Day 2: Seed Stage Day
Friday was day two of Distilled Intelligence 2.0 (see a recap of day one here), an event where seed stage startups who have raised less than $100K compete in a pitch contest for a grand prize of $35K. We spent the day at Carnegie Library in D.C. hearing presentations from 50 companies that are looking for seed funding and were hand-picked to present their ideas. This post will give you an overview of day two, but if you're interested in a deeper look check out my colleague's live blog here or follow Fortify.vc on Twitter.
The competing companies include:
- ActivityRocket
- Aentropico
- AppPress
- Aquicore
- Barrel of Jobs
- Bidometer
- clientHat
- Cont3nt.com
- CrimePush
- Doing Good Network
- DOK Solution
- Doodle or Die
- Easy Web Content
- FoundOpps
- Friendeo
- GroupMD
- GuiBolso
- HitchRides
- iGenApps
- infoCaptor
- InfoDuce
- Kahnoodle
- Kapta Systems
- Kissing Swans
- Kojami
- Kuotus
- Lexiplique
- LifePages
- #linkies
- Newsup
- Nexercise
- NimbelPitch
- Nouri, Inc.
- PaidThx
- Procurely
- QuizzTaker
- RidePost
- SickWeather
- Smart College Visit
- SoundShare
- The Trip Tribe
- Therapylinq
- TouristLInk
- Tutor Assignment
- Ultra Gaming
- VaultBox
- VirtualU
- WedKey
- WeRx
The 50 companies listed above participated in the speed round, where each had one minute to pitch their company to the judges to possibly move on to the next round. Fortify.vc and the judges are STRICT on the 60 second limit and will hit the gong if the presenter goes over. Expert judges included:
* Raj Bhaskhar, Software Entrepreneur
* Frank Hameed, Entrepreneur and Angel Investor
* Justin McLeod, Founder and CEO of Hinge
* Stephanie Rowe, Founder and CEO of NEXT LLC
* Manpreet Singh, President and COO of Seva Call, Inc.
Semi-Finalists
After lunch, the 20 semi-finalists were announced and invited to give a more in-depth, 3-minute presentation:
- AppPress
- Aquicore
- Barrel of Jobs
- Bookend
- Cont3nt
- CrimePush
- DoodleorDie
- FoundOps
- GuiaBolso
- iGenApps
- Kahnoodle
- MarriedApp
- LifePages
- PaidThx
- TheQuizzTaker
- SickWeather
- TheTripTribe
- TherapyLinq
- VirtualU
- WeRX
During the deliberation period, plenty of networking was going on in the exhibit hall and Angie Goff from NBC4 led a fireside chat with Dan'l Lewin, corporate VP for Strategic and Emerging Business Development at Microsoft.
Finalists and Winners
Then, the 10 finalists were revealed:
- AppPress
- Aquicore
- Barrel of Jobs
- Bookends
- Cont3nt.com
- Doodle or DieGuiaBolso
- Kahnoodle
- SickWeather
- WeRx
These 10 finalists went in front of the firing squad with a 4-minute Q&A with the judges who would decide the winners.
But, before Jonathon Perelli announced the big news, the packed house listened to a panel discussion on fundraising in the age of crowds and angels from seasoned investors John Backus, Glen Hellman, and Bill Militello.
AND THE WINNERS ARE:
* Fifth Place: Barrel of Jobs
* Fourth Place: Bookend
* Third Place: Kahnoodle
* Second Place: Aquicore
* FIRST PLACE: Cont3nt.com
After a long, fun two days Distilled Intelligence hosted a great happy hour with plenty of networking and drinks for everyone!
Day 1: Series A Day
Today kicked off the first day of Distilled Intelligence 2.0, an event where startups compete in a series of presentations for the grand prize of $100K. The event took place in Washington D.C. at the Carnegie Library and featured presentations from 50 companies that have raised between $101K - $1M. This blog will give you a very brief synopsis of the day, the competing companies and who made it through each round until the winners were announced. If you’re looking for the long version, please check out my colleague Jonathan Katz’s live account of the event at http://fortify.vc/blog. The competing companies included:
- 410 Labs
- ABCDExperts
- Agent Piggy
- Apiphany
- AutoPilot
- Bookstore Genie
- Camp Easy
- CoFoundersLab
- Company Capture
- CoupedOut
- CriticMania
- Dasdak
- DISTIL
- Cirrus Thinking/Dolly Drive
- Echoer
- Emergent One
- FID3
- Fiteeza
- Flex Receipts
- Flexy Keyboard
- Genomic Arts
- Hallway
- Heyo
- Janus Motorcycles
- Kedzoh
- Lemur
- Lovethatfit
- Medclimate
- Micronic Technologies
- NinjaThat
- NOVUSPORT
- One World Youth Project
- Pengo, Inc.
- Person Spot
- Photocache
- ReplyBuy
- Ruzuku
- Same Grain
- The Social Radio
- Speek
- Stickystreet
- StudyHall
- Tawkify
- Tevolution
- TistaGames
- Trendpo
- Umba Box
- Villagize
- Wahooly
- Wealthforge Holdings, Inc.
