Ali Powell

TECH Cocktail Boston Showcases 14 Hot Startups in Boston

TECH Cocktail Boston took place last night at the Microsoft New England Research and Development Center — otherwise known as NERD — where 14 chosen startup teams displayed their products.

This showcase concentrated on educating the startup community on what organizers deemed the hottest companies in the Boston area. Spaced out around NERD at different tables, teams setup their computers to give the audience the chance at a hands-on experience with the new web products.

TECH Cocktail was founded in May of 2006 by Frank Gruber and Eric Olson as a community-building event. The event has morphed into one that now takes place in many cities across the country. Boston has been home to four TECH Cocktail events now. It’s a great way to connect the media, entrepreneurs, investors and general public to new ideas through a collaborative environment where people can amplify the ideas of the local innovators! Read more…

Kristin Dziadul

Behind the Scenes of FutureM With HubSpot’s Brian Halligan and MITX’s Kiki Mills

FutureM LogoImagine you’re sitting at a dinner party with some of the biggest players in social media and new marketing. Chris Brogan is there. So is David Meerman Scott. The group starts talking about the new marketing ecosystem in Boston and wondering how they can work together to build something totally new, totally unique. That’s the position HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan found himself in a few months ago.

As you may remember, we first covered FutureM, an upcoming week-long, marketing menagerie in Boston at the beginning of the month of October.

This week, we had a chance to chat with two of FutureM’s creators, Brian Halligan, Founder and CEO of HubSpot and Kiki Mills, President of MITX, to get a better understanding of how this event came about and what attendees can expect.

When asked how the idea of FutureM came about, Halligan told us, “I guess the whole idea started a couple of years ago when I noticed that both David Meerman Scott and Chris Brogan, two guys that I have been following for awhile as real leaders in the marketing transformation movement, both happened to live in Boston.” Halligan said he soon realized that there were a number of revolutionary marketing thinkers around Boston that were “at the vanguard of inbound marketing, marketing transformation, marketing 2.0 — whatever you want to call it.”

For example, Larry Weber is based here, Dave Balter of BzzAgent is here, the Blue Ocean Digital folks who did all of Obama’s web work for his campaign are here, Chris Hughes who was Obama’s Internet czar in his election works at General Catalyst, etc.

Halligan saw a huge opportunity brewing for the marketing industry right here in Boston. He knew something had to be done to open other people’s eyes to the world class marketing talent currently living in Greater Boston. Read more…

Alexis Schroeder

New Ideas Require New Language

“I write for the surprise of a sentence.” – Terry Tempest Williams

As an entrepreneur and lover of big ideas, I read and follow many other creative folks online. And when I say follow, I mean follow-the-work-of, yes, but I also just mean follow on Twitter.

The great thing about Twitter is that if you make thoughtful choices about who to follow, you quickly get a feel for what’s really happening in your field — what collective ideas are brewing, what kinds of projects people are working on, what kind of language people are using to talk about all of those ideas and projects.

Much of the time, people I follow write and talk about interesting things using engaging, slightly surprising language. They hook me in. Equally often though, I notice many people using what feels like old, tired language to communicate new, otherwise interesting (sometimes even groundbreaking) ideas — language so tired it has little to no chance of making me want to click a hyperlink so as to find out more.

As anyone in the online world knows, getting me to click is crucial. Read more…

Ali Powell

TEDxBoston 2010: Revolutionary Ideas Start Here (Afternoon Sessions, Part 1)

The second half of the day at TEDxBoston started off just as energizing as the first. The presentations kicked off with the much anticipated performance from Muhan Zhang, a musician featured in the second portion of the morning presentations who took the stage with fellow musicians to play the crowd an inspiring piece titled “Tempest on an Endless River,” which featured a mix of ancient Chinese instruments and modern digital ones.

If you are looking for some more great content from people representing the companies, innovation and collaborative efforts changing the world make sure you visit the TED.com website.

