Freelancing? Let Motiv Handle The Boring Stuff

When the financial system imploded in 2008, many people found themselves suddenly without a job. What do you do when you’re unemployed and have no prospects?

Freelance, of course! It’s no longer uncommon to find freelance designers, developers, writers, photographers, and so on. Some estimates believe a full 40% of Americans will be freelancers by 2020.

However, when you think about the professions that lend themselves to freelancing, they’re all creative. And creative people don’t necessarily love the parts of the business that require detailed systems. Lead generation, pitching and proposals, invoicing, and payments can all be overwhelming to a lot of freelancing professionals.

As a former freelancer, I was super excited to hear about Motiv, a web app that handles all those things for you. As I looked around the site, I was even more enthused. All those necessary (boring!) parts of freelancing have a home and a system already built in. While there are plenty of programs that tackle a certain task–like invoicing–there’s nothing that combines the whole back office into one place.

It’s one of those solutions that is so simple, you can’t believe it’s not already a thing.

Founder Dylan Feltus told us all about Motiv:

What’s your startup called?

Our startup’s name is Motiv! Pronounced like “motive.”

What does your company do?

Motiv is a proposal and contract application specifically for freelancing professionals across all creative industries. Freelancers have the ability to create proposals and contracts in just minutes with professional templates and unique content specific to their niche. Motiv also has an invoicing system that allows for easy payments.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

The Founder of Motiv is Dylan Feltus; a young freelance Web Designer who saw firsthand the struggle freelancers face when creating proposals and contracts

Where are you based?

Motiv is based out of sunny Sarasota, Florida!

What’s the startup scene like where you are based?

While there aren’t many startups, we love the overall energy that Sarasota has. Everyone is open and always interested in hearing new ideas. It’s a fun place to be!

What problem do you solve?

We solve a problem every freelancer faces; having to spend a significant amount of time preparing proposals for potential jobs and preparing legal contracts hoping they’ve done enough to cover themselves. Motiv solves both of these problems by cutting proposal creation in half and potentially more with saved proposal sections. Our contracts are created by professionals and specific to the freelancer’s niche.

Why Now?

There’s never a better time than the present and as more and more professionals take the plunge from leaving the day to day grind of corporate life and head into the freelancing world – arming them with the right tools from the start is critical.

What are some of the milestones we’ve already reached?

We’ve recently celebrated the launch of our software to the general public! It’s been a crazy ride and we’ve loved every minute of it.

What are our next milestones?

With a successful site launch under our belt, we look to expand and offer native iOS and Android mobile apps for freelancers on the go. In addition to a mobile app, we soon plan to offer a White Label feature and a more comprehensive billing section that includes tools like time and expense trackers.

Where can people find out more? Any social links?

Please head to our main site to watch our video and learn more about the startup at: www.motivapp.com
Google+:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/117438423875028817136/117438423875028817136/posts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Motiv_App
Instagram: http://instagram.com/motivapp_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motivapplication

Boulder Startup Announces Thousands & Thousands Of Tiny Robots

This morning Modular Robotics announced a Kickstarter campaign that will bring “thousands and thousands of tiny robots” into the world.

Modular Robotics is the company behind Cubelets, magnetic blocks that can be snapped together to create robots. The toys have experienced some popularity. Time had this to say about the products:

Think of them as gateway drugs into the world of robotics: First, you learn about the basic concept of robotics by connecting Cubelets. Then, using the API, you get a taste of programming. Then you’re hooked, learning C and making your Cubelets do all kinds of things.

Next thing you know, you’re a engineering student at MIT and, boom, high-tech labor shortage over. You’re welcome, America.

Lofty goals for a small company in Boulder, but with its newest creation, Modular Robotics is just raising expectations even higher. After 2 1/2 years of development, Modular Robotics is launching MOSS.

MOSS follows the same idea as Cubelets: tiny robots that require no knowledge of electronics or coding. However, MOSS allows for more dynamic building. Cubelets were blocks that clicked together. MOSS incorporates spherical ball bearings and “rare earth” magnets to connect the modules. The magnets create joints and hinges, allowing the wheels of the car above to actually turn like regular wheels.

