Out Of Toilet Paper? There’s A Startup For That: Restroom Alert [onespark][video]

Who’s ever gone to the bathroom at a public place only to sit down and find there’s no toilet paper in the toilet paper dispenser? Or you go through a beautiful looking store or a great restaurant and find paper towels all over the floor and a trashcan that looks like it hasn’t been dumped in days?

Well if you said yes, you’re not alone. These problems happen to millions of people every week at a variety of restrooms across the country. Going into a dirty, filthy or not well stocked bathroom affects businesses in ways you wouldn’t believe. One survey said that 94% of respondents said that a non well kept bathroom would make them leave an establishment.

Some believe that when going to restaurants a dirty restroom is a signal that the kitchen may not be that clean either. While there are people who will speak to a manager or an employee about the cleanliness of the bathroom, others are embarrassed to do so, or sometimes so grossed out they just want to leave.

Well now there’s an app for that. The multi-platform Restroom Alert, is a way for customers to anonymously report to a manager, owner or other employee that their restrooms need some attention.

It’s pretty simple. A business, small, big or gigantic, can sign up for Restroom Alert for $5 per month per room. The establishment will get signs that can easily be affixed to mirrors or walls with a short code to send a text message about the restroom. Does it need toilet paper? Do the sinks need cleaning? Is the trashcan overflowing? Is the toilet stopped up? All of these things and more can be reported anonymously via the text code.

On the business’ side, they get a text message as well saying what needs to be fixed. At that point a timer begins and the platform records how long it takes to go fix the problem.

The system can also alert owners, managers or employees when the restroom hasn’t been cleaned or checked in the allotted time. This wipes out the need for clipboards and paper restroom checklists, which often go unused.

Restroom Alert even supplies analytics detailing the restroom problems, how often they’re stocked and checked and other key factors. A clean restroom is just another way a business owner can provide excellent customer service.

Restroom Alert can be used by small mom and pop shops all the way up to Fortune 500 companies. The owner, or person in charge of such things, can get reports based on their entire network of restrooms. This way they can deal with employees that don’t give a crap about the way the restroom looks (you see what I did there).

While there are plenty of apps that can find you a restroom on the road, this seems to be the first startup to modernize the restroom checklist.

We got a chance to check out Restroom Alert one of the 464 projects found at OneSpark in Jacksonville.

Check out our video interview with Rod Dornsife one of the co-founders of Restroom Alert below.

For more on Restroom Alert visit restroomalert.com or follow them on Twitter @restroomalert

We’ve got a lot more OneSpark stories for you here at nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups Everywhere Else

Aurora Rediscovering Cities Through Local Music, Launches At One Spark [onespark]

Angel Ayala Torres pitches Aurora At OneSpark (photo NMI 2013)

Aurora is a new Jacksonville Florida based startup that is looking to connect two mobile experiences in one cool functioning app. By using the Aurora app, people will be able to rediscover a city through that cities local artists. This app combines location discovery with artist discovery in a way that actually makes sense.

Creator Angel Ayala Torres took to the Hemming Plaza Pitch Deck stage on Wednesday afternoon to pitch Aurora to an enthusiastic audience.

I actually heard the pitch about an hour earlier in the day at the OneSpark food village when I bumped into Torres and at that time I didn’t totally understand the concept. Now, after watching him pitch and downloading the app, it makes a lot of sense. It’s perfect for local people and local artists.

As he says in the video, take downtown Jacksonville for instance. When you open up Aurora downtown it will immediately start streaming a local downtown Jacksonville artist. If you hear a slow song and you’re briskly walking or jogging and “shake” your iPhone it will change the song and match it to your “mood” they call this “mood swings”.

Now if you venture to the beach area of Jacksonville or even New York City, you’ll get artists that are local to those areas. The Aurora team calls those “Echoes”. In New York you’ll hear New York echoes and in Jacksonville you’ll hear Jacksonville artists.

Aurora is working on a market place where users can purchase the songs to keep on their phone. This way you could listen to the artists wherever you go.

Local Jacksonville artists are jumping at the chance to have their music in the Aurora platform. Really this is a great idea for local music discovery. Just think of the music you would get in a city like Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans or Seattle. Every city has it’s own unique music scene and through Aurora you can easily discover it.

