GiftRocket, a 2011 Y Combinator grad, is a simple P2P digital gifting service that lets users send and receive digital gift cards via email. Originally, the startup was focused around location-based gifting, allowing friends to send each other digital gift cards that could be accessed once they checked-in to a certain location. With some angel funding behind it, the startup pivoted to a more universal use case, becoming a way to easily gift cash within a digital eCard.Co-founder Kapil Kale tells us that, since that change, people have begun to use the service as a replacement for traditional gift cards and gift certificates and usage has increased as a result. Today, the startup is announcing that it's profitable thanks to a $2 million in sales in 2012 (and what he expects to be $5 million run rate by December). It's also making some additions and changes to its service, including an API, bulk orders and reduced fees. read more..
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Gift Certificates-Profitability-Startup
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Incubator Hitfox-Mobile Games-Startups
Well that was quick or just well timed PR: HitFox Game Ventures, the games distribution incubator that launched last month, has given birth to two new startups already.AppLift, co-founded and managed by Kaya Taner, who was an early employee at HitFox, promises to be an affiliate network that will focus solely on mobile games. App Discovery, also co-founded and run by another HitFox manager, Xavier Rezgui, operates at the consumer end to help mobile gamers intelligently navigate the 100,000 or so games in the iOS App Store.Both startups hatched with a "seven figure" Euro seed investment from HitFox. read more..
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Personal Information Management Application-Modern Operating Systems-Web Applications
Ecco Pro, a much beloved outliner and personal information management application for Windows was discontinued about 15 years ago. But you can still download it and run it on Windows 7 today thanks to the efforts of a handful of volunteers. Even though the software isn't open source a few devotees have continued modding it and keeping it current for modern operating systems. They say that no modern application has yet replicated its functionality.Another piece of software with longevity is Eudora, which as of 2009 was still in use by Steve Wozniak as per an interview with Lifehacker. Wozniak didn't say which version he's using, but since he says it's been discontinued, I assume he's using Eudora 6.2.4 or earlier, not the newer Thunderbird based Open Source Edition. I've heard of people using versions as old as 3. They say they can still do stuff with it they just can't do with anything else.If these were web applications, what are the odds people would still be using them today, more than a decade after they were officially discontinued? And are there any new web applications out today that are so good that 15 years from now users will still be clinging to them? read more..
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Car Service-Party Buses-Variation-Car Rides-Uber
Uber is still growing its business as a disruptive (sometimes controversial) car service app, but in the meantime it continues to push the envelope on what else it might eventually do with the logistics infrastructure it is also creating. The latest development comes by way of Chicago, where Uber is now laying on busses with DJs and drinks. Yes, it's bus bumping from Uber.Uberpalooza will feature DJs Dante, Bobbylite, Megan Taylor and Andrew Hayden, and is being run to coincide with the Lollapalooza music festival taking place in the Windy City this weekend. Those requesting the service will be charged $50 for 25 minutes or 5 miles -- whichever comes first (so pick your traffic-clogged streets of Chicago carefully). Up to 10 other people can join in on the party bus -- as long as all are over 21. read more..
Monday, 30 July 2012
Management Consulting Firm-Millennial-Research
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| skunkworks |
Editor’s note: Dan Schawbel is the managing partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and management consulting firm. He is also the author of Me 2.0 and was named to the Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 list in 2010. Subscribe to his updates at Facebook.com/DanSchawbel.You probably believe that big companies are anti-entrepreneurial because you assume they are slow growth dinosaurs that resist change, but history teaches us otherwise. Corporations have been run entrepreneurship-type programs for many years, like the fabled Lockheed Martin “Skunk Works" -- a small group of employees working on revolutionary products such as famous aircraft designs including the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird. Even today, some companies still refer to these projects as “skunkworks projects.” read more..