With the launch of MOSS, Modular Robotics is also rolling out a few iPhone apps that will allow builders to control their robots from their phones using bluetooh technology. Robots and remote controls in one toy? I’m sold.

Most toys and consumer electronics are built outside of the United States, but Modular Robotics thinks they know a better way. They’ve built a factory in Boulder and all parts of MOSS will be assembled right there. “We get to build robots that help us build robots,” they point out on the Kickstarter page.

Smart toys are increasing in popularity as the world changes. There are competitors in the space, like New York-based Little Bits. However, Modular Robotics offers a simpler experience. Pull the toys out of the box, click them together, and watch your robot work.

The Time excerpt above plays perfectly on every parents’ deepest desire: for our children to be successful. In past years parents plopped their kids down in front of Baby Einstein in hopes of increasing their intelligence. Today’s savvy parents know that if our kids are exposed early to STEM, they may actually have a job later in life. (Unlike most of us, who wasted our time with silly humanities degrees…)

MOSS is officially on Kickstarter, and backers will be the first customers with access to the new toys.

Atlas Demos The Next Fitness Band At Techstars Austin

As a college track coach and marathoner, my husband swears by his GPS watch. I have plenty of friends who love their FitBit or Nike FuelBands. I have to say, though, I didn’t really get the whole wearable tech, fitness analytics thing. Why can’t you just go for a run and do a few crunches for crying out loud? Why the hell do we have to measure EVERYTHING?

I didn’t get it, that is, until I stumbled across recent Techstars Austin graduates Atlas Wearables.

The idea for the Atlas wristband came when CEO Peter Li developed a platform to help motivate his fellow students at Johns Hopkins to get fit. He realized that most of the tools out there only measure subsets of fitness–number of steps for example. He realized customers really needed in depth analytics on what works and what doesn’t.

With that understanding, Atlas is focusing their efforts on showing the type, speed, and quality of the exercises, helping consumers understand what they need to do to lose weight and get fit.

What makes Atlas unique is that it’s not a one-sport wonder. That GPS watch my husband loves will never be able to tell me the quality of the push ups I just did. The Atlas wristband aims to do that, as well as track analytics across other sports like swimming, yoga, and cycling.

It’s an understatement to say that Li and his cofounder Mike Kasparian are qualified to build this type of product. Li has a masters degree in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins. Kasparian studied electrical engineering at Boston University, then designed circuitry for defibrillators at Philips. Combine that with a mutual love of fitness and sports, and it’s obvious this team knows what they’re doing.

It’s still early days, though. Last week the Atlas team graduated from Techstars, but we all know Demo Day is just the beginning. In the coming months, the team will test the wristbands with local gyms and personal trainers to see how well the technology works and what features need to be included. They have already started work on the next iteration and will be offering a small batch to a few early adopters. (Reserve yours here!)

Fitness and health awareness is growing quickly. Consumers are beginning to understand the importance of a good sweat to get and stay fit. Atlas is poised to bring good old-fashioned exercise into the 21st century.

And, it looks like I might finally jump on board, too!

PointDrive Makes Online Presentations Worthwhile

Have you ever tried to make a sale via email alone? The initial emails might be simple enough, but when it’s time to send all those carefully crafted sales materials, email just doesn’t work. Your proposal could consist of video, Word documents, case studies, images, and other supporting information. All of these end up as attachments to the email, which causes several problems:

no way to know what the prospect opened
terrible user experience
limited branding opportunities

Chicago-based Bill Burnett had all these problems in mind when he and his team created PointDrive. Version 1.0 just launched at the Demo Fall 2013 event, and they are already signing up users.

The website is easy enough to use. On the top of your presentation page, you can include all your company branding materials and contact information. Then, you can drag and drop the materials you have already created–YouTube or Vimeo videos, images from Dropbox, Word documents or Excel spreadsheets. Basically, if you would send it as an attachment, you can include it in your PointDrive presentation. Videos even play in the presentation, so your target will not have to navigate away from your personalized page.

PointDrive could prove to be a great solution for startup founders. We all know investors are bombarded with information and emails from startups. PointDrive will give you the ability to send personalized, branded content to investors, which helps you stand out from the crowd. It will also cut down on all the time you spend attaching (or forgetting to attach) documents to emails.

