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We’ve had five new teams start at Groundwork in the last few weeks:

Dibs Rewards

Dibs helps small businesses build their customer list, publish revenue-generating promotions and keep the cash. Merchants receive payment from their promotions immediately and directly, so they never have to run another daily deal.

FokusLabs

FokusLabs is developing a small device to help increase the focus and attention of children and adults with Autism and ADHD.

groundfloor.us

SnapYeti

SnapYeti is a fun, free place to win cash, prizes and awesome discounts on the things you love by participating in weekly photo contests.

The latest team to join our Underground Summer program is Ideal Serendipity Devices (Dawda Jennah) from North Carolina Central’s Eagles Venture Challenge.   Dawda has patent pending technology that dramatically improves the efficiency of inventory management at retail stores.

Underground Summer begins May 20 and will bring winning teams from Duke, North Carolina Central, North Carolina State, and UNC-Chapel Hill into the Groundwork Labs program alongside our current teams.

Yesterday at North Carolina State’s eGames competition we announced the two latest teams who will be joining our Summer Underground Program – Wolf Reflex (John Baker, Evan Connell, and Kyle Lunsford) and Soutenu Dancewear (Suzanne Matthews).  Wolf Reflex is building an ultrasonic proximity system that will make motorcycling safer.  Soutenu is creating a new line of dancewear that incorporates ankle support into the fabric.

Summer Underground begins May 20 and will bring winning teams from Duke, North Carolina Central, North Carolina State, and UNC-Chapel Hill into the Groundwork Labs program alongside of our current teams.

S.

Instead of selecting just one team from the Carolina Challenge for Summer Underground, we wound up picking two.  You can say I’m indecisivve or you can say it was just because I’m a UNC guy, but there were some great teams in the competition and if we wind up being a little crowded this summer, well, the more the merrier.  The two winning teams are GoPhish (Winston Howes, Ian Howes, Jackson Reeves, Jordan Reeves, and Ben Clark) and Cellbreaker (Jon Colgan, Christy Colgan, and Mike Burroughs).

We’ll be picking teams from Duke, NCCU, and NCSU in the coming weeks.

And, to top it off, one of our current Groundwork Labs teams, Jobbertunity (Amy Vaduthalakuzh, Ameya Kulkarni, and Michael Schmidt ) took home the third prize of $1,000 in the Faculty/Staff/Alumni category.
Congratulations to all!

Underground Summer is an opportunity for student-led entrepreneurial teams to get the full Groundwork Labs experience this summer.  We are selecting teams from the business plan competitions at Duke, UNC, NCCU, and NCSU.

We will be making our first selection tonight at UNC’s Carolina Challenge.

Not every idea and team that come through Groundwork Labs is successful, but sometimes even those outcomes wind up with happy endings that add to the Triangle’s startup ecosystem.

I had a conversation yesterday with Mark Kelly, co-founder of Taggs, one of the new Triangle Startup Factory companies, and I asked him to share his story…

A Story of Startups Spinning out of Groundwork Labs

Mark Kelley
Taggs

In April 2012, the Wanderful mobile app team found its way to Groundwork Labs after a successful finish at Triangle Startup Weekend. The Wanderful mobile app project ultimately fizzled when we couldn’t identify a clear path to revenue, but Groundwork Labs gave us the opportunity to build, test, and validate. Though we eventually abandoned the project, Groundwork Labs was the catalyst that brought five local entrepreneurs together and created lasting relationships that led to successful startup spinoffs.

The Back Story

Wanderful built a mobile application and website that aggregates historical data from local sources like OpenDurham and TriangleWiki. The app presents the data to mobile users who can freely explore the Durham history and architecture around them.

Working with the Durham Arts Council, OpenDurham, and the Museum of Durham History, the team officially launched the mobile application as a sponsor of Durham’s 38^th Centerfest Arts Festival. The launch was successful in that the technology was solid. A couple hundred people at Centerfest downloaded and used the application for the weekend event. But the team realized there wasn’t a clear path to revenue. We couldn’t engineer a compelling pivot, so we decided to move on.

New Startups Formed

Through our experience working together in Groundwork Labs, the teammates of Wanderful went on to form or accelerate other startups with greater economic potential than Wanderful.

• Mark Kelley and Norm Santos teamed up to accelerate Taggs Social Image Analytics (http://taggs.co), which is currently in Triangle Startup Factory.
• Todd Mosier and Aaron Averill joined forces to grow ZoneFiveSoftware.com, which successfully serves tens of thousands of fitness buffs worldwide with Sporttracks.
• Carl Licata left his full-time job to become a freelance developer under his own entity the Friendly Pixel Co.

The former Wanderful team continues to keep close contact. It was Groundwork Labs that gave us the space, time, and ability to come together and form relationships that led us to build or grow companies in the Triangle.

