技术头脑风暴大会创业偶像诞生记
|
《财富》杂志（Fortune）编辑部在决定将哪些企业作为报道对象时，各位同事都会格外精挑细选。而当我们在科罗拉多州阿斯彭市举行的年度盛事“头脑风暴技术类公司竞赛”（Brainstorm Tech competition）上评选“创业偶像”（Startup Idol）时更是郑重其事。毕竟，最终只有一家企业能够获得“创业偶像”大奖。 今年共有五家初创企业角逐这大奖。奖品包括赫曼•米勒公司（Herman Miller）出品的家具和一台全新的联想（Lenovo）多点触控电脑。下面我们就来了解一下各家候选公司的情况，看看谁会成为最后的优胜者： Bina科技公司 候选理由：虽然现在做一次人类基因测序只需花1,000美元，但分析原始基因数据的费用还是高达1万美元。位于加州红木海岸（Redwood Shores）的Bina科技公司认为，这其实是一个巨大的机遇。该公司源于斯坦福大学（Stanford University）和加州大学伯克利分校（UC Berkeley）联手开展的一个癌症研究项目，去年才正式创立。它推出的产品是Bina Box。Bina Box利用公司开发的硬件和软件分解、压缩并处理数据，然后将数据传送到储存并进一步处理数据的Bina云（Bina Cloud），或传送到专为该公司定制的一个私有云中。 评委点评：UberMedia公司的首席执行官比尔•格罗斯表示：“你们追求的目标很远大。抢占先机是好事，但是行动太超前的话就颇具挑战性了。先从在座的合伙人手里拉些投资吧。确保你们能撑到市场真正形成的那一天。” Afterschool.me公司 候选理由：首席执行官兼创始人伊万•费尔德曼创办的这家企业可以被视为一个在线中心，它拥有一些社交网络的要素，致力于帮助家长为孩子寻找课余补习项目。费尔德曼称：“我们使培训机构与家长的交流变得更便捷，并且给它们带来新的利润源。” 评委点评：格罗斯说：“我喜欢这个产品，也会用在自己孩子身上。但是你们需要打响知名度，要通过一些独特的角度来获得关键的多数客户，这样才能吸引大量客户。我也不知道具体该怎么做，但这是你们需要努力的重点。” Axonify公司 候选理由：这家公司成立于2011年，主要致力于改变雇主培训员工的方式。它位于安大略省的滑铁卢市，所用的主要工具是一种基于云的软件。这种软件围绕一种名为“间歇式重复”（spaced repetition）的行为学习技术构建。它在电脑、智能手机、销售终端和安全终端等各种设备上提供各种短小的问题、数据片段和游戏，每天只需花90秒或更少时间即可完成。 评委点评：社交+资本合伙公司（Social + Capital Partnership）的一般合伙人马姆恩•海密德称：“我确实很喜欢你们的项目。毕竟重新培训员工要比重新招人容易得多。” Sift公司 候选理由：普通电子邮件用户每年收到的购物类邮件超过9,000封。如果这一数字属实，那么任何时候，用户的收件箱都有50%的空间都被这类邮件占据。这使电子邮件的使用体验变得糟糕透顶，邮箱似乎充斥着零售商的电邮、每日特卖和订货确认信息，简直泛滥成灾。Sift的投资方是移动创业公司的推动者Tandem公司和一些像商务社交网站LinkedIn公司的资深副总裁迪普•尼萨这样的天使投资人。作为一个购物类应用，Sift专为平板电脑和智能手机打造。通过从用户的购物邮件、Facebook上显示的偏好和发布的Tweet及其他网络痕迹中获取的相关信息，Sift能创造一种移动购物体验。而那些烦人的购物邮件呢？用户可以选择把它们自动保存到一个独立的文件夹里。 评委点评：海密德的问题是：“你们如何获取用户并使用这种产品呢？现在市场上电子商务已经表现出疲态，所以要让人使用另一种应用以巩固市场份额会是一个巨大的挑战。” Storycoach公司 候选理由：Story Coach公司通过让用户动笔写故事或将口述内容变成文本的方式让他们获得故事。其内在技术还能搜索网络，找到相关图片、视频和文章，并将所有这些整合起来，打造一个富含多种媒体内容的复述故事。 评委点评：“这个创意很有意思。但是对我来说，它似乎属于太细分的市场领域。而且，它似乎很容易复制：其他许多大公司只要愿意，就能推出这种服务。它必须要做到脱颖而出，成为一个功能精良的产品。我绝不会在它还半生不熟时就仓促把它推向市场。” 最后赢家是：Axonify公司。 译者：清远 |
Fortune's fourth-annual contest for the perfect elevator pitch. Here at Fortune, the staff is selective when it comes to the companies we cover. When it comes to our Startup Idol competition at the annual Brainstorm Tech competition in Aspen, Colo., it's fair to say that the stakes are even higher. After all, only one startup can win. This year, five startups vied for the mantle and prizes included furniture from Herman Miller and a new multi-touch computer from Lenovo. Meet the contestants, and find out which one emerged the victor: Bina Technologies The pitch: Though the human genome can now be sequenced for as little as $1,000, analyzing that raw genetic data can still cost upwards of $10,000. The Redwood Shores, California-based Bina Technologies, sees that as an opportunity. The company, founded last year, began as a cancer research project at Stanford University and UC Berkeley, and produced the Bina Box, which pairs company-developed hardware and software to crunch, compress and process data, then either transmits it to the Bina Cloud, which stores and processes the data, or a private cloud constructed for the company. Judge's