This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

Last week I finally got to play with the (oh-so-elusive) Google Glass! It was fun to try it on, but I'm not convinced it'll take off (at least not in its current form). That's because it is simply an awkward experience from a human interaction perspective. Whether it'll turn out to be a dud like the Segway or a very early iteration like the Palm Pilot, only time will tell. Meanwhile, here's SNL's hilarious take.

Tuesday (for some reason) has historically been the busiest day of the week for tech events. Last week, I think I ended up going to eight events! (A personal best, I'm pretty sure.) One of the events was a launch party for NY Angels' Brian Cohen's new book, which I'm looking forward to reading.

My buddy Steve Rosenbaum is NYC EDC’s entrepreneur-at-large, and he's holding office hours on May 10 (12-1pm) to answer all your startup questions. Register here.

This week is NYC Creative Week, where the worlds of advertising, design and digital media collide with the arts. Nice!

Get ready for some boozing 'n schmoozing, people! Coming up in a couple of weeks (May 20 to 27) is Internet Week. With 45,000 people expected to attend over 400 parties, keynotes by Randi Zuckerberg, Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed), Joe Gebbia (Airbnb), Joan Rivers and of course the infamous Webutante Ball, it's gonna be cray! ;)

Also coming up are WIN's Funding the Best in Global Innovation 3 (I have 2 free passes, hit me up) on May 16, Walkabout NYC (where you get to check out awesome startup offices) on May 17, Amusemi's Summer Tech Picnic on May 19 and AngelHack (a.k.a. The Largest Global Hackathon Competition) on June 1.

Quick heads-up, tickets for NY Crowdfunds (a.k.a. American Idol meets Shark Tank) are now on sale and they'll go fast like hot cakes so better get on it! ;) If you need more details, email my friend Sonali.

I take the subway. So do you. And so do 8.5 million folks every single day. And now you have the chance to help enhance the transit experience for all of us. That's by taking part in the MTA's #AppQuest, of course! There's $50,000 in prizes. Sweet! Deadline to submit your apps is August 20.

Deadline for Fast Company's Innovation By Design Awards is May 6. And the deadline for Hack Summer Stage is May 8.

Congrats to Mike Brown on the launch of his new venture fund, Bowery Capital. Also, congrats to Kane and Shailia on Enstitute being featured in The New York Times yesterday! The program is an alternative to college that last two years and is based on an apprenticeship model. Application deadline is May 15.

Believe it or not, there is a world beyond New York City (crazy, right?!). There's the Big Omaha Conference on May 8 (billed as the nation's most fabulous conference), 500 Startups' Mama Bear Conference on May 10 (with plenty of mamas and hopefully no bears!) and Digital Shoreditch on May 20 (a.k.a. London's answer to Internet Week). Also ERA will be having its West Coast demo day on May 8.

And finally, this Sunday May 12 is Mother's Day! So don't forget to send your mom flowers and give her a call. Or, better still, surprise her by showing up in person. :)

And now lets see whats going down in the Alley this week...

365Social:NYC Presents
An Evening With Fred Siebert (president, Frederator Studios and former president, Hanna Barbera) & Robin Raskin (former editor, PC Magazine)
Monday (May 6), 6 p.m. @ NY Institute of Technology, 16 W. 61st Street, 11th Fl.

The Atlantic Presents: New York Ideas
Gathering cutting-edge innovators with a simple goal: to draw out the strands of genius from leaders whose work and passions are changing our world.
Tuesday (May 7), 9 a.m. @ NY Historical Society, 170 Central Park West

Innovating for the Connected TV, Living Room and Home
Are you an entrepreneur, developer, investor, tech exec or other professional with a brilliant idea, product or service for the digital living room or smart home? What can you do with 100+mbps speed?
Tuesday (May 7), 6:30 p.m. @ Hotel Yotel, 570 10th Avenue

Content Meets Commerce
A discussion with Philippe von Borries (CEO, Refinery29), Hilary Peterson (Lyst) & James Nord (founder, Fohr Card).
Tuesday (May 7), 6:30 p.m. @ SoHo House, 29 9th Avenue