One of these amazing efforts featured in a recent TED talk is Ushahidi, a website dedicated to real-time, crowd-sourced crisis mapping. The main connecting force in all of the TED efforts lies with the ability of the world to contribute and work together to create large projects with world wide impact. TED is allowing these innovative ideas to participate in a network of creativity connected through the digital world, crossing borders from one TED or TEDx conference to the other. From country to country we are together aligned and working as one force. TEDx, you’ll remember is a series of independently organized events modeled after the original TED conference. Read more…

Kyle Psaty

TEDxBoston 2010: Revolutionary Ideas Start Here (Morning Sessions, Part 2)

TEDx Boston LogoThe second morning session at today’s TEDxBoston 2010 event in the World Trade Center Boston was as exciting and engaging as the first. Topics ranged from how the way we depict things graphically teaches us to the role batteries will play in future sustainability.

We caught up with State Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki during lunch, and he gushed about how great it is to have TEDx in Boston today.

Greg Bialecki

Secretary Bialecki

“I think there’s a couple great things about what they’re doing today. One is just for the community here. I’ve always felt that one of our great strengths is not only that we have a lot of great people with great ideas, but in so many different areas. If you look at where we have done really cool things, it’s really at the overlap of those areas. For example, we have a great robotics cluster. That’s part technology and software but it’s also part precision manufacturing. This event really capitalizes on our strengths and makes sure people with good ideas from different sectors are aware of what each other are up to,” Said Bialecki.

“Just sitting in the chair, you could see how the ideas that one speaker was advancing could help the ideas of another speaker,” he continued.

Here’s a quick recap of the TEDx talks that happened during the second morning session: Read more…

Ali Powell

TEDxBoston 2010: Revolutionary Ideas Start Here (Morning Sessions, Part 1)

TEDxBoston launched this morning with the first set of innovators speaking on everything from socialization in the world of gaming to the new generation of how housing will be built.

The event kicked off with a pretty killer bit of drumming by the Marcus Santos Group, and then accelerated into some of the newest ideas bubbling up in and around Boston.

Here are BostInnovation’s takeaways from the six speakers who addressed the audience this morning: (Remember you can watch TEDxBoston Live when it starts again.)

1.Dave McLaughlin, Boston World Partnerships: We need to build horizontal relationships to exist between vertical groupings. When those verticals come together we seed relationships across them creating idea flow. TED gives us the opportunity to spread ideas that are worth spreading. TED brings people together to allow ideas to flow and spark new thinking. These are the same goals of Boston World Partnerships.

A year and a half ago, Boston made an investment in seeding horizontal relationships with the establishment of Boston World Partnerships. By gathering high-achieving people, big thinkers who love Boston and think Boston is a capital of big ideas, Boston will soon become the innovation capital of the world. BWP helps to share expertise and contacts to help other people grow their business and achieve their dreams.

The smart cities that will succeed are the ones thinking about what will be necessary for growth. Read more…

Marissa Lowman

SCVNGR Rewards: Social Traffic Engine, The Next Generation FourSquare?

Tired of competing at high traffic places for mayor on FourSquare? Or tired of being mayor at your apartment and receiving no rewards? Places like Starbucks are now offering rewards for their mayors, but at such popular destinations, they are getting harder and harder to obtain. Most people, like me, are impatient and don’t have the time (or the money) to check into Starbucks four times a day. SCVNGR, a Boston-based mobile game company founded by Seth Priebatsch in 2008, is releasing its rewards program today and is knocking on FourSquare’s door with an iron fist. With the new rewards program, anyone can accumulate points to exchange for free items or discounts by completing simple challenges at the location. There are currently four types of challenges: check-in, social check-in (i.e. checking in with friends), picture taking, and spoken word.

Unlike FourSquare and Gowalla, SCVNGR users earn points by completing challenges around the city they live in, such as the “social check-in” at Upper Crust, which is worth 4 points or the “snap a picture” challenge at The Middle East, which is worth 2 points.

The new rewards program answers the question “what do I do with all these points?” according to Priebatsch. Users will now have the ability to redeem points at participating businesses for things like free coffee, a free burrito, or deals like buy one, get one free. And who doesn’t love free stuff, especially when rewards are so fun to earn?

Read more…

Ali Powell

Tech, Drugs & Rock ‘n Roll! Boston University Names the 1st Annual Innovator of the Year

On Tuesday night, industry professionals, mostly VCs, angels, startupers and Boston University alums and supporters, came together for the first ever Tech, Drugs & Rock ‘n Roll! The event was created as a way to help members of the entrepreneurial ecosystem network with one another and learn about what Boston University is doing to become known as a top player in research and commercialization efforts. U2 cover band Joshua Tree played in the background while enthusiasts checked out what’s hot from Boston University.

