Mobile Monday today announced their top 20 finalists for the Mobile Premier Innovation Awards. We’re stoked to see that many of them are past Under the Radar: mobile presenters. Woo hooo!
Check out the list of the top 20 mobile startups as determined by the mobile community. The final winners will be announced on February 15 in Barcelona.
MobileMonday Austria – Mobilizy
MobileMonday Barcelona – fonYou
MobileMonday Berlin – spendino
MobileMonday Bogota – RedSalvavidas
MobileMonday Chennai – mobiSiteGalore
MobileMonday Copenhagen – Cepa Mobility
MobileMonday Edinburgh – Mobile Acuity
MobileMonday Estonia – TaxiPal
MobileMonday Lithuania – SendFlow
MobileMonday London – Audioboo
MobileMonday Milan – Soundtrckr
MobileMonday Munich – Aloqa
MobileMonday New Delhi – Voicetap Technologies
MobileMonday New York – PercentMobile
MobileMonday Oslo – Bipper Communication
MobileMonday Rest of EMEA – Layar
MobileMonday Silicon Valley – CloudMade
MobileMonday Slovenia – Visionect
MobileMonday Stockholm – MoSync
MobileMonday Tel Aviv – waze
We’re happy to announce that friend and cloud/ startup brainiac Geva Perry has joined the team behind the upcoming Under the Radar: Cloud conference as a content advisor.
“What’s a content advisor?” you ask? Well, that it means that as we sift through hundreds of startups in this space, Geva chimes in with knowledge and practical language that can help cut through marketing lingo and tech jargon to help us filter out the wheat from the chaff. Geva helps out here and there while balancing his work advising startups, writing his blog Thinking Out Cloud and sitting in with James Urquhart in their podcast.
About Geva:
Geva Perry has 15 years of experience as an executive in the enterprise software industry. His blog on cloud computing is widely read and he is a frequent speaker on the topic at corporations and industry events. He is an advisor to a number of companies, small and large, on cloud computing related strategy.
Until recently Geva spent 5 years at GigaSpaces Technologies where he played a variety of executive roles. His latest position was General Manager Cloud Computing. In this role, Geva was responsible for all global go-to-market activities at GigaSpaces related to cloud computing, including strategy and positioning, product marketing and strategic alliances.
Under the Radar is set for April 16, 2010.
Each year Under the Radar brings 350 C-level executives seeking to find, connect and partner with startups who’s products, technology and teams fit strategically into their road maps.
From Microsoft to Google, AT&T, Nokia, Cisco, Sun, HP, Amazon, Rackspace, Salesforce, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Nike, MTV and more – executives in the audience and onstage (as judges) use Under the Radar to narrow in on tech’s latest cool kids. See you there!
Our friends over at the Telecom Council are hosting an event that’ll help you shake off the winter blahs and get ready to shine as the 2010 conference and networking/BD season kicks in to full gear.
They’re offering a deal for Dealmaker Media. Check it out:
Entrepreneur Forum: Guerilla Marketing for Tradeshow Season
Feb 03, 2010, 12:00pm – 02:00pm
TIPS Group, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Whether your startup has a booth at one of the largest tradeshows, has a speaking slot, or whether you simply have a few people walking the tradeshow floor, there are things you and your company can do to maximize the return on your investment in tradeshow marketing. We have a few marketing experts in telecom and wireless who specialize in the different parts of marketing to give you a refresher course on guerrilla marketing tactics that may fit your product and your budget.
Dealmaker members get 50% when using the code “dealmaker” during registration.
Under the Radar: Cloud is set for ‘lights-camera-action’ on April 16, 2010 at the Microsoft Conference Center in Mountain View, CA. Will your startup be one of 25-30 cloud ground breakers to present?
Each year Under the Radar brings 350 C-level executives seeking to find, connect and partner with startups who’s products, technology and teams fit strategically into their road maps.
From Microsoft to Google, AT&T, Nokia, Cisco, Sun, HP, Amazon, Rackspace, Salesforce, Pfizer, Coca-Cola, Nike, MTV and more – executives in the audience and onstage (as judges) use Under the Radar to narrow in on tech’s latest cool kids.
LAST CHANCE TO PRESENT: Apply by January 31, 2010
If your startup would like the chance to present – the time frame for nominations is fast approaching and you’ll want to submit your company on the a-sap. APPLY TO PRESENT HERE.
Categories we’re interested in:
Infrastructure | Platforms | Virtualization | Saas | Collaboration | Business Apps | Development Tools | Mobile | Storage | (and more!)
