Humanity.TV Named Finalist In Startup America Contest INTERVIEW

Startup America teamed up with American Airlines for a huge contest. The grand prize in Flights, Camera, Action is a prize package which includes 80 round trip flights. Of course for any startup or entrepreneur this would be a great prize. Most startups need flights to get to important conferences or investor meetings. Humanity.TV, a New York startup, has something else in mind.

Humanity.TV is a technology startup that’s using technology, specifically video, to travel around the country and around the world and show the human side of life in the 21st century. They take a brief look into the lives of fascinating people. Obviously that seems like a daunting task.

“Our messaging and overarching goal is authenticity. We try to find people that have intriguing lifestyles and live passionately, regardless of their popularity or fame. Ultimately, we want to inspire people to visit countries around the world and get off the beaten tourist path to encounter unique experiences with people that will have long-lasting impacts on them.” Humanity.tv co-founder Gaston Blanchet told nibletz.com in an interview.

Humanity.tv strives to capture the lives of fascinating people in obtrusive ways, for a more natural look at the world we live in today.

Of course with a startup like this the lack of capital to travel is definitely a hardship (we know about that first hand). They’re hoping that if they win the Startup America/American Airlines Flights, Camera, Action contest, they can use the flights to continue working on their story telling video platform.

The contest kicked off in July with a video from Startup America CEO Scott Case. The contesting period went through August 20th and the finalists were announced earlier this week.

We got a chance to interview Blanchet their startup as well as the contest and the Startup America partnership. Check out the interview below:

Startup North Carolina Launches As Startup America Region

Startup North Carolina, the official region for the Startup America Partnership launched last night with not one but two packed parties. Raleigh startups, founders and entrepreneurs celebrated the launch at the RTP foundation headquarters. Brooks Bell, Founder and CEO of Brooks Bell; Aaron Chatterji, Associate Professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Derek Holt, Startup America’s Managing Director of National Partnerships were all on hand for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill Event.

Meanwhile down in Charlotte, Donna Harris, Managing Director of Startup Regions with Startup America and Louis Freeman, CEO of Edition Nation, led the festivities at that event. Startup America will be back in Charlotte in less than two weeks when the Democratic National Convention takes place the week of September 3rd. Startup America is partnering with Startup Rockon for startup focused events a both party conventions.

“North Carolina has an incredible history of innovation that has led it from being an agrarian leader to a hub of scientific and technological leadership,” said Scott Case, CEO of the Startup America Partnership. “Startup NC will be a catalyst to garner even more recognition for North Carolina’s world class entrepreneurs and startups.”

Startup America reported on Monday that over 350 people had registered for both events. According to the latest data from Startup America, even before North Carolina got their own Startup America region there were 202 members from North Carolina in Startup America.

Startup North Carolina launched with community involvement tied in. They opened up this website prior to the launch parties to vote on suggested ideas for a roadmap for the partnership.

Mital Patel, the Triangle Startup Weekend founder spearheaded the efforts in the Triangle while Adam Hill of Packard Place was tasked with firing up the Charlotte region.

Startup North Carolina plans to be a very active region for the Startup America Partnership.

Joining Startup America is free and the partnership offers members access to tens of thousands of dollars in benefits and services from their business partners like; Dell, American Airlines, .co and many more.

Linkage:

Join Startup America here

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Startup America Forms Partnership With CapLinked: Gives Members Access To Fundraising Tools

The Startup America Partnership has announced another new partnership to offer exciting new benefits to members.

Startup America’s latest partner is CapLinked a company that offers fundraising management tools. To date CapLinked has help raise over $37 billion dollars for over 135,000 users.

This is the latest partnership announcement for CapLinked which is committed to helping startups in America. They recently announced benefits to those startups being accelerated by TechStars, Science and Dave McLure’s 500 startups. CapLinked will now give the over 8,900 members (and growing daily) of the Startup America Partnership.

Joining Startup America is free and the benefits are plentiful. Startup America offers their members hundreds of thousands of dollars in perks and discounts all available via a members membership management dashboard located at S.co Startup America’s website.

