The 10th Founder Showcase featured a great lineup of eight promising startups, however it was Itembase (represented on stage by by Founder Stefan Jorgensen) that took home the Grand Prize. A Graduate of the Berlin Founder Institute, Itembase is a personal inventory service that helps consumers track, manage, and sell the products they own.
Itembase won the audience vote and impressed the investor judging panel by storming the Founder Showcase stage "viking style." You can watch a video of their winning pitch here:
Coming in a close second place was Yumvy, represented on stage by Founder Sari Louis. A Graduate of the Silicon Valley Founder Institute, Yumvy is a "GPS for cooking" that helps you easily and effeciently prepare recipes and entire meals. Chris Albrecht of GigaOm TV released a great video featuring Yumvy from the Founder Showcase - check it out here.
Other companies who contended in the Pitch Competition were Blueseed, Einztein, Leaves, LendSocial, Paycento, and Talentina, and winning the Demo Table Competition was;
- JetPac: An Ipad App that allows you to explore your friends' best travel photos, and share the places you love, where you want to go, and where you've been.
- BrandAds.com: BrandAds is building the bridge between traditional and connected advertising.
- Sway Motorports: The Sway trike allows users to lean into turns like a motorcycle, but without the fear of falling over.
And, as usual, we had an amazing lineup of judges from the top venture firms in Silicon Valley;
George Zachary, Partner at Charles River Ventures
George Zachary joined Charles River Ventures in 2004, bringing more than 17 years of operating and investing experience in computing and consumer technology. Zachary focuses on building services and software technology companies, and he’s led CRV’s investments in Twitter, Yammer, Millennial Media, Cloudshare, Geni, SocialMedia, Metaplace, and Scribd (co-led with Bill Tai).
David Blumberg, Managing Director at Blumberg Capital
David Blumberg is the Managing Partner of Blumberg Capital. David has been investing in early stage technology companies for more than 24 years. His current investment focus includes Digital Media, Social Media, Mobility, SaaS/Technology Enabled Services and Internet.
Noah J. Doyle, Managing Director at Javelin Venture Partners
Noah has founded, launched and grown dozens of tech companies in 20 years of entrepreneurship and management of innovation. He previously directed the enterprise product line for Google Earth and Google Maps, Marketing Strategy and Corporate Development at Keyhole, Inc., and was a co-founder of MyPoints.com, which underwent an IPO and acquisition by United Airlines.
Rob Coneybeer, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures
Rob is a Co-founder and Managing Director of Shasta Ventures. Rob is particularly interested in Mobile & Wireless, Technology Applications, and Infrastructure. Prior to Shasta, he was a partner at New Enterprise Associates, where he led 15 investments. He also helped build the first EchoStar spacecraft at Martin Marietta.
Brian Ascher, Managing Partner at Venrock
Brian focuses on a broad range of Internet (both consumer and B2B) and Healthcare IT investments, and currently serves on the Boards of several private companies, including Vocera, Awarepoint, Retail Solutions, Inrix, and Billfloat. Past investments include ADiFY, DATAllegro, Redbeacon, RelayHealth and Unicru – all of which were acquired. Prior to Venrock he was a Senior Product Manager at Intuit.
