Chito Peppler served for 20 years in the U.S. Navy, but lately he has traded his uniform for the casual dress of the entrepreneur. “After serving in the military, I wanted to start my own business. I knew how to take orders – now I wanted to be able to make them,” says Peppler. Peppler’s…
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But why? Anyone with children has likely heard the above question more times than they can recount. Sure, you can just answer, “Because I said so,” but as soon as you’re not there to say so, they won’t. If you’re trying to get your kids interested in art, forcing them to attend a class and…
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During one lunch hour in 2010, reporter Travis Lowry was listening to NPR and heard about the It Gets Better project, with inspirational videos encouraging LGBT youth to believe that life will improve. Lowry decided that rather than telling them it gets better in the future, he would help them get better now. Launched this…
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You do what you can to stay as green as possible. You ride your bike to work. You buy your food from the local farmer’s market. You get your furniture second-hand from local garage sales. And then you walk into your local coffee shop to buy your usual fair trade dark roast coffee. You’re doing all…
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If you’ve ever been charged with event planning – in your job or otherwise – you know it can be an overwhelming and detail-driven process. From conventions and expos to festivals and high school reunions, event planning means having lots of balls in the air, so you’d better be a juggler, right? Austin-based Whindo is…
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Imagine this: you wait too long to buy a plane ticket to Austin for SXSW, and now you need to drive 1,500 miles or so. From, like, Washington, DC. But that’s OK, you just recruit friends who also waited too long to buy their tickets and turn it into a road trip – a mobile…
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Launching last week as part of 500 Startups’ third class, eSpark Learning is leveraging iPad apps to make learning more engaging for young students. “Consider a typical student’s modern entertainment options – iPods, iPads, Wii, Nintendo, Xbox, video games, social networks, HD television, 3D movies. Why are we mostly using sophisticated technology to merely entertain…
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It’s not quite Groupon for nightlife; at least don’t say that to Poggled CEO and Co-Founder Joe Matthews. “I hate that. Our business is so different. We do events, not daily deals,” says Matthews. Matthews’ aversion to the comparison is fair – there are differences. Although it’s hard to deny the similarities. Timely Deals At 1pm,…
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A year old startup that participated in the minority-focused accelerator NewMe and graduated from 500 Startup just closed a $750k seed round. Silicon Valley-based OneSchool was started by 3 college kids; they develop mobile apps that let students browse campus maps, find course listings, discover nearby restaurants, check sports scores, access a directory of professor…
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The future of mobile notifications is here. Scenario: You’re running Coachella – a wildly popular indie, hip hop, and electronica music festival based out of Indio, California. You want to step up your user experience this year, and because of its ubiquity, you know that mobile devices are right route to make this happen. However, you…
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An amazing thing happens when you are socially connected. When your Facebook friends expand from the cities you have lived in to your past jobs, or you find yourself in a complete life change that pushes you to meet new people, you want to get past the online to meet people in person…a novel concept…
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When a US Airways plane landed in the Hudson River on a freezing January day in 2009, some of the earliest photos came from users posting to Twitter and Flickr. Now, a new app called Spread is helping more user-generated photos make the news. Spread lets amateur and professional photographers submit their work for news…
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Not only can you have your cake and eat it too, you can feed the less fortunate in the process. By purchasing a $14 monthly membership, you get an assortment of five gourmet snacks (e.g.artisan chocolate, Asian jerky, truffles, etc.) and Love With Food will donate a meal to No Kid Hungry on your behalf. To date, Love…
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Plink, a Facebook Credits-based loyalty program that rewards Facebook users for their offline purchases, officially launched yesterday. The concept isn’t new: Sign your credit or debit card up on their website, make a purchase from one of the participating restaurants or retailers, and start earning rewards. What makes Plink different is the blending between offline and…
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As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, the number of accelerators and incubators is rapidly growing all around the globe. TechStars not only runs amazing programs themselves, but they also have a network of other independent accelerators in the US and abroad to whom they provide consulting and ongoing assistance. Springboard, which is…
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One of the 500 Startups companies launching this week, Talkdesk turns your browser into a call center – a way to provide quality customer support without throwing away half your company budget. Based on Twilio’s technology, Talkdesk lets you make and receive calls, record and transcribe them, and integrate with services like SalesForce and Zendesk…
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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