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Ced Program Director-North Carolina-Dhruv Patel
Over the past week, we took TechCrunch on the road for our Southeast Meetup tour. Of the five cities we visited in seven days, Durham had one of the hungriest entrepreneurial scenes. But the majority of the city is relatively run-down, aside from the lovely American Tobacco Center facility you see in the background. But North Carolina's tech scene is on a mission, and it's not just about cleaning up the city, it's about branching out of the usual life science industry to have a varied portfolio of young companies in the Raleigh-Durham area. I pulled aside Dhruv Patel, who is the program director of CED (what's known by most as the TechStars of the South), and he said that about $7.7 billion has been invested in Raleigh-Durham startups in the past 12 years. He says most of it comes from a huge increase in activity out of angel investors (with a hat tip to the Triangle Startup Factory). He also said that in the past year the state has gotten a lot more interest from out-of-state investors who are willing to turn an ear to the south. read more..
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Incubator Program-Nokia
Nokia may still be fighting some pretty major fires on its burning platform, but it's also building some bridges -- namely the Nokia Bridge incubator program -- to help those running from the flames, with financing of up to €150,000 ($185,000) to pursue new startups, before they've even paid a visit to VCs and angel investors.The activities in Nokia Bridge are a small but encouraging counterpoint to the fairly-constant, grim updates on the state of the Finnish mobile company, once the world's biggest by a long shot, and now under the gun with falling handset sales and dwindling cash reserves as it struggles to compete against the Apple/Android smartphone juggernaut. It's understood that there are already some 100 companies in the incubator -- dozens in the UK alone -- although Nokia has not published a list of them anywhere. Jolla, the startup formed by ex-Nokia execs that will try to give MeeGo phones another shot, is one of them. read more..
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Nsfw
Paul Carr's NSFW Corp has officially launched, bringing us all from the doldrums and despair of the Age of Pisces and into the majesty of the Age of Aquarius. The site, essentially the news of the day with jokes, launched a few months ago in beta and is now a 17-person strong comedy juggernaut putting out stories like "UK WORRIES ABOUT SPIRALLING COST OF FREE HEALTH CARE >> Run, America. Run while there's still time //" and "KUWAIT ARMY STRUGGLES WITH OBESITY >> Are we heading for the first real Golden Arches war? A Gastric Band of Brothers? //." read more..
Azure Accelerator-Microsoft
As you may recall, Microsoft recently got into the startup accelerator game, launching its first self-directed and self-run accelerator in Israel. The program is different from Microsoft's Kinect Accelerator, for example, because Microsoft is the owner and operator of these new programs, which are now rolling out elsewhere in the world, including India and China. Unlike your typical YC clone, Microsoft is not snagging an equity stake nor providing funding for the startups it hosts. But it also doesn't plan to run out of cash for its programs, either. (See Mike's deep dive into the Israel-based incubator here).This Friday, the Chinese accelerator will announce its inaugural class of startups, a unique group because of Microsoft's focus on cloud computing businesses which already have products and end users. read more..
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Bose Headphones-Dearest Alexia-Car
On the 25th of June, our dearest Alexia Tsotsis had an incredibly rough day. First, her car was looted by very bad people in San Francisco, who stole her laptop and a pair of excellent Bose headphones that were near and dear to her heart. And as if that wasn't enough, her car then got smashed by someone running a red light, totaling her vehicle and leaving her in quite a bit of pain. When fellow TechCrunch sharks heard the news, we knew we had to do something to help out one of our fearless leaders, and so our very own Ryan Lawler stepped up to the plate with a suggestion to buy some new headphones for Alexia. "Knowing that we can't replace the sentimental value, I was thinking we could maybe (at least) help replace the item that was taken." After a little back and forth, the team settled on an app to help us accomplish the task at hand (we at TC need an app for everything), and that's where CrowdTilt enters the mix. read more..