NY Tech Meetup
You know the drill. Five-minute, cutting-edge tech demos. 850 fellow NY Tech startuppers. One amazing event.
Tuesday (May 7), 7 p.m. @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, 566 Laguardia Place

New York Digital Health Accelerator Demo Day
The inaugural class of health tech innovators will demo to a packed room of investors, media, and a who’s who of healthcare in New York.
Wednesday (May 8), 9:30 a.m. @ The TimesCenter, 242 W. 41st Street

MIT Enterprise Forum NYC: Healthcare IT - New Yorks Next Big Thing
Speakers include Steven Krein (cofounder & CEO, StartUp Health), Jahan Ali (SVP, Partnership Fund for NYC), Philippe Chambon (New Leaf Venture Partners) and Serge Loncar (CEO, CareSpeak)
Wednesday (May 8), 5:30 p.m. @ Pryor Cashman, 7 Times Square

The State of Angel Investing & Its Impact on Startups
Leading investors and entrepreneurs will talk about the state of angel investing and what companies need to do differently in order to secure funding
Wednesday (May 8), 6 p.m. @ Anchin, 1375 Broadway, 23rd Fl.

Turning Idealism Into Action
Keynote by Amy Schulman (Exec VP, Pfizer). Speakers include Rachael Chong (CEO and founder, Catchafire), Sophia Mendelsohn (Head of Sustainability, JetBlue), Stacy Martinet (CMO, Mashable), Claire O'Connor (Barclays Capital) and others.
Thursday (May 9), 8:30 a.m. @ Google NYC HQ, 76 9th Avenue

General Assembly Fireside Chat
With Bill Ready (founder and CEO, Braintree)
Thursday (May 9), 5:30 p.m. @ General Assembly , 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

Investor Feedback Forum
Panelists include Josh Bruno (Bain Capital Ventures), Brian Cohen (NY Angels), Rahul Gandhi (High Peaks Venture Partners) and Jason Klein (On Grid Ventures). Startup pitches by iMect, MONTAJ, givlet, CareBooker, New Healthcare Enterprises, BUZZtheBar, P2P Cash, Zinbox and Cookbook Create.
Thursday (May 9), 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 6th Avenue, 6th Fl.

Designers + Geeks: The Web That Time Forgot
Presented by Alex Wright (Director of UX, The New York Times)
Thursday (May 09), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway, 4th Floor

Go Green for Fashion NYC 2013
Featuring a live runway presentation from some of New York's favorite eco-friendly fashion designers.
Thursday (May 9), 8 p.m. @ XVI Lounge, 251 W. 48th Street

Unleash The Web With Your Pet
With Carlo Almendral (cofounder, DogBFF), Davide Rossi (founder, FitBark), Jenna Fernandes (CEO, CareBooker) and Michael Chiang (founder, MatchPuppy).
Friday (May 10), 6 p.m. @ Animal Haven, 251 Centre Street, 2nd Fl.

Apps that Close the GAP: Using Technology to Accelerate Achievement
With Jaime Casap (global education evangelist, Google), Jessie Woolley-Wilson (CEO, Dreambox Learning); Rebecca Garcia and Carl Sednaoui (cofounders, Coderdojo) and others.
Saturday (May 11), 8:30 a.m. @ Teachers College at Columbia University, 525 W. 120th Street

More events on the horizon...
Startup Lunch SoHo on May 13 @ Cupping Room Cafe
Discussion Series: The Founders & Funders Dilemma on May 13 @ Lim College
Bringing Your E-Commerce Idea to Concept on May 14 @ General Assembly East
Founders Breakfast with Chrysi Philalithes, Chief Digital Officer (RED) on May 15 @ Venue
Fashion 2.0: Retail & Big Data on May 15 @ Scandinavia House
NJ Tech Meetup 36 with Scott Belsky on May 15 @ Howe Center
Funding the Best in Global Innovation III on May 16 @ Dentons
NYC Tech Picnic on May 19 @ Chelsea Piers, Pier 64
Opportunities for Mobile UX in Complex Business Models on May 23 @ Venue
AngelHack NYC - Spring 2013 on June 1 @ Huge Inc

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)

This painting of Ron Conway was a gift from Steve Jobs' wife. (Photo: Twitter/b_c_g)

Yesterday, Y Combinator (Silicon Valley's ur-accelerator) hosted its biannual Demo Day at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

As cofounder Paul Graham announced last fall, YC downsized both the number of startups and the size of the investment in this current class. And fears that the accelerator bubble is about to pop were not lost on the 47 startups who presented, nor the 500 or so investors in attendance.

