创新社交图片营销公司摘得"创业偶像"桂冠
Five innovative startups showed up at Fortune’sBrainstorm Tech in Aspen, Colo. on Wednesday, all vying for the title of Startup Idol. But only one could walk away victorious. At stake? Fortune’s golden stamp of approval, of course.
本周三，五个创新型初创公司出席了在科罗拉多州阿斯彭举办的《财富》科技头脑风暴大会，争夺“创业偶像”的头衔。但只有一家企业将载誉而归。争夺的锦标？当然是《财富》的黄金认证。Givelocity
Givelocity公司The pitch: The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based online charity site is all about raising small donations, pooling them together, and donating them to a cause. Members sign up online and select one of hundreds of non-profit charities they would like to donate to, like, say, the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, and how much they’d like to donate each month, starting at $1. “The number one reason most people don’t give is because they think their small donation will make a difference,” said CEO Susan Cooney.
卖点：这家位于加州核桃溪市的在线慈善网站的主营业务在于募集小型捐款，汇集这些捐款，然后捐给某项慈善事业。会员们在网上报名，从成百上千个非盈利慈善机构中选出他们愿意捐款的机构，例如美国育犬协会健康基金会（American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation）。会员同时还可以决定每个月的捐款金额，1美元起捐。网站的首席执行官苏珊o库尼说：“很多人愿意捐款的首要原因在于，他们认为自己微薄的捐赠能够产生影响。”
The money goes into a giving circle, or “neighborhood,” money pool the member joins. They and other members of the neighborhood can cast a vote once a month for the cause they’d like the pool money to go toward: Whichever cause snags the most votes wins and receives all the neighborhood money that month.
人们的捐款会进入一个捐赠圈，这个圈子也可以叫做“邻里社区”，它是会员们加入的一个捐款池。他们和邻里社区里的其他会员每个月可以举行一次投票，选出一个他们希望动用捐款池资金资助的慈善项目：得票最多的项目获胜，获得当月邻里社区里所有的捐款。Judge’s critique: “I love crowdsourcing, but I’m unclear how it works and how it pays. My question? To whom do you sell this and how do you sell it?” wondered David Bell, Chairman, gyro, and Director, Time Inc.
评委点评：“我喜欢这种众包模式，但我不清楚它的运作模式和盈利模式。我的问题嘛？你们把这个点子卖给谁？怎样卖？”时代公司（Time Inc）的主席兼导演大卫o贝尔提出疑问。Stir
Stir公司The pitch: Why adjust that standing desk manually when the desk can do it for you? So goes the design philosophy behind Stir first product, the Kinetic Desk ($3,890), a standing desk Stir CEO JP Labrosse launched last year with a built-in touchscreen and heat sensor. All that tech tracks when someone is at their desk, learns things like how long they prefer to stand, and automatically adjusts the desk’s height. Labrosse points out the Kinectic Desk’s health benefits shouldn’t be ignored: Four hours of standing is equivalent to the calories burned from a 2-mile run.
卖点：如果桌子能自动为调节高度，为什么还要手动调节？于是诞生了Stir第一批产品“动力桌子”（售价3890美元）背后的设计理念，它就是Stir首席执行官 JPo拉布罗斯去年发布的一款内嵌触摸屏和热传感器的站立式桌子。这款产品运用的科技能够追踪人什么时候在桌子旁边，能学会人们倾向于站立多久，然后自动调节桌子的高度。拉布罗斯指出，“动力桌子”的健康功效也不容忽视：站立四个小时燃烧的卡路里相当于跑步两英里燃烧的卡路里。Judge’s critique: “How many desks do you plan to sell directly via e-commerce and via retailers?” asked Jeff Fagnan, an Atlas Venture partner.
评委点评：阿特拉斯风险投资公司（Atlas Venture）合伙人杰夫o法干问道：“你们打算直接通过电子商务和零售商卖出多少张桌子？”PureWow
PureWow公司The pitch: In 2010, CEO Ryan Harwood left his job at a New York City investment bank to jumpstart PureWow, an email newsletter and lifestyle web site for women partly backed by Bob Pittman’s Pilot Group and Lerer Ventures. The content typically ranges from “how to” beauty tips (“Master the cat eye with Benefit’s new eyeliner”) to food recipes. The goal: to help readers “find special ideas they can’t find anywhere else in a unique the of voice.” Now, PureWow’s site has over 4 million readers, while nearly 2.5 million subscribe to the newsletter, according to Harwood.