CapLinked’s platform includes private workspaces where entrepreneurs and investors can share fundraising documents and manage other transactions, as well as a network tools for connecting the two groups can meet. Now startups who are enrolled in Startup America will now get access to the company’s premium features, says CEO Eric Jackson. Those tools include workspace activity reports, multiple workspace administrators, the ability to create additional workspaces, plus more tools for networking with investors.

CapLinked joins the ranks of Dell, Microsoft, American Airlines, LegalZoom, .CO and many other companies offering useful benefits to Startup America members.

Linkage

Signup for Startup America here, it’s FREEStartup America here are more Startup America stories

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Atlanta Startups Get More Resources In Startup Atlanta Organization

On Tuesday, the city of Atlanta Georgia’s economic development agency, Invest Atlanta, will announce a new startup resource for Atlanta’s growing entrepreneur and startup eco-system. The new startup program, designed to promote and increase entrepreneurship is called “Startup Atlanta”.

Startup Atlanta itself is not part of the Startup America Partnership, however a spokesperson from Startup America’s headquarters in Washington DC told nibletz on Friday that many of the same people involved with Startup Atlanta are also involved with the soon to launch StartupGA partnership region.

One of the backbones to the new Startup Atlanta initiative will be a website with an interactive platform that maps out the startup resources in the region including incubators, co-working spaces, accelerators and other valuable resources. The idea behind the site is to connect entrepreneurs and startups with the resources that they need as well as each other.

Atlanta has had some great startup news in recent weeks. Over 1300 entrepreneurs, founders, startups and venture capitalists poured into the Sweet Watery Brewery for a TechCrunch meet up.

Not less than a week later Atlanta startup Bad.gy announced a $600,000 round of funding led by Dallas Maverick’s owner and ABC Shark Tank Shark, Mark Cuban. Just yesterday Atlanta played host to the Art Of Launch, an event that saw 13 area startups compete in a 5 minute pitch contest for thousands of dollars in cash and prizes.

Startup Atlanta has attracted the attention of local dignitaries including Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Director of the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office Dave Kappos and Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson. All of whom will be on hand for the Tuesday announcement.

Linkage:

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here are more startup stories from Atlanta

Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle

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Startup America Partnership Regions To Send 8 Startups To Demo

The Startup America partnership and their 26 regional partnerships have announced a contest to send 8 lucky, and good, startups to the DEMO conference in Santa Clara CA this fall. All 8 winning startups will receive free travel and free entry into the conference, which as one of the premiere startup events in the country, is a pretty expensive ticket.

Four of the Startups will receive showcase space in the DEMO pavilions the other four Startups will get to pitch on the DEMO main stage. Companies that have become household names like E*Trade and TiVO have presented on the DEMO main stage. Even our good friends at Rawporter have experienced the DEMO stage.

Startup evangelist, and our good friend Nick Tippmann provided some of the official video coverage at DEMO’s spring event this year.

“We’re incredibly excited to collaborate with DEMO and our regions to send startups to launch at this renowned event,” said Scott Case, CEO, Startup America Partnership. “You only need to look at a list of DEMO alumni to see what a game-changer it is for any startup focused on growth.”

“The Startup America Regional contest will allow incredible companies that may not have had DEMO on their radar to compete with the most plugged-in Silicon Valley startups out there,” said Neal Silverman, EVP and general manager at DEMO. “We can’t wait to review the submissions from startups headquartered in places like Tennessee, Texas and Iowa, all of which have robust startup ecosystems that people may not be aware of.”

The contest is only open to registered Startup America members. At DEMO Spring 2012, Startup America members TourWrist, ZBoard, and Jumala all won DEMO God Awards, with TourWrist winning the grand prize: the People’s Choice Award.

“TourWrist’s DEMO experience really highlights the best of our progressive, supportive society,” said Charles Armstrong, founder and CEO of TourWrist. “From a DEMO presenting scholarship and support from Startup America to the audience–bestowed People’s Choice honor and IDG’s $1M media award, our humble startup has been given an incredible chance at success. All startups out there thinking about launching at DEMO should enter this contest immediately!”