Where the buzziest startups once commanded valuations of up to $20 million, "now the higher end is closer to $10 million, and the financial terms of the investment deals have shifted slightly for the benefit of investors," reports the Wall Street Journal. (Perhaps to loosen checkbooks, they started serving booze earlier in the day this year.)

Indeed, like their more established brethren, the hottest trend among YC's early stage companies seemed to be (wait for it) generating revenue! The Journal says Demo Day offered "further proof that the social-networking craze has died down and more founders are tackling 'boring' problems that generate cash."

Guess bored founders will have to get their kicks from checking their bank balance--and still existing in a few years.

Where the pitch decks of yore could be counted on for bubblicious slides on market size, the ones presented yesterday also highlighted money-making metrics:

"Don Dodge, a startup investor and well-known 'developer advocate' for Google, said today’s startups are more focused than ever on revenue—as evidenced by the large revenue-growth charts most of them showed off during the presentations to investors. In prior years, founders focused more on the number of people using their service, he said."

So what did all this emphasis on practicality amount to? Copying proven business models instead of pie-in-the selfie-sky ones, according to CNET.

Does that mean we're done with, "Instagram for ___" startups?: At Y Combinator Day, echoes of Kickstarter cnet.co/16XEfEx via @cnet

— Paul Sloan (@PaulSloan) March 27, 2013

This batch wasn't entirely lacking innovative ideas, however. There was "everything from a “Kayak for insurance” to a service that promises to help people divorce amicably."

But PandoDaily's representative failed to notice an appreciable difference:

"While Y-Combinator made changes over the past year, there wasn’t a whole lot different about the companies this time around. Less money did not, YC partner Jessica Livingston claims, result in greater fiscal austerity. 'It’s not like they were really irresponsible to begin with,' she says. More squishy was the outward impression each company emitted: some attendees told me there was a greater sense of founder modesty."

As revolutions go, disrupting egoes ain't half bad.

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

Congrats to the Ravens for winning the Super Bowl! Best of the commercials? That'd be Chrysler's So God Made A Farmer ad. Beyoncé rocked the half-time show (and flashed the Illuminati sign?). Yes, there was a brief blackout, enough to unleash a torrent of funny tweets. Oreos won the night, social-media wise. And finally, there was Shaq, lip-syncing to Beyoncé's "Halo." 

R.I.P., Mayor Koch. You will be missed. New York is the greatest city in the world. But there was a time when the future looked bleak, and Mayor Koch deserves some of the credit for bringing the city back from the brink.

The NYC EDC is planning the 4th Annual BigApps competition. Help them out by completing this brief survey by Friday. Also, wanna help the city reinvent the payphone? Submit your prototype idea by February 18. Demo Day is March 5.

PILOT Health Tech NYC is an awesome new program that matches early-stage healthcare technology companies with key New York healthcare service organizations. It will provide funding of up to $100,000 each to 10 innovative pilot projects. Deadline is February 10. And GE and StartUp Health are announcing a three-year entrepreneurship program to provide expertise, resources and growth opportunities for consumer health companies. Deadline to apply is February 8.

Check out the New York State Collegiate Business Plan Competition. Current undergrad and grad students from New York City colleges are eligible. Deadline for applying is midnight of March 1. For more details, contact Lesley Stroll.

Love is in the air! And that means I've got a few Valentine's Day-themed events for you this week: Startup Singles Happy Hour, The Chocolate Business at a Glance and Dating & Technology.

