Tampa Bay WaVE is very excited to welcome the inaugural class to the FirstWaVE Accelerator program.  FirstWaVE clients participated in an application submission process, which included a live pitch event to the FirstWaVE Accelerator vetting committee, before being selected into the program. 

These talented individuals are developing unique and innovative technologies and paving the way for greater innovation and job creation in the Tampa Bay area! Please stop by the FirstWaVE Venture Center to congratulate them!

SHOOTRAC: Provides organizations of all sizes a simple way to capture big data on its customers, assets and workforce and use the information to leverage these resources for maximum efficiency and customer service using a cloud-based, scalable Software as a Service solution. 
 

Cartooga: Through its proprietary e-commerce platform and expert staff, Cartooga, Coracent offers shopping cart hosting and a variety of conversion optimization features designed to help businesses open an online store, drive traffic and increase conversion rates.
 

Secondhand Living: An e-commerce site where consignment, antique and thrift shops, as well as architectural salvage material suppliers promote their businesses and offer their products for sale. There are thousands of these independently owned shops in North America (even more abroad) and the majority of them have no online presence.
 

Drawer: A technology product expressed initially through a mobile application that provides a framework for capturing and cataloging real-life recommendations between friends and acquaintances. Drawer helps to catalog across various verticals – places, movies, music, products, books, etc. – in order to provide a comprehensive and centralized place for storing this information.
 

Commendable Kids: It is a community of children striving to be the best they can, as they work toward earning badges that can then be proudly displayed and shared with their supporters. Commendable Kids helps encourage and challenge children to learn new skills and reach new milestones.
 

Confy.co: Confy.co helps track and organize an event from start to finish by providing targeted solutions and management tools to conference organizers, sponsors, hosts and other event-related personnel to successfully manage the myriad of data, requirements and essential organizational needs.
 

Kite Desk: A personal cloud information manager that lets users connect their cloud service accounts and automatically links and organizes their messages, contacts, files, events and more into useful streams of information. Kite Desk provides the unique value of personalized, contextual computing to both web and mobile clients.
 

SavvyCard: A mobile web platform for actively referring business transactions. It combines features of an online business card with an intelligent referral system that generates measurable leads and sales. SavvyCard offers a convenient way to pass “warm” referrals from any web enabled device, track and respond to referrals in real time, reward referral behavior and build mobile-friendly referral networks.

FirstWaVE Accelerator offers a wide variety of benefits to startups in all phases of development, including bootcamps and workshops by local entrepreneurs and business executives, dedicated mentors, opportunities to meet with investors, access to a team of dedicated student interns and free professional services. Clients also have access to coworking and office space within the FirstWaVE Venture Center, located in Tampa Bay WaVE’s headquarters on the second floor of the Rivergate Tower, downtown Tampa.

Applications are now being accepted for the next round of FirstWaVE Accelerator clients. The deadline to apply is April 1, and the new class will be selected April 9. Apply at: bit.ly/FirstWaveAccelerator 

Online dating has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the mid 90′s, and currently rivals the local bar scene for meeting people. It is not, however, without some painful drawbacks. Profiles are exaggerated. The pictures are often inaccurate to say the least. And people spend way too much time over analyzing profiles and messaging one another, when what they should be doing is actually meeting someone.

Seek.ly challenges traditional online dating by moving away from profiles and pictures and substituting them with real human interaction. Think of it as online speed dating. You don’t pour over thousands of profiles. You decide when you want to meet people, and then, you go online and meet people.

Most online dating sites brag about their extensive profiles and questionnaires. The problem, however, is that that isn’t how dating works. When you meet someone in real life, you don’t know every little thing about them. Unfortunately, in a world that shares an increasing amount of data, analysis paralysis has crept into the dating world.

Imagine if real life dating worked that way:  as you entered a bar, the bouncer hands you a stack of thick files on every person there. In that file was every mundane detail about the people surrounding you – likes, history, preferences in other people, etc. Let me ask you, would you sit down in a booth and comb over them, ruling out people because they don’t exercise at least three times a week, have only completed some college, or aren’t exactly sure how many kids they want yet? No. You would probably throw those files away and just go talk to people. Besides, they’re single – it would be weird if they required their date want a certain amount of kids

So how does seek.ly work? It’s pretty simple – especially in comparison to most other dating sites.

