StartUp Beat

Claritics recently raised a $1.5 million Series A funding round for its “social intelligence” social analytics solution for app developers and social commerce.

SUB: Please describe what Claritics is, and the value proposition you bring to the analytics market.

Pai: Claritics is a “social intelligence” company. We provide social analytics for app developers and business owners conducting social commerce to help them optimize their reach, retention and revenue campaigns. We take all of the rich data available about a user’s profile and their social behaviors and we deliver it in a way that helps our clients gain immediate and actionable insights. We’re a bit different that what’s already on the market in that we focus on driving clear actions from analytics (campaign offers, ad targeting, in-game virtual goods, etc). Our solution is also unique and includes a set of automation features and predictive modeling technologies that help app developers optimize app performance on the fly.

SUB: What was the inspiration behind Claritics?

Pai: We all have deep roots in analytics and big data, and as we saw the market shifting from Business Intelligence to Web Intelligence and now Social Intelligence, we were excited about the challenges and possibilities posed by social analytics. You have people interacting with apps and web pages in completely new and different ways, and that requires a whole new way of looking at things. For example, by analyzing a user’s social actions within a game we can collect strong signals about his/her likes/dislikes. We can also use analytics to make predictions about user behavior and optimize app performance.  We believe that analytics should help people peer into the future rather than simply look into the past.

SUB: What were the first steps you took in building the business?

Pai: My co-founder, Jay Bala, and I have known each other for years, and we’d always talked about going into business together. We both had a similar vision for what big data and analytics, but one of the first things we did was went out and spoke to hundreds of potential customers and spent a lot of time understanding their pain points and  brainstorming to find the best solution to solve current as well as “soon to encounter” challenges for these customers.

SUB: How many customers/users do you have to this point?

Pai: We’re still in a closed private beta period so we’re working with a handful of customers and partners. They run the gamut from social games and other types of app developers to big brand retailers and media companies. A couple of our early beta partners include Hallmark’s SocialCalendar and ChaYoWo Games. You can find case studies with both of these on our site.

SUB: How are you marketing the service?

Pai: So far it’s mostly been word of mouth. We received our Series A funding recently and did some PR around that, but already we have a queue of people waiting to sign up for when we launch our open beta program, which will be shortly.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

Pai: Well, no one is doing exactly what we’re doing. Of course, everybody says that. There’s a lot of noise right now about “social analytics” because it’s such a hot opportunity, but it’s a very broad market with lots of different categories. The companies we’d consider our nearest competition are those that are catering to social app developers, so companies like Kontagent  and Mixpanel. But we’re also gunning for the bigger analytics companies like Omniture (part of Adobe) and WebTrends.

SUB: What differentiates Claritics from your competitors?

Pai: The big thing is the automation features I already mentioned, and our ability to deliver actionable insights in real-time. But we’re also different in that we provide a really lightweight set of cloud-based analytics applications that require hardly any IT resources to integrate or maintain. We built the product to be really easy to use, almost like Google Analytics except in real-time and domain-specific for our gaming and social commerce clients.

SUB: What is your business model? How does Claritics make money?

Pai: We offer monthly subscription packages based on what our customers need. These packages are tiered based on the value our customers derive in driving user acquisition and monetization campaigns.

SUB: What have the biggest challenges been so far to building the business?

Pai: The biggest challenge is always finding great people to work with. We’re currently hiring for several positions in engineering, product, business development and other departments, so if you know of any good, talented people who want to make a real difference, please send them our way.

SUB: You recently raised $1.5 million in Series A funding. Do you have specific plans for the funds?

Pai: We’ll use it to invest in the product itself and to grow out the sales and marketing teams.

SUB: Do you plan to seek more funding in the near future?

Pai: This phase of our company growth is focused on getting the customer-product fit right with our early set of customers and partners.  We have raised enough funding for now and have great investors who understand our business. Our expectations are to grow Claritics very quickly. As we execute and achieve our internal milestones, we may consider taking on more funding if it helps accelerate our sales and marketing objectives.

SUB: Finally, as an entrepreneur who has guided your company though a down economy, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs just starting out now?

Pai: Good question. In all honesty it hasn’t felt like a down economy. I know other parts of the country and the world are having difficult times, but in Silicon Valley and especially in the “social media” industry, business is pretty good. But I think irrespective of the state of the economy, following one’s passion and making sure you find the right “customer-product” fit is critical to win and succeed in a startup.

Claritics – www.claritics.com

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Mobile

App discovery startup Appsfire gets $3.6 million investment (via MobileBeat)

eCommerce

Minno Rebrands As BuySimple, Partners With SoundCloud, Raises $700K For Micropayments (via TechCrunch)

GreenTech

Primus Power’s flow batteries rake in $11M (via GreenBeat)

Finance

Inspired By The Start Fund, New World Ventures Offers Chicago Excelerate Startups $50K (via TechCrunch)

Marketing/Advertising

OpenX Secures $20 Million In Series D Funding To Fuel Growth, Acquisitions (via TechCrunch)

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Web Content

Airbnb Has Arrived: Raising Mega-Round at a $1 Billion+ Valuation (via TechCrunch)

Finance

Greylock Partners launches new $160 million tech fund for Europe and Israel (via TechCrunch Europe)

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Company: uSell
Website: www.usell.com
Year Founded: 2010
Founder: Doug Feirstein 
Company Description (in 140 characters or less): “uSell.com is the leading cash commerce platform that easily and securely turns your electronics into cash.”

By Doug Feirstein, CEO and Co-Founder

Product Overview

uSell.com is the leading cash commerce platform that turns people’s cell phones and electronics into cash—and everybody needs extra cash.

uSell.com operates by purchasing unwanted, high-value items directly from consumers, providing them fast payment, erasing all personal data, and then either refurbishing or recycling the phone, depending on its condition. Convenient and secure, uSell helps consumers avoid the hassle and risk of peer-to-peer sales channels such as eBay and Craigslist.

uSell.com’s 100 percent happiness guarantee ensures our customers are deliriously happy or we’ll make it right.

uSell.com is a subsidiary of Upstream Worldwide, Inc., a publicly traded company headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. For more information please, visit www.UpstreamWorldWide.com.

Founder’s Story

The original idea was hatched when a friend and I tried to sell some old electronics that were sitting around on eBay and realized that the process was very cumbersome. We believed that there had to be a better way for people who wanted to dispose of their old electronics and keep them out of landfills and get some cash in the process.

Electronic waste is notoriously difficult to deal with as each item contains numerous different materials packed tightly together. In fact, according to the most recent data from the EPA, in 2007 Americans discarded over 140.3 million cell phones, a significant contribution to the 400 million units of electronic waste Americans discard yearly, making e-waste the fastest growing part of the U.S. municipal waste stream. And of those 140 million cell phones thrown away, only 14 million were recycled—a mere ten percent.

We started uSell with the goal of changing the way consumers dispose of their old technology and giving them cash to do so.

Marketing/Promotion Strategy

uSell.com uses a number of channels to let consumers know about our service. Our marketing strategy includes a mix of direct marketing outreach, advertising as well as earned media support.

How we differentiate from the competition

Compared with other retail players, we provide enhanced value for the consumer allowing them to transact with us from the comfort of their own home. Compared with other platforms (eBay, Craigslist) our process is much more user-friendly in that customers don’t have to manage an auction, deal with collecting payment from other consumers, or facilitate delivery of the item they sold.

We are the only company with the right combination of speed, convenience, value and security. We place customers at the center of our business, and create the ultimate customer experience with our 100% happiness guarantee to win and retain customers for a lifetime.

Business Model

We unlock the value of consumer’s unwanted items by providing them a fast, convenient, secure way to get the best price for their goods. It starts with consumers sending us their unwanted items. We buy the items and pay the consumers quickly, even before we’ve sold the items in the secondary market, taking the inventory risk on the items. We then sell the items in the liquidation market and then receive our payment from those partners.

Current Needs

uSell.com does not have any hiring or funding needs at this time. We are focused on creating the best experience possible for our customers and delivering on 100 percent happiness guarantee.

uSell – www.usell.com

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Marketing/Advertising

Reply.com acquires MerchantCircle for $60 million (via DealsBeat)

GreenTech

Morgan Solar brings in $16.5M for lower-cost solar (via GreenBeat)

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Gaming

Kabam raises $85M for hardcore social gaming business (via GamesBeat)

Web Content

The Gilt For Indian Fashion Exclusively.in Raises $16 Million (via TechCrunch)

eCommerce

Zozi Raises $7 Million To Let You Swim With Sharks – And More – At A Discount (via TechCrunch)

Project Slice Raises $9.4M to Tame Online Email Receipts (via gigaom)

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By Joshua Schwadron, founder and CEO

Product Overview

Betterfly helps people find tutors, coaches, stylist, trainers or other "Betterists" who can help them be better at something. At the same time, Betterfly helps those Betterists get new clients and brand and market themselves.

Tutors, coaches, stylist, trainers and other "Betterists" list themselves on Betterfly and create their own Sites to market the services they offer related to personal betterment. Then, people looking to be better can search and book the tens of thousands of service providers listed on Betterfly’s 300+ Category Pages by price, location, verified reviews, availability and more. By catering to individuals instead of companies Betterfly enables users to compare apples to apples, people to people.

Founders’ Story

When I founded Betterfly I invested the money I won on Fear Factor years earlier. When I was in college, I was selected to be on a two part Las Vegas Fear Factor special. After 8 stunts over two hour-long episodes, I won the competition and close to $150,000. After working in real estate consulting, I decided to use his Fear Factor winnings to help solve a frustration that I had experienced, which is making it easy to find personal service providers. Now, instead of finding the best hair salon, Betterfly can help you figure out who the best person inside the salon is who will actually be cutting your hair.