This Saturday is the much-anticipated Hearst Fashion Hackathon. Prizes include access to exclusive VIP Fashion Week shows, use of your hack in NYFW events, mentorship from Hearst, and $10,000-plus in cash prizes! And speaking of Fashion Week, hope to run into some of you there later this week.

Congrats to Alex, Sachin, Rameet, Alexis, Vipin, Carter and many other friends for getting selected to the NYC Venture Fellows program. And congrats to Eugene Chung, the new Managing Director of TechStars NYC!

More interesting events this week: PandoMonthly (with First Round's Josh Kopelman), A Peek Into the World of Digital Art (with the New Museum's Lauren Cornell) and The Impact of Digital on Movie Going (with NBC Universal's Jon Gibs). And coming up: One of a Kind, where you can donate your old startup t-shirts, on February 13. And on February 16 comes HackInteractive (in partnership with CampInteractive), for hacking solutions to solve problems in student learning today.

And now let's see what's going down in the Alley this week...

The Impact of Digital on Movie Going: Jon Gibs SVP Research NBC Universal
AppNexus President Michael Rubenstein will host a fireside chat with Jon Gibs (SVP Research, NBC Universal).
Monday (Feb. 4), 6 p.m. @ AppNexus, 28 W. 23rd Street

Ultra Light Startups Investor Feedback Forum
Panelists include Arie Abecassis (DreamIt Ventures), Jordan Bettman (Bain Capital), Eliot Durbin (BOLDstart Ventures) and Mark Lodish (Solon Mack). Demos by MyBillRegistry, LienLog, Minteye, Merocrat, Epion Health, Threadmatcher, Standbuy and Handybook.
Tuesday (Feb. 5), 6:30 p.m. @ NYU Stern, 44 W. 4th Street, KMC 1-70

The Japan Society Presents: How to Create Your Own Humanoid
With Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro (director, Intelligent Robotics Lab at Osaka University), Erico Guizzo (senior editor, IEEE Spectrum) and Heather McKnight (founder, Marilyn Monrobot).
Tuesday (Feb. 5), 6:30 p.m. @ Japan Society, 333 E. 47th Street

February NY Tech Meetup
You know the drill. Five-minute demos. A bunch of amazing new startups. Now hopefully you've snagged one of those elusive tickets!
Tuesday (Feb. 5), 7 p.m. @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, 566 Laguardia Place

From Wall Street to Silicon Alley
With Charles Birnbaum (Foursquare), James Moran (Yipit), James Queen (Spotify) and Nihar Singhal (SeatGeek).
Tuesday (Feb. 5), 8 p.m. @ General Assembly East, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

Business Insider Presents: Social Commerce Summit
Rockstar list of speakers including John Caplan (OpenSky), Ben Fischman (Rue La La), Chris Fralic (First Round Capital), Michelle Lam (True&Co), Doug Mack (One Kings Lane), Chris Bolte (WalmartLabs) and others.
Wednesday (Feb. 6), 8 a.m. @ Pier 60, 23rd Street and 11th Avenue

Canadian Technology Accelerator Demo Night
Demos by I Think Security, Organimi, Ooka Island, Picatic, Sweet IQ and Wedding Republic.
Wednesday (Feb. 6), 6 p.m. @ AppNexus, 28 W. 23rd Street, 4th Fl.

Startup Singles Pre-Valentines Day Happy Hour
Is your Valentine this year your startup team members? That might be good for your startup, but not for your social life!
Wednesday (Feb. 6), 6 p.m. @ Tom & Jerry, 288 Elizabeth Street

Projective Space Demo Night
Demos by Topi, Gander, Get Maid, Martini, Offmap, SeedInvest, DataNitro and Wun Wun.
Wednesday (Feb. 6), 6:30 p.m. @ Projective Space L.E.S., 72 Allen Street, 3rd Fl.

Wearable Computing Meetup
With Eric Migicovsky (creator of the $10M Kickstarter-funded Pebble Smart Watch)
Wednesday (Feb. 6), 7 p.m. @ Pivotal Labs, 841 Broadway, 8th Fl.

