February 16th, 2012
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mwithers
Join us on March 8 for Betaspring's first Open House in our new 95 Chestnut Street Headquarters. Come and meet the companies participating in our current session and raise a toast to Providence's kickass entrepreneurial community. Snacks, Revival Brew and other treats will be in strong supply.
Tix are limited so RSVP today at http://betaspringopenhouse.eventbrite.com/
We are loving our new digs at 95 Chestnut. The move is part of Betaspring's 2012 expansion and will provide the space needed to more than double the number of companies Betaspring launches each year.
The six story Russell Irons building was constructed in 1903 and retains much of its industrial-era qualities, including unique floor beams used to support heavy industrial equipment. The historical red brick building, with it's sweeping 360 degree views of Providence, is a stellar example of the...
February 4th, 2012
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mwithers
With bright sun and sweeping views of Providence as a stellar backdrop, 17 teams from across the country arrived on Saturday at our new 95 Chestnut Street Headquarters. Teams were busy setting up offices in preparation for Monday's official start but today's hard work will be handsomely rewarded: the teams (and our freshly installed AV system) are here just in time for Superbowl Sunday, which we'll enjoy in our new space tomorrow alongside a fresh keg of Revival Brewing beer.
We're looking forward to formally introducing the companies in about 3 weeks, after everyone has settled in. Until then, here's the high level scoop: Seventeen teams, with a total of 42 founders and employees, are in da house, representing from Boston, Sacramento, San Francisco, Milwaukee, New Haven, Chicago, New York City, Worcester, Providence, and Tel Aviv.
The next few weeks will be intense...
January 30th, 2012
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mwithers
What do you get when you cross a hot wired pint glass with a very hungry hippo? A sweet Saturday night with people who, in the good name of creation, aren't afraid to bust a dremel or (temporarily) wear out a MakerBot. Such was the scene at this weekend's Digital Meets Physical Hackathon.
About 50 people joined over the two days, with hackers, sponsors, technical advisors, and cheerleaders, keeping our office buzzing until the wee hours on Saturday and into the afternoon on Sunday. Our partners--Netduino, GreenGoose, Kipp Kits, Taylor Box and the AS220 Labs did not disappoint, providing us with tools, toys and resources that made it easy to build and experiment.
DJ Lively Experiment deserves a special tip of the hat for keeping the tunes spinning for a solid 24 hours. Big props to Betaspring mentor and O'Reilly editor Brian Jepson who stayed into the night to provide clutch...
January 26th, 2012
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mwithers
HUGE, AWESOME and HEARTFELT thanks to Taylor Box for joining as a sponsor for our upcoming (and sold out!) Digital Meets Physical Hardware Hackathon on January 28 and 29. Their generosity will create an even better experience for the makers, hackers, DIY industrialists, designers and basement builders who are coming together this weekend to demonstrate their skills turning raw material and blind ambition into something special. Taylor Box is an award winning custom box and packaging manufacturer with more than 100 years of experience in custom packaging. The company is a world class example of innovation in advanced manufacturing, demonstrating time and again a proven ability to evolve and innovate alongside--and often ahead of--the industry and their customers.
Why'd they do it? From start-ups and family shops to global companies that serve international markets, Rhode Island has...
January 24th, 2012
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mwithers
There were high fives in the hallway today as news of DiJipop's acquisition hit the news. DiJipop has been purchased by Boston-based online advertising and media company OwnerIQ Inc.
DiJiPOP is a shopper marketing technology company that powers on-demand digital merchandising and advertising in any retail environment. They power monetization and optimization of digital shelf space for retailers and their consumer brands or advertisers. DiJipop's turn-key “platform-as-a-service” B2B solution matches retailers’ digital shelf space with manufacturer and advertiser marketing dollars, allowing retailers to monetize traffic and advertisers to increase awareness at the digital point-of-purchase, empowering retailers, consumer brands, and advertisers to take control of their digital shelf space.OwnerIQ cited the power of DiJipop's ad management and ad serving system as a driver for...