卖点：2010年，公司首席执行官赖安o哈伍德辞掉一家纽约投资银行的工作，迅速创办了PureWow，一家针对女性的电邮简报和生活方式网站。这个网站得到了鲍勃o皮特曼的百乐集团公司（Pilot Group）和莱勒风险投资公司（Lerer Ventures）的一部分支持。这个网站的内容从“如何……”的美容秘诀（如“如何用贝玲妃的新款眼线膏打造迷人猫眼”）到美味食谱，应有尽有。网站的目标是：“用独特的声音”帮助读者“找到人无我有的特别想法”。据哈伍德表示，如今，PureWow的网站的读者已达400多万，同时还有将近250万人订阅了电邮简报。Judge’s critique: “Congrats on doing this all on HTML 5,” said Fagnan. “My question is all about the metrics. … I want to know more about what your users are doing. Because it is true: it is a scale game. ”
评委点评：“恭喜你们利用HTML5版本就做出了这样的成绩，”法干说。“我的问题在于度量指标上……我更想知道你们的用户们都在干什么。因为事实是：这是个拼规模的游戏。”Trendalytics
Trendalytics公司The pitch: Karen Moon’s startup dissects over 1 billion different online “signals” — like for instance, what people are saying on Facebook FB -1.08% or Twitter TWTR -1.12% about a certain trend — to help fashion industry professionals keep track of what’s popular with shoppers. The data also proves helpful for merchandisers to figure out which items to stock so they’re less likely to have excess, unsold inventory. Indeed, Moon says over 50% of all merchandise is currently sold at a loss. But with Trendalytics, that percentage could be significantly less.
卖点：凯伦o穆恩的初创公司分析十亿多个不同的在线“指标”——例如，人们在Facebook或Twitter上关于某种潮流的评论——借此帮助时尚界人士追踪消费者的喜好。这些数据对于商家明确库存商品种类，减少商品积压也非常有帮助。穆恩表示，事实上目前超过50%的商品都是亏本出售。但有了Trendalytics，这个比率将会大大减少。Judge’s critique: “How are you going to get merchants to pay for this?” asked Wenda Harris Millard, COO of MediaLink. “They are notoriously cheap, so I’m wondering how you sized this market.”
评委点评：“你们打算怎么让商家掏钱用你们的服务？”MediaLink的首席运营官温达o哈里斯o米勒德说。“他们都是出了名的小气，所以，我想知道你们怎么界定这个市场的规模？”Pixlee
Pixlee公司The pitch: Former New Yorker Kyle Wong argues where brand marketing is concerned, user-generated photos and videos are king. “These photos aren’t just 1,000 words, they’re worth 1,000 words of endorsement,” argued Wong. So he developed Pixlee, a service that lets brands track which user-uploaded media are likely to resonate with shoppers and distributes them across the brand’s different platforms, including social media. According to Wong, Pixlee already has partners that include Coca-Cola CCE -0.50% , Jamba Juice, BMW and Nestle.
卖点：曾经的纽约人凯尔o王提出，凡是有品牌营销的地方，用户生成的照片和视频就是王道。“这些照片不只顶1000句话，它们实质上是价值千言的代言，” 凯尔o王表示。因此，他研发了Pixlee，能让品牌追踪，用户上传到哪些媒体的内容可能会让消费者产生共鸣，进而扩散到这个品牌不同的平台上，包括社交平台。据凯尔o王透露，Pixlee目前已经拥有包括可口可乐（Coca-Cola）、坚宝果汁（Jamba Juice）、宝马（BMW）和雀巢（Nestle）在内的多家合作伙伴。Judge’s critique: “I’m wondering about your competition,” mused Millard, who said she’s come across at least one other similar business. “My other question: distribution platforms. How do consumers discover it?”
评委点评：“我想知道你的竞争对手都有谁，”米勒德沉思着说，她表示已经见过至少一个类似的商业创意。“我的另一个问题是：分销平台的问题。消费者要怎样才能发现它呢？”The winner:
获奖者：3rd place: 21% PureWow
季军：PureWow公司（支持率21%）2nd place: 31% Stir
亚军：Stir公司（支持率31%）1st place: 34% Pixlee
冠军：Pixlee公司（支持率 34%）
