startup

Within the real estate industry, technology is replacing the old tried and not-so-true method of print advertising when marketing residential rentals. Within the Rackspace Startup Program we have seen a rise in the number of startups focusing on Software as a Service (SaaS) applications for real estate. One such startup is Y Combinator alumni YouGotListings which is a residential rentals marketing and management software for brokers and landlords.

Over the summer of 2011, Capital Factory in Austin, Texas was nurturing a group of startup companies including the Rackspace Startup Program sponsored Storymix Media who creates stories from your personal video.  They make it easy to create a beautifully edited video as it is to design a photo book. Storymix Media is a great value when you need a wedding video that won’t bust your budget. Your guests can capture every special moment of your wedding; you add your personal touch and the editors at Storymix Media create a video that captures those memories forever.

Green is everywhere these days. It’s in the news, politics, fashion, products, and technology and its here within the Rackspace Startup Program. Introducing ecomom, founded to address the connection between the health of our children and the vitality of our environment.  The e-commerce site committed to providing parents with solutions for healthy living. ecomom does the research every mom would do if she had the unlimited time and resources, and only provides the healthiest products to go in, on and around your family.

Rackspace would like to extend a warm Alamo City welcome to startup accelerator TechStars who is launching its first thematically focused program, TechStars Cloud. The inaugural TechStars Cloud program will run from January to April 2012 in San Antonio, Texas, and will be co-organized with Rackspace. The program will center around startups working exclusively on Cloud Computing, Cloud infrastructure, and OpenStack. TechStars Cloud is focused on selecting, investing in and mentoring the best technical and business talent building businesses that fall within the Cloud vertical.

Recently the Rackspace Startup Program had the opportunity to visit the International Startup Festival in Montreal. It was here that we found out Canada is fast becoming an epicenter for the startup community. Let’s continue our Canadian journey and venture from the province of Quebec to Ontario and the University of Toronto’s The Next 36 program. Touted as Canada’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative, the goal of The Next 36 is to help launch the careers of Canada’s most promising and innovative undergraduates.  The program is open to second, third or fourth year students working on their first undergraduate degree. Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada are eligible to apply, and the program accepts students from any university enrolled in any discipline.

Dave McClure brought his startup brood all the way from Mountain View to Manhattan Wednesday night. The 500 Startups team showed off its latest batch at General Assembly (another Rackspace Startup Program partner). The very spacious communal area was standing room only — a standing testament to both the interest in NYC’s growing startup scene and to the continued strength of tech in theSilicon Valley.

The key to organizing a Rackspace Startup Program event is working with a plethora of people with specific roles in the planning process. How nice would it be to organize everything for your upcoming event to allow your team to focus on creating value for your guests and being responsive to speakers, suppliers, and support personnel? Welcu.com helps manage high-end, unique events by providing an end-to-end self-service solution for event planners.

Frustrated with trying to buy tickets for a show or sporting event online? The Rackspace Startup Program has a solution for your online ticket buying blues. Introducing SeatGeek, an online ticket search engine founded by Jack Groetzinger and Russ D’Souza at DreamIt Ventures, an accelerator program in Philadelphia.

The most important day of an up-and-coming startup is Demo Day.  What does that mean?  It means product readiness, business development, and oh yeah, the opportunity to pitch in front of the press and investors.  The Rackspace Startup Program had a chance to witness how they do just that at 500 Startups in Mountain View, CA.  This is the second “Graduating” presented by this unique seed fund accelerator.

The 2011 class of TechStars Boulder emerged from its bunker last week to do what startups in accelerators do: Rock their demo day.