After starting the day with some hard work, we enjoyed a couple diversions around lunchtime…

First, we take a little BP over at the DBAP

John leads off…

Rob up next

Kristian bats third

Then, a little poker – we are testing Splitmo’s new Poker Night app for Rob and Phil…

And after lunch, we get back to being serious – Idea Fund Partners’ Lister Delgado talks about lessons learned while fund raising…

Once again, we have been tardy updating the blog and welcoming the new teams who have joined in the last couple months…

Dancing E

The goal of Dancing E is to create a knowledge sharing culture within an organization, and to make it stick.

We are building a technology-agnostic platform around a set of knowledge sharing best practices used by 1,000 high-tech service companies. Our goal is to simplify this, open source the content, and make it available and accessible to other organizations.

Kiynetic

Kiynetic is a cloud-based service management, collaboration, messaging and e-commerce platform for the watch industry. It allows the customer, jewelry store, manufacturers and Watchmaker/technician to collaborate in real time.

Jobbertunity

Jobbertunity is a complete job search management toolkit – think of it as your own personal assistant for all things related to job–search. From prioritizing target companies, to tracking contacts and jobs, to reminding you about follow–ups, Jobbertunity helps you get organized, and land that dream job.

Context Clarity

ContextClarity is a software platform targeted at increasing the fundraising efficiency of university development offices. We provide these offices with a mechanism to monetize both previously unsolicited wealthy individuals and a broader portion of the school’s alumni donor base.

Synstreams

Synstreamms builds applications based on powerful “pattern-of-life” technologies.  These technologies learn targeted behaviors and detect changes in those behaviors indicative of specific events.  The first application is for a mobile app that can be used to prevent texting while driving.

TimeGrab

TimeGrab is the Nike+ for productivity. We help individuals and teams achieve more, faster.

We have had a tremendous amount of help from members of the Triangle startup community  - mentors, speakers, advisors, and interns – and we are delighted to welcome a couple folks who are hanging around the Labs and providing more-than-the-average-share-of-advice to our companies…

Brian Dally is contemplating his next big idea and while doing that is helping startups in the Triangle.  He was most recently a GM at bandwidth.com, where he created Republic Wireless, launching the brand onto a trajectory to become a $100+ million business.

Scott Moody recently re-located to the Triangle.  He founded AuthenTec in Melbourne, FL in 1998, took the company public, and then was acquired by Apple.  He has now founded First Talent Ventures and is advising startups throughout the Southeast and Rwanda.

SyncHear finished up at Groundwork Labs in September. We got an update from co-founders Kevin Szogas and Steve Friedman when they dropped by the Labs this week.

GL: Let’s start with your elevator pitch…

Steve: SyncHear makes and sells a Bluetooth device that enables customers of establishments with multiple TV screens to listen to the audio on their Smartphone.  Patrons of sports bars, restaurants, health clubs or airports can now enjoy audio from whichever screen they choose. Through the mobile app, ads are served to the users which provides revenue that is shared between SyncHear and the owner of the establishment.

GL: Tell us something about your backgrounds and history before you founded SyncHear

Kevin: Both Steve and I are serial entrepreneurs. Steve has started and exited successfully two business’s. I started and ran a marketing company for 11 years, joined a dotcom venture at early stages, and ran a small web/data integration company.  My current company is Group 31 Communications.  Steve is a life long Giant fan and I am a life long Patriot fan which has led to some difficult SuperBowls as of late. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paWOrhrm4b0

GL: How did you come up with the idea for SyncHear?

Kevin: I was watching a Jets game when I really wanted to watch a Patriots game.  I realized I was walking around with a speaker in my pocket and there must be a way to make the TV transmit audio to those speakers.

GL: What’s your ambition for SyncHear?  Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?

Steve: 5 year plans didn’t work for the Russians so I am not going to hazard a guess. I believe when implementing a disruptive technology the market/audience and competitor reaction will play a larger factor in our timeline than my expectations. With that being said, optimally we would like to build a brand as quickly as possible, utilizing large partner deals (think Buffalo Wild Wings).  Our platform will change how owners interact with their customers.  Once we have those customers and that brand, ultimately we would like to license the technology to TV manufacturers and have them include in the TV sets.

GL: What keeps you up at night?

Kevin: On a good night my girlfriend! (sorry I always wanted to use that line). But with regards to the business, the million dollar question: will users continually use SyncHear like they do Google MAPS or banking programs. Will the service be easy and compelling enough that they continue to come back?. Will they come back?.

GL: Tell us about your Groundwork Labs experience.  What has had the biggest impact on SyncHear?

Steve: Our experience was fantastic! The guidance, exposure, sense of community and energy were an integral part of getting us to the point we are at today. When we become successful we will certainly point to the Underground as having played a large part in our success.

