Winners Announced from Pre-Seed Pitch Competition
Thanks to everyone who submitted their 90-second video in Start Co.’s Pre-Seed Pitch Competition. There were tons of great ideas and we encourage everyone to continue working on and building their startups. We had 5 different prizes and are excited to announce the winners: 1st Place: FastApp from Memphis, TN $1,000 Finalist in the Start Co. Accelerator applications Promotion via our social networks Check out their pitch: Most Creative: Truck Driver Power from St. Louis, MO $200 Amex Giftcard Solving the Biggest Problem: Fast App from Memphis, TN $150 Amex Giftcard Strongest Team: Flock United from Memphis, TN $100 Amex Giftcard Most Enthusiastic Presentation: Flock United from Memphis, TN $50 Starbucks Giftcard Also, we’re accepting accelerator applications through today, March 1st so apply now! Click here for more information or reach out to us at info@neverstop.co.
Alumni Spotlight: Q&A with Sasha Kucharczyk, Preteckt Founder
Commercial trucking is one of the most used forms of cross-country product transportation. Sasha Kucharczyk and his team invented a device to ensure a smooth ride for companies and their drivers. The Preteckt device is a networked prediction service that connects into any truck. Data collected through sensors alert the driver of signs of machinery failure weeks or months in advance. Sasha Kucharczyk shares with us his beginnings and development journey with Start Co.’s Seed Hatchery Accelerator program. Q: Where did the idea for your business come from? A: The initial idea came from one of my co-founder’s experience in receiving maintenance. However, our company has pivoted a few times since then. The current idea came from applying the idea we were working on before moving to Memphis with a market vertical we were introduced to after we joined the Start Co. accelerator. Q: What was your favorite or most impactful experience at Start Co.? A: The “your baby is ugly mentality”, which was stressed many times. That is to say, you need to accept that your first iterations of your product may not be market-ready. You need continuous feedback from your customers at all stages of development in order to ‘hit-the-mark’. Q: What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business? A: Get customer feedback, get it early, and iterate. Q: What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it? A: Going for growth too early. Growth is what makes a
Alumni Spotlight: Q&A with Chelsea White, ProxBox Founder
ProxBox provides an array of tools to alleviate the pain realtors experience on a daily basis. Chelsea White and Bryan Barringer founded Proxbox to tackle common issues such as marketing listings, collecting feedback from interested buyers, and scheduling showings. One of the most notable features of Proxbox is the ability to provide information customizable by room for interested shoppers during an open house tour using sensors. Currently Proxbox is the only app on the market to assist agents in all aspects of their job. We sat down with Chelsea to discuss her journey through Start Co.’s Seed Hatchery Acceleration program. Q: Where did the idea for your business come from? A: Traditionally, agents struggle to exchange listing information on demand. We provide a solution that actively markets listings onsite 24/7. Our solution brings homes to life by using beacons. Therefore enhancing the entire real estate experience. When we first started researching this technology in the real estate market we couldn’t find anything close to what we have currently designed. And even to this day competition is very low and isolated. Yet after hundreds of customers interviews, the demand for ProxBox is high. Q: What does your typical day look like, and how do you make it productive? A: I start every day off with a checklist. I list five to ten item to complete by the end of my work day. As a growing startup, every minute counts and you want to make sure you are spending your time
Alumni Spotlight: Q&A with Sanja Zepan, Homey App Founder
