Austin’s Techstars Spring 2015 class will pitch their companies today, presenting to an impressive crowd of mentors, investors, community members, and Techstars alumni.
The 10 companies are a diverse group gathering from across the globe, and have now completed the program. In addition to $118,000 in seed funding, companies received mentorship from managing director Jason Seats and notable Austin technologists, as well as ‘sherpas’ — previous Techstars graduates still residing in Austin.
Seats noted in a previous interview with Built In Austin that the Techstars program is so valuable because it's "bigger than just Texas."
"Our scale in a dozen plus cities around the world gives our founders a huge advantage to make things happen for their companies," Seats said.
Of Techstars’ startups overall, 88 percent are still active or have been acquired, and its 2014 summer class in Austin received an average of $1.9M in funding.
[ibimage==35618==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
The marketplace for hunters and outdoorsmen to rent leases from land owners.
Originally from: Austin
Founders: Brandon Carter & Janis Gonser
Why it's interesting: Hunters can search by region and game. The platform streamlines finding, reserving, and offering hunting leases and access while adding a sense of security by providing all users with a community-regulated level of known quality.
Notable success stories already: They have over 20,000 hunters using the site at various times during the year to help them find viable hunting locations.
[ibimage==35615==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
Play fantasy sports with athletes and brands for their charity of choice.
Originally from: Kentucky
Founders: Andrew Busa & Steven Plappert
What's the most important thing you've learned from Techstars?
The most important thing we learned in Techstars was to find balance between working hard and picking your head up to be aware of your surroundings. Connections are so big for business, especially startups, and many of those connections can be lost when you put your nose to the grindstone. Work hard, but find balance in your life.
What are you looking forward to most about Demo Day?
We are looking forward to the excitement and the presentation of everything we have been working so hard on to the rest of the startup community here in Austin. People look to Techstars companies for the next big thing and we are excited to show it to them!
What's the next big step after graduation?
After Demo Day, we will be raising capital and preparing for the football season. As a Fantasy Sports company, we are so excited for this years NFL season and we could not be happier with how things are shaping up for our business.
[ibimage==35626==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
MetricStory is the fastest way to grow your business with web analytics. We are the first platform to automate the delivery of actionable customer insights.
Originally from: Seattle
Founders: Brandon Nutter & Joshua Gebhardt
What's the most important thing you've learned from Techstars?
Techstars has shown us in concrete fashion the value of giving first. We were always raised that way, but watching it play out in real time has been amazing. We also learned great can be the enemy of good, and in startup world 80-90% is sometimes best, especially when you need to keep multiple balls in the air.
What are you looking forward to most about Demo Day?
Getting to show the world how MetricStory is the first analytics platform to provide companies with truly actionable insights. And then getting to celebrate with our amazing Techstars cohort, for all the hard work and success the last 3-months has bought, and what the future may bring.
What's the next big step after graduation?
Serving customers! We are excited to continue into this next season of MetricStory where we will finish building out our platform and really start to scale the business in about 2-3 months.
[ibimage==35627==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
HR Analytics platform that helps businesses make sense of all their disparate human capital data.
Originally from: Foster City
Why it's different: The SaaS data platform uses an organizational data set to provide that data context and meaning, enabling the delivery of expert curated content based on the questions, the answers, and framework that HR needs to take a strategic role in the business.
[ibimage==35625==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
A simple way to implement and manage all iBeacon interactions.
Originally from: San Jose, CA
Founders: Tarık and Taha Özket
Why it's different: Pushmote allows developers to manage their iBeacon interactions easily from the cloud and can be used easily across every department — developers, marketing teams and c-levels.
The most challenging obstacle thus far: Supporting all of the iBeacons. Also, the hardware vendors are trying to differentiate themselves from the others and adding new features every day that they must also support.
[ibimage==35624==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
A marketing platform for mobile games.
Originally from: Austin
Founders: Taylor Clark & Drew Giovannoli
What's the most important thing you've learned from Techstars?
The biggest thing Red Fox Clan learned about Techstars is the power of building a strong network. The mentors we met through the program challenged every assumption about the business, introduced us to potential customers, and some will even be investors in our startup. As a Techstars company, doors opened Red Fox Clan to key people that truly accelerated the business.
What are you looking forward to most about Demo Day?
It has been an honor to be part of the program with an local staff and organization, and Demo Day will be a wonderful celebration of our time together. I have immense pride to be among the Techstars Austin Class of 2015, and can't wait to see everyone share their stories after such hard work.
What's the next big step after graduation?
After graduation, Red Fox Clan will stay in Austin, Texas to give us direct access to our mentors and customers. Not only is the tech scene strong, but Austin is the third biggest city for game development in the country. We are looking to grow our team with engineers who are wildly passionate about video games. (not a stretch for many!)
[ibimage==35623==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
SelfLender helps consumers establish and build credit through an easy to understand platforn with the tools to implement progress.
Orginally from: Denver
Founders: James Garvey & Conor Swanson
Why it's interesting: It's solving the "credit catch 22" by allowing consumers to improve their credit by providing actual tools and data tracking to note progress while gaining access to an array of affordable financial products.
The need: 1 in 4 American adults do not have a credit score due to a lack of data on their credit reports. You need existing credit history in order to establish new credit history.
[ibimage==35628==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
A toolkit for developers to debug, test, and monitor APIs in development or live production environments.
Originally from: LA
Founders: Marc Macleod & Will Quartner
Why it's interesting: It is the first succinct product to effectively cover the entire API lifecycle that can run on any platform (OS X, Linux, Windows, hosted in the cloud), and integrates seamlessly with a developer’s daily workflow.
[ibimage==35621==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
Monitors and analyzes billions of pricing and social signals to provide fashion retailers and brands with the competitive intelligence they need to succeed.
Originally from: NYC & Madrid
Founders: Jade Huang & Robert Figiel
What's the most important thing you've learned from Techstars?
Building relationships with the startup community is a key factor to success. You never know who can introduce you to your next hire, product feature idea, business deal, or investor.
What are you looking forward to most about Demo Day?
Seeing the success of our fellow cohort and showcasing what we've accomplished. We've felt both honored and humbled to be amongst such a diverse, talented group of entrepreneurs. But it's also bittersweet to say goodbye to them at the end of the program. In the past three months, we've become very close.
What's the next big step after graduation?
Wrap up our fundraising round -- we've been very fortunate to meet likeminded investors here in Texas. And moving the team back to New York and Spain. Our international team has become super attached to Austin -- and we are now considering an annual Austin treat for both the New York and Spain teams.
[ibimage==35622==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
A visual narratives app for the most amazing hand-picked stories about travel and outdoor culture.
Orginally from: Austin
Founders: Martin Ahe & Ana Maria Moreno
What's the most important thing you've learned from Techstars?
To be flexible! Going in we developed our 3 month plan and as is typical in startups many of these plans changed along the way. From the beginning, especially since Techstars is a mentorship driven program, we learned that its important to listen to feedback and adjust what we were doing accordingly. Since learning this, we've constantly been changing, experimenting, adapting and adjusting our business.
What are you looking forward to most about Demo Day?
We're super excited to announce the launch of Wonders on the Apple App Store tomorrow. This is a surprise announcement we'll be making tomorrow during our pitch, but we're thrilled to finally go live and have users try the app, which we've been working on since the start of Techstars.
What's the next big step after graduation?
Now that we've launched Wonders 1.0 we're already starting to think about what's next. We've just finalized our plans for Wonders 2.0 and couldn't be more thrilled with what we've developed. Next we'll be stepping into a field, which we truly believe will open a whole new market, but more to come on that later this year.
Have a tip for us or know of a company that deserves coverage? Email us via [email protected]
