LA-Based MemberPlanet Simplifies Group Management

In his time as a volunteer, Rob Hammond noticed something:

It’s a big pain to lead a group.

Group leaders are expected to use a variety of tools to get the job done. There’s one product for email lists, another for invitations, and a third for collecting payment. Only the most tech savvy (and bored) group leader could keep up with it all.

So, he founded MemberPlanet, an online platform that organizes all the group management tasks in one place. Interestingly, the company credits Facebook with their success. Before Facebook, people were used to having their group memberships scattered everywhere. After Facebook, it was normal to have all of our connections in one place.

That new normal, according to MemberPlanet, paved the way for their success.

Our Q&A with CEO Rob Hammond is below:

What is your startup called?

MemberPlanet. Everyone on the planet is a member of one or more groups, so we felt MemberPlanet was the perfect fit.

What is the product story? Where did the idea come from?

The inspiration for MemberPlanet was gradual and built over several years as both a volunteer and technology entrepreneur. As a volunteer, I was continually asked how we could use technology to assist various groups. The best available tools only provided a single feature, and thus multiple accounts across the web were needed. This was fine for someone who was tech-savvy and had a lot of free time; however I knew there had to be a better way to involve more group leaders and be more productive.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds? The founders are Rob Hammond and Binu Thekinedath. Rob is CEO and also founded GreekBill.com, an online financial tools and communication platform for universities and fraternal organizations. Greekbill is now used by organizations at over 400 universities. Our CTO Binu was the Senior Director of Information Technology at CB Richard Ellis Investors. There he developed deep experience in building innovative new products, large-scale systems and strategic platforms.

What problem do you solve?

MemberPlanet makes the tasks associated with managing a group and communicating with its members simple. We have created a functional network that solves the problem of group leaders having to use multiple online tools all over the web that do not work well together. MemberPlanet becomes the single place group leaders go to manage their groups and communicate with their members. At the same time members now have a single place where they can stay connected with their groups, update their information, pay membership dues and buy tickets to the next group event. MemberPlanet becomes a replacement for groups currently using Constant Contact, Survey Monkey, PayPal, Eventbrite, Shutterfly, Google Docs and other online tools groups often use.

Why now?

Social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have connected people in ways we never thought possible at a social level. While all of these people have been connected and see the power of a social network, they cannot perform most of the tasks that are critical to running a group on these networks. MemberPlanet’s functional network is the perfect complement for any sized group’s social network.

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

We have celebrated a number of milestones over the past year. Some of the more exciting were crossing the 1 Million user threshold, bringing on our 4000^th group and passing 5M in payments processed.

What are your next milestones?

We are launching our new app that is built for groups and essentially provides every group with their own group branded app for all of their members. In addition we are launching an enhanced events and ticketing module that our early adopters have been very excited about.

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

www.memberplanet.com

California Startup Launches Platform For Substance Abuse & Eating Disorder Providers

Substance abuse and eating disorders are two very important issues that aren’t discussed much here at Nibletz. But with the explosion of startups across the country, Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Michael Sigal wanted to attack those issues.

Bookyourcare.com is an online marketplace to find care provider from the comfort and privacy of your own home. They concentrate their service providers in areas of substance abuse, eating disorders, and other more sensitive health, medical, and mental health areas. Bookyourcare.com didn’t just use a directory API because Sigal thinks transparency and safety are two very important areas when it comes to health-related issues like these. That’s why they are curating all of their service providers in person to help build better profiles and ratings and make the end user experience easy for those looking for these types of services. Often times when seeking out treatment for substance abuse issues and eating disorders, emotions are running on high. That’s why it was important to make Bookyourcare.com as easy to use as possible and at the same time, as robust and knowledge filled as possible.

We got a chance to interview Sigal, check out the interview below:

What is your startup called?

My company is called BookYourCare.com. I wanted a name that precisely represented the service we’re providing to the consumer.

What does your company do?

BookYourCare is the first digital marketplace in the United States for healthcare. Our specific focus is on the huge and largely unregulated substance abuse and eating disorder treatment industry.