Past Under the Radar presenters include: Aria Systems, Marketo, Eucalyptus, Zuora, Box.net, Ribbit, Tap In Systems, Twilio, New Relic, CloudKick, Jive Software, Filtrbox, Animoto, and more.
Below, Nike, CBS and Sprint discuss startups at Under the Radar: Mobility in Nov 2009:
It’s been a big week for many alumni startups who’ve presented at Under the Radar. With two acquisitions and some serious funding rounds announced, 2010 already looks up for tech startups hoping to raise dollars and woo buyers as the economy attempts to sturdy itself this year.
Today, two UTR alumni have joined forces, with Jive Software (who presented in 2007 while they were still fresh on the scene) acquiring fellow UTR presenter Filtrbox.
Jive sought a social media monitoring company to bring into its Social Business Software (SBS) platform. The goal is to extend the social footprint of the Jive platform. Jive sees the market becoming far more oriented around conversations on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These conversations affect everything from product development to sales strategies. Monitoring is critical to following and capitalizing on the conversation flow.
Congratulations to both groups for joining forces!
ChaCha, who presented at one of our past Under the Radar conferences in 2007, just announced that it has raised $7 million in its fifth round of venture capital financing according to an SEC filing. Bringing their funding total to nearly $70 million
ChaCha, a text message-based search engine service, allows users to go online, call or text questions on mobile phones and receive answers within minutes for free by texting 242-242, visiting m.chacha.com, downloading ChaCha’s iPhone app, or calling 1-800-2-ChaCha. The company was founded in 2006 by Brad Bostic and Scott Jones. Scott presented at Under the Radar and won the Audience Choice in the search category.
…Are you still Under the Radar? Apply to be considered for Under the Radar: Cloud (on April 16, 2009) or register to attend to be among the first people to meet and land deals with the next wave of disruptive cloud companies.
In the past three years 58% of presenters have gone on to raise funding and/or be acquired by Google, Microsoft, FOX Interactive, Salesforce, British Telecom, and others. Under the Radar uncovers the next wave of vetted, test-driven mobile startups from around the globe that have launched within the year. Under the Radar brings startups, industry leaders, press, and investors together with one ultimate goal: to get the deal done.
To bring 2009 to a close, we wanted to review highlights of 2009 and give some thanks to a few of our friends…
Be sure to check out our: 2010 event calendar Become a member of DMM
2009 Under the Radar Year in Review: 12 Under the Radar Acquisitions!
With your support, we hosted a number of great events this year, too - featuring presenters from Nike, AT&T, Verizon, First Round Capital, Pfizer, Salesforce, Amazon, Google, FOX, CBS, and startups like SimpleGeo, Foodzie, Yowza!!, Melodis, Twilio, Boku and more.
We launched a new invite-only event called Unplugged – bringing together the most influential people from media, entertainment, brands, agencies and gaming.
We helped global technology and media companies (like CBS, FOX, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, AT&T, Coca-Cola and more) foster relationships and do deals with tech’s best startups.
We connected Angels and VCs with startups, leading to Under the Radar companies raising over $450 Million in financing through 2009.
Upcoming 2010 Events:
Strategy Series: evening round table events & mixers in LA and the Bay Area
Microsoft BizSpark: The program launched last year, and already has over 25,000 startups involved worldwide. Who’s involved? SoCal starts like DocStoc, AudioMicro, Loqu8, Yammer and Coveroo. Want in? You can access the BizSpark program through Dealmaker Media. Send us an email.
Manatt: Manatt was named a top firm nationally in the areas of Film, Music, Theater and Television; Marketing and Advertising, for both transactions and litigation; Mergers, Acquisitions and Buyouts by The Legal 500. The publication also named nine Manatt lawyers as being among the nation’s leading lawyers.
GRP Partners: With Mark Suster becoming one of the most active VCs in SoCal, GRP had a very active 2009 – investing in a number of startups, including GumGum, Ad.ly and more.
MediaTemple: Has a busy year! They were named one of the best places to work in LA by the Los Angeles Business Journal; made the Inc. 5000 list (again!) and launched (mt) Ventures.
Shout-outs, Congrats and thanks to the friends of Dealmaker Media:
* Adam Hirsch, Mashable and Sharon Feder- the soon to be “power-couple” of NY’s social media world.
* Alex/Dan, Cloudkick – for landing funding AND girlfriends in 2009!
* Alison Murdock – for starting Silicon Valley Rocks – a battle of the bands for the geek community
* Allen Hurff – for starting LA’s next big success story…..investors pay attention, this is going to be huge.
* Andrew Warner, Mixergy – For becoming the “Barbara Walters” of entrepreneurship interviewers.
* Babette Pepaj, Bakespace – for seeing a sweet opportunity, and going for it!
