Google has been fending off critics ever since it launched Search Plus Your World – which works more like Search Plus Our World, often favoring Google+ results. But beyond the hubbub, there’s a real problem here that Google’s trying to solve, albeit clumsily: people search. That’s the impetus for Ark, a recent Y Combinator grad…
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Earlier today, Vimeo co-founder Zach Klein announced his latest project, DIY, a project showcasing mobile app for kids and parents. Essentially, the app is a venue to help children document and receive feedback from loved ones for the creative and imaginative objects and projects they create. Upon building a birdhouse out of the leftover cardboard boxes,…
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MuckerLab, a tech accelerator based in Los Angeles, is bringing its first child into the world today. Or 9 children, rather – startups offering everything from an all-you-can-fly airline membership to a credit card that holds all your credit cards. They’ve spent 3 months incubating at MuckerLab HQ, nourished by mentorship and up to $21,000…
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Following the lead of metro-targeted startups like Uber, ParkMe and SeatMe, UrbanSitter is now offering an online payment feature. With this new feature, the site that connects parents with babysitters through people they know should continue on its path of stellar growth, especially with the infusion of $1.75M in seed funding they closed on this…
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“We’ll figure it out later.” That’s how some startups, who might be breaking laws or regulations, decide to deal with it. We’re so tiny that no one will care, right? If you want to err on the side of caution, take a few minutes to sign up for TrakBill. Designed for lobbyists, this new service…
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Betaspring, part of the Global Accelerator Network, is releasing 16 startups into the wild today. Located in Providence, Rhode Island, the 12-week accelerator program offered mentorship, office space, and up to $20,000 in seed funding. It has been kickstarting startups since 2009, including Manpacks. To join the fall 2012 program, submit an application by June…
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When he isn’t winning the Chinese National Kickboxing Championship, obtaining the Guinness World Record in tango, guest lecturing at Princeton, learning to speak a new language (currently fluent in five), or writing a pair of #1 New York Times bestselling books (The 4 Hour Workweek and The 4 Hour Body), Tim Ferriss finds time to lend…
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Urbana, IL’s Zero Percent is tackling a problem that’s already been accepted as the norm: food waste. “As standard business practice, U.S. restaurants waste over $10 billion a year —Literally. When faced with the chore of trying to find use of excess fresh-food inventory, the easiest thing for a restaurant manager to do is just…
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Fact of Reality #1: The current unemployment rate in the United States hovers around 8.3% according to the the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This rate does not factor in those who have given up on looking for a job or those fresh out of school who haven’t yet been able to find one. So…
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“In every generation in every decade in every turn of the world people are looking for magic. In the contemporary sense, magic is you do something to get a million hits on your website, 10,000 incoming phone calls, or 100,000 emails. I hate to break it to new entrepreneurs: There is no magic.” This is…
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This huge number should probably come as no surprise, but it’s still rather unnerving: Nearly 12 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2011. With so many of us storing proprietary information on not only our laptops, which we lug through cities and airports, but also our mobile devices, which we bring everywhere, we…
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If you think games are silly, you obviously haven’t met Singapore’s Witching Hour Studios, a game shop led by 3 of the most passionate, thoughtful, and hilarious entrepreneurs I met in Asia. They are the creators of Ravenmark, an iOS game where exiled nobles return home to regain their birthright. It’s a world with thousands…
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For the third consecutive summer, Excelerate Labs, which ranked among the top startup accelerator programs in America, announced today the companies selected for its 2012 class. Excelerate Labs is led by entrepreneurs Troy Henikoff (founder of SurePayroll) and Sam Yagan (founder of OkCupid, eDonkey, & SparkNotes). Excelerate Labs offers a summer program that connects founders with mentors,…
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We are excited to be back in Champaign, IL for our 2nd Tech Cocktail Champaign Mixer event. While all of our events are unique thanks to any one city’s unique community mix of academia, established startups, investors, and mentors, Champaign’s startup scene sets itself apart thanks to its proximity to the University of Illinois at…
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After the initial exhilaration of take-off, turbulence sets in and passengers can sometimes get a little queasy. It turns out the journey through a startup accelerator is no different. On completing weeks 3-4 of Women Innovate Mobile (WIM), my mobile startup Appguppy has encountered its own form of turbulence: the first call for financials and…
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Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
We are excited to announce the participating startups for Tech Cocktail's South by Southwest (SXSW) event: #Startuplife Celebration presented by .CO. It was one of... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More