The Tech department at BU had been sitting on the idea for an event called Tech, Drugs Rock and Roll for at least two years, but was waiting for the right time to finally unveil the event.

Boston University wants to change the way people view the school. The new motto for the Technology department of BU is to “maximize collision and minimize friction.” The goal is to get people to meet each other, creating “collisions” that may result in the formation of new ventures. There were a lot of investors in the room  as well, doing their best to cultivate the openness that is necessary to facilitate different kinds of collisions between those with capital and those with ideas.

Read more…

Kyle Psaty

TEDx Hits Boston Tomorrow, Features Some of the Region’s Brightest Minds

TEDx Boston LogoBack in 1984, the TED Conference launched as a non-profit aimed at bringing the most brilliant minds in technology, entertainment and design (hence the ackronym name) together to talk about the cutting edge.

Today, TED has become one of the best sources for emerging theory and its practical application online. TED conferences are happening all over the world and each one is all about the propagation of inspiring new ideas. The organization now provides a free lecture series delivered in the form of short videos. TED posts new video content featuring “ideas worth spreading,” the organization’s slogan, every weekday on their blog.

Recent “TED talks” have been delivered by people like marine toxicologist Susan Shaw, who talked about the effects of the BP oil spill on marine wildlife, and Dimitar Sasselov, who explained how his research group has been able to identify 700+ potentially Earth-like planets.

With the popularity of TED arose a spin-off known as TEDx, where the “x” signifies that the event is independently organized outside of TED, but is dedicated to creating a TED-like experience.

Tomorrow, a TEDx conference of local thinkers — business people, journalists and scientists — will be held at the Seaport World Trade Center in the Innovation District. Twenty-seven presentations will be given, each 20 minutes long. All of them are expected to reveal some of the most interesting and enlightening ideas and projects currently underway in Greater Boston. Read more…

Jonathan Kardos

Fighting Piracy on Apple Devices: Local Startup mtiks Ensures Developers get Paid

Although Apple’s App Store first opened its marketplace just over two years ago, some have already estimated mobile app piracy to be responsible for over $450 million in “stolen” revenues. And with iPhones flying off shelves faster than ever, piracy a growing concern for both Apple and the many app developers contributing to the App Store.

Cambridge-based mobile startup mtiks has a solution that protects apps from pirating and makes sure developers get paid for their work. Their framework (currently in private beta – see sign up instructions here) allows developers to install safeguards against unpaid downloads of their apps on jailbroken iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches.

Jailbreaking is the process of altering an Apple iOS device to unlock new functionality and enable the installation of third-party applications without having to go through Apple’s tightly controlled App Store. Although there are some good reasons for jailbreaking (wifi tethering, increased customization, downloading apps rejected by Apple) many people do it to also access “cracked” or free versions of paid apps.

That’s where the anti-piracy solution mtiks is creating comes into play. Integrating with the mtiks framework allows developers to monitor unpaid downloads of their apps and take some control of what happens in the shady app markets of the wild. For instance, the technology is able to detect if someone is running a pirated version of the app and displays an option to buy it (via the legitimate iTunes App Store) when those users launch the app – a simple yet effective measure to recover some lost revenue. Read more…

Ali Powell

Recent Babson Undergrad Finding Early Success with Crelligence Media

Out of the best business programs will emerge the new faces of the great products we will all use and companies we will strive to emulate in our own work as entrepreneurs.

Babson College has generated some of the most successful entrepreneurs and companies that the world has to offer. Entrepreneur Magazine and The Princeton Review have both named Babson as the No. 1 Undergraduate and Graduate Programs with the Entrepreneurial Edge. Alexander Debelov is one of these innovative forces to watch in the 2010 graduating class.

Debelov is the brain behind Crelligance Media, holding company of Viralskool. Crelligance Media is a social media marketing company specializing in compensated consumer-generated media. The first tool or service offering to come from Crelligance Media is Viralskool. Viralskool is a creative community employing user-generated video to help companies of all sizes build better brands and better products through the use of online video campaigns.

