Startup School

Pitch your Startup! No. 3 _ June 21st

I feel like "Pitch your Startup!" made its first steps today - like a baby. For the first time we had a fantastic judge: Stefano Bernardi - the founder of theSTARTUP.eu. Again great entrepreneurs joined the meeting from around the world . I am looking forward seeing the event mature in the next months - giving more and more entrepreneurs a unique opportunity to develop their pitches and connect with the RIGHT people.

I would like to give two examples of how the "Pitch your Startup" event helped so far before moving on to the summary of today's pitches:

Chris Knotz - founder of Voyages en Photographie - who held a great presentation in the first "Pitch your Startup" event was searching for Angels.  Former Angel  Marc Dangeard introduced him to some very helpful contacts in the Paris Startup Scene.
Toby Russell - founder of  RideCharge and Taxi Magic - held an exemplary pitch during the second "Pitch your Startup" event where he was seeking for support & an introduction about "Marketing through Facebook".  Flavio Rump who saw the recording of the event - took  the teacher seat of the class Toby requested on that topicl. (I strongly recommend that recording of "Marketing through Facebook" for everybody who is considering using Facebook as a way to promote his business.)

Now back to the pitches we heard today:

1. First Yves Gendronneau pitched TalentCast - a wonderful solution for companies to reduce the enormous costs that occur through choosing the wrong people for the job. They offer a recruiting tool that companies can use to organize, streamline and make the selection process more personal. As an addition to the traditional CV & Cover Letter - applicants have to answer predefined questions using a webcam when applying for a job on TalentCast. The tool being asynchronous - allows applicants to do the recording whenever and wherever they want. A great idea that will go live in about 2-3 weeks. If you are in the recruiting or HR space you should get in touch with Yves to find out more.

2. Adalberto Flores Ochoa presented his current venture Inviko that could be the "mahalo answers" for refering peope. Inviko is leveraging the personal connections of people on platforms like linkedin and facebook. The application is incentivising people to share their connections by paying low amounts of money. Using the power of personal recommendations to connect & evaluate people Inviko could essentially become a competitor to sites like Elance and Odesk. The product is a wonderful example for new business models that build on top of the evolving ecosystem online. Check out the recording of the meeting to find out more on the details.

3. The third and last pitch was by Walker Williams who showed how excellent web applications allow to target niches . Jobzle takes on the 13 Million Student Job Market in the US that is often restricted by the working hours that need to fit with the schedule of the students. The solution they created is a cragslist & a calender sync tool within a social network. A great way to make the life of students & employers easier and more convenient. If the application will be as good as the pitch then we can await a big change in the Student Job Market. If you are interessted in doing small seed investment you should get in touch with Walker. As a little teaser you can check out some screenshots of Jobzle here.

You can address Yves, Adalberto and Walker through Startup School. Check out the recording of "Pitch your Startup No. 3"  on Startup School or ping me for more contact information.

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As Startup School lives from amazing entrepreneurs meeting from all over the world I highly encourage you to ping me for an invite.

The next "Pitch your Startup No. 4" event is coming up on the 5th of July.
Check out the facebook event for more information or join the session directly on Startup School.

cheers,

Bjoern Lasse Herrmann - Startup School Evangelist

http://startup.supercoolschool.com

ATTENTION:

Startup School is an invite only plattform for entrepreneurs. If you would like to join please contact me bjoern@supercoolschool.com

The Startup School Way of learning vs. 1.0?

Startup School has been moderately growing during the last month - mostly driven by our friends around the world. There have been a couple classes and meetings and the overall feedback has been very positive. Thanks guys!

However - one thing is striking me. We expected that people would take action themselves to create requests and offers for virtual meetings or classes. But so far this has rarely happened. Therefore my questions to you are:

1. Do you understand the concept of Startup School with the current interface?
2. Are you missing features or functionality?
3. Is the Startup School concept at all applicable for a loose group of entrepreneurs?

We are not competing with a school in the traditional sense. What we offer to you - is to use Startup School in a way bloggers use wordpress to publish their thoughts or people use meetup to organize meetings. Startup School enables entrepreneurs to learn with other entrepreneurs who have the same problems & interests.

