We have been inundated with pitches; here’s a selection of the start-ups we’ve met so far
Yoni Dariel - Chief executive officer of Ondigo CRM, Israel and the United States
Ondigo CRM claims to have a new app that can change the lives of SME - small business – owners by helping them to better utilise their contacts. After all your network is your net worth. People know how important customers and relationships with customers are but often don’t have the tools to maintain those relationships.
We automatically build a customer database for users by capturing all interactions on their phone via LinkedIn, Facebook, email, text message etc. The database is for them not for Ondigo so they don't have to worry about us using it. We have 3,000 SMEs worldwide as customers. Ondigo is free for life for users. However if they want to share their database with people such as colleagues there is a charge. Basically we just let the big dogs pay.
Joshua Ooi - Co-founder of Incentify, Malaysia and Singapore
Incentify has developed a tool that claims to get teachers to motivate their students through an app and prizes. “For example, the students can earn points or badges if they hand their homework in early. The students can then swap their points for real rewards such as iPhones. It incentivises them to do well at school and is gamifying learning.
"We charge schools to use the tool. We then use some of that money to purchase rewards such as smartphones. We launched in June and currently have five schools using our tool. Our main focus right now is South East Asia. We have come to the Dublin Web Summit to form partnerships in markets we want to be and to get some publicity. Right now we are just direct marketing to schools so would like to get better known."
Nick Porter - Chief Technology Officer of 42, United States
Porter is out to simplify big data for well-known fashion brands. “We went to a hackathon and discovered so many major fashion brands were sitting on huge amounts of data and information about their customers but they didn’t know how to use it. We take all their data and massage it into an easy to read dashboard so they can identify who their biggest customers are and what locations people buy their clothes from.
"Knowing the locations where their brand is most popular helps them decide where to locate their store. We also track Twitter hashtags about their company and their competitors and graph out sentiment for them. We want to break into the European market. The best person I've seen at the Web Summit here is Liz Bacelar from Decoded Fashion. She brings technology and fashion together but not in a superficial way. "
Mike Anderson - Director of Nothing but Epic, United Kingdom
Nothing but Epic aims to remove the glass ceiling on creative marketing by providing a crowd funding platform for businesses and charities. “Our platform also helps increase engagement with customers from the birth of a marketing campaign and gives them free advertising. They can put their “epic idea” on our site, get feedback and people can buy tickets to the event. Basically we will make marketing departments all over the world rejoice.
“We previously all worked for companies and were involved in the marketing departments where we noticed good ideas are often dismissed due to budget restrictions. Our platform removes the financial limits on marketing ideas be they an event or PR stunt. Traditional marketing campaigns can often take a lot of time and resources to organise also.