To accomplish this we’re bringing together the free market, transparency and consumerism to healthcare services.

We physically visit treatment facilities and execute a rigorous evaluation and analysis of what is provided and then share that unbiased information with our audience. Information is power and our goal is to supply the facts so people can make better informed choices in regards to a potentially life-saving decision and avoid questionable or unscrupulous facilities.

We’ve also included an online bidding and auction program to help keep costs down which works much the same way as someone bidding on a stay at the Four Seasons or an eBay auction.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds

I, Michael Sigal, founded BookYourCare.com following my serving as the Senior Vice President of TMP Worldwide which was then the parent company of Monster.com. I have three partners with professional backgrounds in substance abuse, health and security industries.

Where are you based?

BookYourCare.com is based on Torrance, California.

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

Los Angeles has always been known as a town where big dreams come true. There is an active community here for entrepreneurs to seek advice and workshop ideas. But given the nature of online startups I think it’s more about where you choose to live than it is about proximity to new audiences. That said, Los Angeles County has the highest percentage of treatment facilities in the nation so our work does have a “local” component.

What problem do you solve?

To date, people seeking substance abuse or eating disorder treatment had two avenues to explore in their research. They could search online where they were met by the marketing claims of the facilities themselves, sometimes untrue, or they could rely on word of mouth. Considering that in 2014 the industry is expecting to see $34 Billion in revenue I found it shocking that unbiased information was not made available, particularly to people who are typically in a highly emotional state and prone to the “hard sell” when they talk to the “closers” at many of these facilities.

The other component of BookYourCare is to help keep costs down for the consumer while also helping facilities increase occupancy. We’ve done this by implementing an online bidding and auction service. This allows consumers to set their own price and facilities to either accept or decline that price. Beyond the cost, patients also benefit as it’s been shown that more active group programs help with recovery. And because the traffic flow in treatment centers often comes in waves, should a facility find itself with a bed or two open it’s in their best interest to accept a reasonable bid.

Why now?

Substance abuse and eating disorders are skyrocketing yet as a country we seem to take an “Out of sight, Out of mind” approach to recovery. The treatment industry has seen revenue jumps of 55% since just 2005 and with the Affordable Care Act folding in substance abuse and mental health treatments we know the demand will increase. Our role is to meld the free market, transparency and consumerism and apply that to healthcare services. Our goal is to help people find wellness.

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

We knew going in that what we are tackling was a time-consuming process. Physically visiting facilities and analyzing them in the way we do, which includes everything from programs offered and staff experience to facility security, past business records, licenses and more, this meant we couldn’t just flip a switch. We beta-launched to California consumers about 3 months ago with analysis provided on roughly 50 facilities. During this period we are testing functionality of the website as well as marketing and making adjustments before going to full launch. Our team is constantly analyzing new facilities with the goal of expanding our reach nationwide.

What are your next milestones?

The response of the treatment community has been overwhelmingly positive as has the response from consumers who recognize that we’re acting as an advocate for them. Our next step is the successful completion of our California beta at which time we’ll begin our national rollout. We’re confident this is a milestone we’ll reach.

Where can people find out more?

Website: http://www.bookyourcare.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BookYourCare

Twitter: @BookYourCare

500 Startups Alum, Spinnakr talks about the importance of building a foundation at home.

Memphis Grizzlies Star Rudy Gay Featured In Los Angeles Startup MyStorey

Rudy Gay, Memphis Grizzlies, myStorey, LA Startup,California startup,startup

Memphis Grizzlies star forward Rudy Gay will be featured in myStorey (photo: nibletz LLC)

A new startup in Los Angeles called MyStorey is set to debut with some celebrity heavyweights in the mix, including Memphis Grizzlies star forward Rudy Gay.

myStorey is a we-commerce platform where users build online stores through the stories of their lives. They allow people the unique opportunity to tag the things in their personal photos from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, or their blog and aggregate those tags into a shoppable store so that others can discover and shop them too. Celebrities, bloggers, brands, and even everyday people have found immense value in myStorey’s ability to transform their digital content into shopping opportunities.

myStorey worked with Rudy Gay’s social team to leverage his social media content and use it to highlight the products from his everyday life. myStorey will highlight some of the clothing and accessories that Gay wears in everyday life along with some of the luxury items that help bring his swag like his Audermars Piguet watch.