GL: What’s next for SyncHear?

Steve: We are about to close our first round on financing.  Our prototype will be delivered in January and we will begin trials immediately. In store marketing is underway and we are finalizing our rollout strategy and metrics to measure success.

GL: Anything else?

Kevin: No one builds a company in a silo and no founder is the sole reason that a new venture is successful. I believe Durham is putting into place a formula that will lead to many success stories and companies rising from the ashes. However, my concern is the somewhat limited amount of available capital. Many people kick the tires but collectively we all need to attract more investors and build a success story that will bring the true risk takers into the community.

We are really excited to announce Underground Summer 2013, a special program beginning in May for a select group of entrepreneurs at five North Carolina universities.  A team from each school will be chosen to participate in the Groundwork Labs program, enabling the student teams to work alongside the other companies in Groundwork Labs.

Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina, and Wake Forest University each will select a team from their business plan competitions to join Groundwork Labs.

The selected teams will receive the same mentoring, marketing, legal, financial, and business plan advice from industry experts, and free office space that is offered to companies selected for Groundwork Labs.

Student entrepreneurs should contact their respective schools regarding participation.

We have been remiss in not updating our blog in a looong time, six teams have recently joined Groundwork Labs:

Evitca

Evitca seeks to promote a healthy lifestyle by providing a unified environment, flexible toolset, and advanced analytics for all fitness stakeholders. Whether it is peers, professionals, or organizations, our service leverages web and mobile technologies to make it convenient for users to build knowledge, track progress, and connect with motivators.

Global Oasis Technologies

Burgeoning populations and global urbanization are driving an ever-greater demand for safe, centralized water supplies, but the diversity of key pollutants requires that water quality be monitored using a vast array of techniques—a costly, labor intensive, and time consuming endeavor. Global Oasis Technologies addresses this issue by combining advances in medical diagnostics with the use of microbes as bioindicators, enabling rapid and comprehensive water quality assessment on a single platform.

Home Wellness

HomeWellness is a comprehensive platform helping homeowners with energy efficient and sustainable home renovation offered as a corporate benefit. As an employee, they get access to unbiased information, interactive tools, and access to discounts and incentives regarding sustainable home renovation.

iFanKind

iFanKind enables you and everything you do each day to matter more. Register on the site or mobile app for unique celebrity experiences and fan-related rewards earned by completing actions you already enjoy. The site’s ad revenue is shared with the worthy causes you care about, creating a fun way to make your lasting, ‘social good’ impact for free.

MyEasyBNB

MyEasyBNB is a platform for small Bed and Breakfasts to easily create a web presence complete with reservation and bookings.

Splitmo

Splitmo creates mobile apps that leverage dual screen technology, allowing users to share media in a whole new way. Its first app, Air Show lets consumers and business professionals spontaneously share their iPhone/iPad presentations and photos wirelessly on an HDTV screen while using the mobile device as an on-the-fly preview and editing screen. Splitmo is focused on developing game-changing products for consumers and businesses, leveraging mobile devices and home entertainment systems like HDTVs, game consoles and set-top-boxes.

Artificial Intelligence Patents finished up their last week in Groundwork Labs and I caught up with CEO Liat Belinson to share what she has been working on. AIP is developing a patent search engine that uses context rather than only text.

What has your company been working on recently?

We have been extensively working on business development while forming new strategic relationships with world-leading innovating companies. To support and enhance our business development efforts we are also engaged in advancing our patent search engine, and add novel features as raised by our existing and potential new clients.

What has been the most difficult part so far?

The most difficult part has been to find the right balance between business and technology development. This has been especially challenging in light of our tight financial and human resources.

How has your time at Groundwork Labs been?

Groundwork had a tremendous impact on AIP, on both technical and business side. On the technical side, Groundwork put us in touch with its vast network of developers. This helped use speed up our technology development. In addition to helping access the comprehensive network of technical experts we greatly benefited from a close supervision by the Grounwork’s heads (most notably, John Austin). The weekly meeting and the “open door” policy allowed us to identify and focus on the optimal market segment, as well as contact us with leading business people in the most relevant space where our offering is mostly valuable.

What’s next?
The next stage in AIP development is to sign at least four long-term contracts with large clients we have been talking to in the past few month. We are hoping that signing these contracts would put AIP on the right path of growth.

Three new teams have recently started their time at Groundwork Labs, here is more about them:

Able Device

Able Device is dedicated to fueling the growth of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications by reducing the cost, complexity, and risk associated with developing embedded wireless applications. With SIMbae™, the company’s patented technology and powerful toolkit; M2M applications can be embedded and executed on a mobile operator’s SIM card rather than an external CPU. This approach revolutionizes the wireless architecture of purpose-built machines such as utility meters and security systems resulting in cost savings, ease of development, and future-proofing of the M2M application.

