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This is the blog of Jeff Barson. I'm currently running HireVue Labs, former Director at Sendside, founder of Surface Medical, Nimble, Medspa MD, Freelance MD, Frontdesk, Uncommon, and Wild Blue... angel investor and startup advisor. Oh, and I'm a artist. More >>

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    "Everyone wants to kill the king. But the prince, he just sails along telling all the ladies, 'One day I'm gonna be king.'" ~
    Vince Chase, Entourage

    Entries in Boom Startup (1)

    Sunday
    May302010

    Boom Startup's First 10

    Boom Startup's chosen the first 10 statups to include in their mentoring program.

    It's not Techstars yet for sure... a number of these guys don't have websites yet so you know it's pretty early.

    Orem, Utah – May 10, 2010 – BoomStartup, a seed capital and mentor-focused investment program for web and software start-ups, today announced it has selected 10 companies to participate in its inaugural three-month program. The companies in the Class of 2010 include 3PointData, Bazari, Case Rover, Fashion Genome Project, IActionable, Khumbu, MashWorx, No Ink Publishing, O-Codes, and Voycit.

    Each selected company will receive up to $15,000 in seed capital, free office resources, professional services and mentoring from a group of seasoned and successful entrepreneurs. Companies will be paired with one of the investor-mentors, who will guide each start-up and connect them with people in their networks to help them get their businesses off on the right foot.

    “Utah has a proven track record of creating and supporting great technology companies, and we’re confident that these 10 start-ups will be among the growing list of innovative companies to come out of our state,” said Robb Kunz, co-founder and co-Managing Partner of BoomStartup. “These companies have great ideas and technologies that will push their individual markets to new heights due to their innovation and the mentoring that they will receive from our group of successful investor-mentors.”

    The selected companies are as follows:

    3PointData solves the decision maker’s data problem by creating real-time data streams to make better decisions, better products, and more money. 3PointData delivers weather, stock, geo IP, zip code, sales tax, traffic, and much more, right to a spreadsheet, database or custom application.

    Bazari is a text message-based platform that provides the benefits of ecommerce to markets without internet access. Through the platform, customers can browse for products, purchase the specified product, make the payment, and have the product delivered similar to shopping on eBay or Amazon.

    Case Rover is a software-as-a service (SaaS) platform targeted at the multi-billion dollar U.S. litigation support and compliance markets.

    The Fashion Genome Project is the next big thing in online clothes shopping, utilizing revolutionary technology to eliminate the pain points and unpredictable results that usually come in the process.

    IActionable is a SaaS-based application that helps sites and services attract new users, retain existing users, and increase desirable actions by providing customizable achievement and points systems. IActionable enables any site to define and automatically award public badges and points to their users when specific actions are performed.

    Khumbu is helping consumers simplify their wallet while creating affinity programs for vendors, by offering virtual loyalty cards for mobile devices. Khumbu weaves affinity tracking with social media. Khumbu’s clearinghouse allows consumers to trade, redeem, and consolidate partially used loyalty cards, while also providing intuitive offers and promotions for related vendors.

    MashWorx creates permission-based applications designed to help companies better serve their customers beyond the limits of a single site. MashWorx’s apps, or mashups, enable people to choose their own web experience.

    No Ink Publishing provides an online authoring system for do-it-yourself mobile publishing, with an initial focus on interactive, animated children’s books for the Apple iPad.

    O-Codes creates small text codes that appear in offline media (magazines, newspapers, brochures, billboards, TV, movie trailers, coupons, catalogs, business cards, etc). Consumers can “bookmark” the offline content they like, share that content (to Facebook, Twitter, and Evernote), and even make purchases using simple text messages, and without using a computer.

    Voycit is a political, social website where citizens can come to get informed on political issues, current events, legislation, voting histories, and candidate platforms, get involved by voting on current legislation, completing polls and organizing for action, and hold elected officials accountable. In turn, Lawmakers can engage with their constituents, get real feedback on legislation and clarify positions and voting.

    All companies will be headquartered at the Canyon Park Technology Center, Building J (1401 N. Research Way, Orem, Utah). In addition to providing companies with seed capital and free resources, the companies will complete an education curriculum designed to teach each entrepreneur the fundamentals that will help them become successful as they grow their companies.

    The three-month program will conclude with an Investor Day in September hosted by BoomStartup that allows interested investors to meet with each company.