#shnarped

I found this really cool app that you might all want to check out.

It is called Shnarped Hockey It is a a free app for both iOS and Android.

It is something similar to tumblr and twitter. You get to choose which hockey player you want updates from. Some hockey players are actually verified like twitter and can post their own updates.

This allows you to bump or fist bump the players and they can bump you back! You can choose to follow a whole team or just a few players.

I encourage everyone to get one and track their favorite players. (Especially the verified ones... because the Hockey Player will actually interact with the fans!)

With it nearly being December, and the Cranium having officially opened on October 1st, it’s been nearly two months since Vancouver’s newest collaborative space for startups has been in operation, I think it’s time to take a look at what’s been accomplished so far and how the community is developing. In short, it’s been a great success, with eight companies already working together from the space and more to come. And beyond pure business, the space has developed to become a community as well, with a successful Halloween party under its belt, meetups (like the hardware startup meetup above) and a much-anticipated Holiday Party scheduled for December 6th.

So what sorts of businesses have made the Cranium their home? It’s certainly a diverse set up, with companies of all shapes and sizes. The large business optimization company ROI DNA, who holds offices in Paris, Moscow and San Francisco, has set up in Vancouver out of The Cranium.  ROI DNA has an impressively flexible setup. As part of their business optimization, ROI offers website design with a multitude of programs in a multitude of languages – they also offer helping with Engineering, Design, Analytics, Branding, SEO, SEM, Social Media, Affiliate Marketing, e-Mail Marketing and Display Advertising.

Smaller companies also thrive at the Cranium, with the marketing team of Indaba Digital, who, in their own words “Bring brands and consumers together to create meaningful relationships and dialogue in the digital space.” Their customized marketing often makes use of engaging contests and campaigns, which have generated notable success for Vancouver clients such as Sothebys, Fuck Cancer, The Loden Hotel, Donnelly Group, alive Magazine, The ZAG Group, Beaver Buzz and Obakki.

Kerplunc is a company that offers help with tasks such as Design and keeping your B.C. Ferry schedules close at hand. They’re probably best known, however, for their work on Minecraft – they run Tree Puncher, the most popular Minecraft Server Hosting site in Canada, and have created AdCraft, in-game advertising for Multiplayer Minecraft.

Of course, you can’t ignore the recent success of Shnarped.  I mentioned this hockey app in an earlier blog about their successful stint on Dragon’s Den. For the new, in short terms, Shnarped is a social media app that allows hockey fans to interact directly with hockey players – and they’re also one of the earliest members of The Cranium.

The textbook rental company BigMama is now based out of the Cranium. They’ve made waves by taking out a good deal of the hassle and cost that plagues students trying to acquire textbooks for their classes. Not only can BigMama save up to 75% of the cost by renting textbooks out to students, they also allow you to make money off textbooks you might have by listing them for rent or purchase.

MW Advertising is a media services company in the traditional and digital advertising space, and can be found here at The Cranium. They represent and partner with some of the most well known domestic and international publishers and platforms such as The Seattle Times/ seattletimes.com, The Daily Telegraph/ telegraph.co.uk, Globelite Travel Marketing, Adprime Media, Quantcast, Collective Roll and more, positioning their products and brand closer to their advertising clients. MW Advertising has dedicated itself to embracing new technology and ideas on a global scale to bring the latest thinking and opportunities to their advertising clients.

The new and local MakerLABS has just set up their managing operations at the Cranium. MakerLABS plans to open up fabrication and prototyping labs in Vancouver. Aside from establishing these locations, they hope to provide workshops and tutorials as well as meetups, to allow for veteran and new creators to mingle and share ideas. And this isn’t just a shop class – MakerLABS is working towards allowing Vancouverites to work with machines like 3D Printers, Laser Cutters and Computer Numerical Control Machines.

Last but not least is Brain Rack, one of the very first companies to join the Cranium. Brain Rack is a Business Development agency that is focused on using innovative tools and strategies to help startups make money. They provide a holistic approach to lead generation and business development for their clients. Identifying, executing and reporting on milestone based sales strategies for SAAS businesses.

These are all the parts to The Cranium – with more pieces soon to be added. And how does it all come together? The space itself has been built to be an incredibly comfortable one, with plenty of amenities and all the companies’ present work beside and with each other seamlessly in a collaborative, yet focused, environment. It’s certainly a promising start to the space, but there’s still room for growth in the months to come – I’d highly recommend getting over to the Cranium and seeing for yourself if it’s a fit for you or your business. The next two months might find a space that’s all filled up!

—

Stewart Hemingson

Writer @TheCraniumHQ

http://www.thecranium.co

About The Cranium Office

The Cranium is a co-working office for technology growth companies based in Vancouver, Canada. Building a start-up is a marathon, with a series of climbs and descents on the path to a vision. Surrounding your team with the right entrepreneurs, advisers and partners is the difference between scaling the next peak or losing traction on descent. The people and their experience is what makes The Cranium great.

Bryan Bickell looking like he's going to smash someone over the head with the Stanley Cup!