also able, through effective politics driven by a tech-friendly City Hall run by visionary billionaire Michael Bloomberg, to steer politics towards effective startup creation. Many of the city’s most effective startup-engines, including incubators like NYC Alley, are products of both private endeavor and public policy. Several of the most ambitious public-private partnerships of the last decade, including the new Cornell-Technion Entrepreneurial University partnership, will spur startup growth in the city for decades.

At the root of the tri-state’s startup growth is its focus on smaller, expansion-oriented, consumer-facing companies that can leverage the tri-state’s vast population of individual private investors and take advantage of its strong mix of media and advertising. My own company, Pervasive Group Inc., leveraged relationships with the New York Angels, the Tech Launch accelerator, and investors across the tri-state to raise its angel round and fund the MMGuardian™ Parental Control solution for Android smartphones.

MMGuardian is a parental control application designed to give parents a comprehensive solution to smartphone dangers facing kids, particularly cyber-bullying, texting while driving, and harassment via calls, texts, and apps. We were aptly suited to take advantage of the Big Apple’s exciting media environment and large networks of concerned, active investors looking to support companies they believe in.

Best of all, New York’s startup growth is very sustainable because the networks created, policies put in place, and relationships built over the last decade will not go away. Specifically, the tri-state’s strongest angel groups–including New York Angels, Jumpstart, and Delaware Crossing–will continue to expand and to build relationships with companies worldwide, including transplants from regions as diverse as Silicon Valley and Israel. And the Big Apple’s venture scene, which remains small but is growing rapidly, will continue to expand and supplement its influential angel networks.

New York was once known as the financial capital of the world, the place where money moved. It still is, but now the Big Apple can add something more – as a city that does not just move money and companies but one that creates them.

Paul Grossinger is a New York City entrepreneur and angel investor.  He is the Co-founder of Pervasive Group Inc. and invests with the New York Angels.

This New York startup wants to DoItInPerson

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Meet Your Neighbors And Have A Conversation–A Neighborsation

by Kyle in DC, Everywhere Else, Interviews, Startups, Videos, Woman Owned Startup
0 Comments 0 Like 3,568

Neighborsations, DC startup, 1776 DC, Woman owned startup, Allison Sheren

Neighborhoods are everywhere; they come in all kinds of shapes, and sizes. It could be a neighborhood in a metropolis like New York City or a neighborhood in Anytown, USA, or around the world. Chances are you live in a neighborhood and can count on one hand the close friends you have in that neighborhood.

Even in the suburbs, neighborly conversations have become rare, never mind neighborly friendships.

Well DC-based entrepreneur Allison Sheren  is hoping to spark conversations between neighbors with her startup Neighborsations.

Through their online community Sheren hopes to take online conversations off line, learn from one another, teach someone something, get to know your neighbors, and build stronger communities.

The website is divided into four categories that any neighbor can relate to; Town Hall (the bulletin board, safety updates, vendor recommendations), Neighbor Favors (need a cup of sugar or to borrow a lawn mower), Neighborhood News, and Block Party.

Currently Neighborsations is only open to neighborhoods in DC, but Sheren sees the value in Neighborsations anywhere and everywhere in the world.

Check out our video interview with Sheren below:

Now read: DC Mayor Vincent Gray celebrates Speek, DC Tech and 1776.

serious

Memphis Startup Xtrant Could Be The Tumblr of Project Management

by Monica Selby Monica Selby in Everywhere Else, Memphis, SouthernB, Startups, Tennessee
0 Comments 0 Like 4,741

Xtrant, Memphis startup,startup,tumblrAt SXSW David Karp talked about his motivation for building Tumblr.

I tried all of the great tools that were around at the time—WordPress, Blogger—and obviously all the specialized tools—Flickr for photos and YouTube for videos—and I kept falling down. I was perfectly happy with all these tools but at the same time, constantly frustrated by the limitations imposed by all of them.

So, with that love/hate thing going on, Karp set out to iterate on the “tumblelog,” and turned it into a business worth $1.1 billion dollars (at least to Yahoo).

The guys behind project management company Xtrant feel the same way. Email, Dropbox, and chat all have their good parts, but they also all have frustrating limitations. (Missing email thread, anyone?)

Back in February, before I joined the Nibletz team, I helped a friend get ready to show her startup in everywhereelse.co’s Startup Village. In the months leading up to the conference, we used the soft launch version of Xtrant to keep our team organized and on task.

That version worked really well for us. My friend was able to upload diagrams of the booth, logos she had designed, and schedules of our milestones. We kept a running conversation on the project page, as well as a calendar for all our meetings. It was far better than 50 emails for each task.

Over the last few months, though, Xtrant has rolled out several new features that make the experience even better.

  • MEMPHIS-1Person status–Now users can see someone’s contact info and when they last visited the project page.
  • Pending/Send Reminder & Invite Permissions–You can see if someone hasn’t accepted the invite to a project yet and send them an email reminder. You can also allow other users to invite their team members.
  • Email Notifications–This is probably the biggest change to date, and one that is a huge win for UX. Previously the emails simply noted that the project had been changed. So, you had to click over, sign in, and find out if the change involved you or not. Now the emails are well-designed, with a brief rundown of the actions taken. Of course, you still click over to the page if you need to be involved, but if the changes don’t concern you, you can keep moving.
  • Coming soon: iOS and Android apps

Like Tumblr, Xtrant is iterating on many other project management systems. By making themselves both a “social media for work” and a “project/task management” platform, they are also streamlining the work experience, getting rid of a lot of the clunky-ness we deal with every day. With these new features, they could be poised to live up to their promise.

Sign your team up for Xtrant and keep an eye out for mobile apps this summer.