PandoMonthly Presents
With Josh Kopelman (founder & managing director, First Round Capital)
Thursday (Feb. 7), 6 p.m. @ Projective Space L.E.S., 72 Allen Street, 3rd Fl.

Startup Funeral
All proceeds will go to HackNY, supporting the next generation of hackers.
Friday (Feb. 8), 8 p.m. @ New Work City Funeral Home, 412 Broadway, 2nd Fl.

Hearst Fashion Hackathon 2013
Prizes include access to exclusive VIP Fashion Week shows & events, use of your hack in NYFW events, mentorship from Hearst Corporation and $10k+ in cash prizes!
Saturday (Feb. 9), 9 a.m. @ Hearst, 300 W. 57th Street, 3rd Fl.

Science and the City
A hackfest dedicated to Citizen Science for Cities. Examples range from tracking your trash, studying the bacteria in your wallet, building social networks for cyclists or preparing for the next hurricane.
Saturday (Feb. 9), 9 a.m. @ NYU ITP Tisch School of Arts, 721 Broadway

Tech@NYU DemoDays
Hosting students from around the city to demo off cool projects they have been working on. Followed by a short talk from Greg Leppert (cofounder, Svpply).
Saturday (Feb. 9), 5 p.m. @ eBay NYC, 625 6th Avenue, 3rd Fl.

More events on the horizon...
Cocktails & Conversation with Joanne Wilson & Rohini Dey on Feb. 12 @ Vermilion
February 2013 NY Enterprise Technology Meetup on Feb. 12 @ Cooley
Mobile + Commerce Demo Night on Feb. 13 @ AOL Ventures
February Growth Hacker Meetup (with Cezary Pietrzak from Appboy) on Feb 13. @ NYU Stern School of Business
Electric Locomotive (with Dane Atkinson, CEO of SumAll) on Feb. 13 @ The Kraine Theater
One Of A Kind Party: Open Bar / Clothes Donation by StartupThreads, Amicus, AlleyNYC & Coalition for Queens on Feb. 13 @ 1OAK
Columbia Business School PE/VC Conference on Feb. 15 @ Alfred Lerner Hall at Columbia University
HackInteractive on Feb. 16 @ General Assembly
Social Media Week NY 2013 on Feb. 18 @ Metropolitan Pavilion
NYTECH Presents: Killer Strategies from the Worlds Greatest Innovators on Feb. 19 @ Morgan Stanley
Funding the Best in Global Innovation II on Feb. 20 @ SNR Denton
AIPAC Technology Division: Launch Event w/Dan Senor on Feb. 27 @ Bloomberg Tower

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of Gary's Guide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

iPhone 5 Day is coming, and you know what that means. That's right--long lines are already starting to form outside Apple stores all over the world as folks clamber to get their hands on the all new slimmer, lighter and faster iPhone 5. A shout-out to Gary's Guide member (and founder of a new social media startup, Vibe) Hazem Sayed, who is first in line outside the iconic 5th Avenue "Big Glass Cube" Apple Store. Go Hazem!

My friend Dave Lifson (product manager at General Assembly) along with Christina Chaey (associate editor at Fast Company) will be doing a free livestream this Wednesday at 2pm EST, on product management for non-product managers. You'll learn what it takes to turn your ideas into functional products. And did I mention its free? :) Oh, and everyone who registers gets a free copy of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's new e-book, Making Something People Love. So go sign up!

The new Cornell NYC Tech campus has started accepting admission applications for its beta class of computer science students, slated to start January 2013. Deadline is October 1.

And now let's see what's going down in the Alley this week...

Startup Roundtable 17
With David Aronoff (general partner at Flybridge Capital Partners)
Tuesday (Sept. 18), 6 p.m. @ Chadbourne & Parke LLP, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 36th Fl.

PushStart + AngelCube Demo Night
10 companies from PushStart and AngelCube (two Australian-based accelerators) will exhibit their latest products. Featured startups include Adbiddr, Gimmequotes, Surfed.At, Tonight, Werdsmith and Wingman.
Tuesday (Sept. 18), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly East, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl.

