What Are The Think Big Accelerator Companies Up To?

Things move fast here at Think Big Partners.  From the collaborations in our coworking space to our entrepreneur events, everything seems to be created very quickly.  And for are accelerator companies, the TBP experience is no different.

Each of our accelerator companies have been making big waves in their own respective fields. With so many things going on, it’s hard to keep up with all the accomplishments these entrepreneurs and their fantastic startups are doing.

We’ve compiled a highlight reel of sorts of what the Think Big Partners Accelerator companies are up to.  Take a look: 

Keyzio

Founder Parker Hills and the rest of the Keyzio team are happy to announce they have had their first successful user sale using the Keyzio platform.  Keyzio will also be launching its website that mirrors the same full functionality available on the iPhone app.  This new addition will no doubt increase the already growing user base of Keyzio. Stay abreast on what this great startup is up to by Liking Keyzio on Facebook or following them @KeyzioInc.

TheHub.fm

Head honcho of TheHub.fm Jonathan Block has racked up some miles since March. After joining 50 other entrepreneurs from Missouri bound for SXSW, via bus, for the SXSW Interactive and Music Festivals. TheHub.fm generated a ton of great press most notably, Digital Trends’ list of best apps at SXSW 2013. Following a whirlwind trip in Austin with a brief pit stop in NYC to see The Allman Brothers front row center (being a veteran in the music business has it’s perks), it was on to Toronto, Canada for Canadian Music Week. While there, Jonathan was a featured on a panel for Mobile and Social Media Strategies. After CMW, it was back to NYC for 2 weeks for meetings and networking. All of Jonathan’s hard work is geared toward TheHub.fm’s launch which is poised for summer 2013. 

Phone2Action

At SXSW, Phone2Action competed in the SXSW Interactive Accelerator. After a great pitch by founder Jeb Ory, Phone2Action bested the other seven participants earning a big SXSW win and $4,000. Part of Phone2Action’s victory can also be attributed to its praise from Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Mark Warner (D-VA), who embraced the platform for support of their Startup Act 3.0 legislation. Since gaining momentum at SXSW, Jeb and the rest of the Phone2Action team has been on a roll and recently just returned from CES on the Hill where they were alongside fellow exhibitors Microsoft, Google and others.

Fully

Currently spreading its mantra to “Keep Calm and Power On”, founder Bryan Richard has been traveling all over the nation working on getting Fully’s charging stations into places where people need it most. One of those places in need is AT&T Park, home of the World Series Champion, the San Francisco Giants. It’s only a matter of time until the rest of the country will be Fully charged.

We here at Think Big Partners are excited about what all of our accelerator companies have accomplished. We can’t wait to see what the summer has in store for these driven entrepreneurs and their startups.

Stay up to date with all of our startups and the rest of the Think Big team by following us @ThinkBigKC.

Think Big Accelerator Spotlight: Parker Hills of Keyzio

Almost every entrepreneur will tell you it’s usually not the first venture that works out to be a success. And for Kansas City native and engineer Parker Hills, founder of Keyzio, this statement reigns true. His first venture into the startup world began a few years ago with a small company that developed and deployed algorithmic trading strategies in the US equities markets.  As Parker puts it, “We built a lot of really cool things and learned a ton.  But it got to a point where it wasn't profitable, so it was best to just shut it down.”

Parker Hills,  founder of Keyzio

But when one door closes, another door almost always opens.  And the idea of Parker’s current venture, Keyzio, sparked when he and his wife sold their house but couldn't find a new house that met their desires.

“We were looking in an in-demand area, but weren't finding anything available that met our specs and our budget, and the clock was ticking” says Parker of the problem he faced.  “We had heard stories of house hunters having success dropping letters or knocking on doors simply asking homeowners if they’d be interested in selling their home.  There is a world of hidden sellers out there, but they are tough to find.”

And that was the simple idea that Parker took to Startup Weekend in Kansas City. 

The initial design of Keyzio was to be able to push a button on your phone and let an owner, who isn't necessarily looking to sell at the time but is open to the idea, know you’re interested in purchasing their home.  Since the original idea, Keyzio has grown into a full-fledged business model that connects buyers, sellers, lenders, real estate agents, and other entities that encompass the real estate industry.

Due to his success at Kansas City Startup Weekend (Keyzio earned 2^nd place) and the evolution of Keyzio, Parker decided to apply for the KC-based accelerator program run by Think Big Partners.  He was accepted into the first class. 

“I had met Herb (founding partner of Think Big Partners) in the past and had been following Think Big’s growth,” explains Parker. “When I saw the announcement and launch of the accelerator, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to stop toying around with the idea and see if it actually had legs.”

