Startup of the Week: Golf Pipeline

Golf Pipeline is quickly becoming the Facebook and OpenTable for the golf industry. Just as OpenTable did for the restaurant industry, Golf Pipeline offers golfers the ability to book tee times at their favorite local golf courses. And, using the power of social networks, golfers can invite their friends to play golf by selecting from fellow Golf Pipeline friends, Facebook friends, LinkedIn contacts or using a friend’s email address. Golfers can return to the website to track their scores, establish a USGA Handicap Index®, build a golf profile (which shows a golfer’s equipment and other preferences to Golf Pipeline friends) and see all golfer friend activity — who played where, what scores they posted and who became friends with whom.

Golf Pipeline has 350 golf courses available to book tee times at in 23 states, but heavily concentrated in Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis and Detroit. However, the Golf Pipeline website is able to be used by any golfer and for any golf course in the United States — public or private. For golf courses that don’t yet offer tee times on Golf Pipeline, a golfer can manually add their tee time (and invite their friends to join) and post their score. Check out this great addition to your golf game. It’s FREE to join and once you do, you can use the social features to invite your golfer friends into your Golf Pipeline network!

Midwest Social Innovation Start-Up Challenge

IDEAS? This challenge is an opportunity for students or aspiring entrepreneurs to submit a business model that includes social or environmental impact that makes the world a better place! The challenge is open to any ambitious team or individual who has an idea to create positive social change. Register here by May 20th. Entering is free and easy — and you may enter as many ideas as you like.  Please include a description of the problem you’re solving, the solution you propose and the sustainability (financial, repeatable, scalable) of your idea.  Examples of social innovation start-ups: Dell Social Innovation Challenge Winner

PITCH: The Midwest Social Innovation Start-Up Challenge is one of many Flying Car Innovation Week events in Milwaukee, June 1 -10, 2013.  Up to 20 teams/individuals will be selected to present at June 6th, at ManpowerGroup  World Headquarters.

WIN! 3-5 winning groups will share $15,000 in cash, present their start-up idea at the evening reception, participate in summer workshops and mentoring, receive complimentary tickets to the Flying Car Gala, and advance to the Brady Midwest Regional Championship in August.

CELEBRATE: The challenge will provide excellent networking and learning opportunities with business executives, funders, mentors, local entrepreneurs, and prominent national figures in social innovation.  Join us for the evening reception (open to the public) to showcase the semi-finalist winners at The WhereHouse. 

 
The Midwest Social Innovation Start-Up Challenge is presented by the Marquette Social Innovation Initiative in collaboration with the Brady Corporation, The Business Journal, Cardinal Stritch University, Dell Inc.,Greater Milwaukee Committee (MiKE), Johnson Controls, MIAD, MSOE, and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and parallels the national platform founded by Dell Inc. and the University of Texas – Austin.

Photos from the Startup Milwaukee March Meetup — Nightstir, Brighter12, Tappr & more

(MAJOR thanks to Clarissa Rodriguez Photography. You rule!)

Internship Opportunities at Local Startups

We’d like to share two awesome summer internship opportunities at local  startups with you: 

  • Find My Spot, an apartment search startup is looking for a marketing intern. For a job description and details on how to apply, click here. 

  • MSI Data, a field workforce automation software company, has a couple of paid marketing internships. To learn more and apply for their Content Marketing Internship, click here. If you’re interested in their Business Development internship, click here to apply. 

If you are a startup with an internship job description, email matt@startupmke.org

Meet our new leadership team members!

Meet the latest additions to the Startup Milwaukee leadership team, Michael Anderson and Chelsey Orlikowski!

Michael Anderson joins Startup Milwaukee as Co-Organizer & Community Outreach Director. Michael is Founder of Loteek, a Milwaukee-based startup company that “brings the best stuff from local boutique businesses together in one place to create a digital main-street for shoppers to find the unique stores, items, and sales they love, in one easy-to-browse website.” Michael loves boating and the outdoors. He also enjoys the local dining scene, always looking for new restaurants to try in the Milwaukee area. (If you’re looking for great restaurant recommendations, Michael is the guy to ask!) Follow Michael on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Chelsey Orlikowski joins the Startup Milwaukee team as an Advisor. She is an Account Coordinator at Core Creative, a Milwaukee-based marketing agency. She is also PR + Social Media Manager for Tappr, a local startup company that makes it easier for bar patrons to order drinks. In addition to marketing, Chelsey loves staying active, traveling and the Brewers. She also has an eye for graphic and web design. Follow Chelsey on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Welcome aboard, Michael and Chelsey!