SIMbae, distributed by M2M communication service providers and mobile operators, is used by application developers to power M2M solutions that range from remote monitoring, point-of-sale, security, and more.

Website

iMedia Revenue

iMedia Revenue brokers the powerful ecosystem between local news providers, advertisers, and consumers. Our cloud-based SaaS solutions manage both new media news publishing and the local digital advertising marketplace, transforming today’s struggling news agencies into digital media publishers and returning them to their historic role as the primary source for local business advertising.

Website

Pluribus Systems

Pluribus Systems makes e-commerce safer and easier for everyone by generating single-use credit/debit card numbers directly from the consumer’s computer or mobile device. These numbers work through the existing payment system requiring no changes by the merchant.

Pluribus builds a bridge to the payment system everyone wants: something easy to use, easy to manage, and cryptographically secure.

Website

Recent graduate of Groundwork Labs member, Rhetti, announced today that they closed their Seed Round of $50,000. They plan to use the investment to complete the development of the Beta release. Rheti is an innovative “App for Anyone to build Apps” that allows non-technical users to create custom apps on their smart phones within minutes and without having to write one line of code. Their smart phone based integrated development environment platform was built for the Post PC world and has been developed by a team with more than 45 years of combined experience and surrounded by world class advisors.

For more information on Rheti.com, please visit www.rheti.com.

• AIP - develops a patent search technology management tool. AIP is able to match ideas, rather than words. AIP helps enterprises understand and exploit the inter-relationships within their IP portfolio and across functional units (e.g. R&D and legal) while adding resolution to pre and post-merger valuation and integration.

• Giftwhen – offers people a way to influence and reward outcomes through conditional giving campaigns. In a GiftWhen campaign, pledges only go to the recipient entity (e.g. non-profit, university, or political organization) when a specific condition has been met.

• Impulsonic - develops audio content creation tools for tablets and handheld devices. Sound designers can use our tools to generate realistic, physics-based sound with directional and environmental effects.

• Motavi – is an integrated trading platform and exchange where anyone can invest and trade shares of early stage companies.

• Sync Hear - SyncHear makes and sells a Bluetooth device that streams the audio from a television to a Smartphone with a mobile application that enables users to choose up to 64 screens that are enabled with the technology within a 300′ range.

• Wanderful -is a virtual environment that enhances the exploration, sharing, and preservation of local history and culture.

Groundwork Labs member Sqord recently was awarded $50,000 in the Technology Innovation category from the Active Schools Acceleration Project. Sqord combines physical activity along with technology to make being active for youth both engaging and competitive.

Sqord is an interactive website that makes user’s life a game, where everything done earns points. Sqord is powered by real-world play where memebers can track physical activity, compete with friends and earn points and rewards for being active.

The Sqord platform consists of both a hardware and software component. The website, Sqord Online, offers a fun, interactive social network powered by a member’s physical activity. The Sqord Power Band offers an easy and fun way to track physical activity for our members.

There were a total of nine winners in the School Programs category which awarded $25,00 to each group and two winners in the Technology Innovation which gave $50,000 to each. In addition to monetary awards, top winners will advance to participate in funded pilot studies aimed at expanding both reach and impact.

From the ASAP site, “The Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP) is an initiative of ChildObesity180, an organization at Tufts University committed to facilitating cross-sector collaboration in order to reverse the trend of childhood obesity within one generation’s time. ASAP seeks to increase quality physical activity in schools as a means to promote healthy, active living and to evoke the beneficial behavioral and academic outcomes that follow.”

Read more about Active Schools Acceleration Project and other winners here.

We have our first teams settling into Groundwork Labs:

• Empty Flask Games – A new independent game studio working on a new title for iOS and Android
• Gematouch – Gema Touch enables mobile communication capabilities with any printed surface. Using proprietary technology that is activated by the user’s touch, Gema Touch revolutionizes mobile connectivity with nearly any surface in an easy to use and affordable format.
• Mint Market – Today, there are only a few places where you can buy truly fresh, carefully grown food. There are many reasons why, but here’s the short version: we buy industrial food not because of the quality of the product, but because of the enterprise infrastructure that surrounds it.  Mint Market wraps the same quality of enterprise infrastructure around the incredible, artisanal food grown by independent farmers.
• Rheti – A new, cross-platform, smart phone-based IDE (integrated development environment) platform for building mobile applications within minutes. Simply put, Rheti is an app to build apps.
• Sqord – The Wii without the TV, Sqord makes active play and everyday activities fun for kids by creating an online game world where points are earned for real-world play.

Groundwork Labs is looking for another 2-4 teams immediately, and around May 1 when these teams move on will be looking for five more.