TiE Seattle has been a permanent fixture on the Northwest landscape when it comes to nurturing, mentoring, educating and supporting the entrepreneurial community. Its Startup on Tap event, held monthly, is part pitch-clinic, part R&D laboratory, and pure showcase for some of the very best thinking and prototyping of startup companies that are contenders to emerge as tomorrow’s stars.
A record turnout was on-hand for the first Startup 101 of 2013, thanks to Professor Michael Cummings who gave an engaging presentation that can be synthesized by a single Mark Twain quotation: “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do, than by the ones that you did do,” it read. “So, throw off the bow lines. Sail away from safe harbors. Catch the trade winds in your sills. Explore, dream, discover.” Cummings’ remarks were followed by some great fast pitches at Startup on Tap from:
Jordan Reynolds, for Clipcopia
URL: http://www.clipcopia.com/
Brook Lang, for Montavo
URL: http://montavo.com/
Aseem Badshah, for Socedo
Anshul Bansal, for SweetySam
URL: http://www.sweetysam.com/
Director Arun Kumar reported the event deployed a new electronic voting system since it was getting increasingly hard to tell which fast pitch was earning the loudest applause.
Socedo was voted TiE Seattle’s Startup of the Month for January 2013.
In the finale showdown edition of 2013, six stellar entrepreneurs presented a fresh crop of solutions that were, at once, highly imaginative, diligently researched, soundly modeled and entirely evocative of the phrase: “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Arun passed along: “It was a tough call picking the best pitch but in the end it came down to a playoff between Tina from CampusWall and Nadia from Hointer, with CampusWall emerging as the winner of TiE Seattle’s Startup of the Month.
Let’s go down to the playing field.
Vikas Khandelwal pitched Boxella
The Pitch: “A simple way to stay on top of your valuable possessions. Snap a picture or type your product’s model number, and witness the magic unfold! Your online inventory is always at your fingertips You have automatic access to your manuals, warranties, receipts, notes. You are primed and ready to receive alerts for cashback opportunities, warranty expirations, recalls and more.”
Rajendra Paul pitched Noble Technologies
The Pitch: “‘Sambhal’ means “To take good care of” in the Marathi language of India. This “purpose-built” cloud service cloud allows Homeowners, Rental Properties and Hotels to outsource their property management needs and services and manage the entire process in the cloud.”
URL: http://www.nobeltechnologiesllc.com/
Tina Snyder pitched CampusWall. Here is what Facebook might have become if had not become so distracted with maximizing individual profiling and minimizing privacy.
The Pitch: “The easiest way to Buy, Sell, Swap, Share within your campus community. A veritable “Craig’s List” for on-campus community classifieds, and more!”
Satish Shetty pitched Codeproof.
The Pitch: “The first ever cloud-based SaaS security for mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, providing anytime/anywhere protection against cyber threats, antivirus protection or Mobile Device Management (MDM).”
Nadia Shouraboura pitched Hointer
The Pitch: “Men’s Shopping Reinvented. Scan the clothing you like while you browse and your items will be delivered to your fitting room. Like it? Swipe your credit card and walk-out — no lines, no hassle.”
Mike Pelly pitched Biodiesel Fuel Processors
The Pitch: “Make your own fuel from used kitchen grease or waste vegetable oil. All you need is a few common chemicals and some equipment you can easily buy (from BFP) or make yourself.”
URL: http://olympiagreenfuels.com/
TiE wishes to thank everyone who participated, observed or judged in this milestone event, particularly its Charter Members who were on hand to provide guidance to the entrepreneurs. They are Srivats Srinivasan, Amit Mital, Anupam Gupta, Madhavi Vuppalapati, Mark Worthington and Burt Hamner (who acted as the “applause-o-meter” for the fast pitches).
For a list of upcoming TiE events, check the Seattle24x7 Calendar or visit the site online.