Currently, Keyzio’s website is live in public beta and its buyer-focused iPhone application just hit the app store (just search Keyzio in the app store).  Although the service is running in a minimal capacity, the startup is constantly iterating on the structure it already has in place.  One of the most interesting aspects of Keyzio is the feature that allows prospective buyers to send a personalized letter to a homeowner to express their interest in a particular home. The feature is currently being tested, but thus far, has yielded very positive results.

As for the future of Keyzio, Parker’s hopes to fulfill the vision of Keyzio’s tagline “Where every house is for sale”, where buyers can easily connect with the entire universe of potential sellers, and sellers can privately test the market before they are ready to publicly list their home.

Parker feels the Think Big Accelerator program has benefited him so far in his journey of building Keyzio.

“The first few weeks were definitely more intense than the last few weeks, but it has really kept us focused on short term priorities and customer validation,” he explains. “Time is extremely valuable right now.  There’s no reason to spend time on something that isn't absolutely critical to validating our business model or staying on schedule to launch early next year.”

Follow Keyzio! @KeyzioInc

Read About our other Accelerator Startups here.

Think Big Accelerator in Full Swing in Kansas City

We hit the ground running yesterday with our first Think Big Accelerator class.  The entrepreneurs from New York City, Los Angeles and Kansas City all came together to finally meet one another (as well as Think Big Partners) face-to-face.  The energy was high.  The coffee was plentiful (as was the paperwork).  And the first day of the accelerator seemed to pass by in a blink of an eye.

We are extremely excited to welcome our first accelerator class to the bizperc coworking space, a new office that these startups may start calling "home".  A warm welcome to Keyzio, Kahootz, inCharge, Phone2Action, H2OCloud and WeeJay--the six members of the original Think Big Accelerator class!

These six startups have quite an autumn (and winter) ahead of them.  Think Big Accelerator's 22-week program will truly test these entrepreneurs' strengths and weaknesses and put their big ideas to the test.  With ongoing mentorship, collaboration, startup services, field trips and in-depth discussions and solutions on a weekly basis, we're pretty confident that these six startups will come out stronger, better and more profitable in just 22 weeks.

Accelerator members were invited on a tour of the bizperc coworking space. 

Johnathan Block of H2OCloud (left) and Connor Sweeney of WeeJay (right).

Jeb Ory of Phone2Action. 

Let's just say Day 1 was already quite productive...

Sarah Snyder (left) and Emily Leeper (right) help with accelerator logistics.

Parker Hills of Keyzio (left) goes in-depth with Blake Miller of Think Big Partners (right).

Follow these startups along the accelerator journey.  Stay tuned on our blog for more news and updates about each of these companies and how they're progressing in the Think Big Accelerator! It's going to be a wild ride.

Follow me! @AllisonThinkBig

ANNOUNCING: The Six Startups to Participate in the First Think Big Accelerator Class

We are excited to finally announce the six startups accepted into our first accelerator class, which is to begin on September 25, 2012 at our coworking space, bizperc, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Think Big Accelerator opened its first application window on June 14, 2012 for tech-focused, early-stage startups interested in launching a business faster, smarter and stronger within a Midwest accelerator program.  The accelerator focuses on technology-based businesses with consumer-facing services, software, web services, apps and supportive solutions, to participate in the program.

We have accepted six companies from across the nation to participate in our 22-week accelerator program:

• H2OCloud (New York, New York): H2OCloud is a cloud-based application that connects music fans to bands in a mobile-based platform.  H2OCloud helps bands create more revenue through better marketing, smarter asset management and improve the overall fan experience and artist-fan interaction.
• inCharge (Kansas City, Missouri): inCharge is a kiosk-based mobile phone charging station that provides digital out-of-home targeted advertising to the consumer.  inCharge’s initial focus is high teledensity overseas markets.
• Kahootz (Kansas City, Missouri): Kahootz is a consumer-focused online calendar platform that provides users with easier ways to combine, share and manage all obligations and profiles on one easy-to-maintain social-based platform. Kahootz also enables user-controlled, privacy-enabled, permission-based business-to-consumer markets through event promotion syndication.
• Keyzio (Kansas City, Missouri): Keyzio has been defined as the Match.com for real estate for two people who don’t know they are trying to find each other. The Keyzio platform connects people and helps them find, buy and sell real estate that may not normally be available through MLS.
• Phone2Action (Los Angeles, California): Phone2Action uses location-based mobile technology to instantly connect constituents to their lawmakers making in-the-moment advocacy easier.
• Weejay (Kansas City, MO): Weejay is a virtual jukebox application that allows customers to control music in particular venues through mobile devices. Weejay’s venue management feature dashboard enables total control of music for a specific venue and creates better revenue opportunities for venue owners to enhance the overall patron experience. 