Linkage:

To sign up for the contest click here

To enter you need to be a member of Startup America

Nibletz is the voice of Startups “everywhere else”

Huge Startup America, American Airlines Contest Ends Friday

The Startup America Partnership is working with American Airlines to bring startups across the country one of the biggest contests to date: “Flights. Camera. Action.” The grand prizewinner is announced at (and hooked up with tickets to) Inc. 500/5000, and receives 80 round trip flights, print and film features in the in-flight magazine and video, and more. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity ending this Friday!

Are you a Startup America member? If not you can join here for free and regardless if you win the contest or not American Airlines is always offering Startup America some unheard of great discounts because they know how hard it can be to grow a startup and small business.

The contest, which ends August 10, 2012 has opportunities for you to win several prize packs with multiple flights. All you have to do to enter is submit a 60 second video here telling how a travel connection has helped your business. You wanted to be animated, fun, happy and tell a great story all in 60 seconds or less. The first 400 people who submit a video will receive 300 American Airlines Business ExtrAA bonus points. You can use these points for accumulation but its the equivalent of a one day pass for the Admirals Club which can come in handy on a layover.

This contest is perfect for startups: the quick and creative submission process allows entrepreneurs to tell a compelling story, and the prizes are enough to kick any business into high gear.

The contest is easy. In just 60-seconds, tell American Airlines how air travel helped you make literal or figurative connections.

What’s your travel connection story? Tell American Airlines and win big!

“The American economy is driven by startups – young, high-growth companies that are the number one job creators,” Scott Case, CEO, Startup America Partnership told nibletz.com. “Travel is a critical component to these companies. American Airlines’ “Flights.Camera.Action.” contest highlights the amazing startups around the country and provides them with a unique opportunity to grow faster.”

Click here for all the details.

Don’t let this amazing opportunity pass you by. The contest ends this Friday, August 10, so submit your video today!

Linkage:

Join the Startup America Partnership here, it’s FREE!

Here’s the contest page

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North Carolina Is So Bad Ass They’re Having Two Startup North Carolina Launch Parties August 20th

North Carolina is a great state with three thriving areas for startups, business and commerce as a whole. They are “The Triangle” in Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, “The Triad” Greensboro/Winston Salem/High Point and Charlotte “The Queen City”. The Triangle has a thriving startup community anchored by their biotech corridor and Research Park. The Triad is an area built on old money and Tobacco and has seen a recent up-tick in startups and entrepreneurship. Charlotte is booming thanks to mainstays like Bank Of America and Wells Fargo (previously Wachovia). Charlotte has great startups, like our friends at RawPorter.

So if you’ve been wondering, like I have, what’s taking them so long to sync up with Startup America, well that wait is over.

Startup North Carolina, the Startup America Partnership region for NC, will officially fire up on August 20th with not one but two launch parties. The Triangle region will be spearheaded by Triangle Startup Weekend’s founder Mital Patel. Patel was actually referred to Startup America by ExitEvent’s Joe Procipio. Procipio had been interested in developing the Startup North Carolina region but timing constraints made it impossible to give as much as he wanted to. Procipio explains how he helped lay the groundwork for Startup North Carolin and for Patel in this blog post.

The Charlotte are will kick off on August 20th with their own launch party. That area will be led by Adam Hill of Packard Place.

According to Procipio, both Hill and Patel will run the Startup North Carolina region similar to the way Startup DC is run.

Startup America lets each regional partnership run itself and each partnership gets out of it what they put into it. Startup North Carolina will take an approach much like Ignite and Startup Weekend. We’re sure that it will be a very active regional partnership. In fact Procipio reports that Patel is already setting up a Uservoice automated system so that participants from across the state can help vote for things that Startup North Carolina will focus on.

While we’re sure that their will be some competition between both sides of the chapter (by design most likely) together they will solidify North Carolina’s position in the startup eco-system in the US. As they say when the tide rises, all the ships sale.

