Startup Interview Archives - Page 19 of 34

Toronto Startup Tagtivate: Follow Any Content By HashTag

After checking out Toronto startup Tagtivate for a little bit we thought the best way to describe it is a Digg or Reddit for 2012. If Digg or Reddit had come out this year, it may be organized and searchable via hashtag. Everyone is using hashtags these days on Twitter, Instagram, heck even Facebook.

The hashtag is a peculiar little thing, you simply but a # sign in front of something and it’s easily searchable on any of the existing social networks.

What Tagtivate has done is taken the socially driven hash tag and put it on a content recommendation site for organization.

The Tagtivate team does a great job of providing examples in our interview below, the concept is fairly simple though.

Instead of a bunch of html links that can look like jibberish or instead of trying to come up with that all important Reddit, Digg or Hacker News headline, you simply find the content you want to share and hashtag it. If I wanted to post good startup stories to the Tagtivate platform I would simply add a #startup to the piece of content.

Check out our interview with Tagtivate below.

Denmark Startup: Story Planet Wants To Become A Global Story Telling Platform

At this day and age there are several different platforms to get your own content out to the internet. There are social media outlets like Twitter, that allow you to post short form content. There are places like Facebook which allow you to share longer, more intimate content. There are self blogging platforms like Tumblr. And, for those who like to write a lot on a specific topic there are full form blog platforms like Blogger and Word Press.

A new Denmark startup called Story Planet, is hoping to become a global platform for story tellers to mesh all of their media together and tell their story. From what we can tell Story Planet rests somewhere between Tumblr and Blogger/Word Press. It’s going to be the perfect place to have longer, more media rich blog or content offerings without the formality often associated with a Blogger or Word Press blog.

Story Planet is taking their idea to become a global story telling platform seriously, they already have a team presence in Copenhagen, Singapore, Brighton, and New York City. This gives them an accurate pulse of several startup areas and a way to push their product out on not just multiple countries, but multiple continents.

We got a chance to talk Bjarke Myrthu co-founder of Story Planet. Check out the interview below.

Miami Startup: RentJiffy Simplifies Life For Landlords INTERVIEW

Continuing with the series of features about each of the impressive Startups Incubate Miami 2012 has been able put together this year Startropica sat down with Jonathan Addison, Founder and CEO, ofRentJiffy, a real estate management platform that makes life easier for landlords and property managers. This is our interview with him:

How the thought of creating RentJiffy came about in the first place?

It came out of my own Real Estate practice. I am from Washington DC, one of the busiest, and one of the most legally complicated real estate cities in the country, the most obvious example of this is the license property owners need to have in order to be able to rent that specific property, that’s for every single property they own, with all the different regulations for each type of building of course. So RentJiffy was conceived in 2010 originally to make life easier for DC Landlords offering to facilitate this type of licensing. Basically they go to RentJiffy and hire us to process the license for them, but we are about to launch a host of additional features as well on a national level, that’s why we came here to Miami.

So Rentjiffy started by offseting a huge need in the DC Real Estate market, I am guessing it grew fast.

Thankfully yes it has been a success. Since January of 2010, we have doubled our revenue every year, that’s 3 years in a row. In 2011 we did $175.000 and to date we are approaching $300k in sales for 2012, enough to keep the team going and to help us put in place the next step which is to make RentJiffy a national platform

Continue reading at Startropica.com

Funeral Director & Mayor Of Bowling Green VA On His Comfort Food Startup TLC Kitchen

David Storke has been a funeral director in Bowling Green Virginia for over 25 years. He’s also the Mayor of Bowling Green and has been since 2006.

It was in his position as funeral director where Storke came up with an idea for a comfort food startup. Being in the funeral business he was well aware that friends and loved ones like to console those with a loss in the family with food and meals. Outside of flowers and donations, preparing food for those who’ve suffered a loss, is something that’s easy to do and typically needed during trying times.

So in 2007 Storke created Sympathy Food. Sympathy Food takes the hassle out of preparing a meal for someone going through a hardship and grief. The company creates delicious, chef prepared meals to feed 4-6 or 8-12. The meals are prepared in a USDA approved kitchen and then shipped anywhere in the continental United States.

After introducing the Sympathy Food concept the company grew in popularity and Storke came up with other occasions where prepared meals would be appropriate. In April of 2012 he added Get Well Meals for illness and The Meal Stork to congratulate parents of a newborn. While both themes are perfect gift giving occasions they are also times when people could use a hand with cooking and preparing meals.