* Bill Maris, Google Ventures – for sharing our love of bad reality TV.
* Brian Solis – for his book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and his new book, Engage.
* Brian Zisk – for building SFMusicTech Summit, one of the top music and technology events in the bay.
* Cathy Brooks 3.0 – launching her new Storytelling company and just being awesome.
* Chris Sacca – for being able to tweet while peddling a bike and riding a chairlift.
* Chris Tolles, Topix – being a rockstar, an amazing host and great supporter of DMM
* Dan Gould – for being an active angel and advisor – and an all around stand-out guy.
* Dana Settle, Greycroft – for being the hardest working and best connected VC in LA.
* Danny Robinson, Bootup Labs – for fostering the startup community in Vancouver (while keeping tabs on the Valley)
* Dave McClure, FoundersFund – for taking geeks global.
* David Travers, Rustic Canyon – For hosting one of the coolest mixer parties for us in the water garden.
* Don Dodge – Google is so lucky to have you! Congrats.
* First Round Capital team – Sending the best xmas card video, the Mint acquisition, mom-to-be Christine Herron and great rock shows with Rob and Kent.
* Greg Grunberg/August Trometer. Yowza – winning best in show for Under the Radar and landing a deal with The Price is Right!
* Gunderson Dettmer – Jonathan/Ivan/Josh, for being the coolest lawyers in the Valley.
* Hale Boggs, Manatt – for your constant support of Dealmaker Media, and being our biggest champion, we couldn’t have done this without you.
* Ian Sometrics – For leading a killer discussion at our Unplugged event!
* Jason Nazar, Docstoc – becoming the unofficial godfather of the LA startup community.
* Jason Oberfest – Congrats on your new role at ng:moco
* Jeff Clavier – one of the most active seed investors in the Valley and your unwavering support of Dealmaker Media.
* Jeff Pulver – launching 140con, one of the best real-time conferences of 2009.
* Jeff Smith, Smule – for trying to walk in our shoes…i mean slippers.
* Jeffrey Hazelett, Kodak – for supporting the real-time movement and the influencers who are driving it.
* Larry Marcus, WaldenVC – for bringing music, tech and venture together.
* Len Brody – Congrats on Now Public getting acquired by Examiner.com
* Mark Silva, Real Branding – for leading the way for what todays? innovative ad agency should look like.
* Mark Suster, GRP Partners – Giving credibility to the LA Venture community and creating Launchpad LA.
* Matt Galligan/Joe Stump, SimpleGeo – the new faces of Silicon Valley cool.
* Matt Van Horn, Digg – being the best “connector” in silicon valley
* MediaTemple team – Thanks for hosting an off the hook party to wrap up our Startonomics LA this year.
* Microsoft Bizspark team – for the continued efforts in creating valuable tools and events for the startup community.
* Mike Jones, MySpace – congrats on joining MySpace and attracting an all-star team
* Mike Marquez, CBS Interactive – for taking a chance on us and helping launch Unplugged.
* Mike Prasad, Girlgamer – for bringing gourmet BBQ to twitter.
* Mike Sigal, Guidewire Group – for cutting the cord and building your dream company.
* Mitchell Kertzman – getting that hot new Tesla and hoping one day we’ll get a ride.
* Navin Chadda, Mayfield – voted “most likely to be a late night talk show host” (if this VC thing doesn’t work out).
* Nicole Jordan, Startup PR Guru – for giving her heart n’ soul to raising awareness of innovative founders.
* Peter Pham, Billshrink – for getting Catherine Zeta Jones to promote your startup to the world. Wow.
* Rafe Needleman, CNET and Jeremy Toeman, Stage Two – for being the best Under the Radar hosts year after year.
* Rob Gelick, CBS Interactive – for being a corporate suit who embraces innovation and can hang with startups.
* Robert Scoble – for your ongoing love, support and enthusiasm for startups.
* Robin Chan – becoming the “super-connector” between the US and China
* Ron Hirson, Boku – for reaching over 1.6 billion consumers and loving us just the way we are.
* Ryan Born, AudioMicro – For always representing the startup community and hanging out at all of our events!
* Sean Percival – for starting LaLaWag, the insiders guide to the LA tech scene, it’s a must read.
* Tim Chang, Norwest – for being a musician first and a VC second.
* Tom Beddecare, AKQA – for your long time support and not ever missing and Under the Radar event.
* Valerie Buckingham, Nokia & Gary Bolles – for putting together IdeasCamp, of the best events of 2009.
* Will Jessup, Citrusbyte – for launching the LA web developers meetup.
