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The Vator Splash September 2010 finalists
The top ten companies in Vator's autumn competition
We're here at Vator Splash in San Francisco, CA and the first five of the top ten finalists are about to take the stage to show off their pitches to 400 people in attendance. All ten companies were chosen mainly based on peer voting held in the Vator Splash competition, where more than 100 companies participated and over 2,000 votes were cast. Here's a brief rundown of the top ten startups and what they're here to offer.
Finalists are listed in order of appearance at Vator Splash.
micromobs is a group messaging service seeking to turn just about every other form of group communication on its head. Targeted to teachers and students for collaboration, families looking to stay in touch, or any other organization focused on discussion, micromobs offers a modern-looking and easy-to-use real-time messaging stream. Groups can create either private or public streams.
InterviewStudio is an applicant screening tool used by employers, recruiters, and job seekers alike to setup successful employment matches. Self-branded as “the future of interviewing,” InterviewStudio lets job seekers create a profile, upload a resume, collect endorsements, and record a video interview--all these pieces form the Candidate Showcase. Employers can easily view the Candidate Showcase to determine if an applicant is the right person for the job.
Cohuman is a workspace for coordinating people and managing projects. Developed out of distaste for the low content to quantity ratio so often seen in email inboxes, Cohuman creates an environment that “looks and acts” like email but should ultimately prove more accountable. Dynamically updating lists of tasks, calendars, conversations, and files help colleagues stay efficient when working on shared projects simultaneously.
OrangeSlyce is a platform for finding and hiring students for graphic design projects. The idea is that there are a lot of talented students out there who will charge less than professional graphic designers because they still need to build a portfolio. While it’s completely free to post projects, OrangeSlyce takes a 10% cut of the budget as a fee for providing the service. Most of the projects listed on the site currently fall in the $200-300 range.
Phone Halo provides a software and device combo with the promise that you’ll never lose your phone, keys, or other valuables again. For $59.95, Phone Halo ships a sensor and a lanyard, which the customer attaches to any item he or she wishes to track, like keys or a laptop bag. The sensor communicates with a free phone app so that a button on the sensor rings the phone.
Bump is a social network for drivers based on their cars’ license plates. At the most practical level, Bump will let drivers sign up for a roadside assistance and rewards program called Bump Advantage. Additionally, other Bump users will be able to scan license plates to send text or photo messages to other drivers (for example, to complain about their bad parking job). Still exclusive to those with beta keys, Bump plans to enter public beta by Thanksgiving.
MYeGAMER is a social platform for gamers to discuss, play, and compete for cash. The site, which updates daily with news bits and gaming events, doesn’t neglect any platform, featuring individual channels for Xbox 360, PC, PS3, Wii, and Flash. MYeGAMER is currently in a public beta.
Breakthrough is a provider of confidential online counseling and therapy. Clients, who can use their insurance to pay for the service, sign up to talk with a counselor through video, email, phone, or chat. Mental health providers can take advantage of Breakthrough to bolster their practice online for free.
appbackr connects forward-thinking developers with people who want to fund their iPhone and iPad app ideas. Developers earn money when a buyer (or appbackr, as the company likes to call them) agrees to support their project and appbackrs earn money when the app starts selling in the App Store; assuming the endeavor proves successful, both parties come out on top.
PlayMyAd gives local businesses the tools to create a “Digital Out of Home” advertising campaign. The platform, says PlayMyAd, helps increase brand awareness, establish credibility, and boosts a customer base. Partners already on board include Best Buy, Chevrolet, Delta, and Jack in the Box.
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Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs
InterviewStudio
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
An online SaaS presentation platform that can “hook and integrate any and many” digital assets (video, pdf, word doc, URL, etc.) onto one cool interactive screen and email that presentation out as an URL link to any audience for viewing; the first application, InterviewStudio, presents job candidates (their resume, video interview, endorsements, assessment test results, LinkedIn profile, Google info and more all on one screen) for viewing/vetting by recruiters and hiring managers upfront in the process, which saves up to 6 weeks in the hiring cycle, and thousands of dollars in interview travel costs and wasted time spent with candidates who don’t fit. See sample here: http://www.interviewstudio.com/show/Kenneth/Stewart/136. This is NOT a Video Resume! It's the NEXT thing: the Total Candidate Profile(TM), which aggregates all data about a job candidate on one dashboard.
MYeGamer.com
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
MYeGamer allows competitive gamers to play one another online for cash.
We’re organizing and incentivizing the behavior of people already spending time doing what they love.
Cohuman
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Cohuman is the simplest most powerful way to keep your team in sync. Easily delegate, prioritize and track tasks with all your teams.
It is an intelligent workspace for coordinating people and managing projects. It promotes transparency and accountability in communications allowing teams to get things done more efficiently.
PERFECT INFORMATION
Cohuman delivers immediate insight into the status of projects, coworkers and the tasks you need to focus on.
1. We provide unprecedented visibility into a team's collective and individual responsibilities.
2. Projects and people are presented with lists of tasks that are ranked in order of priority. We utilize metadata to dynamically rank a task's importance relative to the needs of the team.
BENEFITS
- Focus: Tasks are organized so people can focus on doing the most important things first.
