Graeme Thickins on Tech

Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Innovation (Page 16 of 77)

DEMO Spring 11: Just have to shout-out about the “People’s Choice Award” winner — GutCheck!

March 13, 2011 / / 1 Comment

DEMO-GutCheck A fitting end to my blog coverage of the great DEMO Spring 2011 event last week is one about a personal favorite of mine that pitched at the event: GutCheck. They're about "Real-time qualitative market research."  I spoke to these guys several times at the conference but, unfortunately, in the rush of things, I never audio-recorded one of our chats.  But, being a marketing guy through-and-through from early in my career, this one rang the bell for me as soon as I heard about it. Turns out it rang a few other bells, too.  In fact, it rang the gong!  GutCheck won the big-enchilada prize of them all: the "People's Choice Award," which gives them $1 million in media value from IDG. To say these guys were elated would be an understatement.GutCheck-logo

GutCheck is about providing "consumer insights in a matter of minutes." They didn’t think it was fair that qualitative insight was reserved just for those with big budgets, big resources, and extended timelines. So, in 2009, they "leveraged the Internet and other technologies to blow up the market’s conventional wisdom and create an on-demand tool for gathering insight." GutCheck’s goal is simple: to be the leader in DIY qualitative market research. "By making qualitative research accessible to the masses, we're giving marketers and others the unique opportunity to surround any of their ideas, concepts, strategies, etc, with feedback," the company says.

The attendees of DEMO themselves vote for the People's Choice Award — as opposed to the DEMOgod awards, which are awarded to one company per category (so five total). I immediately posted the list of DEMOgod winners to my event live-blog — they were announced on stage just prior to this award. No one quite seems to know who those darn DEMOgod voters are, but everyone knows that GutCheck got voted for their award by the folks in the audience. That's pretty darn convincing. GutCheck obviously impressed. And I loved what CEO and cofounder Matt Warta (left in the photo) said from stage: "We love startups!"  What he's referring to is the special appeal of their service to early-stage firms, which by nature hunger for feedback from consumers or end-users.

How fitting: at an event for startups, a presenter that makes life easier for startups to find their mojo and go to market more effectively, wins the big award.  Friends, it doesn't get any better that that!  Congrats to Matt, and to Marshall England (head of marketing), holding the check at right in the photo — you guys rocked it!

                                                                                                                     

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with LIfe Is Better On

March 6, 2011 / / 1 Comment

LifeIsBetterON-DEMOspring2011 Did you know 30% of voicemail messages remain unheard for three days or more? And here I thought it was just me. A company with the rather different name of "Life Is Better ON" provides that stat. It also cites a survey finding 38% of Americans don't like voicemail because they have to listen to long, rambling messages.

So, what does this outfit have to fix the situation? A Twitter-like voicemail system that limits you to speaking only 140 characters? LifeIsBetterON-logoWell, no — but maybe better: their "ON Voicefeed" service is a free iPhone app that enhances your exchanges with family, friends, and colleagues by creating customized groups and personalized voicemail messages. (The app is available now in the country App Stores in the UK and France, and it's coming in a matter of days to the US App Store.) 

This is visual voicemail on steroids, folks!  And it's all cloud-based. Listen to Giles Corbett, a Brit with a really smooth radio voice, tell you all about ON Voicefeed.  He's director and head of the "ON" service, which was developed by Orange Valle, a subsidiary, founded in 2008, of the Paris-based Orange Group, a part of France Telecom.  Here's the video of Giles' on-stage demo, and be sure to check out the props his sidekick was sporting.

• Download or listen to my interview of Giles Corbett, Director of the ON Service, Orange Valle/Orange Group, France Telecom … (MP3)

 

 

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with MobileNation

March 6, 2011 / / 0 Comments

DEMO, DEMOspring2011, #democon, @DEMO, startups, launch, pitches, pitching, VC, venture capital, angel investors, tech trends, mobile, social, cloud, video chat, apps, mobile apps, web apps, iPhone

MobileNation-DEMOspring2011 Just had to stop and talk to the Aussies when I heard they were at DEMO!  I kidded them beforehand via Twitter that I was coming over for a Vegemite sandwich (they had a very active tweetmaster at the helm!)  I was delighted to learn they'd just opened a Palo Alto office. MobileNation came all the way from the other side of the world to pitch their technology for letting anyone build a custom mobile app (whether for smartphone or tablet). It has a very nice, intuitive drag-and-drop visual interface. 

I spoke with John Hummelstad, Chairman (at left in the MobileNation-logo photo), who proceeded to do a visual demo for me on his large monitor, even though I was only recording audio… :-)  But I just let him run with it, figuring you could always view the video of their on-stage demo later. (And here's that video.) MobileNation's app-building technology is free for anyone to use, but the company will make money from charging enterprises to use it for their purposes.

• Download or listen to my interview of John Hummelstad, Chairman of MobileNation … (MP3)

 

 

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with flyRuby.com

March 6, 2011 / / 2 Comments

FlyRuby-DEMOspring2011 My next stop was the stand of flyRuby.com, which says it's the first and only Internet marketplace for private jet travelers to search, compare, and pay for jet charter service online. I wanted to chat with the young CEO and founder, Michael Leek, who told us on stage he's an Eagle Scout — and a former Marine.  So, really now, think about it: how hard could starting an Internet company be then? 

The guy gets out of the Marines only five years ago, then thinks about what he wants to do next.  He goes and identifies an unmet market need, then hustles two angel investors for $350k. FlyRuby-logoGet this: he found there are seven million monthly Google searches related specifically to air charter and, *not one single site* lets you book a charter online — that is, till flyRuby launched publicly on Monday.

Right on, Michael!  Storm the beaches, baby — Semper Fi.  I got a kick out of how he implied on stage (video here) that many in the audience weren't his market, and I could swear he was looking at the press section when he said that… :-)  But, hey, if I win the lottery, I know right where I'm going to book my next air travel — screw commercial!

• Download or listen to my interview of Michael Leek, founder of flyRuby.com … (MP3)

 

 

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with Workface

March 3, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Workface-DEMOspring2011 I stopped by late on Day 2 to chat with my friends from Minneapolis, Workface Inc. I wanted to hear more about  their very successful DEMO experience. The company was founded in 2006 "to pioneer human-to-human selling on the Web."  On the morning of Day 1, in the Enterprise Technologies category, the Workface guys introduced to the Workface-logo-175wworld their "Customer-initiated Engagement Platform," which connects sales professionals with new prospects that are looking to make high-value, considered purchases on the Internet. They call it a "pre-CRM solution." It's cloud-based software accessible in any modern browser (no plug-ins required). The enterprise customer has no software installation expenses, and subscription costs are as little as $25 per month per sales person. Here's the DEMO Conference video of their pitch.

Workface_Profile-150w The Workface profile (at left) is media-rich and searchable, featuring video, text, images, links, files, and two-way chat tools that enable prospective customers to initiate meaningful conversations (anonymously or not) with the most appropriate sales person at the company whose web site they're visiting. A key point is that these profiles are highly portable, in that they can appear anywhere on the 'Net, including on Facebook. The Workface duo showed the latter in their on-stage demo.

 

• Download or listen to my interview with Lief Larson, CEO (left in the large photo above), and Tanner Thompson, Marketing Director, of Workface Inc…. (MP3)

 

 

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