In perhaps one of the most interactive Built In Chicago/Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center Launch events last night, crowd members raised hands, shouts and cheers as five new companies took center stage to pitch to an audience of investors, entrepreneurs, developers and more.
[ibimage==22408==Large==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
Following brief introductions, the five presenting companies jumped behind the podium for their five minutes of fame. Here they are, in presenting order:
[ibimage==22432==Original==none==self==null]
G2 Crowd: Co-founder Godard Abel introduced his company, G2 Crowd, which he says is a “trusted site for business software reviews.” Some have called the company, built by a veteran team whose previous endeavors includes SaaS provider BigMachines, the new “Yelp for enterprise software.” Abel explained that companies frequently struggle to buy software they need because it is difficult to find honest assessments on those products. Launched in summer of 2012, G2 Crowd now has 2,000 reviews who have added over 10,000 reviews. “We’re very proud to be a second-generation Chicago digital startup, and we chose to build another company here because we love having such a tight-knit entrepreneurial community,” Abel said.
ReallyReel: Reality TV junkies, rejoice! ReallyReel is a new platform dedicated entirely to reality TV, giving normal people the chance to document their lives and share them with the masses. According to co-founder Christina Jones, there were only five reality shows on TV in 2000 and today, well over 200. “We’re a society that loves to watch what everyone else is doing, and we’re a society that wants to share it,” Jones said. Focused on the college demographic, ReallyReel has launched a contest to win $10,000 by submitting a video to their site. Currently, the team is looking to add developers and campus developers.
BSCEENE: A tap dancer by trade, BSCEENE’s founder Latrell Garnett created his company to make it easier for talent to find work. This networking website allows entertainers, dancers, singers, models and actors to find work by connecting directly with other industry professionals. BSCEENE is looking for developers and investors, and hoped to find one at last night’s event. “Every time I come to this event, it’s filled with people who are awesome. I make great connections every time,” Garnett said.
Matchist: People in the crowd around me expected Matchist to be a dating site. It wasn’t, but it is a place for potential employers to find their perfect developer match. Founded by Stella Fayman and Tim Jahn of Entrepreneurs Unpluggd, Matchist came to be when “people kept coming to us and saying, ‘Do you know a developer?’ We got kind of sick of it so we decided to launch a new startup that would curate all the amazing web development talent in the US,” Fayman said.. The pair asked for entrepreneurs and developers to sign up for the site, and also mentioned they are interested in speaking with angel investors.
Crowdfynd: This mobile and web app aims to transform the business of lost and found. Crowdfynd hopes to put the days of Craigslist posts and paper flyers to rest. Co-founders Jay Sebben and Pinaki Saha believe their product will change people’s behavior. “You can take a picture and put it up there and make it available to the crowd, so somebody who lost it can look it up using GPS and claim their product back,” Saha said. Crowdfynd will launch in a couple of weeks and is in the middle of a seed round and are looking for angel and early stage investors.
To wrap up the evening, Built In Chicago CEO asked the crowd to share recent successes. People from around the room told stories of how they launched a business, passed a milestone number of deliveries and more than tripled their team of developers in under a year. Judging by the number of hands that weren’t called on, there will be plenty of stories to share next month as well.
See you in March for the next Built In Chicago Launch at Rockit Bar & Grill.
[ibimage==22409==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