Now for the cost of a flower arrangement anyone can send the gift of food. Meal gifts arrive within 1-3 days of ordering. The meals are flash frozen and put into styrofoam coolers with dry ice to preserve freshness. The only day they don’t deliver is Sunday. TLC Kitchen uses FedEx for delivery,

With Storkes background as a funeral director, Mayor and now startup founder, we couldn’t wait for the chance to interview him. Check out our interview below.

Calgary Startup: TypeWhale Connects Journalists To Expert Sources

Over the last decade the 24 hour news cycle has quickly sped up to less than 15 minutes. Heck in the age of blogging, and specifically tech blogging, 15 minutes can be a luxury. That makes it extremely hard, or time consuming, to go out and vet expert sources. Most journalists, myself included, have a stable of 10-20 sources we can call on, on a regular basis, to vet out stories, but when a topic goes beyond our inner circle of sources journalists need experts.

This is a major problem in the online news and blogsphere. It’s the problem that Calgary startup TypeWhale aims to fix.

TypeWhale is a community where academic experts from top universities and journalists can collaborate on media queries. In the beta phase, TypeWhale is focusing on the education sector, as a “natural pool” of credible expert sources. Universities are identifying their expert sources and connecting them directly to the media via TypeWhale.

“TypeWhale is not about who has paid a PR rep to pitch their story, it’s about who is the most qualified to answer the media queries,” explains co-founder, Kylie Lakevold. “TypeWhale came from a passion for getting expert voices heard. This is what encouraged us to build a community where journalists and experts can collaborate live on the web.”

TypeWhale aims to take the media manipulators out of the equation. Lakevold came up with the idea when she came across a service that many journalists use where they can put a question out there and any “expert” can comment for a piece. The problem is that popular system has no way of vetting the “expert source”. You could get a response from someone who has no idea what they’re talking about. Or even worse, a PR hack on a mission to drive just one client.

We got a chance to interview the TypeWhale expert, Lakevold, directly. Check out the interview below.

New York Startup Skedj Makes Your Schedule Social, And Really A Lot of Fun

If you’re a long time reader of nibletz.com The Voice Of Startups Everywhere Else, you know that we’re a little under enthused about “event discovery” and “social calendar” startups. Our good friend Danny Nathan at iwannanom a New York startup we profiled earlier this year, knows how we feel about “event discovery” and “social calendar” but still brought us Jason Horowitz and Skedj. We’re glad he did.

Horowitz is no stranger to startups and no stranger to the fact that we need another event discovery startup like Governor Chris Christie needs another extra large pizza. To that end Horowitz told us:

“I know event discovery, event sharing and social calendaring don’t sound like new territories to conquer. We believe Skedj takes a unique approach to these challenges and, consistent with the way we plan our lives, strikes a balance between personal and social. The result is one personalized stream of your plans and possibilities, making discovering things you want to do, and keeping track of the things you need to do, easier than ever before.”

After checking out Skedj ourselves we agree. One of the things about Skedj that resonates with me from the start is that Skedj is learning my schedule not suggesting I go see every country music show just because I happen to like one song by Sugar Land. Of course many of you know the story about one “social/event discovery” app that suggested a bunch of great dog parks because at one time in my life I had liked Mark Zuckerberg’s dog.

Whether it’s the intent or not, Skedj takes into consideration the primary user FIRST and the social discovery/sharing part second. That’s why nearly 300 words later we’re still talking about it. In fact, we interviewed Horowitz. Check out the interview below.

Know The Score Before You Dine With Baltimore Startup HDScores

Baltimore and Maryland as a whole have a thriving tech scene. We recently reported on the Startup Maryland “Pitch Across Maryland” bus tour which yielded 168 startups pitching on video, check that story out here. We’re kind of partial to Baltimore as well since it’s my hometown and all but people love Baltimore.

One of the things people love about Baltimore is the food. Naturally if you’re into shellfish and crabs, Maryland crabs are second to none. There are a lot of other great food eateries in Baltimore as well. Heck there are great restaurants everywhere.

When all you can smell in a city like New Orleans, Baltimore, Boston, and even Chicago, is great food, you may not think about how clean a restaurant really is. Over the summer I had made a trip home to Baltimore and was struck with some hellacious food poisoning from a restaurant I used to frequent as a kid. After spending three days at the Baltimore Washington Medical Center near Glen Burnie, I found out that the restaurants latest health department score was a low B.

That’s where the fine folks at Baltimore startup HDScores come in. Chef turned entrepreneur Matthew Eierman along with William Sanford, cofounded the startup that makes it super easy to access a restaurants health department scores on the go. If a restaurant smells delicious and looks a little shady, HDScores can quickly tell you if it’s somewhere worth visiting.