I always found it really hard to find personal service providers. Most of the websites out there focus on larger business, but none focuses on the people who power those businesses or the freelancers who work for themselves. Betterfly was founded originally to make it easier for someone like me to find personal service providers.

Revenue Model

Betterfly provides optional payment services for its Betterists to use. For example, one of the biggest frustrations our service providers experience have to do with cancellation fees. Betterfly provides a great platform to make this easy - and if a Betterist chooses to use it we charge a small fee.

Current Needs

Betterfly's always looking for top people to add to its team. People can email jobs@betterfly.com to apply.

Conclusion

Betterfly makes it unbelievably easy and efficient to find the right tutors, coaches, stylists, trainers or other “Betterists”. At the same time Betterfly helps those Betterists get new clients by empowering them to build their online presence so they can brand and market themselves.

Betterfly – www.betterfly.com

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Company: AirRun
Website: www.airrun.com
Headquarters: Chicago
Year Founded: 2010
Founder: Rob Matthews
Investors: Privately-Funded
Employees: 6
Company Description (in 140 characters or less):
"AirRun is the first of a new generation of social media applications that enable hyperlocal peer-to-peer (P2P) commerce."

By Rob Matthews, Founder and CEO

Product Overview

AirRun is a free app available for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and eventually Android devices. We connect two groups of people—those who are looking for a product or service (seekers) and those willing to perform the task (runners)—in a geography-based marketplace.

Whether it’s a college student without a car craving a late-night snack or a small business that needs a package delivered on a deadline, seekers post a job to AirRun’s marketplace, which uses Google Maps to geo-locate the individual. Runners can browse the marketplace and find the jobs most convenient for them. After claiming the job, the runner performs the task and receives an agreed-upon payment from the seeker.

Founder’s Story

I originally had the idea for AirRun as a student at Miami University in 2008. The professor in my iPhone development course had us design a business plan for an iPhone app. My project was my idea for AirRun, but it was when I wanted to order food from a local restaurant that didn’t deliver that I came up with the idea of developing a community of users that help each other get things done.

Marketing/Promotion Strategy

As a tech startup, it’s extremely important to take a multifaceted marketing approach. We currently don’t have any outside funding, so we are trying to do our best get the word out there in as creative a fashion as possible on a modest budget.

We’re getting the word out about AirRun through different media outlets that target our key demographics, and of course social media plays a big role. We’re also evaluating our options when it comes to advertising.

Differentiation

AirRun is the only global service of its kind. It’s also the most social; the users you connect with have names, photos and user reviews. We think this is extremely important in the world of hyperlocal commerce. But we don’t require users to share sensitive information, like their phone number.

Business Model

AirRun is and will remain entirely free to download, but we are looking into the best payment structure to grow the company. We won’t be asking runners to forfeit any of their earnings, though; they’re out there to make money.

Current Needs

We’re currently looking for sources of outside funding. As the app evolves and the userbase grows, we think we’ll provide a great opportunity for investors.

AirRun – www.airrun.com

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Web Content

Twitter reportedly finalizes buyout of Tweetdeck for over $40 million (via SocialBeat)

GreenTech

Harvest Power Raises Another $6 Million To Turn Food And Yard Scraps Into Energy, Or Fertilizer (via TechCrunch)

Cloud

Exclusive: PaaS Startups Unite as DotCloud Buys Duostack (via gigaom)

Mobile

Investors Bet Another $10 Million On Fring’s Ability To Rival Skype (+ Microsoft) (via TechCrunch)

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MyCorporation.com CEO Deborah Sweeney offers her take on the growing importance of intellectual property protection in today’s startup sector.

I know I am probably a bit late with this reference, but The Social Network, while being a great film, really helped to reveal the gritty underbelly of being an entrepreneur of a tech start-up. Everyone wants to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, but no one wants to be sued for infringing on intellectual property rights. While you may not be able to get to a million friends without making a few enemies, you don’t want those enemies coming after you in civil court, demanding a percentage of your profits.

As the tech-boom has grown, then died, then rose from the ashes, the rise of intellectual property has been an interesting one. Google Labs shows that it wasn’t until the early-1990s that the actual words “Intellectual Property” began to appear in books and other documents. However, the idea of protecting… well, an idea, goes back way before the advent of technology. If you told your buddy of an idea for a great invention, and he blatantly stole it, you would probably argue in court that the idea for his product was rooted in your idea. You don’t need a computer to get your idea stolen. But tech start-ups are a new type of beast; most of you reading this have probably tossed ideas around over drinks with a group of friends. The generation of entrepreneurs who are founding most of the new tech companies do not have the same beliefs regarding the protection of ideas as previous business owners. I doubt anyone has woken up in a cold sweat, frantically searching for their phone to call their group of friends, demanding that they promise to not steal the two or three pitches that came up which you particularly liked.

But, at the same time, the demand for intellectual property has grown. Just look around Silicon Valley; there are plenty of lawyers specializing in copyright/patent law, particularly in regards to new technology. It is hard, once the words escape your lips, to prove that the idea was yours originally, hence the growing market for people whose sole job is to prove exactly that. And their existence does show that the demand is there for professionals who will work to protect an idea and its eventual implementation. I have no doubt that this will continue to be the case, considering the substantial amount of money that can be made with a tech start up; low overhead and a high profit margin has a way of attracting people looking to make it big.

Interestingly, there is also some talk about releasing ideas as public goods, rather than private entities. The Wikimedia foundation, while keeping a hold on their trademark Wikipedia, tries to espouse this concept. Everyone trying to help out their fellow man with the collective knowledge of thousands of human beings, brought together by the Internet; beautiful, romantic, and the assurance that user information won’t be sold to advertisers á la Facebook. The rise of piracy and companies founded along the same line of thinking as Wikipedia poses an interesting challenge to foundation of intellectual property and the opinion that you can own an idea.

Most entrepreneurs will, understandably, probably follow the route that will make them money, which means IP lawyers will have plenty of work for years to come. But I am amazed at how well Wikipedia has done, and the fact that many younger entrepreneurs are of the opinion that the Wiki model, rather than the Facebook model, is the way to go. Of course, Wikipedia is a protected property, despite its non-profit status. Nevertheless, I will be interested to see if communal beliefs will end up stretching into the realm of intellectual property, and how well it will do there. The Internet user is fickle, and the warm-fuzzy feelings of supporting a communal service may outweigh the benefits of using a, likely better developed, but privately owned, competitor.

As CEO of MyCorporation Business Services, Inc. (“MyCorporation.com”), Deborah Sweeney is an advocate for protecting personal and business assets for all consumers. With her experience in the field of corporate and intellectual property law, Deborah can provide insightful commentary on the benefits, barriers and who should consider incorporation and trademark registration.  She also has extensive experience in the start-up and entrepreneurial industry, as she has been involved in the formation of hundreds of thousands of MyCorporation.com’s customers.

Ms. Sweeney joined MyCorporation in 2003 after serving as outside general counsel for 5 years. She received her Juris Doctor and Masters in Business Administration degrees from Pepperdine University and is a member of the American Bar Association.

Deborah has served as an adjunct professor at the University of West Los Angeles and San Fernando School of Law in the area of corporate and intellectual property law. Because of her extensive knowledge, Sweeney has long served as a speaker and panelist on legal issues affecting new to the world and growing businesses.

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

eCommerce

Kleiner Perkins Invests $15M in Rent the Runway (via TechCrunch)

Groupon Clone That Got Sued By Groupon Raises Funding At $200 Million Valuation (via TechCrunch)

Web Content/Video

Shortform Video Platform VYou Reels In $3M (via TechCrunch)

Finance

Lerer Ventures Raises Second $25M Seed Fund for NYC Startups (via TechCrunch)

Advertising/Marketing

Tesco’s Dunnhumby Buys BzzAgent For $60 million (via TechCrunch)

IT/Telephony

GTT Acquires PacketExchange For $20 Million In Cash, Debt (via TechCrunchIT)

Cloud

Eightfold Logic Launches InboundWriter, A Social Writing App, And Raises $2 Million (via TechCrunch)

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

An obligatory ode to the LinkedIn IPO:

LinkedIn Climbs Past $100 Per Share On Second Day Of Trading (via TechCrunch)

And now for everything else:

Mobile

Google Spends $4.9 Million On Modu Patent Portfolio (via CrunchGear)

Mobile video company Vuclip pulls in $8M funding (via GoMo News)

IT/Data Management

SQLstream Raises $6M For Standards-Based Stream Computing Platform (via TechCrunchIT)

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Bababoo offers a wifi and 3G-based mobile calling solution, and they just raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Sierra Ventures. Co-founder and CEO Buck French tells StartUp Beat that the two most important differentiators for Bababoo are ease-of-use in calling and intelligent call routing. The London-based company was founded in February, 2010.

SUB: What is Bababoo? What is the value proposition that you offer to customers?

French: Bababoo is an intelligent calling app that provides effortless savings when placing mobile calls. The app is intelligent because it knows when your phone is connected to the Internet in order to place free and low cost Internet calls. When your phone is not on the Internet, the app ensures the call is placed by routing the call through your carrier network. The savings are “effortless” because all the consumer needs to do is press the Bababoo Blue button and dial, nothing else. Our interface looks the same as the iPhone dialer and you keep your same phone number without porting. You literally just dial and we place the call the lowest cost way possible.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

French: We consider the mobile carrier as our competition. At the end of the day, our smart phones are smart enough to leverage the Internet to provide free and cheap calls, but the carriers lock you into their more expensive network as the only option. We think that your call should be routed the lowest cost way possible. Sometimes that is the Internet, other times it is the carrier. The key though is the user should not have to choose, it should just happen.

