Comments Off on Florida Startup: Path.To Expands Job Matching To Chicago, Boston And NYC0LikeLike 3,535
Jacksonville Florida based startup Path.to has announced an expansion of their job matching startup to three major cities. Chicago, Boston and New York City joined the Path.to network to connect potential job candidates to hiring employers.
Path.To connects the right people to the right jobs using their sophisticated, proprietary algorithms assuring both job candidates and hiring employers that their connection is more relevant than other job search platforms. The startup was founded last year by Darren Bounds who also serves as their Vice President of Product.
Path.To understands an applicants passion, personality and experience and says that they connect people with jobs they love.
In addition to the new markets Path.To has announced some new email features as well. Path.To will email job candidates available positions that the service feels are a good match for them. Path.To users searching for a job can opt out of certain employers if they feel that they aren’t a fit, and of course continue to apply for jobs that they feel are, the perfect fit.
The company also announced a social resume feature that will allow users to add their social network information, accounts and streams so that potential employers don’t have to dig through the internet to find it. This also insures that the candidate shares what they want from social media, and delivers a more “open” feeling in the job vetting process.
At this stage in the game, Path.To is still free for both applicants and employers although Bounds told TNW that they will shift to a paid model for employers later on this year.
Comments Off on Toronto Startup: Angel Tracking Gives Parents A Piece Of Mind INTERVIEW0LikeLike 2,081
AngelTracking is a new app startup out of Toronto Canada. The app is the latest from app development startup Berobo, who’ve already produced a lot of apps for Android, and Blackberry. This newest app, AngelTracking, allows parents to monitor their children’s smart phones in a variety of ways. Theres casual monitoring and then full blown, we’ll send you every text and email monitoring, which me hit a nerve with the privacy advocates.
AngelTracking offers real time stats, real time location and even “surveillance”. If you just want to keep up with your kids whereabouts because you’re concerned about their safety, AngelTracking may be for you. If you also want to see all their photos, messages and emails and get alerts as they travel throughout the city, AngelTracking can do that too.
While the verdict is still out on how well “privacy” nuts will adopt to this kind of surveillance tracking, we got a chance to interview the team behind the app. The interview is below the break:
Comments Off on Michigan Startup: What’s Shakin Tells You What’s Shakin By Location0LikeLike 1,871
While we try to manage our hashtags on Twitter every now and then we find that we deviate to make sure the umpteen hundred hashtags for events, startups and the like are all hit to gather the same news. When we’re at an event, conference or convention, those hash tags get worse.
Take the International Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas every January for instance. At this years CES there were people using #CES #CES2012 #CES12 #EurekaPark #CESLasVegas #CESLV and several other variants. What’s Shakin handles that problem.
What’s Shakin is able to manage the social media throughput at an event, or venue by location. Now it’s not about the tag but rather the location the tag was created in, providing people are using geolocation in conjunction with the tags.
Now if you wanted to keep up with the social activity at the One Direction concert you don’t have to track 20 different hash tags, just one location with What’s Shakin.
We got to talk to Chris Hashley (I know great last name for this right?), about What’s Shakin in the interview below the break.
Comments Off on Colorado Startup: Mile High Organics Closes Seven Figure Round0LikeLike 1,968
Boulder Colorado startup Mile High Organics has announced that they’ve closed a seven million figure seed round. The exact number wasn’t reported. However, there are some big names in the round including Dave McClure’s 500 startups and TA Venture of Kiev Ukraine. Mile High Organics will use th money to expand it’s high quality, cost-competitive grocery deliver service with new products and services.
“The key difference between Mile High Organics and other grocer services is that we emphasize quality of product and service while being price competitive,” said Mile High Organics CEO Michael Joseph. “Part of the reason we are able to do this is by distributing to Colorado’s entire Front Range through one distribution center — as opposed to dozens of stores.”
