LAUNCH Blog

LAUNCH Blog

Written by: Launch

The One Product That Makes Apple a Trillion-Dollar Company Overnight

Apple will become a trillion-dollar company based not on iPads and Apple TV, but payments.

Imagine taking out your iPhone and instead of buying Angry Birds you bought the latest Groupon.

Or one-click bought the latest object d'art at OneKingsLane or Fab on your iPad seconds after downloading and launching their app.

Or you took out the awesome Hotel Tonight and without ever having signed up for the service you booked a room -- and paid for it without typing in your credit card number.

That's coming.

Disrupting Education

It's been exactly a month since the LAUNCH Festival and I've finally recovered.

These events literally take the life out of you, and I mean that in the best of ways. It reminds me of the feeling after I used to run the New York City Marathon: a combination of depression that the magic was over and never-ending flashbacks of the exhilaration of the mission being completed. I'm guessing some moms out there can relate. :)

It turns out that not only did we close well over $1M in investing on stage, but I've found out since that over $500k in additional commitments were made. So, when the final tally is done, the event will have resulted in about $2M for the startups that were present.

Five years of LAUNCHing great startups from Dropbox to Mint to Yammer and now Space Monkey and Alltuition (among many others). You can watch the LAUNCH 2012 awards ceremony here.

In between our yearly event we plan to host some smaller one- and two-day vertical events. I've been pushing my own startup Mahalo.com hard into education after being inspired by folks like Khan Academy and, of course, Steve Jobs and Apple.

Education is one of three verticals we believe is going to be radically disrupted over the next five years.

So, on June 12th and 13th we're hosting LAUNCH Education & Kids.

Where Over $1M in LAUNCH Festival Prize Money Is Going

[ LAUNCH founder Jason Calacanis (right) stands with Minbox founders Michael Lawlor (left) and Alexander Mimran (middle), who received a slot at TechStars after launching at the 2012 LAUNCH Festival. ]

When the LAUNCH Festival kicked off on March 7, we had over $1M in investment money pledged. Thanks to members of the Grand Jury who had not previously committed money -- and existing investors upping their amounts -- that number climbed past $1.4M when we held the closing ceremony on March 8.

Here we list who has pledged how much to which startup(s) -- a total of $1,069,000 so far.

Best Design 1.0 winner Minbox is at $318k in pledges, Best Overall 1.0 winner Space Monkey at $276k, Best Technology 1.0 winner Captricity at $125k, Best Overall 2.0 winner Alltuition at $75k and Best Business Model 1.0 winner Appstack at $75k.

LAUNCH Festival 2012 Winners

[ Space Monkey won Best Overall in the 1.0 competition. LAUNCH founder Jason Calacanis (far left) and Brad Gerstner, founder of LAUNCH '11 winner Room 77 (far right) presented the award. More photos of the LAUNCH Festival here. ]

The LAUNCH Festival Grand Jury chose 12 winners in all on March 8 -- six in the 1.0 competition, five in the 2.0 competition, and one overall winner from the DEMO Pit. Here they are by category.

For a complete list of official competitors, check out our spreadsheet.

1.0 WINNERS
These are brand-new companies that received no press or blog coverage prior to launching at the LAUNCH Festival.

Best Overall
Space Monkey

Best Design
Minbox

Best Technology
Captricity

Best Business Model
Appstack

Best Presentation
That's Suspicious Behavior

Diamond in the Rough
Copper


2.0 WINNERS
These are existing companies that launched a new product, a new version of their product or pivoted.

Best Overall
Alltuition

Best Design
Wanderfly

Best Technology
YouEye

Best Business Model
Docstoc

Best Presentation
Vocre


DEMO PIT
The DEMO Pit -- which had 200 companies this year, including the 42 official competitors -- was open to all startups that were less than 18 months old. Some startups launched in the DEMO Pit while others promoted their existing product.

Best Overall
Scoot Networks

Who Launched at the 2012 LAUNCH Festival

[ Yossi Vardi (left) and Jason Calacanis (right) chat with President Shimon Peres of Israel on day one. ]

So much excitement and awesome startups -- here's your complete list of every company that has launched so far, and here are the LAUNCH Festival photos we've uploaded. Both are getting updated, so please check back often.

UPDATE: We have opened the DEMO Pit to the public for the rest of the day! Just come to 635 8th st. And you can stay for the closing party, too.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

[ Image via creative commons license from 401k. ]

Our good friend, visionary entrepreneur and angel investor Bill Lee has stepped up again and saved the day! His $100k commitment to invest this year puts the LAUNCH Festival at a whopping $1,039,000 in prize money/investments. Bill will join the Grand Jury for part of the event, and this is the second year he'll be investing in startups at LAUNCH.