Check out the pitch video here:

Find out more about Aurora here at their Facebook page.

We’ve got more OneSpark coverage here.

OneSpark Founders Answer Our Favorite Question: Why Now (startup community) [onespark][video]

OneSpark,Jacksonville startups,startup event

OneSpark Founders (L-R) Varick Rosete, Elton Rivas and Dennis Eusebio (photo: NMI 2013)

Two years ago three friends, businessmen, entrepreneurs and community minded guys sat around a Panera Bread talking about what they could do to help spark the startup community, and the creativity that comes with it, in Jacksonville Florida. Those three friends, Elton Rivas, Dennis Eusebio and Varick Rosete, set out to create an event that could serve as an ongoing catalyst for creativity and startups.

All three founders were paying attention to the growing trends across the country. Startup communities were popping up in cities all over the United States, many of them the same size as Jacksonville with similar resources but no real focal point. They all wanted to do something and create something, and they didn’t want to move to do it.

In this quick impromptu panel discussion, led by Jacksonville Jaguars voice, Brian Sexton, all three founders touch on “Why Now, Why OneSpark”.

Rivas talks about the timing saying “the time has never been better for this”. Rivas talked about how technology, smartphones in particular, people have the ability to connect from anywhere. To that end, while we talk about Chattanooga and Kansas City often when referring to high speed internet, Jacksonville Florida was the second market in the United States to get ClearWire’s WiMax service back in 2003.

Now with the connectivity, the people and the resources, with a catalyst like OneSpark residents of Jacksonville are starting to see they can do it right in their own city. Rivas has already gotten a taste of this by being a cofounder of CoWork Jax, a coworking space with an emphasis on collaboration and creativity.

Eusebio opened up his answer with the fact that he didn’t want to move. As a tech guy Eusebio was starting to feel the pinch, do I stay home, a place I love or do I brave the waters in another more tech savvy city like San Francisco. He set himself a 2 year deadline to come to that decision and during that two years the trio started creating OneSpark.

Rosete says he did this for the creators, he wants the creators to know that they have the resources to help get ideas, companies and creations off the ground without having to go take day jobs that creators don’t really want.

With a list of sponsors that reads like a telephone book, the city of Jacksonville is ripe and mobilized now to embrace startups, creators and entrepreneurs.

But OneSpark isn’t just about the local creators. They’ve attracted 464 projects from across the street, across the river, across the country and around the world. The 464 projects are spread out across 65 different venues in downtown Jacksonville.

Early estimates suggest that there will be between 15,000 to 20,000 people in Jacksonville over the next five days specifically for OneSpark, participating in voting, the speaker series and just walking around and checking out the 464 projects. Several local media outlets predict the swell of people downtown could reach 100,000 when you mix in the variety of great live entertainment that the OneSpark team has helped cook up.

While the focus of OneSpark and the creators is Music, Art, Science and Technology, when dusk hits the focus turns to the “entertainment district” where clubs, bars,restaurants and pop up venues are hosting hundreds of bands and performers in a festival atmosphere that can only rival something like SXSW. If anyone is keeping score there were around 800 attendees at the first SXSW festival and 29,000 official registered attendees for SXSWi 2013. The groundswell in Austin is also believed to be 100,000 when factoring in all three different festivals that make up sxsw.

On the subject of SXSW, Rivas hopes that in 10 years the OneSpark festival will still be going on, and people will say “Oh Jacksonville, that’s where they hold OneSpark”.

Well yes as a matter a fact we’ve got a ton more OneSpark coverage here at nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups Everywhere Else.

OneSpark Comes Alive In Downtown Jacksonville

Downtown Jacksonville has come alive with thousands of entrepreneurs, do-ers and creators in the first of it’s kind Crowdfunding Festival called OneSpark.

The five day festival runs from now through Sunday. Creators in music, art, science and technology are all showing off their wares while also competing for attendee dollars and attendee votes.

The festival has taken the crowdfunding concepts introduced by sites like kickstarter and Indiegogo and brought them offline and in person to hundreds of venues throughout the downtown area of Jacksonville.

