The Best Ideas: Entrepreneur creates WishPop
Yesterday, I had a wonderful meeting with Rob Ross who is a natural techy, developer, and entrepreneur.
His creation -- an app for the iPad inspired by his daughter. WishPop allows kids to create wish lists and thank yous to help their "grown ups" know what to buy them!
And Rob did all the right things:
1. First, he got a first class team. While the team was only 8 people, he had experience from Nickelodean, Disney, National Geographic Kids, Game Designers from Ramps, and Acclaim Entertainment. This drove an incredible design.
2. Second, he knew his "client's" pain points. His own daughter served as a chief requirement giver and her 15 BFFs gave constant and consistent feedback.
3. And finally, he learned and pivoted. He noted that the technical platform that he chose to build on didn't allow flexibility. He has since switched over to a developer platform Xamarin.
I love this app and the story!
The evolution of retail: EyeQ and RosieApp from North America Regionals move on to SmartCamp Global Finals
We're seeing an incredible transformation in retail right now driven by Cloud-Analytics-Mobile-Social (CAMS)! Nowhere was this more evident than at the US Regional SmartCamp Finals recently. The winners chosen by our crack judging team of VCs and startup experts both had something in common: they are transforming the customer experience for retailers and brands.
eyeQ gathers data about in-store customers to help retailers understand how purchase decisions are made at the shelf. How does the customer react to a given product? What role does gender bias play? How much time are they taking to make a purchase decision? eyeQ collects all this information on the Bluemix cloud platform, giving brands better customer insight. (Follow them on Twitter @eyeQinsights)
Likewise, Rosie makes it possible for small and medium-sized brick-and-mortar stores to offer a robust online shopping experience for their customers. They collect data on a shopper's buying habits and then translate that into an enhanced online shopping experience. Their platform brings together the whole retail supply chain to deliver exceptional customer experience. The mobile-based RosieApp lets customers keep control of when their key groceries run out and order and deliver them automatically! A powerful recommendation engine suggests relevant products. (Follow them on Twitter @RosieApp)
Winning their second People's Choice Award, BeehiveID's solution for authenticating online identities clearly has a popular following of supporters and customers. Their solution is a critical service in our increasingly mobile and online lives! (Follow them on Twitter @BeehiveID)
Congrats to all our winners! And we look forward to seeing eyeQ and Rosie at our SmartCamp Global Finals!
Helpful links:
eyeQ -> http://www.eyeqinsights.com/
Rosie -> https://www.rosieapp.com/
BeehiveID -> http://beehiveid.com/
Content transformation and Fire fighting: Two startups make it to Global Finals!
What do two startups, one with a solution in content transformation and the other with a solution in fighting forest fires, have in common? They are both heading to the SmartCamp Global Finals! Stelae Technologies and Insight Robotics won our SmartCamp Asia Pacific Regional!
Stelae Technologies, winner of SmartCamp India, has an automated solution that enables an end-to-end workflow for information management. With at least 70% of cost savings over current solutions, theirs is one platform for multiple file types (PDF, Word, ASCII, etc.) and enables rapid turnaround times for converting files into multiple output formats (XML, S1000d, XBRL, etc.).
So, imagine if you had access to a single platform that enabled you to create, manage, and convert multiple file formats. That would be a huge time and money saver!
And I really love what Insight Robotics, winner of SmartCamp China, is doing to prevent forest fires. Just last year in the United States, over 9.3 million acres of forest were lost to fires! Just think of how many acres globally are lost! Thankfully, Insight Robotics has a solution to address this global problem.
Using thermal imaging sensors and advanced artificial intelligence vision technology, Insight Robotics solution allows fire fighters to quickly locate a forest fire, giving them a jump at extinguishing the flames. So precise is their solution that is can spot fires as small as an area of 2m x 1m within 5km radius!
Congratulations to Stelae Technologies and Insight Robotics! I'll see you both at the SmartCamp Global Finals!
Helpful links:
Stelae Technologies -> http://www.stelae-technologies.com/
Insight Robotics -> http://www.insightrobotics.com/
I love Entrepreneurs! We love Entrepreneurs!
Entrepreneurs are the soul of global innovation!!
And today, start-ups are rocking our world.
According to CB Insight, over $4.6B has been invested by VCs into Cloud Computing over the last year, representing a 113% YOY funding growth! And this year in particular has been incredible.
- Q1 2014 was the biggest funding quarter over the last 5 years
I am on the plane right now heading to San Fran and Silicon Valley to spend time with our most valued natural resource: The Start-Up. And with Silicon Valley is driving 42% of the cloud deals this year, the adventure of listening, helping, and announcing is my favorite part of my role!!
Hope to see you there!
Entrepreneurs Win with Augmented reality ! Check this out!
Imagine being able to see a printed car advertisement turned into 3D with your smartphone or mobile device. Or better yet, what if with your wearable device a board game came to life as a three-dimensional gaming experience? These scenarios are not fantasy; this is the world of WakingApp!
WakingApp, winner of SmartCamp Tel Aviv, is a startup that has developed solutions and a platform for creating advanced, interactive augmented reality with multi-user interaction, live data feeds, personalization, social activities, and live 3D games.
Here's what is really cool about their platform: it will enable anyone to create augmented reality! With their "drag & drop" platform, it is easy for anyone to start creating a 3D experience!
Already, WakingApp is working on a variety of augmented reality apps for different clients' marketing campaigns, including Nestle, Isuzu's interactive newspaper campaign, and Interactive AR books and board games.
I say WakingApp just might change the way we approach ads and games for good! Congratulations to WakingApp! Follow them on Twitter @WakingApp.
Check it out! http://www.wakingapp.com/
Here's one way to win a SmartCamp event: create a pattern for IBM PureApplication System!
That's how Jelastic differentiated themselves from the competition at SmartCamp Moscow! A true MSP in the making, Jelastic has already committed itself to taking full advantage of their IBM partnership!
So what is it that their software solution does? Their Platform-as-Infrastructure solution combines the flexibility of IaaS and the ease of use of PaaS within a single platform for a fraction of the cost of existing virtualized environments.
But here's the really cool part. The pattern for PureApplication System they created turns a PureApplication System into a cloud-ready PaaS solution! Just like that! With the Jelastic pattern, IBM can offer a turn-key PaaS platform for PureApplication System on premises or in the Cloud!
That's a great way to make a big impact at SmartCamp! Congratulations, Jelastic! Follow them on Twitter @Jelastic.