VatorNews - Vator innovation series

Vator Box

Vator innovation series

Vator's version of Siskel & Ebert meets American Idol. Each week, host Bambi Francisco, VB regular, Ezra Roizen, and a guest host, rate entrepreneur pitches.

All episodes

Google's Marissa Mayer on Woome

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, December 8, 2008 | Comments

Search expert joins Vator Box team to evaluate the online dating/introductory site

Brought to you by: Google's Marissa Mayer, VP of search experience and products, was on hand to be our guest host for four Vator Box segments. In this one, we look a Woome, a speed-dating, online introductory platform. Here are some points, Mayer and Ezra Roizen (Vator Box regular and digital media investment banker) made: - Stephen Stokols ...

Yollege: A promising college review site

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, December 4, 2008 | Comments (1)

Venrock's Brian Ascher is our guest host, evaluating Yollege

We've seen a number of college-related sites listed in our Vator.tv directory of startups and private companies from College Blog Network, CollegeWikis, College Mogul to NuResume. One company, Yollege, was particularly notable, given the founder's pitch. According to Brian Ascher, venture capitalist of Venrock, who was our guest host (yet again!), Yollege CEO and founder Mike Kim deserves an A-+ ...

Buzznet: Celeb site gets worked over

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, December 1, 2008 | Comments (1)

Venrock's Brian Ascher offers frank advice as our guest host

Now that the presidential elections are over, sites typically devoted to politics, such as Huffington Post, are focusing on accelerating the growth of their celebrity and entertainment news. HuffPost will be yet another contender in the battle for eyeballs interested in celebrity and gossip. It's a very crowded field. There's popular online sites, such as Perezhilton, Yahoo's OMG, and TMZ, ...

Glam Media: An ad network too big to swallow

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, November 24, 2008 | Comments

Venrock's Brian Ascher is our guest host, evaluating Glam Media

This Vator Box is brought to you by Liquid Scenarios. Recently, Glam Media, an advertising network focused on female and male-oriented sites, launched Glam App Network. Essentially, it's a widget that any publisher can embed onto their site to enrich their site with content, and revenue. Glam Media is one of the most innovative and leading ad networks. Who better ...

A potential music-related acquisition target

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, November 17, 2008 | Comments (4)

	Venrock's Brian Ascher is our guest host, evaluating LyricFind Sponsored by: When I was growing up, it was commonplace to get lyrics as part of an album or CD. Without those lyrics, how could I possibly sing along to the songs? Today, I rarely buy albums. Rather, I buy singles on iTunes or download singles from Napster. If I really care, I Google the lyrics. There is a ...
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Mobile language learning and travel miles

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, November 9, 2008 | Comments (1)

Guy Kawasaki helps us evaluate UrbanPlanetMobile and Travelfli

Sponsored by: This Vator Box is brought to you by Liquid Scenarios. During times of economic crisis, a system that squeezes out free airline flights from unmanaged frequent flier miles may be worth a few bucks. In this segment, we look at such a new service. We also dive into the self-study market by looking at a startup that's creating ...

Next-gen photo and content organizers

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, October 26, 2008 | Comments

Guy Kawasaki is our guest host, evaluating TechStar's Occipital, Union Square Venture's Zemanta

This Vator Box is brought to you by Liquid Scenarios and Nearsoft. At some point, moving images - like the ones you see in the newspapers in Harry Potter movies - will be a reality. OK, maybe not in my lifetime. But artifical intelligence is already being applied to not only organize your photos in seconds, but to reconstruct 3D ...

News aggregators and music jamming sites

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, October 13, 2008 | Comments (2)

	Esther Dyson helps us evaluate Socialmedian and Indaba We've come a long way from getting the news dropped off at our doorsteps. Even though I still read the paper version of the Wall Street Journal, most of the news is coming from emerging aggregators, such as Alltop, Socialmedian and even Fark. These days, news is created by everyone and anyone with an online connection. It's not a surprise ...
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TheKnot for diseases and a travel concierge

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, October 6, 2008 | Comments (1)

	Esther Dyson helps us evaluate Careflash and Yapta In this episode, we look at health care and travel startups. Who better to look at startups in these industries than Esther Dyson, an angel investor in a number of startups in these areas. This week, we look at Careflash, which has a post-money valuation of $2.9 million, and Yapta, which is estimated by Liquid Scenarios to have a pre-money ...
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Advertising in virtual worlds and video

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 30, 2008 | Comments

Seasoned ad entrepreneur Frank Addante helps us evaluate Vivaty and Adap.tv

With the markets in a tizzy, consumers may very well want to spend more time in some virtual world to escape the madness. Or, they may forgo going to the movies and spend more time watching free online videos. In this Vator Box, we look at one virtual world provider, Vivaty, which is banking on branded advertising for some of ...

A look at iPhone apps and group SMS

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 22, 2008 | Comments (2)

Can Tapulous avoid the fate of Dexys Midnight Runners? And, why Tatango may be worth investing in

In this segment, our sponsor Liquid Scenarios estimates the pre-money valuations and exit scenarios for Tapulous and Tatango. The startups under the microscope this week are Tapulous, the creator of Tap Tap Revenge - one of the leading Apple iPhone applications with 1 million users in three weeks, and Tatango, a creator of group SMS. Tatango has ...

A look at how-to video sites and in-text ads

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 14, 2008 | Comments (1)

Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra helps us evaluate Graspr and Kontera

Sponsored by: In this Vator Box, we added a new segment. It's called the Liquid Scenarios Minute. In this minute, we look at total funds raised for both companies, and Liquid Scenarios provides an estimated valuation and exit analysis for both companies. The startups under the microscope this week are Graspr and Kontera, two companies that are the starting ...

We discuss Taltopia and Presdo

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, September 8, 2008 | Comments (1)

Conde Nast Portfolio's Blaise Zerega is our guest host (again) this week

In this mixed bag theme, John Shinal (managing editor) and Conde Nast Portfolio's Blaise Zerega look at Taltopia, a talent agency site - much like GotCast, IBeatYou, WeMix, and Zivity. We also look at Presdo, a scheduling service. In the end, the three of us split on who'd we bet on. We'd back one of them, but we're excited about ...

Vator Box: Kyte and Ad Infuse

by Bambi Francisco Roizen, August 29, 2008 | Comments (1)

	Portfolio.com's Blaise Zerega talks mobile video and ads As someone who has spent hundreds of hours capturing digital video, then downloading it to a PC before uploading it to the Internet, the ease of a streaming video service like Kyte is a godsend.The ability to capture video and send it directly to the Web with a wireless connection is the heart of the business proposition for Kyte and ...
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