SUB: Mobile telephony over 3G/wifi seems to be a hot sector recently. What is it about Bababoo that you think distinguishes it from the competition?

French: Two fundamental things. First, ease of use. You don’t have to change your behavior like other VOIP offerings. You just dial like you always have. The only change for the user is pushing a blue button instead of a green. Second, intelligent call routing. We are the only provider who routes the call through the Internet when available and if 3G/wifi is not available, making sure the call gets placed by seamlessly passing it to the carrier.

SUB: How was the technology behind the application developed (was it done in-house, was it a collaborative effort, etc.)?

French: Yes, it was done in-house by my fellow co-founders Tony Million and Dan Lane.  Both very experienced mobile telephony engineers.

SUB: When was the company founded and what were the first steps you took to establishing it?

French: We founded the company in February of 2010. The most critical step we took was properly defining the problem we were setting out to solve. We believe that a user should not have to figure out for themselves how to place a free or low cost call. It should just happen. Given the power of the smartphone, we have proved this is possible.

SUB: What is your target market?

French: Anyone who has a smartphone! Initially we are only available on the iPhone, but we will have Android and Blackberry by the beginning of 2012. The reason we say anyone with a smartphone is we have proven that we clearly save with international calling, but we have also proven that we can significantly lower people’s carrier bills.

SUB: How are you marketing the service?

French: We initially have used PR efforts to get the word out. But our best marketing tool is happy customers. We are focused on making each customer happy with our offering with the hope they will tell their friends.

SUB: You recently raised a $1.5 million seed funding round. Do you have specific plans for the money, or is it intended more for general business purposes?

French: The money is to keep building out our offering and execute our vision of providing “Smart Communications.” The Bababoo Intelligent Calling App is just our first effort in this area. There will be more to come at the end of the year.

SUB: Do you plan to raise more outside funding in the near future?

French: Not in the near future, but we do anticipate raising funding down the road to support our rapid growth.

SUB: What have the biggest challenges been to this point to making Bababoo what you’ve envisioned it being?

French: As always, in any market, there is a lot of noise. It’s tough getting the word out that this is more than just a VOIP offering. That “intelligent calling” has VOIP in the mix, but your carrier needs to be an option as well and all of it has to be delivered to the consumer “hassle-free.”

SUB: Finally, a question I always ask: As an entrepreneur who has weathered the down economy of recent years, what advice do you have for those just starting out as entrepreneurs?

French: Make sure you focus on properly defining the problem you are going after. Think hard about it and don’t be distracted from building a product that is targeted at solving it.

Bababoo – www.bababoo.com

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Social Media

DFJ Leads $6 Million Round For Social Job Board Jibe (via TechCrunch)

IT/SaaS

Voice Sentiment Analysis Startup Saygent Raises $1 Million (via TechCrunch)

Finance

Khosla Ventures raises $1B — just in time for the bubble (via VentureBeat)

Mobile/Gaming

iOS Game Publisher Fuse Powered Raises $2m Seed Round From BlackBerry Partners Fund And NFQ (via MobileCrunch)

Education

Sophia Does The Math, Buys Guaranteach To Boost Its Social Education Platform (via TechCrunch)

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Playmatics is a gaming company that focuses on deeply engaging interactive experiences. The company recently began designing and building the “Shadow Government” mobile social game—a large-scale reality-based concept, and raised $1 million for the project. Playmatics, based in New York City, was founded in 2009.

SUB: Please briefly describe Playmatics—what is the value proposition that you bring to the gaming market?

Wallace: One way Playmatics occupies a unique space in gaming is through our incredibly strong focus on quality design. My co-founder, Nick Fortugno, is an award-winning game designer. He’s been playing and designing games for most of his life and was the original designer behind the first “Diner Dash” game. That game went on to became a mega-hit, played by millions, responsible for generating an entirely new gaming genre, namely “time-management” games.

This strong design focus is most recently recognized in another Playmatics-designed game, which recently won a prestigious CableFAX award. This game is called “The Interrogation” and it is focused around AMC’s popular “Breaking Bad” series. This same game was also nominated for an award at SXSW Interactive. Recognition like this really validates where we are heading.

Right now, we’re also designing and building out the “Shadow Government” mobile social gaming network. It’s a large-scale reality-based social game, which I talk about a little later on in this interview.

As for myself, I’ve been in tech, media and gaming for a while now and have worked in the industry at a high strategic level from a number of vantage points—on the publisher side, at large media companies and as part of several successful start-ups. Being an entrepreneur is just a part of my DNA and this sensibility extends to the rest of the Playmatics company culture. In addition to understanding what it takes to scale a business, build users, optimize monetization streams and also effectively use metrics as the underpinnings of good gaming, I have a pretty good knack of picking up on trends, especially embracing all the possibilities presented by “transmedia” before it was probably even a term. This propensity has allowed Playmatics to really occupy unique space in terms of the opportunities that come our way.

Under Nick’s and my combined leadership, we have assembled an exceptionally strong team of talented game designers, programmers and artists—many of whom have worked together for several years. In an era where all the top design talent is being “acquired” by a myriad of deep-pocketed social gaming companies, Playmatics remains one of the few independent players out there. It feels good.

SUB: What is your business model? How do you (or how do you plan to) make money?

Wallace: Deciding on a business model really depends on a lot of factors. For example, we look at the platform, the genre, the intended audience and overall best practices already established in the space.

For the upcoming Shadow Government game, we are looking at everything from microtransactions, advertising and also revenues from ancillary products.

SUB: Where did the idea behind the company come from? Was there a specific “aha” moment or was it an idea that took a longer time in developing?

Wallace: Playmatics rose out of a desire to keep doing what we have always done—embracing entrepreneurial practices in the context of making deeply engaging gaming and transmedial experiences. More recently, we’ve also stepped up our expertise around “gamification” and applying the principles and practices found in traditional gaming to non-gaming products, services and even real-life experiences.

SUB: When was Playmatics founded, and what were the first steps you took to establishing it?

Wallace: Playmatics was established in 2009. In 2011, Playmatics co-founded another company, called Shadow Government, Inc., along with Philippe Trawnika, to focus specifically on reality-based social gaming.

The first steps to founding a company always involve defining and refining your mission, assembling the right people, focusing and then getting to work.

SUB: How many customers do you currently have?

Wallace: We are always looking for great partners. Fortunately, Playmatics is represented by Creative Artists Agency, the best talent agents around. This means we have access to a wide variety of amazing opportunities and get to meet with some of the smartest people in the entertainment industry.

As for total number of players, it’s impossible to say. Throughout our combined careers, we have certainly touched millions and millions of players.

SUB: How are you marketing your games?

Wallace: Marketing games is really a fine art and the tools we have at-hand these days in terms of targeting and measurement (but not necessarily cost) are better than ever. How one goes about marketing a game really depends on a lot of factors and, like monetization, depends on the title and audience opportunity at-hand. For instance, is the game self-published or is there a publishing partner? What marketing money is available? Is the game being deployed on Facebook, on smartphones or on another gaming platform? All of these questions come into play when marketing and promoting a specific game title or franchise. A realistic and also creative marketing plan is the best way to narrow down all of these possibilities.

These days, the better you can build in virality and social elements into a specific game, the better you are able to market it to players.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

Wallace: We honestly don’t feel like we have competition. We have a clear vision for where we are heading and are working on great original IP (Shadow Government). There are so many opportunities these days in transmedia and gaming, it’s a moot point to worry about potential competitors. The industry is expanding, not contracting. Maybe we’re in competition with ourselves to be better than we were yesterday.

SUB: How big do you think the opportunity is right now in social gaming?

Wallace: For people willing to take calculated chances, I still believe there are lots of opportunities ahead of us in social gaming. I advise a couple of start-ups. If a start-up came to me to say they are focusing primarily on Facebook—I’d tell them they better have an extremely unique value proposition, killer virality and enough marketing money or strategic partnerships in-place to survive in that competitive environment. There is always opportunity—as long as there is clear vision, excellent execution of that vision and the right relationships in place.

SUB: You recently closed a $1 million investment round—do you have specific plans for the new funding? Do you plan to seek more outside funding in the new future?

Wallace: Shadow Government, Inc. is technically the name of the official entity that raised the money. Shadow Government, Inc. is co-founded by Playmatics (Margaret Wallace & Nick Fortugno) and Philippe Trawnika (formerly of the investment firm Bridgeworks.ch).

So, as part of Shadow Government, Inc. (I love saying that) we raised $1 million in investment from a series of Swiss-based angels. The money is ear-marked to introduce what we consider to be an entirely new form of reality-based social gaming—one which allows us to “gamify” real countries, events and happenings that take place in the real world. The game is also called “Shadow Government” and initially planned as a social mobile title. The game launches later this year.

What makes “Shadow Government” more “reality-based” than perhaps any other? We have a special partnership with The Millennium Institute. For several decades, they have developed and perfected this real-world policy and government modeling software that is astonishingly accurate. It’s a tool for trying out and predicting events around the world. Until now, this model has only been in the hands of government officials and policy-makers. They use these models to consider how a variety of seemingly unrelated decisions may impact the real world, ranging from pollution, education, the environment. Now, for the first time, anyone with a smartphone can ‘play’ at what it’s like to simulate running a real country like the United States. There have been a lot of simulation games out there but none which are really modeling reality to such an astonishing level of accuracy.