Inspired by living with housemates, Sanja Zepan created the mobile app, Homey, to simplify chore management. The Homey app motivates households to complete chores through its game-like design. Originally from Slovenia, Sanja and co-founder Saso Pompe participated in Start Co.’s Upstart summer accelerator program. Memphis was the ideal location to establish HomeyLabs since the majority of their users happen to live in the Mid South. Zepan shared with us her entrepreneurial experience with Start Co. Q: Where did the idea for your business come from? A: My co-founder and I lived together and had a chore chart on the wall that just wasn’t working. So we decided to make an app for it. We then got a lot of feedback from parents that they would love an app like this. We started doing interviews with parents and found out all about chore management, allowance tracking, and how parents use it to teach kids about the value of work and the basics of financial literacy. Q: What was your favorite or most impactful experience at Start Co.? A: My favorite experience was actually BBQ festival. We got to see how Start Co. is part of the community in Memphis. Start Co. brought all these entrepreneurs, investors and mentors to Memphis and fed them pulled pork in a tent with a view over the Mississippi River, and we were able to mingle and network in this incredible setting- it was amazing! Q: What were your expectations coming into the Start Co. program
News Release on Seed Hatchery’s Boosterville
Boosterville Receives $830K Investment to “Boost” Offers and Loyalty Platform Growth ZIONSVILLE, IN — Boosterville, an award-winning, offers and loyalty platform that seamlessly connects merchants with cause-driven buyers, announces the completion of the company’s seed round of funding. The round, which will be used to accelerate the rollout of the platform to new markets, totaled $830,000 and was co-led by 316 Investments and VisionTech Angels with a matching investment from Elevate Ventures. Greg Willman, co-founder and CEO of 316 Investments who will be joining the Board of Directors, stated, “Our excitement for Boosterville stems from our long history in the retail space and understanding of the innovative marketing solution that Boosterville brings to merchants who want to support non-profit groups in their communities as well as grow their customer base.” Boosterville works with all existing payment card processing and POS systems with no new hardware, integrations or training required. An immediate text message at the time of purchase notifies the buyer of the merchant’s contribution to their selected non-profit, resulting in increased engagement and loyalty for platform merchants. Ben Pidgeon, executive director of VisionTech Angels, said, “Merchants have long been challenged by measuring return on investment of local marketing dollars spent. Boosterville has developed an elegant, yet powerful solution for businesses to engage with customers in supporting local causes, help local groups raise funds they need to be successful, and in the process, build a more loyal customer base. VisionTech Angels is pleased to have Boosterville as our first investment
Pre-Seed Pitch Competition
We’re bringing back the Pre-Seed Pitch Competition from last year! Tell us your startup idea by entering a short, 90-second pitch, and you could win $1,000 cash for your technology startup. Don’t know if you can win the grand prize? We also have prizes for the “Strongest Team” and “Most Enthusiastic Presentation” so check out the details below. Description: The Pre-Seed Pitch Competition aims to encourage entrepreneurs with idea stage technology startups. Prizes: 1st Place $1,000 Cash Finalist in the Start Co. Accelerator applications Promotion via our social networks Most Creative Pitch $200 Amex Gift Card Solving The Biggest Problem $150 Facebook Ad Credits Strongest Team $100 Facebook Ad Credits Most Enthusiastic Presentation $50 Starbucks Gift Card Judging Criteria: Applicants must submit a 90-second video sharing their startup idea using the following guidelines. Introduce your team Describe your tech product/service Tell us about your customer and the problem you’re solving for them Explain how your product works to solve that problem Tell us where you are in the process Make a realistic ask Passion and enthusiasm count Watch The Elevator Pitch Eligibility: Must be a technology driven startup that is bootstrapped or has raised less than $100K from non-institutional VCs Entry deadline has been extended to February 24th, 2017 at 11:59 PM Click here to apply! Contest is limited to 250 submissions
Key Learnings: Start Co. in San Francisco 2016