January 11th, 2012
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mwithers
What a week! As we prep to expand into our new 9,000 sq/ft offices, the clock is counting down to February 6, when teams from across the country will arrive for our spring session. It seems fitting that amidst this flurry of good news, we'd add four super cool guys to our mentor network. It's a mentor blitz!
First up is Ben Berkowitz, co-founder and CEO of SeeClickFix. Ben's got the Gov 2.0 bug and is passionately focused on finding new ways to use technology to increase civic engagement and help people live better. Ben was named Huffington Post’s 2010 Technology Game Changer, Inc Magazine’s “Entrepreneurs we Love” and Government And Technology Magazine’s Top 25 Innovators for 2011. Ben recently contributed an essay to the book Shift and Reset by Brian Reich. He has been a featured speaker at conferences including SXSW, WeMedia, Gov 20 Expo, BIF-6, and many others...
January 9th, 2012
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mwithers
Betaspring--a venture accelerator based in Providence--has relocated its offices to 95 Chestnut, expanding into ~9,000 square feet of space on the building's third floor. The move is part of Betaspring's 2012 expansion and will provide the space needed to more than double the number of companies Betaspring launches each year. The move comes just as Betaspring prepares to welcome its next class of companies for its Spring Session on February 6.
The six story Russell Irons building was constructed in 1903 and retains much of its industrial-era qualities, including unique floor beams used to support heavy industrial equipment. The historical red brick building, with it's sweeping 360 degree views of Providence, is a stellar example of the architectural transformation resulting from the relocation of interstate 195, where...
January 9th, 2012
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mwithers
Seats are going fast for Betaspring's first ever hardware hackathon on January 28-29. Digital Meets Physical: A Hardware Hackathon will bring makers, software hackers, and DIY geeks together for two days of maker fun. We've teamed up with Netduino, KippKitts, GreenGoose and the AS220 Labs to offer participants some awesome tools and toys to fuel the maker madness.
Hackers will have access to the AS220 Labs, a hackerspace where tools, technology and inspiration abound. With no less than 10 top quality watering holes within spitting distance, power breaks and refueling will be top notch.
Prep Classes: Thanks to Kipp Bradford we're offering two pre-event classes to help participants refresh their skills or come up-to-speed on some of the basics that will help you have a great experience on January 28. The first class, Making 101, will be held on Sunday,...
January 2nd, 2012
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mwithers
Betaspring is psyched to welcome customer experience guru Bari Harlam to our mentor network. Bari brings deep experience to the Betaspring table and will offer our community access to some serious insights into how to develop programs and approaches that turn customer loyalty and consumer behavior into powerful tools for growth.
Bari is Chief Marketing Officer of Swipely, a technology startup focused on turning credit and debit transactions into a powerful direct marketing engine for local merchants. Before taking the leap to join Swipely a few months ago, Bari was Senior Vice President of Marketing at CVS Caremark and was responsible for leading the launch and development of the ExtraCare loyalty program, over 65 million consumers strong today. Bari and her team were responsible for driving some of the most significant customer experience innovations of the last decade.
Since...
December 14th, 2011
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mwithers
Here's one more reason to get psyched for 2012: you can now pre-order GreenGoose's ridiculously cool personal sensor kit, which is set to ship to customers on January 1!
Betaspring alums GreenGoose have created a genius at-home product that uses wireless sensors to turn everyday activities and household products into interactive fun. Put a sticker onto an object and presto, you've got an internet-connected sensor. Measure, monitor, play.
GreenGoose's lifestyle game platform is enabled by wireless sensors that automatically measure personal behaviors with sensors embedded into small stickers that stick to objects such as toys, pets, water bottles, toothbrushes, and household objects. Online games are played by doing things in the real-world that are wirelessly transmitted to the GreenGoose platform. GreenGoose has packaged the system into a small, sleek kit--the wireless...
