It’s that time again, to fill you in on the five great companies who pitched at the Built In Chicago/CEC Launch last night at Rockit Bar & Grill. Representing a variety of industries and interests, these new entrepreneurs had three minutes to pitch to a sold-out crowd of startup experts and enthusiasts.
[ibimage==19734==Large==none==self==ibimage_align-center]Built In Chicago founder Matt Moog led the event, welcoming new and returning attendees. CEC’s Kevin Willer then took the stage to talk about the growth of Chicago’s startup community. He focused on Food Genius, a company that recently moved out of 1871 into its own office space, as an example of a local team exhibiting the success that’s possible in this city. In fact, he called them “the next great Chicago company.”
Mitch Schneider was up first to pitch his company, Kauzu, a job searching application that presents open positions based on location and proximity. Launched in August, the company claims boldly on its website that the resume is dead. Instead, Kauzu sends job seekers alerts via SMS, while also allowing them to search listings from any computer, tablet or smartphone. In Chicago, 170,000 small businesses employ 2.4 million individuals. Kauzu seeks to make it easier for employers to discover new workers using 21st Century tools.
Next up was Rentalutions, a company that seeks to simplify and improve the process of renting property. The company helps turn property owners into landowners by helping them manage maintenance requests, rent payments and more, through a convenient online portal. Co-founder Laurence Jankelow said, “We really wanted to build awareness and link ourselves with Built In Chicago. We just want people to know that there’s a better way to manage their properties.”
Patrick Rooney then pitched his company Que Social. “Companies know they need to harness social media’s way of doing business but they often don’t know where to start, they don’t have the right resources or they just don’t have the right tools,” Rooney said. Que Social steps in by delivering relevant content to employees via SMS or email, enabling them to easily share it. And if they do, they receive points. Que Social believes that facilitating and gamifying social content sharing will improve the way businesses approach social media.
Recent Lean Startup Circle Chicago Challenge winners Unbranded Designs were up next to talk about their two-way furniture marketplace, which they liken to Threadless. Designers submit their original pieces to the site, where customers can vote on which pieces should be produced. From there, Unbranded Designs works with manufacturers to bring the pieces to life and fulfils orders through their website. “For us, this is a cool, fun networking thing,” said co-founder Sameer Dohadwala. “It’s cool to use this avenue to promote our business and connect with people who like what we’re doing.”
Last up was TableSAVVY, a company that does for fine dining what New York City’s TKTS does for theater tickets. Partner restaurants can list last-minute free tables on Table Savvy at discounts of up to 30 percent, giving customers the opportunity of taking advantage of flash sale prices by paying a $5 transaction fee and allowing restaurants to fill their seats. When they launch in a month, it will be in partnership with Chicago Magazine, a local media powerhouse known for its dining reviews. “Right now, we’re just starting and our biggest goal is to get in front of the right people,” said co-founder Jeremy Klein. Looking forward, the TableSAVVY team hopes to partner with major media outlets in other top markets.
See you in November, for the next Built In Chicago Launch at Rockit Bar & Grill.