Like any social game, Shadow Government will be playable as a standalone but the experience can be deepened through the participation and involvement of friends and others along the social graph. I am absolutely fascinated at the idea of seeing if players of the Shadow Government game can do a better job of managing world events and outcomes than actual leaders in the real world.

SUB: Where do you see Playmatics in about a year from now?

Wallace: A year in gaming is like ten years in any other sector. We have a clear sense of purpose and vision for where we’re heading. We believe that the surface of social gaming has only begun to be scratched in terms of what’s possible.

I’d say we’re already entering a third wave of social gaming—one which requires deeper, more compelling gameplay, and which unfolds on mobile and perhaps increasingly off-Facebook. A wise person said to me the other day that “change is not an event, it’s an environment” and that truly encapsulates the complex world we live in. The same holds true for gaming and transmedia.

SUB: Finally, a question I always ask: As an entrepreneur who has navigated the waters of the down economy, what advice do you have for those just now starting a business?

Wallace: This is a great question. Every now and then, I give talks on entrepreneurship and have lots of pointers I’ve collected from my own experiences in terms of kick-starting your company and making it successful.

In an ironic sense, sometimes the best time to start a new company is during a down economy. In a less than stellar economy, you really have to get back to basics and see what unique niche you fill. Sometimes you get to make something entirely new out of nothing. Lead from the heart but arm yourself with a plan, I always say.

Ironically, there are potentially more opportunities to stand out in a down economy than when you are in the midst of a huge bubble. In a bubble, it’s easy to get caught up in other people’s successes and, for inexperienced entrepreneurs, to get distracted and to lose your way.

I also advise start-ups to know when to pivot if something isn’t working. Often this is easier said than done, but necessary for survival. If an entrepreneur determines they must pivot—they might come across enormous resistance from their investors, board members or even their employees. At the end of the day, pivoting might take you to bigger and better things that you never imagined possible.

Finally, I tell young start-ups to listen to feedback but just ignore the naysayers. In a down economy, you will know who your true friends are. So much of business is built on relationships—so in good times and bad, always reach out to and rely on your network of friends and colleagues. At the end of the day, I believe there are more amazing opportunities in this world than there are smart people to pursue them.

Playmatics – www.playmatics.com

Posted by startupbeat at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Web Content

Online Ticket Seller Eventbrite Raises $50 Million (via TechCrunch) See StartUp Beat’s Q&A with EventBrite President Julia Hartz back in March

TurningArt Raises $750K To Be The Netflix For Artwork (via TechCrunch)

Social Media

Social communications startup Sococo raises $4 million and adds to senior management (via company announcement) See StartUp Beat’s Q&A with Sococo president Paul Brody back in February

Gaming

Zynga acquires DNA Games, 14th acquisition in 12 months (via GamesBeat)

Cloud

Cloud Database Provider MongoLab Raises $3 Million From Foundry, Baseline, And Others (via TechCrunch)

Advertising/Marketing

Cognitive Match Secures $6 Million For Ad Targeting Technology (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Facebook-based employment networking service BranchOut announced last week that it has raised $18 million in Series B funding. StartUp Beat caught up with Mike Del Ponte, BranchOut’s head of marketing, about the company and how it plans to use the funding.

SUB: Please describe how BranchOut works. What is the experience like for users?

Del Ponte: BranchOut is the largest professional networking service on Facebook. It is where Facebook users go to find jobs, recruit talent, source sales leads and foster relationships with professional contacts—all on Facebook.

We are also offering enterprise products for corporate clients, starting with recruiting products. BranchOut also operates the largest job board on Facebook with over 3 million jobs and 20,000 internships. We allow anyone to post a job on BranchOut. We also have a Jobs Tab product whereby companies can post jobs on their Facebook fan pages. We’ll be releasing our full enterprise suite for recruiters this summer.

SUB: What differentiates BranchOut from other career networking websites?

Del Ponte: BranchOut leverages the Facebook social graph. This is extremely powerful because BranchOut shows you where your friends and friends-of-friends work. So if you’re looking for a new job, new hire, or a sales lead, you can tap your friend network to find it.

SUB: What is your business model? How does BranchOut make money?

Del Ponte: BranchOut makes money by charging for job posts and enterprise solutions, such as the recruiter products I mentioned earlier.

SUB: Where did the idea for BranchOut come from? Was there a specific “aha” moment, or was the idea longer in coming?

Del Ponte: One day a friend of mine asked me for an introduction at a company where he wanted a sales lead. I wanted to see who I knew at the company by searching on Facebook. That search capability was not available on Facebook, so I asked our Director of Engineering to build it. He did and we immediately knew we were on to something.

SUB: When was BranchOut founded, and what were the first steps you took in establishing it?

Del Ponte: We launched BranchOut in July 2010. We already had a strong team with deep experience in social media, online recruiting, and Facebook apps, so the transition was easy.

SUB: Who are your target users?

Del Ponte: Anyone online who wants to improve their careers.

SUB: How are you marketing the service?

Del Ponte: Most are users are invited to BranchOut by their friends who are already using our service. We have also been fortunate to get great press.

SUB: How many users/customers do you currently have?

Del Ponte: We experienced rapid growth in the first quarter of 2011. Our monthly active user count grew from 10,000 to 500,000 in two-and-a-half months.

SUB: You just closed an $18 million Series B funding round. Do you have specific plans for the money?

Del Ponte: Right now we’re focused on building a world-class team. We already have a lot of talent. We’ll be adding more engineers and expanding our sales team.

SUB: Do you plan to raise more outside funding in the near future?

Del Ponte: We’ve raised $24 million since September. We might not have to ever raise more funding.

SUB: Where do you see BranchOut in a year from now?

Del Ponte: We have our road map and know that 2011 is all about attracting users and corporate clients who love our products. We’re working hard to accomplish that.

SUB: As an entrepreneur who has successfully navigated the down economy, what advice do you have for those just starting out as entrepreneurs?

Del Ponte: Attract a word-class team, build a great product, and be passionate enough to put in the long hours required to create a company that helps a lot of people.

BranchOut – www.branchout.com

Posted by startupbeat at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tabbedout, a service that allows diners to pay tabs at restaurants and bars via mobile phone, just closed a $5.75 million Series A round of funding. Co-founder and CEO Rick Orr tells StartUp Beat that the idea for the company came from his own frustrating experience and that he believes customers are ready for a paradigm shift in the way they pay for dining. The Austin, TX-based company was founded in 2009.

SUB: Please briefly describe Tabbedout’s service and the value proposition you offer to restaurants and to customers.

Orr: Tabbedout is the mobile payment solution that makes mobile payment widely available so bars and restaurants can spend more time with their customers. The free Tabbedout app for iPhone and Android enables consumers to open a tab with their mobile phone, view their tab in real-time and pay the tab anytime, anywhere—you can even split the check paying just your portion directly from the app. Our mobile payment solution integrates directly with the merchant’s point-of-sale (POS) system and does not require additional hardware or changes to their accounting. This allows Tabbedout merchants to serve more people and turn more tables, especially during peak hours. Tabbedout also provides payment assurance by providing validated payment info when a tab is first opened.

Orr: Our service is completely free to the guests of Tabbedout venues which pay a nominal monthly fee for the service.

SUB: Where did the idea behind the Tabbedout come from?

Orr: Eight years ago, I found myself waiting nearly an hour to close out my tab at a restaurant. I realized there had to be a better way to improve the payment process—both for patrons and merchants-- at bars and restaurants. Thus, the concept for Tabbedout was born.

SUB: When was the company founded, and what were the first steps you took to establishing it? 

Orr: The company was founded in June of 2009. Once my co-founder, Dave Lemley, and I left our day jobs, we began work on a prototype to determine if our idea was truly feasible and viable. In parallel, I began reaching out to Austin angel investors who were immediately responsive to the concept and provided us the capital to build a small team and bootstrap our idea into a commercial product.

SUB: How many customers do you currently have?

Orr: We have locations in 90 cities across 20 states, and we are rapidly expanding our presence with the help of strategic national partners such as MICROS, the industry leader for POS. Per our recent announcement, the Tabbedout software is now embedded in the MICROS POS software, making it easier for bars and restaurants to offer Tabbedout to their patrons. We also have relationships with other major POS vendors including Future POS, Dinerware, Agilysys and others. It’s these relationships that enable us to expand and are proof points and validation that our solution is the most secure and effective way to offer mobile payments today using existing technology.

SUB: How are you marketing the service?

Orr: We have identified key markets where we will expand our service. We are creating strategic marketing programs targeting each of these markets to increase consumer adoption. These plans include direct and event marketing at our locations, social media and traditional advertising, public relations, and partnerships with key groups and influencers in each market.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

Orr: Mobile payments conversations these days tend to center around upcoming technology such as peer-to-peer payments and counter-service. Our model leverages the existing and widely deployed infrastructure of our point-of-sale partners to enable mobile payments today on a merchant’s existing system. As such, we are focused on maximizing the time our customers can spend with friends rather than anxiously searching for the server to close out a check which is a relevant and unique complement to the existing POS infrastructure.

SUB: Last week, you announced that you have closed a $5.75 million Series A round of funding. Do you have specific plans for the funds?

Orr: We plan to support the growth we’ve experienced and build consumer awareness and adoption in key markets, as previously mentioned. This includes creating strategic marketing programs, hiring additional staff as needed and ramping sales efforts. We will also continue to invest in our mobile payment solution and bring to market a customer relationship platform that will change the way merchants and patrons interact.

SUB: Do you plan to seek more outside funding in the new future?

Orr: At this time we have enough funds to deliver on our growth plan. We will continue to monitor the market closely and will review our growth options on an ongoing basis.