* William Quigley, Clearstone – being one of the first supporters of Dealmaker LA and an all round great guy.
There are plenty more all stars worth mentioning. You know who they are. Be sure to give them all a high-five at our next event. Speaking of which, here?s our 2010 Event Calendar – (more details soon!).
Stay tuned guys – more to come….. Happy holidays and Best wishes for a great 2010.
Debbie, Jasmine, Stephanie, Giselle (and Jennifer – who just went on maternity leave)
Every entrepreneur wants to change the world. Why Silicon Valley is a hub for innovative startups is due in part because the Valley’s DNA is coded to inspire people to solve real problems though solutions never heard of before…
So, with “Company X Wants to Change the World” being the opening slide on so (sooooo) many pitch decks, who’s actually accomplishing it?
The World Economic Forum this week announced its picks for companies around the globe who are – in fact – changing our world.
I’m also happy to note that we know and support some of them!
World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers 2010: amiando – online event registration and management Amobee Inc. – mobile ad platform CollabNet – platform for distributed/collaborative platform development Dilithium Networks mobile content delivery platform Innovid – interactive in-video advertising Obopay – mobile payments http://Playfish.com – social games (acquired by Electronic Arts) RingCentral – business phone service in the cloud StreamBase –
Twitter (was this because Oprah got on Twitter in 2009?) Ushahidi – crowdsourcing information/ updates from within communities during crisis
Grad Circle Presenter: Utest
Twitter: @utest
Presenter: Doron Reuveni, CEO
uTest presented earlier this year at Under the Radar: Clarity in the Cloud – a SaaS/business apps-focused conference and Doron hit it out of the park. For anyone looking to deploy an application across multiple mobile platforms and a gazillion different handsets, one massive probel awaits them: QA. uTest solves this problem with an army of testers across the world. Crowdsourced QA… Problem solved.
Check out their recent pitch as a Grad Circle presenter at Under the Radar: Mobility 2009:
About the Grad Circle at Under the Radar:
The Graduate Circle comprises a hand-picked group of companies that have “graduated” from being under the radar and are gaining major momentum. Graduate Circle companies will be making presentations on stage during the regular sessions as “sector leaders” on recent product launches, news and announcements.
A few years ago, Josh Nesbit went to Malawi and saw a massive opportunity. Malawi has one of the World’s worst doctor to patient ratios: 2 doctors to every 250,000 people.
Josh’s “aha!” moment came after meeting a volunteer community health worker who would walk miles upon miles everyday to check up on patients, then trek even more miles back to the hospital to report back to nurses; toting with him a very special notebook, filled with meticulously updated patient data.
Josh is the Executive Director of FrontlineSMS:Medic and driving force behind HopePhones.org
Below is his afternoon keynote presentation from yesterday’s Under the Radar conference. See how your old mobile phone can impact lives in developing communities: (Thanks Josh!!)
Meet Aha Mobile! They just hit the stage at his year’s Under the Radar: mobility. Missed their presentations? Here’s their company profile and pitch:
Company Description |
Aha has created the first driver-to-driver network to connect drivers to relevant information about the road – both from other drivers and from the Internet. Initially available as an iPhone app, Aha is powered by a powerful backend platform that will in the future enable its service in imbedded automotive solutions. Aha uses the Web to accurately answer questions like “Hungry?,” “Need Coffee,” or “Need a bathroom?” based on the user’s current location and preset preferences. Letting drivers easily record comments for each other, Aha answers the question, “What’s the driver ahead experiencing?” and creates the first driver-to-driver network.
Last Funding Round | June 2008, $3M Customers | Consumers who drive Partners | Consumer electronics companies, auto manufacturers
Presenter | Robert L. Acker | President & CEO
Robert Acker was most recently SVP of Marketing at Dash Navigation, which developed the first Internet-connected GPS device. Prior to that he served as VP of Music Services at RealNetworks. The first full-time employee at XM Satellite Radio, he wrote the XM business plan and served as VP of Marketing and VP of Product Development. There he negotiated the first strategic partnerships, created the XM brand, set pricing, launched the service and developed the award-winning radio lineup. Robert holds bachelor and masters’ degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
With Google’s recent acquisition of AdMob (an Under the Radar past presenter) for $750 Million – the mobile marketing world is once again a-buzz proclaiming 2010 the Year of Mobile (again..).
But what does this acquisition mean? At Under the Radar, we get to ask that exact question during our end of the day panel with Nike, Coca-Cola, AKQA, Isobar and R/GA (see bios below)!
At Under the Radar, we get to ask that exact question during our end of the day panel with Nike, Coca-Cola, AKQA, Isobar and R/GA (see bios below)!