- YellowFlag
After registration and opening remarks from
Fortify.vc Founding Partner
Jonathan Perelli (and co-creator of Distilled Intelligence), all 50 companies participated in a speed round, where they each had 60 seconds to convince the panel of judges to keep them around for the semi-final round. Just in case you’ve never had to give a 1-minute speech, its not easy! Expert judges included:
- Michael Cloran, Serial Entrepreneur
- Adam Fazackerley, entrepreneur, General Partner with Fortify.vc, co-founder of Distilled Intelligence and co-founder of Lay-n-Go
- Blake Hall, Founder and CEO of TroopSwap
- Phil Lawson-Shanks, entrepreneur, CTO of Virtacore Systems
While the judges met to determine which 20 companies would make the cut, Mr. Perelli took the stage again to entertain the crowd as moderator of a panel about startup funding. Panelists included Randy Domolky, founding and managing director of Liquid Capital Group, Tom Grossi, director of Apprenda, Lot18, newBrandAnalytics and Poggled and Erik Kimel, founder of Peer2Peer Tutors.
Semi-Finalists
Following the panel, the 20 semi-finalists were announced and here’s who made it through to the 2nd round, which consisted of a more in-depth, 3-minute presentation:
- 410 Labs
- AgentPiggy
- AutoPilot
- CampEasy
- CoFounder’sLab
- Dasdak
- DISTIL
- Fleksy
- Genomic Arts
- Hallway
- Heyo
- Lemur
- Lovethatfit
- Micronic Technologies
- NinjaThat
- Pengo
- Speek
- TistaGames
- Umba Box
This time, while judges convened, Zaarly’s Eric Koester and Mixergy’s Andrew Warner took the stage for a fireside chat. For this casual interview, Warner picked Koester’s brain about the difference between Zaarly and Craigslist, investors (like the famous Ashton Kutcher), and what it took to acquire 300,000 users in just 3 months.
Finalists and Winners
Then, the 10 finalists were revealed:
- 410 labs
- CampEasy
- Fleksy
- Genomic Arts
- Hallway
- Lemur
- Micron Technologies
- Speek
- TistaGames
- Umba Box
These finalists had to endure a 4-minute Q&A with the judges that would decide their fate. And the winners were (drumroll please…):
Toasting the day, happy hour followed the announcement of the winners! Today’s event was a great time with a great group of start-ups, and I’m sad it’s over. But, the good news is there is another day of fun tomorrow! If you didn’t get a ticket, be sure to following Jonathan’s live account of Day 2: Seed Stage Day, that will feature companies who have raised less than $100K.
Also looking forward to "Tic Tac Toe: The Motion Picture"
A few things have happened recently that make me question the sanity of mankind. Let's chronicle it, shall we?
May 17th: Pinterest valued at 1.5 Billion
May 18th: Battleship opens in theaters
Also May 18th: Facebook IPO -- total market value at 104 Billion.
As a reference point, the current market capitalization of McDonalds (an actual company that sells actual products, mind you) is a lowly 91.7 Billion.
It seems that real value these days is no longer a function of providing products and services like delicious french fries; it's a function of funneling people into empty, customizable spaces where they can be accosted by advertising.
Which brings me to my brilliant new business concept: I call it "wepayyoutobehere.com."
It's your basic social networking site with one major exception: Every week, we pick a member at random and send her 50 bucks.
(As far as I know, Facebook's weekly payouts are much smaller or possibly nonexistent.)
What's my business model? Advertising. The more people I get to join the site, the higher my total market value, and the more frequent and generous my payouts can become.
Why will this work? Because we're no longer evaluating companies based on the utility they provide, but based on the number of (nonpaying!) visitors they can attract. It's as if Wal-Mart took down the sign that said "No Loitering" and replaced it with a sign that said "Loiterers Will Be Treated Like Pizza-Flavored Kardashian Puppies."
Of course, using this same logic in the physical world, our most lucrative businesses would be public parks. (You could plaster advertising all over those suckers.)
I guess things are different in the online universe. Valuations are different. 1.5 Billion dollars for a virtual pinboard of recipes and craft projects?
And they don't even pay out!
What are you doing on March 7th at 1:00 EST?
If your business goals include a capital raise, future acquisitions, or a successful exit, you should join SBX’s Elizabeth Shea and Clearsight Advisors’ Gretchen Guandolo for a webinar on PR and marketing activities that can enhance value for future capital raises or M&A activities.
Elizabeth and Gretchen will cover:
- How to land on the radar screen of the future investors and buyers of your business
- How to leverage communications to gain the most traction and exposure around a transaction
- What buyers seek in considering technologies and how your public persona can help put your best foot forward
- How PR is critical for capital raises, and when and when not to engage in PR
- What buyers look for when starting the due diligence process and how a company's presence affects that process.
- Strategic identification of select targets (investors and/or strategic buyers) and strategies for “creating buzz” within those segments
To learn more about the webinar and sign up please follow the link below.