While grocery delivery services are hardly new, Mile High Organics is more like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s delivery, or even perhaps your neighborhood grocery co-op delivery rather than a huge supermarket. Online grocery services have been experiencing a huge surge. A recent Nielsen survey showed that consumers spent $12 billion in online grocery services since 2010. That figure is expected to more than double to $25 billion by 2014. In 2011 the online grocery service industry as a whole did $35 billion in sales
Despite a weak economy, Mile High Organics has seen tremendous growth since its launch in June 2010. The company employs 40 people and is currently hiring several more positions. It allows its customers to incorporate fresh, organic food into their diet for their best health and best life. In just less than two years, the company has achieved recurring orders by delighting thousands of members. Mile High Organics recently became the first U.S. Department of Agriculture certified organic online retailer, solidifying their industry leadership and consumer trust.
“We see Mile High Organics emerging as an important player in the online grocery industry,” said David McClure, founding partner of 500 Startups. “They are disrupting the $600 billion grocery industry in the United States.”
“Mile High Organics is an innovative player serving the largest consumer market in the United States, focusing on local organic food products and minimization of environmental impact,” said Viktoriya Tigipko, managing director of TA Venture. “The company is developing a truly disruptive e-grocery model to compete for the burgeoning natural and organic grocery market. We are very excited about our investment in Mile High Organics and are confident that the company is uniquely positioned and capable of becoming a leading player in the U.S. organic grocery delivery market and expanding its business to other countries.”
Mile High Organics now offers more than 600 grocery products, with an emphasis on providing as much local, seasonal organic produce and groceries as possible. It is the only Colorado retailer that supplies completely non-genetically modified foods, free from synthetic pesticides and chemical inputs.
A new startup in Atlanta called WorkityWork has set out on an ambitious goal of making people hate work less. While many actually like their jobs, there are equally as many who don’t like their jobs. This is what WorkityWork is hoping to do.
While we’ve reported on a couple of startups that allow people to give feedback about their workplace and job conditions both by name and anonymously, WorkityWork is about your co-workers. Work Place moral has become a hot space for new startups. We really like the ones that are taking advantage of front facing social media like Kebuki and this one. Although it has equally as silly a name as Kebuki, the idea behind using social media to recognize co-workers can be uplifting.
In fact, while Kebuki is a management tool, one of the key elements is a pat on the back from the manager. WorkityWork’s key element is a pat on the back from co-workers.
When you got that promotion, or came in under budget, your co-workers can send you Kudos. If the entire team hit a sales goal, you or your manager can recognize the entire team. You can even set your mood on WorkityWork using what they call Vibes.
Check out how WorkityWork works, in this video below.
We got a chance to talk with Ashli Norton co-founder of WorkityWork in this interview below the break. And yeah, after watching the video WorkityWork is more of a fun name than a silly one.
Comments Off on NY Start Up: Moteevate Keeps You Motivated To Get Through Your Plans0LikeLike 1,820
If you’re one of those people with great plans and bad follow through than this New York startup may be for you. Moteevate is a motivational site that helps people going on their goals and plans. This is achieved by offering a huge knowledge base of action plans that use easy and manageable steps for just about anything and everything.
Moteevate offers a ton of action plans on a wide range of topics like the arts, business and money, coaching and motivation, music, health and fitness, pets and many more.
You can also create your own goals and action plans and then recruit your social networks aka Facebook friends and motivate friends, to cheer you on and help you with your progress.
For instance, if you’re looking to lose weight you can set up an action plan for diet and exercise or use one of the suggested action plans via Moteevate. Either way, once you’ve picked your plan your friends can monitor your progress and help you out when you’re having an off day and cheer you on when you’re on target.
Moteevate has already helped users with job hunting, finishing their thesis, running, staying in shape while traveling and even conquering the medicine regiment associated with breast cancer. As they said in the interview below, Moteevate is for just about anything, and everything.
Simple is good, right? If that’s the case then you’re going to like the ease and simplicity built into UK gift giving startup Parcel Genie. Sure it’s got a “blah” name but remember Parcel may be much more glamorous in the UK, you know the way they add that “u” to colour it makes it more colourful (and boy does spell check hate it).
Parel Genie is available on iOS, Android and even Windows Phone 7. It makes sending gifts to your friends as easy as sending instant messages and texts.
