Wednesday night at The Estate, TechCrunch hosted their first meetup in Boston. Atlas Venture's Fred Destin kicked off the night's proceedings with a few words, the best of which were, "The thing Boston sucks the most at is shouting about all the cool things they are doing."
What better way to get Boston shouting than to pack a small club full of people, let conversation buzz, and give entrepreneurs only 90 seconds to pitch their ideas? In order to be heard, presenters had no choice but to shout. There were some hits and misses, but we will let you decide your favorite.
PlowMe
What a way to start the pitches. When they announced PlowMe, the entire room did a double take. (Like you probably just did.) Get your mind out of the gutter. PlowMe is an online and mobile platform that connects snowplows with the people who need them. This winter, users can simply add their home on PlowMe.com – seriously – or the PlowMe mobile app, immediately get a quote from local snow contractors and schedule a quick plowing.
Routineo
Do you even lift? Routineo is a marketplace for workout routines. Users can post their own workouts, follow their friends and challenge others to beat their achievements. Additionally, trainers and athletes can sell their own custom workouts so users can follow the same routine Gerard Butler did to get in 300-shape. Airbrushes not included.
SnagAStool
You can reserve taxis, tables and movie tickets online, so why not a bar stool? SnagAStool, currently in invite-only beta, allows you to do just that. Of course, you have to pay for the seats ahead of time, and premium events – like the Super Bowl or World Series – carry premium prices. This pitch split the crowd pretty evenly, half saying they liked the idea and half sticking to the "You snooze, you lose" mentality.
NapWell
The Napwell napping mask was the evening's first piece of hardware. The Napwell mask looks just like a regular sleep mask, but lights up slowly on the inside, waking you up naturally rather than having an alarm ruin your sleep cycle. The company will be launching their product on Kickstarter soon and will be selling the mask for $49.99.
Cube
Cube is a mobile app that lets you share music you own with an individual selection of friends. Cube integrates iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify and Rdio’s music catalogs.
Energy Harvesters
The Energy Harvester's patent-pending technology allows you to charge your phone simply by walking. The company's walking charger device fits into a shoe or boot and converts the kinetic energy you generate by walking into electrical energy. Users then plug the walking charger into their device to replenish their battery. This isn't "Charging on the go." This is "Charging as you go."
Turnwasters
The concept behind Turnwasters is to negate the need for video game developers to have a back-end. The Turnwasters team collects raw developer data and returns meaningful metrics to the gaming company. Additionally, Turnwasters can send notifications to players about their own achievements and high scores.
APE Systems
APE Systems is an online and mobile platform for coaches and scouters to track the progression of athletes in real time and provide meaningful feedback. The platform has already been adopted at USC and Texas Tech, with several other marquee college athletic programs in the pipeline.
Drop
At the time of their pitch, Drop had been on Apple's App Store for 12 hours. The new mobile app allows users to leave location-based messages for friends and family. For example, you could drop a message at home to remind your roommate to take out the trash or drop a selfie at your significant other's office. When they arrive, the message is sent to their iOS device.
Hermes Clinical
It wouldn't be a Boston pitch-off without at least one healthcare application. Hermes Clinical is a mobile app that allows doctors to do away with physical clinical reports, which often get lost, and go completely digital. It may not have been the sexiest app of the night, but, unlike all of the other apps on display, Hermes Clinical is trying to save lives.
Avalanche Energy
Founder Alex Pińa, a self-proclaimed mad scientist out of MIT, wants to bring solar power to the masses with Avalanche Energy. His company has developed ThermalSquare, a solar panel about the size of a satellite dish that provides energy to your water heater. The efficiency of the ThermalSquare effectively turns the current source of power for your water heater into a backup system, saving you hundreds on your energy bills.
Unsully
Unsully is a premium mobile car detailing service. Users post where and when they want their car cleaned on Unsully's website. A team from a local detail shop then shows up, cleans your vehicle, leaves it with that new car smell and you pay online. Done and done.
TenTen Watch Club
Ah, a Netflix for watches. Users pay a yearly subscription that costs about same as the price of a mid-tiered watch. They can then wear and exchange new watches at their convenience.
Aquibo
Aquibo is a loyalty-based mobile platform that wants you to stop searching for online deals and let online deals search for you. Users choose the types of deals they want to get and then earn points for brand loyalty. Points are earned by seeing ads that are relevant to you, and you use points to get deals on products you actually want. Check out Aquibo's video pitch below.