If you could ask the people holding some of the LARGEST mobile marketing budgets in the world candid questions about their mobile strategies, insights/experiences and forecasts on the market next year – what would you ask?
The 10 most thought-provoking questions will be rewarded with a FREE ticket to the conference!
Submit your questions as a comment below (include you email in the provate contact form so we can contact you). DEADLINE: Friday, November 13 6pm PST
Speakers:
Moderator: Mark Silva, Principal & Founder: Real Branding
Daniel Rosen: As Founder and Head of AKQA Mobile, Daniel has been behind some of the most notable mobile campaigns that have received international recognition, for brands including: Nike, Gap, Coke, Smirnoff, McDonald’s and Visa. He is frequently called upon by the industry for insights into mobile marketing from Cannes Lions to Mobile World Congress.
Gene Keenan, Isobar: Gene has been working in the digital space for the last 8 years leading the cutting edge of marketing innovation as Isobar’s VP of Mobile Services. In this role, Gene has won numerous Aegis Globe awards for his innovation and has been the recipient of industry awards including an MSNEMMY for his work on Adidas.
Richard Ting is VP & Executive Creative Director of R/GA’s Mobile and Emerging Platforms Group, where he focuses on creating integrated interactive user experiences across the web, mobile, and physical space. In his 8+ years with R/GA, he has worked with Avaya, Nike, Nokia, J&J, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless.
Stefan Olander, Nike: In his current role as Global Director Brand Connections he oversees the functions of Advertising, Digital Brand, Media, Content and Business Affairs for the entire Nike Brand.
Tara Scarlett, Coca-Cola. Tara is the Senior Manager of Consumer Relationship Marketing and Precision, focusing on engaging consumers in fun and meaningful ways through mobile marketing.
Special Thanks to our very generous sponsors, Qualcomm, Gunderson Dettmer, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Ericsson and Microsoft are offering 10 lucky people a chance to win a free ticket to Under the Radar on November 19, 2009 at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View Ca.
Being a Mobile Industry VIP doesn’t mean you need to bling-bling it up with a cheesy diamond-encrusted phone. That’s just outlandish. I’m sure even Kanye West thinks that’s over the top (or does he…?)
Here’s how to be a Mobile Industry VIP is as easy as being in the know (and far classier, too).
How do you stay on top of the news, trends, deals and gadgets? You go to Under the Radar on November 19 in Silicon Valley; and you don’t pay full price.
10 tickets at $100 off (VIP Rate). First come, first served (because being VIP is always about coming out on top). REGISTER HERE.
Who’s coming?
Network with mobile players like: Verizon, Apple, Sprint, at&t, RIM, Samsung, Google, Microsoft, CBS, Nokia, and more.
We’re veering off course from the typical format and injecting some Fight Club-esque excitement with an all out app duel.
Think you have a mobile app that kicks serious butt?
Announcing FAST PITCH – a lightening pitch session featuring six to eight lucky mobile app developers who’ll get the chance to tell an audience of 400 mobile addicts and top-tier executives from carriers, handset makers, big name brands and media companies and VCs why their app should be on everyone’s phone.
You’ll get 2 minutes and 2 slides to wow ‘em all.
Who will be judging? Well… the audience of course, but color commentary and scores will also be affected by a panel of mobile press (the ummm… Simon Cowells of mobile who’ve seen it all and are hard to impress!)
NOMINATE YOUR APP:
- For a chance to present, post you one-line pitch in the comments below (include your wesbite and twitter name)
- Or.. pitch to IntoMobile or GoMoNews directly.
DEADLINE:
You must nominate your app(s) by Friday, November 6 at 9pm PST.
WHAT YOU’LL GET:
- Time in the spotlight in front of at&t, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, RIM, China Mobile, Mayfield Fund, Bluerun Ventures, Coca-Cola, Nike, R/GA and many more.
- One full day pass to attend the entire event (and VIP opening night party)
- NOTE: You must be able to be in Mountain View, CA on November 19, 2009
Note to self…don’t mess with apps built on the premise “sex sells.”
Pepsi learned this lesson the hard way recently after launching a controversial iPhone/iPod application called “AMP UP Before You Score.” Here’s some Wall Street Journal coverage.
The goal was to get guys to buy PepsiCo’s Amp Energy drink rather than industry leader Red Bull, but the language left a bit to be desired. The free app was advertised as a “road map to success with yours favorite kinds of women,” and delivered pick up line advice for various stereotypical archetypes, including “nerd.”
Unfortunately for Pepsi, users spoke back, reviewing the app as “sexist and stupid.” Even joining related conversation on Twitter to apologize didn’t help users amp-down, since Pepsi kept the app active while it evaluated options.