Anyone can use myStorey, whether you’re the average Joe or a trendsetter, myStorey lets you highlight the things you wear everyday and then helps people discover those items and purchase them.

Other celebrities participating at launch include:

US Open Surf Champion Lakey Peterson
Fitness guru Chalene Johnson
Jacksonville Jaguars Quarterback Jordan Palmer
Miami Marlin’s player Bryan Petersen
Miami Marlin’s player Logan Morrison
Beauty Biz CEO and expert Sumita Batra
HoneynSilk.com fashion blogger Stephanie Liu
Beachmint’s Social Media Coordinator Vaneza Pitynski

myStorey seems like a very innovative platform, and with the star power they’ve recruited in the beginning they should be in good shape for a successful launch. We got a chance to talk with the team behind myStorey, check out the interview below.

Manage All Your Bookmarks, Logins & Passwords With LA Startup MySocialCloud

Over the years browsers have become much more intuitive. All of the commercially used browsers have a keychain feature which allows you to save your logins and passwords, and even pre-populates them for you when you visit websites frequently. The problem with this current password storage method is it’s a cinch for anyone who gets access to your computer to view all of your passwords. In fact, one of the only real negatives I have with Mac’s is that they keep a similarly unsecure key chain on your hard drive as well.

There are a few startups out there that are tackling this problem with various password vaults. Most of these options keep your passwords in one spot and you need to remember the password to your vault and then look up the password by service.

Los Angeles startup MyScocialCloud is looking to streamline this process for you by storing your logins in the cloud. They make your passwords easily accessible by a browser plugin or bookmarklet. The best part is that they also keep your bookmarks organized as well. You don’t have to go searching through a password vault to find the password. MySocialCloud gives you the simplicity of a browser side or hard drive based keychain, but in the cloud, and more secure.

We got a chance to talk with Stacey Ferreira, the founder of MySocialCloud about her startup. Check out the interview below:

Going On A Cruise? Make Sure You Bring Along UCLA Startup Ship Mate

Ship Mate, a startup incubated at UCLA’s startup incubator program, wants to be your cruise companion. Over half a million people have already downloaded the app that gives you all the information that you need to know before, during and after your cruise.

Jan and Mike Jirout, the two brothers behind Ship Mate have stocked their app to the hilt. It’s literally a one stop mobile destination for everything involving a cruise.

They’ve found that most users are downloading the app about a month before their cruise sets sail. In the pre cruise period Ship Mate is great for checking out rendezvous points and finding activities to participate in while on the cruise. You can also plan out your dining and see in advance ship maps and other resources that you didn’t even think of.

When it’s time to board your cruise ship Ship Mate has ship maps, ship information and even access to deck cams so you can see the action going on around you. There’s also photo galleries and social aspects like cruise chat that will allow you to chat with other users on and off your ship.

The Ship Mate app doesn’t stop after the cruise stops though. You can add more photos to the photo galleries, rate your cruise experience, rate locations and continue chatting about your cruise with others who have gone on cruises. People seem to love Ship Mate as they’ve already done over half a billion cross platform downloads and they’re seeing over 70,000 daily users.

We got a chance to talk with Mike Jirout about Ship Mate, check out the interview below:

Los Angeles Startup: Swagsy Turns The Swag Bag Into A Flash Sale Platform INTERVIEW

We’ve reported on a handful of good Los Angeles area startups that are leveraging the celebrity power in Los Angeles for their companies.

LA startup 12 Society is spearheaded by rapper Nas (Nasir Jones) and he’s called on many of his influential friends from the hip hop, music, sports and celebrity communities to launch a “birch box” subscription startup with gadgets, toys and cool tech stuff. The monthly subscription box is curated by the stars and quickly had everyone in Los Angeles talking.

