At a time when many high-tech startups in Florida can't seem to raise a dime, a couple of 22-year-old entrepreneurs from Orlando have tapped a six-figure investment they hope will help put their young company on the map.
In a little less than two years, the co-founders of Feathr Inc. have gone from the good-time college days of fraternities and parties to 60-hour workweeks and investment pitches to high-level financiers with deep pockets.
Combining their technical know-how with some business savvy and a little luck, the childhood friends and one-time University of Florida roommates have created a smartphone app for digital business cards that has attracted investors with international ties in venture capital - the kind of high-risk, high-reward financing that built Silicon Valley and other major technology centers.
So though Florida's share of the nation's newly invested venture capital has plummeted during the past year, the early success of Feathr - brainchild of Bishop Moore grad Aidan Augustin and Wekiva High grad Neal Ormsbee - could become a template for certain startups looking to finance future ventures.
"These guys are smart, energetic and, perhaps most importantly, they are coachable," said Dennis R. Pape, a veteran Central Florida venture capitalist and founder of VenturePitch Orlando, a networking event where Feathr demonstrated its product recently. "They are really a cut above the young entrepreneurs that we usually see."
After operating on a bootstrap budget since its founding last year, Feathr has secured $150,000 from a group of Indian-American investors in Tampa who are members of TiE Florida, the state chapter of an international organization of Indian entrepreneurs. Combined with money raised from "angel" investors - family members and advisers - Feathr has raised nearly $200,000 in the past 18 months.
The TiE Florida investors were impressed by Feathr's product and the sophistication of the novice entrepreneurs - especially Augustin, the company's chief executive and its point person when it's time to pitch the rtls.
"He was constantly in touch with us, persistently following up on his dream," said Sunal Jain, founder of the Tampa-based TiE chapter and president of Medical B&T Services LLC, a billing-technology company. "When we finally visited his place, saw his team and where they worked, and interviewed each team member, we were convinced of the prospects for this company."
Augustin said the idea of a digital business card grew out of his experience as a UF engineering student during a 2011 internship in Silicon Valley.
"I was trying to meet new people, going to tech groups, meet-ups and that sort of thing for young entrepreneurs," he said. "Most of us didn't have business cards, and it was awkward to keep asking for phone numbers or e-mail addresses. I started to joke with people that we should create an app that would make this whole process easier. When I got back to Gainesville, it wasn't a joke anymore. I went to work on it."
Augustin shared the idea with Ormsbee, his longtime pal and fellow engineering student, who added programming and business skills to the mix. They began with a basic idea: a digital-business-card app that people could download, customize and share electronically with prospective clients and customers.
Since then it has morphed into a full-spectrum, multimedia app - a digital business card "on steroids" - that event organizers can give attendees to download as a networking resource. It features not only someone's professional information, but also the event's agenda, list of attendees, speakers' bios and other data.
The two UF students came up with the name Feathr based on the adage "birds of a feather flock together," hoping to evoke an image tied to networking while creating a unique term for marketing on the Web.
They took their proposal in late 2011 to UF's Tech Entrepreneur Boot Camp, where they won a prize for best presentation. By early 2012, they had formed a company and moved into the Florida Innovation Hub, the giant university's small-business incubator. They also recruited two more longtime friends and UF students for the startup: Tommy Goode of Apopka and Andrew Kennedy of Orlando.
But before I start the pre-fight analysis (or rank speculation, if you prefer), let’s take a moment to take a look at the undercard.
First off there’s Apple. Now, whatever their prestige in the design world, Apple have never been serious contenders in the gaminge world. Yes, you can get some pretty cool iPad games, including some impressive Warcraft clones, but both Sony and Microsoft have taken the iPad’s measure and relegated it to ‘accessory’.
Even more worryingly for Apple, Microsoft are already pitching the Xbox One as a TV box as well as a games box, nicely pulling the rug from under all the muttering about Apple TV - and Apple are pretty serious about being a smooth entertainment provider. Microsoft haven’t even broken into a sweat to do it. It’s a by-blow that reminds me of the scene in the Avengers where Hulk casually punches Thor across the room. Puny Apple.
Then there’s Nintendo, the old heavyweight champions who, like George Foreman, just seem to keep going. They had a pretty impressive comeback with the Wii but, sadly, the Wii U has failed to continue the Wii’s form. Yes, it has its fans, but relatively few of them and in the latest round of the Console Wars, it doesn’t really look like a contender.
And let’s not forget the OUYA, the plucky little crowd-sourced open platform console. Let me declare an interest here: I am an OUYA Kickstarter backer, and I expect to get my console and controllers in a few weeks. I’m a sucker for a good underdog story.
But – to push the boxing analogy beyond any reasonable point – the OUYA isn’t even Rocky Balboa in the days before his first shot at taking down Apollo Creed. It’s a lightweight which has piqued the interest of dedicated fight fans on the amateur circuit and is just about to turn pro. It’s got talent and dedication, it’s light on its feet and it’s a lovely little mover, but no lightweight fight is going to draw the crowds like a titanic heavyweight clash.
No comments:
Post a Comment