Startup Interview Archives - Page 34 of 34

TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Interview With NY Startup hoppit

We got a chance to talk with the founder of hoppit at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2012. Hoppit was the winner of the best “Big Data” startup at the recent NY Tech Day.

So what is hoppit? Well hoppit is a discovery platform that lets you discover places completely based on atmosphere. Yelp, Urban Spoon and other restaurant recommendation sites use reviews that focus on cuisine to attract customers. With hoppit their engine takes into consideration keyword phrases that describe ambiance.

For instance, hoppit looks for multiple instances of groups of words like “romantic dinner” from there it would be able to dig deeper and determine that a restaurant is smaller and more intimate. This may be exactly what someone is looking for.

Right now hoppit lets you choose from eight different vibes; classy & upscale, hipster, watering hole, romantic, cozy & quaint, mad men,swanky & posh, trendy & chic, vintage & old world, and chill & relaxed.

After a long work week you know what you want and hoppit will help you find it. Check out our interview Steve Dziedzic below:

See more of our Disrupt coverage here

TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Interview With: Bar & Club Stats VIDEO

There’s no cutesie name name, no outrageously loud logo, no booth babes and no crazy animation talking about Bar & Club stats. It’s very straight forward and like a great name, their company name says exactly what they do. What a novel idea, Bar & Club Stats provides bar and club stats. It’s how they do it and exactly what they do with it that makes it cool.

Bar & Club Stats founder, Ben Silbert, said he started the business after finding most of the places he went to were really crowded. He developed an app and id scanner and then the back end piece which collects data.

Bar & Club stats is an app and id card reader that allows bouncers and door men to scan IDs. Fake IDs will not scan which makes it easier to weed out bad IDs and actually get rid of the offending person. Sometimes when someone presents a fake id they go into a temper tantrum yelling and screaming that their ID is real. After the ID is actually scanned the argument becomes a moot point.

As we reported earlier, the entry validation portion is just the beginning. Bar & Club stats take the data from the ID scans, anonymizes it and then analyzes it for the bar or club. This is invaluable information to a club owner. Were there more 18-21 year olds on Monday or Thursday? Did ladies night draw more men? Did our midtown club attract a slew of customers from Hoboken? All of this information is now available to the venue for marketing and business development.

While it’s not cute or quirky Bar & Club stats solves a problem for bars and clubs, well actually two. Check out their video interview here:

London Startup: Kebuki Is A Team Management Tool For Managers To Inspire

It’s been a while since I worked at Best Buy, but when I did during the very late 90’s and early part of the 2000s we used to have team meetings in the “hub” every day. Anyone who has worked at Best Buy probably remembers these meetings. Everyday as a department head and then sales lead we would go in the meeting with the team and have all the Best Buy notes, stock quotes, and store information.

Our regional manager at the time, now former Best Buy CEO, Brian Dunn, also had his stores add in key dates for employees, birthdays, maybe anniversaries or if we’d get reliable info about maybe a kids achievement at school, or maybe they just finished paying off their car. We would recognize that employee in that quick meeting. As silly as that sounds it made the employee feel good for the day and morale at our store was pretty good.

That kind of rubbed off during my radio career as well when I became “management”. Although I had much smaller teams, taking an employee out for a beer on their birthday when they had no idea you knew it was their birthday goes a long way.

This “soft” management style is the heart around London startup Kebuki. Kebuki is a team management mobile tool that can be managed on any web connected device, an iPad or iPhone. Basically you load a data set (that gets encrypted) into Kebuki consisting of employees name, position, salary and incentive package, husband, wife and kids names, personal anniversary dates and important work related dates revolving around the employee.

The app (platform) then puts all of these things in a timeline for the manager. The manager can then make public recognition for the employee via the company, or even through social media channels. According to research done by Kebuki and other management consultants, these little “pats on the back” go a long way.

Imagine how thrilled your employees will be that you remember their birthdays or when they call you to tell you their spouse is sick you can tell them you hope that their spouse feels better, by name.

But how do you really know? Well in addition to the team management platform Kebuki sends out an email to the employees on your team monthly, with one simple question, “On a scale of 0-10 how would you rate me as a manager”. This feedback is great for the manager, and it further reiterates that some “soft” management tactics can go a long way.

