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Disrupt Is Like Shark Tank, Capital Connection & TechBUZZ Are Like Pitching To Trump

We saw some of the best and brightest new startups from primarily the greater Washington DC area, at TechBUZZ today. TechBUZZ kicks off the annual CapitalConnection conference which focuses on private equity, startups, growth companies and emerging trends.

Capital Connection is celebrating its 25th anniversary super serving the private investment community in the greater Washington DC area. When Capital Connection first started out most of the investors invested in companies within 100 miles of their homes here. Nowadays with the global change in startup climate, angel funding and venture funding, the hundreds of investors at the conference represent a global community.

Although we’ve been to Launch, DEMO and TechCrunch Disrupt (even yesterday), Capital Connection feels different. It’s a more seasoned crowd of investors ranging from angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity firms and more. Where you get the feeling that the angel and VC firms we read about in TechCrunch and PandoDaily every day, are great people but even fairly new themselves, the Capital Connection conference feels like more seasoned, and dare I even say “old money”.

A better analogy may be, that where pitching at TechCrunch Disrupt, DEMO or Launch would be like pitching to Shark Tank, Capital Connection feels more like pitching to Donald Trump.

Where we wore shots and nibletz t-shirts yesterday we’re in slacks and polos today and possibly a bit underdressed. If you’ve ever been to a startup conference it’s typically shorts, crocs and your startups t-shirt. Presenters today are in long sleeves, some with their startup t-shirt hanging out and some in ties and jackets.

All of this atmosphere makes the pitch seem a little more formal and probably a little tougher on the startup.

We’ll be bringing you coverage over the next couple of days from this amazing conference.

28 Startups Compete For Best of The Buzz In Washington DC, 3 Are Victorious

We’re now bringing you coverage from both TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 and CapitalConnection 12/TechBUZZ in Washington DC.

Today in the nation’s capital 28 different companies did four minute pitches to a packed house vying for “Best of the BUZZ”. Those three companies will head to the Main Stage tomorrow afternoon to compete in the TechBuzz Showdown.

In this contest the audience is given the power to vote via the Disruptathon app.

The 28 companies were:

CloudeAssurance, Inc.

By audience vote the three “Best of BUZZ” at this years TechBUZZ 12 are:

Augaroo
Cont3nt
Speek

Augaroo is building a next generation real time big data visualization system called Zoomdata. The system processes real-time data streams and generates tactile, interactive visualizations on web and mobile denies. Through Zoomdata, which is currently beta testing, users can experience data analysis in an entirely new way.

Cont3nt.com was the winter of the Startup America TechBUZZ Challenge Contest earlier this month. They won the coveted 28th presenter spot in today’s competition. Cont3nt is a real-time marketplace for entrepreneurial media and visual journalism. The platform allows video journalists to monetize their content in new disruptive ways without having to “know somebody”.

Speek is a simplified conference calling ervice which leverages modern web services and VOIP/Telephony takeaways. Speek users will be able to own a “Spek” line which may be shared via a personal URL. Speek leverages viral growth principals and will offer free and premium services.

TechBUZZ kicked off today in Washington DC with a keynote from Founder and CEO of Opower Dan Yates. Tonight will be an evening of festivities celebrating the “Sterling Companies” alumni of the 25 year Capital Connection program.

Tomorrow there will be pitches on the main stage by companies who are a little further along then the ones today. They may come seeking funding, they could also be pre-IPO. No matter what, Nibletz the voice of startups everywhere else, will bring you all the action.

Tomorrow rounds out with a keynote by America Online founder Steve Case. Later tomorrow evening is a TechCocktail DC Sessions event with Startup America CEO Scott Case (no relation).

We Talk With Sonar CEO Brett Martin One Year Later, Meet The Here Now Network.

Last year at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC we were out in full force to support Ocean City Maryland native Brett Martin. I city I practically grew up in and lived in for nearly 8 years of my formative years. Aside from that Sonar was the first of true social discovery apps and it was very cool then, and even cooler now after todays announcements.