“We are pioneering the concept of gifting as communication,” says John Taylor, CEO and co-founder of ParcelGenie. “With our service, people can respond to news from friends, co-workers and loved ones — an achievement at work, a personal goal achieved, a quick thank-you, or someone not feeling well — with an immediate, low-cost real little gift and personal message. ParcelGenie closes the gap between thought and action, making it easy to do something meaningful to deepen emotional connections with the people in our lives.”
With Parcel Genie you send small little gifts, almost like chotzkes to your friends and family via their mobile number. If you know their actual address you can enter it for delivery. If you don’t have their address or don’t have time to fumble with it, they’ll receive a text message notifying them that you’ve sent this great little gift and prompt them for their delivery address.
In Europe the service is called Parcel Genie and there’s a Parcel Genie app in the iTunes App Store, Google Play Store and whatever it is they call the app store in Windows Phone 7. In the United States and other countries Parcel Genie is actually a white labeled partner service for some of the major e-commerce sites out there. If you see a “send an instant gift” or a “ping” button it takes you to the Parcel Genie service on behalf of that partner.
The company’s website says they are totally international and are opening an office in California. Their management team includes Sir Chris Powell, an actual knight, who achieved knighthood for his role in British advertising.
Their CEO is Dr.John Taylor, who is an actual doctor ;). Taylor actually thought up the idea for Parcel Genie back in 2006. The management team rounds out with CTO Dr. Richard Tolcher and Bruce Garvey (who is a real Bruce).
What we like about this startup:
Well sending vouchers, gift cards and other executables seems so generic. Sending real presents with flower arrangements and cards is so, well 2006. We like the immediacy of Parcel Genie. We also like the fact that Parcel Genie eliminates the problem of “I would send someone a gift but I don’t have their address”.
Exploring their gift store a little more gives way to cool key chains, coffee mugs and even boxes of Jelly Belly’s, I mean who wouldn’t appreciate a box of genuine Jelly Belly’s.
The JumpStart organization in Cleveland Ohio is a non profit organization looking to help startups across the country. While Startup America does a great job on a broader scale, JumpStart focuses on women, minority and inner city based entrepreneurship. JumpStart is also a member and partner with Startup America.
The $250,000 grant came from the Surdha Foundation one of the nation’s oldest and largest family foundations. The foundation is headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1917 by John Emory Andrus, a successful New York businessman who served four terms in congress.
“Through our Strong Local Economies program, we aim to create robust and sustainable economies that include a diversity of businesses and sectors, improved access to quality jobs and opportunities for economic mobility. We are proud to support JumpStart in its efforts to expand this valuable program,” said Surdna’s president, Phillip W. Henderson.
“Minority and women entrepreneurs growing larger scale firms can contribute meaningfully to the country’s economic output by becoming more significant job creators,” says Darrin Redus, JumpStart’s Chief Economic Inclusion Officer. “With Surdna’s help, JumpStart can continue to develop and share inclusion best practices and make key connections that will help speed the growth, market entry and success of these high potential young companies.”
Along with the Knight Foundation, the charitable foundation that is the legacy of the Jack and Jim Knight, the brothers who started the Knight Ridder newspaper empire, Surdha is a founding partner of Jumpstart Inc.
Comments Off on Israeli Startup: GetTaxi Plans New York Expansion0LikeLike 1,863
New York City has reached out to all of the “mobile hailing” applications like Uber, Haillo and GetTaxi to submit proposals to become the official taxi cab hailing app for New Yorks millions of taxi cab users per week.
New York has an enormous amount of taxi cabs that are all sanctioned and controlled by New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. If you’ve been to New York you may have noted that the only cabs you see (and there are thousands of them) are yellow, they all run the same fares and have the same features.
Until now there was only one way to get a taxi cab in New York and that’s by going out on the side of the street and flagging one down. You can’t call the New York TLC and request a cab at a certain address. If you want to do that you need to use a sedan or car service, which can cost a lot more.
GetTaxi told nibletz.com in an email that the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission is specifically soliciting proposals for a mobile hailing app. They will only select one, and GetTaxi plans to be that app.
“The smartphone revolution is about to change the way we travel as profoundly as it has changed the way we communicate,” said Jing Wang Herman, CEO of GetTaxi USA and the proud holder of a New York City taxi license. “GetTaxi will take the guesswork out of the NYC taxi experience, making it easier to find a cab, share a ride and pay the fare. We are excited to help New York City improve mobility by better integrating taxis into the transportation ecosystem.”
