DiscoveringStartups -Tech Startup Reviews

MeeGenius! is a new reading, bookstore and publishing application for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Web users

By reading the digital books with in MeeGenius!, children benefit from extras that traditional books cannot offer, such as word highlighting, audio playback, personalization of each story and the convenience of reading anywhere and anytime.

MeeGenius! is set to revolutionize children’s book publishing – offers aspiring children’s book authors a viable alternative to traditional book publishing. By producing digital books with MeeGenius!, authors and illustrators can have their work edited, brought to life and available for sale through MeeGenius! and iTunes in days instead of months

App downloads / revenue share

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://www.meegenius.com

Solosso is an ecommerce startup that leverages technology to bring traditional quality tailoring – with an eco-friendly twist – to the 21-century. It enables its clients to become designers and co-create their own premium eco-friendly, custom dress shirts online through a user-friendly and interactive shirt model.

• Solosso is the first and only company that offers eco-friendly custom dress shirts online. We focus on eco-friendly and socially responsible production (such as carbon offsetting or the use of recycled materials).
• Simple and user-friendly interface/structure. Co-creation is still quite new for most users. Therefore, we designed the ordering process to be as easy as possible, enabling users with little experience in ecommerce, technology and/or custom clothing to co-create sophisticated shirts online. Solosso also offers a live help function where a customer service agent guides the user through the order process (through a live chat).
• Highest quality. We are one of the only ones that exclusively use the finest materials such as mother-of-pearl buttons (standard on all shirts) or high thread count Italian fabrics.
• Classic tailoring experience. We meticulously apply traditional craftsmanship to handcraft the fine Solosso shirts.
• Perfect fit guarantee and free shipping.

Solosso democratizes high-end traditional tailoring through technology and brings it – with an environmental twist – to the 21-century. It empowers its clients to become designers and co-create their very own premium custom dress shirts using a simple web-based interface.

We are already making money. We are actually already profitable. The business model is rather simple: Offering the possibility to co-create and order custom dress shirts over an online and interactive interface.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://www.solosso.com

We help homeowners lower their property taxes. In 15 minutes or less a user can create a custom appeal evidence report that they can print and mail to the assessor. Our average customer has saved $839 so far. Our appeal success rate is over 70% so far. Our service costs $99 and comes with a 100% money back guarantee.

No one else does what we do.
Flat fee of $99. Attorneys charge 50% of savings
Only company with a money back guarantee
We get our property data directly from the county
We have a patent pending comparable sales selection algorithm.

As many as 20%-25% of homes are over-assessed every year. This is a vastly underserved market containing 16-20 million potential customers every year, with an average customer savings of $850.
Before the end of the year we’ll be launching a second product that serves 100% of homeowners, not just the 20% that are over-assessed.

We charge a $99 fee to put together a custom appeal package for customers.
Before the end of the year we’ll be launching a second product that serves 100% of homeowners, not just the 20% that are overassessed.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://valueappeal.com

Easyhi is a unique self-expression platform, allowing users to easily create and share stunning Video & music ecards, helping users to connect and engage in a fun, creative and environmentally friendly way.

Easily send amazing personalized video, music or webcam messages to distant loved ones (e.g. a Happy Birthday greeting, or a loving video message, when scheduling a video call is difficult – Military families, businessmen and women, friends and loved ones in different time zones, etc…) – users can upload their photos as backgrounds. Each ecard is loaded with social buttons, an embed code, and can be published to your blog, social account or website.

Activities are virtually infinite – Users can support their favorite causes, music, movies and pop idols with customized fan pages (e.g. http://bit.ly/biebers) promote their businesses, or YouTube video ads, launch campaigns to save their favorite TV shows, plug a video channel, share memorable playlists with friends & colleagues, embed, share and market media, widgets & content in a web application that is here to connect, excite, listen and evolve with its users.

Creativity. Helping users interconnect in a more creative and expressive way.