HDScores blends big open data with social integration and even the ability to have video reviews, accessible to the end user on an easy to understand user interface.

We got a chance to talk with Eierman. Check out the interview below.

500 Startups Company From Buenos Aires, Wideo, Is The Easiest DIY Video Animation Platform

When it comes time for pitch day there’s something that everybody wants, and that’s a good video. Sure most startups will work for weeks on end on the pitch deck, but going to the slide in the deck that has cute little fuzzy things hacking away at computers, the sunshining and little puppies dancing because your go to market strategy is so great, puts you above the rest.

While most startups, businesses and just your every day people, wish they had great animated videos, most aren’t that creative. That’s why animated video houses make the big bucks,and animated videos don’t fit in the lean startup budget.

Have no fear 500 startups startup, Wideo is here.

Wideo is a do-it-yourself animated video platform. You choose the characters, fonts, backgrounds,lighting, color, sound and more. You put it all together on a very easy to use creation tool, share your computer three times and voila, instant animation. You’ll be producing hit Saturday morning cartoons in no time.

All jokes aside though, Wideo is one bad ass startup and anything that can make my life as a startup founder easier, and at very little cost, is something that I like.

Dave McClure must have liked it to because those guys are creating millions of quick animation videos in the top secret 500 startups lair.

Check out our interview with Agu De Marco one of Wideo’s co-founders, below.

Interview With Atlanta Startup StockClout A Communications & Social Media Platform For Public Companies And Investors

Investors have a lot of tools out there to do research on companies both public and private. There are tools like Bloomberg, Hoover and other mega research sites for companies. One of the problems with these sites though, is that they all stopped at different points in the current digital evolution. They also don’t factor in tools that business professionals in 2012 use, like social media.

That’s why Tony Golden, a seasoned Wall Street stock professional, came up with StockClout. Golden is no Wall Street wannabe, he spent 15 years with firms like Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Smith Barney, back before the big investment banks went belly up. Golden has spent the last 17 years as the CEO and Founder of a successful investor relations firm in Atlanta. It’s this experience dealing with investors and helping them find information that led to the creation of StockClout.

Through StockClout you can create your own free profile and then add your portfolio companies to it. StockClout will do the rest bringing you the most up to date information on the public companies you have your money in. You’ll get updates from traditional sources and social media as well.

StockClout is free for anyone to use and sign up for. Golden says that StockClout actually gives their users the most precious commodity back, and that of course is “time”. StockClout cuts out hours of research and provides everything to you in easy to read updates, and it’s all free.

We got a chance to talk to Golden about StockClout. Check out the interview below.

Kansas City Startup: Growing Gratitude Say Thanks With A Video

Do you remember back in the old days when breaking out the nice stationary to write a thank you note was common practice? I certainly remember my hand hurting back in the late 80’s after personalizing and handwriting a thank you card to everyone who had given me a Bar Mitzvah present.

Well now, thanks to technology, thank you cards are much easier.

Amy Marin Carlson spent years in education as a school administrator and a spanish teacher. She also spent some time in her career as a bakery owner. Now, she’s founded Growing Gratitude, a Kansas City based startup that encourages people to get personal and creative by sending short video thank you notes.

Marin Carlson is finding that there are many uses for Growing Gratitude, from traditional gifts, to client thanks. Marin Carlson said she wished that Growing Gratitude would have been around when her husband wanted to thank sponsors for his MS 150 bike ride.

This hard working entrepreneur came up with the idea when her oldest son turned 2. After his birthday party she was wondering just how to thank everyone. Obviously her son was too young to send cards himself and cards from her seemed to impersonal. A video card of sorts would get the point across. She could easily take a quick video of him playing with a new toy or present or wearing that sweater Aunt Greta sent. That kind of video would be worth more than 1000 words.

Marin Carlson went back to work, but two years later when she was at home with her second son she had some time to flesh out the idea that has become Growing Gratitude.

We got a chance to talk with Marin Carlson, check out the interview below.

LA Startup FindHire Hopes To Be The Next Generation HR Software INTERVIEW

Los Angeles startup FindHire is hoping to be the next generation HR software. The startup, founded by Michael Dennis and Ryan Herman, blends contact management, project management and sourcing software for recruiters. Their web based solution makes it easy to access anywhere, across multiple locations or just one in home office location. The scalability and features give FindHire a serious advantage over other similar platforms.

Dennis and Herman were childhood friends. Dennis went on in recruiting and Herman got into development. They came back together as adults to create FindHire.