After setting up your presentation, you can send an email to your prospect that includes a simple link the page. The PointDrive team is especially excited about their analytics features. After sending the presentation link, you will be able to see who downloaded a file or watched a video. You will be able to see which materials are hitting their target and which are uninteresting to your audience.

Across the board, we are relying on cloud productivity tools more and more. But most of those tools focus on customer relationships or project management. PointDrive strives to offer a better experience than email attachments for both the salesperson and the prospect. A branded presentation is more memorable than being 1 of 100 emails full of attachments.

Customers can sign up for free through the end of the year, and in 2014 PointDrive will roll out the Pro version of the product.

The Biggest Deal In Shark Tank History Comes Just In Time For Halloween

Last Friday Shark Tank returned with one of the creepiest pitches ever. Former Clear Channel Communications executive Melissa Carbone walked in with a snarling zombie in tow, and as the pitch continued a scarecrow, clown, a chainsaw murder came out of the display to terrorize the sharks.

“Don’t eyeball me. I will kick your tush back to Texas,” Mark Cuban informed the chainsaw-wielding actor.

The founder of the Ten Thirty One Productions, the company behind the popular LA Haunted Hayride was looking for $2 million dollars to expand her business to New York. Despite earning $1.8 million in 17 days, many of the sharks disagreed with Carbone’s $20 million valuation.

“I’m an expert in high-octane scare,” Daymond John said. “Put on a piece of jewelry and walk around where I grew up. That’s a high-octane scare.”

He went on to offer $2 million for a 40% stake in the company. Carbone paused before countering: $2 million for 20%.

It took Cuban–whose face showed nothing but disgust at the beginning of the pitch–about 2 seconds to jump in.

“I’ll take that,” he said, slamming his notebook closed.

And, just like that, the biggest deal in Shark Tank history is done. Cuban, of course, is well known for his wide portfolio and often unusual investments. As the segment ended, he told the other sharks he believes the future of entertainment is in experiences.

However, a lot of sharks argued that Carbone’s company will never see the kind of profit she projected. We all know that not everything goes right when we launch new endeavors, and Ten Thirty One’s plans are ambitious. In 2014 they plan to launch a series of horror campouts along the West Coast, as well as a New York Haunted Hayride in October. They have some–sorry–scary goals. Still $2 million from Mark Cuban can’t hurt.

Find out more about Ten Thirty One Productions at their website.

Handwritten Letters Meet Technology

Do you remember the days of pen pals? You’d write a letter on paper with a pen, and you’d put a lot of thought into it because it would be your only communication with that person. You would fold it up, put it in an envelope, stamp it, and stick it in the mailbox. Weeks later, you’d get a response and know your friend had put the same kind of effort into communicating with you.

Sounds idyllic, right? Fast forward 20 or so years, and we all know that’s not what we call “scalable.” In today’s world, thanks to email and social media, we’re meeting people all the time, and we need to interact NOW, not weeks from now. Emails and texts get business done faster, and often more efficiently.

Still, on the rare occasion you get a handwritten note, isn’t it a memorable experience?

That’s what the team at MailLift is betting on. Founders Brian Curliss and Daniel Jurek believe that with the rise of technology, we’ve lost the habit of personal connection. So, they’ve figured out a way to automate a quintessential part of personal connection: handwritten letters.

At his last company, CEO Curliss rented homes by the night, and he would write a real handwritten note to leave for the guests to find at check in. Obviously, they loved it. When a mentor asked him what one part of his business he would have gladly paid for, he knew what his next company would do.

Now, MailLift isn’t for writing notes to Grandma. (She’s your grandmother, for crying out loud! Write your own damn note!) Instead, MailLift focuses specifically on sales and marketing professionals. Handwritten letters break through the marketing noise in email and on social media, which MailLift believes will increase sales for their clients.

“Our customers love it because they can turn a high-touch action to a set-it-and-forget-it system,” Curliss told me.

The system is easy enough, with clients doing most of their part online. Then a team of retired teachers and artists does the actual handwriting. They also address the envelopes by hand and use actual stamps to send the letters. The website even says that Curliss insists that every letter or envelope be photographed and verified by 3 people before it goes to the post office. That’s commitment!