Nibletz is on the ground in Jacksonvillr and we look forward to introducing you to the creators from across the country and around the world, exhibiting here at OneSpark.

But make no mistake about it, this is far more than an exhibition. All of the creators (startups) are looking for people to crowdfunding their ideas in person.

As for the voting, OneSpark has over $1,000,000 committed for a fund that will distribute money to the creators with the most votes. One of the biggest supporters of OneSpark, and the biggest contributor to the fund is Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid “Shad” Khan.

Throughout the event creators will be pitching their ideas to the audience at pitch stages set up all over downtown.

Today all ready we’ve seen a very innovative startup called Quick Solar. This company is working on a drag and drop platform for homeowners and other interested folks to drop solar panels on google maps images of their home.

Quick Solar will take these users through the cost saving benefits of moving to solar energy and eventually the company will link with providers that can install your solar system.

Creators from every corner of the globe and business are here. We also saw crowdfunding at the local level with Red Sable Art Supply.

This company is hoping to create an art supply store and collaborative work space for artists in St.Augustine Florida.

Currently, artists in the area are driving 1-3 hours away to find an adequate art supply store where they can learn about their supplies, techniques and actually squeeze bottles, feel paint brushes and talk to real humans.

Stick with us for OneSpark coverage here.

Jax Startup Floppy Entertainment Founder: OneSpark Sparking Startup Community

OneSpark starts this Wednesday and runs through Sunday. It’s the first of it’s kind crowdfunding festival for “creators”. OneSpark is taking the crowdfunding concept made popular by Kickstarter, Indiegogo and of course every single startup that’s popped up since we’ve been waiting for the JOBSact,and brought it off line.
The festival will be like SXSW interactive meets SXSW music and everything in between as creators from around the world spread out at venues across downtown Jacksonville. For a good summary of OneSpark check out this story.

We’ll be talking with lot’s of creators on-site and some as we lead up to this epic event.

First up we have Michael Le Manna, the founder of Floppy Entertainment. In our interview with Le Manna he credits the OneSpark festival for really sparking startups and the startup community in Jacksonville. Even Shahid Khan, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, is on board.

Check out the interview below and for more on OneSpark visit beonespark.com

What is your startup, what does it do?

Floppy Entertainment is the first game company in Jacksonville Florida, founded in 2012. It consists of a small group of highly talented programmers and artists. The vision of the company is to create a new and innovative gaming experience for people on a mobile platform to play for brief periods of time throughout the course of a normal day. Our interactive games are fun, easily understood and challenging. Players will be compelled to play again and again.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Michael La Manna creative lead, audio designer. Has been writing music for games and media for over 14 years.

Brian Marshburn programmer. Started programming games at the age of 8.

Thomas Schaffer lead technical artist. Master user of Maya software.

What is the startup culture like in Jacksonville?

Other than One Spark there has never been any support for a start up tech company such as game development.

What is one challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

The big challenge working in game development is the expensive software licensing fees.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

We have won multiple indie development contest and secured sponsorship from Microsoft.

What are your next milestones?

Our first mobile game will be released in the next 4 months.

Who are your mentors and role models?

Other independent game company’s such as Trendy Entertainment in Gainesville Florida, they have been very supportive.

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages growing your startup outside of Silicon Valley.

One advantage is lack of competition but the big disadvantage is lack or interest of local support.

What’s next for your startup?

Develop and release at a minimum of 3 games a year.

Where can people find out more?

www.floppyent.com Or on twitter as floppyent

Check out more about OneSpark here at nibletz.com the voice of startups everywhere else

Huge Crowdfunding Festival: One Spark Kicks Off In Jacksonville Next Week

The first OneSpark festival will kick off next Wednesday night in Jacksonville Florida, and it’s going to be huge. The festivities kick off at 6pm at Hemming Plaza with an opening ceremony.

The kickoff event will feature party band The Sunbears, free food, drinks and plenty of opportunity to network with creators from all over the world.

Once the event kicks off Jacksonville will turn into one huge in person crowdfunding festival from Wednesday (April 17th) through Sunday (April 21st).

