Congratulations to ModCloth founders Susan Gregg & Eric Koger, they are number 2 and 3 on this year’s Inc. 30 Under 30 list. While not a company one would expect out of Pittsburgh given the recent fascination with “eds and meds” in the news, ModCloth goes against the grain selling retro-inspired and true vintage clothing.
Started out of a dorm room at Carnegie Mellon (like many other Pittsburgh start-ups), ModCloth has grown to almost 100 employees and 2009 projected revenues of $15 million. They hit an accord with shoppers offering an easy way to avoid the hit-or-miss vintage shops such as Hey, Betty on Ellsworth in Shadyside.
The trend toward vintage clothing is becoming more popular everyday especially as the popularity of Mad Men increases. To meet the needs of their customers, ModCloth hires women in their 20s, their exact target demographic. So far, its paid off.
The duo of Susan and Eric works well – Eric runs the site while Susan manages the merchandise. A match made in heaven. Going forward they plan to offer a new experience to shoppers – that of an online “rack.” While I don’t know specifies, I see this being similar to Pittsburgh’s other big retailer American Eagle. Their Martin+Osa brand uses a flash based site to offer shoppers the opportunity to see a number of different outfits and comb through many possibilities.
Startup Pittsburgh congrats Susan & Eric on their accomplishment – well deserved!
Pittsburgh Startup Avere Systems recently raked in 15 million dollars of first round funding to launch their network-attached storage (NAS) technology. There plan is to announce their new product in October.
If you are hoping I know what this new NAS is, or how it’s different from the competition you’re out of luck. Like most startups there keeping the details hush-hush, but I can tell you what little I do know.
NAS is nothing new and it’s even starting to make its way in to the home. Acer and HP both have consumer model NAS on the market.
Avers Systems seems to be focusing on business applications for NAS technology. Since it’s something businesses can’t live without it a market with high demand. Another factor that might help them is, with shrinking budgets businesses will be looking at other options for the storage needs.
They believe they will have the advantage since they can make them run faster at a cheaper price than anyone else on the market. I am not sure how they plan to do that but I am going to take their word for it.
If they can really master the art of creating a top performing product at a cheaper price they could have something big on their hands. Household consumers are just now starting to see the value of NAS; this could be a market Avere might want to keep an eye on.
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.
Anyone who drives in Pittsburgh knows the annoyance of a random bump as your tire falls into a pothole. If you take the same route most days, you may even have a system of avoidance. Before the city had mercy on the stretch of Forbes between Shady and Braddock, I spent the 5-minute stretch switching lanes half a dozen times to get around missing chunks of pavement.
Pothole-like problems are bound to happen in any city. Although some concerned citizens may call the non-emergency services 311 line, most of us go frustratingly on our way.
Well fellow suffers, YinzCam just made telling officials about city-related issues easier. iBurgh is a free iPhone app that enables users to take a photo of whatever is getting in your way, slowing you down, or generally causing amuck in the city. The site is then geotagged and sent to the city’s server. iBurgh is also on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, and the city hopes to make it available on other mobile devices soon.
Pittsburgh is the first city to have its own iPhone app, beating out other interested cities such as Boston, New York, DC, and San Francisco. The launch falls in line with Councilman Bill Peduto’s initiative of partnering with local tech companies to make the city the first e-democracy.
I know this is kind of last minute but Refresh Pittsburgh is having a meeting Thursday, August 27th at 6:30pm. It will be held at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in Room 439.
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.