“Once again, we were overwhelmed by both the quality and the quantity of applications we received,” said Think Big Partners co-founder Tyler Prochnow.  “While the quality of their ideas alone were impressive, even more impressive was the quality of the entrepreneurs.  Several of the class participants are repeat founders who have already achieved a high level of success in other ventures.  We are confident that they will add significant value to the formal program we have established.” 

The first Think Big Accelerator class will start its 22-week program on Tuesday, September 25, 2012, capped by a Demo Week in January of 2013.      

Think Big Accelerator typically takes 6-8% equity in participating companies with an $18,000-$24,000 investment.  Additionally, there will be an alternative track for those who are not interested in funding but would like to participate in the accelerator program to receive its benefits. 

"We are especially excited to be able to attract a different type of entrepreneur to Kansas City," said co-founder of Think Big Partners, Herb Sih. "The Think Big Accelerator Program will enable entrepreneurs who could not uproot their lives and move to another city for four months to build and launch companies while still maintaining other life obligations at some level. We took cues from executive MBA programs, combined them with accelerator best practices, then bolted on an innovation factory mentality.” 

To learn more about our Think Big Accelerator, please visit www.thinkbigpartners.com/accelerator.

Follow me! @AllisonThinkBig

Entrepreneur Corner Spotlights 4 Startup Weekend Kansas City Companies During First Fridays

Do you enjoy good company and rooftop cocktails while watching the sunset reflect off of the Kansas City skyline? Of course you do! Who doesn't?  And these are just three of the many reasons to join us for Entrepreneur Corner at bizperc during First Fridays.


April’s Entrepreneur Corner was an undeniable success and this month's event is shaping up to be just as amazing. Each month we will feature a different startup company from the KC area, but this month we are featuring 4 different companies. What a coincidence...4 companies on May 4^th!


The 4 companies who will be showcased at Entrepreneur Corner all originated from Startup Weekend Kansas City:


Gruple makes group payments simple; it creates grups, invites grupies, notifies grupies, and provides grupies with a simple and quick way to reimburse others for tickets through debit, credit, and e-check.  But Gruple is useful for so much more than ticket reimbursement! Gruple is useful for any group activity, which requires the collection or reimbursement of money. Imagine group gifts, group trips, fantasy sports, recreational sports, group t-shirt purchases, etc.


Keyzio finds your location, allows you to verify your dream home address and then sends a postcard to inform the homeowner of your interest.


LunchUp is “the simplest way to share what you’re doing for lunch.” It’s an app that broadcasts when and where you’re going to lunch and who you’re going with. It’s a time-saving, inclusive, convenient virtual concierge that pushes you to discover.


Tuthopper is Startup Weekend’s big winner! Tuthopper teaches programming and system architecture through games. The app features a Code Dojo and fun game-play environment that will help kids learn coding through games.


We are beyond excited for the upcoming Entrepreneur Corner and we hope that you share our enthusiasm. Come have a drink, a snack, and a laugh. Make some connections and create some memories with us and our featured companies on Friday, May 4^th.

Follow bizperc! @bizperc

Congratulations to Kansas City Startup Weekend Winners TutHopper, Keyzio & Grüple!

After 12 pitch presentations, hundreds of cups of coffee and less than 2 hours of sleep, Startup Weekend Kansas City came to a close yesterday at the Union Station Board Room.  And although many of the presenters (and even organizers) may have been delirious on Sunday night due to lack of sleep and an abundance of caffeine, there was an energy in the Startup Weekend air when the winners were finally announced.


3RD PLACE:  Congratulations to Grüple, who snagged the 3rd place prize at Startup Weekend Kansas City.  Gruple.co creates a grüp, invites grüpies, notifies grüpies, and provides grüpies with a simple and quick way to reimburse others for tickets (through debit, credit and e-check). 


2ND PLACE:  Another congratulations goes out to Keyzio, winner of the 2nd place prize.  Keyzio finds your location, allows you to verify your dream home address and then sends a postcard to inform the homeowner of your interest. 

1ST PLACE:  And finally, a BIG congratulations to TutHopper, winner of Kansas City Startup Weekend!  TutHopper is a web-based company that teaches programming and system architecture through games.  Featuring a Code Dojo and fun game-play environment, TutHopper will help kids learn coding concepts through games. Learn more at @TutHopper.  


Startup Weekend KC didn't announce the winners via press release or live blog post.  Instead, the tech-savvy event blasted out the winners via Twitter the moment they were announced at the yesterday's live finale event.

Congratulations to all participants, organizers, volunteers and sponsors of Kansas City Startup Weekend.  Another successful 54 hours are in the bag!  

Follow me! @AllisonThinkBig

Follow Startup Weekend KC! @KCSW