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Social Network-Communication-Startups
The TechStars NYC Demo Day went down this morning, and thirteen new companies have officially come to market, ranging from a Pinterest for places, a social wireless MVNO, and a mobile workforce communication product, to a social network for trades and transactions, a moving industry disruptor, and a leisure class aggregator. Some are venturing into a brand new world, leveraging social media and our online identities to disrupt retail, consumer engagement with brands, and communication within workforces. Others are traveling back to the past, elbowing their way into traditional industries and trying to make a difference. If you happened to miss our earlier coverage, here's a rundown on the whole lot of them: read more..
Friday, 22 June 2012
Angry Birds-Monster
In a move that borrows from the Angry Birds playbook, quite literally, Fight My Monster - the so-called ‘Moshi for boys’ - has appointed licensing heavy-weights Russell Binder and Dimensional Branding Group to represent the brand globally and, presumably, to begin exploring merchandising options.Binder’s Striker Entertainment actually claims Angry Birds as a client, while DBG works with the likes of Sony, Miniclip and Temple Run -- so this appears to be quite an ambitious appointment for the young company and points to the potential of Fight My Monster’s brand amongst its much coveted and hard to reach audience of 8-14 year old boys. read more..
Friday, 15 June 2012
Entrepreneur-Product
Every entrepreneur starts her company with a clear vision for success. You will create an amazing environment and hire the smartest people to join you. Together you will build a beautiful product that delights customers and makes the world just a little bit better. It’s going to be absolutely awesome.Then, after working night and day to make your vision reality, you wake up to find that things did not go as planned. Your company did not unfold like the Jack Dorsey keynote that you listened to when you started. Your product has issues that will be very hard to fix. The market isn’t quite where it was supposed to be. Your employees are losing confidence and some of them have quit. Some of the ones that quit were quite smart and have the remaining ones wondering if staying makes sense. You are running low on cash and your venture capitalist tells you that it will be difficult to raise money given the impending European catastrophe. You lose a competitive battle. You lose a loyal customer. You lose a great employee. The walls start closing in. Where did you go wrong? Why didn’t your company perform as envisioned? Are you good enough to do this? As your dreams turn into nightmares, you find yourself in The Struggle. read more..
Monday, 28 May 2012
Andreessen Horowitz-Startup Belly-Loyalty Card-Foursquare
Belly, the Chicago-based loyalty platform which just closed its $10 million Series B from Andreessen Horowitz earlier this month, is today announcing a pretty significant milestone: its 1 millionth check-in. The startup allows customers to check-in to a location using a physical loyalty card or mobile app which they scan via a consumer-facing iPad installed at point-of-sale. By doing so, customers collect points that can later be redeemed for unique rewards tailored specifically for the business in question.The company has been growing fast, and CEO Logan LaHive tells us that in some of Belly's locations, there have been more Belly check-ins within its first month of being up-and-running, than the total number of Foursquare check-ins the business has seen to date. read more..
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Errands-Exec
Exec, a mobile app that instantly gets people to do your errands, has raised $3.3 million, according to an SEC filing. The company's co-founder Justin Kan, who is also behind Justin.tv, Twitch.tv and SocialCam, says he's not ready to disclose investors yet, except to say that there are around 25 different individuals in the round. The filing only shows Exec's team on it, so it's hard to tell who the firms or angels in the round are. What's Exec? It's kind of comparable to TaskRabbit, because you can call on people to run your errands from an app. But Exec doesn't require a bidding process and it calls up 'Execs,' or people to do your tasks, instantaneously. It also has a flat rate of $25 an hour. Exec covers all sorts of errands -- deliveries, chores, cleaning, even art. One 'Exec,' who cleaned my house once, has also coached YC founders on their pitches for Demo Day. Seriously."This money is for building out the San Francisco Bay Area market," Kan said. read more..
