Whoa! The kickoff of Technori Pitch LA could not have been better. It was such an energetic, fun-filled night that one thing must be said – Thank YOU, Los Angeles starters for being awesome!
The aim of Technori Pitch is to represent the past, present, and future of innovation through presentations by a successful entrepreneur or community leader keynote, followed by pitches from five launching companies, followed by an incredible afterparty that let’s all the creativity and inspiration marry and be merry.
Though this was the first program of many by Technori in LA, it was as though we all knew each other already! Such is the power of starters.
Didn’t make it out this time? Here’s the low down on LA’s best and brightest getting down.
Keynote – Brian Wong, Cofounder & CEO of Kiip
Although heavily touted as the youngest person to secure VC funding, what’s actually impressive once you get to know Brian is not the amount of money he raised. What’s impressive about him is the wisdom, affability, intelligence, and tenacity that attracted the confidence of investors.
In his talk, Wong recounted the experiences that led to the founding of mobile rewards network, Kiip: his unemployability, curiosity of the gaming experience, and vision for monetizing that experience.
He also covered some top tips for entrepreneurs to really get to business:
Remove unlucky from your vocabulary. You make your own destiny. Sh*t happens, get over it, move on.
Be strategic with the market you enter. The couple pictured above are world-class surfers who specialize in tandem surfing. Tandem surfing! Why create one product in a market of hundreds when you can be one of a few, or even better, the only player in the game you created.
Wong says that investors invest in you even more than they invest in the company. Leverage the traits that “get you lucky” in the dating scene, when you’re courting with an investor.
The Startup Pitches
Enlightened.org
Enlightened makes it easy for everyone to be a philanthropist. By making purchases you’d normally make through the Enlightened portal, you’re also able to donate to one of the many causes featured on the site. Social sharing features make it easy to tempt others into a life of philathropy. Cofounder & CEO: Nadav Wilf.
StaffRanker
Cofounder and CEO George Collado had a lot of experience managing service industry employees and noticed that the best feedback loop for effective training was immediate feedback. He created StaffRanker to provide speedy employee feedback as a SaaS product. Although the service industry has been an ideal use-case, Collado says that StaffRanker applies well across most management scenarios.
Battlefy
The ESPN for video games? Sound crazy? Yes. But, since gaming is already considered sport in some Asian countries, where players frequently team up, compete, and even gather in tournaments to compete with thousands of cheering onlookers, it starts to feel remarkably like a competive sports ecosystem. CEO and Cofounder Jason Xu created Battlefy to be the first outlet to organize and streamcast competitive gaming.
Bitium
Be the master of all your company’s SaaS applications. Bitium allows admins to house the myriad of cloud applications now running today’s companies, giving leadership easy, efficient operations control. It allows leadership to control password access for easy distribution for new hires and password blocking for new, well, you know. Other features include personalized bookmarking for those daily go-to pages, as well as a messaging center that allows for passive awareness of software updates and notices. Log-in, like a boss. Cofounder & CEO: Scott Kriz.
Stone+Cloth
Founder and CEO Matthew Clough drew inspiration for Stone+Cloth while hiking in Tanzania. During the trip Clough found out that his porter Benson – a tireless and alway-affable linchpin to their trek – couldn’t earn enough from his position to send his children to school. Clough made it his mission to help assuage this socio-economic disparity. $10 of every Stone+Cloth purchase goes to the Knock Foundation education assistance program to help fund school tuition, supplies, and meals.
Last, but never least, meet Ryan Bethea.
Consultant, writer, speaker, and BD badass, Ryan Bethea is the emcee of LA’s Technori Pitch. He’s hilarious… and tall. A student of improv at The Groundlings Theater, Bethea adds quick wit and energy to round out the Technori Pitch program.
Thanks again to all of you who joined us. Tickets now available for our next event, Technori Pitch April!