What is a “crowdfunding festival”,

Well think SXSW music and SXSW interactive meet in Jacksonville Florida, where the weather looks to be perfect. Then add creators who’ve created something in either the arts, music, science or technology. Now think Kickstarter and taking those project creators and bringing them into the real world.

This is the first festival of it’s kind. Creators will be staged in venues throughout downtown Jacksonville where attendees will be able to see their creations, ask questions, hear pitches and then decide if they want to crowdfund the creator in person. Talk about eliminating the risks of online crowdfunding.

Event organizer Elton Rivas and the OneSpark committee have wrapped the crowdfunding concept up into a huge event that has three main focus areas:

The creator zone: This is where you can go from venue to venue and see all of the creators and their creations, think gallery hop with some ultra cool new ideas and creativity overflowing like a volcano.

Pitch Decks And Stages: You’ll be able to hear live pitches and keynote speakers throughout the five day festival in these areas.

Entertainment District: here OneSpark will showcase all of what Jacksonville has to offer in the entertainment realm. Party with creators, VIPs, A-listers and jam out to some of the best musical offerings in Jacksonville.

Learn more about OneSpark at beonespark.com

Stay up to date with our OneSpark coverage here.

Jaguars Support First Ever Crowdfunding Festival One Spark April 17-21

Onespark,Florida statups,shad khan,Jacksonville startup,crowdfunding festival

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan (known for his mustache) has pledged up to $1 million dollars at the first crowdfunding festival One Spark (photo: sportsrantz.com)

An amazing thing is happening in Jacksonville, Florida April 12-21 2013. The entire downtown part of the city is being transformed into One Spark, the first ever of it’s kind, gigantic crowdfunding festival.

One of the event’s co-founder and Executive Director Elton Rivas told nibletz.com “Imagine taking crowdfunding offline”. He went onto describe how venues across the downtown area will be set up to showcase the latest in startups, technology, products and crowdfunding goods. At these showcases the creators and founders can show off their wares and encourage people to crowdfund their project right there in person.

While the concept is great in it’s own right, I mean imagine being able to touch the products on Kickstarter, there’s more to OneSpark than that.

On Tuesday night when we first talked to Rivas there was a minimum fund of $250,000 already in place to help crowdfund some of the project that will be showing off at OneSpark. It was revealed on Wednesday that Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has pledged up to $1 million dollars through his investment arm STACHE Investments Corp. to help fund these projects.

“One Spark will attract and celebrate creativity in a variety of fields including science, technology, engineering and the arts, all of which are areas of great personal interest,” said Khan. “Jacksonville is the perfect host for this festival and I believe One Spark has the potential to inspire some really big thinking from the brightest minds in the area and beyond.”

“One Spark started with the belief that game-changers emerge from dorm rooms, garages and small studios – where great ideas develop. One Spark 2013 will be the point when creators of all kinds converge in our community, and when people from far and wide join together to decide on the next big thing(s). The heart of our city will be the place to get involved, be inspired, connect and collaborate,” said Rivas.

Some facts about One Spark:

— Open to all: Anyone can be a creator; One Spark venues can be spaces nearly anywhere in the urban core.

— Grassroots and independent: One Spark is built on the premise that the next great creation will likely come from a garage, small studio or dorm room. Creators will pair up with venues, independently, on the One Spark website. The organization does not select any of the creators or venues that make up the event.

— Empowered public: The $250,000 One Spark fund will be distributed based on public vote; the public can also contribute directly to entrants in any amount.

— Five packed days: During the actual event, there will be creator showcases, speakers, culinary experiences, music and what we like to call “spectacles.”

— Win votes and snag a slice of the $250,000 guaranteed crowd-fund. Crowd-fund monies will be distributed by popular vote. For example, if you receive 10 percent of the vote, you would receive 10 percent of the fund, or $25,000.

— STACHE Investments Corp: Formed by Shad Khan in 2012, the investment company has a component that focuses on entrepreneurial ventures in Northeast Florida and will be on the ground looking for investment opportunities during the five days of One Spark.

For more on OneSpark click here

Now that’s four months of great startup events including the biggest startup conference in the U.S. everywhereelse.co The Startup Conerence next month!