Users register a quick, shoestring profile. It includes:

An example of a seek.ly profile; simple & unsearchable

Your name

1 photo (the max allowed)

Your age

Your sex

what age/sex you want to date

and deal breakers  

Different from preferences, deal breakers are a few simple yes or no questions; absolute lines you can’t cross. For example, they ask “would you date a smoker.” If the answer is no, you won’t meet any smokers. That’s it, and the process takes about 2 minutes.

You’re matched up with people in your area and the sex and age range you said you preferred. Everything else about them is pretty random and left for you to find out – a lot like in real life. Dates are 5 minutes long, and when it’s over, you decide whether you liked that person and want to talk to them again, and have the option of scheduling more dates with the user.

Seek.ly has another advantage over online dating – you actually see the person. How many people go for accuracy when choosing their photos for an online dating profile? I’m guessing that since the creation of online dating, upwards of 4 people have actually thought ‘You know, this isn’t the most flattering photo of me, but it is what I actually look like.’ The rest? They chose the best possible photo they have, often from years ago or after digital editing.

“We were told people are sick of going through profile after profile of people who are not being who they say they are. They’d see a picture, meet in real life, and it didn’t match up,” Recounts Susie Steiner, who co-founded the company. “With seek.ly, what you see is what you get; you can’t really hide yourself on a video. So you have five minutes to interact and see if you want to meet them offline. It makes online dating more efficient. You can’t message on seekly – it’s just like meeting someone in real life, from the convenience of your home or office.”

So if seek.ly solves the problems of traditional online dating, what new challenges does their model face? One of the issues with randomized video chatting is the possibility for vulgarity. Not for long though. They’re currently at work to integrate facial recognition technology into the site, Steiner explains: “We’ve created a program so that if someone were to show too much skin, it would kick them out of the date. So we’re eliminating that issue that is associated with anonymous video dating. We will have it integrated by the end of this year.”

Seek.ly recently launched at the DEMO conference and a beta version of their product is live on the website seek.ly

We've been encouraging our members to sign up for StartUp America Partnership for months now and the pay-out could not have come at a better time. 

"50,000 visitors and 15,000 members of the media are expected to descend on Tampa Bay during the RNC" says the 2012 Tampa Bay Host Committee, and some of our guys will be shining in that spot light. 

Well known internet newspaper Huffington Post recently approached StartUp America/StartUp Florida for a list of local startups they could cover during their time here in Tampa for the 2012 Republican National Convention. Twenty-seven startups were picked and of them eight are WaVE members! For those of you keeping count, that's one third of the startups that will be representing Tampa Bay WaVE! 

All of these ventures will shine in the Huffington Post Spotlight, as they will be invited to an exclusive Expo & special Huffington Post Oasis afterward that is sure to be packed with bloggers, journalists, and other members of the media. So keep your eyes and ears peeled. Follow @HuffPostLive & keep checking their website for updates. 

+ We are sure StartUp America Partnership will will continue to provide members with benefit like this. If you have not signed up your business yet, got www.s.co to sign up.

Being a part of coolTECH this year was a thrill! We had so much fun and met so many new people.

We would thank TBTF and Kimberly Wander for allowing our guys the chance to shine like they deserve. We know that because of your event so many of our members gained exposure and made great business connections. Tampa Bay WaVE continue to proudly sponsor all coolTECH events in the future. Thanks again!

Though we did not get to do the 'wave' like I had planed, the event went better than expected. We were having tons of fun over on our row of WaVErs. We were taking lots of fun jungle pictures in front of the green screen at the Loco tent. Best of all one of our members won the Judges Choice Award for Coolest Tech. Congratulations SavvyCard!!!

Last but not least we must Thank Genesis Direct our printing sponsor. Without Anna Megaloudis and her team we would have been really out of luck for our promo materials. Not only did they help us print, but also designed the layout from a scratchy drawling I provided them. Not enough Thanks can go to them for scrambling and working hard when we needed them most. Thanks Anna Megaloudis and Genesis Direct.