We have been using the bottom up approach of learning inside our own tiny company and with large organizations - the result was always the same. People were amazed how a live interaction is incredibly effective to receive relevant information. Instead of searching forever on Google, Wikipedia & Youtube they could simply ask the right person. Totally mind blasting for many people was the realization of how energizing and innovative social interactions can be. In our surveys people described how happy they were to find solutions for their problems so much quicker than before.

When I was first reading such feedback - I was seriously wondering how most people have been learning in their life. I for my part always searched for the direct contact to people who know something I want to learn. I was mostly too lazy to read about it. Instead I would hitchhike to a conferences and sleep on the floor - just to learn something about the "future role of the CFO". I remember most of those CFOs expressed themselves terribly awkward, all of them were not a bit humorous and many had terrible structure in their presentation - nevertheless all of them were CFOs of some of largest German Corporations. The what and how they were speaking passionately about nerdy accountant topics was amazingly informative for me on multiple levels.
Everything I learned in one day was more than in 30 days of listening to my Professor - excluding everything related to the practical parts that our Professor simply didn't have a clue about.

I believe the power of social learning with the right people is unbeatable. Startup School is giving this opportunity to all entrepreneurs out there. No matter if your "mind mates" are in Singapore, Melbourne or New York - with Startup School you can connect with them socially in our virtual meeting room.

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About Startup School:

Startup School is an invite-only platform for ambitious entrepreneurs.

It is a community for entrepreneurs to teach and study from each other using a bottom up, grassroots-like approach to organizing and holding live classes online.
We want to make it as powerful, fun and easy as possible for entrepreneurs all around the world to share their knowledge and learn in a social way.

Our vision is to build a curriculum for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs. A place where lifelong learning for entrepreneurs happens.

The plattform exists of two components:

1. A marketplace environment where people can request or schedule meetings,talks or classes.
2. A virtual classroom where people can meet live and interact via Audio/Video, Screen Sharing, Chat and more.

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cheers,

Bjoern Lasse Herrmann - Startup School Evangelist

http://startup.supercoolschool.com

ATTENTION:

Startup School is an invite only plattform for entrepreneurs. If you would like to join please contact me bjoern@supercoolschool.com

Pitch your Startup! No. 2 _ June 7th

BAM! another smooth "Pitch your Startup!" meeting on Startup School. "Thank you" to everybody who joined this session. You made this hour of productive virtual pitching possible! I enjoyed being able to network with other Startups and to get a fresh infusion of entrepreneurial spirit - without spending hours traveling in order to meet the right people.

1. The first to pitch was Johannes Suriya Bhakdi with Klatcher. Their goal is to empower creative minds to make a living with publishing their content to Klatcher. Their website helps them to advertise their product within the social space and sell it without any extra services from the upload until the successful sale. The site is live and ready to be used. If you know how to reach creative minds on the web you are welcome to get in touch with Johannes.

2. Martin Côté with D-Modules from Canada pitched his version of the ultimate online customer relationship widget. By merging social networks with user feedback tools and tracking features they provide the perfect tool to leverage the web for small business. Keep your eyes open: they will launch this Summer.

 3. Toby Russell impressed with an amazing product and a very good pitch. If I had the money - I would invest in  RideCharge without batting an eye. RideCharge is the next most convenient way to call & pay a taxi. You can do that online or mobile. The iphone app Taxi Magic is well known and works in all major US cities. The included reporting and e-receipt functionality make the product especially attractive for business travels. On their way to make your taxi ride even more enjoyable RideCharge could need your help if you have any experience with social media marketing - especially FB connect.

You can address all Johannes, Martin and Toby through Startup School. If you are a member check out the "Pitch your Startup No. 2" page on Startup School.

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As Startup School lives from amazing entrepreneurs meeting from all over the world I highly encourage you to ping me for an invite.

The next "Pitch your Startup No. 3" event is coming up on the 21st of June.
Check out the facebook event for more information or join the session directly on Startup School.

cheers,

Bjoern Lasse Herrmann - Startup School Evangelist

http://startup.supercoolschool.com

ATTENTION:

Startup School is an invite only plattform for entrepreneurs. If you would like to join please contact me bjoern@supercoolschool.com