We were totally stoked when Martin and the Sonar team made it to the finals where they came in as a runner up to high end peer to peer car rental startup, Get Around.

We wanted to know what it was like for the last year for the Sonar team. They didn’t win the cup last year but it seems that being a finalist was just as good.

They tripled their office size from 3-9 and they’ve added a whole new suite of features. They also launched an Android beta, which Martin assures me will be released to the public shortly.

Wednesday at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 it was all about the Here Now Network. Back in March on a phone call with Martin I expressed some worry over the initial Sonar concept. It was fresh and new in May 2011 but by March 2012 there were apps like Highlight, Banjo and Glancee in the space. Martin kept telling me that they were working on things on their back end that he couldn’t talk about but they would blow me away.

Those things Martin showed off today at Disrupt, the Here Now Network, move Sonar far ahead of the competition again.

Sure there are plenty of apps that do discovery and proximity based discovery but Sonar and the Here Now Network are all about your own personal network of people who are here now. Your closest friends, business associates and family members who are in your immediate area are what matters most.

Martin describes some great use cases in the video below. For example when he steps off the subway on his way into work he checks in. He leaves a status “Just got off the subway, headed to Starbucks does anyone want anything”. That message is broadcast to the Sonar team (his coworkers) as soon as he passes by the office door just down the street from Starbucks. Now he can pick up coffee and bagels for everyone without picking up his phone any more than just checking in and looking at the order.

Another example he gives is that his team likes to go out to an outdoor food court sometimes. They all get different items from different vendors and if one of them finds a table they just check in and say “I found a spot in the shade, southeast corner”. The message is broadcast to his teammates.

There are endless things you can do with that feature.

Check out our talk with Brett Martin on the new features, life for the past year and where he and Sonar are going. We recently saw social discovery exit Glancee take an early exit to Facebook. Martin tells us he’s in it for the long haul.

Boston Startup: DailyFeats, Achieve Your Goals For Health & Well Being INTERVIEW

Sure everyone sets a New Years resolution and typically within a few weeks (if not shorter) the resolution is all but thrown out the window. You’re intentions may be great but the drive, and motivation isn’t there. The same can hold true when you set a goal, like losing weight to fit into a swim suit or quitting smoking.

Well a very cool startup in Boston called DailyFeats is here to help you stay on track, and motivate yourself to achieve your goals and it’s working.

DailyFeats is a reward based habit tracker. It takes your big goals like, quitting smoking and helps reduce them into smaller, more achievable goals, like baby steps. Maybe you need to decrease your cigarette intake or, cut back on the bars you go to where you tend to smoke more. Perhaps you need to eliminate a small stress trigger that signals you to smoke a cigarette. If you can achieve these smaller goals, you can ultimately conquer your bigger goals.

DailyFeats offers a two-fold reward system. The user can request what they’d like to receive for achieving their goal or they can earn points which can be converted to actual dollars and then donated to charity, essentially paying it forward.

DailyFeats was co-founder by two brothers Veer Gidwaney and Vinay Gidwaney along with their science advisor Meghan Searl.

We got a chance to talk with DailyFeats about the startup and how they can help people achieve their goals for health and well being.

Check out the interview, after the break
Read More…

Ukraine Startup: activegift, Never Get The Wrong Gift Again

After reading the headline you’re probably thinking that this Ukraine startup is just another gift registry platform, nope! If you had to give activegift some kind of label, a reverse gift registry may be your best bet.

Co-Founders Artem Sukhoroslov and Max Krylov have created a gift platform that insures you don’t get someone the wrong gift.

Here’s how it works:

Say your birthday, bar mitzvah or Christmas is coming up. You would sign up for activegift and let your friends and family know you have an account there. From there your friends would sign up too. After they sign up they would think of gifts they want to get for you. activegift then anonymizes the gift ideas and sends them back to the recipient. The recipient then gives the gifts a thumbs up or thumbs down.

The recipient can thumb up or thumb down multiple gifts so that they don’t automatically know everything they’re going to receive.

The gift purchaser then gets informed that the recipient has completed their activegift list and with a push of a button they can purchase the gift right there online. See insurance that you will never again buy the wrong gift.