What’s systemically interesting about this app release isn’t the app itself, but rather the fact that PepsiCo responded by listening to vocal users and pulling something about which people were displeased.
The mobile market + realtime social network responses = new era of consumer response? Probably so. No one wants to make headlines for ignoring customers, especially not those on Twitter or Facebook.
This isn’t the first time users have vocalized displeasure over advertising they perceive as insulting using social networks – remember the hullabaloo over Motrin Moms?
Sometimes, however, we just want something slightly naughty – in other words, we should be able to choose our own mobile content without censorship. Exhibit A = the iPhone app and website combo Texts From Last Night (TFLN).
Where will the mobile apps market go from here with respect to advertising, taste, censorship, and ratings for unsuspecting users who like Pepsi and get more than they bargained for?
Mobile app developers – begin planning now for whatever audience you want – be it ‘R’ or ‘G.’ And beware an inappropriate rating: although the industry as a whole is slow to take a stance, apparently users will not let you get away with misdirection in advertising.
We’re looking for a few volunteers for the Under the Radar Conference on November 19th. You will have a chance to attend sessions and join in on the event meals and the reception – A great networking opportunity!
Volunteer positions:
1. Registration
- Materials organization/set-up in a.m.
- Assist at the reg desk, checking in attendees and handing out badges and program guides.
2. Speaker Wrangler
- Work with registration desk to find out when speakers arrive and take them to their rooms.
3. General Session assistance
- Provide support to the room monitor
4. Usher / Mic runner
If you’re interested, please email your contact info to giselle at dealmakermedia dot com.
Last week at Web 2.0 in San Francisco, Morgan Stanley mobile analyst Mary Meeker delivered a 68-slide bombshell.
The tech industry has replaced the financial sector as the most capitalized portion of our economy.
But Meeker doesn’t just believe mobile is an adjunct to the web 3.0 craze… She predicts the mobile web will be 10x LARGER than the desktop internet sector when it first started.
And who’s leading the charge? Apple. With the cleanly designed, app-fabulous iPhone and iPod touch,
Apple created, literally, from nothing, an entirely new market for entrepreneurs.
Why should you be paying attention? Who should you be paying attention to?
The answers lie at Under the Radar on November 19th. REGISTER HERE.
Sometrics, a company providing social media analytics and measurement for advertisers, has closed $4 million in second round. The funding was led by Steamboat Ventures with participation from existing investors, the Mail Room Fund and Greycroft Partners.
Ian Swanson, CEO of Sometrics, presented last year at the Under the Radar | Social Media and Entertainment Conference.
Another Under the Radar Alumni Success Story:
Spigit, a Pleasanton-based company providing internal social networks for large companies, raised $10 Million in Series B round. The funding came from Warburg Pincus.
Spigit helps companies to share ideas, maximize productivity, progress in the global economy and connect their employees, customers and business partners.
Spigit was a Grad Circle company at our past UTR | Clarity in the Cloud conference in 2009. Watch CEO, Paul Pluschkell’s presenting at Under the Radar here.
…Are you still Under the Radar? Apply to be considered for Under the Radar: Mobility (on November 19, 2009) or register to attend to be among the first people to meet and land deals with the next wave of disruptive mobile companies.
In passionate pursuit of what’s happening in mobile tech, Twitter helps many of us act as ‘first responders.’
Over the last 3 months, the Dealmaker Media team has hacked through hundreds of mobile companies preparing for Under the Radar.
140 characters may not seem like a lot to work with, but tweets are an effective way to connect innovators with companies solving big problems on small screens.
Getting ready for #utr, we figured it’s time to share the goods. Here’s a short list of the people on Dealmaker’s Twitter radar…
Some are companies, some are individuals, some are developer programs, some are folks employed by organizations, some are analysts, some are bloggers, some are enthusiasts, some are Twitter arms of new media outlets, but all use their Twitter power for providing content value.
Here’s the list, with corresponding follower headcounts (current as of 3pm PDT today – follower counts may have changed since publication).
A quick disclaimer: Review the numbers with a grain of salt – I don’t consider follower numbers the primary indicator of a valuable Tweet. It’s more about what you tweet than how many people follow you…
The event happens November 19th – buy your tickets here.
Out of the hundreds of nominations and new companies we found – through hours of research, dozens of phone calls with top advisors and VCs – we picked 30 – and we’ve taken a detailed look at each technology, at every business model.
These startups (and their founder teams) are the best of the best. We look for game-changers, innovators and, most of all, businesses that have a real shot at success.