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Social Media

Exclusive: Jobvite Recruits $15 Million In Funding For Social Hiring Applications (via TechCrunch)

BeeTV: Social TV Meets Recommendations On the iPad (raises 1.5 million) (via gigaom)

GreenTech

Energy-Management Startup Hara Soaks Up $25 Million In Venture Funding (via TechCrunch)

Web Content

Tencent And Expedia Invest $126 Million In Chinese Online Travel Marketplace eLong (via TechCrunch)

uma Raises $1.1 Million For Semantic Web Technology (via TechCrunch)

Marketing/Advertising

Posted by startupbeat at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Apptivo offers free online productivity apps for small businesses. The Silicon Valley-based company was founded in 2008.

SUB: Please briefly describe the services Apptivo offers.

Gerald: Apptivo is a platform that provides many small business apps for free. Apptivo has apps to manage your employees, ecommerce store, customers, projects, timesheets, invoices and many other functions of a small business.

SUB: What is the technology behind the services?

Gerald: We use Postgres SQL DB and JBoss. All our apps are written in Java.

SUB: What is your business model? How does Apptivo make money?

Gerald: Apptivo makes money by selling additional services like electronic fax, document storage, email campaigns, etc. All these services are provided by third party providers and Apptivo integrates these services seamlessly into relevant apps. We also develop custom ecommerce websites and host these websites. Most of the custom development happens through partners. And we are actively recruiting partners.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

Gerald: There are several vendors in different spaces. In CRM, we see Salesforce.com, and Zoho as the 800 pound gorillas to take on. In invoicing, Freshbooks. In Project Management basecamphq.com and so on.

SUB: What differentiates Apptivo from the competition?

Gerald: Apptivo is a platform that provides many small business apps. And for free. These are the key differentiators at this point. There is no entry fee to use the platform. There are no monthly fees. The only investment you need to make is to spend some time to play around and get going.

SUB: What is your target market? Is it SMBs?

Gerald: We are targeting SMBs.

SUB: How are you marketing your services?

Gerald: The primary channel we are relying on is word of mouth. We are also working with partners in specific verticals to both build vertical specific apps and also promote the platform in that vertical. We are also engaged in conversations with special interest groups to promote Apptivo in their networks.

SUB: Where did the inspiration for Apptivo come from?

Gerald: My background is ERP, which meant big spending during the last decade. So, I’ve always wanted to build a business management platform for small businesses. The challenge was to do that in a way that will make the total cost of ownership near zero for a user. Recent technologies have made it possible to offer a small business management suite like Apptivo free for customers.

SUB: What were the first steps you took in starting the company?

Gerald: I bounced my idea with a couple of friends. Pitched it to a VC. The idea was thought to be “very difficult” to achieve. So, then I set out to build it myself. I researched some technologies, hired some engineers back in India and got going.

SUB: What have the biggest challenges been you’ve faced so far to building the business?

Gerald: So far, we’ve made pretty good progress. Other than the standard challenges of time and money, we’ve not faced anything out of the ordinary. And we are set out to take the company to the next level now.

SUB: Have you raised outside funding? Do you plan to raise some (or more) in the near future?

Gerald: We are in the process of raising an angel round now and expect to close towards the end of June.

SUB: Where do you see Apptivo in a year from now?

Gerald: We would like to see Apptivo having a few hundred thousand customers across the globe. We would like to see over 100 Apps on the platform and would like to have built about 20 percent of them for some verticals.

SUB: Finally, a question I always ask: as an entrepreneur who has guided his company though the economic downturn, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs just starting out now?

Gerald: Downturns actually provide interesting opportunities. So, I’d say it’s important to be nimble, and invest wisely so when the time is right you can accelerate and reap the rewards.

Apptivo – www.apptivo.com

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Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Mobile

Mobile Payments Startup Billing Revolution Raises $6.6 Million (via TechCrunch)

StackMob stacks up $7.5M to be Heroku-style backend for mobile developers (via VentureBeat)

Social Media

Tradeshift reinvigorates invoicing with $7 million in funding (via DealsBeat)

IT/Enterprise

SanDisk buys enterprise flash memory firm Pliant Technology for $327M (via VentureBeat)

Posted by startupbeat at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Web Content

Thredup raises $7M to help parents swap clothes (via SocialBeat)

Gaming

Online Gaming Startup We R Interactive Raises $5 Million From Private Backers (via TechCrunch)

E-commerce

Walmart Invests In Yihaodian, A Massive Chinese E-Commerce Company (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Haileo offers visually-delivered advertising and ecommerce solutions and technology. The Santa Clara-based company was founded in 2009.

SUB: Briefly describe the services you offer.

Gunadhi: Haileo offers products for online advertising and visual e-commerce. These products establish intent of the multimedia content from visual context to help clients monetize their underserved inventories.

SUB: What is the technology behind Haileo?

Gunadhi: Haileo’s patent pending technologies utilizes visual context of the online digital content. The key capabilities of the technology include unsupervised learning of multimedia elements from vast and unreliable sets of data (web); advanced algorithms for automated and scalable processing of large multimedia data sets; innovative algorithms to understand images and videos and match their multimedia attributes; and detection and classification algorithms that use higher order relationships between content.

SUB: What is the value proposition Haileo offers to both advertisers and publishers?

Gunadhi: The value proposition for advertisers includes targeting ads using visual context of the images and videos, in addition to text; coverage expansion for advertisers beyond the traditional ad placements; an offering of branded performance ads that deliver higher return on investment and built-in brand loyalty by allowing the consumers to interact with the brand.

The value proposition for publishers includes the utilization of visual context of online digital content; monetization of under-monetized or non-monetized multimedia content; creation of new advertising opportunities using visual context; and increase in user interaction with content to improve engagement with the site.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

Gunadhi: There are many companies claiming expertise in understanding multimedia. However, most of them are using human resources to tag images and videos and some are trying technology. Haileo technology can understand various dimensions of multimedia in an automated fashion that can scale for large volume and does not require human intervention. Some of the competitors in this space include: Pixazza, GumGum, SuperFish and Like.com.

SUB: How are you marketing your services?

Gunadhi: We are currently marketing our services through a direct sales force. We are engaging with some partners who will resell our services.

SUB: What is your business model? How does Haileo make money?

Gunadhi: We have two business models, one for advertising that includes revenue sharing and fee for service. And the other is for e-commerce that includes SaaS offering and enterprise licenses.

SUB: When and how did the idea behind Haileo come about? Was there a distinct “aha” moment, or was it a longer-term process?

Gunadhi: The idea came three years ago while the three founders were working on a prior venture together. We saw firsthand the problems of search and understanding user intent, and believed that if we could incorporate multimedia cues, we would go a long way to solving these problems. We had a deep understanding of the approach and algorithms needed to realize our vision.

SUB: What were the first steps you took to starting the business?

Gunadhi: The founders have considerable start-up experience between them and could have raised money early. However, we were uncertain as to what the best applications were for the technology we were developing. Thus, it was decided that we would bootstrap the company, stay lean, talk to as many prospective customers as we could, and rapidly prototype solutions that we believed met their needs.

SUB: Have you raised outside funding to this point? If not, do you plan to in the near future? If so, do you plan to raise more in the short term?

Gunadhi: Yes, Series A Preferred from a group of angels. Yes, we plan to raise a Series B later this year.

SUB: As an entrepreneur who has started a business in the midst of an economy that is still not completely healthy, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs just starting out?

Gunadhi: Believe in what you have and persevere most of all. Try to stay as lean as possible for as long as needed. Meantime, follow the “fail fast” approach of developing the product or service for the intended customer. Interact with customers. “Stealth mode” is over-rated!

Haileo – www.haileo.com

Posted by startupbeat at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Social Media

Social network monitoring firm Inside Network sold for $14M (via SocialBeat)

Buddy Media Acquires Social Commerce Platform Spinback (via Mashable)

Claritics raises $1.5M for social analytics apps (via SocialBeat)

IT/Software

Typesafe raises $3M for modern software development tools (via DealsBeat)

Marketing/Advertising

Demandbase Raises $10 Million For B2B Marketing Software (via TechCrunch)

Mobile

Score Media Plays Ball, Acquires Rival Mobile App SportsTap (via TechCrunch)

Third-party smartphone app developer Sourcebits raises $10M for global expansion (via DealsBeat)

Posted by startupbeat at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

LeadBolt is a new online and mobile advertising and monetization platform. The company was founded in 2010.

SUB: Please briefly describe the services LeadBolt offers.

Carr: LeadBolt offers anyone, from website owners to mobile applications developers, a better way of earning money from their site, online content or mobile apps than they would through conventional advertising mechanisms like Google Adsense. In simple terms, Leadbolt is the new wave of monetizing content online and on mobile.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

Carr: As we are in the online advertising space, any online company from a CPA network to a CPC network could claim to be our competitors. Those networks though are focused more on offers not on the actual technology and optimization we perform that increase revenue for the web or app owner. We do more than just web and we truly believe with our innovative leading edge technology and expertise, that we don’t have direct competitors.

SUB: What differentiates LeadBolt from the competition?

Carr: Our revenue performance, user functionality, optimization capabilities, and multivariate testing, give us a strong competitive advantage against any networks. Our technology implements a revolutionary algorithm that automatically prioritizes the best ads for a particular website or app better than any networks out there. LeadBolt also provides exceptional customer service to its members helping them make more. As a collective of visionaries and pioneers, we not only aim to trump the competition in our market but to tap previously unexplored territory as well.

SUB: What are your target markets?

Carr: LeadBolt targets any website owners, developers, content owners, bloggers, forum administrators and online properties that have unique web content including videos, music, e-books, flash games, and other valuable assets looking to monetize better. On the mobile side, we target app developers and mobile site publishers.