Brooklyn Tech Meetup
Demos by Temboo, Appreciation Engine and Bar & Club Stats.
Tuesday (Sept. 18), 7 p.m. @ Huge, Inc., 45 Main St., Brooklyn

GoGreen '12 New York
With Seth Pinsky (President, NYC EDC), Andrew Revkin (Pace University and New York Times), Cyrille du Peloux (CEO, Veolia), Pamela Gill Alabaster (L'Oreal), David Bragdon (Mayor's Office, NYC) and others.
Wednesday (Sept. 19), 9 a.m. @ The TimesCenter, 242 West 41st Street

Fashion Forward Conference
Bringing over 300 bloggers together for a one-day conference filled with fashion shows, style tips, informative panels hosted by industry experts, interactive stations and more.
Wednesday (Sept. 19), 11 a.m. @ 404 NYC, 404 10th Avenue

Product Management for Non-Product Managers w. David Lifson (General Assembly) and Christina Chaey (Fast Company)
Based on student submissions, Dave will walk through best practices for fleshing out ideas, identifying risks, validating assumptions, and ultimately launching a minimum viable product.
Wednesday (Sept. 19), 2 p.m. @ Livestream, Online

Digital Cocktails - The Power of Sound: Music Advertising and Brands
With Sharon Colombo (executive director, corporate marketing, JPMorgan Chase), Debora Koyama (VP marketing, L'Oreal), Elliot Lum (VP, Columbia Records), Eddie Martin (director of marketing excellence and CSR insights, Hershey Company), Josh Rabinowitz (SVP and director of music, Grey) and Mark Sherwood (director of strategy and head of integrated planning, Saatchi & Saatchi).
Wednesday (Sept. 19), 6 p.m. @ The Sony Club, 550 Madison Avenue

Art.sy Tech Talk
Art.sy will open their doors to the NYC engineering community for an evening of conversation around making technical choices at a startup from day one. This invitation is for software engineers/web developers only.
Wednesday (Sept. 19), 7 p.m. @ Art.sy, 401 Broadway, 25th Floor

Design for Manufacturing Summit
With Ping Fu (cofounder & CEO, Geomagic), Mark Hatch (CEO, TechShop), Stephan Clambaneva (Industrial Designers Society of America), Tara Stand (ITAC), Michael Greenstein (Polytechnic Institute of NYU), Benedetta Piantella (Adjunct Professor, NYU-ITP), James Wolff (Buildatron), Xanthe Matychak (Innovation Center, Rochester Institute of Technology) and Kostika Spaho (3D Printing Artist).
Thursday (Sept. 20), 3 p.m. @ Dumbo Spot, 160 Water St, Brooklyn

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) Demo Day
Presentations by the Summer 2012 class of ERA including AngelPolitics, Bizodo, CaterCow , Glossi, HealthyChic, Houdini, Jetaport, MxHero, SaleMove and VidRocket.
Friday (Sept. 21), 8:30 a.m., by invite only

Startup Weekend NYC
A global grassroots movement of active and empowered entrepreneurs who are learning the basics of founding startups and launching successful ventures.
Friday (Sept. 21), 6 p.m. @ AlleyNYC, 500 Seventh Avenue, 17th Fl.

Mashable Social Good Summit
Speakers include Todd Park (CTO, United States), Forest Whitaker (artist & UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador), Nick Kristof, (columnist & two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, New York Times), Rebecca Moore (Engineering Manager, Google Earth), Hans Vestberg (president & CEO, Ericsson), Deepak Chopra (bestselling author & founder, The Chopra Foundation), Wendy Harman (director, social strategy, American Red Cross), Kathy Calvin (CEO, UN Foundation) and more.
Saturday (Sept. 22), 9 a.m. @ 92nd Street Y, Lexington Avenue at 92nd St