Stay tuned to the Under the Radar Blog for sneak peaks at hot mobile tech like augmented reality (AR), location based services (LBS), profiles of presenting companies, keynote speakers and more.
Although space is limited, it’s not too late to nominate a company you think deserves to be onstage…send your favorite startup to apply here.
To celebrate the first release of ‘new batch’ startups, we’re offering 25 tickets at $100 off the normal registration price – click here to buy.
OMGZ! Fanboys and fangirls of technology: dust off your dancing shoes; it’s time to focus your fan-dom away from your iPhone screen and towards the stage.
On December 9, Silicon Valley’s techstars will shed their blue collared shirts and khakis for tattered black t-shirts n’ jeans and take the stage.
ANNOUNCING THE 2ND SILICON VALLEY ROCKS!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Great American Music Hall (San Francisco)
Tickets: Get ‘em while they’re hot!
CALL FOR BANDS!
Word has it, Silicon Valley Rocks! is looking for bands to fill up the night’s killer line-up. Here’s your chance to shine. If you’re in a band (or know someone who is), please submit your/their information here.
Silicon Valley Rocks! is a music showcase featuring performances from Silicon Valley’s tech community – from VCs and entrepreneurs to bloggers and software developers – to raise money for Music in Schools Today (MuST), a Bay Area non-profit that seeks to rescue school music programs from budget cuts.
See you all there! (And metal horns up to our pal Allison Murdock, brains and lead singer behind Silicon Valley Rocks!)
How else could they know how often I forget my Safeway, CVS, and Borders rewards cards?
Cardstar is a mobile app that generates a nifty image of your club or supersaver-type cards, with bar code images that neatly skirt the QR code integration challenge. Cardstar is scannable by ‘most merchants,’ including Petsmart, Blockbuster, and CVS.
In addition to big name corporate partners, users seem to like Cardstar too – the app has a 4+ rating in the iTunes store, with lots of comments about how great it works in the wild.
Cardstar is a free app (for now). Checking out all these free applications I’m beginning to wonder overall how mobile app builders will solve the monetization problem, and I certainly don’t want all my mobile apps to become Big-Brother esque data hunter/gatherers caching all my behavioral data and demographics to fuel a later rush to profitablity.
No offense to Cardstar, but I’ll be checking their terms of service (TOS) pretty carefully before using the app.
Back to why I really like the Cardstar app – you can carry it across the border.
The app works with loyalty card programs for over 190 companies in 3 countries (US, Canada, and the UK). Android and Blackberry fans, you’ll unfortunately have to carry your plastic a bit longer…versions for these two smartphones are in the works.
Other features ‘coming soon’ to Cardstar include merchant-driven special offers and coupons.
Ironically, this line of biz-dev puts Cardstar in a prime partnership/acquisition sweet spot for integration with other mobile companies like Tapjoy, but also with bigger web service providers like Yahoo!.
Whatever happens to Cardstar as the company grows out and grows up, I’m looking forward to leaving both paper coupons and plastic loyalty cards behind.
Too many things in this device-driven modern life weigh you down – tools to save money shouldn’t be one of them.
We’ve been hyper-focused on the cloud and mobile apps lately, ramping up for Under the Radar in November. To celebrate TGIF, let’s geek out today on gaming and learn some lessons about entrepreneurship.
Even the smallest products sometimes have fascinating success stories filled with drama, international escapades, and near misses. Or at least the story of Tetris does…
Have you ever believed in a concept so much you’d travel halfway around the globe to make it into a viable product?
If the answer is yes, consider how obsessed with an idea you’d have to be to do that for SOMEONE ELSE’S concept…
Tons of people wanted the game, but Henk Rogers, a game designer, packed a bag and showed up in the former Soviet Union uninvited.
Then he convinced Nintendo’s CEO to meet with him by saying he could create a Go game for the Nintendo machine (Henk’s wife read the CEO was a Go fan). Persistence won again: Nintendo licensed the game.
Here’s a tasty excerpt from Andrew’s interview:
“Henk didn’t invent Tetris, but he’s the entrepreneur who went into the Soviet Union to win the rights to the game, and he’s the man who made it a world-wide phenomenon that’s still going strong, even though the game was invented back in 1984.”
About Andrew Warner: Andrew is an entrepreneur and the brain behind Mixergy. He continues to nab terrific interviews with some of the best entrepreneurial minds and success stories out there – and asks them very pointed questions about how they did what they did so people like you and I can learn from others’ experiences.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard a developer ponder how to make money from apps at a hackathon, I’d be a VC able to fund a Series A all by my lonesome right about now.
At SVCodeCamp, however, I’ll just tell everyone within earshot about Tapjoy, which makes it ridiculously easy to place ads in mobile apps and sell virtual goods to all those suckers obsessed with leveling up in WoW.