MailLift is participating in the recently announced 500 Startups class. In the coming months, they will roll out Salesforce integration, which will make the process even easier on their clients.

Find out more about MailLift on their website.

Crowdfunding Goes Feminine

For every great idea, there are a million verticals, and crowdfunding is no different. Did you know there’s a crowdfunding site specifically for veterans? Are you trying to get a park or sports project funded? There’s one for apps, local communities, and nonprofits.

And now, there’s one for women.

Nap Time Startups is still in early days. CEO Vicki Lemay and her team have only been working on it since March of this year, but they’re already planning a beta launch by December.

So, why do women need a separate crowdfunding platform? Are women not getting funded over at Kickstarter or Indiegogo? Lemay’s answer is that Nap Time Startups will offer a completely different experience from the industry giants. They aren’t just a “platform.” Instead they are seeking to build an ecosystem of support from crowdfunding coaching to advice on financial models.

“When the women entrepreneurs join our crowdfunding ecosystem of business coaches, crowdfunding donors, affiliate mentors/advisors and potential equity investors, we all have the same goal – to achieve success,” Lemay said in an email.

Nap Time Startups also hopes to help donors and investors see the potential in a company or product, which could mean entrepreneurs move beyond crowdfunding into straight investment.

As a mom, the name Nap Time Startups brings up visions of women working away while the kids nap. I asked Lemay if they were targeting moms in particular.

“After so many women entrepreneurs that were not moms with children at home reached out needing crowdfunding and business coaching, we expanded our outreach and are absolutely focused on all women entrepreneurs,” she answered. “Everyone needs a nap, right?”

With such ambitious goals, the team at Nap Time Startups probably does, but they probably won’t be taking one soon. Lemay and her team hope to have the Beta site ready to go by December 5 and are already signing up future users. They also have to plan for their competition. There are a few other women-only crowdfunding sites out there. Plum Alley operates a site that incorporates an e-commerce site so women can sell their wares on the same platform they use for fundraising. Like Nap Time Startups, Chic CEO also aims to incorporate education and support in their platform. And, of course, there are Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

But, we all know that ideas aren’t the most important thing in startups. Execution is. If Nap Time Startups can launch a great site and have great mentorship, they have a shot at creating a unique ecosystem that lots of women will love.

If that’s you, check out Nap Time Startups and sign up for the beta.

Upstart Graduates 5 New Female-Led Companies

It seems that everywhere I go, people are talking about women in tech and women in startups. Everyone has an opinion on why it’s hard for women in tech (or IF it’s hard). Some think the solution comes from changing institutions to accommodate families. Others think women just need to embrace careers and quit being timid.

There are plenty of opinions, but we in the startup world know that execution matters more than theory. Yesterday in Memphis, execution was on display.

The people behind Start Co in Memphis, TN are actually doing something to advance women in tech, and the fruit of that labor was seen in the 5 teams that presented at Upstart’s Demo Day. I talked about Upstart in July, and like most Demo Days, it’s amazing to see how far the companies have come in a few short months. Of course, it’s still early days for all the companies, and everyone knows the real work begins after Demo Day.

WeddingWorthy.com–WeddingWorthy.com was a late addition to Upstart cohort, but when leaders saw how serious founder Tameesah Desangles was about her business, they felt she’d earned a place at Demo Day. Desangles’ company is a visual shopping platform for brides and their bridesmaids. There are thousands of things to buy for a wedding, and with 25 retailers on board, there are plenty of options.

Artwardly–Leni Stoeva changed her business model quite a bit during the accelerator, but the final product is an art-leasing platform that connects high-end art and individuals and businesses. No more Fortune 500 companies with Aunt Ida’s black and whites in the lobby. With her connections in the art world, and some great developers building the platform, Stoeva is on pace to change the way collectors, businesses, and even museums source their art.

GemPhones–We’ve written about GemPhones before, and founder Kelli Meade is still going strong. GemPhones is electronic jewelry, combining the function of earphones with the style of necklaces. Lots of people flaunted their GemPhones at the after parties, and it’s really impressive how many styles are already available.

