Gotham's Tech Start-up Scene
Hot Potato, a location-based social platform, released a fresh version of their site, a new iPhone application and an API for developers to play with Thursday – just in time for South By Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas this year.
We sat down with Justin Shaffer, the founder and CEO of Hot Potato, at their Brooklyn offices last Thursday, to talk about the new release and where the company is headed.
read moreBy LIMOR ELKAYAM | Guest Writer
There’s been a lot of chatter lately about the lack of female founders in the tech space and some are even questioning if VCs have a gender problem.
Being a female founder of the startup iSpotaStory.com, I started wondering…Is it really any different than being a male founder?
My first reaction was no, but after thinking about it, I realized there are striking differences.
I’ve always had a lot of guy friends and even if there were girls around, I never really paid attention. I knew the tech space was dominated by guys, but I never really noticed that there were no iconic female founders; a la Mark Zuckerberg.
read moreHere’s an idea that Shane Snow and I have had for a site and I’ve been meaning to share it for quite some time. The basic idea is to solve a problem in location-based restaurant information apps and websites: fragmentation. The rough name we were throwing around was Socially Edible (sociallyedible.com).
Let’s create a one-stop shop that combines online restaurant reviews (Yelp), location-based social gaming (Foursquare), and online food ordering (SeamlessWeb), and sprinkle in some journalist-produced restaurant reviews to create a connected user experience for foodies.
Why not start with a specific location, say, New York. These features with the combination of social media and mobile technology would make it easier for New Yorkers to get food news and information on the go, as well as the ability to order from our site.
A person looking to get some information on a restaurant can not only read what a reporter has written, but also what website users are logging in to say. On top of that users can also see what the buzz is on social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) through trending topics as well as specialized social sentiment reports for each restaurant page (perhaps by using social media mining software?). In addition, users can explore new restaurants in their area by searching with their address or zipcode and browse through search results on a map or list.
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Nate Westheimer, co-founder and EVP of product & technology at AnyClip. He is also known as the organizer of the NY Tech Meetup.
Nate Westheimer, the co-founder and executive vice president for product and technology at AnyClip.com and the executive director and organizer of the NY Tech Meetup, demoed AnyClip for us and talked about how the company plans to make money through affiliate revenue, advertising and partnerships.
The site uses meta data to allow users to search words or subjects to find specific movie clips. In the video, you’ll see Westheimer search gas station and several movie clips in which a scene takes place at a gas station show up. The idea is similar to that of SpeakerText, which we’ve written about, in that it helps make online video more usable and searchable.
read moreRecently we spoke with Jay Levy, a principal at Zelkova Ventures. Jay outlined the types of startups Zelkova invests in, the qualities he looks for in entrepreneurs and how Zelkova found the companies currently in its portfolio. In addition to his position as a VC, Levy was involved in his own startup and currently serves as a panelist on the American Idol-esque Hatchery. Simply put: this man knows his startups.
NYC3.0 Jay Levy Interview from Alexander Hotz on Vimeo.
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By JC HEWITT | Guest Writer
Scott Heiferman, co-founder and CEO of Meetup, spoke at a small midtown conference center earlier this month about how he expects social networking to evolve for local communities and businesses. He expects that his platform will encourage web denizens to turn away from communicating with one another online, and instead turn the focus towards local organization.
“The internet is the world’s greatest organizing tool,” said Heiferman. “People go from seeing themselves as a consumer to a co-creator. They are powerful. One of the best ways to create value is to unleash it in people connecting.”
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Cody Brown, founder of Kommons and NYU Local.
Cody Brown thinks he may have stumbled across the “holy grail” in news publishing.
Brown, a senior at New York University and founder of NYU Local, is embarking on a new venture called Kommons. Kommons is a real-time news platform that’s intended for users in specific communities. He’s starting with NYU.
“It’s a culmination of everything I have learned in media so far,” Brown said. “Kommons is a quest for the holy grail in media.”
The Twitter/Wiki-like platform is in its very early stages and Brown is looking to shape the product through private alpha testing in the coming months.
From a demo of the product you might think that Kommons is a “lite” version of Twitter. But make no mistake, it’s functionality and purpose are quite different.
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Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but for chocoholics who haven’t yet sated their sweet teeth consider a visit to Chocri (pronounced “sho cri”). Chocri is a new company that lets users design their own chocolate bars. If you like Gummy Bears, peanuts, wasabi or all three together in your chocolate, Chocri can make your dreams a reality.
Customers first choose between three types of chocolate: white, milk and dark. They then pick from a smorgasbord of toppings. Standard garnishes include cherries, raisins and pecans. If you’re feeling adventurous oddities like fig, bacon and even flakes of gold (check it out here if you don’t believe us) are available.
Chocri is a German startup, which recently launched its operation in New York City. We sat down with Carmen Magar, Chocri’s US CEO, to talk about Chocri’s plan’s for the American market and mass customization, the driving idea behind the company. Check out the podcast here:
read moreListen to the podcast here:
NYC 3.0's Podcast #4 - Interview with SetJam's Ryan Janssen [17:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Last month, we spoke with Ryan Janssen, the CEO of SetJam. SetJam is a new search engine specifically for TV shows and movies. The Web is strewn with legal content on sites like Hulu and Netflix, but where can you find all of it in one place? That’s where SetJam steps in.
SetJam works like a Google for video. Its straightforward and simple interface breaks searches into free and paid content.
Janssen is betting that the growth in this content can sustain his business. In the interview Janseen talks about how he created the company, SetJam’s funding situation and the future of video on the Web.
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New Work Cityers hard at work on a winter night late last year. Photo: Alexander Hotz
Last month we spoke with Tony Bacigalupo, the Mayor of New Work City and a prominent figure in New York’s tech scene. New Work City is a Soho based co-working space where independent professionals can come and work among other go getters. Most recently Bacigalupo and Co. were written up by NPR as part of a trend piece. Check out one of Tony’s other projects Tech Drinks and of course listen to our podcast here:
Tony’s top 5 NYC startups to watch:
1.) Meetup
2.) Perpetually
4.) Drop.io
5.) Foursquare
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