It wasn’t long ago that words like “builder,” “maker,” and “product” were reserved for talking about real, tangible things. Today it seems that those are all buzzwords used to talk about the production of web sites, apps, and other digital goods. There are all kinds of companies making software products, and one with a very interesting model is Betaworks. They’re a New York, NY based company whose “ideas, people, capital and data are united in an imaginative way that enable us to create beneficial and transformative products for the socially connected world.” Their goal is to define the future of media with their products, and they’re off to a good start.
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You’ve probably looked at thousands of ads already today, but chances are that you haven’t thought about how they got in front of you. Behind all of those ads is a group of people who made a complicated set of decisions to get that specific message to you in a specific place at a specific time. Managing those kinds of decisions at scale is really hard. Centro makes it easier. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that works “to improve the lives of those working in the advertising industry by building media management software that helps marketers engage with audiences across all digital channels in the most successful manner possible.” The goal is put all of the options in one place so that advertisers can make the best decisions for themselves or for clients.
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Have you ever thought that you accidentally liked something on Facebook because a post suddenly showed up in your feed from a site that you recently visited? It’s creepy, right? It’s called retargeting, and it’s amazingly effective. For at least the last few years, advertisers have been tracking your movement around the web and showing you ads based on where you’ve visited. Taking to Facebook was the obvious next step, and that’s the specialty of Triggit. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that “enables advertisers and agencies to build, run, measure, and optimize retargeting-driven display campaigns from a single platform.”
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Amy and I have spent 30+ hours in the car over the last week. We listened to the radio, we listened to Spotify, we listened to two Yankees games (one via the MLB At Bat App and one on the radio), we talked, and we listened to a book on tape. After a few hours of one, we’d get bored and switch it up. Maybe we should have “stitched it up.” Stitcher is a San Francisco, CA based company with an app of the same name that lets you access “over 20,000+ radio shows and podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, Android or PC–anytime, anywhere.” The focus is on news, sports, talk, and entertainment, so it’s kind of like Pandora for non-music audio.
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A lot of thoughts come to mind when the name Hilton comes up. Hotels. Paris. Conrad Hilton’s appearance in Mad Men. Some of these thoughts are more positive than others, but the most positive should probably be for the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. It’s an Agoura Hills, CA based non-profit “family foundation established in 1944 by the man who started Hilton Hotels” that provides “funds to nonprofit organizations working to improve the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable people throughout the world.” The foundations assets are more than $2.4 billion, so they’ll be doing a lot of good for a long time.
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I’m not a big gamer, but when I do play games on my mobile devices, they’re usually pretty simplistic. Some people prefer a more immersive experience–they take mobile gaming seriously. Those people probably like the games from Gameloft. They’re a New York, NY based company that allows its “fans to play games anywhere, anytime, and on any digital platform.” In fact, more than one million Gameloft games are downloaded every single day. That’s what happens when you develop great games in-house while at the same time you’ve “built the world’s largest distribution network” (for games of course).
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Health is all about information. There was a time when we didn’t know how unhealthy smoking was. Now we do. Many people will live longer, healthier lives because of this knowledge. Any tool that can help both doctors and patients make more informed decisions is immensely valuable. Healthline is a San Francisco, CA based company that has built “the largest, most clinically accurate classification of health information available on the web.” They offer this resource both to consumers in the form of Healthline.com and to brands in a variety of solutions.
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I am anything but a film buff. I typically watch the same bad movies over and over again while I’m doing something else. It takes a lot for me to sit down and watch something with 100% focus. That means that I don’t pay much attention to the Sundance Film Festival, but I’ve heard of it and know it’s a big deal. The organization behind the festival is Sundance Institue. They’re a Park City, UT based (with offices in LA and NYC) non-profit “dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences in film and theatre.” The Institute was founded by Robert Redford in 1981 and since then has “provided a space for independent artists to explore their stories free from commercial and political pressures.”
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When you finish reading this, what are you going to do next? You’ll likely read something else–an e-mail, another article, or maybe a Facebook status. That’s why I should have suggestions for related content at the bottom of every company profile (why don’t I?). You’ve seen this model on other sites. There are related articles recommended for you. What you may not have noticed is that some of those recommendations are ads. nrelate is a New York, NY based company behind many of these ads. They help “Publishers give their readers an easy way to find more great content from within their site or from around the web, while Marketers get their content in front of highly engaged readers.”
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Every time that Amy and I move (four times over the last six years), we say that we’re going to do a great job setting up our new place. When we move to the next place, we end up repacking the framed pictures that we never got around to hanging on the wall. Interior design isn’t our strongpoint. Next time we move, we’ll have to use Houzz for inspiration. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that offers “a collaborative platform for home remodeling and design, bringing homeowners and home professionals together in a uniquely visual community.” It’s kind of like Pinterest, but only for home design and decor.
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Right now I have a shot at winning $1 billion. My bracket is 100% correct… though no games have been finished yet. In case you haven’t heard, Quicken Loans has put up that amount for anyone who gets a perfect bracket (and Warren Buffet backed it with one of his insurance businesses). It sounds like March Madness until you crunch the numbers. There is essentially zero chance that someone will win the prize, yet millions of people entered… and shared their information with Quicken Loans. That’s exactly why the Detroit, MI based company sponsored the contest. New leads are the lifeblood of a mortgage business, even if you’re already the “#1 online retail lender.”