Here’s how GetTaxi works:
· Find a cab: The GetTaxi App will provide a snapshot of transportation options, helping passengers see if their best option is a street hail, digital hail or booking a car.
· Pay any way you want: GetTaxi will be payment agnostic, enabling passengers to pay in any and every way possible, from a stored credit card to a digital wallet, through a monthly family plan to a direct company account, or even through alternative payment networks such as Dwolla or PayPal.
· Share a ride and split the fare: GetTaxi will introduce a simple ride-sharing feature that allows passengers to identify and join a shared ride, using GetTaxi to easily split the bill at the conclusion of the ride.
· Find an accessible or hybrid vehicle: With GetTaxi, New Yorkers will be able to track the location of special vehicles, making it easier to find the one you need.
· Earn loyalty points: Earn points every time you use GetTaxi that are redeemable for free rides and merchandise.
· Choose your language: GetTaxi will be available in New York in 16 languages, catering to the city’s diverse population and ensuring that it’s easy for tourists to get around as well.
· Rate your driver: Let your driver know they provided good service with a 5 rating.
· Find lost property: Because GetTaxi knows exactly which car you were in, we can quickly alert the driver that the passenger has left an item in the taxi.
GetTaxi has announced exciting partnerships with Des Moines Iowa based Dwolla for payment processing, and with HopStop which will allow GetTaxi users to combine their commute with more than one transportation method. Using HopStop users will be able to coordinate their cab ride with buses, subways and other transportation available in New York.
I was combing through over 5,000 emails from the last week and saw a pitch from Po-Motion in Winnipeg Canada. They said “please help it’s hard for us to get coverage out here”. So after I had them send back a one sentence pitch, and they sent back a full pitch, I was like, ok that’s what Po-Motion is all aboat (intentionally spelled wrong).
Po-Motion is affordable,customizable easy to use interactive floor and wall software. It’s like the Nintendo PowerPad on crack, but really without the pad, or the console. You simply connect your web cam and a projector to po-motion’s proprietary software and you’re literally off to the races, the ice rink, the dance hall, or wherever else your imagination takes you. Just check out this video so you understand what I’m talking about.
PO-MOtion is affordable, customizable, easy to use interactive floor and wall display software which responds to physical user activity. PO-MOtion is patent-pending, and includes a family of products to allow the audience to connect with the client’s message on an emotional level. A combination of award winning design, artificial intelligence, gesture controls, and motion tracking are used to make interactive advertising displays, promotional signage, and educational games for clients like Google Tokyo, Air New Zealand, and museums around North America.
PO-MOtion is designed for consumer grade electronics, making it accessible to a much wider market than competitive products. The Motion Maker customization tools, (available now), and contributor features, (launching next month), are free to try and allow a community of software users to create and share interactive floor and wall content through the PO-MOtion online platform.
What are some practical uses?
– Crazy video game
– an amazing version of Twister
– Dj’s bars and clubs will love this technology
– Science centers, museums and exhibitors
– Amazing golf games
– Amazing inter actives at restaurants and retail (check out the rock pond on their website)
and so much more.
Now here’s the best part, Po-Motion makes it easy for people with minimal programming experience to harness the power of their software. It’s also not bajillions of dollars. They have several very affordable plans for creating what you’re going to do with po-motion.
Comments Off on Austin Startups Get New Resource Center In Napkin Venture0LikeLike 1,794
The name napkin venture actually makes a whole lot of sense. I’m sure most of you have jotted down or sketched out a business idea on a napkin over dinner at a restaurant. In some cases those “napkin ventures” have actually been something, other times they’re cleared with the rest of the table scraps. Well Austin Texas based entrepreneur, and former city council candidate, Tina Cannon wants you to save those napkins and bring them to Napkin Venture to take your startup to the next level.
Napkin Venture plans on providing business and legal services to early stage companies. Everything form idea development to pitch development and even handling your first filings can all be done at Napkin Venture.