More events on the horizon...
Coming To America: Immigration Entrepreneurship & the Economy on Sept. 24 @ New York Law School
Enterprise Insights: Go Big (Data) Or Go Home on Sept. 25 @ Microsoft
NYTECH Presents: UX Cognitive Modeling Methods on Sept. 27 @ New York Institute of Technology
Entrepreneurs Roundtable 51 on Sept. 27 @ NYU Stern Room 2-60
Startup Grind NYC Hosts Scott Kurnit (Founder of Aboutcom / Keepcom) on Sept. 27 @ The Alley
Cleanweb Hackathon NYC on Sept. 28 @ AlleyNYC
NYTECH Presents: Content Marketing: Beyond Liking and Tweeting on Oct. 02 @ Anchin
Daniweb Presents: Advertising, Marketing and Media Mayhem! on Oct. 02 @ Slate Lounge
FOCUS100 Symposium and Pitch Bootcamp on Oct. 05 @ Ogilvy & Mather
Talk NYC Presents: 2nd Annual Tech Madison Avenue Conference on Oct. 17 @ Crosby Street Hotel
All Things D: Dive Into Mobile on Oct. 29 @ The Ritz-Carlton Battery Park

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)

Mr. Gaal (Photo: Google+)

You know what they say about karma, so don't make us repeat it. It looks like good intentions backfired with Karma, a 4G hotspot provider initially founded in Amsterdam that presented this morning at TechStars Demo Day.

In press materials for the spring class, Karma's one-line descriptor was: "Simple, honest 4G provider," a sentiment repeated throughout its introductory blog post. But shortly after Demo Day ended, Travis Kalanick, the CEO of request-a-ride car app Uber, tweeted that Karma's CEO Robert Gaal had not been honest in mentioning a partnership with Uber during the company's pitch in front of crowd of more than 700 at Webster Hall.

just to clarify- @uber is not in any way working with @yourkarma - this company lied on stage @techstars demoday in order to get funding

— travis kalanick (@travisk) June 14, 2012

there are many companies working hard with integrity with @techstars program - it just so happens that @yourkarma isn't one of them — travis kalanick (@travisk) June 14, 2012

Mr. Gaal initially defended himself on Twitter:

@travisk There’s been plenty of planning actually. I’ll get in touch.

— Robert Gaal (@robertgaal) June 14, 2012

But in an email to Betabeat, Mr. Gaal seemed more contrite, writing, "We overstated our relationship with Uber in our Demo Day presentation and should've asked for explicit permission. Miscommunication happened. As you can see in the previous email I sent you with our press summary, we are not announcing any partnerships yet."

When asked about prior communications with Uber, including which staff members Mr. Gaal had spoken to and whether there had been discussion of a potential deal, Mr. Gaal responded, "All I can honestly say is that it was just a big miscommunication, and that we should've asked for up-front permission."

We reached out to Mr. Kalanick, but have not heard back.

In an overview about Karma sent to Betabeat yesterday, Mr. Gaal did not mention Uber  or any other partnerships. But he did quote recommendations on AngelList from advisors like investor David Pakman, Union Square Ventures' Christina Cacioppo, and Boxee cofounder Idan Cohen, who all spoke highly of the concept and team.

Karma also said it had "raised close to 1 million dollars from some of the best angels in the industry, including Werner Vogels, Kal Vepuri, Chang Ng, Jerry Neumann, David Tisch, David Cohen, BOLDstart Ventures, 500 Startups and Collaborative Fund." We asked Mr. Gaal if he could provide a Form D filing for the round. "The round is still open actually, so we haven't filed yet," he responded. "It's been raised on convertible note."

When asked if he'd overstated anything else, Mr. Gaal sent confirmation that the list of investors was accurate. “We’re not any different from the companies on stage at TechStars here, and we never lied about anything," he said. "There's no need to nail us to a cross now."

UPDATE: In a post on the company's Tumblr this evening, Mr. Gaal indicated that he had also misstated a partnership with American Airlines during his Demo Day pitch. Under the headline, "Mea culpa," Mr. Gaal wrote:

We apologize profusely for claiming Uber and American Airlines are working with us – a statement we never received explicit permission to use. And we apologize to TechStars and the whole TechStars community. We did not mean to overstate anything or unfairly take advantage of the network and the opportunities it has opened up for us.