Easyhi introduces a new method for users to express themselves, to discover, mix, share and engage with other users, using their favorite online media (Photos, Videos and music) allowing for easy interaction and fast distribution and promotion of user generated content and personal messages. an instant, fun and creative content sharing service.

We are constantly adding new features, with a library of pre-made themes, Facebook photos integration, online invitations, Html5 support, Facebook app, multilingual versions and more, to be added in the next few weeks.

Easyhi Bridges the gap between social media interaction, the growing use of online videos as means of communication, music and game consumption and sharing, while personalizing the sharing experience itself.

With social commerce features, an in the works white label ad-platform, and many many more things to come, our unique approach, coupled with a real love for creativity and self expression, and the numerous ways our platform can benefit users, and the various partnership options, Easyhi has what it takes to stand out.

Based on the Freemium model, advanced features and tools will be available to paid premium members
Easyhi’s specific categories and targeted use of the platform, greatly enhances affiliates and advertisers reach of varied and very focused demographics, offering added value to partners and users alike.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://www.easyhi.com

Instinctiv has developed a next generation desktop music player with a host of features that make enjoying, discovering and sharing your music easier than on any other player.

Instinctiv’s built in audio fingerprinter automatically tackles the task of fetching cover art and correcting song metadata tags. Our proprietary content recommendation engine drives new music discovery by intelligently suggesting new artists, songs and concerts in your area in-line with your musical taste based on your listening patterns. Built in social sharing allows you to share the music you’re listening to with your friends on all your favorite social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.). The data our player collects also allows for very targeted marketing based on specific user patterns and our content delivery network.

With the Desktop player currently live, we’re working on development of apps for every mobile and desktop platform – with first run apps already launched for Nokia in the Ovi store.

Instinctiv makes money on affiliate sales of song downloads, concert tickets and technology licenses.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://instinctiv.com

VacationView, Inc. has created an Internet marketplace for timeshare rentals by owners – Resort Rentals By Owner (RRBO.com) where consumers can rent timeshare properties from their owners using state-of-the-art Internet tools and proprietary methodologies. RRBO enables consumers to easily locate available rental properties online, immediately learn about them and then provide a simple way to book a rental at discounts that average 30-50% versus booking through traditional online travel services. The founders have significant experience in creating Internet based consumer products and discovered an industry that is rife with problems in serving its captive market of timeshare property owners and an opportunity to provide dramatic discounts to consumers looking to rent a vacation property. RRBO is a “Stub Hub-like” marketplace for timeshare property owners to quickly list their properties for rent and for consumers to find and rent these units online.

1) We have a significant price advantage on vacation rentals because we offer units directly from timeshare property owners who are motivated to rent units they’re not using to cover their annual maintenance fees. Vacation resort properties and hotels use trading partners and wholesalers such as Orbitz and Travelocity, who plug into the hotel reservation systems and market available rooms and there are price thresholds that protect the wholesalers – in effect setting minimum pricing in the market. RRBO prices are 30-50% below these minimum thresholds on a consistent basis.

2) We’re different from vacation sites like VRBO in two key ways:
- RRBO focuses on resorts – managed by companies like Marriott, Hilton and Disney. The quality and amenities at these resorts is predictable and well known. VRBO focuses on individual vacation homes.
- RRBO manages the transaction and payment so that the owners and renters don’t have to connect with one another and deal with this hassle. VRBO has the renter contact the owner and work out the rental agreement and payment. An analogy to the tickets and events marketplace is: RRBO is like StubHub, and VRBO is like Craigslist.

Vacation travelers are looking for great deals and RRBO has a structural pricing advantage versus booking directly through the resorts or the travel aggregators like Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia. RRBO rentals through the owners are consistently 30-50% less than these other sites. Getting BIG will be a function of raising enough capital to invest in marketing to scale this business to meet market demand.