While this isn’t a venture capital fund, angel investment fund, incubator or accelerator they are offering valuable resources to entrepreneurs. They also have a legal package of services available for $3,000.00. So while Napkin Venture may be perceived as some as a pitch for legal services at a fee typically outside an early stage startups realm, the classes and other services they offer should off set that first feeling.
Napkin Venture was founded by Cannon who was the founder of PetsMD.com which was acquired by Pet360 in 2011. She’s also the entrepreneur in residence at Texas Sate University. The remainder of Napkin Venture’s Executive Team includes:
Chuck Miller an entrepreneur with a solid background in media. He is the designer of the bunch and has recently worked with; NASA, Halliburton, Miller Lite, Houston Texans, Pura Vida Tequila, and The Washington Times.
Eve Richter who has a deep rooted background in emerging technologies, and small business. Richter’s previous roles include; Emerging Technologies Coordinator in the Economic Development Division at the City of Austin, as well as a seat on the board of Austin Women in Technology. She is currently on the board of the Technology Advisors Group.
Raul Calvoz is the legal eagle on the executive team, and also has a background in both big business and growing early stage companies. He has held positions as the head of a global unit at 3M, and Vice President of Europe for top travel industry site Travelocity.
“I’ve been there, done that, have the t-shirt,” says founder Tina Cannon. “I’ve struggled out there and learned my lessons, and want to help other startups to avoid some of the mistakes I made, and get on the fast track to success. I’m excited to finally realize my goal of helping entrepreneur dreams become reality.”
Comments Off on Pittsburgh Startup: NoWait Is Kicks Restaurant Wait Times Ass0LikeLike 2,326
I like casual dining and I like chain restaurants. As you guys know we travel all the time, especially during our sneaker strapped nationwide startup road trip. Casual dining and chain restaurants save us time, and aggregation because I know what’s on the menu and what to expect.
One of the problems though is wait times. They vary from state to state and city to city. The way wait times are handled also varies from state to state, city to city and restaurant to restaurant. You may wait until your name is called over a PA system. You may have to wait until the host or hostess screams your name out loud. Or you may have to wait until the beeper/vibrator goes off in your pocket.
Here’s a scenario for you. You arrive at a nice casual dining restaurant or a chain, that’s in a nice big outdoor mall type shopping center. The Apple store is just across the parking lot, and too far for the restaurant pager to work. You want to go to the Apple store but you arrive at the restaurant at 7:25 and the Apple store closes at 9, oh well you’ll have to wait until another day.
Now imagine if the restaurant could automagically text you when your table is ready. Now you can go just about anywhere within reason, and wait for your table. Imagine if you could text the restaurant back and tell them you really need 20 more minutes.
All of this has become a reality thanks to Pittsburgh startup NoWait.
NoWait uses a system fueled by iPads and other iOS devices that keeps the host/hostess, managers, servers and customers in-sync thanks to the cloud. The host/hostess app has a very familiar feel to it, reminiscent of the paper, or white board systems that many restaurants have employed until now. But thanks to the power of Apple, the cloud and no wait, there’s a lot of back end functionality that maximizes convenience and time for the customer. Of course time is our most precious commodity.
This is the idea behind NoWait, founded by Robb Meyer, Luke Panza, Richard Colvin and James Belt.
Really it was all a matter of time before someone somewhere developed a system like this and, it happened to be these four guys, and according to their testimonial video it’s working out great. Their video includes feedback from managers of chains like the Spaghetti Warehouse and local favorites like Burgatory Bar in Pittsburgh.
Now of course we know that no startup is going to put bad testimonials into their video but the testimonials seemed authentic and there’s a lot of footage provided that shows active, busy restaurants utilizing the technology.
NoWait’s quick pitch is that they are the “Open Table” of casual dining. This seems like a good analogy but it may not necessarily do NoWait justice. Where OpenTable requires the adoption of the user themselves, NoWait brings to their technology to anyone who gets in line at the restaurant.
Now if you’re one of those people that doesn’t do texting, doesn’t have a text messaging plan or god forbid you don’t have a phone (chances are you aren’t reading this website), you can still have your name called and wait around the host stand. There won’t be a huge crowd waiting, everyone else will be out enjoying their evening until they get their text message.