Stylecrook–A native of Bermuda, founder Zakkiyah Daniels came all the way from Thailand to participate in the Upstars accelerator. Stylecrook is a social shopping site that allows you to receive discounts when you enlist your friends to help you pick out clothes. Let’s face it, that’s how most women shop best anyway. Stylecrook is now making it digital.

Kids360Now–Audrey Jones started her presentation with a sobering story about children harmed at a day care and taken to a hospital, but because their parents contact information was inaccessible, the parents didn’t find out until pick up time. Kids360Now solves that problem by putting the information into the parents’ hands, and allowing them to grant access when needed. A daycare administrator can simply open an app on her phone in the even of emergency, rather than trying to reach a file cabinet.

The women of the first Upstart cohort made big strides in the 3 months of accelerator life. We at Nibletz are cheering them on as they continue to grow and develop their companies.

Education Startups Have You Applied For LAUNCHedu At SXSW?

Last year when we decided to head down a little earlier than we traditionally do for SXSWi, we were quite surprised at what we saw with LAUNCHedu and SXSWedu. For those unaware, SXSW hosts an entire conference a week earlier than SXSW Interactive, SXSW Music and SXSW Film. That conference, SXSWedu, celebrates education, technology, and edtech startups.

Like the SXSWi accelerator, SXSWedu has it’s own startup track called LAUNCHedu which functions almost like the SXSW Interactive accelerator.

The pitch and startup contest pits the best of the best educational startups from across the country against each other in front of startup influences like Mitch Kapor from Kapor Capital. Many VC’s and angels have found that SXSWedu finds startups on the cusp of greatness.

At last year’s event we met great startups like Common Curriculum, a Baltimore based company that has created an easy to use platform for teachers to develop curriculum. We also got to spend time with MatchBox, a startup that has put the college application process entirely on an iPad. We even got to spend time with Clever, the startup that won the K-12 category at LAUNCHedu. This company provides a platform that connects educational software providers with legacy student information systems and makes it all talk to each other.

If you’re an edtech startup and meet these requirements than you want to head over to the SXSWedu site before November 8th and register.

It’s been said that SXSWedu is growing faster than the SXSW Interactive festival grew when it was first added. It falls the week before SXSWi in March.

Click here to see our coverage of SXSWedu

Introducing: Startup Community Leader Of The Year

Nibletz, the voice of startups everywhere else wants to know who you think the startup community leader of the year is. Who is driving entrepreneurship, innovation, and change in your community? Who is serving as a catalyst among the people in your community?

Now we love Tony Hsieh and Brad Feld, but they are very well known community leaders who actually speak about community leaders all the time. We want to know the names of the people in your area that we may not know. Is there a person who takes startups under his or her wing and helps them get to the next level?

Is there a startup founder that has taken his or her good fortune and spread it around the startup community?

We are taking nominees from now until November 15th. Just email your pick’s name and up to three paragraphs about why they would be the Startup Community Leader of the Year. On November 15th we will put the top 10 nominees up for a nationwide vote.

The Startup Community Leader of the Year will get a chance to speak at Everywhere Else Tennessee, February 17-19th 2014, free room during the conference at the Sheraton Downtown Memphis thanks to our friends at the Marston Group, and three extra VIP attendee tickets, one for whoever nominated that person and two for the winners friends, relatives or other startup partners.

Start sending your stories and nominees to community@nibletz.com, and we’ll get the top 10 posted for voting by November 15th. Remember we’re looking for strong community leaders in your local community and that’s about the only rule. Oh and you can’t nominate yourself.

The address for nominations again is community@nibletz.com. Don’t forget to add up to three paragraphs about why this person is your nominee for Startup Community Leader Of The Year.

Make sure you’ve got your ticket or Startup Avenue booth!

KC Startup Hoopla.io Is Causing A Ruckus In The Event Space

To many the event space is an extremely crowded one for new startups. It seems everyone and their grandmother wants to challenge the stranglehold that LiveNation/Ticketmaster has on the event industry. Others feel that they are safe battling the likes of Eventbrite and TicketLeap, and then there are the dime a dozen startups aggregating events in your local area.

Well when we heard Kansas City startup Local Ruckus was pivoting to something new in the event space we were intrigued.

