Monday IT Startup Report

It has been a big Monday here at TechColumbus. First, we held our 7th round of competition for a grant we manage called TechGenesis. Also, we found out that one of our recent graduates, Call Copy, was quoted in an InfoWorld article on tech startups.

TechGenesis is a grant that we manage as part of the TechColumbus TechStart program. Tech-based companies that win this competition are awarded a grant of up to $50,000 to begin the commercialization process of a new idea. This has to be a very early stage idea and many of the presenters are still working at other companies. Almost all are pre-revenue.

The process occurs 4 times per year and usually we have 6 companies that enter into each round. Typically, 3 companies are funded in this process. The companies are sponsored into the competition by someone here on the commercialization staff. My role is to find and help the IT companies and I usually work with another sponsor on our team, such as Chris Anderson who is a real up and coming "Rock Star" for finding and helping tech startups.

Companies submit a 3 page executive summary to the Deal Flow Assessment Committee and each gives a 10 minute presentation to the DFAC.

The companies that we saw today were Spotwurk, Accelerated Data Concepts, EXCMR, Epiglare, and Thermo Buffer. One company fell out at the last minute, leaving us only 5 to review. All of the presentations were very good and the ideas are unique. We will know tomorrow who was selected.

Also, check out this link: http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/08/37FE-startup-tech-how-to_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/08/37FE-startup-tech-how-to_1.html. A recent graduate of the TechColumbus Incubator, Call Copy, is featured in this article. It is a great article related to technology startups!

That's all for today!

Thanks, Kevin...