AngelHack, the unique hackathon that tacks on an accelerator program for winning teams, is coming to 36 cities this May and June, from Europe, Israel, and Russia to India and Asia to Australia and South America. This year, the winning teams will get 12 weeks of mentorship in their home city, then an expenses-paid two…
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Today, mobile rewards network Kiip announced a $100,000 fund that will help developers launch their apps or games. Ten developers will each receive $10,000 in cash plus $5,000 in services like Amazon Web Services and Localytics. They will also get access to mentors from organizations like Facebook, Path, MacHeist, Jawbone, and True Ventures. This is…
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This is a story of two friends who quit their jobs to revolutionize men’s sock drawers. After quitting, Phil Moldavski and Ricky Choi only took six months (with two months spent learning web development at dev bootcamp) to launch their first Kickstarter campaign on March 6th. Within the first 24 hours, the company attracted 283 backers,…
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The creators of Boston Startup Institute, previously called Boston Startup School, announced today that they will be opening another program in New York City starting in June. “There’s a tremendous amount of energy in New York right now,” says cofounder and CCO Shaun Johnson. “The vibrance and the zest for life, that young mentality, is…
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Tech companies are saying it loud and clear: “We want developers.” In response, they hear a muffled murmuring from the market: “The good ones are all taken.” Developers-in-training could turn to universities to get their education, but the choice isn’t ideal. It takes four years, and you get a heavy dose of theory with less…
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Brendon McQueen, founder and CEO of Tuition.io, graduated Columbia University facing 12 student loans. His student loan story is not unique. More than 37 million people in the U.S. have student loans, totaling more than $1 Trillion (eclipsing credit card debt and automotive loans). Besides the normal issues of transitioning into an uncertain job market,…
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The following post is sponsored by Constant Contact and written by Kevin O’Brien, Senior Director of their AppConnect Program. Small businesses represent a tremendous opportunity for app developers who are looking to tap into a market that includes nearly 30 million small organizations and nonprofits. As a result, integrations with small business platforms are a…
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At Speek, we have an inherently viral product. Our conference-calling solution leverages a link (i.e., speek.com/YourName) rather than a phone number or PIN to access conference calls. This in turn leverages the viral invitation model. Registered users invite other non-registered users to phone calls. We then attempt to convert those non-registered users. The viral loop…
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This weekend, AngelHack is hosting 24-hour hackathons in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. These events are part of their fall lineup, which includes hackathons in 11 cities. The top 25 teams overall will receive mentorship and an expenses-paid trip to Silicon Valley to show off their products. This is different from many other hackathons,…
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Traction…. true traction is having so much profitable revenue that a company has the ability to self-fund all operations without the need to raise outside capital. Now, somewhere between a vision and true traction, lies the ability to attract Venture or Angel Investors. The more confidence investors have in a startup’s ability to achieve traction,…
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In a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, nearly every motion is choreographed, every shape and color has a meaning, and every moment is a moment for quiet reflection. I attended a tea ceremony last weekend, and it was like a window into Steve Jobs’s soul. As Walter Isaacson recounts in his biography, Jobs took regular trips…
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After moving to Chicago from the West Coast, Kayne Grau took over as Chief Technology Officer at Cars.com and looked to raise the level of technology credibility at the company that started featuring automobile listings and media in 1997. Kayne did this by updating its overall technology approach and stack – while becoming more progressive in the process….
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When we first covered Feastie last September, we had decided that 2011 was the year of the recipe site. Despite the very crowded market they are operating in, Feastie, a DC-based recipe search site that generates shopping lists based on what you want to cook, has continued to grow, evolve, and stay competitive. Part of…
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I was introduced to GiftRocket co-founder Kapil Kale by Toby Scammell, whose startup Womply I previously covered. As Scammell told me, Kale is someone I should talk to, and after interviewing Kale last week, I am glad I did. Kale’s experience launching GiftRocket with co-founders Nicolas Baum and Jonathan Pine are great lessons for any…
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“And what I’m interested in, is investing in people.” – Arthur Rock A company can have the best concept for a product/service, perfect timing, and an endless access to capital, but without the right people, a startup’s days are numbered. It’s the difference between the Titanic sinking and safely landing an engineless plane in the Hudson….
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If you are just starting a business or creating a new product line or service offering, I bet you’re struggling to come up with a name for it. That’s not surprising—good branding is hard work. It takes dedicated time, thoughtfulness, and research. Here are three sure-fire ways from an intellectual property perspective that can really…
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Today, we’re excited to announce that Tech Cocktail has taken a $2.5M... Read More
Locating quality startups in San Francisco is like spotting bees in a hive.... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said... Read More
This post is part of Tech Cocktail’s “Healthy Entrepreneur” series,... Read More
Tech Cocktail is headed back to DC. Why? Because we're a fan of good... Read More