Basically the problem is that event repository websites are everywhere with none really having that big a piece of the pie. That problem stems from the content. Typically these event sites have a sentence or two about the event leaving potential attendees wondering what the event is really about. Without a more indepth look at the event itself, event organizers are leaving would be patrons on the table, or at least still at home.

Adam Arredondo and Matthew Marcus set out to change the way events are marketed and promoted by putting an emphasis on the content and content distribution.

Here at nibletz we must get 25 emails a day from entepreneurs and event organizers that ask us to publish their event. Well it’s hard to write five sentences much less 300 words on an event when all we get is the name of the event, date, time and if we’re lucky, cost. So unless we want to go digging through the internet to find the relevant information and build a story we have to pass on it, and it may have been an amazing event.

Marcus described Hoopla.io like this: “Many local businesses don’t have the time, money, or expertise to effectively promote their events. Publishers struggle to provide high quality, relevant local events to their audience. With a focus on content distribution, Hoopla.io solves both sides of the problem and will create a nationwide local events syndication network.”

In it’s previous life Local Ruckus was trying to do what many local event sites are doing. While it may not sound like it, Hoopla.io is offering a new, and definitely refreshing approach to local events on a national scale. Local Ruckus had hit a wall that other startups like Louisville’s Impulcity and Nashville’s Wannado have hit. That all changed.

“We had been working on our original startup Local Ruckus for a couple years now, and it hit us that Ruckus didn’t have the scalability or force of disruption needed to spread across the country like we had planned. With that epiphany, we knew we needed to change our direction, and change it fast. Hence, Hoopla.io was conceived and born in the span of two months. With Local Ruckus, our passion to help local businesses better promote their events, and consumers more easily discover local events, was always simmering on the back burner of our minds. Hoopla.io was created when our goals and mission really started to boil. And everyone knows to take action when things start to boil.” Marcus said in an interview.

Hoopla.io has already received significant validation. They’ve already partnered with Kansas City corporate giant Sprint. They’ve also acquired over $100,000 in non-dilution capital, been named “Best Young Company to Work For” by Turnstone, and they’ve also been accepted into the Digital Sandbox program.

Hoopla.io is also preparing to pitch in the semi-finals of the Miller Lite Tap The Future startup contest. The contest pits startups against each other in regional pitch offs judged by ABC Shark Tank Shark, Daymond John. Miller Lite held their first semi-finals in Phoenix Arizona on October 15th. The remaining pitch offs include Atlanta, October 22nd, Dallas Texas, October 30th, Philadelphia , November 1st and Chicago November 5th. Hoopla is pitching at the Dallas event.

Find out more about Hoopla here.

1000s Of Startups & Small Businesses Vying For Super Bowl Commercial Thanks To Intuit

Intuit, the small business leader in financial management solutions, is holding a pretty big contest for small businesses and technology startups.

The contest, which Intuit calls the Intuit Small Business Big Game, kicked off in August when all those interested in entering had to inspire the folks at Intuit and everyday people across the globe. That round narrowed nearly 100,000 entries down to just 10,000.

The remaining 10,000 companies are using their networks, social networks, friends, and families for an upvoting process. Those 10,000 companies are being dwindled down to just 20 which will be revealed on Monday, October 28th.

The next step in the Small Business Big Game Challenge will have Intuit’s 8500 employees and then a judging panel, narrow those 20 companies down to just four.

In November Intuit will reopen voting globally for the world to vote on the final four contestants in the Small Business Big Game. The company with the most votes will be chosen as the winner and receive a professionally produced television commercial to air on the national telecast of the Super Bowl in February.

The Super Bowl commercial will put the winner in front of over 100 million viewers, many who actually watch the game for the commercials. Last year’s Super Bowl fell just shy of the record for the most watched television program in history and was the third highest rated Super Bowl of all time.

You can stay up to date with Intuit’s Small Business Big Game here.

That’s not the only big thing for startups in February check this out.

15 Feature Films To Inspire Entrepreneurs

Name one awesome feature film that showcases entrepreneurship. Even if it’s not completely accurate to the hardships of the startup journey, what about that movie is a true takeaway?

1. Forrest Gump

“Although it is historical fiction, Forrest Gump is one of my favorite inspirational movies that has entrepreneurial ties. My takeaway is that everyone has challenges that they have to overcome in life, but how you respond to them is what separates the people who succeed from those who don’t. Also, it is important to persevere and take advantage of unique opportunities presented to you.”