We got to talking with Charlie Cowan, the founder of Kebuki about his management inspiring startup, and why, despite the fact that Kebuki is based in the UK, they are launching in the US first.

Check out the interview, after the break
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Austin Startup: PitchPick Let’s Job Candidates Pitch Themselves On Video INTERVIEW

A new startup in Austin Texas has a real startup/entrepreneurial feel in it’s execution. PitchPick is a new job interviewee pre-screening solution that allows candidates to use a video platform to “pitch” themselves to employers.

The idea came about because the amount of non-hire interviews can be a major point of frustration for any small business owner and large scale enterprise HR department. Regardless of what is supposed to happen in a job interview, most interviewers can size up a candidate in the first minute or so. So in an effort to not waste valuable time for either the interviewee or interviewer, PitchPick was created.

We got a chance to speak with Jeff Talmadge one of PitchPicks co-founders.

Jeff tell us, what is PitchPick?

PitchPick is a web-based video hiring and candidate screening solution designed to lower the cost, time, and energy employers waste during the interview process. Often times, employers know within the first moments of an interview whether or not a candidate will be a good fit for not only the position but the organization. With PitchPick, an employer can request a 30 sec.-1minute response to a basic interview question such as, “Why should we hire you for this position?” and give a candidate a deadline to submit his/her Pitch online. The employer will be able to more efficiently evaluate their “Yes-No-Maybe” piles of resumes and bring only the individuals they want to learn more about.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

PitchPick’s managers are Co-Founders Reece Norris, Bryan Johnson, and Jeff Talmadge.

In addition to PitchPick, Norris and Johnson lead a large multi-site healthcare company as President and Chief Operating Officer. There, the two developed a workflow and software system for their niche in the healthcare industry. Before PitchPick, Talmadge spent his time developing his skill set in account service while interning at advertising agencies in Austin, TX.

After graduating from Baylor University with a BBA in Entrepreneurship, Reece Norris went on to earn his Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas Law School. Norris practiced law as a corporate attorney at Thompson & Knight LLP in Dallas, Texas and clerked for U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade. Despite his success as a lawyer, Norris’ hunger to create and grow a successful business ultimately caused him to join Johnson in building their healthcare company. His depth of knowledge regarding the law and unparalleled work ethic has and will continue to be invaluable to PitchPick.

As Norris was beginning his study and practice of law, Bryan Johnson began his career as a business development associate for an infusion management company based in Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas. Also graduating from Baylor University with a BBA in Entrepreneurship, Johnson went on to found the Austin Infusion Center, which has since grown to be one of the largest office-based infusion centers in Texas. Johnson’s proven ability to start and grow a successful business has been instrumental in the foundation of PitchPick.

With the knowledge he gained studying and observing the fast-paced world of advertising, Jeff Talmadge took the opportunity to join PitchPick as its first employee to help oversee its final months of development and marketing strategy. Demonstrating his capabilities as a reliable and driven individual, Norris and Johnson distinguished him with the title of Co-Founder following his graduation from UT Austin. He completed his BS in Advertising with High Honors and was recognized by the College of Communication as a Senior Fellow.

Allen Sockwell, Trey Weir, and Nigel Dessau currently helm the Board of Advisors for PitchPick. Sockwell is the founder of a consulting firm, Sockwell Performance Advisors, and was previously the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Talent Officer for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Weir has an extensive background in technology and entrepreneurship and currently operates his own enterprise, Trey Weir Media, which produces magazines, online recipes, and other media. Dessau is the principle consultant at Ad Claro Consulting based in Austin, Tx where he specializes in helping companies form or update their marketing organizations. Additionally, he is the driving force behind the website “The 3 Minute Mentor,” and was previously the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of AMD.

While Norris formed the original vision for PitchPick, Johnson largely developed its initial design and functionality. After designing the product for several months, the two brought on Talmadge to build a marketing strategy and eventually lead the PitchPick sales efforts. With PitchPick in its last stage of development, it is already being tested by a series of beta clients and will be ready for market within the next three months.

So roughly the concept is, the interviewee pitches the employer in the same way that a startup pitches potential investors in the first round of most contests?

That’s a great analogy! Whether you are a job candidate or a start-up, The Pitch is crucial for creating opportunity. From the hiring perspective, we’ve developed a platform for employers to evaluate a candidate on their ability to sell themselves and their potential value.

More after the break
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