SXSW Virgins: Norfolk Startup VinylMint

This week starts our 12th South By Southwest, the last four have been spent as a tech journalist and before that I attended the music portion during my radio career. SXSW can be intimidating for a first timer, especially a first time startup, that’s why we’re featuring some great SXSW Virgins, seek them out, find out more about them and help them out if you can.

VinylMint is a cool startup in Norfolk part of the Hatch Norfolk accelerator program. As a startup in the music business, SXSW is two fold for them.

What is your startup?
Vinylmint has crowd-sourced the sound design and recording process and
organized a new marketplace for transactions between sound creators.

Where are you based?
Vinylmint is based in Norfolk, Virginia

What do you do?
Vinylmint is built for creative directors and musicians. Vinylmint delivers a contest
sourced pre-production utility for sounds for on-the-go users through both web-
and mobile-based apps. Vinylmint functions as the collaborative front-end for the
users to integrate apps that increase the speed of productivity, better organizes data
and social connections, and decreases the cost of production adding convenience to
the process overall.

Vinylmint meets the following needs of the creative directors:

Simplifies project management and centralizes communication with
freelance musicians to a reliable, standardized process
Creates a fixed cost in creative budgets by organizing an open-bid contest
system in a global community of talented, competitive musicians
Quick and endless access to a marketplace equipped with a variety of sounds,
effects, voiceovers, and translations from around the world
Digitizes the process of signing and submitting legal documents, which
streamlines transactions.

Vinylmint allows musicians to:

Socially connect with music talent around the world.
Rich, near-time collaboration
Simplicity and user friendliness
Mobility and portability
Introduces the music production process to the amateur musician
A low cost solution for cash strapped educational institutions

Is this your first time to SXSW?
This will be Vinylmint’s first time at SXSW.

What are your plans at SXSW?
Our plan is to connect with key tastemakers in the music and film business to
expose them to Vinylmint in unique ways. We will blend the use of Vinylmint in the
performances of some of the DJs in unique ways, so that they may test the product
and become product evangelist of the brand. SXSW’s Music and Film week presents
a premier opportunity to grow Vinylmint’s brand.

How can people connect:

Website: www.vinylmint.com

Twitter: @vinylmint

Facebook: facebook.com/vinylmint

Check out more of our SXSW 13 coverage here

Frobot Is The RedBox Of Frozen Yogurt

Jeremy O’Sullivan and Melissa Nelson are two entrepreneurs in Southern Virginia. Nelson is a self proclaimed (well actually co-founder proclaimed) frozen yogurt fanatic. O’Sullivan is a CPA by trade but decided to jump out of the corporate world and into the startup world when the two of them launched FroBot.

Nowadays there’s a vending machine for everything. If you venture over to Asia there’s a wider variety of vending machines than even here in the states. But go to any major city in the U.S. and most airports and you’ll find a Best Buy in a machine, an Ice Cream machine, crazy new soda machines and even the Dippin Dots machine.

Nelson and O’Sullivan have created a new kind of vending machine called FroBot. FroBot is the smallest single unit frozen yogurt retailer and is as simple (or perhaps simpler) to use than even RedBox.

What about the quality of frozen yogurt in a machine?

Nelson tells nibletz.com: After extensive research we’ve found the best frozen yogurt comes from… freezing real organic yogurt, flavored with organic ingredients…not that cheap frozen chemical water junk that too many shops are serving. We’ll never serve a product that has ingredients using 10+ syllable words only a chemist understands.

Check out the rest of our interview with FroBot below

Cardigin Gets To The Root Of Customer Loyalty For Their Loyalty Platform

Charlottesville Virginia startup Cardigin isn’t about rewards games, checking in, or loyalty cards. Their loyalty platform gets to the roots of what customers are actually doing in their favorite establishments and then allows businesses to play right into those trends to keep loyalty customers coming back for more.

In the past two years we’ve all seen that loyalty and rewards startups are literally a dime a dozen, however Cardigin’s founder and CEO Rob Masri saw that everyone was doing it wrong.

“We witnessed first-hand local establishments attempting a myriad of conventional approaches to their loyalty programs – buy-10-get one-free punch cards, keychain fobs, paper coupons, social media, check-in games and daily deals – none of which produced significant profits or customer retention.” Masri told us in an interview.

Cardigin has an iOS app and an Android app as well but Masri knows there are still a lot of customers out there that either aren’t using their smartphones for things like loyalty or are much more comfortable without fumbling with technology while grabbing a latte. That’s why businesses using Cardigan can sign customers up with just their phone number. Once the establishment has the customers phone number they can start earning loyalty rewards real rewards that they will use.

Check out the rest of our interview with Masri below.