- Transparency: Team members have visibility into the shared actions and needs of the group.
- Accountability: By compelling individual ownership, we reduce business ambiguity.
- Accessibility: Files, conversations and deadlines are centralized, secure and always accessible.
- Email Integration: We work seamlessly with email, so those who don't want to login to Cohuman don't need to.
GOOGLE INTEGRATION
- Attach Google Docs to Cohuman tasks, and we'll handle the permissions
- Sync your tasks to your Google Calendar
- Invite your Google Contacts
- Login and Signup with your Google Account
- Find us in the Google Marketplace and Chrome Store
The long version of our Story:
The challenge we all face in today’s multitasking world is that we are inundated with emails, tweets, social media statuses, collaboration tool notifications, IM’s, buzzes, waves and more. Submerged somewhere in this digital torrent are the tasks we need to act upon as well as the true status of the things we have shared with, or assigned to, others.
The truth is, we feel productive when we merely click on what’s unread in our inbox (a textbook Pavlovian response). We feel a sense of accomplishment when we stay abreast of the chatter. All the energy and time we invest in doing these things is creating a false sense of “doing” and eating into the time we have to get stuff done. We’re on a diet of electronic junk food. The day goes by and despite having been connected and collaborative, we’ve accomplished less than we thought. What’s worse, we experience that nagging feeling that we’ve forgotten to do something.
Cohuman is an online application that cuts through this digital clutter and gives you the power to make, share and track tasks with anyone.
We fundamentally believe that the only way to simplify our lives is to know what our priorities are and to be able to focus on what matters. Cohuman is a social network for all your work and personal tasks. When you share tasks with other people, Cohuman is aware of how all your tasks are related. That’s what Cohuman is – a Task Network. In the same way you keep track of your colleagues and friends via Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, we empower you to get status updates on all the tasks you’re connected to.
Based on an algorithm that takes into account the network value of a task, Cohuman is able to optimize your priorities and those of everyone in your network by assigning each task a score.
Cohuman lets you:
1. See everything you need to do in one place
2. Prioritize your day, your week, your life
3. Share tasks with others and follow their status
4. Trust you are not forgetting to do anything
The market for Cohuman encompasses everyone who is tired of depending on email to coordinate their life or is simply struggling to manage their priorities.
PlayMyAd, Inc.
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
PlayMyAd, Inc. owns and operates a web based marketplace for digital out of home advertising. Our marketplace brings together digital out of home networks and advertisers. Currently, our marketplace gives advertisers' access to ad space on TVs at over 800 gas stations nationwide with plans to expand to movie theaters, elevators, grocery stores and shopping malls.
OrangeSlyce
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
OrangeSlyce is the easy, affordable way to hire recommended students for graphic design projects. We are the only marketplace dedicated to connecting talented students from across the nation with small businesses who need design projects completed. The internet is saturated with lackluster “experts” who see each project as just another paycheck. Logos and letterheads, business cards and banner ads, websites and Wordpress; find real value in each project with invested, passionate designers on www.orangeslyce.com.
micromobs
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
micromobs is the easiest way to start a group discussion. No more having to deal with long email threads, or archaic group applications. Create mobs for your friends, family, classmates, co-workers, and everyone else in between. Organize your groups!
Events.com
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Events.com is a mobile-first, socially-focused suite of cloud-based applications that provides an ideal solution for event organizers and event goers alike. Organizers benefit from a dashboard that features the necessary tools to manage, market and monetize their events—including detailed analytics, robust reporting with actionable insights, integrated marketing and outreach tools, enhanced payment options, and comprehensive functionality to create interactive communities and affinity around their brands. Event goers get access and inspiration via the Events.com site—a place to explore experiences based on interests, discover aggregated social content and share the experiences that matter most to them.
Planning an event? Create and manage your event on Events.com by clicking here.
Phone Halo
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Phone Halo creates software that keeps track of your belongings. It's like Find My iPhone for your Valuables.
Users can easily locate all of their belongings from the smartphone app or log in to the website to locate and manage their items. Phone Halo's technology can track wireless items like bluetooth headsets or items tagged by OEM partner devices such as the Cobra Tag.
Phone Halo's technology has helped find items over 70,000 times.
Breakthrough.com
Startup/Business
Joined Vator on
Breakthrough.com connects mental health providers with clients via video, phone, email, and chat.
Fifty eight million Americans have a mental illness and millions more struggle with stress and relationship issues. Therapy and medications work, but are stigmatizing, hard to access, costly, and inconvenient. Telemedicine has been shown to address these issues.
Clients can search for providers on a variety of criteria, be anonymous, take diagnostic tests, seek peer support in free communities, and engage in sessions via secure video, phone, email, and chat.
Providers such as psychologists, counselors, and social workers can hold secure sessions and build an online profile with their prices, mediums, degrees, styles, specialties, and associations. Breakthrough confirms all providers are credentialed professionals.
Breakthrough can also help health plans, hospitals, schools, prisons, employee assistance programs, and veteran groups. Breakthrough can also help clients and providers receive insurance reimbursement so that treatment is low cost or free.
A video of Breakthrough's launch at TechCrunch50 is here:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2167353