We have a large international focus so typically anyone from any part of the world looking to make more online is our target market.

SUB: How are you marketing your services?

Carr: We are fortunate that a lot of the growth of our company has been generated virally. People found out about how much more they could make with is, implemented, were so impressed with the results ended up telling their friends and the cycle continued. Other than that we have of course tried some light advertising through the search engines but found nothing works better than word of mouth.

SUB: Where did the inspiration for the idea behind LeadBolt come from?

Carr: There were so many sites and content owners out there who were literally giving away highly valuable IP not making one cent from it. Many tried using the 'traditional types of advertising' like Adsense but were disappointed with the results. I felt there must be a smarter way that would generate returns if the advertising becomes more an interactive experience. Out of this desire, came an innovated and fresh solution that was built out into what you see today as Leadbolt.

SUB: What were the first steps you took in starting the company?

Carr: Having gone through the startup environment previously I knew the most important part to starting the business was coming up with a business plan. This helped me plan not only the model of the business but the resource requirements too.  Once I knew the scale and magnitude I started putting the building blocks in place to make it happen.

SUB: What have the biggest challenges you’ve faced so far to building the business?

Carr: The biggest challenge so far has been in handling the exceptionally fast pace of growth within the company. I had planned for a slower ramp up but as the viral effect of happy customers kicked in we had more and more customers to satisfy. The technology kept pace but the resources required to service customers were very stretched as we rushed to cope with the demand.

SUB: Have you raised outside funding? Do you plan to raise some (or more) in the near future?

Carr: We are a private company so besides initial internal investors, we have not raised outside funds. Certainly with the growth we are working towards, raising external funding is not entirely outside of the question.

SUB: Where do you see LeadBolt in a year from now?

Carr: Leadbolt will become a preferred method of monetization by many of the mainstream website owners. We will be recognized as a viable option to those currently using in-house solutions to run their own ad space. After all, who knows how to monetize your site better than the experts in the field?

SUB: As an entrepreneur who has guided his company though the economic downturn, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs just starting out now?

Carr: Don’t let people tell you the market space is too crowded. There is always room for one more online. As long as you have thought through your plan, have faith in yourself, and know where you are going you can achieve anything. Remember too, technology is an enabler but does not replace the hard work, blood, sweat, tears and countless hours it takes to make a company successful. Good luck!

LeadBolt – www.leadbolt.com

Posted by startupbeat at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:   

Mobile

Pageonce Raises $15 Million, Aims To Make Your Smartphone The ‘Wallet Of The Future’ (via TechCrunch)

eCommerce

Former eBay, Oracle Execs Raise $11 Million For “Gift Network” FreeMonee (via TechCrunch)

Stealth Startup Inporia Raises $1.25 Million From Ron Conway, 500 Startups And More (via TechCrunch)

Social Media

Exclusive: BranchOut Raises $18M For Facebook-Focused Professional Network (via TechCrunch)

Web Content

HomeAway Acquires Social Vacation Rentals App Second Porch (via TechCrunch)

Trivantis Acquires Flash Content Creation And Digital Signage Platform Flypaper (via TechCrunch)

IT/Data Management

Alpine Data Labs Scores $7.5 Million To Help Companies Analyze Troves Of Data (via TechCrunch)

IT/Enterprise

Nuance Buys Enterprise Print Management Software Developer Equitrac For $157M In Cash (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Line2 offers a feature-packed unified telephony application for businesses and consumers alike. The application is offered by Toktumi, which is based in San Francisco and was founded in 2008.

SUB: Please describe the concept behind Line2.

Sisson: The concept is really about having a second phone line on your cell phone.

People that use Line2 for business can create a professional identity for themselves. They can separate their business and personal calls without having to carry around two cell phones. One cell phone, two lines. Hence, Line2. Other features include: “Do Not Disturb,” separate voicemails and call forwarding.

Despite the primary targets being business professionals, we found that a lot of consumers have gravitated to Line2 as well.  The biggest reason is that they want to keep their personal cell phone private. They use it in instances when they have to provide a phone number but don’t want it to be the primary number.

The third use is that people discover that they can make calls where they couldn’t before. A lot of people have issues with cellular reception in their homes and offices. Line2 can be used for cellular, Wi-Fi and 3G calling. Line2 makes it so that they’re never stuck without service, even if they don’t have a cell signal.

SUB: What is the experience like for users?

Sisson: It’s just like using your regular cell phone but with lots of additional benefits that users don’t normally get. What was very important to us in creating Line2 was to not force people to learn new behaviors in order to place a call. We wanted Line2 to work the same way as their existing cell phone service but with the ability to switch between VoIP and cellular calls. They also have some additional cool features, especially for business.

With Line2 Pro, users have the ability to set up an auto attendant, manage multiple lines thru a single account, and can even have different phones connected to your Line2, not just your cell phone. It’s a whole level of additional features.

The core is to make it as easy to use as a regular cell phone.

SUB: How was the company founded—was there a big “aha” moment, or was the concept the result of a more gradual process?

Sisson: The “aha” moment that really stuck out was that people were carrying around two phones—one for their company and one for personal use. Carrying two phones and worrying about keeping them both charged and paying both bills is just not an ideal experience. Instead of carrying two phones why not put two lines on one phone?

SUB: What were the first steps you took to establish the company? For example, did you seek funding first, establish a team, etc.?

Sisson: We practice what is called the “lean startup model” which is really just to spend very little money until you discover what your product really is and who your customers are. I raised a little bit of money from a friend and angel investor who funded me and a couple contractors to figure out what the initial concept was. We came up with something, debuted it and it wasn’t right. We iterated on the product based on customer feedback and over time it migrated from a softphone for a PC to the Line2 application for mobile devices. That’s when the product really took off.

SUB: Who do you consider to be Line2’s competitors?

Sisson: There are many people chasing this opportunity, although almost all of them are focused on consumers.  Companies like Skype, Google Voice, Tru, Fring etc. all have mobile offerings, although none offer a service focused entirely on bringing business phone features to mobile professionals like we do.

SUB: How do your services compare with services like Skype and Google Voice?

Sisson: Professional-grade quality and reliability, business features and live customer support are how we differentiate from the free services.

Most of the other services are free and as a result there are issues with quality, they’re consumer oriented—not business and they don’t offer live customer support. Essentially, we attract the professionals who like such services but are willing to spend a little money in return for better quality and reliably, business features, and live customer support.

SUB: What is your primary target market?

Sisson: Professionals and people whose calls are important to them. They’re employed, high income, college educated, in their 30s-to-50s.

SUB: How are you marketing the service?

Sisson: A combo of word of mouth, public relations and mobile marketing.

Our primary effort is PR and awareness generation through news coverage. The most important channel that we’re trying to build is PR combined with word of mouth. We want our customers to become our own evangelists. Customers that love the service and want to share it with friends and associates is the secret sauce for any company that wants to grow.

We also do some mobile advertising with companies like iAd and JumpTap on smartphones and mobile devices. By doing that, we’ve already eliminated the people who are not our targets. We know that they have a mobile device and what device they have.

SUB: How has Line2 been funded to this point? Are you considering raising (or raising more) outside funding in the near future?

Sisson: The company is funded by investors and a venture capital firm. Our goal is to become profitable which we can do this year. Once we’re profitable our plan is to raise a Series B which will be an expansion round that will focus on expanding our customer base.

SUB: Where do you see Line2 in a year from now?

Sisson: Line2 will be a profitable, well capitalized company that is top of mind when people are looking for a professional grade communications service on their mobile device.

SUB: Finally, a question I always ask: as an entrepreneur who has successfully navigated the waters of the bad economy, what advice do you have for those just starting a company?

Sisson: Use your funds to get your product right before you hire a big team. Learn as much as you can from your customers and from the marketplace. Keep it very very lean to start. Make sure that you have the fundamentals down and the product has legs, and only then start marketing and building your company.

Line2 – www.line2.com

Posted by startupbeat at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Games

Funzio raises $20M for social and mobile games (via GamesBeat)

Telephony

Bababoo Raises $1.5M To Let You Make Calls Over Mobile, WiFi, 3G, AND Keep Your Number (via TechCrunch)

Mobile

Workspace-finder LiquidSpace raises $3.6M (via MobileBeat)

Posted by startupbeat at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Schedulicity is an online appointment and scheduling application for businesses. The
Bozeman, Montana-based company was founded in 2009.

SUB: What is Schedulicity? What is the value proposition you’ve brought to the market?

Nettuno: Schedulicity is the leader in online appointment scheduling which helps appointment-dependent small businesses save time and increase profitability through eliminating the hassles of scheduling.

We automate the process of appointment booking which helps to optimize the operations of a small business, bringing efficiency to the time-consuming task of managing a paper appointment book that allows service providers to make more money, save more money and service their clientele while building their brand. Schedulicity makes it possible for a

Nettuno: With more than 4 million appointments booked to date, and accelerating growth rapidly with over 500 subscribers a week. The company has rapidly gained the leadership position in this large, relatively untapped marketplace.

SUB: What is your business model? How do you plan to grow the business further?

Nettuno: Schedulicity is currently a subscription-based service and is designed to scale rapidly without significant increases in headcount. The sign-up and set-up processes are highly automated while ongoing customer service is optimized through extensive help sections, video tutorials, webinars and intuitive functionality built into the application.

SUB: Has Schedulicity raised outside funding? Does Schedulicity plan to raise more funding in the near future?

Nettuno: Schedulicity is about to close Series A funding.

SUB: Where did the idea behind Schedulicity come from? What was the “aha” moment when you realized this could turn into a viable business?

