Thanks to everyone who entered a startup dream team in our Take Your Dream Team to the Final Four contest. We got some pretty cool dream teams and have officially selected the Elite 8 teams.
Now, its up to the public to decide which teams make it through to the Final Four round.
The 4 teams with the most votes at the end of this week will move on to next week’s Final Four round. The Final Four round is the LAST round of public voting and the team with the most votes at the end of it will win tickets to the 2 tickets to both the NCAA Men’s Final Four and National Championship games and a 4 night stay at the Omni Royal Hotel in New Orleans.
You may only vote once (per IP address) per round, so make your vote count!
Here are the Elite 8 teams:
Team 1: Capped & Trade
CEO: Tony Hsieh (Zappos)
Location: Boston, MA
Product type: Web app
Funding: Bootstrap
Exit strategy: Go public
Pitch:
We will be the first and only platform that allows users to buy and sell the unused portion of their monthly smartphone data plans. With most major carriers instituting monthly caps on data usage, why shouldn't you be able to buy from others? Just as Corporations buy and sell carbon credits for their 'carbon footprint', so too will individuals be able reduce or expand their 'data footprint' with our app.
Just as Tony built Zappos on the premise of a pleasant customer experience, Capped&Trade seeks to eliminate the headaches and pain-in-the-bank-account that come with going over your data plan limit. No longer are the days of painful customer service and excessive fees, welcome back to a world of unlimited data - welcome to Capped&Trade!
Team 2: Flyers
CEO: Gary C. Kelly (Southwest Airlines)
Location: Washington, DC
Product type: Web app
Funding: Angel Investment
Exit strategy: Go public
Pitch:
Flyers is incredible unique and winning business idea. Flyers will create an application for the web to store all of your media as well as sync systems so that all electronic devices that have the necessary capabilities can have the multiple forms of media on them. Up until now Apple has been one of the only successful companies to sync multiple devices with an easy interface, yet many consumers have switching costs and may prefer to use a more socially responsible company. Flyers can make this happen. With a dream team led by Gary C. Kelly of Southwest, a known successful leader who consistently strives to outperform the competitor, there will be a unique, dedicated team of workers. Flyers will set a new standard and allow consumers more freedom of choice and force companies to innovate to gain brand loyalty.
Team 3: Save on Gas
CEO: Robin Chase (ZipCar)
Location: Boston, MA
Product type: Loyalty card
Funding: Crowdsourced (Ex: Kickstarter)
Exit strategy: Stay private and continue to rock
Pitch:
We need to close the carbon externality, but that's off the table in Congress. Save on Gas lets users opt into a gas tax, deducting money from their checking account when you buy gas, and transferring it into savings. We need to save more and burn less gas; Save on Gas lets you do both.
Team 4: Uniblocker
CEO: Steve Jobs (Apple)
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Product type: Mobile app
Funding: Angel Investment
Exit strategy: Go public
Pitch:
So you like balls of yarn? Oh, you collect them? Perhaps you were a cat in your past life? Either way, Road Trip Detour knows the real you. Next time you decide to take that long trip out west and pass through Kansas, RTD might suggest a reroute to Cawker City to experience the largest ball of twine. Based on your interests and hobbies, RTD alerts you as you’re driving cross country of off the map attractions like that ball of twine that only you can appreciate, turning an exciting journey into a scavenger hunt. Capital is being raised in two stages, $500,000 in initial launch for Apple and then a round of expansion capital of $1-$3 million for Android rights. Our mission is to be the top app for 2012 and continue building on making those impromptu passions a realization. Go ahead, take a drive and see for yourself.
Team 5: Calamity Plane
CEO: Tony Hsieh (Zappos)
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Product type: Service
Funding: Bootstrap
Exit strategy: Stay private and continue to rock
Pitch:
Living in the Midwest, there are no shortage of heartbreaking natural disasters that occur in this region. Based on the success of texting $10 to Red Cross, our people loving CEO Tony is helping build our start up that allows you to send tangible love to those in need. Just text 'shoes' or 'warm' and we'll handle the rest. With technology, we can reach and help faster than ever before. We are financially 'bootstrapped', but heavily funded by compassion of people all over the world. Because we are huge nerds with huge hearts, we can mobilize efficiency in a way not used in this space and make every one of your dollars count.
Team 6: PicHub
CEO: Kevin Systrom (Instagram)
Location: Boulder, CO
Product type: Web app
Funding: Angel Investment
Exit strategy: Sell and start another company
Pitch:
Photo sharing made simple! Pichub will allow the social aspect of events and the images taken at those events to be pulled into one place. Images are able to be captured by mobile app, up loaded from photo services and shared socially. Pichub will penetrate the market through the wedding world, allowing guests to take and share images from weddings that they attend. With over 300 million wedding attendees each year, there is huge opportunity to tap this market and convert a one time user to a faithful member of Pichub. The revenue model will be based on a freemium approach and Pichub will partner with a national lab for product revenue. Pichub, group photo sharing for the masses!
Team 7: Pitch Squared
CEO: Peter Shankman
Location: New York City, NY
Product type: Service
Funding: VC
Exit strategy: Stay private and continue to rock
Pitch:
With so many new startups struggling to get their word out, this will be the most accessible and effective tag-based pitching service. Wanna pitch to TechCrunch? The Washington Post? Michael Arrington? No problem, simply give us the tag techcrunch, WashigntonPost, Arrington, etc. and submit your story. As stories are received, we will invite reporters to claim their tag, and the respective stories associated with the tags.
Team 8: Quarral
CEO: Jack Dorsey
Location: Silicon Valley
Product type: Mobile app
Funding: Angel Investment
Exit strategy: Stay private and continue to rock
Pitch:
Quarral is a mobile platform aiming to not only make your wasted time more useful, but rewarding. Quarral's mission is to involve more of the American public in decision making of Washington. Quarral incorporates game mechanics & social interactions to the polling industry, by rewarding users with points for answering questions, & inviting friends to join. Users can redeem points for prizes, such as an Amazon gift card.
73% of Americans say the nation would be better off if our leaders paid more attention to public opinion. However, 68% of adults disagree that 1,000 people is a good representation of society as a whole, and distrust traditional polling methods.
For politicians - it's Google Analytics for your constituency. For users - it's a way to feel more engaged, and be incentivized for nothing more than your opinions.
Congratulations to the Elite 8 teams! The fate of your team depends on public votes so it’s time for you to get out there and get your team some votes!