Richmond Startup: Lending Clouds, Legally Crowdfunding Startups NOW!

One of the biggest steps in supporting startups in 2012 was the passing of the JOBS Act. The act itself was passed earlier this year and then turned over to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), to develop regulations. The JOBS Act is the legislation that will eventually make it possible to use crowdfunding sites, similar to how Kickstarter functions, to sell off micr0-equity stakes in companies up to $1 million dollars.

The SEC had originally announced that they would be done setting up the regulations back in July, however that was quickly moved to January of 2013. At this time it’s unclear as to when crowdfunding for equity in startups will officially start.

Several “crowdfunding” startups have launched. Others have launched websites with beta invites and LaunchRock’s in preparation for when they’ll truly be able to crowdfund for equity. Other sites have set up the ability to support startup companies with mico investments in exchange for “perks” like t-shirts, swags and hardware samples.

Barry Rickert, a 40 year veteran in the private equity field, has used his vast knowledge and experience, along with the law, to side step the JOBS Act and create a way to fund startups now.

His Richmond startup, Lendingclouds, is going to give back royalties instead of equity and to get that you need to join the sites “club”.

The combination of royalty based small business financing offers no debt and no personal guarantees to small business that need capital to grow, while at the same time giving investors access to high yield investments that pay immediate income. It’s really quite ingenious. The members only, online Crowdfunding Investment store brings together entrepreneurs and investors in a unique manner designed to benefit both. The funding group provides exclusive investment opportunities to members who bring as little as $100 to the table. Lending Clouds does this by accepting applications from entrepreneurs, which once approved, are offered to investors.

Investor members participate in what is known as crowdfunding. Rickert’s form of crowdfunding is focused on pooling resources to invest funds in new businesses, products and ideas that provide royalty based returns. Members are able to spread their funds amongst many different investments, which lessens their risk. Returns of 25%+ are expected on successful ventures. In 20 years, this can result in a $5,000 investment paying $1 million.

“We’re looking forward to working we people who have never invested before,” says Lending Clouds President, Barry Rickert, “and who may have a few hundred dollars or more to put towards various projects and products. There are a few unique aspects to Lending Clouds and crowdfunding, which makes us especially attractive to investors and entrepreneurs.” Rickert adds, “Unlike the stock market, investors don’t need a lot of money, and they start to see payments come back to them within 60 to 90 days.”

Members have access to exclusive listings posted on the Lending Clouds online store. They may read through the various opportunities and decide to put money in one or more projects. Once all funding is in place, an Investment Club is created as the vehicle for making the group investment. The club money is released to the user/grantee (entrepreneur) in return for a royalty agreement that details the product or service to be sold and the royalty to be paid over the term of the agreement. Investors start to receive payments as per the agreement between the user/grantee and grantor/investor usually within 30-90 days.

Rickert notes, “The opportunities we are providing investors with are easier to understand than stock offerings, with terms explicitly stated. Our investment opportunities are for expansion and growth with entities that are already established and familiar to our investors. This also helps to lessen risk.” He observes, “Grantees are looking for as little as $25,000 and as much as $2 million, with the average fund being capitalized at about $100,000. An investor can put as little as $100 into a fund.”

As part of Rickert’s lean startup strategy, he is giving away a significant number of $100 credits to new members, with no strings attached. About the only catch (if you can call it a catch) is that investors must pick an investment that gets funded. However, if it doesn’t, they’re free to use the funds to pick another investment. Rickert also states that while the offerings are very small today, he has some million dollar deals in the pipeline.

While hundreds of crowdfunding sites popped up the minute the JOBS Act was officially passed, Lending Clouds is not a flash in the pain, or a scam. Rickert has decades of experience in the field and has come up with the quickest, easiest and most legal way to start using crowdfunding mechanics to invest now, not when the SEC is ready.

Linkage:

Go see for yourself at lendingclouds.com

Here are more startup stories from “everywhere else”

Crowdfunding will be big at the largest startup conference in the world

University Of Virginia Students Launch Seed-Ville Startup Online/Offline Hybrid

Crowdfunding is by far the hottest startup space of 2012. With the passing of the JOBSAct more and more startup founders are launching some kind of crowdfunding startup. We’ll soon see how successful they are after the SEC brings back the crowdfunding regulations and the crowdfunding sites really take off to fund startups in exchange for crowd-funded micro-equity.

One thing we started to see popping up this past summer with Brandery company SocStock, is hybrid crowdfunding companies. That is, crowdfunding startups that are part online and part offline. Where local community members can fund local businesses online via a website.

A new hybrid crowdfunding startup has emerged out of the University of Virginia called Seedville. The Charlottesville startup allows local residents to crowdfund local businesses. In it’s current form, instead of equity, the backers get perks.

