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

Tag: venture capital (Page 2 of 14)

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with Workface

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)

 

 

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with SocialEyes

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

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

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!

DEMO Spring 2011 Announces Presenting Companies

This year's DEMO spring conference, being held in Palm Desert, CA, February 28 – March 1, features 52 companies taking the stage to launch their new products or concept, ranging from innovators in the enterprise space to the coolest new consumer technology. DEMOspring11-slide The companies are listed below alphabetically, followed by product name (if different) in parentheses, and the DEMO category name.  In addition to this great group of demonstrators, DEMO will feature some exciting speakers and panelists.  We'll be hearing from newly announced Startup America CEO Scott Case, making his first public appearance…Mike Maples, Managing Partner, Floodgate Fund… as well as executives from Salesforce, Cisco, and other firms featured in panels and on-stage fireside chats.

Presenting Companies:

AboutOne.com … Consumer (family tool to manage & share memories and household info)
Ajax (Cloud89 IDE) … Cloud (IDE for Javasript developers, supports HTML5, Python, Ruby, PHP)
ApSynth … Cloud (PaaS for web apps, share them anywhere)
BiznessApps … Mobile (affordable iOS & Android app dev for small biz)
CVAC Systems … Consumer (fitness product)
DataRoket … Enterprise (data analysis tool)
ecoATM … Consumer (self-service kiosk for recycling consumer electronics)
eLIve Entertainment … Social & Media (lets friends talk while watching videos online)
EMBRIA Technologies (VIOLIN Platform) … Enterprise (Web OS for enterprise sw dev)
EyePredict (EPflow) … Cloud (neuroscience-based sw that predicts visual attention)
FaceCake Marketing (Swivel) …Enterprise/Retail (lets customers virtually try on products at home in 3D, poll social graph)
Fetch Plus Asia Pacific (FetchFans.com) … Social & Media (highly interactive, custom-branded Facebook pages)
flyRuby … Consumer (online marketplace for private jet travelers)
GageIn … Enterprise (business networking platform powered by content; intelligent collaboration)
Guardly … Mobile (personal safety service; alert family/friends/authorities about an emergency in a single tap)
GutCheck … Social & Media (DIY Web app to conduct qualitative research, one-on-one interviews w/target consumers)
HBMG Inc. (VECTOR) … Cloud (turnkey cloud server; shock-mounted case, no AC needed)
HeyStaks … Social & Media (shared social search service; collaborate anonymously w/friends, people of like-minded interest)
HighNote … Mobile (new, more social way to message; send free media-enhanced messages anywhere; add video, music, audio, pics, maps, custom buttons, iTunes)
Kuggaa … Cloud (subscribers create, edit, and enjoy their favorite mobile content across different device form-factors)
Life Is Better ON (ON Voicefeed) … Mobile (iPhone app for personalized voicemail messages; also sends & converts text-to-voice messages)
Manilla … Consumer (service for consumers to manage all of their household accounts, bills, finances, rewards programs, subscriptions in one place online)      
Marginize … Social & Media (adds social layer to the web; as you browse, discover what others have said about any webpage you are viewing)
MobileNation … Mobile (lets nontechnical people design & build custom apps for smartphones or tablets; drag & drop interface; no programming)
mSIGNIA (Dynamic Device Identity) … Mobile (safe, reliable device identity for accessing cloud services on Android smartphones & tablets, and available soon on iPhone, Blackberry, others)
NeuroSky (MindWave BrainCubed Education Bundle) … Consumer (intelligence, mental fitness, and game apps that monitor EEG brainwave activity; "exercise equipment for children's minds")
News360 (new app, for iPad) … Mobile (app that collects news from more than 1000 sources; uses semantic analysis to identify the important trends, and social graph to tailor your news stream)
Next Island  … Social & Media (first virtual world with real cash economy and time travel to Ancient Greece; played on a PC, with exceptional graphics)
Nimble … Cloud (Social Relationship Manager, connects your contacts, calendars, communications with social listening and engagement; integrates LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and email into a seamless environment)
Nuvyyo Inc. (JetStreamHD) … Mobile (box that lets you stream videos, songs, photos from your home network while you're traveling; converts any format, delivers true HD video, and adapts to Wi-Fi or 3G strength as it streams)
oneGoodLove.com … Social & Media (gay & lesbian dating site; proprietary matching algorithm focuses on matching perfect personality types)
PhotoRocket … Consumer (share photos instantly in one step to all your photo destinations; single click simultaneously shares to people, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites)
Pixable (iPad app) … Social & Media (free app for browsing Facebook pix; get notifications of the photo activity of the friends you choose)
Primadesk … Consumer (manage and backup online personal cloud data, no matter what the device)
Screenreach Interactive (Screach) … Mobile (real-time two-way interactive experiences between a smart device and any content, anywhere)
ShowUhow (product experience platform) … Social & Media (on-demand, video-based Product Guides for mfrs & retailers,  via smartphone, Web, and social media, for pre-sale education, installation, feedback, and repeat sales)
Silentale (SocialReplay) … Social & Media  (extract key strategic information through qualitative data & analytics of Facebook Page & Twitter accounts to assist in formulating marketing programs)
SocialEyes … Social & Media (social video service to instantly connect you to friends and groups of people who share your interests)
Thoora (Thoora for Tablets) … Social & Media (quickly curate and share beautiful, naturally search-friendly, and self-updating content for tablet devices; human- curated, topical pages that are always fresh and relevant)
TrendSpottr … Social & Media (search & curation service for Twitter, Facebook, and other real-time data streams; uses advanced algorithms and curation tools; filters, aggregates, and publishes top trending headlines, videos, images, phrases, hashtags, and places for any search term)
V3 (Stratosphere) … Cloud (400 virtual desktops in a 2U server))
Viafoura … Social & Media (split-screen video debate, gaming/reward sys)
Websense (Defensio for Facebook) … Cloud (FB security/protection)
Workface … Enterprise (customer-initiated engagement platform for human-to-human selling on the web; software that enables your sales people to build and manage customer relationships)
Zugara (Webcam Social Shopper) … Enterprise (advanced apparel visualization and social media engagement product  licensed to online retailers

Alpha Pitch Companies:
Dvmmy (Offers App)
Ecobe
iCaR Systems
infiniWing (KloudDock)
Outline.com
Speaku
The Geco

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