The model is a lot like StubHub but aimed at Vacation rentals and the 5 million timeshare property owners in North America who are motivated to rent properties when they aren’t being used every year

The company has a transaction based business model. For each rental on the site the owner will be charged a 15% fee of the rental price for marketing the rentals and managing the transaction, if and when a unit is rented. (There is no charge to list a unit for rent, which is a competitive advantage versus listing sites such as VRBO and Redweek.com.) Additionally renters will be charged a 5% service fee on each transaction, which is consistent with comparable online services such as StubHub. In time, add on services such as travel insurance, car rentals, etc. will be added to the offering generating additional revenue for the company.

With an average rental price of $1500, the company will initially make $300 (20%) per transaction and a gross margin in excess of 50%. The company projects that over five years it can capture 6% of the exchange and rental market (5,000 rentals per month) generating over $27 Million in revenue per year.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://www.rrbo.com

Fanminder helps customer-loving local businesses turn ordinary customers into raving fans. Send automated mobile coupons, offers, updates, and tips to your fans instantly on their phones and via Facebook. Grow your fanbase using our tools and tips. Track all revenues so you always know how you’re doing. All in one place.

Our deep insights into small businesses help us create a service that dead-simple to use and affordable.

Fanbase Marketing will grow to an $8Billion market by 2014 due to the explosive growth of mobile marketing and social networking in general. Fanminder is positioned to be the leader in this space because of our seasoned leadership team, our growing strategic partnerships and ability to partner with small business aggregators, and our raving fans who drive our sales via word of mouth.

We already make money via a monthly subscription that starts at $25 for unlimited # of texts. We charge by the level of fans, similar to Constant Contact.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://fanminder.cm

Expense reports that don’t suck! We import expenses *and receipts* right from your credit cards and mobile phones, submit expense reports through email, and reimburse entirely online with QuickBooks and Direct Deposit.

Unlike most enterprise apps, we focus on the end user: don’t ask your boss for permission, don’t wait to be asked. Just sign up and submit a report and see what they say. I think you’ll find you love it, they love it, and before you know it — your company will be using Expensify without ever realizing how it happened.

Our bottom-up adoption curve leverages the natural virulence of expense reporting (yes, I just said that) to achieve hypergrowth in a purely organic (eg, free) manner. In English: our users are our salespeople — the more we have, the faster we grow. And we’ve got a lot of users, so we’re growing fast!

We’re free for individuals and small businesses, and charge $5/submitter/mo with the first two free.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: https://www.expensify.com

Yoomit aims to end the disorganization people working at any organization face when preparing a meeting and following up on it.

Yoomit is really quite simple to use. It’s been designed to use as few screens as possible and everything’s at hand, at all times.

Everyone attends to meetings, everyone struggles with email messages and attachments trying to organize the meeting and keeping all participants up to date with the goal for the meeting and its agenda.

Scaling it up to all professionals and organizations in the world!

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://yoomit.com

Voters can tell Congress how to vote on specific bills & track if they do it or not. There is also a back-end portal that can be used for congressional campaigns, legislative offices and state political parties to use to express their viewpoints on bills, conduct custom polls, and accept donations via handheld device.

As the largest political voting app, Visible Vote is the only app to track your legislators votes and compare them to yours. For example, our app will tell you that Senator John Doe has agreed with you 90% of the time. 96% of our users say they will use our app to decide whom to vote for in November.

Our current numbers: more than 165,000 users, more than 1.7 million votes sent to Congress, more than 20 congressional campaigns have registered with our portal. As our numbers grow, the voter’s voice becomes even more powerful. Legislators will have no choice but to take the votes from our app into serious consideration, and then will be expected to explain when they do NOT vote with the majority of their constituents.

Visible Vote sells licenses of its software outside of the political environment to organizations/companies in order for them to poll employees, issue major news announcements or even run internal elections.

No thoughts at the moment. Very interesting!

Please visit their website to learn more: http://visiblevote.us