We love this post by local entrepreneur, Nick Gartmann…

“PPaaS (Potato Peeler as a Service)”

Nick Gartmann, entrepreneur and co-founder of local startup companies, RokkinCat and Tappr, asks if your startup is a “PPaaS (Potato peeler as a service).”

Gartmann points out an alarming trend: It’s “becoming more and more popular (maybe sexy?) to be the founder of a startup, so people are looking for ideas of where they can shave a few seconds off the time it takes to do something by throwing technology at it.”

The old notion that “any business is good business” comes with warning. If your product neither solves a problem nor genuinely makes life more enjoyable – if it’s a Magic Bullet® (which Gartmann refers to in his post), that you may have purchased and used once, only to find that your pockets are lighter (and your old blender worked just as well) – you’re in dangerous teritory.

Gartmann warns, “The dangerous thing about this practice [PPaaS], is that it makes it difficult to sift through the bulls*** to find the real gems. Many great products have to struggle to yell through the noise to get their product seen and – more importantly – taken seriously.”

And we agree.

You can read the full post on NickGartmann.com - “PPaaS (Potato Peeler as a Service)”

From the October Archive…

Our meetup isn’t going away anytime soon! We’re just working on Milwaukee’s first Startup Weekend, which will take place November 9-11.

Here’s the full scoop:

Milwaukee to Host First Startup Weekend Nov. 9 – 11
Startup Weekend will host its first-ever Milwaukee event Nov. 9 – 11 at Marquette University’s Discovery Learning Complex.

Startup Weekend is a global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures. It is the largest community of passionate entrepreneurs with more than 400 past events in 100 countries around the world in 2011. 

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups. 

Registration is open to the public. The fee is $99 ($49 for students) and includes all meals, snacks, parking and resources for the weekend. To register, visit swmke.eventbrite.com.

Organizers
Startup Weekend Milwaukee is organized locally by Clint Laskowski, a Milwaukee-based security expert and technology entrepreneur; Matthew Cordio, co-founder of Skills Pipeline and Startup Milwaukee; Tina Quely, Associate Director of Marquette University’s Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship; Alicia Boknevitz, User Experience Designer at 7Summits and co-founder of Startup Milwaukee; Joel Abraham, co-founder of gener8tor; Joe Poeschl, co-founder of Junto and Polymathic; Eric Paulsen, Executive Director of BizStarts Milwaukee; and John McDonald, Attorney at Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.

Sponsors
This event wouldn’t be possible without our great sponsors. Startup Weekend Milwaukee is presented by premier sponsor Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., a full service business law firm that commonly provides legal services to start up and emerging companies, as well as to the individuals and entities that invest in such companies. 

Marquette University’s Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship, Answerport, gener8tor and Mason Wells are also event sponsors.

About Startup Weekend Milwaukee: Startup Weekend Milwaukee is an intense 54-hour event where local entrepreneurs, developers, designers, marketers, product managers, startup enthusiasts and anyone interested in building a business will come together to share ideas, form teams, and launch a startup. For more information, visit milwaukee.startupweekend.org or follow us on Twitter @swmke.

About Startup Weekend: Startup Weekend™ supports the development and expansion of entrepreneurship through events worldwide that educate aspiring entrepreneurs by immersing them in the process of moving an idea to market. Startup Weekend has built a network of more than 55,000 alumni, thousands of volunteer organizers and 100 trained facilitators spread across more than 300 cities in 100 countries. Kauffman Foundation, Google, Microsoft, .Co, Sendgrid and Cloudmine are sponsors. For more information, visitwww.startupweekend.org or follow us on Twitter @startupweekend.

February Meetup follow-up!

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it to our February meetup last night!

Here are links to the startups that presented:

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