TechCrunch released the names of the 52 companies debuting at TC50 this week in San Francisco. I’m excited to see so many interesting and promising companies on the list including those started by good friends from Los Angeles and all over the world.
Good luck everyone!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Session 1: Youth and Culture. 9:00-10:15am
Blah Girls - Backed by Ashton Kutcher, Blah Girls is a gossip site that features a group of animated teenage girls who provide opinions on what’s going on in the world of entertainment
Tweegee - A hub for tweens, Tweegee offers the youth market a suite of online tools for social interaction and organization
Schryk - Web-based financial software for children aimed at promoting financial literacy and good saving habits
Hangout Industries- Blends social networking with virtual worlds by creating a 3D, online environment where 16-24 year olds can chat and share media
Session 2: Memes & News. 10:30 - 11:45am
DotSpots - Tracks the memes spreading across the web, aggregates the content associated with them, and gives everyone Wikipedia-like control over that content
Angstro - Lets you set up a feed of news about your friends, instead of news by your friends
LiveHit - Tracks the music, videos, and entertainment sites people are clicking on right now
Quant the News - Creator of Stockmood.com, a service that tracks the sentiments of online news stories about stocks and then measures their potential impact on the direction of those stocks’ prices
Session 3: Enterprise. 2:30 - 3:45pm
Fair Software - Creates virtual shares around software projects that gives eachcontributor a portion of any resulting revenues
Yammer - A web application designed for businesses and organizations that asks its users to answer the question, “What are you working on?”
ConnectiveLogic - Along with the company’s real-time middleware, Blueprint will make it easier for developers to design, generate code, and deploy complex multi-core software applications without requiring expertise in multi-threaded software development
Devunity - A platform for writing code in a browser-based editor that doesn’t force developers to use a proprietary layer
OpenTrace - Traces items through the supply chain and adds them together to show the impact of products on the environment
Session 4: Advertising & Commerce Monetization. 3:45 - 5:00pm
Burt - Collects user data to tailor individual advertising campaigns and target users more effectively
Adgregate Market - Brings online stores to consumers through a display ad that is a fully transactional widget
Adrocket - Contextual text-based advertising for email; assigns keywords to each address depending on known demographic and contextual data
Otherinbox - Provides an easy way to quarantine the spam and the messages you receive from online services
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Session 5: Collaboration. 9:00 - 10:15am
Tingz - Offers a unified platform for delivering internet content across multiple devices including mobile phones and PCs
MIXTT - A group based social network/dating site that encourages real world interaction that’s more comfortable than the 1-on-1 format of most similar sites
Imindi - Based on neuroscientific principles, Imindi’s Thought Engine tries to exceed human thought and help its users find new ideas, concepts, and questions on the Web
Popego - Surfaces the most meaningful information from within your social graph based on your interests and other factors
Session 6: Finance & Statistics. 10:30 -11:45am
PersonalIRA - Allows users to shadow a professional investment advisor’s portfolio, automatically executing trades (which most brokerage sites cannot do)
Emerginvest - Offers commentary and analysis on Emerging Markets and tools that provide you with information on how to diversify globally
ExchangeP - Dubbed a “fantasy stock market,” ExhangeP’s service allows users to sign up for free and start investing in private companies
Me-trics - Lets you see how mood, weight, and goals correlate with other metrics, including web services like Facebook or RescueTime
iCharts - YouTube for embeddable, interactive charts
Session 7: Mobile. 2:15 - 3:30pm
Mytopia - A gaming platform that lets players compete across mobile devices and social networks
Tonchidot -Makes the Sekai Camera, a camera system that aims to merge the virtual and real worlds by using a digital device as a viewfinder
Mobclix - An analytics and monetization platform for iPhone developers
FitBit - Developing a small wireless sensor called the Fitbit Tracker, which automatically records data about a person’s activities, calories burned, sleep quality, steps, and distance throughout the day
Session 8: Language & Communication Tools. 3:45 - 5:00pm
Alfabetic - Translates any blog or Website into another language and places ads alongside it in the new tongue
Postbox - Based on Mozilla technology, Postbox saves users time when looking for particular information within their email
Swype - A new method of text input on touch screens; does away with traditional “hunt and peck” in favor of a more fluid motion
Dropbox - Provides an easy way to backup your files, share them with coworkers and friends, and synchronize them between computers
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Session 9: Rich Media. 9:00 - 10:15am
Videosurf - A visual video search engine that allow users to search across millions of videos for a given actor and to view summaries of videos through a series of detected keyframes
GazoPa - An image search engine developed by Hitachi that uses visual similarities between photos to suggest matches (rather than simply relying on keywords)
Fotonauts - A photo sharing application that turns every album instantly into a Web page
Bojam - Although there are a slew of online music services already on the Web, Bojam is trying to do something a bit different: it wants to connect musicians and allow them to collaborate over the Web
Session 10: Games. 10:30 - 11:45am
Grokit - A “Massively Multi-Player Online Learning Game”
Akoha - A web-based social game played with trading cards aimed at spreading good deeds around the world
Atmosphir - A platform for creating 3D interactive games by selecting blocks (such as a sand castle tower, fireball-breathing bird, or trap door) and snapping them onto a grid
PlaYce - Provides a 3D virtual world inside the browser for games and social interaction that is based on the real world
Session 11: Vertical Social Networking. 2:15 - 3:30pm
Birdpost - A social network for birdwatchers
Closet Couture - Fashionistas need a social network too and Closet Couture is looking to give them one by connecting them to other fashion lovers, stylists, and retailers
Footnote - For those looking to create historical records of loved ones or themselves, Footnote offers a timeline-based archive where you can upload photos and documents linked to historical databases
Causecast - Causecast leverages social networking to connect nonprofits, leaders, celebrities and brands with those who want to make a difference through good causes
Shattered Reality Interactive - A new massively multiplayer online game (think World of Warcraft) that lets the crowd guide the direction of future expansions
Session 12: Research & Recommendations. 3:45 - 5:00pm
GoodGuide - Provides information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of products and companies
GoPlanit - A one-click travel planner that assembles a customized trip itinerary with the click of a button; also supports mobile microblogging
TrueCar - A site that allows users to assess the current market value of their automobiles in a given geographic area