We talk to Artem and Max about activegift and starting up in the Ukraine. Check out the video from TechCrunch Disrupt NY’s Startup Alley, below:

DC Startup: GrandStand Takes Social Engagement To A Whole New Level VIDEO INTERVIEW

We found a DC startup called Grandstand on #startup alley at TechCrunch Disrupt. What they’re doing will blow some businesses away. Watch the video for some great use cases and the technical explanation. I’m going to describe it in layman’s terms. If you’re a business looking to get real engagement out of social media pay attention.

What Grandstand does is takes aggregated social media data, pulls it and applies it to real world engagements. Think of the Twitter wall concept that burst into popularity around two years ago. Every conference you went to and even some company headquarters would show a hashtag or a Twitter ID on a big television screen for the world to see.

If you’ve ever been to a GDGT event they’re known for their Twitter walls where you’ll find people staring in awe at the Twitter wall waiting for their tweet to show up. The Twitter wall concept is all well and good but in the end you’re just looking at Tweets.

Grandstand takes the Twitter wall concept along with other social networks and for lack of better terminology at 1am while writing this story, makes the tweets, likes, check-ins, statuses and mentions do stuff.

For instance Grandstand has a display at Volkswagon’s headquarters in Germany that shows tweets, and checkins on a map of the globe, and in other unique ways on multiple floor to ceiling screens (check it out it’s in the video).

At South By Southwest in Austin Texas this year Grandstand had a lot of people talking about a refrigerator stocked full of beer. When 10 people checked into the venue the refrigerator unlocked and automagically opened. How cool is that.

Forget text to win, Twitter walls and “like us for a smoothie”, if you’re a company or brand looking to get the most out of your social media you need to check out this video and contact them… NOW!

Linkage:

Get more info on Grandstand here at get grandstand.com

Here’s more of our great TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage

We’re sneaker-strapping it on a nationwide startup road trip, help the cause here

Bethlehem PA Startup: Weather Trades Video Interview

Rarely have I found a company that deals with a force that disrupts more lives than any other issue. Weather. We’ve all watched the local meteorologist completely drop the ball and get it wrong. Weather Trades, a spin-off from Weather Trends International, has a product that could change the way you live. Seriously.

Here in the United States the typical yearly vacation time is an extremely limited two weeks. We take huge risks when we book our travel for that short period of time. Have you ever been to an outdoor wedding that ended up inside? Have you ever wondered if you should keep those winter clothes out for another 6 weeks? I have been directly or indirectly affected by each of these scenarios. If you could see a weather forecast for the next year – worldwide – with an accuracy of 80% or better how would your life be different?

Imagine you are the largest retailer in the world, and you have to decide to purchase air conditioners from the manufacturers but cannot decide whether or not to buy all of the stock or a third of it. Walmart had to make that decision:

“We bought all of the home center’s uncommitted air circulation orders from the manufacturers and had a great year. Our sell through was 98% compared to 85% last year based solely on a huge decision we made using your year-ahead summer forecast. A $130,000,000 win in one category.” Gordon Erickson, Senior Vice President Merchandising-Hardlines

Commodities Traders:

WTI is the ONLY company in the world that provides YEAR-AHEAD forecasts that can be integrated into trading models and other business applications. WTI provides a complete suite of products and services for commodity traders, energy traders, and the entire agricultural industry. This includes typical short range-forecasting services along with proprietary year-ahead global forecasts and analytical assessments for grains, sugar, energy, and other weather driven commodity markets across the globe.

Travel Sites: After approaching the more popular travel sites on the internet and being turned down Weather Trades turned their sites on TechCrunch Disrupt to hopefully find developers, startups, and investors who can build upon the unique tools that they’ve created. In all honesty this is the startup that had me most excited. To see a little more check out the interview by Kyle below. I will also be reviewing their wt360 Pro app in the coming days. It’s available in the App Store and Google Play

Find out more about Weather Trades here

Check out more of our TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage here

We’re on a sneaker strapped, nationwide, startup road trip, for more on that (and to support our cause) click here

We Check Out NY Startup Knodes Social Context API At TechCrunch Disrupt

Ron Williams, the co-founder of SnapGoods and Knodes, caught our eye on the second day of TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012. Knodes is a social data driven context API. You’ve probably heard the term SaaS before (Software as a service), Knodes is a BadasS startup (Big Data As A Service) according to Williams.