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A year or two ago subscription boxes were the hot business model. Startups were finding anything they could to shove in a box and send to customers once a month for 20 bucks. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of jewelry business pop up. Not fine jewelry, just designer stuff made from non-precious materials. You know why? Because the margins on those pieces are insane. The two business models actually fit together nicely, and that’s what RocksBox is taking advantage of. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that lets you “experiment with different looks, discover the latest designers, wear new pieces all the time, and only buy the jewelry that you truly love.” It’s a little more like Netflix (the old DVD version) or Rent the Runway for jewelry than other subscription boxes, except for the fact that you can keep anything you like for 20% off retail.
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Consuming content has never been easier. I used to travel with a backpack full of books and magazines. Now it’s all on my iPad (though my laptop, Kindle, and phone are also useful–and the combined weight of all is still less than a lot of books). For most of us the problem is organizing and prioritizing the content that we actually want to consume. I still haven’t found a way to do this that works for me, but I know a lot of people use Flipboard. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that offers a “single place to discover, collect and share the news you care about.” Their app is definitely socially powered, but it’s done in a way that filters out a lot of the noise that might show up on your Facebook feed for example.
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My dog is getting neutered today. I didn’t want to do it, but it was medically necessary. One of the problems with having an intact dog–especially in a bit city–is that a lot of dog boarding and daycare places won’t accept your dog. That’s actually not a big deal for me because I’d much prefer that Garçon stays with someone in their home when we go out of town (usually it’s the in-laws). Rover is just what I need for when the in-laws are out of town. It’s a “community for dog lovers to connect owners with sitters for home dog stays.” The Seattle, WA based company just raised $12 million in funding (they’ve raised a total of $25 million), so the market for this kind of business must be bigger than I would have thought.
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You can buy clothes in a lot of places. Where you buy typically depends on whether you’re looking for a good price, convenience, or your favorite brands. Then you have to decide whether you’d rather shop online or in person. If you’re brand focused and like shopping online, you may want to check out REVOLVE. The company is based in Cerritos, CA and is the “virtual home for an unrivaled collection of the world’s most coveted brands.” REVOLVE offers both men’s and women’s clothing, though the focus definitely seems to be on women’s lines.
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Do any of you remember Flip cameras? They were all the rage for a few years, and then they got completely crushed by smartphones. Who would buy a standalone consumer level point and shoot or video camera when you already have something that offers comparable quality in your pocket? The only good reason that I can think of is that you’re worried you might destroy your phone. That’s where GoPro came in. They’re a San Mateo, CA based company that has built a huge business by offering “the world’s most versatile camera.” While other manufacturers were killing each other with battles over megapixels and size, GoPro was focusing on a niche market of users who wanted to be able to take their cameras on adventures. It turned out that it was a really big niche.
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The original idea behind employer funded health insurance was that it was supposed to improve productivity by keeping employees healthy. That’s still generally the point, but today it seems that health insurance is mostly about fixing problems after they happen instead of prevention. Corporate wellness programs are the answer for employers who want to keep employees healthy (and lower insurance costs). Limeade is a Bellevue, WA based company that is aiming to “measurably improve well-being in the world through happy, healthy, high-performing workforces.” How do they do this? By offering software that makes rolling out a wellness program a snap for employers.
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Last week we looked at a company called Destination Maternity that has done really well become expectant mothers are often big spenders. Guess what–once they have the baby they keep spending. This is good news for Kids II, which is an Atlanta, GA based company that has “been inventing and reinventing baby toys and gear for over 40 years.” Even though they’ve been around for a while, their continued innovation has made them “one of the world’s fastest growing baby product companies.”
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I’ve been married nearly 9 months now. Slowly more and more people are asking, “When are you going to have kids?” Getting a puppy deflected a little bit of attention, but it’s only going to gain in intensity. If we do eventually give into the pressure, we’ll face a time in our lives that makes preparing for a puppy seem like nothing. That’s why it should be no surprise that the expecting parent market is absolutely huge. In fact, Destination Maternity Corporation, which is based in Philadelphia, PA, does $500 million in annual sales as “the world’s leading maternity apparel retailer.” Yes, a single company (albeit with quite a few brands) can generate half a billion dollars in revenue selling clothes for pregnant women.
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While having the baby boomers leave the workforce should be a good thing for our generation in terms of employment outcomes, the mass retirement will likely bring new challenges. As people age they not only head more healthcare, but they also need more care in general. Sometimes that can be provided by families, but sometimes it needs to be done by professionals. Relias Learning is a Cary, NC based company that educates those professionals by offering “online training to senior care, health and human services, corrections, and intellectual and developmental disabilities organizations.”