– Lawrence Watkins | Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers

2. Twister

“I always watch Twister with a sense of awe. Yes, it’s fiction, but the idea that you believe so much in a solution to risk life and limb to get it out there is inspiring. Throughout the film, they continually test and adapt the solution until it finally works. I may not be putting my solution in front of a tornado, but it’s that level of dedication I’m striving towards.”

– Kelly Azevedo | Founder, She’s Got Systems

3. Coco Before Chanel

“This movie talks about Coco Chanel and her journey to starting her company. The true takeaway is that you never know what’s going to work in your business, and that sometimes starting with hats will lead to perfume or vice versa. Being uncompromising about your tastes will also lead to having a strong brand.”

– Nathalie Lussier | Creator, The Website Checkup Tool

4. Zoolander

“Zoolander contains the best entrepreneurship wisdom I know: “What is this? A center for ants?…The building has to be at least … three times bigger than this!” It’s a great lesson in remembering your dreams should be at least three times bigger than what you originally thought – and that they’ll be at least three times as much work!”

– Derek Flanzraich | CEO and Founder, Greatist

5. Dave

“Dave is a classic Kevin Kline movie where he stands in as the President. As the chief, he needs to lead a massive organization: he has to find his own leadership style, rally a team and make compromises on his vision. The most relevant takeaway: he’s successful specifically because he has an outside opinion. Startup success relies on being open-minded and re-examining the way things are done.”

– Aaron Schwartz | Founder and CEO, Modify Watches

6. Boiler Room

“No, I’m not encouraging or condoning anyone who commits fraud, violates SEC regulations, or acts like a sociopath. However, that does not mean there aren’t some great things for entrepreneurs in the movie. One positive takeaway from Boiler Room is Seth’s relentless hustle and scrappiness. He just crushes through problems (both good and bad) and get’s stuff done!”

– Seth Kravitz | CEO, Technori

7. Don Quixote

“From the greatest book ever written, there are lots of movie adaptations, but the 1972 version with Sophia Loren is best. What better representation of an entrepreneur than an idealist who sets out to revive some important value in the world while the world thinks he’s crazy? Through a series of entrepreneurial “adventures.” he comes to greater realizations about life, love, meaning and value.”

– Luke Burgis | Director, ActivPrayer

8. Startup.com

“A film I particularly enjoyed is called Startup.com, which chronicles the short history of the failed website govWorks.com. This site was created to provide citizens an easy way to pay traffic tickets to municipal governments, among other things. The film teaches you that you can’t launch a business based solely on an idea; you must do thorough research it to see if it’s viable and can last.”

– Andrew Schrage | Co-Owner, Money Crashers Personal Finance

9. The Shawshank Redemption

“Andy Dufrense is an entrepreneur, even if it’s not obvious: he grows a small tax preparation business inside prison walls into a library and education system into a full-fledged successful prison break. The scene that sticks with me is when Dufrense finds out that his letter writing campaign has paid off — he responds that he’s going to write even more letters, just like a good founder would.”

– Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

10. Catch Me If You Can

“Okay, so what the main character does throughout the movie isn’t exactly legal, but the entrepreneurial spirit in this movie is still very present. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the kind of man that can think up a new idea on the spot and execute it with complete confidence – a quality many entrepreneurs use every day.”

– Caitlin McCabe | Founder & CEO, Real Bullets Branding

11. Cast Away

“Tom Hanks’ character, Chuck Noland, in the movie Cast Away may have been a FedEx employee, but he’s got the heart and hustle of an entrepreneur. He didn’t have money to throw at problems while stranded on the island and had to rely on coming up with creative solutions to survive. I also appreciate that he was customer-centric to his core – saving a package to deliver after he made it home.”

– Natalie MacNeil | Emmy Award Winning Media Entrepreneur, She Takes on the World

12. The Social Network

“This list isn’t complete without The Social Network. The true takeaway of the movie is not to build things to make money, but to build things that people want. The money will come eventually.”

