Dave Knox And Blair Garrou Jumping In The Shark Tank At Straight Shot Demo Day

Dave Knox, Blair Garrou, Straight Shot demo day, accelerator

The first week of October is going to be huge. Of course that’s when Everywhere Else Cincinnati is happening. It will be an even bigger week for some of our speakers: Brandery co-founder Dave Knox, Dundee Venture Capital Co-Founder Mark Hasebroock, and Mercury Fund’s Blair Garrou.

In addition to speaking at Everywhere Else Cincinnati, The Brandery is graduating its summer class the following day, October 2, making it a big enough week already for Dave Knox. But in the words of Billy Mays, “But wait there’s more”.

Dundee backed accelerator, Straight Shot, is graduating its summer class on October 3rd, making it a huge week for Hasebroock as well.  All three Everywhere Else speakers are attending the Brandery demo day on October 2nd and then Straight Shot’s demo day.

Straight Shot announced on Tuesday that Garrou and Knox have both agreed to be “sharks’ in their Shark Tank style demo day.  Rather than just a straight pitch event to a room full of 400 investors, and startup supporters, the Straight Shot inaugural class will also receive feedback from Garrou and Knox. While we consider both to be very nice guys, they are straight shooters when it comes to startups and their viability.

The seven startups graduating from Straight Shot are:

BusinessExchange – a referral SaaS model that allows small businesses to make evaluations of, connections with, and recommendations for other small businesses as vendors and/or suppliers. BusinessExchange recently launched a pilot program with the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce that aims to spur economic growth and increased collaboration among Chamber member companies.

BuyNow – an e-commerce application that allows customers to instantly purchase advertised goods and services from any TV, print, online and/or out-of-home ad by simply sending an SMS text message. BuyNow has a patent pending for their ad-tech application. The founders are on the cusp of pivotal partnerships with one Fortune 500 media company and a handful of major retailers.

CardioSys – a software currently under development that uses fluid algorithms that will help health insurers, third-party administrators, and brokers to forecast preventable life events and mitigate risk among their client/customer population. CardioSys partnered with UNeMed, the technology transfer branch of the University of Nebraska Medical Center responsible for bringing intellectual property from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Cosmic Cart – an e-commerce platform that consolidates fragmented shopping carts across the web while enhancing the shopping experience for customers. Cosmic Cart allows publishers to monetize their media and retailers to sell their products across the web. Currently, more than 85 brands, six fashion bloggers and five major retailers have signed on with Cosmic Cart.

Crateful – a software that leverages advanced audio and data analytics to help music enthusiasts find the best music for their mood or the moment. Crateful’s technology analyzes each song in a customer’s database by tempo, key and rhythm structure and then allows the user to sort based on their needs. Currently, more than 60 well-known electronic music deejays are piloting Crateful.

Cympel – an e-commerce and ad-tech platform that streamlines online shopping for consumers and expedites the transaction process for brands. An attractive platform for advertisers, publishers, and customers alike, Cympel eliminates the multiple redirecting windows currently involved in the online advertising and shopping process. Cympel’s team has two campaigns underway currently and is showing a positive return-on-investment for each.

HuntForce – a software that enables hunters to become more strategic and successful in their sport by reducing the hours they currently spend sifting through and organizing the thousands of photos taken by their trail cameras. The father-son founding team has established relationships with more than a dozen professional hunters interested in using the HuntForce technology to improve their upcoming season.

For more information on Straight Shot and their demo day visit straightshot.co

See all three speakers and 27 more national startup speakers at Everywhere Else Cincinnati.

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Here Are The 48 Finalists For The 2nd Annual Silicon Prairie Awards

SPN, Silicon Prairie Awards, Dave Knox, Nebraska StartupsSilicon Prairie News is preparing for their 2nd annual Silicon Prairire Awards, celebrating the startups, entrepreneurs, and achievements across the Silicon Prairie region.

There are 48 finalists in categories including Startup of The Year, New Startup Of The Year, Innovation Of The Year, Mobile App Of The Year, Executive Of The Year, Designer Of The Year, Student Entrepreneur of The  Year, Investor Of The Year, Service Provider Of The Year, Silicon Prairie Champion, and Silcon Prairie Ambassador. The finalists will be narrowed down to 12 award winners and revealed on August 29th.

The awards ceremony will take place at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines, Iowa, with a keynote by Brandery co-founder and CMO at Rockfish (and eecincinnati.com speaker) Dave Knox.

Here are the finalists from SPN.

Startup of the Year

The startup everyone was talking about. The one that made marked progress toward solidifying its success, having an all-around banner year.

New Startup of the Year

The new kid on the block that quickly made a name for itself, and for good reason.

Innovation of the Year

This product prototype, release, or advancement made people look twice because it broke a mold, introduced a new way to solve a problem, or challenged a status quo.

Mobile App of the Year

This app featured a notable design and user interface, broke the mold for what we’d expect from a mobile app or reached a high number of downloads.

Executive of the Year

This C-level executive, president or founder led a startup to the next stage, hit milestones and overcame odds.

Technologist of the Year

This team member, freelancer, or consultant made a significant contribution toward development of a startup’s product.

Designer of the Year

This team member, freelancer, or consultant made a mark on a startup’s product by providing an amazing user experience or beautiful design.

Student Entrepreneur of the Year

This student or group of students—college undergraduate or younger—built a notable business, launched a praise-worthy app or created an impactful entrepreneurial initiative.

Investor of the Year

More than funding, this investor provided the all-around package, being a connector and champion of their portfolio startups.

Service Provider of the Year

This lawyer, accountant, marketer or other service provider made things happen for startups, simple as that.

Silicon Prairie Champion

An individual, company or organization that selflessly gave their time, resources or expertise to advance the Silicon Prairie community.

Silicon Prairie Ambassador

An individual from the region who has moved away but continues to advocate on behalf of the Silicon Prairie community.

Go vote here.

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