We also cannot forget to thank WaVE's coolTECH sposors:

Tony Duda is a fun loving member of WaVE and proud CEO of Talent Sprocket. Talent Sprocket is a talent matching artificial intelligence engine that inputs the experience you have plus your personality and matches it to the needs and company culture of a seeking employer.

Talent Sprocket is the first machine learning system for e-Recruiting!
Talent Sprocket makes it possible for anyone to:

• Create Highly Accurate Job Requirements
• Automatically source candidates over the web
• Visually Select the best candidates to interview

Talent Sprocket gives employers the ability to visually select the best candidates to interview and hire. This allows for hiring managers to pick the qualities that are most important. “Our web-based platform leverages employee data to help companies achieve an unbiased view of their jobs and workforce and to make new hire decisions.” says CEO, Tony Duda.

Candidates end up being accurately selected and happier employees in the long run.

Tony Duda started Talent Sprocket as a database to gather resumes and applicant information in an effort to make recruiting more efficient. Now, “Whenever I discuss Talent Sprocket with the experts in our field; PHD's in organizational

management, psychology or statistics and find they are extremely excited about what we have built and our promise as a platform. As a team this always makes for a proud moment since we had almost no knowledge of the space when we started Talent Sprocket.

Tony is an irreplaceable member of Tampa Bay WaVE and the Tampa Bay Tech Community. “The Tampa Bay tech community is not unlike a promising start-up. A small group of extremely talented, highly passionate people operating without a budget and fighting incredible odds to achieve success. What's not to like?” – Tony Duda

Want to check out Talent Sprocket and meet Tony in person?

Talent Sprocket is just one of many of Tampa Bay WaVE's members who will be exhibiting their new technologies and cutting-edge innovations at TBTF's coolTECH event June 22nd at the Tampa Convention Center.

To visit the expo, meet these founders and get a personal demo of great technology companies in Tampa Bay, register today. General admission prices start at just $10 per person (and $75 for a full access pass)!

Thank you to Gray-Robinson and Absolute Mobile Solutions for their generous support of WaVE at CoolTECH!

68 Days to the RNC!

Finally we can post/boast about one of our new members and how they have helped WaVE! John Dalrymple is CEO of Mobex, a VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) software and application for business phone lines. 

We have been compelled by one of our newest members John Dalrymple to switch our very own existing phone service over to Mobex.

Described by John as "Grasshopper on steroids," we couldn't agree more. 

With Mobex we were able to keep our existing number and add a local (813) number as well. Mobex is accessible as a web app and a mobile app where you can manage extensions & conference calls, set voicemail recordings, change call forwarding settings and watch call activity from your administrator panel. 

So call us and check it out! 866-WAVE-066 or locally 813-280-4330.
                
The best part of Mobex is that via the app that comes with the service, when making outgoing calls, the person receiving the call sees Tampa Bay WaVE on their caller ID. Many of you may not know this but Linda and I have been using our cell phones as for the WaVE line since the space was open in September of last year. When you call Tampa Bay WaVE it rings our cell phones and we are always on call for anyone interested in WaVE. Now with our outbound calls seen as a call from Tampa Bay WaVE, we can be more professional and work to better improve communications to out community.

"I am thrilled to be a part of the Tampa Bay WaVE and am excited to ride the WAVE of the future tech community with them. 

Stay tuned for future WaVE member discounts!" – John Dalrymple, CEO of Mobex

Want to check out Mobex and meet this ambitious founder?

Mobex is just one of many of Tampa Bay WaVE's members who will be exhibiting their new technologies and cutting-edge innovations at TBTF's coolTECH event June 22nd at the Tampa Convention Center. 

To visit the expo, meet these founders and get a personal demo of great technology companies in Tampa Bay, register today.  General admission prices start at just $10 per person (and $75 for a full access pass)!

Thank you to Gray-Robinson and Absolute Mobile Solutions for their generous support of WaVE at CoolTECH!