One of our favorite sites, DailyDealMedia doesn’t quite understand how NoWait reduces wait time, so let’s explain it real quick.
Now using NoWait instead of pen and paper, you eliminate the messy writing that can mean you call Dan 100 times over the loudspeaker instead of Don. Dan and Don look a lot alike but tables are lost in this confusion. Now your hostess is explaining to Don why he lost his table, he’s upset, and the host staff is dealing with a situation, not calling tables.
Open tables (no pun intended) are stacking up in the back and now that there are 6 open tables in the restaurant it will actually take longer doing it the old fashion way because you can’t just walk a single file line through a restaurant and drop people off.
That’s just one example of how this decreases wait time.
Another way that it saves wait time is the ability to text back. Say I just got in a heated discussion at the Apple store and I tell the Spaghetti Warehouse I need 20 more minutes. They can now call the next person and bump me down.
Yes, NoWait is a great name for this innovative startup. I just hope they build scale quickly because waiting sucks.
Citizen Journalism startup Rawporter has reported some very exciting news themselves. The Charlotte based startup has announced that they’ve teamed up with freedom fighter and journalist Matthew VanDyke, who will provide 1st person perspective of the newly liberated Libya, for Rawporter users around the world to use for footage.
“Weʼre excited to participate in this incredibly unique opportunity, Matt is genuinely trying to make a
difference and weʼre extremely proud to assist in his efforts to bring more visibility to Libya while it
undergoes a massive transition,” said Kevin Davis, co-founder. “Weʼve been building a powerful
platform to help people share their stories and this is a great example of our vision being put into
practice.”
Rawporter will have a page (http://rawporter.com/pm/matthewvandyke) dedicated to Mr. VanDykeʼs videos and photos that anyone can view or purchase. Any proceeds from video and photo sales will be donated to a fund for the family of a journalist killed while reporting in a conflict zone. Additionally, Rawporter will be subsidizing a portion of Mr. VanDykeʼs expenses so that he can focus on his mission and worry less about logistics. Mr. VanDyke will attempt to make himself available to respond to assignments if possible but wants to reinforce that there will be significant limitations on his time.
“Citizen journalism played a key role in the Libyan civil war. The videos captured by Libyans in the early days of the revolution were broadcast through the internet and helped mobilize international support for the war. I believe that Rawporter is an innovative company that will facilitate the dissemination of Arab Spring footage from Libya, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere. Their technology will also assist in the broadcast of revolutionary footage from beyond the Arab world that is essential to attracting the attention of the international community to support struggles for freedom worldwide. My partnership with Rawporter is another opportunity for me to contribute to the cause of freedom, as well as another cause I care deeply about – journalism and freedom of the press. I hope that my participation can help expand Rawporterʼs market and give another way for the voices of the oppressed to be heard,” said Matt VanDyke.
Rawporter offers a unique app for both iOS and Android phones that allows users to participate in the action and supply “citizen journalistic” videos and photos for news outlets, media sites, blogs and more to use across the Rawporter network.
Adding this partnership with VanDyke solidifies Rawporter’s commitment to full fledged journalism in addition to their innovative platform.
Comments Off on California Startup: PortfolioDashboards Helps Investors Manage Startup Investments0LikeLike 2,244
If you’re an angel investor, venture capitalist or have any other kind of hand in investing in startups and early stage companies, than you know that tracking your investments isn’t as easy as you would like it to be. That is until now.
Orange County California based startup PortfolioDashboards offers something that angel investors and VC’s have been longing for. Their problem, was to find a better way to track investments in startup companies and they’ve done it.
PortfolioDashboards was founded by Ancestry.com alumnus Kerry Kane. Kane ran digital marketing at Ancestry.com and has had his hand in many different startup companies. Ancestry.com alumni are starting all kinds of companies. Just over a week ago we interview Jesse Gant, also an ancestry.com alumni who started Recmnd.Me
We got a chance to interview Kane about PortfolioDashboards. Check that interview out, after the break.
Kyle
Jacksonville Florida based startup Path.to has announced an expansion of their job matching startup to three major cities. Chicago, Boston and New York City joined the Path.to network to connect potential job candidates to hiring employers.
