Today, Vator will be holding Splash Spring 2016 in Oakland, where speakers such as Tom Griffiths (CPO & Co-founder, FanDuel), Andy Dunn (Founder & CEO, Bonobos), Nirav Tolia (Founder & CEO, NextDoor), and Mitch Kapor (Founder, Kapor Center for Social Impact) will be sharing their perspectives on entrepreneurship, venture capital, and lessons learned scaling technology companies.
In addition, we’ll also be holding a startup competition, where some of the best, most innovative startups will pitch their ideas in front of top-notch VCs, angel and corporate investors, and high-tech influencers. And you have a chance to vote as well!
Voting will start around 11:55 am, May 12. To vote, go to sli.do on the Web or on a mobile device. Type in #vatorsplash and a screen will appear with a list of names and radio buttons. Select your favorite. Voting will run for about 30 minutes.
Here are the eight finalists who will be presenting later today:
CUJO is like a virtual door for your connected home. It is a smart firewall that guards all devices on your network with business-level security. Plug it into your router and control it with your iPhone or Android app. CUJO uses cloud-based service, including behavioral analysis and machine learning, to offer business-level Internet security.
The company has created a cloud-powered firewall to guard home networks against hackers and cyber criminals. While it’s plug-n-play and super simple for anybody to use, it’s also packed with business-level security features. CUJO retails for $99 with a $8.99/month subscription.
Prior art is the key to invalidating frivolous patents and rejecting trivial inventions. DataNovo automates prior art searching to help businesses fight patent infringement lawsuits, and assesses freedom-to-operate before pursuing potentially patentable innovations.
The company finds prior arts to every patent instantly. Prior art is anything that shows an invention is old or obvious. Companies use prior arts to invalidate frivolous patents and show that those innovations already exist long before. Companies also use prior arts (or a lack thereof) to show why their products are not obvious variations but truly cutting-edge technologies. Prior art is what stands between just an idea and true invention. It’s the holy grail in intellectual property.
Choosey foodies and indecisive diners alike will now be able to discover the best items on any restaurant menu with Dysh App. Users share photos of their hunger-inducing meals (curate #foodporn) and then rate their dishes on a 100-point scale. Dysh answers both the age-old question, “what do I order?” and the modern quandary, “where do I post it?”
Restaurant-hoppers, choosey foodies and indecisive diners alike will now be able to discover the best items on any menu thanks to the new smartphone application, Dysh. The free app, launched by Toast Labs, Inc. merges user-generated content and mobile technology to create a conversation around the food, getting straight to the plate.
The History Project (THP) is changing how our history is told by re-inventing the digital time capsule. THP has created a space between the momentary chatter of social media and the automation of cloud storage to unify our most important memories and curate them beautifully into collaborative multi-media narratives that transcend generations.
As a pinterest of emotional belongings, THP has created a space between social media and cloud storage to unify our most important memories and curate them beautifully into collaborative multi-media narratives that transcend generations. We are the opposite of snapchat and recognize that as digital content explodes there needs to be a place where the most meanigful things can be preserved forever, richly and beautifully.
Hostfully is a platform that helps hosts in the alternative lodging industry (e.g. Airbnb, HomeAway) create guidebooks that contain essential hospitality information for their guests – a “virtual concierge“. Hosts share key home-sharing information, as well as local recommendations for food, shopping, entertainment and more – on mobile, web, and in print.
Hostfully opens up new sales and marketing channels for local businesses to reach tourists who are staying outside of hotels, a $100B market expected to grow 10% YOY through 2025. The host is “the last mile” to the alternative lodging tourist while they’re on vacation, with enormous influence on the buying decisions of their guests. Hostfully is tapping into this opportunity.
