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 Six startups developing publishing tools or online travel services presented their wares last night at San Francisco's Mighty Club. Organized by SF New Tech, there were many more questions for the presenters than last month prompting some in the audience to suggest a five minute time limit be placed on the post-presentation discussion. While there is some merit to that idea, the casual interaction between the entrepreneurs and interested parties attending the event is what makes it fun. As the promising startups get challenged on business model and API rollout issues, less formidable companies receive suggestions on what they can do to make their services more competitive. Here is my ranking in order of the companies that venture capitalists should consider pursuing as portfolio companies: 1) TripIt - With $1 million raised already from O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, it's not a stretch to place TripIt on top of the heap. I had trouble finding use for the service but co-founder and president Gregg Brockway told me last night that 70% of travel is now booked directly from web sites operated by airlines, hotels, car rental companies and the like. That point to an obvious need to pull it together -- or itinerize it as TripIt calls it. I was skeptical of their social networking plans also. While it would be useful to provide travelers on the road with information about who might be nearby, I doubt a lot of people will join another social network just for that. However, Brockway's plan to open up an API that will distribute TripIt's service onto existing social networks could drive the company upward. Joshua Jaffe is general manager of TechConfidential.com.
Comments
From: Jamie Lin,
I post my travel experiences on Sosauce (www.sosauce.com) and I think it's a lot of fun to use!
Posted on:
February 14, 2008 6:11 PM
From: Kelly,
Great list of plugins. I will definitely have to use use some of them!
Posted on:
February 15, 2008 1:21 AM
From: Tim,
@Manoj => I will try out your product on the iPhone and let you know how it works.
Posted on:
February 15, 2008 5:13 AM
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Hi Joshua, Thanks a lot for the writeup. I really wish we (Blogbard) got a chance to talk to you yesterday after the presentations. Blogbard provides the same service on mobile devices. Our typical users also include commuters who want to catch up with their favorite feeds on their way to work. The service works without a glitch even on the edge network.
We are working on getting the androidness :) out of the voice. I really like your idea of creating a celebrity's voice to speak out any blog.
We would love to get more input from you. I have also included my email address with this comment.