comment: "I think you're going after something that's incredible," said UberMedia CEO Bill Gross. "It's good to be early, but to be way too early is challenging. Get some money out of these partners. Make sure you're alive when the market really booms." Afterschool.me The pitch: Think of CEO and founder Evan Fieldman's venture as an online hub with social networking elements focused on helping parents find after-school programming for their kids. "We're faciliating conversations with parents and introducing new revenue streams beyond registration," says COE and founder Evan Fieldman. Judge's comment: "I loved the product and would use it for my own kids," said Gross. "But you need awareness, some angle to get critical mass but also so people can turn to you. I don't have the idea, but that's where you need to focus." Axonify The pitch: Founded in 2011, the company aims to transform the way employers train workers. The Waterloo, Ontario-based startup uses cloud-based software built around a behavioral-learning technique called "spaced repetition" that serves up trivia-style questions, bits of data, and games on different devices -- computers, smartphones, point-of-sale, and security terminals -- and take 90 seconds a day or less to complete. Judge's comment: "I really like what it is you do," said Mamoon Hamid, General Partner, The Social + Capital Partnership. "It's easier to retrain than to rehire." Sift The pitch: The average email user receives over 9,000 shopping messages a year, which, if true, can account for 50% of their inbox at any given time. That can make for an awfully clumsy email experience, one seemingly overrun by retailer emails, daily deals, and order confirmations. Backed by mobile startup accelerator Tandem and angel investors like LinkedIn Senior Vice President Deep Nishar, Sift is a shopping app for the tablet and smartphone set that creates a mobile shopping experienced based around a user's preferences and history from shopping emails, Facebook preferences, and Tweets, among other things. As for those pesky shopping emails? Users have the option of having them automatically moved into a separate folder. Judge's comment: How do you acquire users and use a product like this?" asked Hamid. "There's an e-commerce fatigue in the market today and trying to get someone to use another app to consolidate will be a challenge." Storycoach The pitch: Story Coach lets users capture stories either by letting them write them out or translating their spoken word to text. Under-the-hood tech also scours the Internet for items like relevant photos, videos, and articles, and weaves them in to create a media-rich retelling of the story. Judge's comment: "Interesting idea, but it seems a little bit niche to me and it seems pretty replicable that a lot of other bigger companies could put out if they wanted to. It really has to come out and be a really elegant product to use. I wouldn't put it out halfway done. And the winner was: Axonify. |
