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: Startups (Page 25 of 30)

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 SocialEyes

March 2, 2011 / / 0 Comments

SocialEyes-RobGlaser

SocialEyes is a social video service to instantly connect you to friends and groups of people who share your interests. Think video chat, but you connect via Facebook, so it's your real identity, unlike previous services. It really looks good!

Rob Glaser, cofounder and chairman, was actually manning the laptop on the stage for this DEMO pitch!  First time I've seen a VC do that. (He's a partner at Accel.)  Cofounder Rob Williams gave a great pitch (video). SocialEyes-logoThis one will be huge. Hey, it better be with the amount of money behind it! (Read more about SocialEyes on this TechCrunch post.) And go sign up. Millions will, I'm sure!  Maybe already have.

• Download or listen to my interview with Rob Glaser, cofounder and chairman of SocialEyes… (MP3)

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with PhotoRocket

March 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments

PhotoRocket-founders One of the DEMO presenters I had on my must-see list was PhotoRocket. It was one of the first companies I noticed last week tweeting they'd be here, so I immediately downloaded their iPhone app (alpha, now beta) and started using it. I loved it, and have shared several photos over the past few days. After they pitched on the first morning of DEMO (video), I stopped to chat with the cofounders, Scott Lipsky and Gary Roshak, at their Pavilion stand.  These guys have done a really excellent job with this launch. Everything is just, well…clicking! Here's the news release. PhotoRocket_logo And here's a brief description: PhotoRocket lets you share any number of photos to any number of people in an instant. Share with family and friends, post to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, or other favorite sites and archive your photos for safekeeping, all in one breathtakingly simple step. When you share with PhotoRocket, you give your family and friends instant gratification. PhotoRocket requires no registration and has no restrictions on downloading full resolution images. PhotoRocket is available now for Windows, iPhone, and Mac, with iPad and Android to come.

• Download or listen to my interview with Scott Lipsky (left) and Gary Roshak, cofounders of PhotoRocket… (MP3)

Photorocket-Graeme-Sharing

Live Blog: DEMO Spring 2011

February 28, 2011 / / 0 Comments

DEMO-palms I'm back at DEMO doing another live-blog. This is the 12th time I've reported on DEMO, and I've been doing the last few by using the "Cover It Live" app (see window below). Produced by the IDG Enterprise events group in conjunction with VentureBeat, the DEMO conferences in the United States and China focus on emerging technologies and new product innovations, which are hand selected from across the spectrum of the technology marketplace. The DEMO conferences have earned their reputation for consistently identifying tomorrow's cutting-edge technologies, and have served as launchpad events for companies such as Palm, E*Trade, Handspring, and U.S. Robotics, helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters. For more information on the DEMO conferences, visit DEMO.com.

DEMOspring11-dates The conference kicks off officially at 9:15 am Pacific today, when my live-blogging will begin in earnest.  Here's the agenda.  I also have my Twitter stream set to appear in the live blog…occasional tweets, like to attach photos, but most of my posts will be in this live-blog iframe below. I've also aggregated virtually all the real-time "DEMO Chatter" in the box to the right, including Facebook and Twitter posts, and my curated Twitter list of the presenters' posts.

I'm looking forward to a great conference!  When the event is completed, I'll archive this live-blog, which switches it around to proper chronological order. And the link for this blog post will remain permanent for the live-blog archive. That's the big advantage for me to document a conference with this live-blogging tool, compared to just tweeting the event. (Have you tried going back to get an archive of your tweetstream for a certain day or event?  Good luck.) Plus the fact that I can do posts longer than 140 characters. Hope you like it!

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