$1,039,000 in prize money.

Wow.

LAUNCH Prizes Top $1M!

UPDATE [ 3/6/2012 ]: Angel investor Bill Lee is in for $100k, total is now $1,039,000!

By Jason Calacanis

I'm thrilled to announce that we've added ~~$250k~~ $400k to our total prize money at the LAUNCH Festival.

First, we added $100k to the AngelPad investment by way of a miscommunication. We originally thought AngelPad, a leading accelerator here in San Francisco, was offering $20k to the company they accepted.

It turns out they are offering $120k.

Oops!

Additionally, ~~three~~ five angel investors have agreed to commit $50k each in investment to the 50 startups on stage.

LAUNCH to Welcome Shimon Peres, President of Israel, on March 7

[ President Shimon Peres appeared before the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Feb. 23. Photo courtesy of the President's official website. ]

We are extremely honored and excited that Shimon Peres, President of Israel, will come to the LAUNCH Festival on Wednesday, March 7 as part of a trip focused on innovation in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

LAUNCH founder Jason Calacanis and legendary Israeli entrepreneur and investor Yossi Vardi will do a fireside chat with the President, who also plans to visit the DEMO Pit.

Tesla Motors Model X Will Be on Display at the LAUNCH Festival

[ Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk shows off the Model X in Los Angeles Feb. 9. ]

Visionary Telsa Motors CEO Elon Musk is out of town and couldn't make it to the LAUNCH Festival, but he did the next best thing: he gave us a Tesla Motors Model X to show off!

This is the first time anyone in the Bay Area is going to get to see the car up close and personal from what we understand. We saw it a couple of weeks back at the Los Angeles opening and it is stunning -- especially the falcon doors.

LAUNCH Festival Hits $639k in Prize Money

By Jason Calacanis

We've now done three of four mandatory rehearsals for the startups launching on stage at next week's LAUNCH Festival (March 7 & 8), and I'm 100% certain they are as good as our amazing alumni: Dropbox, Mint, Fitbit, Yammer, Red Beacon, Powerset and Room77 (among many other awesome startups).

In fact, having had the privilege of personally coaching every alumni for the past five years, I can tell you that one of this year's startups reminds me of a next-generation Dropbox, two feel like features Yammer will add in a year or two, and one is as awesome as Mint -- but for the second most important finance category.

All of them are worthy of angel investment.

Today I received amazing news: last year's winner, Brad Gerstner of Room77, has agreed to put up a $100k prize for one of the winners in this year's competition.

LAUNCH Hits $589K: A Slot at AngelPad and $100K Investment (If You Move to Vegas)

[ Image created by Marc Burckhardt for the Inc. magazine article "Tony Hsieh's Excellent Las Vegas Adventure" by Max Chafkin. ]

If you thought the prize money available at this year's LAUNCH Festival was already too good to be true, well, we've raised the bar even higher.

San Francisco-based accelerator AngelPad is guaranteeing a slot to a LAUNCH company* -- worth $20k. Plus VegasTechFund will invest at least $100k in one company that agrees to relocate to Las Vegas.

The Two Most Important Startups in the World

By Jason Calacanis

The two most important startups in the world: AngelList and Kickstarter.

They're more important than Facebook, Twitter and Apple. Heck, they're more important than Pinterest! ( ← zing! pow! )

These two projects have been hated, dissed and dismissed for much of their existence, but soon folks will see just how disruptively awesome they are.

In the early years, having your vision hated by most people, but absolutely loved by a few is -- of course -- the surest sign you're going to change the world. Conversely, projects that are loved by everyone early are sure to have absolutely modest outcomes. Even Google had doubters. "Why do we need a new search engine?" they said. Others saw the actual, better results behind the goofy name.

10 International Startup Scholarships

[ The Tonchidot team demos its Domo app at LAUNCH '11. ]

The LAUNCH Festival is doing so well we want to get more folks involved from outside the USA.

Great ideas and startups can come from anywhere today, and we're particularly interested in bringing more startups from Israel, Korea, Japan, China and South America (and of course beyond!) to the LAUNCH Festival DEMO Pit in San Francisco March 7 & 8.

LAUNCH will pick up the entire cost (except your travel) to ensure we have a truly international event. Yes, we'll even pay for your booth (table, chairs, electricity, wifi and space).

You just have to get your team there.

DOUBLE Boom! LAUNCH Hits $369k in Prizes Thanks to MailChimp's $100k!

2011/12 Creative Mornings with Ben Chestnut from CreativeMornings/Atlanta on Vimeo.