EE-FORENTREPRENEURS

NW Indiana Startup Just Food Brings Real Food To Feeding Tubes

by Kyle in Everywhere Else, Indiana, Startups
1 Comment 0 Like 3,024

Just Food, Indiana startup,startupsIt’s hard enough for someone that has to be fed via feeding tube. Typically they get corn syrup based mixtures packed with artificial ingredients mixed with vitamins and nutrients they need to survive. While the food used in feeding tubes is doing the job it’s not necessarily “good” for the patient.

Now, a North West Indiana startup called Just Food is hoping to bring better food to the feeding tube. They resorted to indiegogo for a crowdfunding campaign for $10,000 to help get the project off the ground. With 22 days to go as of the writing of this story, Just Food has already past their goal.

While some people already blend foods for their feeding tubes it can be a long process and if the foods aren’t blended right they don’t have the same effects. Just Food blends the food mixtures for the patients at a cost of roughly $4 per meal. Several researchers and doctors have praised using real food over formula for feeding tubes.

“The patients I see with feeding tubes who follow a blended diet tend to be healthier than those who are fed 100% formula” -Dr. Beth Madonna, a pediatric surgeon and advisor to Just Food said.

The Just Food mixtures contain whole grains, lean protein, fruit, vegetables, healthy fats, spice and liquid.  Each Just Food meal is a complete meal of just 7 ingredients.

Just Food isn’t looking to replace people’s personally blended foods, but their packages are better than resorting to formula when the patient and their caretakers get too busy to blend up some food. Just Food is ready to go when it’s shipped and is ready to use. “Many in the medical community believe that a blended diet is (1) too hard on the families, (2) puts the patient at risk for contamination, (3) formula is just fine, (4) will clog the tube. Just Food addresses (and negates!) all these beliefs. ” Just Food said on their indiegogo page.

So how did Just Food come about?

“I started Just Food when my son, AJ, couldn’t tolerate any of the commercially available tube-feeding formulas, despite the fact that he had no allergies,” said Julie Bombacino, Founder, Just Food said in a statement. “When I started blending AJ’s meals from 100-percent real food, he started to thrive; he stopped vomiting daily, began to gain weight and the color came back to his skin – he was just a happier and healthier kid. My ultimate goal with Just Food is that people with feeding tubes know that real food is not only possible, but easier to obtain than ever before.”

You can check out Just Food on Indeigogo here and on their website here.

This startup could be world changing, but what about all the other “world changing” startups.

serious

These 100 Mentors Did 1500 Hours At Techstars NY; Now Follow Them On Twitter

by Kyle in Accelerator, Everywhere Else, Featured, New York, Startups
3 Comments 0 Like 4,901

Techstars, Techstars New York, Mentors, Follow on Twitter, startup acceleratorTechstars released some data on their current NY session on their blog Friday.  The Techstars New York class graduates this Friday, June 28th, and they’ve been burning the midnight oil.

Nicole Glaros, the co-manager of this Techstars New York session reported they’ve had 39,000 working hours (60 hours x30 weeks x50 people), 5 pivots, 1500 mentor hours, 1 wedding, 72lbs of La Colombe Coffee, 14 missing iPhone charges and one of those 5 pivots, pivoted back.

One of the keys to success for Techstars–or any good accelerator program for that matter–is their mentor network. Techstars has one of the best mentor networks in the world. Here are 100 mentors that have taken part in this current session in New York. Now you can pick up on their nuggest of wisdom by following them on Twitter.

 

New Hampshire Startup Aims To Block Snoops, But Can’t Block NSA

by Kyle in Everywhere Else, New Hampshire, Startups
0 Comments 0 Like 2,357

SnoopWall,New Hampshire Startup, Cyber Snooping, Prism, NSA

Ever since former Edward Snowden blew the whistle on Prism, anyone and everyone has been thinking about their privacy and snooping. A Nashua startup called SnoopWall aims to protect people from snooping on their smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately cyber-security expert and founder of SnoopWall, Gary Miliefsky, says it can’t protect you from the NSA.

But say you have a jealous lover, or ex-lover, or maybe your company or coworkers are spying on your phone and tablet. Then you’re in luck. SnoopWall protects phones and tablets by blocking prying eyes from different hardware ports.

Miliefsky explains “They [NSA] own access to the towers, the routers, to backdoors. We’re not going to stop the good guys; we’re going to stop the bad guys.”

Normal snoopers, without the backing and technology of the NSA, often use a tactic called “port scanning”. This digital eavesdropping tactic scans open ports for things like webcams, microphones, and GPS systems. When these ports are left open, potential snoops can get in and do a variety of things like watch what your camera sees, or listen to your conversations through the phone or tablet’s microphone. They can also keep track of your whereabouts by tapping into your GPS.

SnoopWall has three levels of security to protect users from would-be eavesdroppers. At one level all ports are blocked or shut down. The second mode is a phone-only mode, and the third is a kid mode which allows kids to play local games and use local apps but shuts down data.

The Nashua Telegraph reports that SnoopWall is bootstrapping and working to raise a very small seed round of $10,000 via Kickstarter. Miliefsky is looking to use the Kickstarter network to drive interest and get people talking about it, which is far more valuable then the $10,000.

“Kickstarter, with six million viewers a day, could not only fund the continuation of the development to a finished release, but create a viral community of friends,” Miliefsky told the Nashua Telegraph. “These people, when they give 5 dollars, they’re not going to give up on you – they tweet and blog to their friends about it.”

Miliefsky is no stranger to startups. He is part of the “Angel Breakfast Club,” a group of angel investors that get together for breakfast in the New Hampshire town. It was there that he got involved with a startup called Pony Express and realized that there was a hole in port security. Milefsky’s background is in cyber security.

 

Check out SnoopWall on Kickstarter here.

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