Each year, select Start Co. teams are invited to San Francisco to meet with potential investors, mentors and network with founders in the Bay Area. This year, six teams made the trek to the West Coast to attend the Evolving E Summit, meet with investors from ventures like Growth X and meet founders at incubators like Runway. In “Week in Review”, we recapped the top learnings from the trip. From our meetings with West Coast investors to our tours of different incubators to hearing various speakers speak at the Evolving E Summit, there were a lot of trends that the experts were talking about and unique insights shared. Here’s our take on the biggest takeaways from this year’s trip to SF: As mentioned in our “Week in Review” post, one of the highlights of the trip was the 2016 Evolving E Summit hosted by GGV Capital, located at the Terra Gallery in the South Beach area of the city. The Summit featured multiple talks throughout the day with a handful of talented and experienced entrepreneurs. The first discussion talked about using technology to surprise and delight customers. We heard from the SVP of North America at Ebay, the VP of digital product at Sephora, the CEO of BigCommerce, and the CEO of Tile, along with the coordinator and managing partner at GGV Capital, Jeff Richards. We heard tips on how to scale new brands and go global from a panel of experts including the Global VP of Ecommerce at Diageo;
A Week in Review: Start Co. in San Francisco 2016
Each year, select Start Co. teams are invited to San Francisco to meet with potential investors, mentors and network with founders in the Bay Area. This year, six teams made the trek to the West Coast to attend the Evolving E Summit, meet with investors from ventures like Growth X and meet founders at incubators like Runway. In this blog post, we’ll recap the top activities of each day to give an inside look into founders’ experience. In “Key Learnings”, we’ll recap the top overall learnings from the trip. Sunday, October 9th: Four of our 2016 Summer of Acceleration graduate teams — Homey, Soundways, FitNexx, and ProxBox — landed in San Francisco ready for a week of constant networking, meetings, and office hours. They were joined by two of our alumni teams, FrontDoor and CodeCrew, as well as one of our current AgLaunch teams, Skycision, throughout the week for office hours, meetups, and events. Monday, October 10: In the afternoon, the teams had office hours at the Market Bar in the Ferry Building with a handful of West Coast investors. The teams had time to talk with investors from e.Ventures, Growth X, MergerTech, Keen.io, TechCode, SendGrid, Twilio, and Early Growth Financial Services, only to name a few. Building relationships, creating partnerships, and acquiring insight from major corporations that remain intimate with Start Co. is what our startups are constantly exposed to, even on the West Coast. Tuesday, October 11th: That morning the Start Co. team toured the Runway Incubator located
10 Reasons to Join the Party in the CLOUD!
10 Reasons to party in the CLOUD at the Memphis Public Library: The Memphis Library Foundation is hosting their annual event, Party in the CLOUD, in their teen room on Saturday, November 5th at 7pm! Here are the 10 reasons why you should definitely make an appearance: 1). Get lost in virtual reality games! 2). Join a photo shoot in the video lab! 3). Paint your own wine or beer glasses! 4). Dance & Groove to the awesome DJ! 5). Play old-school video games! 6). Watch 3D printing in the makerspace! 7). Sip on craft beer and wine! 8). Enjoy tastings from local restaurants! 9). Hang out with Ralph Cahoun in the audio lab! 10). Watch SEC football on the big screen! They will have door prizes and more! Get your tickets here! Tickets are $50 per person until October 28th, then they go up to $65 per person after that date! If you are interested in purchasing more than one ticket contact Shelley Thomas at sthomas@memphislibraryfoundation.org. If you’d like to donate to the Memphis Library Foundation, click here. Hope to see you all there!
AgLaunch Virtual Pitch Competition
AgLaunch Virtual Pitch Competition We’re opening up the opportunity for any ag entrepreneur to upload a pitch video and win some cash! All pitches will be reviewed by the experts at Ag Innovation Development Group and our accelerator partners at Start Co. The Prize: Winner of the pitch competition will receive $1,000. Second place gets $500. Both will have an opportunity for an extended pitch and feedback session with a panel of investors, farmers, corporates, and entrepreneurs. Guidelines: Generally follow content outlined in Start Co.’s template Do your best in under 5 minutes (if you are over you will be disqualified). Relate to in-field agriculture, agricultural supply chain, food safety & integrity, livestock production, dairy production, or food supply chain. Be submitted by 6pm EST on October 27th, 2016. What You Have to Do: Upload your video on the F6S application page. Fill out the short associated application. There is no cost to you. Winners will be announced by November 1st, 2016. We look forward to hearing about your innovation! Contact Rebekah Veldhuizen if you have any questions.