Now we’re accustomed to getting pitches. We receive hundred of pitches a week via email, Twitter, Facebook, Google plus and in person. We know what to look for and how to cut through the pitch clutter that most entrepreneurs have to use to get noticed and talk the talk. We’re 100% guilty of doing the same thing. However, Williams is a show me person, so today he showed me an amazing API.

Knodes takes social data form all the major social networks. We’re not just talking profiles, likes or interests, we’re talking about all of that and actual conversation data too, to find the relevant people pertaining to whatever it is you’re looking for.

At Nibletz I’m the Content Director. We decided we didn’t want an Editor in Chief and content directing, procuring and writing is what I do among a million other things. There are a few Content Directors out there but that’s the title on my personal Twitter profile. For the demonstration of Knodes Williams typed Content Director in the box and I was the second result listed.

I thought, wouldn’t it be great for startups to be able to use the Knodes tool. If they wanted to make a pitch for coverage they could simply check the word Editor, and of course it served up hundreds of editors, and notably, the ones that were closest to us first.

Williams sees Knodes as a very valuable tool and service for developers, publishers and many more. The foundation for it is solid and it’s very fast. Williams says it was born out of a need to better search things in his other successful startup SnapGoods. SnapGoods was one of the first peer to peer rental sites in the space. Many are copying his model.

Coincidently Williams shared with me the crazy story about how they came up with SnapGoods too. Since it’s not in the video I’ll tell you.

Williams had started dating his now fiancé, back in 2009. He wanted to impress her by taking her out for a motorcycle ride. The problem was he didn’t own a motorcycle, and you can’t rent them anywhere. Sure you can rent a Vespa but if you’ve met Williams a Vespa really isn’t his style. He wanted a hog.

So on a whim, Williams took to Craigslist and was able to rent a motorcycle from a complete stranger for $250. After he did that he decided more people good do things like that. It’s more experience driven than needs. As SnapGoods grew, Williams needed to build a better search and that’s where the original idea for Knodes came about.

Enough of that, check out the video below:

Linkage:

Find out more about Knodes here at knod.es (developers especially)

For more of our TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage click here

Nibletz is on a sneaker strapped, nationwide, startup road trip, check it out here and support us if you can

New Orleans Startup: Red Ticket Games Shows Off Extreme Trivia At TechCrunch Disrupt VIDEO INTERVIEW

Here at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 we got a chance to meet Barrett Conrad, CEO and PlayerOne at Red Ticket Games. Red Ticket Games is based in the Silicon Bayou, New Orleans to be exact.

We talked with him a bit about their innovative trivia game called Extreme Trivia where you can become an expert on anything, especially because the user creates the questions.

The game is a break from traditional trivia games. One of it’s mean differentiators is the fact that the users create the questions. To conceptualize that idea, think of a it like this: You’ve got a group of friends and you probably have some common interests. Well most trivia games will have the generalized questions based on your topic, but with Extreme Trivia you can do relevant questions based on your knowledge.

Imagine if the guys from Big Bang Theory played a game like this. Obviously their intellectual ability far outshines the game writers at Parker Brothers, but with creating your own questions you have a better chance at stumping your friends, or helping them out.

As a special part of this interview our managing editor Cameron Wright talked to Conrad a bit about the thriving startup scene in New Orleans and what it’s been like to rebuild after the storm. Admittedly there wasn’t much of a startup scene in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina. After the storm New Orleans was like an open canvas in their rebuild.

While New Orleans hip hop scene migrated to Atlanta, Houston and Dallas, their tech scene started to bubble. In fact there was just a launchpad event earlier this month right smack dab in the middle of Jazz Fest.

