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A Summary of Mobile Startup Ideas From Startup Weekend

I’m here at Startup Weekend (taking place at KickLabs’ San Francisco office) and a bunch of startups are pitching their mobile-based ideas.

Below are most of the ones that presented with a brief description of their pitch — I listed the ones that impressed me the most first (though all had massive potential!).

Metayoo — Finding new connections nearby.

A user can open up their LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter profiles to people 300 meters around them so that users can make new connections.

Users can also have a tag line saying, for example, that they’re “interested in a job.”

I believe founders Kevin & Megan have enormous potential.

Business Model: Job recruiters pay to list positions.

Flought (This was the judges’ choice for winner) — Letting people broadcast thoughts anonymously

Premise is that people have 50,000 thoughts per person per day.

Flought application: People use their phones to type in 70 character messages that only people within a 70-foot area can see.

Business Model: Unclear

CoRider — A social network of people who want to share rides.

Pain and urgency includes A) People need a ride somewhere and also that B) Car drivers feel guilty that they are driving in their car alone and could save the environment if they had other people in their car (who would otherwise be driving alone too).

They pointed out that there are 40,000 car sharing postings per month on Craigslist…just in San Francisco.

Business Model: They charge $5 per ride to people who need a ride.

KissMobs — Bringing men and women together based on what locations/events they’re hanging out at.

As women users choose a party/bar to attend, they areĀ  automatically checked in and male customers get notified about the number of women at any bar so that they can decide where to go out.

Business Model: Bar would pay to participate.

WalknPlay — World of Warcraft built ontop of reality

You want to walk somewhere and you see a GPS-map that provides you a game.

For example, one game might be that your game objective is to help hippies fight big-business…so you get points for virtually fighting other users (e.g. who might represent a yuppy).

Basically, this turns any walk that you might take into a game.

Business Model: They make deals with retailers such as coffee shops who will provide coupons for coffee for gamers to use on their walks (with WalknPlay receiving a commission).

fanattix –Loyalty program for college sports fans.

Fans get points for checking in to college sports venues (bars, arenas, Universities, etc.).

For example, a fan could check into a sports bar (he gets points) and then the fan can enter into a “Smack Talk” game with fans of rival teams and you get points (or lose points) based on a game like trivia. Points would also be awarded for tailgating or traveling to see a game.

Business Model: Virtual goods, coupon deals with venues, affiliate marketing deals.

WeddingMix — A social media platform for sharing a friend’s input.

For example, friends of the wedding party vote on wedding details such as which is the best wedding dress or hair style.

Business Model: Customers pay $100 per wedding to get use of the platform.

ShipOx — “Groups of people who don’t know each other do group-buying of shipping services”

The ShipOx Web site will show that there is a certain amount of available shipping space from one city to another and customers can leverage collecting buying to get a discount from what they’d pay if they shipped alone.

Business Model: Commission on shipping payments

Foodwich — A social network of foodies.

For example, a user types in a restaurant that they like (e.g. Osha Restaurant in San Francisco) and you will receive a recommendation of other restaurants you might like such as Burma Superstar (becomes a “foodie” had recommended both of them).

Business Model: Unclear

Loyalty 2.0 — Store owners provide loyalty programs to customers who pay using the Square mobile payment system.

Business Model: Unclear

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