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Patent Infringement Case-Deliberations-Bated Breath-Oracle
Just over a week ago, the jury began deliberations on the ongoing patent infringement case between Google and Oracle. After waiting in the wings, with bated breath, the verdict is finally in, as Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court of Northern California dismissed the jury this afternoon after a unanimous decision that ruled in favor of Google's mobile OS -- declaring that Android did not in fact infringe on the Oracle patents in question. The decision follows an opposing verdict earlier this month, in which the jury in the long-running infringement case found that certain components of Android APIs had too close of a resemblance to code used in Oracle's Java programming tools. However, the jury ended up splitting on the notion of whether or not Google could in fact claim fair use in its defense (which could have then led to a mistrial.) read more..
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Fitness Calculators-Health And Fitness-Mapmyfitness-Google Maps
MapMyFitness is a veteran of the online health and fitness space, with the first iteration of its website appearing back in the summer of 2005. Since then, the startup has developed a suite of fitness-oriented websites (like MapMyRUN.com, MapMyRIDE.com, MapMyWALK.com, et al) to let users track and store their running, cycling, walking and hiking endeavors, along with accessing a database of international routes, fitness calculators, events listings and more. MapMyFitness has long had a solid community of committed users, but it's seen a significant bump in adoption of late, this week passing 9 million registered users.Building on this uptick in adoption, MapMyFitness is today launching one of the most significant updates to its platform since its rebranding back in 2007. The startup has completely rebuilt its portfolio of websites, adding a number of new features, with the main attraction being a new service called "Courses," which includes "one of the most advanced integrations of Google Maps’ API to date," says CEO Richard Jalichandra. read more..
Mayor Of San Francisco-Startups
Disrupt NYC day two has just wrapped up. During the conference today, Michael Arrington demanded to know from Ron Conway when he was going to run for Mayor of San Francisco (he kept saying he would "never"), our very own Josh Constine grilled Tim Armstrong with questions about AOL, layoffs, which publication he likes more: Huffington Post or TechCrunch (he said "both"), and we watched 15 more amazing startups battle it out for the ultimate Disrupt prize -- the Disrupt Cup and $50,000.Starting tomorrow at 3:30pm ET we will have our Startup Battlefield Disrupt finals. Yesterday, we wrote detailed articles with pictures and pitches from all of the startups who presented. Below are the ones who were featured today. Out of these 30 companies, both from yesterday and today, five will be chosen to fight it out for the ultimate prize. We will have an all-star panel of judges tomorrow for the finals and things will probably get intense; people always get a little crazy at the finals, but as you can imagine, it's a blast to watch. So, take your time in reviewing all of the stellar startups below. Compared to the brilliant ones yesterday, which startup do you think will make it to the finals? Going further, any guesses on who you think will win it all? read more..
Monday, 21 May 2012
Software-Soluto
Disrupt NYC 2012 begins in approximately 12 hours (tickets here). But it's been two years since Soluto, the software that will make your computer simply run better, took home the Disrupt Cup at the TC Disrupt NYC Battlefield in 2010. The company entered the competition with a total of $7.8 million, and after walking away with the $50,000 round, secured another $10.2 million in Series B from Index Ventures for a total of $18 million in funding under their belts. It's been a wild ride, starting with about 400 users as the then-stealth company stepped on stage, and only a few days later they were dealing with hundreds of thousands of users. In fact, CEO and co-founder Tomer Dvir said that the platform almost had trouble dealing with all the data being sent back by the flood of new users. But, in his own words, "Disrupt is one of the best ways to release." Here's the interview I had with Mr. Dvir in its entirety: read more..
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Market Researchers-Effectiveness-Removal Tool-Technology
EyeTrackShop, a startup that develops eye-tracking technology for measuring ad effectiveness, has raised $3 million from Northzone.The company says its technology works through a regular webcam, allowing market researchers to gather data quickly and affordably. You can run the test before you spend money on a campaign, or test how well the advertising works once it's live, and how it performed in different formats and sites. Customers include big tech companies such as Google, AOL, and Microsoft, as well as P&G and JCDecaux. read more..
Apple releases security update, Flashback removal tool for Leopard
Apple on Monday released a pair of security updates aimed to help folks who are still running Mac OS X 10.5.8. read more..