– Josh Weiss | Founder and President, Bluegala

13. Flash of Genius

“In this David vs. Goliath story based on true events, entrepreneur/inventor Robert Kearns spends years in courtrooms fighting the giants of the auto industry when they steal his technology for intermittent windshield wipers. It shows closely the unfair power imbalance that exists between the big companies and small entrepreneurs who sell to them. There is much to be learned from Kearns’ story.”

– Emerson Spartz | CEO and Founder, Spartz

14. Baby Boom

“Your great idea will strike in the midst of a challenge. Classic Diane Keaton, career-driven new mom in the ’80s, quits her demanding job to focus on a baby. While in the midst of her breakdown, she discovers an unserved market with a huge demand in natural baby food. The lesson to take away is that opportunities are everywhere – if you’re paying attention!”

– Jennifer Donogh | President, Ovaleye, LLC

15. Glengarry Glen Ross

NancyTNguyenavatar “”You know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes brass balls to sell real estate,” is one of the best movie quotes for entrepreneurs. It does take “brass balls” to handle critics, setbacks, and customers. Everything is sales, and this movie reminds us that “coffee is for closers” and “ABC” really means “Always be closing.” With confidence and closing, you will have a successful startup.”

– Nancy T. Nguyen | Founder/Sweet Sylist, Sweet T Salon

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

CB Insights: Silicon Valley Is The Only Relevant Market For Venture Capital

Top research firm CB Insights released some very relevant and interesting data last week. The firm has been diving into their VC data to better understand fund performance and syndicate. In what they call one of their “more polarizing” briefs, they revealed that even today Silicon Valley is the most relevant market for venture capital. Silicon Valley is still producing the most exits.

Their latest data, measuring deal flow across the country, Silicon Valley still represents 52% of VC backed exits, leaving “everywhere else” with an improved, but still less, 48%.

When purely looking at the value of exits, Silicon Valley is still far ahead of everywhere else. When CB Insights analyzed the valuation of the top 50 exits in the country Silicon Valley companies accounted for 86% to the top aggregate exit valuations of those top 50 exits. In 2012 Facebook’s IPO accounted for a tremendous chunk of the 86% but once removed Silicon Valley still accounts for 54% of the aggregate exit valuations.

New York, Southern California, Massachusetts and Illinois trail behind Silicon Valley.

There are even investors who believe that New York is a waste of time.

CB Insights reports that at a recent dinner in NY hosted by Silicon Valley firm Lowenstein Sandler one VC said “New York is an irrelevant market for us as a venture capital firm. They went on to say that from the investor’s perspective allocating his firm,s time to New York or any other market outside of Silicon Valley was a waste of time.

But there’s hope.

Late last month AOL founder Steve Case announced that his Revolution Venture Fund had raised $200 million dollars that they were specifically going to use to back companies everywhere else. Case’s big mantra is “Rise of the rest,” and that is exactly what’s going on now.

There have always been investors and startups everywhere else. One of the fundamental problems we’ve found since launching Nibletz and the Everywhere Else conferences is that entrepreneurs and investors exist everywhere. The problem lies in the fact that the entrepreneurs believe that it’s best to move to Silicon Valley or in some regards New York City to grow their company. At the same time the investors either don’t know that there are good deals in their own neighborhoods or it’s just flashier to find an investment in a larger city or participate in rounds with Silicon Valley.

Investors like Mercury Fund’s Blair Garrou, Dundee Venture Capital’s Mark Hasebroock, and Drive Capital’s Mark Kvamme all see the value in finding startups worth investing in everywhere else, thus contributing to the rise of the rest. These investors are not alone. At our recent Everywhere Else Cincinnati conference, we had over 40 investors from across the country that represented over $1 billion dollars in deals across Everywhere Else. (Note we still consider New York Everywhere Else and obviously many others do too.)

Events like Big Omaha, Big KC, UpGlobal’s startup summit, and the Everywhere Else Conference Series all unite entrepreneurs from everywhere else to continue developing their own market.

The notion that innovation only happens in Silicon Valley is quite ridiculous. Cars were invented in Detroit. Air planes were invented in North Carolina (some may dispute that). The overnight package was invented in Memphis, Tennessee. In the overall landscape of things, everywhere else far outweighs the rest of the country as far as large corporations being founded and continuing to produce.