We’ve also reported on MoonShark a mobile gaming startup that was built as a partnership between the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Qualcomm. MoonShark leverages CAA’s roster of A-List celebrities to endorse, and build mobile gaming products with and around. Their latest project, Verticus is a collaboration between them and comic book icon Stan Lee.

Today we’re talking with Los Angeles startup Swagsy. This is a new online shopping and flash sales platform where the items that they are selling have been curated by a panel of “influential tastemakers”. Swagsy Co-Founder Grant Cohen, likens Swagsy to a flash sales site for things you would often times find in swag bags at A-list events. That’s also where the idea came from, as well as the name.

Swagsy’s curators recommend the type items from the top brands. From there Swagsy negotiates flash sale offers with the brands and manufacturers themselves, then their A-list tastemakers take to social media to help promote the brand, the item and the website.

No startup has tried to use celebrity power to back a flash sales model so far.

We got a chance to talk to Cohen in the interview below.

Los Angeles Startup: Stan Lee Partners With Moon Shark For Mobile Games Startup

(photo uproxx.com)

Legendary comic book artist and creator Stan Lee has partnered with Moonshark for a new mobile gaming startup. We covered the launch of MoonShark in June, the joint venture startup between the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Qualcomm. When MoonShark launched, they announced that they would draw from the long list of CAA clients to collaborate on mobile startups. This venture with Stan Lee is one of those collaborations.

The CAA roster includes hundreds of the most well known celebrities. At launch, MoonShark is working with movie star and recording artist Jennifer Lopez. MoonShark has released their first game, Dance Pad, in a partnership with Lopez. The game is a finger dancing game reminiscent of dance dance revolution, except instead of using your feet and other body parts, players use their fingers to tap to the music. The game packs over 100 levels featuring a soundtrack with over 30 top artists.

“Moonshark was formed to connect uniquely talented artists with the best independent mobile developers to bring amazing ideas to life as mobile games,” said Matt Kozlov, CEO of Moonshark. “Our mission is to keep the Moonshark pipeline full of creative, addictive titles and give talent the means to share their creativity with fans on cutting edge mobile platforms.”

Lee’s Pow! Entertainment is teaming up with MoonShark to create a new mobile action/adventure game called Verticus. Mobile continues to attract more and more celebrities and entertainers. According to VentureBeat, mobile could be the largest position in the entertainment market.

“Working closely with Moonshark to build characters and storylines for a mobile game has been a new and uniquely satisfying experience for me,” said Stan Lee, the founder, chairman and chief creative officer at Pow Entertainment. “Making Verticus is a new way for me to connect with my fans and reach a whole new group of people through their mobile devices.”

“For us, there is no one more legendary than Stan Lee,” said Matt Kozlov, the chief executive officer of Moonshark, in an interview with GamesBeat. “This is a man beloved by multiple generations, and he has created … I don’t know whether Walt Disney counts … probably the most successful characters of all time. It’s kind of insane.”

Verticus is just the beginning for Lee’s collaboration with MoonShark. They may do a sequel to Verticus or adapt other Stan Lee characters for future games.

Check out the trailer video below:

Linkage:

Startup Weekend Heads Back To Los Angeles, Register Now

The 54 hour Startup Weekend program is headed back to Los Angeles next weekend, starting on July 20th which is the same weekend as Memphis’ Startup Weekend.

Los Angeles just completed a Startup Weekend back in February that was a great success.

The February event saw 13 teams pitching on Sunday evening before the judges. The judges that time around included: Howard Marks (Start Engine), Paige Craig (BetterWorks), David Waxman (PeoplePC, Firefly Networks, SpotRunner) and Tyler Crowley (Sqweal, OAF, Launch, TWiST, Mahalo).

The judges for this round haven’t been announced yet but we are sure they will be just as good.

Organizing the Los Angeles event are Tyler Koblasa, Cameron Rasouli and Avesta Rasouli.

Registration started July 2nd and the organizers warn that last spring’s event sold out in 10 minutes. As of right now the eventbrite page shows tickets still available.

Startup Weekend LA kicks off Friday July 20th at 6:00pm and is being held at Coloft (920 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401).