Whether you want to know more about Red Ticket Games, Extreme Trivia or the New Orleans startup scene, you should definitely check out this video.

Linkage:

Find out more about Red Ticket Games and Extreme Trivia Here

Check out more of our TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage here

We’re on a sneaker strapped, nationwide, startup road trip, for more on that (and to support our cause) click here

Philly Startup Snip Snap, Putting Print Coupons In The Digital Space

Snip Snap founder Ted Mann presenting at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 (photo: nibletz inc)

A new startup mobile app called Snip Snap presented today during the first session of Tech Crunch Disrupt’s Battlefield. Snip Snap is in the pool of 30 other startups competing for 50,000 dollars and the Disrupt cup. I loved the idea so much that I started writing this article while Snip Snap founder Ted Mann was still presenting.

The idea for the app is incredible (hence why I am writing about it right this second). Basically you take a picture of an actual print coupon out of your newspaper or direct mail. The picture uploads to the app, makes note of the barcode and the expiration date and goes into your virtual wallet.

Once in your wallet the coupon can be shared with other users. That gives the app a second life. I remember when I moved away from home my mom would send me her coupons from the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post now with this app you can get coupons from major stores across the country. If you didn’t know, sometimes a Bed Bath & Beyond may have a great deal on something in California and not in New York and vice versa.

MC Hammer questions Snip Snap founder Ted Mann At TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 (photo: nibletz inc)

With all this nationwide coupon sharing, there is a function in the app that lets you report back to the Snip Snap network on whether or not the user was successful redeeming the coupon.

The judges met Snip Snaps founder with the immediate questions you would think of like, what about coupon fraud. Right now it’s totally up to the merchant on whether they are going to a) accept the coupon via an image on your phone and b) whether they want to honor the deal. Surprisingly there is still an 80% success rate with the coupons currently in snip snap.

Other features include:

Expiration date reminders
In store reminders (when you enter a store that you have a coupon for, Snip Snap lets you know)
Use for any coupons, it doesn’t matter what the coupon is for
Share with friends

You can find Snip Snap in the app store now.

Boston Startup: Brass Monkey Is A Fun Interactive Mass Challenge Grad VIDEO INTERVIEW

We found an awesome startup out of Boston Massachusetts called Brass Monkey. In addition to having an uber cool name the technology is cool, innovative and fun, a definite recipe for great success.

Brass Monkey allows the user to play fun, interactive games on their computer’s monitor or any other monitor with a browser, using their iPhone as a controller. The iPhone controller utilizes all the sensors in the iPhone to create an interactive experience. In the demo video below we check out a golf game, similar to Wii Golf, that allows you to use the iPhones motion sensors to control the iPhone like a golf club.

There are currently 10 games available. Brass Monkey has a free SDK for developers who are interested in developing games on their system.

Brass Monkey is a recent graduate of the Mass Challenge program, which they credit as a large part of their success thus far. They also received a $750k round of funding in January of this year which included the co-founders of Kima Ventures, Jeremie Berrebi, David Beyer, CEO of Chart.io, Founder and Managing Director of Boston Seed Capital Nicole Stata, and more.

Check out the video below:

Louisville Startup: Implucity Headed To Cincinnati Incubator, The Brandery

Louisville startup Implucity is headed to a 14 week accelerator program in Cincinnati called The Brandery. Along with a 14 week incubation period, office space and mentorship Implucity will receive $20,000 in seed capital.

Implucity is a mobile app that allows users to discover events, purchase tickets, invite friends to events and send photos. Co-founder Hunter Hammonds told the Business Journal that there were plenty of times that he wanted to go out but didn’t know what to do, Implucity solves that problem.

“We’re not trying to be a social network at all,” Hammonds said. “It’s not about who I am. It’s about what I’ve been doing.”

There are several apps in the exact same space, during their time at The Brandery they are going to really need to work on refining their secret sauce.

According to Hammonds and co-founder Austin Cameron, they’ve raised under $250,000 so far, and hope to raise over $2 million after their session at The Brandery. Right now their secret sauce relies on the fact that Implucity isn’t a social network, it’s focused on the singular user to find events to do and then share.

