Entrepreneurial Minutes

eMinutes from November 2011

ZipTip, Lois Lambert 401-207-9134\

 

Ziptip solves the current problems of cash tipping:  (1) tips not paid for lack of cash; (2) tips paid not easy to track (e.g. business travelers); (3) tips left behind may not be secure; (4) in some cases employers, for lack of a better method, are controlling tip receipts belonging to employees; (5) tipping not before addressed as an important issue, although it impacts millions on a daily basis.

 
Ziptip solves the above mentioned problems of cash tipping by using smartphones, business cards and  PayPal.  This unique method (for which a provisional patent has been filed and accepted) involves having the tipper scan unique info on the tippee’s business card, called a Medallion.   Medallions can be displayed in many ways most notably by giving it (like a business card) to the prospective tipper.  
 
Other benefits of using Ziptip for tipping:  no hardware required/instant settlement/completely confidential.  
 
At least 6 revenue streams:  fee per transaction; sale of Medallions at ziptip.net; sale of branded collateral at Ziptip.net; licensing revenue for customizing instant customer feedback fields for employers; advertising to tippees on site; advertising to tippers on apps; 
 
Status of start-up:  core team built apps and back end at hackathons in California early 2011; starting to talk to investors; will need resources for marketing and promotions, among other things.  Forming advisory roles.
 
eMinutes from October 2011

David Reynolds

Atlantic Geothermal LLC
 
Atlantic Geothermal LLC is raising funds to satisfy investor requirements for building a 160 megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant that is shovel-ready for development in New England, utilizing a Closed Loop Energy Mine design (CLEM). Land needs to be secured, along with equipment, insurance, labor and pre-sold electricity contracts. Seven potential sites have been evaluated for development in New England with the most-promising located in New Hampshire. Funds are requested for deposits to secure land and equipment, as well as legal fees and due diligence on site geology. We are looking for early stage funding of $500,000 that will make it possible to secure investment of $760 million to begin construction. 
 
The management team consists of J. David Reynolds – Founder and President, Richard W. Lowrance – Business Development and External Relations, Kevin Downey – Sales, and Melissa Loiodice Esq – Legal Counsel. David Reynolds has an extensive mining background and attended college for engineering. In addition, Atlantic Geothermal retains interest and involvement from two geothermal exploration companies, local and national environmental consulting firms, multinational firms in engineering and legal advisory, as well as seasoned professionals in alternative energy advocacy. We are presently seeking an engineer with project management experience on large-scale endeavors, such as power plants, and a business / financial advisor with experience in the alternative energy sector.
 
eMinutes from March 2011

Jeffrey Peden, Founder & CEO, CraveLabs

 

Before starting CraveLabs, I was a cofounder and CTO for an early Location Based Services company (Newbury Networks). My cofounder Ashley comes from the digital marketing agency world, working with businesses, large and small, to improve their online presence.

 

Together, we started CraveLabs with the belief that location based and social networking products could be better at connecting users to businesses. We've built technology that extends the Facebook platform and takes the connections between users and businesses one step further: Beyond just the brand or the place, we let users share with their friends what really excites them when they connect with a business: a product or service that they and their friends will Crave.

 

We have initially targeted this technology at the restaurant industry -- a large segment of small business that is currently under-served by a lack of social networking tools that address the specific needs of that market. Our product, CraveUp, provides a platform for restaurants to use their greatest asset, the amazing dishes they serve, as a foundation for a long-lived and customer driven social-media engagement campaign. We do this by providing social- and mobile-enabled menus, where users can Like, share, and comment on every dish on the menu



For users, CraveUp helps people find and share the foods they crave, with a search engine powered by each user’s OWN social network. So, if I'm looking to eat somewhere different tonight, and want a great steak, I can simply open the app on my phone, and see what my friends recommend.

 

We have launched pilot-programs with multiple restaurants in the Greater Boston area, and will soon be seeking seed capital to further expand our product and customer development activities.

 

eMinutes from February 2011

Yalin Solak, Founder, Chipalizer, Inc.

yalin@chipalizer.com
www.chipalizer.com

Chipalizer Inc. is a software start-up of a semiconductor specific Integrated Development Environment for bench testing. We are located in Cambridge, MA at the CIC in Kendall Sq.

 

Initially Chipalizer Inc. will deliver an on premise service, evolving to a SaaS.

 

Our Target companies are chip designers, both fabricators and non fabricators of Analog, ASIC and Mixed signal chips and micro-controllers.

 

Using proprietary technology, C TestView bench system reads "your product datasheet" and produces "device specific" Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with fully integrated bench equipment of your choice. System, design and product engineers can do functional verification and/or automated characterization tests on the bench, instead of relying on costly ATE (Automated Test Equipment). The result is faster development, improved testing capability, higher reliability and lower cost. We can deliver our solution in less than two weeks, as opposed to 3-9 months.

 

Version 1.0 of the software will be ready on March 15th. We have begun selling the service, and have several interested prospects.

 

We are actively looking for customers. We are also looking for a Customer Engagement Manager.

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