To register click here

LA Startup: 12 Society Offering Hot Subscription Box Of Celebrity Endorsed Goodies

We’ve all seen so many varieties of the subscription box model. We’ve got birch box for health and beauty, Chicago’s Klutch Club for health and wellness products, England’s Flavor Box for monthly flavors, Houston’s Whimsey Box for craft goodies and countless others.

12 Society is offering something really cool. We don’t want to call it the dudes equivalent to a Birch Box because there are definitely geeky, gadget and fun loving women who will love the stuff they can get from being a 12 society member. The best part about 12 Society though is that you’re getting products that are endorsed by celebrities like Nick Cannon, Nas, Tim Linecum, Michael Strahan, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love.

12 Society offers top notch gadgets, gear and fun. Their website shows off a pair of headphones, remote controlled helicopter and a nice Spalding basketball as some of the things you could get delivered for your $39 subscription, monthly.

12 Society promises between four and six premium products from tech,athletics,fashion and apparel.

Co-Founder Nasir Jones (Hip Hop legend Nas) says on the company’s website:

“I’ve been blessed to lead a lifestyle that allows me to experience the pinnacle of creation and innovation, and I have always wanted a way to share this with the people that I love. That’s why I’m teaming up with some of my favorite athletes, entertainers, musicians and thought-leaders to start 12Society.

Our celebrity style board will give you an inside look into the latest trends in tech, fashion, popular culture and athletics that are impacting and improving our lives. We’ll turn you into a taste-maker and trend-setter by picking out products every month that we love and use, all while giving you a great value on gadgets, gear, apparel, accessories and more! We are award-winners, world champions, entrepreneurs, music legends, dunk masters and sack-artists – and we’re here to hook you up.”

Nas’ co-founder and CEO of 12 Society is Sameer Mehta a 2009 graduate of Carnegie Mellon. Mehta was also the co-founder of Mark Cuban backed Jungle Cents which had raised $1.5 million before selling the assets off to Cuban to found 12 Society.

Linkage:

Check out or sign up for 12 Society here

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

L.A. Startup: BuzzMob Is First Company In MWW Ventures

MWW is one of the largest PR firms in the country with a global presence. Their client list includes some of the top tier companies in their industries. Nikon and Samsung Mobile are both represented by MWW among a long list of familiar brands.

MWW just announced a new venture capital project spearheaded by their global head of technology and digital content, Ephraim Cohen. MWW ventures is incubating startups that advance media, marketing and public relations industries by investing firm resources in exchange for equity.

Cohen told Nibletz.com that MWW Ventures was developed by he and MWW Group CEO Michael Kempner who is a serial entrepreneur. With the verticals that the MWW Group is involved with Cohen says they come across great startups all the time. With MWW Ventures, the MWW Group will invest and incubate companies that will help them stay on “…the cutting edge of technology”.

Buzzmob, a Los Angeles startup was announced as MWW Ventures first portfolio company last week. Buzzmob is a mobile app for live events that forms location based social networks in real time and on the fly.

More after the break

EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles: 23 Year Old Woman Launches Smartzer, A Startup That Will Change Video Forever

smartzer, tv, kevin harrington, Karoline Gross, Nibletz

23 Year Old Karoline Gross Is The Founder Of The New Video Platform Smartzer (photo: K. Gross)

This story has wow written all over it and Nibletz, the voice of startups everywhere else has it first.

With all the innovation in video in the past few years we knew it was a matter of time before someone, some company or some startup would find a way to hot link or link map products in videos, like product placements, to actually make them clickable and then purchasable. We didn’t know it would be a 23 year old woman from Los Angeles that would do it. That’s exactly what Karoline Gross and her startup Smartzer are doing.

Imagine watching a movie or an episode of one of your favorite shows and seeing an iPad or some cool new iPad charging cradle you haven’t seen before. When the Smartzer officially launches this fall, and the video content is Smartzer enabled you will be able to click that iPad or iPad charger and see more in-depth information about the product or purchase it. This is what people like Kevin Harrington, CEO of “As Seen On TV” has been dreaming about.

