Alpha Lab would is now accepting applications for the Winter/Spring cycle. I recently did a post about this cycles companies and I plan to harass them for interviews ASAP. But this post is not about them, it’s about everyone reading this that is sitting on the next big idea.
If you think your idea has what it takes to be an Alpha Lab graduate, then head to their website and start the review process. It’s really painless. Last cycle, I put myself thought it so see what it was like.
All you really need to do is outline your idea, if you have a full business plan that’s great but you don’t really need it. The Alpha Labs application asks you all the right questions so it kind of develops one for you on the fly. Then you wait a few weeks/months and then they let you know if you make it to the next step.
I think everyone that has an idea, no matter how big or small, should at least apply. The application deadline is October 20th and the program begins on January 5th.
If you want to learn more about the program, a good time to do that is at Open Coffee Club. The next one is on October 1st starting at 9 am at Alpha Lab. If you’re on Facebook you can check out the group and event page there.
I make it a point to try and go to every Open Coffee Club so I hope to see you there.
I started this blog in February to feature and highlight the buzzing startup community here in Pittsburgh. After having a slower then expected start the blog got pushed to the back burner. It sat and simmered there with me attending to it a little here and there. I then got inspired to start yet another blog in the process called Pittsburgh Observer to cover the life and culture of this city.
Now I know what your thinking “Mosley, if had a hard time keeping up with this blog, what makes you think you can keep up with another”?
Well here is the thing, I am not doing it alone this time. I found a group of passionate writers that want to help me with my blogging/zine making exploits. This is were I went wrong with Startup Pittsburgh, I created it with no plan on how I was going to maintain it. Well like any good entrepreneur I learned from my mistakes. I know have a plan and a team of people behind me.
This is the official relaunch of Startup Pittsburgh, sister site to the Pittsburgh Observer (PO). This blog is now off the back burner and happily boiling on a front one. You will see posts from Carrie Smith, the managing editor of PO, pop up on here in the weeks to follow. You will also still see candid interviews and honest profiles written by me too.
I hope you enjoy the new effort that is going in to this site and the Pittsburgh Observer.
Priya Narasimhan, president of Yinzcam will be showing off YinzCam an experiential in-stadium technology that was deployed for 40 Pittsburgh Penguins home games for the 2008-9 regular season, the 2009 NHL playoffs and the Stanley Cup Finals. You can find out more information on there website, yinzcam.com.
I have heard a lot about this new product but have yet to see it in action. I am not sure if I will be able to attend this meeting so if you do please share what you find out with us.
Also at this week’s meeting, Jay Fanelli (The Designer) and Nathan Peretic (The Developer), of Full Stop Interactive will present “Quit Your Job: How Two Pittsburgh Web Workers Used Unwavering Principles, Boundless Frustration, and NERF Basketball To Form Their Own Business.”
Quitting at day job and starting a business is something we all want to do. So it should be a good time to hear how these two accomplished that.
If you are planning to go RSVP by sending an email to info@refreshpittsburgh.org or visit RefreshPittsburgh.org.
If you read this blog you will know we always have a lot of fun with the Startups that come out of Alpha lab. This summer’s batch of companies looks exciting! We will be meeting and interviewing these companies in the coming weeks.
Here is a list of the companies with descriptions from the Alpha Lab website:
Fooala
Fooala enables online ordering capabilities for restaurants through their own websites and a network of partner applications. Restaurants can join Fooala with no upfront costs or equipment purchase requirement.
CloudFab
GearHeadz LLC is working to create CloudFab, which connects job shops with spare capacity to customers seeking their services. They are an online marketplace that provides lower costs, automated quoting, integrated payment & escrow, and an arbitration system.
LeftRight Studios
LeftRight Studios is a mobile application development company. We are currently developing unique mobile games exclusively for the iPhone. Our first title, smackBOTS (available through the iTunes and iPhone Appstore) is an arcade style robot fighting game in a single player version with robot customization. Our upcoming multi-player version of smackBots will feature in-app purchasing of downloadable content packs for more robot customization including weapons, armors and robot heads.
Vivo
Vivo is a web-based video broadcasting service that provides users a private, customizable environment for sharing events.
NavPrescience
NavPrescience is developing advanced methods for learning drivers’ routing preferences and destinations by observing their frequent driving routes. This technology enables navigation solutions that automatically adapt to each driver’s navigation preferences and provide relevant information (such as traffic reports) to the driver based on the future roadways and destinations he or she will visit.
Zipano
Zipano aspires to empower users of social networking sites and other information sharing services (including location sharing applications) to better control and manage who they share their personal information with. Their unique platform offers the user better ways to express his privacy preferences and enables the user to monitor with whom his information is shared. This functionality has been shown to result in higher levels of user comfort and willingness to selectively share information. We demonstrate the capabilities of our platform with Locaccino, a fully functional location sharing application, developed at Carnegie Mellon University.
Here is another video interview by Jia from the iTwixie team. This time we talk to Anthony Closkey about how tween girls will use the site. He feels that tweens are better at social networking then any other age group.
After watching both of these interviews I still have few questions:
With the growing popularity of Facebook is there room for a niche network like this?
What happens when the tween is no longer a tween?
Are they kicked off the site, left to start their online life over again on another social networking site?
The site has been live for awhile now so maybe these questions will be answered in time.
Alpha Lab would is now accepting applications for the Winter/Spring cycle. I recently did a post about this cycles companies and I plan to harass them for interviews ASAP. But this post is not about them, it’s about everyone reading this that is sitting on the next big idea. 
I started this blog in 
I know this is kind of last minute but 