“I think that’s something we can hit because the user experience is awesome,” Hammonds said. “It’s just a cool product for you to use. It’s not a social network so we don’t rely on your friends. We just rely on you wanting to do something.”

Linkage:

Check out Implucity here

Source: Business Journal

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Israeli Startup: Brayola All Bras Are Not Created Equally Video Interview

Here’s something you probably didn’t think I would say, I learned a lot about boobies at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012. Well, not so much boobies as bras. See as a dude, I’ve been wearing the same Starter brand ankle socks and Hanes brand boxers since high school (now a whopping 20 years), no not the same actual pairs but those are the brands I get. Women don’t have it quite as easy.

Now if you’ve ever been with the lady in your life on a trip to Victoria’s Secret you probably thought, man there are a lot of bras and panties in here. Well there are, but there are even more bras out in the world. How many? Well Brayola’s database of bras has over 5000 different bras in it.

I know, you’re probably thinking database of bras? Well Brayola founder Orit Hashay probably knows more about bras than Victoria herself. Hashay explained that she was in the mall in Israel looking for some really nice bras. She found two that she liked that were about $60 USD a piece, so she bought them. Well after wearing them a couple of times each they started to stretch and expand. She had to stop wearing these expensive bras. This got her frustrated.

Harshay didn’t understand why it had to be so hard to find bras. Well her startup Brayola, solves that problem.

In the video at the bottom of the post, she takes us on a step by step walk through of how Brayola works.

To summarize: A woman signs up for a free Brayola account. Once the account is established she enters in the brand, type and size of her favorite bras. Harshay is quick to point out that the user needs to enter the size of the bras not her bras size. As Harshay found out, all bras are not created equally. A 34D at Victoria’s Secret could be a totally different size at Fredericks of Hollywood, or any of the other hundred or more bras vendors out there.

Through data base information and crowd sourcing Harshay and Brayola have created a database that can account for different bras sizes and tell you what your size would be in another brand at another store, based on the size of your favorite bras.

There are several options for women and their bras and Brayola accounts for them all. It helps the woman select new bras based on her preferences. She can then store here favorite bras in her virtual door under categories for example sexy, sports bras, wire bras etc. You can choose to buy one at a time, or empty out your entire set of drawers.

When you’re ready to buy, Brayola takes you to the vendor that has that particular bras and voila, new bras on the way in the mail and you didn’t even need to get fitted.

Check out the video below. Harshay is very enthusiastic about Brayola and she knows a lot about bras. She taught me a lot today about bras (not boobies).

See more of our TechCrunch Disrupt coverage here

We’re on a sneaker strapped nationwide startup road trip, find out more here!

Boston Startup: About Last Night The Ultimate Night Life Social App

We love About Last Night for several reasons. First off the crazy Bostonian serial entrepreneurs who co-founded About Last Night are pretty awesome. About Last Night is one of several startups that are incubating in their own personal incubator. Brothers Darren Dodge and Derek Dodge have a bunch of their own startups “cooking in the microwave, we just open the door and check on them” says Darren.

But really, the great thing about About Last Night is the robustness of the platform. They left no stone unturned, but at the same time the UI is appealing and not too cluttered.

About Last Night is about sharing the good times you had last night. The About Last Night crew showed off good times spent Sunday night in Times Square, at Bubba Gumps and other fine establishments around New York.

The app allows you to follow people you don’t know (like Twitter), People you do know (like Facebook) and your favorite night spots and locations (like a reverse FourSquare), again it’s like leaving no stone unturned. It feels a bit like path, but it’s more about the jello shots you did at the Ale House, not waking up at 7:35 with a hangover and brushing your teeth.

They’ve been working on About Last Night for the last six months and they’ve come out with an easy and fun to use app. They’ve got plenty of time to work on even more startups, ya know with the Red Sox sucking and all…

Check out the video below:

Linkage:

Find out About Last Night here

More TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2012 coverage here

We’re on a sneaker-strapped nationwide startup road trip, check it out here (and support us please)