Seedville’s inaugural project is for Matt Rohdie and his organic donut company called Carpe Donut. Rohdie is looking to raise $15,000 in 40 days to start a Carpe Donut food truck. He’s hoping to raise the money to outfit and decorate the mobile donut production facility and sales vehicle.

Jessica Lee, one of the co-founders of Seedville is also a big fan of Rohdie’s delicious treats. She and her three student co-founders are using their reward based crowdfunding model to help back Rohdie’s project. Backers will get free donuts and at some levels even a free daily rental of the truck.

While sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter are national sites with bigger audiences, and in most cases bigger raises ,Seedville and hybrid sites like it, are smaller and focus on local projects.

“Kickstarter is very broad and focused on creativity, film and artists that want funding,” Lee said to cvilletomorrow.org . “We want to focus on small businesses. We want to mentor small businesses through this crowd-funding process.”

UVa law school professor, entrepreneurship teacher and one of Lee’s advisors, Richard D.Crawford thinks that the Seedville project is a great thing.

“I think it’s going to be a major method for small businesses, particularly the type that will never be the Microsofts of the future,” Crawford said. “It will be the way they get funded increasingly.”

Crawford also feels that the passing of the JOBSAct is a good thing for Lee and her other student co-founders. “This law will allow use of online solicitation for small businesses on a much bigger scale than what is allowed under today’s securities laws,” Crawford said. “Anyone will soon be able to invest in a small start-up around Charlottesville, but today there are some serious restrictions to use of the Internet to communicate with sources of funds.”

The campaign for Carpe Donut was launched on Friday and has made $150 towards it’s $15,000 goal. Rohdie is looking to purchase a Grumman P30 step van and a Belshaw Mark II “donut robot”.

Lee is hopeful that Rohdie’s project will get fully funded which will be a testament to both Carpe Donut and Seedville.

Linkage:

Check out Seedville here

Carpe Donut is here

More startup stories from everywhere else are here

And the Everywhere Else conference is here

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.

Virginia Startup: LightSquared Says We’re Still Not Dead Yet, Appoints New CEO

Lightsquared, the disgraced Northern Virginia startup that was once trying to deploy a terrestrial 4G/LTE network has appointed Doug Smith as their new CEO and Chairman of the board. LightSquared was once an esteemed satellite communications provider. What went wrong was a story that ran for about a year in the mobile tech media.

LightSquared was working to deploy a 4G/LTE network on bands that were originally used for GPS. There was still fair amounts of GPS traffic on the LightSquared bands and LightSquared was causing interference with those GPS radios. As the company went to work on the 4G/LTE network they were operating on a conditional permit from the FCC which required that they find ways to circumvent the interference caused by LightSquared’s equipment on GPS radios.

In February of this year it was lights out for LightSquared. “NTIA … has now concluded that there is no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time,” the FCC said in a statement. “Consequently, the commission will not lift the prohibition on LightSquared.”

Through all of this LightSquared had inked partnerships with some of the nation’s wireless carriers. Reports in June of 2011 suggested Sprint had a deal with LightSquared for 15 years and valued at over $20 billion dollars. Leap Wireless, the parent company of Cricket, also had a deal with LightSquared. Luckily the Sprint deal was contingent on FCC approval of LightSquared’s plans.

On February 22, 2012 LightSquared laid off 45% of it’s 330 employee workforce. Earlier in that same week they defaulted on a $56 million dollar payment on a note held by British satellite partner Inmarsat.

Fast forward to Tuesday of this week and LightSquared has installed a new CEO and Chairman of the Board.

Smith told theverge.com that LightSquared “remains committed to working with all stakeholders to find an equitable resolution to the regulatory challenges that the company has faced this past year,” and that it “can provide the American public with both a protected and robust GPS system while enabling LightSquared to offer consumers and businesses more choice and a lower priced 4G wireless alternative they need and deserve.”

We’ll have to see how long this life lasts.

Linkage:

Source: TheVerge

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here are more startups from “everywhere else”

Love what we do? Click here

Virginia Startup: SpydrSafe Launches First Scalable DLP Solution For Enterprise

As more and more people fall into the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) category, the need for enterprise solutions for multiple managed devices has risen. Security is an issue that’s paramount to companies allowing employees to bring their own device to work. Security can also be a headache for IT departments.

Data loss is one of the main security threats that enterprise IT professionals are concerned about with people bringing their own devices to work. Before the rise in popularity of bringing one’s own device, IT departments could control the flow and security of data, especially in a Blackberry enterprise server dominated world. Now with BYOD the main element of security is gone and IT departments need to find a solution that will secure their data no matter who owns the device.