Debelov is a force all by himself — an early member and now part of the Executive Board of the esteemed Kairos Society would be enough recognition for most college students — but with Crelligence, he’s chasing even bigger things.

Entrepreneur of 2010 Contest

This week, Entrepreneur Magazine announced the Entrepreneur of 2010 Contest nominees — a list that included Debelov and Crelligence Media.

The idea behind Viralskool was born in 2008 when Debelov became impressed with a startup that was allowing people to create their own iPod accessories and giving their community the ability to vote on the winning accessory, which would be sold on the Apple iTunes store. The best ideas are bound to come at odd times; Viralskool was born in the middle of the night. Debelov realized that the same thing — namely, crowd sourcing ideas — could be done for the advertising world. Read more…

Kyle Psaty

MITX Interactive Awards Now Accepting Nominations

MITX Interactive Awards 2010 logoThe Massachusetts Information & Technology Exchange (MITX), a local trade organization for tech companies in New England, announced the call for entries to their biggest awards ceremony of the year yesterday.

The Interactive Awards, now in their 15th year, aren’t just MITX’s biggest annual shindig…

“The Awards are the largest competition of its kind in the country that honors web innovations developed by or created in New England,” noted MITX President Kiki Mills in a conversation with BostInno yesterday.

The MITX Interactive Awards recognizes the best and brightest in new technology. To keep it ultra fresh, MITX requires that all applicants launched no earlier than September 1, 2009. Of course, new products from pre-existing companies are also eligible — the Interactive Awards are all about everything that’s new and exciting in the local tech scene. Read more…

Kyle Psaty

VIDEO: George Guest Creating Next Evolution Backpacks

If you’ve ever watched the show How to Make it in America on HBO, you know it can be tough to break into the fashion industry. It’s taken George Keeler and Alex Schultz two years to get their brand new line of patented-technology backpacks onto the market.

Read more…

Kyle Psaty

RelayRides Lets You Unlock Your Neighbor’s Car with Your CharlieCard

RelayRides now uses CharlieCard!

Get into a BMW Z4 from RelayRides with your CharlieCard!

No, it’s not a new device for thieves. On the contrary, the team at Cambridge-based startup RelayRides are working hard to build trust and community across the Charles River.

The company is taking car sharing we were introduced to by another Boston startup, Zipcar, and making it even more eco-friendly and sensible. With RelayRides, Cambridge residents can rent a myriad of privately owned vehicles on an hourly basis thanks to a quick hardware addition the RelayRides team installs. It allows customers to unlock the vehicles they reserve in advance. People volunteering their cars for the program choose when to make their vehicles available, and get paid each time someone rents them.

RelayRides LogoRecently, the company made it possible for people identify themselves to RelayRides vehicles using the CharlieCards they already use to pay for T and bus rides around Boston and Cambridge.

“RelayRides membership cards and CharlieCards use similar smartcards, so our technology can read the unique signature of a CharlieCard,” says RelayRides CEO and Founder Shelby Clark, a recent Harvard Business School grad. “This doesn’t allow us to access any personal information for the user, but it does provide a unique identification card that we can associate with the member’s RelayRides account. Read more…

Cheryl Morris

STUFF Mag Takes Trend Temperature of the Hub, Features Boston’s Hot 100

We were thrilled this morning when we were handed a copy of STUFF Magazine’s summer feature, Hot 100: The People, Places, and Trends You Need to Know About, Now, and opened to a page with mention of BostInnovation!

Published bi-weekly by the media group that operates the Boston Phoenix and WFNX Radio, STUFF Mag is the go-to read for the Bostonian “trendsetter and tastemaker.”  Their summer feature is filled with mention of top innovators we’ve covered here on BostInnovation, alongside trends like the anti-Facebook movement, Shit My Dad Says, boat shoes, beer in a can, bike lanes and the KFC Double Down.

The 44-page cover story reads:

“We found the people, places, trend, and ideas that have passions burning around Boston …  We’ve distilled everything worth talking about (and tasting, wearing, watching…) into one feature that takes the temperature of the Hub.”

Congratulations to all the innovators in the Hot 100 – here’s a rundown of the companies BostInnovation has covered who also made the feature: Read more…