One thing Tapjoy really gets right is the signup process for developers who want to swipe their SDK.
I signed up for an account in 3 steps – the whole process took less than 90 seconds, and the confirmation email was near-instantaneous.
Good developer relations really make me all shiny and happy inside. This is a firm that knows its market space well, and caters to our sense of self-important impatience.
If you’re a developer with no idea what the hell an ‘eCPM’ or ‘virtual good’ is or how you would want to pick from the 7 ad networks Tapjoy plugs you into automagically – never fear.
The FAQs are worded in language even my baby niece could understand.
If you’re a mobile services provider or developer-oriented platform, take a page from Tapjoy’s business case study presentations here – the firm helpfully provides best practice approaches to make your mobile apps more valuable.
Another potentially nifty feature of Tapjoy may be controversial. The platform allows app makers to pay their way to the top by ‘incentivizing’ users.
As an app designer/developer, you can choose how much to pay people to download and install your app (startups – here’s a new way to up your burn rate that might pay more dividends than buying that snazzy new Herman Miller Aeron chair).
Wow. Now I can’t wait to see Tapjoy in action.
I have a feeling the firm won’t stay under the radar for long…
If Twitter and Facebook app builders were last season’s must have startups, mobile coupon shops are this fall’s Little Black Dress.
Although there are several coupon gurus in the field (cough cough MobiQpons cough cough), I’m a new fan of Yowza(!!).
Seriously, how can you not love a mobile startup with a Heroes star on the founding team? A Mission Impossible and Star Trek alum, Greg Grundberg is no Ashton Kutcher wannabe…
But I digress – back to Yowza. Don’t let yourself be distracted by the cutesy icons and UI – Yowza means business. I’m in big-time-like with any app maker who wants to help me pocket personal ROI using my smartphone.
I downloaded Yowza on my iPhone 3G to kick the tires. Thanks Yowza, at 100% free you’re right in my price range, although I’d probably pay for this app.
For now, Yowza, like many apps, is Appletastic. It can only be installed on iPhones and iPod Touch devices in the U.S. of A.
Although Yowza’s design smells a bit like brand imaging made popular by the laundry detergent crowd (reminded of a Tide box anyone?), I was happy to discover Yowza’s got some bite behind the bark. The app asks my permission for geolocation via a customized message that lets me know exactly what sort of information the company is gathering on me as a user.
I also like the targeting Yowza is doing for my gender and age; I’d rather not get a coupon for a snazzy mens’ store in the Financial District, for example.
After you launch the app, Yowza brings up a nifty map screen with icons from what must be partner companies, including Pier 1 Imports (bleck – did I get this one because I registered as a ‘female?’) and various Rubio’s locations in the San Francisco area and, uh oh, REI stores.
Since I’m hanging at Dealmaker Media in SOMA today, I take note of the fact that Yowza is showing me there’s an REI store less than 5 blocks away at 840 Brannan Street.
After I bring up the map, I tap the ’star’ icon in the upper right corner of the page and save my 20% off coupon for a discount on “performance food.” With the fall health/tech conference season in full swing, a few dozen Powerbars couldn’t hurt. I can use the Yowza coupon even when I’m not connected to the web, which is extremely nifty.
As I browse other Yowza coupons, I’m starting to regret this download – somehow I have a feeling Yowza will convert me from a casual window shopper to a determined buyer.
What I’d like to see the Yowza team add next: extra featured coupons integrated with email subscription lists to loyalty programs like Sephora.
“Real time” window shopping tours would be particularly useful. I’d like to be able to set the app to ‘browse’ mode when I’m walking home from the CalTrain station after a hard day of meetings on Sand Hill Road and have Yowza lead me to sales I’m wandering past.
Integration with a geolocation update provider like BrightKite or Foursquare would also really get me going.
I’d love to share custom coupons with friends, especially at places where I’ve earned the “Mayor” badge in FourSquare. Imagine sending your FourSquare friends coupons for 20 cents off a large cup of “Ether” blend if you make it to Mayor at Philz Coffee. Now that’s what I call savings built for the mobile life…
It’d certainly be nice to reward friends’ loyalty at communal places of interest and direct them to new undiscovered neighborhood spots via an incentive to save some moolah.
In fact, if shopping is on the calendar, Yowza might make finding a specific store I visit often easier than using Safari + Google Maps or the native mapping client.
Targeted geolocation and locovore-style commerce is definitely on the mobile hot list. Over time, the coupon and loyalty program apps may steal some traffic away from mapping clients – it’ll be an interesting trend to watch.