A Virginia startup called SpydrSafe is addressing that problem for people that are bringing their own Android devices to work. SpydrSafe Mobile DLP™, safeguards against data loss with innovative technology that delivers app-level protection on Android smartphones and tablets.

“Protecting corporate information on mobile devices presents enormous challenges for enterprise IT departments. The risk of data breaches is no longer solely an external threat as more employees use their own personal devices in the workplace (BYOD).” said Michael R. Pratt, Chief Executive Officer of SpydrSafe Mobile Security. “SpydrSafe Mobile DLP™ addresses the issues created by BYOD by providing enterprise IT the tools necessary to safeguard data that is accessed and used by mobile apps.”

The SpydrSafe solution consists of two main parts:

SpydrSafe Mobile DLP™ is an advanced mobile data loss prevention solution comprising SpydrSafe Mobile DLP™ for Android and SpydrSafe Security Manager™. The SpydrSafe Mobile DLP™ for Android app is available on either Google Play or Amazon Appstore for Android.

SpydrSafe Security Manager™ is a SaaS (Security-as-a-Service), cloud-based security management console used by IT administrators to add and enroll new users, assign users to groups, assign policies and access audit and reporting information.
About SpydrSafe Mobile Security, Inc.

Linkage:

Check out SpyderSafe here at their website

Nibletz is the voice of startups “everywhere else” here are more stories from “everywhere else”

Startups helping startups that’s what this is all about

Virginia Startup: SynkMonkey Keep Your Friends, & Your Plans In Sync INTERVIEW

We are all very aware of how difficult it is to keep plans in sync when it comes to life on the go running through a smartphone. Whether you’re a group of high school students, fraternity brothers or even golfing buddies, keeping your entire group “in sync” can be a challenge.

Now there’s of course Facebook and Facebook events but one of the huge disadvantages to Facebook is how hard it is to get distracted. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I needed an events address or to ping a friend for somewhere to go and then got sidetracked from my other notifications or even my wall. On the iPhone, iPad or Android phone this can be a wreck.

Enter Charlottesvile Virginia startup SyncMonkey. They combine three very key and important elements in events, activities and staying in sync. Those elements are calendars, mapping and friends. Using this app over traditional event apps keeps you in close contact with everyone that’s supposed to be there.

We got a chance to talk with Hunter Murchison of SyncMonkey about their excited startup, application and some big news, that they’re finally ready for Android. Check out the interview after the break and check out these great interviews, after this one.

Virginia Startup: Kinergy Health Presented At Capital Connection/TechBUZZ

Capital Connection is an event 25 years strong, puling together all facets of the private investment industry. The day and a half long conference this past week included one day of early stage, and pre-funded companies called TechBUZZ while Thursday featured many of the regions biggest growth companies.

Wednesday’s TechBUZZ event featured 28 startup companies. 26 were vetted by the TechBUZZ committee while the 28th company was selected in conjunction with Startup America. The Startup America winner was CONT3NT.

One of the best ideas that we saw on Wednesday was Vienna Virginia based Kinergy Health. Kinergy Health was founded by health tech serial entrepreneur and CEO Neil Agate and connects family members, doctors and caregivers, managing a loved ones care, in the cloud.

As someone who has spent a good deal of time in the hospital in the last two years I can tell you that the idea behind Kinergy Health’s MyKinergy product resonated with me and my loved ones when I described it to them.

If you’ve ever been to the hospital, whether your a kid, in your thirties like myself, or well into your elder years, the time between doctor visits and the miscommunication that comes with those visits can be nerve wracking for the patient and their family. Your primary care doctor gives one order while your internist or oncologist gives another, and no one seems to know when you’ll ever go home.

More after the break
Read More…

Virginia Startup: FoodMeetsDrink Puts A Different Spin On Well, Food And Drink

When I’m on the road (which is 90% of the time) eating is usually easy, I know what kind of foods I like and I like to try restaurants that I can’t get anywhere else. I also have my favorite dives and regional chains based on where I am. It’s when I get home that dinner gets tricky. “What’s for dinner” can literally be a 3 hour process in my house because no one knows what they want or wants to articulate it in any reasonable fashion. By the time the decision is made it’s typically take out from one of the same four places from the previous day.

Well a Virginia startup called FoodMeetsDrink is about to help me with that problem. We are all well aware that there are a bajillion restaurant apps. Some are great, like Venga, others are useful, like urban spoon but so far there hasn’t been a good app that combines both restaurants and cooking at home. So to date we can’t find a good app that really answers the question “What’s for dinner?” Until now.

FoodMeetsDrink answers that question as co-founder Dave Forbes tells us: We answer the question, “What’s for dinner tonight?” by providing a visual method to create any combination of distinct ingredients and locate just the right recipe, local restaurant or food source for specific ingredients.

More after the break
Read More…