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A few years ago I got a lot of free stuff from Bonobos and Gilt Groupe by referring people. It was certainly out of self interest, but it’s hard not to refer a product or service that you love when they’re giving both referrers and referees free stuff. Referral marketing is tremendously effective, but it can be hard to implement a system that works. Extole is a San Francisco, CA based company that specializes in helping “brands acquire new customers at scale by rewarding existing customers.” Why build out your own software to reward customer referrals when you can use Extole’s platform instead?
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We all have at least one friend who has a brilliant idea for an app or website, but no way of building it. They think that if they can just find some geek to develop it for “equity,” they’ll be instant millionaires. Building a digital business isn’t even close to that easy, and marketing/business talent is just as important as tech talent. Most people who want to start a company on the web need to either figure out how to do it themselves or pay a lot of money (not equity) to get someone to build it for them. Even then, most agencies are designed to help clients later in the game. That’s not true with Digital Intent. They’re a Chicago, IL based business that helps “clients identify products customers will pay for, design compelling user experiences to make customers happy, and rapidly build high performance products that scale.”
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Every company and organization in the world is looking for better talent. The problem is that the quest for talent is typically a zero-sum game for employers. The world’s most talent people are typically employed, so the only way to hire them is to steal them from someone else; however, there are some exceptions. The Center for Talent Innovation is a non-profit think tank that focuses on these exceptions. They’re based in New York, NY and have a two-fold mission: “to drive ground-breaking research that leverages talent across the divides of gender, generation, geography and culture; and to create a community of senior executives united by an understanding that full utilization of the global talent pool is at the heart of competitive success.”
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One of the best things about the Internet is that it allows creative people to find a market for their work. What used to be a hobby for someone can now be a living. The problem is that creating isn’t enough–you have to learn how to run a business too. Gumroad is a company that makes that part easier. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they “help millions of creators earn their livings in an interesting, authentic way.” Gumroad’s platform takes all of the complications out of selling digital goods online. Whether it’s a book, music, a video, or something else, Gumroad will help you with marketing, accepting payments, and offering secured downloads.
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Have you ever sat around and waited for a phone call? It sucks. Believe it or not, there are a lot of businesses in which you sit around and wait for customers to call you. A plumber is a great example, but there are much more sophisticated businesses that have the same problem. They can invest in marketing that drives more calls, but why do that when you can invest online and track every step of the conversion/sales process? Because people who pick up the phone are often much better leads than people who inquire online. That’s why Invoca is bringing online analytics to phone calls. They are based in Santa Barbara, CA, and their “inbound call marketing tools empower you to generate better leads, higher conversions, smarter spends and greater revenue.”
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At this time last year, Amy and I were in the thick of wedding planning. Part of me is relieved that it’s in the past (because the wedding was awesome), but I also kind of miss it. We were lucky to have an amazing wedding planner who proposed great ideas and narrowed down the early decisions for us to make them manageable. Before we got to that point, though, we had to do our “homework.” That meant looking through all kinds of books and magazines to mark what we liked and what we didn’t like. It was a bit old fashioned, but it worked. Loverly is a New York, NY based company that brings that process online. It’s “a one-stop-shop for wedding planning where brides and grooms find ideas, people to hire and things to buy.”
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Now that we’re all walking around with HD video cameras in our pockets, it’s hard not to amass a huge collections of digital media. We might share some of the highlights on our favorite social media sites, but most of it just sits idle and waits for us to take another look when we’re stuck in a place with no cell service and no Wi-Fi. We can do more with our media, and that’s what Animoto is all about. They’re a New York, NY based company that helps regular people make and share extraordinary videos of anything imaginable.
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I pretty much shut down if I have to deal with paper documents. Luckily, in my line of business, almost everything happens online. While at one time I thought it might be a good idea for me to pursue law as a career option, I’m really glad I didn’t. Dealing with all of those documents–even if they were digitized–would drive me nuts. The good news for lawyers that kCura makes things a little more manageable. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that “develops web-based e-discovery applications for managing large volumes of electronic evidence during litigation or investigations.” The software is called Relativity, and it’s a web-based app that makes managing evidence way easier.
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There’s no doubt that health and fitness are the most popular categories for New Year’s resolutions, but many people also want to improve themselves in the areas of education, finance, and careers. It seems easy at first–if you make better decisions, you’ll be better–but good decision making can be really hard. Tree.com is a company that aims to be the place “where good decisions start.” The Charlotte, NC based company operates a portfolio of brands and businesses that can help you whether you’re “buying or selling a home, financing a new car, sending a child to college or shopping around for a new credit card.”
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I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the coldest weather of my life last night, but it’s pretty good to be “stranded” on a tropical island. Since I work from home, I used to get through cold snaps by not leaving the house for extended periods of time. Now that I have a dog and no yard, that would be… messy. Shockingly, if you were more and better clothing, you can stay pretty warm in even the coldest temperatures. Less shockingly, quite a few of the companies that make awesome cold weather gear are based in Canada. We don’t usually cover opportunities outside the U.S., but we’re making an exception for Arc’teryx. They are based in Vancouver, BC, and they merge their “unrivaled designs with the best quality, highest performing materials and assemble them in the most innovative and most durable manner for the intended use.” In other words, they make high performance for extreme situations–whether it’s climbing a mountain or walking your dog on the coldest day of your life.
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