We asked Dennis how he came up with the idea for FindHire and he said:

“With my HR industry knowledge, I wanted to make an impact on HR technologies. With so much time-wasting software available, I realized I needed to fix this broken process and help people enjoy recruiting again. This intrigued Ryan who is a programming guru, and with this notion, we started building the next generation of HR software. Our hope is to alter the way companies hire and make the process fun and easier to manage.”

Check out the rest of our interview with Dennis below.

Get Paid To Get Things Done With Boston Startup TaskUp INTERVIEW

Want to get things done the old fashioned way? You pay somebody to do them. Want good results? Pay for them. Got bad results? Make them pay. These basic principles are what guides Boston startup TaskUp to be the first web and mobile based task list startup with cash incentives.

TaskUp co-founders Divesh Gidwani and Andrei Oprisan use two basic ideas to fuel their startup:

1. monetary rewards the customers upon timely task completion and
2. penalties when tasks become ‘overdue’.

It doesn’t get much simpler than that folks. Incentivize the task list with money. Gidwani and Oprisan are no strangers to this task space. They realize there are a good 250 other startups toying around in the same space. On their blog Gidwani says “Motivating people to get shit done with cash rewards just might do the trick.”

We got a chance to talk with Gidwani. Check out the interview below.

Indy Startup: Adproval Putting More Money In Blogger’s Hands INTERVIEW

As bloggers, any startup that’s purpose is making bloggers more money, of course catches our eye. Such is the case with Indianapolis startup Adproval.

Most full-time bloggers know that adsense is great but it’s tough to live off of when it’s your sole source of revenue. Sponsorships and the ability to sell direct/static advertising play a key role in the overall monetization strategy of a full-time blog.

Matthew Anderson and his startup Adproval have come up with a platform for bloggers that they claim is the easiest way to sell and manage sponsorships. Rather than setting up a blind network like adsense, NetShelter or even Say Media, Adproval lets bloggers sell their sponsorships to advertisers or sponsors that they approve of.

Adproval lets bloggers combine the power of traditional display advertising with other add-ons like sponsored posts, product reviews and social media.

Adproval lets bloggers manage their blog’s sellable inventory in ways that they couldn’t before. The idea for Adproval came to Anderson as a senior project in his last year at college. Now the project has gone from simple business plan to actual product.

Breaking up with a college girlfriend led to the idea for Adproval. How? We asked Anderson who said:

“Well. Funny story… I dated a sweet Chinese gal in college and, right after we broke up, a ridiculous amount of the ads showing up on Facebook and around the Internet were for things like “Find Single Asian Girls.” Not only were Facebook and AdSense kicking a dude’s broken heart while it was down, but they were creeping me out. Then, I was on a DIY crafting blog and an ad along the lines of “Meet Asians Near You” was displaying in the sidebar. It kind of clicked to me that (1) there is no way that this blogger wants that ad showing up to their readers and (2) there is no way that ad space on a niche blog with a relatively small amount of faithful readers is making as much money with an ad for Lonely Asian Girls or whatever AdSense was showing other readers as it could with an approved advertiser that the blogger could support with more than just a display ad.”

Check out the rest of our interview with Anderson below.

Tampa Startup OBCIDIO Is All About Social Collaboration INTERVIEW

A new Tampa startup called OBCIDIO mashes up social networks to make one easy to use collaboration platform. OBCIDIO combines real time social communication with file sharing, content management and networking tools. It’s like Asana meets Facebook and LinkedIn to focus on working together with different people in your social networks.

In addition to your private feed that’s leveraging your personal social networks there is also a public feed where you can share whatever you would like with the entire OBCIDIO community.

When we asked co-founder Ryan Waier how he’d describe OBCIDIO to his grandmother he said:

“OBCIDIO is best described as a mash-up between Facebook and LinkedIn. By creating or plugging into different social communities, members can filter out the noise and focus on the communication, people and content that is relevant to them.

Every member that creates an OBCIDIO account also receives their own personal cloud to manage communication, contacts, files, tasks and schedules with the ability to create or plug into existing social communities.

Social communities on OBCIDIO can range from members creating regional networking groups for sharing referrals, to companies creating their own private social network for coworkers to share content, ask questions and crowdsouce feedback.

Our communities provide social communication, collaboration, and project management tools unlike other forums or groups you would find on sites like LinkedIn. The purpose of these communities is to give members both a voice and a medium to actively engage in solving problems, pooling knowledge and forging new opportunities.”

Check out the rest of our interview with Waier, below: