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Reviews by people who think like you
For restaurants, movies, books and beyond, a good recommendation can go a long way. But when you see a review on Yelp, what's to say the reviewer is anything like you? No one wants to end up trekking far from home for terrible food only a few wayward individuals enjoy.Pipefish is a new service that tailors suggestions based on similar tastes, not what your friends or some anonymous person on Yelp might think. Give Pipefish some information and they will find your clone and ask them what you would like. Think of it as e-Harmony for stuff.We chatted with co-founder Michael Mealling to hear about the next thing in product recommendation.Tell us about Pipefish.Pipefish helps you find things you'll love by finding and understanding...
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Rethinking the Rust Belt
By Brandy Alexander-WimberlyThere is a renaissance in the upper Midwest. While still suffering from the loss of many manufacturing jobs, you can see signs of a Rust Belt reinvention. Google and Twitter have offices in Detroit. Chicago, always a shining light, has a massive tech startup scene, headquartered at 1871. Indianapolis is modest about its status as a thriving hub of innovation. Onosys, an upstart out of Cleveland, was bought by Living Social.There are great colleges, an inexpensive cost of living, and a local ecosystem typically willing to go the extra mile towards staving off relocation by supporting young, local and innovative entrepreneurs.Yet there is not a single source covering tech startups in this four-state...
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Startup Texas company acquired and why it’s a big deal
In December, Startup America hosted its stakeholder meeting in Dallas, Texas. The highlight of the day was the “Startup Texas: 2 Minute Drill” pitch competition hosted at Cowboys Stadium. Eight startups from across the state pitched their businesses from the stadium’s 600 ton JumboTron to an audience consisting of our board members and iconic entrepreneurs like Steve Case (our Chairman and co-founder of AOL), Scott Case (our CEO and founding CTO of Priceline.com and CEO of Startup America), Jean Case (CEO of the Case Foundation), Nina Vaca (founder and CEO of Pinnacle Technical Resources), Lynn Jurich (founder of SunRun), Pam Contag (CEO of Cygnet Biofuels), Carl Sparks (CEO of...
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The Number One Thing Startups Want From the Startup Community
By Joe ProcopioFirst, let me set the scene. Every month, ExitEvent, a startup resource and news source headquartered in Durham, NC, puts over 100 smart entrepreneurs in a room with some investors, without any agenda, nametags, or instructions of any kind. We give them beer, music, and some food, and then they inevitably solve a lot of their own problems. It's called the Startup Social.At the January Startup Social, I asked them to solve one of my problems. I put a suggestion box near the beer and asked what they wanted out of a startup community (and I goaded almost everyone into answering).I summarized their suggestions into four "things," and things two through four are here.Thing number one was not money.That surprised me...
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Spend the summer with America's highest-growth startups
Startup Summer, a summer internship program that combines a ten-week internship at a Denver/Boulder startup with a series of weekly evening events, focused on teaching the student-participants the fundamentals of entrepreneurism, is now accepting applications for its second year. Fletcher Richman, an electrical and computer engineering major at the University of Colorado participated in the inaugural year of Startup Summer this past year and has kindly offered to share his thoughts on the program:Last summer was the best one of my life. Every college student should have an experience like Startup Summer. It was not just about the opportunity to have an incredibly valuable summer internship at a fun, fast-paced Boulder...
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Everywhere Else: Worth It
We love that the world’s largest conference on startups happens not in the Silicon, but in Memphis, Tennessee. We love it so much, in fact, that we made our CEO Scott Case strap on his Startup TN cowboy boots before making a speech about the power and importance of startup communities.Our biggest takeaway: Good startups come out of Everywhere Else. This conference has a lot of value, especially when considering its location and price point, and we can’t wait to see what it will churn out next year. During Scott’s speech, about half of the audience was from outside the region, which has a striking strong startup scene.In his speech and office hours, Scott encouraged the same thing Startup America promotes every day: get...
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Proof of insurance in a snap
Do you remember the last time you needed to give proof of insurance for your car? You were probably well into your umpteenth hour at a dealership or, worse, the DMV, when you realized that you did not have the proof of insurance you needed. Then, in just an instant, all of that waiting in line went down the drain because it’d be hours – or even days – until that proof came through.Current proof of insurance methods are still mired in 20th Century 'technology', trying to appease 21st century customers while still using paper forms, faxes, and physical mail. In an era of email and ipads, there should be a simpler way.We chatted with Instant Proof of Insurance CEO William Turner about what he’s doing to make...