When the technology launches producers will have to integrate the Smartzer system into their videos in order for it to work, but with the progress Gross has made so far, and the fact that she’s in Los Angeles meeting with studio executives all the time, it won’t be too long until we see this technology on the big three networks. You will be able to use your smartphone to watch tv and interact with tv for more than just checking in and redeeming deals, you’ll be able to click, look and buy.

You like the jacket Ryan Seacrest is wearing on Idol, click, look, buy. You like the dress your favorite star is wearing on the red carpet, click, look buy. What about that song in Glee, click, look, buy. Yes we knew it was coming and Smartzer is setting the pace.

We got a chance to catch up with the busy 23 year old entrepreneur and here’s what she had to tell Nibletz about herself and her amazing startup:

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Los Angeles Startup PayDragon Launches: Simple, No Frills Order Your Food & Pay App

A new startup has entered the mobile payment arena called PayDragon. PayDragon was founded by Hamilton Chang who also serves as the startups CEO. Chang and his team were also behind the QR code pioneer Paperlinks.

Chang soft launched the PayDragon app in Austin Texas at South By Southwest and decided to do its full launch in LA where the company is based. Chang has eliminated a lot of intense restaurant focused graphics and superfluous extras in the UI to offer an easy order, pay, get receipt transaction system on the mobile phone.

Customers who use PayDragon will order their food from the participating restaurant of their choice, pay for the food, and then get notified by push notification when the food is ready to be picked up. They can also elect to get a receipt sent back to their mobile phone. Chang elected to keep PayDragon as simple as possible and his feedback thus far has proven that point.

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LA Startup: EventUp Really Let’s You Party Like A Rockstar

You can rent this home once owned by Joe DiMaggio for your party with Eventup (photo: eventup.com)

Former Myspacer Tony Adam has put a new spin on the event app. If you’ve ever wanted to party like a rockstar than Eventup may be exactly what you’re looking for.

Adam has procured celebrity homes in major cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Through partnerships with the home owner, his company Eventup rents the houses out for parties and events. You could have a pool party at the Entourage mansion or propose like the bachelor. You could hold your first CD listening party at the home of Bob Dylan and countless others.

The prices are set by the home owner and range from $1,000 (a non celebrity castle with a moat) to $5,000 (Eric Clapton’s pad) to even more pricey like the East Village walkup Lady GaGa lived in before becoming a star ($12,000) and up. The possibilities are endless and more and more celebrity homes are coming available.

Imagine throwing your son’s Bar Mitzvah reception at the home of Joe Dimaggio or your daughter’s Bat Mitzvah reception at the home of Marilyn Monroe (same venue) well Eventup has that venue starting at just $1000.

As with the castle with the moat though, if you’re not looking for a celebrity pad but somewhere ultra cool for a theme party Eventup has those kinds of venues for you as well.

The renters are responsible for the rental fee, cleanup fees and insurance but other than that the place is yours for your event.

“On most real estate or house sites you can only look,” Adam told the New York Daily News, who launched eventup.com in February. “This goes beyond real estate voyeurism. For not much money in some cases, you can grab some friends and throw an event at these spaces.”

source: NY Daily News

L.A. Startup Spotlight: Thindish Eat Out, Stay Thin!

A new L.A. based startup has emerged out of a young businessman’s need to stay thin. Jason Lewis, founder of Thindish, says that while he was an advertising executive with worldwide firm TBWA/Chiat-Day he traveled so much he noticed he was putting on some weight. His wife noticed too. Lewis told startupfounder.info his wife said: “I’ll always love you… but it would be nice if you started to take care of yourself.”

So he went on a conquest to find out how he could continue his rigorous travel schedule, take clients out, and maintain his weight line. He and his wife combed through the menus of most of the places he liked to eat out and found the nutritional values of the dishes those restaurants served. From there Lewis sought out dishes that were less than 600 calories.

He stuck to those 600 calorie or less dishes and was able to drop 70 pounds. Well if it worked for him he knew it would help for others as well, and Thindish was born.

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