Ben Chestnut, the founder of the wildly successful MailChimp, has agreed to invest $100k in one of the 10 winning companies at the LAUNCH Festival on March 7th and 8th.

Total prize money is now, gulp, $369k.

This prize will work similarly to the Charles River Ventures $100k prize we announced yesterday: Ben will pick one of the 10 award winners at the LAUNCH Festival and either give them a convertible note without a discount or cap (similar to the notes provided to Y Combinator companies), or simply invest in their next round.

Boom! LAUNCH Hits $269k in Prizes Thanks to Charles River Ventures

The LAUNCH Festival taking place March 7 & 8 has now made history: over a quarter of a million dollars in prizes!

Charles River Ventures is putting up a $100k investment in one of the 10 award winners at the LAUNCH Festival, bringing the total prize money to over a quarter of a million ($269k to be exact).

The investment will be in the form of a convertible note without a discount or cap (similar to the notes provided to Y Combinator companies), and be for a whopping $100k. Most importantly it comes with my good friend George Zachary as an advisor (he's aces).

Whoa, LAUNCH Prize Money Hits $169k!

[ The Room 77 team accepts the "Best in Show" award at LAUNCH '11 from LAUNCH founder Jason Calacanis (left) and Adeo Ressi of the Founder Institute (third from left). Photo (cc) Kenneth Yeung - www.snapfoc.us ]

The LAUNCH Festival is just over 30 days away and it's on fire!

Venture51, a seed- and early-stage venture fund that loves design-driven technical teams, has agreed to invest $51k in the winner of the "Best in Show" award in LAUNCH's 1.0 competition.*

LAUNCH is taking place on March 7th and 8th in San Francisco if you've been hiding under a rock. Right before SXSW.

This generous investment brings the total value of prizes at the LAUNCH Festival to a record $169k, as TechStars previously agreed -- for the first time in their history -- to accept one of the LAUNCH companies into their program.

[ More after the jump. ]

We Need to Empower Hollywood--Not Kill Hollywood

By Jason Calacanis

The fabulously successful incubator Y Combinator released its 9th RFS last week with a bizarre title.

RFS is short for "requests for startups," as in, "We would love to accept startups in this genre for our next class and give them a huge pile of cash from Yuri Milner and Ron Conway -- two of the biggest names in the Valley."

And what did Y Combinator request?

More mobile social? More education 2.0 startups? More core technology?

Nope.

They asked for companies that will "Kill Hollywood."

Facepalm.

WOW: TechStars to Accept a LAUNCH Festival Startup!

TechStars is the most established multicity accelerator with the best leaders everywhere it operates -- Boulder, Seattle, Boston, New York and Texas -- and clearly one of the best things to happen for startups in a long, long time.

We're huge fans of David Cohen and his team which includes Andy Sack in Seattle, David Tisch in NYC, Katie Rae in Boston, Nicole Glaros in Boulder and Jason Seats in Texas, and the awesome startups they've guided to massive success in the past five years.

We're thrilled to announce that TechStars will accept one of the 40 companies at the LAUNCH Festival in San Francisco March 7 & 8!

You read that right: a LAUNCH company will ...

Demo Pit Tables @ LAUNCH

[ GreenGoose was in the Demo Pit at LAUNCH '11 when a Grand Jury member selected it to present at the end of day one. While on stage, founder Brian Krejcarek had a number of people commit to invest a total of $100K (more here and here). ]

This year at the LAUNCH Festival we're trying to get as many amazing startups involved as possible. This means 40 killer brand-new startups and products on stage as part of our 1.0 and 2.0 competitions (read more here to understand the difference).

Additionally, on each of the two days, our Grand Jury will select a couple of companies from the Demo Pit area to come on stage and show their products.

The Cult of Amazon Prime

By Jason Calacanis

There are two types of people in the world: those with Amazon Prime and those without.

How you think about consumption, commerce and your personal time is radically different depending on if you've join the cult -- yet.

And to be clear, Prime is a cult you will be joining.

At dinner parties and business meetings, I'll frequently ask who has Prime and what they think of it. The number has grown from one or two in seven to three or four out of seven folks over the past five years. My circles tend to be people like you, which is to say more technically sophisticated (and good looking).

Prime is at a tipping point.

Amazon is doing so well with Prime it will not say how many Prime members it has acquired since the program launched in 2005. Prime launched in three other countries -- the U.K., Japan and Germany -- in 2007.

It's around 5M according to the folks debating the issue on the interwebs. My guess is it doubles every 18 months or so.

One in three American households will have Amazon Prime (or have access to Prime) in the next four years.

This is a lock because