Startup America offers great benefits to their member base across the country. They focus on growth potential startups that will eventually lead to more job creation, commerce and a positive contribution to the American economy. Did we mention it’s free to join?

Linkage:

Check out Procipio’s post here

Here’s a link to Startup America

Did you know Startup America and American Airlines are holding a contest for 80 free flights?

Did you know we’re on a nationwide, sneaker-strapped startup road trip?

StartuPalooza Headed To Louisville KY September 18th

If you’re in Louisville Kentucky and ready to get your startup on than the Startup America Partnership in conjunction with Startup Kentucky has an event for you. StartuPALOOZA is headed to Louisville Kentucky on September 18th from 5:30pm-8:00pm at the Ice House (226 E. Washington Street, Louisville KY),

The event will feature a cash bar and free appetizers.

The event will feature an exhibition of the up and coming startups in the Louisville region. We know first hand their are some great startups in Louisville. Also, Startup Kentucky is one of the more active Startup America regions in the country, in fact you should follow them on Twitter here.

If you’re a Louisville area startup and interested in showing off in the StartuPALOOZA startup fairground than you need to apply here.

The event is sponsored by by IdeaFestival, the statewide Innovation Network, the Office of Commercialization and Innovation, the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and Startup Kentucky, a Startup America region.

Linkage:

Startup America & American Airlines Announce Huge Contest

Let’s face it, traveling is an integral part of the startup process. Whether you’re a startup in Silicon Valley or a startup “everywhere else” you need to travel to get to pitch events, conferences, industry events, sxsw and of course the almighty fund raising. The problem is when you’re on a sneaker-strapped budget, like we are on our “sneaker strapped nationwide startup road trip”, flying coach on Spirit airlines is a luxury that we often can’t afford.

Never fear the great folks at the Startup America partnership alongside American Airlines have announced the second annual Flights, Camera Action contest.

The contest, which started today and runs through August 10, 2012 has opportunities for you to win several prize packs with multiple flights. All you have to do to enter is submit a 60 second video here telling how a travel connection has helped your business. You wanted to be animated, fun, happy and tell a great story all in 60 seconds or less. The first 400 people who submit a video will receive 300 American Airlines Business ExtrAA bonus points. You can use these points for accumulation but its the equivalent of a one day pass for the Admirals Club which can come in handy on a layover.

The top 9 videos from each of three contest categories will be put up on a contest page for public voting from August 28- September 14th. Every one of these 27 entries will receive 10,000 American Airlines Business ExtrAA bonus points, which are good for up to 5 round trip Plan Ahead economy class tickets. (Heck we’ll take that).

The top three videos from each category, after the public vote, will earn 20,000 Business ExtrAA bonus points for up to 10 domestic round-trip Plan AAhead® award Economy Class tickets, and two complimentary admission tickets to the Inc. 500|5000 Conference & Awards Ceremony in Phoenix, where the Grand Prize Winner will be announced.

The First Place Winners from each category, as selected by a panel of judges – for a total of three winners – will receive an additional 30,000 Business ExtrAA points for a total of 60,000 Business ExtrAA points (the equivalent of 30 domestic round-trip Plan AAhead® award Economy Class tickets). They will also receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Inc. 500|5000 Conference & Awards Ceremony, including exclusive networking opportunities with iconic startup leaders and various entrepreneurs, and an Admirals Club annual membership for up to two employees.

The Grand Prize winner will receive an additional 100,000 Business ExtrAA points – equivalent to 50 round-trip Economy Class tickets, AAdvantage® Gold status for up to two employees for one year and exposure in a variety of American Airlines media channels including an inflight video and a feature in the American Way magazine.

What are you still reading for, go sign up for Startup America and enter the contest.