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Localstake keeps funding dollars in your community
Are you a startup founder who needs capital but lacks the time or connections to pursue hard-to-get meetings with investors? Or, on the flip side, are you a small-time investor looking for more investment options for your portfolio?You’re not alone. “The capital question” is one we hear every day from our members.Localstake, an investment platform out of Indiana, is changing the traditional investment model. It combines a localized approach with an easy-to-use online platform, and we think you’re going to love it. We interviewed founder Kevin Hitchen to get the details of why.Tell us about Localstake.Localstake gives everyday investors the opportunity to take part in private businesses in their community....
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The Largest Gathering of Startups in GA Since 1895
For years, Georgia stakeholders have combated a brain drain, where, like many other largely rural regions, many of the most intelligent natives leave the state for wider opportunities elsewhere. Startup America is proud to join efforts to keep economic opportunity in Georgia by launching Startup Georgia. The program will join initiatives like the Hope Scholarship, which incentivizes the smartest students to stay in-state, in making “The Empire of the South” a fantastic place to live and work.The launch of Startup Georgia on Feb. 18 will be the largest gathering of startups since 1895. And while the state keeps its southern roots, the startup scene is anything but Gone With the Wind. Over half of the startups are minority owned...
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PR for Startups: A Field Guide
By Therese Quiao, Founder of The Publicist LeagueAuthentic public relations is much more than “buzz” or spin. It acts as a management function that supports or helps achieve overarching goals for a brand, campaign or organization. Ready to take the jump? Before hiring a public relations agency, consider the following:1. Define your objectives and needs.Do you want to increase product sales? Enhance engagement on Twitter? Make a list of your business goals and what you want to achieve through a communications lens. 2. Timing is everything.In order to maximize your media potential, frame a campaign around a launch or upcoming event. For some, the beginning stages of a startup may not be the best time to invest in PR....
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WebPT cuts down paperwork, saves therapists time
In 2008, Brad Jannenga, a software developer and veteran of the 90s dot-com boom, and his wife Heidi, a practicing physical therapist, launched the ultimate EMR and practice management solution for rehab therapy. The marriage of technology and physical therapy has made WebPT a startup titan in not just the burgeoning tech hotspot of Phoenix, but in the U.S. We caught up with Brad to get more insight on the company and its hometown.Tell us about WebPT.Offering a simple, extremely affordable solution, WebPT helps therapists seamlessly transition from paper and outdated software to a user-friendly, cloud-based system. Therapists, directors, and front office staff all can access patients' medical records anywhere, anytime, from any web-...
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Videos and meaningful metrics are a cinch
Every startup does it. You launch your company, get an awesome product video, and throw it on the web in the fastest way possible. Exciting. The problem comes down the line, when you want to add more videos or create unique access. Often, you realize your original solution wasn’t the best scale solution or the new, better platforms you can now afford don’t integrate with your quick fix. LoopLogic co-founder Scott Mitchell is here to help. His platform not only integrates all solutions you have used, but also gives you the best information available on who is watching and how your message is received. If content is king, then LoopLogic is the throne. Tell us about LoopLogic.LoopLogic is a cloud and mobile platform that...
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Our Startup America Regions are all over the news!
Have you been recently featured in the media? Let us know.
