Startup in the City

Readers: 

This will be the final post of Startup in the City. It has been a spectacular experience putting this simple initiative together: briefly highlight the incredible initiative, talent, and foresight of local entrepreneurs every day. 

Since SITC began, startups profiled here have been acquired (Stamped, Fondu), raised new rounds of funding (Betterment, Songza, Dataminr), been absorbed (News.me, Onepager) and continued to produce amazing products and services. All in about 6 months!

Hopefully this continues to serve as a resource for those curious to learn more about what's happening inside the NYC startup scene. It will continue to stand as an unfailing flag of support for founders, doers, and makers. 

I'd encourage others to take on similar blogs/publications, perhaps even focused outside of New York City. I've learned so much through the process of keeping an open eye and ear to the fantastic businesses being built around me. I will be moving on to pursue other projects along these lines.

Cheers to you, and be in touch.

^ What do they do? A search engine to sort local businesses by price, hours, and ratings. Why are they special?

Allow users to dictate value: convenience, cost, or reviews

Prices can be drilled down to the product or service of interest from individual businesses within a certain city or zip code

90% of prices and hours data is unavailable anywhere else on the web, on 300K+ businesses

Are they funded? ff Ventures, Lightbank, ERA seed ($825K) Who are their comps? Goodzer How do I find them? Website / Twitter / Facebook  What else can you tell me? API, advertising opportunities available for inquiry. Mobile app on its way.

^ What do they do? Retail limited-edition items by emerging designers. Why are they special?

Spotlight designer stories to educate about maker passions, influences, and processes

Products come in editions of between 5 and 50 to emphasize uniqueness and rarity 

Promote the work of professionals who may have been overlooked by traditional commerce channels

Are they funded? F&F seed ($100K) Who are their comps? Plum Alley, Muuse How do I find them? Website / Crunchbase / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest What else can you tell me? Also provide consulting services. Met Erica at a tech dinner. 

^ What do they do? A social network for your local neighborhood. Why are they special?

Organize building-specific and neighborhood-specific private networks through Facebook authorization

Scrape personal/professional info, mutual friends by individual, or filter by hometown, school

Offer and distribute deals from local merchants

Are they funded? Angel seed ($350K) Who are their comps? Nextdoor  How do I find them? Website / Crunchbase / Twitter / Facebook What else can you tell me? Check out the other company names they considered here. 

^ What do they do? Make custom dress shirts. Why are they special?

Choose from over 250 fabrics, 4 different collar styles, 3 cuff styles, accent fabrics, and monograms to help build personal shirts to fit, or browse the gallery

Guarantee a perfect fit; alterations are free if it's not

Offer to copy the fit of a shirt you already have by mailing it in

Are they funded? Angel seed ($100K) Who are their comps? Blank Label, ShirtsMyWay How do I find them? Website / Crunchbase / Twitter / Facebook What else can you tell me? Offer in-person fittings at their office at DogPatch Labs.

^ What do they do? Performance monitoring, issue tracking, and team collaboration system. Why are they special?

Aggregate metrics and feedback across a number of SaaS tools, such as from AWS, github, redhat, and pingdom

Individual team members can claim incidents, see if someone else had resolved the issue before, and record the solution

Allow drill-down activity to the minute, analyze all relevant data at once, and capture snapshots of the activity for sharing

^ What do they do? Suggest ensembles based on your local weather and personal style. Why are they special?

Provide in one daily email inspiration of what to wear the next day (or that day, depending on settings) after taking a short style survey

Enable members to buy key pieces or be provided similar looks for purchase

Offer special events concierge service to suggest styles under a specific budget, look, feature flattery (arms, back, hips, etc.), and more

Are they funded? Bootstrapped Who are their comps? Daily Dress Me How do I find them? Website / Twitter / Facebook What else can you tell me? Currently only available for women within the U.S.

^ What do they do? Source feedback and opinions from a specific demographic or group of individuals.  Why are they special?

Receive quick thumbs-up or thumbs-down recommendations for things to do or products to buy

Reach out to users tagged as @coffee-lovers, @brides-to-be, @hipsters, and more for domain-expert suggestions

Automatically draw a related image and website for a given item

^ What do they do? Mobile marketing for SMBs. Why are they special?

Quickly build ads by automatically generating campaigns from previously generated content and uploaded images on social media

Track campaign effectiveness by illustrating where the ads have appeared, competitor peer performance, and more

Easily update ads with new sales, products, or copy 

Are they funded? Bootstrapped Who are their comps? Glyder How do I find them? Website / Crunchbase / Twitter  What else can you tell me? Ads are targeted and displayed locally.

^ What do they do? Video chat technology. Why are they special?

Speak, broadcast, and conduct Q&A in front of a room of 50-1000 while allowing private, more intimate conversations 

Participants can search for the individuals they'd like to speak with or filter by interests

Brand your page, add links to ecommerce sites, allow 3rd party advertisers, or charge admission for your event

^ What do they do? Connect with investment advisors through personal referrals. Why are they special?

Connections are made through Facebook friends to establish greater transparency and accountability

Advisers are not employed by broker-dealers to overcome conflicts of interest

Share content regarding better money management

Are they funded? Bootstrapped Who are their comps? Hearsay Social How do I find them? Website / Twitter / Facebook  What else can you tell me? Free for consumers to use.

^ What do they do? Currency for the internet. Why are they special?

Through ecommerce and gaming partnerships offer discounts for purchases and thus individual, controlled exchange rates

Kurrenci can be purchased (with MoneyGram), exchanged (from foreign currency, gift cards), or earned

A portion of earnings go to a variety of charities

Are they funded? Bootstrapped Who are their comps? Bitcoin, Ven How do I find them? Website / Crunchbase / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Youtube What else can you tell me?

$1 = 1 kurrenci. Offer bill-splitting with friends. 

^ What do they do? A HotOrNot for things you like (and perhaps would like to buy). Why are they special?

Allow users to click through images to product pages for purchase

Integrate gamification: images can be "re-tipped" to earn "sway" to remain a tastemaker

Assist in product discovery and distribution by encouraging collection and social sharing

^ What do they do? Give publishers a tool to encourage conversation around their content through yes/no questions. Why are they special?

Questions can be moderated by the community or publishers to allow mass or individual inquiry approval

Encourage readers to hang out longer through enhanced user participation (on average 90 seconds longer)

Track statistics of every question, answer, and new user

^ What do they do? A mobile content management system for teachers. Why are they special?

Save and organize student work by taking photos, video, or audio recordings and adding the appropriate custom tags

All items are uploaded to a web account for easy search

Allow permissions to privately connect and communicate among students, teachers, parents, and administrators

Are they funded? Bootstrapped Who are their comps? Sundry Notes How do I find them? Website / Twitter   What else can you tell me? Students not yet able to directly upload work. Currently no limit on data storage.

^ What do they do? Jobs placement for military veterans.  Why are they special?

Profiles gather experience, skills, and education to form personalized career recommendations and jobs matching

Company postings are defined by responsibilities and requirements defined by a weighted questionnaire

Offer reference guides, resume tips, and more to provide additional information to assist with the placement process

Are they funded? Bootstrapped Who are their comps? CivilianJobs.com, VetJobs How do I find them? Website / Twitter / Facebook  What else can you tell me? Free for applicants. Companies pay a listing fee.