Linkage:

Join Startup America here

Here’s the contest page

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Follow Friday: The Startup America Partnership

Here at nibletz.com as the voice of startups “everywhere else” we are very proud and active members in the Startup America partnership. The organization was set up under the Obama administration and is spearheaded by Chairman Steve Case the founder of America Online and Revolution along with CEO Scott Case (no relation) who was the founding CTO of Priceline.com

In addition to setting up networks, and events, the Startup America partnership provides tons of resources to forward thinking startup founders who’s ultimate goal is to contribute to the fabric of America by adding more companies and more jobs across the country.

Each of Startup America’s regional partners holds their own events and the organization itself sponsors national events, webinars, conferences and meet ups. In fact Startup America is partnering with Startup Rockon for events at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions later this summer to promote startups and entrepreneurship.

As for benefits, there are literally thousands of dollars in benefits available to Startup America members, and joining Startup America is absolutely free with no strings attached. Everything from free books, discounted books, to legal services and even airline tickets from American Airlines are offered at deep discounts exclusively for Startup America members.

We wanted to start something up for Follow Friday. As someone who speaks on the ins and outs of Twitter regularly, traditional #FF follow Friday is really not that effective, so we’ll feature startups, entrepreneurs, startup founders and startup resources every Friday. To kick that feature off here is the complete list of Startup America regions to follow on Twitter.

Startup America
Startup California
Startup New Hampshire
Startup Virginia
Startup Colorado
Startup Connecticut
Startup Florida
Startup Hawaii
Startup Illinois
Startup Iowa
Startup Kentucky
Startup Kansas
Startup Massachusetts
Startup Maryland
Startup Michigan
Startup Missouri
Startup Montana
Startup Nebraska
Startup Rhode Island
Startup Texas
Startup Tennessee
Startup Vermont
Startup Washington
Startup Puerto Rico
Startup DC
Startup Indiana

Linkage:

Join the Startup America partnership here, it’s free

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” more stories from “everywhere else” here

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Puerto Rico Joins the Startup America Partnership

Startup America added their 26th regional partnership on Tuesday with Puerto Rico. Startup Puerto Rico kicked off in true Startup America fashion with a networking party for entrepreneurs across the island held at Universidad Interamericana, Recinto Metropolitano in San Juan.

“Puerto Ricans want to develop their own country on their own terms,” said Startup Puerto Rico representative Richard Vazquez. “Startup America encourages Puerto Ricans to develop the country by creating more jobs and kick-starting our local economy.”

The partnership between Startup Puerto Rico and Startup America will give entrepreneurs and startups on the island access to the same benefits that Startup America members have on the mainland. In addition, Startup America membership is free, and you didn’t have to attend the launch event to sign up, you can simply click the link below.

Startup America offers free educational webinars, free benefits from partners including indiegogo, American Express, Intuit and plenty of others. The member portal on the Startup America website shows every member what the current benefits are.

They also regularly hold contests which have included a trip to attend the Super Bowl with Startup America CEO Scott Case and a trip to the Kentucky Derby.

Startup America is chaired by AOL co-founer Steve Case (no relation to Scott Case) and with Puerto Rico, now has 26 regional partnerships.

Linkage:

Startup Puerto Rico

Startup America

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Startup America Welcomes Startup Montana To The Party

Last week Startup Montana joined the Startup America partnership. Now entrepreneurs and startups in Montana can get the same great benefits that over 7900 startup members of Startup America enjoy.

The Startup Montana partnership was launched at “Montana Innovation and Entrepreneurship Day” on June 21st. The event was held at the University of Montana Gallagher Business Building in Missoula Montana.

Startup Montana will pull together entrepreneurs of all types from across the state who have firsthand knowledge of the challenges that Montana startups face, bring attention to these challenges, and connect entrepreneurs to private and public support organizations to help address startup challenges. Startup Montana has been connecting with Montana startups and has already amassed a number of resource providers to support entrepreneurs. “Montana has significantly accelerated it’s entrepreneurial efforts, and I am very excited to see all of the amazing young companies in the state gain access to resources that will help them succeed. I encourage all startups in the state to join today,” said Scott Case, CEO of the Startup America Partnership.