Recent News:
10/19/12 - Startup Communities Across the Country, Huffington Post (Startup America Partnership)
10/19/12 - Bonfyre partners with Powder Keg Conference 2012, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO & Startup IA)
10/17/12 - Food Waste In, Renewable Energy Out: Startup Re-Nuble Is Crowdfunding the Local Green Economy, Huffington Post (Startup DC)
10/17/12 - Powder Keg aims to blast Indy startups onto national scene, Indianapolis Business Journal (Startup IN & Startup MO)
10/17/12 - Featured Startup Pitch: Founded by a group of teachers with tech backgrounds, ActiveGrade seeks to fundamentally change the way grading is done in schools, Startup Beat (Startup IA)
10/03/12 - How Tory Burch Created A $2 Billion Empire In Less Than A Decade, Business Insider (Startup America Partnership)
10/01/12 - Voices of the Tech Community: What do Ecosystem Need? The Miami Herald (Startup FL)
9/20/12 - Entrepreneurs make pitches as Startup Maryland and its studio bus rolls into UMBC, The Republic (Startup MD)
9/20/12 - USF-led partnership awarded $1 million to launch new companies, Tampa Bay Business Journal (Startup FL)
9/19/12 - Startup Bus tours Maryland, stops in Baltimore area to promote entrepreneurship, Baltimore Sun (Startup MD)
Startup America at DEMO Fall 2012:
10/11/12 - Startup Connection: Nourishment for mind, body and soul, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
10/05/12 - The 14 Most Interesting Startups To Emerge From DEMO, TechCrunch (Startup CA & OR)
10/04/12 - St. Louis startups look to cash in on DEMO showing, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
10/04/12 - St. Louis’ Click With Me Now, Evtron Pitch At DEMO 2012, Techli (Startup MO)
10/03/12 - DEMO Gods: Birds, brains, and the best products of the season, VentureBeat (Startup CA)
10/03/12 - BRIEF: Stamford's eBrevia Wins Scholarship for Tech Conference in Silicon Valley [The Hartford Courant], Bloomberg Businessweek (Startup CT)
10/03/12 - LifeStyleFeed brings the Seventh Art to restaurant selection, VentureBeat (Startup DC)
10/03/12 - Playing recruiter: This startup pays you to find your friends jobs, VentureBeat (Startup DC)
10/03/12 - Don’t like checking your mail? MailGapp may have your solution, VentureBeat (Startup HI)
10/03/12 - Itography hopes to lure advertisers to location-based virtual collection game, VentureBeat (Startup TX)
10/03/12 - Weekend warriors: Track your fitness with Novusport’s social mobile sports game, VentureBeat (Startup TX)
10/03/12 - Today, birdwatching. Tomorrow, saving the entire planet!, VentureBeat (Startup CA)
10/03/12 - Demo Fall 2012: Creating More Focused Social Networks, PC Mag (Startup OR, DC, IA, VA)
10/03/12 - Demo Fall 2012: Business and Commerce Applications, PC Mag (Startup MO & Startup CT)
10/03/12 - Stamford's eBrevia Wins Scholarship for Tech Conference in Silicon Valley, The Hartford Courant (Startup CT)
10/03/12 - RecBob takes the work out of after-work sports, VentureBeat (Startup IA)
10/03/12 - Watch RecBob’s DEMO presentation at noon (Live stream), Silicon Prairie News (Startup IA)
10/02/12 - Meet The 8 Startup Winners From Startup America’s DEMO Contest, Nibletz (Startup TN, OR, IL, DC, CA, IA, CT, MO)
10/02/12 - Cut through the legal fog with computer-generated summaries, Global Reporter (Startup CT)
10/02/12 - Cut through the legal fog with computer-generated summaries, VentureBeat (Startup CT)
10/02/12 - Birdeez app flies toward birdwatchers' iPhones, TechHive (Startup CA)
10/02/12 - Bonfyre Takes on Private Mobile Sharing with New App Focused on Real Life, Not Newsfeeds, Herald Online (Startup MO)
10/02/12 - Three St. Louis startups launch products at California conference, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Startup MO)
10/02/12 - This Barrel Is Ready to Roll! Launching Our Tech Startup, HuffingtonPost (Startup DC)
10/02/12 - For big-ticket items, social shopping needs more screen-sharing, VentureBeat (Startup MO)
10/02/12 - Flite’s new Touch Ad Studio lets top publishers actually make money on mobile, VentureBeat (Startup CA)
10/02/12 - Bonfyre launches mobile app to combine private with social sharing, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
10/01/12 - CoPatient Launches Online Platform to Audit & Appeal Medical Bills on Behalf of Patients, Sacramento Bee (Startup OR)
10/01/12 - D.C. job-search start-up launching at DEMO in Silicon Valley, The Washington Post (Startup DC)
10/01/12 - D.C. at Demo: High School CEO debuts Hallway, The Washington Post (Startup DC)
09/30/12 - Hills Bank and Trust promotes four, The Gazette (Startup IA)
09/29/12 - RecBob wins Startup America contest, will pitch next week at DEMO, Silicon Prairie News (Startup IA)
09/13/12 - Click With Me Now wins a trip to DEMO, St. Louis Business Journal (Startup MO)
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