Nettuno: Consumers schedule millions of appointments each day with service professionals, such as hair stylists, massage therapists, spas, personal trainers, etc. Most of these appointments are still made by phone and managed with paper and pencil. Finding a time slot that is mutually agreeable to both the consumer and the professional can be a daunting ordeal filled with frustrations and inefficiencies.

Time slots are the inventory of a service professional, with a finite number available each day.
With such limited inventory, it is paramount to help fill all time slots and eliminate no-shows. Service professionals manage this inventory through their calendars, the lifeblood of any local service. But paper calendars bring with it many deficiencies. Managing calendars and managing direct communications with clients are tedious activities that take away from the focus of the service.

Our “aha” moment came when we realized that we could bring the success of online booking companies such as Expedia and Travelocity—which highlight the desire of consumers “to get what they wanted, when they want it.”  Everyday appointments for services you need could be handled this way, too! Why should it take longer to book a haircut with your local stylist than to book plane tickets and a hotel room in Paris?

SUB: What were the first steps you took to establish the business?

Nettuno: We started with a passion to create a powerful tool that would actually make people’s lives easier. The main objective was to create a solid business model that would produce strong revenues and create strategic value for the company at the same time. Lastly, we hired talented people who shared that vision and could execute our strategy.

SUB: Where do you see Schedulicity in a year from now? What are some of your short term goals for the company?

Nettuno: Schedulicity aims to be the largest online destination that connects consumers to local service providers for real-time appointment scheduling.

SUB: Who do you consider to be your competition?

Nettuno: The primary competition in this marketplace remains the paper appointment book. However, numerous competitive offerings have targeted this marketplace over the years, without significant success. In this space there are services such as Genbook, Appointment-Plus and newcomers like Rosie. Few, if any, solutions exist that allow easy, integrated real-time booking, inventory (time slot) management, social media marketing, customer relationship management and new client acquisition tools.

SUB: What is Schedulicity’s target market?

Nettuno: Schedulicity’s target market includes the tens of millions of local service professionals in the U.S and Canada, plus a potentially much larger international opportunity in the future. On average, each service provider has hundreds of customers, and every service starts with an appointment.

Schedulicity has subscribers in more than 35 vertical markets. Broader categories include personal services, health and wellness professionals, professional services, home repair and home-related services. By profession/business type, Schedulicity is most popular among hair salons, massage therapists, personal trainers, estheticians, counselors, and many more.

SUB: How many users do you currently have?

Nettuno: With more than 4 million appointments booked to date, and over 500 new subscribers a month, the company has rapidly gained the leadership position in this large, relatively untapped marketplace. Now, more than 2,000,000 end-users and tens of thousands service providers use Schedulicity in over 1800 cities across the U.S. and Canada. Schedulicity is facilitating over $300 million in commerce. Currently, an appointment is booked every 7 seconds on Schedulicity.

SUB: How are you marketing the service?

Nettuno: We market Schedulicity through specific marketing and business development efforts aimed at vertical markets. We purchase media from Facebook, Google and other search engines.  We have deals with vertical companies such as L’Oreal, Spalutions and GoPretty.com. Basically our goal is to partner with companies providing value added service to small businesses.

SUB: As an entrepreneur who has successfully navigated the bad economic waters of the past few years, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs just starting out?

Nettuno: When starting out, be focused. At Schedulicity we are focused on about 10 market segments that we want to own and own well. We could easily look at the market landscape and go after 40 markets, consumers, the daily deal space, or any number of popular market segments.  However we believe that our current focus on service providers in certain markets will allow us the foundation from which to grow a strong and focused company.

Two other credos we live by are absolutely hire the right people to work with and manage every penny you spend like it’s your last…no matter how much money you have in the bank.

Finally, understand your growth metrics. At Schedulicity we manage our customer acquisition costs every single day down to the dollar. We know exactly when to accelerate or throttle back media purchases. We measure our success by how many service providers we have in our family and how long they stay. Everything we do is about conversion and retention.

Schedulicity – www.schedulicity.com

Posted by startupbeat at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Mobile

Tabbedout Finalizes $5.7M Round for Restaurant Bill Pay (via GigaOm)

Nvidia acquires Icera mobile wireless chip maker for $367M (via MobileBeat)

Web Content

musiXmatch, An IMDB For Legal Song Lyrics, Raises $3.7 Million To Expand Globally (via TechCrunch)

Alven Capital puts €1 million into custom travel site Planetveo (via TechCrunch Europe)

Limelight Buys Web And Application Acceleration Technology Startup AcceloWeb (via TechCrunch)

Gilt Groupe Nabs $138 Million From Softbank, Goldman, Other Investors (via TechCrunch)

Gaming

Gaming Industry Vets Raise $3 Million For New Social Games Development Studio (via TechCrunch)

Marketing/Advertising

After Delicious, YouTube Founders Acquire Business Intelligence Platform Tap11 (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Web Content

The Resumator Raises $700,000 For Social Recruiting Solution (via TechCrunch)

Advertising

Location-Based Mobile Advertising Company JiWire Raises $20 Million (via TechCrunch)

IT/Security

Sophos Acquires Internet Security Appliance Maker Astaro (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 08:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier this week, Send the Trend, an accessories fashion retail website, announced that it has secured $3 million in Series A funding. The New York City-based company was founded in October, 2010.

SUB: What is the concept behind Send the Trend? What is the value proposition you bring to the market?

Gugnani: Send the Trend is an online accessories fashion retailer offering selections of accessories for $29.95 per item including free shipping. These selections are curated by fashion designer Christian Siriano. Visitors enjoy new customized selections of sunglasses, scarves, jewelry and more each month. The value proposition of this site is that it saves customers time because we do the work for you and it also eliminates the need to do cost comparison shopping because each and every item is $29.95.

SUB: How does it work for customers?

Gugnani: First you take our style survey. It’s fun and short. Based on your answers, we'll figure out your style profile to discover which trend best fits you. After we determine your fashion personality, we will customize a collection of amazing accessories for you to choose from each month. You'll also have the option to choose one of our chic Monthly Trend accessories. Once you choose your favorite, place your order. As a Send the Trend member, your shipping is free.

SUB: Was there an “aha” moment that led to the idea behind the company, or was it more of a gradual process?

Gugnani: As an entrepreneur, I am busy and time is tight. I've always felt like shopping was a pain—I just never have the patience to go from store to store, wait in line, compare prices, etc. And when I shopped online, I couldn't handle the number of options and the shipping costs. It’s all about discovery and decision making. Send the Trend has accessories that fit your style, which change every month so you don’t have to hunt online or stores. It also eliminates decision making because all the products are the same price.

SUB: When was the company founded and what were the first steps taken to establish it?

Gugnani: I founded Send the Trend, an innovative e-commerce play in fashion accessories with fashion designer Christian Siriano (youngest winner of Project Runway) and fashion industry veteran, Mariah Chase. The company was launched in October 2010.

SUB: How are you marketing the site?

Gugnani: Our marketing strategy focuses on viral and social initiatives. Ultimately, customers are our best marketing tool.  When customers love and wear our product, that’s our most effective marketing channel.

SUB: What are your target markets?

Gugnani: We target women in the U.S. between the ages of 18-59. We find that our customer is often between 25-40.

SUB: What have the challenges been to this point to establishing and fulfilling your vision for Send the Trend?

Gugnani: Figuring out exactly what people want and giving it to them. It’s all part of the process of building a new commerce site. We are constantly becoming more intelligent about what products the customers want.

SUB: You’ve just closed a $3 million Series A funding round. Do you plan to use this money for specific initiatives (entry into new markets,etc.)?

Gugnani: The funds will go towards technology, growth in breadth and depth of product, and expansion of the team.

SUB: Where do you see Send the Trend in a year from now?

Gugnani: As the go-to online destination for women’s fashion accessories!

SUB: Finally, a question I always ask: as an entrepreneur who has navigated the waters of the down economy, what advice do you have for those just starting out?

Gugnani: If you are an entrepreneur just starting out make sure you are clear about the following:
The crux of building a long and lasting business is innovation. Focus on being new and being better. Be sure you have a winning idea that has not been done before then pitch your business plan to private investors. Know your customer. Make sure you are going after a large and growing market. Pick one revenue stream and execute it well.

Send the Trend – www.sendthetrend.com

Posted by startupbeat at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Mobile

I’mOK raises $250,000 to help parents track kids without nagging (via MobileBeat)

Social Media

“Facebook of China” raises $743m with US flotation (via The Drum, UK)

Mobile/Advertising

Mobile Ad Network Jumptap Closes $25 Million Funding Round (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Clovr Media connects credit and debit card transactions to interactive and loyalty advertising. The Boston-based company was founded in 2010.

SUB: Briefly describe what Clovr Media does and the value proposition you bring to your markets.
Burgess: Clovr Media delivers Loyalty 2.0 to the financial services and digital media ecosystems by bridging the gap between credit and debit card loyalty and interactive advertising in a way that is seamless and simple for consumers. Clovr Media has built the first platform converting banner, text, video, or mobile ads into Card Linked Offers—delivering pinpoint targeting and accountability for online and mobile advertising. When clicked, CLOs link savings directly to a consumer’s credit or debit card—no point of sale integration, no mail-in rebates or paper coupons—and the savings appear directly on the consumer’s bank statement. CLOs are an evolutionary leap forward for financial institutions encouraging loyalty and increasing reward points redemption. Clovr Media’s Gateway gives advertisers the direct link between digital ad spend and consumer purchases with 100 percent attribution. CLOs allow consumers to shop their favorite brands, and see big savings.