The Startup America Partnership is a nationwide movement focused on providing startups access to corporations, investors, and services that help startup companies grow. Through Startup America Partnership’s national network, Montana’s entrepreneurs will gain access to business resources throughout the state and across country that will enable them to grow faster, be more competitive, and create more jobs.

Startup Montana will hold events and provide valuable resources to entrepreneurs and those looking to launch startups in the state of Montana. The Startup Montana partnership is led by Bob Clay.

Linkage:

Are you a Montana Startup, join Startup Montana here

Here’s the Startup America Website

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Colorado: Springs Startup Re-Brands And Joins Startup America Partnership

Springs Startup which was formed in November 2011 to help support Startups in the flourishing startup hub of Colorado Springs, has announced a name change. Springs Startup has rebranded themselves as Startup Colorado Springs and officially joined the Startup America Partnership.

Startup America, which is chaired by AOL co-founder Steve Case, supports startups across America through over 25 regional partnerships. Startup America continues to grow, each moth adding more and more cities to the network. Scott Case, founding CTO of Priceline.com, (and no relation to Steve Case) serves as Startup America CEO and is often the frontman across the country at launch events for new partners.

Jan Horsfall, who serves as co-founder Startup Colorado Springs looks forward to joining forces with Startup Colorado and the nationwide partnership Startup America. They held an event tonight in Colorado Springs to announce the name change and the partnership.

“Since our inception, our goal of supporting entrepreneurs as a group of entrepreneurs ourselves has never changed,” noted Jan Horsfall, co-chairman of Startup Colorado Springs and a co-founder of Startup Colorado® – the statewide initiative tied back in with Startup America. “We saw what was being accomplished at the hub – Startup America – and we saw what was happening at the state level with Startup Colorado, and it just made infinite sense to pull this hub-and-spoke thinking all the way down through our growing entrepreneurial scene in Colorado Springs. We have more air cover for our startup community than ever before and Startup Colorado Springs simply supports it wherever we see it.”

Nick Lee, another co-founder of Startup Colorado Springs added:

“Each stage of Startup America provides different assets to entrepreneurs depending on the new company’s needs. Startup America is all about providing the platform for us to understand how we can organically create more entrepreneurial assistance through shared learning and programs. Startup Colorado is all about identifying the resources up and down the Front Range that entrepreneurs can utilize within a state setting. To us, Startup Colorado Springs is about providing the local, personal connectivity and assistance – through entrepreneurs and not through government programs – to our startup community.”

Linkage:

For more on Startup Colorado Springs visit their website here

For more information on Startup America visit their website here

Nibletz is a proud member of Startup America, and the voice of Startups “everywhere else”

Startup America Partners With Startup RockOn For DNC RNC Events

Startup America and Startup RockOn have announced that they are partnering for some very exciting events this year.

Startup RockOn is a collaborative effort of fast growing Startups, Event Farm, HyperVocal, and Fighter Interactive. Together they are putting together mini festival style events at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on September 3, 2012 in Charlotte North Carolina and the Republican National Convention (RNC) August 27th in Tampa Bay.

The events will highlight America’s thriving startup culture, have interactive displays and sessions and feature musical performances, including the group The Roots who have agreed to headline the events.

Startup America CEO, Scott Case, stated, “As the RNC and DNC capture the attention of the country, it’s imperative to highlight the importance of startups to our national economy, and we’re incredibly excited to partner with EventFarm, HyperVocal and FIGHTER Interactive — three hard-working startups themselves — to do just that.”

The StartUp RockOn leadership team stated, “From a garage band to culture-shifting software, from next-generation media companies to 21st century energy solutions, the greatest American success stories start (and will start) through ingenuity, creativity, hard work and perseverance. StartUp RockOn honors the entrepreneurs of America’s bright future.”

Startup America is now 23 regional partnerships strong and has already hosted or partnered for a bunch of great events including a Startup America event at the Hilton in Austin during South by Southwest Interactive.

This new partnership will spur even more interest in Startups, entrepreneurism and technology in the United States, regardless of political affiliation.

Linkage: