This document provides an introduction and overview of the MIT Sloan School of Management Reunion Startup Showcase for the Class of 2011. It highlights some of the entrepreneurial activities and startup companies founded by MIT Sloan alumni from the Class of 2011. The document lists 36 startup companies founded by MIT Sloan alumni from the Class of 2011 and provides a brief description for several of the companies, including information on what they do, words of wisdom from the founders, number of employees, funding status, and contact details. It thanks the sponsors who supported the startup showcase event.
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MIT Sloan Class of 2011 Startups
1. MIT Sloan School of
Management
Reunion Startup Showcase
Class of 2011
2. Introduction
For the aspiring entrepreneur, MIT Sloan was a dream. We brainstormed with our Entrepreneurship &
Innovation cohort, fleshed out our visions for the MIT $100K, and prototyped our products with help
from the many labs and resources across campus. We listened to inspiring speakers every day through
our various clubs and classes. We had sudden access to industry veterans, investors, and professors --
who encouraged us to pursue our ideas, however crazy they seemed. And we were surrounded by
smart, passionate peers who were just as jazzed up about startups as we were.
"One Year Out" showcases some of the entrepreneurial activities of the members of the Class of 2011 --
one year after graduating from MIT Sloan. While this project includes alumni and significant others
(SOs) who have joined or founded startups, we realize that many of our other classmates plan to pursue
entrepreneurship down the line. This is just the beginning.
We would like to thank our sponsors, who, in the MIT spirit, enthusiastically supported us just a few
weeks ago when we pitched them this idea. Special thanks to Jackie Wilbur from the Master's Program
Office; Bill Aulet and Patricia Fuligni from the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship; and
Kathryn Hawkes from the MIT Sloan Alumni Relations Office.
Continue dreaming and doing!
4. • Adherean
• What We Do: Medication adherence failures are responsible for 10%-25% of hospitalizations, which
translate to $100B in costs every year.
We have a novel digital technology to increase medication adherence by incentivizing patients to
stay on track with their meds. Comparable to a home pregnancy tests, our Healthcheck device tests
for medication metabolites to see if the patient has been taking their medication and taking
enough medication. Rather than a yes/no answer, though, our device encrypts the outcome of the
test into a short reward code patients can pass on via SMS, smartphone, or web to receive instant
incentives.
We are now working with top-tier insurance payers and pharmaceutical manufacturers to put
together a program exploring the use of our technology to increase adherence among patients with
long-term chronic conditions that require daily therapy, such as Type II diabetes with complications.
• Words of Wisdom: Focus on market first, then a protectable innovation to address that market.
Figure out what the next inflection point is in the value curve for your company and take on a
quantity of money aimed at getting you to that next inflection point.
• Number of Employees: 5 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family Round / Sloanies or
SOs: Josiah Seale, Co-Founder / Company Contact Information: www.adherean.com / @adherean /
info@adherean.com
5. • Altaeros Energies, Inc.
• What We Do: Altaeros Energies is developing an easily transported and rapidly
deployed airborne wind turbine that provides cost competitive power at remote
military, industrial and community sites. Altaeros replaces diesel generators and
eliminates their associated fuel logistics, reducing power costs by up to 65%.
Altaeros is lead by a team out of MIT and recently unveiled its first fully functional
proof-of-concept system. The company adapts well-established blimp and
traditional wind turbine technologies to capture the much more powerful and
consistent winds fund above 500 ft. Altaeros is the recipient of a USDA SBIR grant,
a California Energy Commission grant, and the 2011 ConocoPhillips energy prize.
• Words of Wisdom: Start-ups involve a lot of good days, and a lot of bad days - stay
focused on the long term goal, ignore most of the skepticism that comes your way,
and keep it real.
• Number of Employees: 5 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family
Round / Sloanies or SOs: Alain Goubau, Co-Founder & Operations Lead (SO of
Adah Chan) / Company Contact Information: www.altaerosenergies.com / /
info@altaerosenergies.com
6. • Anomaly Action Sports
• What We Do: Co-founded by US Ski Team Olympic gold medalist
Ted Ligety and MIT Sloan MBA Carlo Salmini, Anomaly Action Sports
is the home of SHRED and SLYTECH, athlete driven and performance
based brands that provide premium and stylish eye and head wear
as well as unparalleled protective gear for action sports.
• Words of Wisdom: Passion allows you to overcome the (many)
struggles. So make sure you love what you do...
• Number of Employees: 11 / Funding State: Equity/Debt / Sloanies
or SOs: Carlo Salmini, Co-Founder / Company Contact Information:
www.shredoptics.com / www.slytechprotection.com /
@ShredOptics / info@shredoptics.com
7. • Beansprock
• What We Do: If a blind man asks for your help distinguishing a lemon from a lime, telling him it’s
yellow is not going to help. Yet this is the same advice we often get when choosing a job. Google
search “do what you love” and 285 million results come up. That’s great. But with over 10,000
professional jobs to choose from, how are you supposed to know where you’ll be happiest? At
Beansprock, we’re building tools to give you the vision you need to make smarter, more-informed
career decisions.
We have a free unique web-based recommendation engine to help you find jobs that are
algorithmically determined to maximize your happiness and success. Using recent advances in
collaborative filtering, our algorithm takes into account who you are as a person rather than just
what’s found on your resume. We don’t arbitrarily tell you what you should be or what you are
suited for. We break it all down across three categories, identifying where you’re most likely to 1)
be happy, 2) outperform, and 3) make money. Thinking of taking that new job? We’ll show you
how your results change, and how that career move sets you up for the future.
Whether you’re actively searching for your next career move, or simply looking for confirmation
that you’re on the right track, Beansprock is the only data-driven solution for you.
• Words of Wisdom: Keep on keepin on
• Number of Employees: 2.5 / Funding State: Pre-Funding / Sloanies or SOs: Cameron Levy, Founder /
Company Contact Information: www.beansprock.com / @beansprock / cameron@beansprock.com
8. • Box, Inc.
• What We Do: Founded in 2005, Box provides cloud content
management for more than 11 million users and companies ranging
from small businesses to the Fortune 500. Box’s dynamic, flexible
content management and collaboration solution empowers users to
access and share content online, and gives IT professionals
unprecedented visibility into how content moves within their
organizations and beyond. Content on Box can be shared internally
and externally, accessed through iPad, iPhone and Android
applications, and extended to partner applications such as Google
Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce.
• Number of Employees: 500 / Funding State: Series D / Sloanies or
SOs: Weisen Li, Business Development Manger / Company Contact
Information: www.box.com / @boxhq /
9. • Cannonball
• What We Do: “I turn on my computer, I wait impatiently as it connects, I
go online and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words.
You got mail.” - Meg Ryan in “You’ve Got Mail” Do you remember what
email used to be like? Fall in love with email again. Cannonball brings you
back to the joy of discovering and sharing what’s waiting in your inbox.
• Words of Wisdom: "If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but
make allowance for their doubting too, If you can meet with Triumph and
Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same, If you can push and
hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will, then you are a
Founder…"
• Number of Employees: 2/ Funding State: Pre-Funding / Sloanies or SOs:
Raffaele Colella, Co-Founder / Company Contact Information:
www.cannonball.io / @thecannonballer / raffaele@cannonball.io
10. • Cinetics
• What We Do: At Cinetics, we help people create captivating video through
controlled camera movement. CineSkates, our first product, is a set of wheels that
transform a tripod into a dynamic video dolly. Fast Company may have put it
best, "CineSkates pull off sophisticated-looking camera moves with the nudge of a
finger".
We now have a growing product line that includes CineSquid, an incredibly strong
suction cup camera mount, and miniSkates, the first product of our mini line for
small cameras and camera phones.
Cinetics was launched in 2011 through a record breaking crowdfunding campaign.
Based in Austin, TX, we are now hard at work on the next revolutionary products
to help you put your cinematic ideas in motion!
• Words of Wisdom: Find your passion. Then give it everything you've got.
• Number of Employees: 7 / Funding State: Crowdfunded / Sloanies or SOs: Justin
Jensen, Founder; Allison Jensen (SO of Justin Jensen) / Company Contact
Information: www.cinetics.com / @cinetx / info@cinetics.com
11. • Coffee Meets Bagel
• What We Do: Coffee Meets Bagel is a new social dating
service that introduces members to one quality single
per day at noon.
• Words of Wisdom: Just do it! Always test your idea
before spending the time to implement it.
• Number of Employees: 4 / Funding State: Seed Funding
/ Friends and Family Round / Sloanies or SOs: Arum
Kang, Co-Founder and CEO (SO of Marc Piette) /
Company Contact Information:
www.coffeemeetsbagel.com / coffeeMbagel /
arum@coffeemeetsbagel.com
12. • Curisma
• What We Do: In a world full of mass-market brands, so-called tastemakers, generic
marketing, coupon focused sites, and unfiltered list of products, it is difficult to
find cool products you actually love. Curisma makes discovering new products
easy, fun, and personalized.
On our platform, you can create a centralized wish list and share the items you
want from different websites with only one click. You can also follow people with
similar styles to easily find new products you love.
Finally, Curisma learns each user’s taste over time using social data, intent and
observed data, as well as product metadata into uncannily "spot-on" product
recommendations.
• Words of Wisdom: Choose your cofounder based on common passion. Rethink
your marketing strategy
• Number of Employees: 3 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family
Round / Sloanies or SOs: Fatma Yalcin, Founder / Company Contact Information:
www.curisma.com / @curismaTR and @curisma_daily / founders@curisma.com
13. • Dympol Inc
• What We Do: Dympol combines lifestyle, social, and cause marketing to
grow charitable giving by making it socially and economically rewarding
for all. In e-commerce, social networks, mobile devices, and 3rd party ad
networks, we link costs to results.
Charitable Checkout is the first application built on our unique cause-
marketing platform: When fans give to celebrity or brand-endorsed
causes, they get brand-sponsored discounts and are publicly thanked by
their heroes in social media.
• Words of Wisdom: Pivot, take small steps, try out different ideas before
customers before committing large amounts of resources behind an idea.
• Number of Employees: 4 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and
Family Round / Sloanies or SOs: Arjun Nair, Founder / Company Contact
Information: www.dympol.com / @dympol / jziskrout@dympol.com
14. • Flagship VentureLabs
• What We Do: VentureLabs is the first institutional platform for accelerated
innovation and parallel entrepreneuring. Conventionally, the acts of
technology invention, company conception and entrepreneuring are
conducted serially, separately, and slowly – often by distinct individuals. In
Flagship VentureLabs, these processes are interwoven, accelerated and
iterated by teams across parallel internal projects. The goal is to generate
breakthrough technologies and fist-in-class new ventures – enterprises
with the capacity to solve global challenges, disrupt large markets, and
shape a better future for the world. Over the past 12 years, the
VentureLabs team has conceived and launched 25 pioneering companies.
• Words of Wisdom: Work hard, have faith, treat others like you would like
to be treated, and everything else will work itself out.
• Number of Employees: 8 / Funding State: Prefer not to say / Sloanies or
SOs: Erdin Beshimov, Principal / Company Contact Information:
www.fsvlabs.com / /
15. • The Founder's Market
• What We Do: We are a crowd-funding platform for tech
startups. Our goal is to have startups funded quickly and
painlessly, by tapping the wisdom and capital of the
crowds.
• Words of Wisdom: Its funny, but once you decide to launch
into it, its really not intractable! To quote Goethe "Boldness
has genius, power and magic in it". So go for it! And more
power to us all.
• Number of Employees: 2 / Funding State: Pre-Funding /
Sloanies or SOs: Swati Chaturvedi, Co-Founder / Company
Contact Information: www.thefoundersmarket.com / /
info@thefoundersmarket.com
16. • The Galahads
• What We Do: The Galahad’s mission is to build a
community of generous, powerful, self-fulfilled and
financially successful women entrepreneurs through
mastermind, mentorship and adventure.
We believe that the creation of such a group would serve
the development and advancement of women worldwide.
• Words of Wisdom: Do real work. Dont plan too much.
• Number of Employees: 2 / Funding State: Bootstrapping /
Sloanies or SOs: Erica Dhawan, Founder / Company Contact
Information: www.thegalahads.com / @GalahadsSS /
erica@thegalahads.com
17. • Ginger.io
• What We Do: Ginger.io, a spin-off from the MIT Media Lab, uses passive
data from mobile phones and machine learning to build a "check-engine
light" for patients and doctors. Our system is designed to provide chronic
patients and their caregivers with better care, and providers with objective
real-world data about their patients. We're working with leading
researchers and clinicians, and exploring how we can enable more
effective population management. Recent write-ups in Businessweek
(http://buswk.co/nurse-in-your-pocket) and The Economist
(http://econ.st/bodys-check-engine-light).
• Words of Wisdom: Focus on doing one thing right; you'll fool yourself into
thinking you can do more. Don't do it.
• Number of Employees: 10 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and
Family Round / Sloanies or SOs: Karan Singh, Co-Founder / Company
Contact Information: www.ginger.io / @ginger_io / hello@ginger.io
18. • Gotham Bicycle Defense Industries
• What We Do: Last summer, our friend got hit by a car. He was riding
his bike home at night after a thief stole his bike light. His story isn't
unique. 1 in 3 city bikers have had their lights stolen and 80% of
bikers frequently forget their lights at home. We're MIT bike geeks
on a mission to make city cycling safer. Our first product is the
world's first theft-resistant bike light. $84K on Kickstarter.
• Words of Wisdom: You don't need VC. Make products and sell
products.
• Number of Employees: 2 / Funding State: Kickstarter / Sloanies or
SOs: Brad Geswein, Co-Founder; Slava Menn, Co-Founder /
Company Contact Information: www.bikegotham.com /
@bikegotham / yo@bikegotham.com
19. • Jamela
• What We Do: The premium US skin care market is $2.2B and has experienced increased growth
despite the economic downturn. The fastest growing segments are organic, which will double in
size by 2015, and premium moisturizers/anti-agers. Small brands are growing 3x faster than their
larger counterparts, as consumers start turning to boutique brands and unique products.
We are a fair trade high-end cosmetics company positioned at the intersection of the fastest
growing segments of skincare. Our first product, Argan oil, is a facial moisturizer and anti-ager that
comes from a tree that only grows in Morocco. The oil has such amazing moisturizing and anti-
aging properties that people in the cosmetics industry call it liquid gold. We are introducing the
products to a new channel, US spas, and entering in an un-tapped category, facial skincare. We will
first start with pure Argan oil that will be incorporated into spa treatments and sold for
retail, extending to a unique line of specialty essential oils from Morocco.
• Words of Wisdom: It's easy to find help, but it's hard to find help that is worth the management
time that you must put in to find results. Be wise about how you accept help and advice, otherwise
it can really waste a lot of your time.
• Number of Employees: 2 / Funding State: Pre-Funding / Sloanies or SOs: Daria Kaboli, CEO; Vimala
Palaniswamy, COO / Company Contact Information: www.jamelaoil.com / / jamelaoils@gmail.com
20. • Lark
• What We Do: Sleep better and wake better with LARK.
LARK is a revolutionary silent alarm clock that wakes you
refreshed, and lets your loved one sleep undisturbed, and also
monitors your sleep and coaches you to improve it with a
comfortable wristband and your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
Designed with the top sleep experts who train Olympians to break
world records with sleep- you too can improve your
health, happiness, and performance, with sleep. Available at
www.LARK.com and any Apple Store.
• Words of Wisdom: Work hard. Sleep well.
• Number of Employees: 20 / Funding State: Series A / Sloanies or
SOs: Julia Hu, CEO; Jeff Zira, Product Manager / Company Contact
Information: www.lark.com / ourlark / info@lark.com
21. • Local Hem
• What We Do: Local Hem is an e-commerce platform for brick-and-mortar women's
boutiques. Boutiques owners often have a difficult time setting up and maintaining
their own e-commerce sites, and, if they manage to setup a website, very few
online shoppers are able to find it. Boutique shoppers, on the other hand, lament
that they can't shop their favorite boutiques either because they live too far or the
store hours aren't compatible with their work schedules.
Local Hem offers an easy, efficient way for boutique owners to "setup shop"
online, and bring their boutique's brand to the attention of an entirely new set of
customers. Local Hem allows shoppers to discover and shop boutiques that they
otherwise would have never heard about or have the opportunity to visit in-
person.
• Words of Wisdom: Know what you do really, really well. When things get tough, go
back to that and build from there.
• Number of Employees: 3 / Funding State: Bootstrapping / Sloanies or SOs: Colleen
King, CEO/Founder / Company Contact Information: www.localhem.com /
@localhem / colleen@localhem.com
22. • Locu
• What We Do: Locu was founded by a team of MIT
researchers who are passionate about data and
ambitious enough to aspire to bring structure to
complex, messy data sets that pose a challenge
for human intelligence, never mind artificial
intelligence. Locu's first stop: local data.
• Number of Employees: 13 / Funding State: Series
A / Sloanies or SOs: Rene Reinsberg, CEO; Marc
Piette,COO / Company Contact Information:
www.locu.com / @LocuInc / info@locu.com
23. • OnChip Power
• What We Do: OnChip Power designs and manufactures advanced power electronic
systems. Our very high frequency (VHF) power converters utilize proprietary
techniques to achieve a 3-order-of-magnitude jump on present commercial
practice. The radical increase in switching frequency reduces the size, weight, and
cost of the power converter required in the majority of electronic products.
OnChip's proprietary VHF designs create a compelling value proposition for space
constrained applications. Initially, we have chosen to focus on LED lighting, where
our small, reliable, low cost power supplies help enable commercially viable
lighting solutions. In addition, we are developing products for a "brickless" laptop.
OnChip closed an A-Round in February 2011 and expects to have products in the
market Q4 2012.
• Words of Wisdom: Only start a company if you have a passion for the idea and
believe in (and trust) your team. Be persistent -- keep moving and keep the
company alive long enough to get lucky.
• Number of Employees: 12 / Funding State: Series A / Sloanies or SOs: Vanessa
Green, Co-Founder and CEO / Company Contact Information:
www.onchippower.com / @vlgreen / vgreen@onchippower.com
24. • Paperless Post
• What We Do: Paperless Post is redefining the tradition of paper stationery
by enabling people to send customized invitations and greetings with the
same thought and care as previous generations, only online. Users can
choose from hundreds of free and premium card designs, customize with
photos and other features, share via email or social media platforms and
track responses. Paperless Post is headquartered in New York and recently
completed a Series B fundraising round with RRE Ventures, SV Angel, Tim
Draper and others.
• Words of Wisdom: It sounds obvious, but when joining a startup, find one
that's a good people and culture fit for you. Do your due diligence to make
sure it feels right.
• Number of Employees: 40 / Funding State: Series B / Sloanies or SOs:
Jamay Liu, Mobile Product Manager / Company Contact Information:
www.paperlesspost.com / @paperlesspost / inquiries@paperlesspost.com
25. • PK Clean
• What We Do: Plastic Waste is everywhere: only 7% is currently recycled, with the
rest mostly being landfilled. PK Clean solves the problem of plastic waste entering
landfills, by turning it into fuel. Using our patented and award-winning catalytic
depolymerization process, we can convert plastic waste into oil. It costs us $25-
$30/bbl to convert plastic to oil, which can be sold for over $100/bbl. PK Clean's
process is sustainable, resulting in a high energy payback of 14:1 and zero
emissions. We produce a light and low-sulfur fuel, which is cleaner than regular
fuel. By converting all our landfilled plastics into oil, PK Clean could replace 25% of
annual U.S. auto oil consumption - paving the way to zero landfill and energy
independence.
• Words of Wisdom: Founding startups is all about people and passion. Stay true to
your vision and find the right types of people who share your passion!
• Number of Employees: 12 / Funding State: Debt, Grants, Equity / Sloanies or SOs:
Priyanka Bakaya, CEO/Founder / Company Contact Information: www.pkclean.com
/ @pbakaya / info@pkclean.com
26. • RoomStory
• What We Do: We at Roomstory.com aim to revolutionize the way Indian
consumers decorate their homes. Instead of roaming the markets looking for that
perfect home accessory, they can now buy different brands from the comfort of
their homes. Everything you need for your home, from Kitchenware to
Bathware, Décor to Furnishing, is available with us. We also understand that
buying for the home involves more than just the right products and are therefore
taking precious care to build a great customer experience. In time we expect to fill
gaps in the branded home decor market in India with our own private labels.
• Words of Wisdom: Take a break sometime, ~7 day work weeks are hard to sustain.
Talk to a lot of people, and even though chances are that each one will tell you
something different (so carefully choose what you want to do with the advice)
you'll probably get something good out of most of them - a fantastic
connection, useful advice, or some funding even.
• Number of Employees: 5 / Funding State: Pre-Funding / Sloanies or SOs: Nipun
Virmani, COO / Company Contact Information: www.roomstory.com / Room_Story
/ support@roomstory.com
27. • Sabi
• What We Do: Sabi is a new creator of unique health and wellness
products. We take our name from an ancient Japanese philosophy
that exalts everyday life. Our products are inspired by an ideal: that
life’s regular, day-to-day tasks deserve to be elevated. At Sabi, we
envision a world in which every person is fully engaged in every
moment of their life.
Our mission is to create products that are intuitively and beautifully
designed in order to infuse life’s daily rituals with delight.
• Words of Wisdom: If you believe in yourself they will come
• Number of Employees: 5 / Funding State: Series A / Sloanies or SOs:
Founder (SO of Liron Wand) / Company Contact Information:
www.sabi.com / https://twitter.com/#!/Sabi_brand /
customercare@sabi.com
28. • Sanergy
• What We Do: Sanergy makes hygienic sanitation sustainable in Africa's slums by
making it accessible and affordable. Starting with the slums of Kenya, where 8
million people resort to open defecation and unsanitary pit latrines, and where the
4m tons of waste are dumped in nearby rivers, Sanergy’s “build – collect –
convert” approach solves the sanitation crisis in a sustainable manner.
Our low-cost Fresh Life Toilet provides users with a hygienic and dignified
experience. We franchise Fresh Life Toilets to locals, who run them as viable
businesses. We collect the waste daily and convert it into organic fertilizer and
renewable energy. In five years, Sanergy aims to serve 500,000 people through
6,000 toilets.
• Words of Wisdom: Accept that you, alone, do not have all the answers to succeed.
• Number of Employees: 42 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family
Round / Sloanies or SOs: Lindsay Stradley, Co-Founder; Ani Vallabhaneni, Co-
Founder; David Auerbach, Co-Founder / Company Contact Information:
www.saner.gy / @sanergy / info@saner.gy
29. • SilverRail Technologies
• What We Do: SilverRail Technologies is solving the last of the big travel problems;
Global Rail Distribution. SilverRail has already achieved many industry firsts:
building the world's first global rail platform ‘SilverCore’; and winning awards
along the way like PhoCusWright’s Travel Innovator Award.
Backed by top-tier venture capitalist, heavyweights including Canaan Partners,
Sutter Hill Ventures andAccel Partners, SilverRail is perfectly positioned to change
the online travel industry for the better.
Rail is the single fastest growing sector of travel today, driven by four factors that
are creating a perfect storm in travel: 200 mph trains replacing regional air travel,
rail markets deregulating and creating competition, 90% environmentally cleaner
than air travel, and $200bn a year invested in infrastructure - 2x the investment in
the commercial air industry. Come join the SilverRail team, and be a part of
changing the future of travel.
• Words of Wisdom: No matter how it feels, set your own personal boundaries to
allow you to have a life as well as a start-up
• Number of Employees: 23 / Funding State: Series B / Sloanies or SOs: James
Harland, CFO / Company Contact Information: www.silverrailtech.com /
@silverrailtech /
30. • Socrative
• What We Do: Socrative - The standard for measuring student success
Socrative is a smart student response system that empowers teachers by engaging
their classrooms with a series of educational exercises and assessments. Our
platform is super simple to use and takes seconds to login. Socrative runs on
tablets, smartphones, and laptops, and is now being used by over 300,000
students and teacher across the US and the world.
Teachers login through their device and select an activity which controls the flow
of questions and games. Students simply login with their device and interact real
time with the content. Student responses are visually represented for multiple
choice, true/false and Short Answer questions. For pre-planned activities a teacher
can view reports online as a Google spreadsheet or as an emailed Excel file.
• Words of Wisdom: It's a roller coaster find your way to be happy throughout it all
• Number of Employees: / Funding State: / Sloanies or SOs: Amit Maimon, CEO /
Company Contact Information: www.socrative.com / @socrative /
support@socrative.com
31. • SPOON Fashion
• What We Do: SPOON, a New York City based women's contemporary clothing
label, was founded in 2011 by designer Randi Spoon. In early 2012, Randi
partnered with fellow Bostonian Alexis Przybylski Lawton after having been
introduced by family. Randi and Alexis quickly developed a unique bond and
established a shared vision for SPOON. Their common interests and diverse talents
made for a seamless collaboration.
Randi and Alexis' combined design sensibility imparts an easy-chic, effortless and
feminine sophistication. They are passionately dedicated to quality craftsmanship
and creating clothing that embraces a free-spirited elegance for modern women.
• Words of Wisdom: Always return to your gut instincts when making decisions
related to your business, and be sure to learn from your mistakes.
• Number of Employees: 2 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family
Round / Sloanies or SOs: Alexis Lawton, President and Co-Designer (SO of Brent
Lawton) / Company Contact Information: www.spoonfashion.com /
@spoonfashion / alexis@spoonfashion.com
32. • SpotProperty
• What We Do: SpotProperty is a deal spotter for real estate, focused on helping
patient buyers or prospective investors find the right home at a great price.
How it Works: we analyze every for-sale property in the US against our database of
20 million+ for-sale and sold homes over the last 10 years. Our proprietary
algorithm detects homes that are likely a good "deal" relative to the market or are
likely to have good returns for an investor. When the user is ready to go see a
property, our experienced agents walk them through the process and help them
buy their home.
This is a huge market ($5-10B/year) over the next few years as the housing market
recovers and short sales and foreclosures work through the system.
• Words of Wisdom: You have two jobs: 1) Break through walls. 2) Focus relentlessly
on the user experience.
• Number of Employees: 2 / Funding State: Bootstrapping / Sloanies or SOs: Luke
Behnke, Founder / Company Contact Information: www.spotproperty.com /
@spotproperty / info@spotproperty.com
33. • Sunglass
• What We Do: Sunglass helps designers build
better, safer, greener products by enabling them to
seamlessly collaborate in real-time with any user in any file
format in their familiar browser, and choose from a
universe of pay-per-use cloud-based community-generated
apps including heavy simulation/analysis executed in
parallel on the cloud.
• Words of Wisdom: Start. Seek big problems where you
have real advantage.
• Number of Employees: 11 / Funding State: Seed Funding /
Friends and Family Round / Sloanies or SOs: Nitin Rao, Co-
Founder / Company Contact Information: www.sunglass.io
/ @sunglass_io / nitin@sunglass.io
34. • Testive
• What We Do: Everyone has taken at least one exam that impacted the course of
his or her life: GMAT, LSAT SAT. The process of preparing for these exams is time
consuming, demoralizing and hasn’t changed much in 30 years. Testive helps
students get better faster in preparation for these exams.
Testive brings the qualities that make private test prep tutoring so effective into
the online arena. We combine an experience that starts adapting to students from
the first question they answer and surround that with an experience designed to
keep the student engaged. Giving students the right question at the right time and
keeping them coming back is like giving someone the right weights at the gym and
getting them on a workout schedule: it works.
• Words of Wisdom: If you don't love it to death, don't start it.
• Number of Employees: 4 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family
Round / Sloanies or SOs: Tom Rose, Product Visionary; Miro Kazakoff, CEO /
Company Contact Information: www.testive.com / @testive / janet@testive.com
35. • Thrive Labs
• What We Do: Thrive Labs is a strategy and visioning firm that creates
unique, disruptive spaces in order to connect human talent and purpose
with the world's most pressing problems. We design Labs in which high-
potential leaders can pause to recollect, reimagine, and re-envision their
future. We run customized Labs for individuals, teams and companies at
inflection points to match their capacities and their passion with what the
world needs. We believe that when this happens, people - and their
institutions and society - THRIVE.
• Words of Wisdom: The best way to find out whether it'll work or not, is to
try it.
• Number of Employees: 1 full-time; operate on a network-based model /
Funding State: Prefer not to say / Sloanies or SOs: Priya Parker, Founder /
Company Contact Information: www.thrivelabs.co / @PriyaParker /
priya@ThriveLabs.co
36. • ThriveHive
• What We Do: ThriveHive gives local businesses a plan to market their business and an easy-to-use
platform to build and measure it all.
The complexity of local business marketing is exploding, but the time that small business owners
have to manage their marketing hasn’t changed. Today it is critical to know what marketing
activities you should be spending time on and what can wait. We believe the answer to this
question is different for every business so we build a custom marketing plan that’s right for you.
ThriveHive’s marketing platform is easy to use so that anyone can market like a pro.
Knowing what to do isn’t enough; you need an easy and time saving way to manage all your
marketing. We provide you with a marketing platform that enables you to build and measure your
marketing.
• Words of Wisdom: Thing big. Make things happen.
• Number of Employees: 7 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family Round / Sloanies or
SOs: Adam Blake, Co-Founder and COO; Max Faingezicht, Co-Founder and CEO / Company Contact
Information: www.thrivehive.com / @thrive_hive / info@thrivehive.com
37. • TinyPass
• What We Do: TinyPass is a flexible ecommerce solution that provides publishers a
variety of models to charge for content, as well as analytics and consulting services
to ensure they reach their maximum revenue potential.
We built TinyPass to help content producers and publishers charge for their work.
We’re the only paid-content platform that offers publishers the ability to charge
for access in whatever way makes sense for their unique content and their unique
audience. Whether you want to set up a metered paywall for your entire site or
sell access to individual videos or articles, you can use TinyPass to charge for
access to your content in whatever way you think will work best.
• Words of Wisdom: If you're joining a start up as an early employee, don't focus too
much on your equity stake. The most important things to consider are the field
you'll be working in, the connections you'll make, and the skills you'll learn.
• Number of Employees: 8 / Funding State: Seed Funding / Friends and Family
Round / Sloanies or SOs: Whitney Braunstein, Director of Marketing and Strategy /
Company Contact Information: www.tinypass.com / @tinypass /
info@tinypass.com
38. • Underbrella
• What We Do: Underbrella is a line of high tech fashionable women’s
underwear made with performance fabrics. Our patent-pending
fabric technology pulls moisture away from the body and the
hydrophobic outer layer protects clothing so that nothing ever gets
through to clothes. Our products are carried in 17 boutiques
throughout the US and Canada and have been sold online to 44
states and 10 countries. We currently offer panties and are
expanding to include bralets and bodysuits in the fall of 2012. We
are based in Providence, Rhode Island.
• Words of Wisdom: Don't run out of cash. Take advice from mentors
but ultimately follow your own instincts
• Number of Employees: 4 / Funding State: Series A / Sloanies or SOs:
Sharon Ruggieri, Co-Founder / Company Contact Information:
www.underbrella.com / @Underbrellas / sharon@underbrella.com
39. • VisionScope Technologies LLC
• What We Do: VisionScope has brought the gold-standard diagnostic tool for joint pathology out of
the operating room and into a physician’s office.
The current diagnostic standard (MRI) is expensive, often leaves uncertainty around surgical
necessity, and rarely assists surgical case planning.
Today, with VisionScope Imaging (VSI™), the first patient evaluation can conclude with a definitive
diagnosis and a clear treatment plan. By allowing direct visualization of the joint cavity under local
anesthesia, the company’s product improves patient care, reduces health care costs, and improves
physicians’ bottom line .
VisionScope's patented technology is based upon the integration of leading-edge imaging
electronics and single-use accessories. With miniaturized optics – housed within a 1.4mm diameter
endoscope – the VisionScope system is designed to maximize high-definition visualization in
minimally-invasive applications.
• Words of Wisdom: Keep your head on a swivel, you never know if that person you bump into at the
gym is going to turn out to be a great hire. Never be afraid to admit you were wrong and learn
from your mistakes.
• Number of Employees: 7....prolly 8 or 9 by the time of the pitch :-) / Funding State: Prefer not to say
/ Sloanies or SOs: Jeff Blake, Director of Finance / Company Contact Information:
www.visionscopes.com / / media@visionscope-tech.com
40. MIT Sloan School of Management: mitsloan.mit.edu
Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship :
entrepreneurship.mit.edu
For more information on any of the companies, please feel free to
contact them directly
Slideshare deck and reunion startup pitch event organized by:
Whitney Braunstein, Raffaele Colella, Jamay Liu