SUB: What is the user experience like for your customers: advertisers, financial institutions, and advertisers alike?

Burgess: Consumers opt into Clovr's card linked offer, or CLO, program via their banks or directly through the ad experience. Based upon their card purchase history and within all channels—retail web sites, banners, email, social media, traditional—consumers will begin to see relevant CLOs. Once the consumer selects a CLO it is automatically attached to their existing credit or debit card. When the consumer ultimately visits the retail location or makes a purchase online, there is no paper coupon and no rebate; the savings is automatically credited directly to their card. In addition to opting-in via Clovr, consumers can also opt-in to the CLO program via their bank or credit card company. This adds a new level of dimension to loyalty programs, creating “top of wallet” status for banks. Additionally, advertisers can track the success of their advertising campaigns that are CLO enabled because each ad has 100 percent attribution to purchase.

SUB: Was there a particular “aha” moment where the inspiration for the business came together, or was it a more gradual process?

Burgess: One of my co-founders, Doug Spear, and I came up with the original concept during a casual breakfast at a small diner in Newport, RI. We were not planning to design a new business but based on the unique blend of our separate fields of expertise, we uncovered a ground breaking opportunity that leveraged the inherent assets of two very different industries. What eventually evolved was a breakthrough consumer shopping solution. What we discovered was so unique that we have since filed a patent based on our first of its kind invention.

SUB: What were the first steps you took in building the business?

Burgess: Lots of research. Before we developed one line of code we spent several months traveling the country interviewing an array of experts and VCs focused on our field of endeavor. If done carefully the process produces mutual benefits. The expert and VC gets a chance to hear about a new business model and the entrepreneur receives advice, guidance and contacts that may prove valuable in building the enterprise. This type of process helps define the proposed product/service and most often uncovers customers and investors that will ultimately form a successful venture.

SUB: Who do you consider your primary competitors?

Burgess: There are a few early stage companies in the card linked offer marketplace and each have a unique approach to the business. Offermatic is pursuing a direct to consumer model by emailing special deals to registered users, Cardlytics is building an online ad network that restricts their offers to specific online banking statements and Edhance is targeting the college market by enabling offers on cards issued to students.

SUB: What differentiates Clovr Media from the competition?

Burgess: Clovr is unique in two primary ways. One, Clovr's platform introduces a new, cross channel, advertising functionality, allowing advertisers to turn any of their advertisements into a Card Linked Offer. This includes online, mobile or traditional mediums—print, TV, radio and outdoor. Secondly, Clovr can support merchant based or SKU/MFG based offers.

SUB: How are you marketing your services?

Burgess: Our services are marketed direct to advertisers and via strategic sales channel partners in the media industry. If a brand wants to run a Card Linked Offer campaign they can contact Clovr directly or work through their ad agency or media network provider. In addition, our banking partners are offering Clovr's solution direct to their card holders. Card holders will be able to activate this new feature directly through their bank and reap all the benefits associated with having a card linked activated card.

SUB: Have you accepted outside financing? Do you plan to in the near future?

Burgess: Clovr has raised approximately $10 million in two rounds of financing. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, Kepha Partners and Common Angels.

SUB: Where do you see Clovr Media in a year from now?

Burgess: Good question. It's an adventure! That's part of the thrill of starting a new project. You never know what's around the next turn. So far we have assembled a very strong team and produced a beta version of our product. We have recruited some early customers and partners and completed our first round of consumer research. Everything looks very promising for a successful launch in a couple months. We're breaking new ground with our Card Linked Offer platform. One thing is for sure, in a year from now we will have made some mistakes, conquered challenges and uncovered many new opportunities. I've been down this path before. The first year is challenging and thrilling. It's a significant part of what keeps me coming back for more.

SUB: Finally, a question I always ask—as an entrepreneur who has weathered the recent financial crisis, what advice do you have for those just starting a business now?

Burgess: My last business was launched during the recovery of the dot-com boom. Investors and customers were emerging from a form of hibernation so we experienced market exuberance and pent-up investor enthusiasm for new opportunities. We rode that wave to success. I believe the current market is very similar. In my opinion, this is an excellent time to launch a new business.

Clovr Media – www.clovrmedia.com

Posted by startupbeat at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Web Content

Warner Bros. to Acquire Rotten Tomatoes Owner Flixster (via Hollywood Reporter)

TaskRabbit Raises $5M for Nationwide Expansion (via gigaom)

COLOURlovers Raises $1 Million To Make Everyone An Artist (via TechCrunch)

P2P Learning Startup Skillshare Gets $550,000 From Founder Collective and SV Angel (via TechCrunch)

GreenTech

Enecsys Closes £25 million ($41 million) To Sell Solar Microinverters, Stateside (via TechCrunch)

Web Content/eCommerce

PowerReviews Raises $10 Million To Power Customer Reviews For Retailers And Brands (via TechCrunch)

TransferWise sees $1m in transactions, opens up to businesses (via TechCrunch Europe)

Posted by startupbeat at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Social Media

TrueCar Acquires News Corp-Backed Automotive Social Network Honk.com (via TechCrunch)

Kima Ventures announces new investment in Yellowbrck, a Foursquare for parents (via TechCrunch Europe)

Tigerlily raises $1.3 million (€900K) to help brands avoid Nestle-like Fan page disasters (via TechCrunch Europe)

eCommerce

BuyWithMe Buys Chicago Daily Deal Site DealADayOnline (via TechCrunch)

French “buy one give one” site Jimmy Fairly raises €200K in 3 weeks (via TechCrunch Europe)

Web Content

Grovo: Video Training Platform Grabs Funding To Help Startups Educate Their Users (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 08:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

FanFeedr is a sports enthusiast website that allows fans to follow and get news and information about favorite teams. The Brooklyn, NY-based company was founded in 2008.

SUB: Please describe how your service works. What is the user experience like?

Ahmad-Taylor: FanFeedr delivers personalized real-time streams for a user’s favorite teams and players. Like the New York Yankees? We give you all of the best Yankees news and information directly on FanFeedr.com, Facebook, Twitter, and through our award-winning mobile applications.

On the website, users can simply add their favorite teams and players to their FanFeed after signing in. The home page of the site refreshes every minute of every day with new, personalized news. On Facebook, a user can simply become a fan of the favorite team, like the Yankees, to get the best Yankees News and Information delivered right into their Facebook news stream.

On Twitter, a user simply has to follow their favorite team on FanFeedr, like the Yankees, to get all of the Yankees news and information, live scores and photos. On our mobile applications, the user experience is exactly like the website: add your favorite teams and get a constantly-updated stream of news and information.

SUB: What differentiates FanFeedr from other sports-enthusiast websites?

Ahmad-Taylor: Other sports websites like ESPN and Yahoo Sports do a great job covering sports stories from an editorial perspective. FanFeedr provides the best insights into individual teams and players, giving users all of the best news about a particular team or player, along with live scores, photos and videos.

SUB: Who do you consider to be FanFeedr’s competition?

Ahmad-Taylor: We are competing against any other service that demands a user’s attention. We are different because we are focusing on all of the news around particular teams and players, as opposed to sports news in general.

SUB: What inspired the idea for FanFeedr? Was there a single “aha” moment, or was the idea a long time in coming?

Ahmad-Taylor: After building www.mtvmusic.com for Viacom, I wanted to move into a different arena, but one that I was passionate about. Working with the great engineering team at FanFeedr, we have evolved the service over the last two years into its current state. The original customer problem is that I am a Bay Area sports fan living in New York, and that there was no one place where I could get all of the relevant news about the Oakland A’s, Golden State Warriors, and San Francisco 49ers.

SUB: What is your overall business model? Where does FanFeedr’s revenue come from?

Ahmad-Taylor: We make money via sponsorships on the site and social channels, and via use of our API.

SUB: How are you marketing/promoting the site?

Ahmad-Taylor: We get the bulk of our traffic via social media, and we also rely on viral content channels to spread the word.

SUB: What are the target demographics you hope to appeal to?

Ahmad-Taylor: Our target demographic is men aged 18-to-34, and we over-index in that group.

SUB: When was the company founded, and what were the first steps you took?

Ahmad-Taylor: The company was founded in December of 2008, and the first steps that I took were to hire a sharp engineering team.

SUB: What has the biggest challenge been so far in establishing FanFeedr and fulfilling your vision for the company?

Ahmad-Taylor: Getting the word out and becoming the “fourth tab” for users. Most internet users have email, a social network, and a news or music tab up in their browser. We want to be the fourth tab for users, but we are also happy if they consume our content directly on Twitter or Facebook.

SUB: Have you raised outside funding to this point? Do you plan to (or raise another round) in the near future?

Ahmad-Taylor: We have raised a seed round of financing from local investors in New York. We do plan to raise more money to grow our business.

SUB: Where do you see FanFeedr in a year from now?

Ahmad-Taylor: In a year, we will deliver more personalized sports information streams than any other company in the world.

SUB: Finally, as an entrepreneur who has successfully navigated the waters of the bad economy, what advice do you have for those just starting a company?

Ahmad-Taylor: Validate your ideas with end users as much as possible, and put your engineers in a position to be successful.

FanFeedr – www.fanfeedr.com

Posted by startupbeat at 01:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today’s funding and acquisitions news roundup from across the web:

Web Content

Local.com Buys Local Search Company Krillion For $3.5M, Debuts Daily Deal Service (via TechCrunch)

eCommerce

Send The Trend Raises $3M To Personalize Shopping For Fashion Accessories (via TechCrunch)

IT/Storage

SSD Storage Company Kaminario Raises $15 Million (via TechCrunch)

Posted by startupbeat at 09:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)