In Uber's case, Betabeat has heard from sources who indicated there was no agreement on the table with Karma. At the end of his post, Mr. Gaal added:

 The irony of our name being Karma is not lost on us – but we truly hope to live up to our name and the core value it represents, and we hope you give us the chance.

Ms. Johnson (Photo: twitter/jennifernyc)

In March, TechStars NYC announced that it had selected 14 startups from an applicant pool of more than 1,600 for the chance at 13-weeks of mentorship and $100,000. But only 13 companies will be presenting at tomorrow's Demo Day at Webster Hall. Betabeat has learned that StockTouch, which described itself as "revolutionizing finance with mobile data visualization," did not participate in the program.

Managing director David Tisch would only say that the decision was mutual. We have reached out to StockTouch for comment and will update the post when we hear back. StockTouch CEO Jennifer Johnson was one of five female CEOs (and six female cofounders) accepted into the spring 2012 class.

StockTouch's website says the app was created by Visible Market, "a company dedicated to inventing the world’s best financial information products for mobile devices." In January, Visible Market filed a Form D indicating that the company had raised a $500,000 equity round from six investors.

In an article in April, Mashable described StockTouch as a "vibrant" and "easy-to-read" heat map that covered stocks displaying the top 100 U.S. and top 100 global companies in nine industry sectors. The heat map shows stocks that are gaining value in green and stocks losing value in green, giving users the chance to zoom in to an individual stock for a performance graph.

ITunes included StockTouch as a "new and noteworthy" app the week of March, 15, 2012, shortly after the TechStars decisions were announced. A screenshot from that time on the StockTouch press page shows that the app had five stars from 241 ratings. The current version of the app in iTunes, which was last updated in April, has a rating of two-and-a-half stars.

Demo Day!

Upon arriving at the NYIT Auditorium this morning for Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator's second-ever Demo Day, Betabeat found what could only be described as a crush. The lobby was packed with sharply-dressed investors enthusiastically meeting and greeting. An (admittedly unscientific) survey of name tags revealed several managing directors and partners. Meanwhile, T-shirt sporting founders milled about, charm turned up to the max.

Attendees filtered only gradually into the theater, but eventually ERA cofounder Charlie Kemper called the meeting to order. After a few words about ERA itself, he warmed up the crowd by pointing out that all 10 presenting companies already have users and product in market, while 60 percent already have revenue. Not too shabby.

We outlined this class of ERA attendees back when they were first announced. Here's how they turned out. 

Appy Couple

“We here today because of the two biggest motivators in the world,” CEO Sharmeen Mitha-Sehgal announced: “Love, and money.” Her startup, Appy Couple, enables the creation of a new kind of digital wedding keepsake, in the form of a custom app. The affianced include information like the time, location, and dress code; then guests can sign on using a unique code and do things like upload photos. Guests can also do things like purchase plane tickets through Appy Couple partners and affiliates. For the record, wedding guests spend around $50 billion annually.

Appy Couple’s numbers are looking pretty good: On March 15, they had 150 weddings signed up. As of April 20, they had 3,000--and there are 6,000 couples on their waiting list. They’re so popular in Australia they’ve already appeared on the nation’s edition of the Today Show. Those customers are shelling out, too: The basic app costs $50, while limited edition designer versions are available for up to $200. So if “Tiffany Blue” is your color, fear not! (Well, fear for your credit rating, maybe.)

The startup is raising $1.5 million, and they’ve already got $500,000 committed.

Wizpert

How much do you value your favorite blogger’s opinions? Would you be willing to express that value in cold, hard cash? Wizpert is betting so. The company proposes to turn the blogosphere into one giant expert network. CEO Michael Weinberg explained that their platform “connects people who need advice to a live, one-on-one conversation with a blogger who is a subject matter expert--a wizpert.” Bloggers charge for their advice; Wizpert gets a cut. Weinberg introduced a few early community members, including specialists in photography, healthy living, homeschooling, and travel. Of course, we can’t help but point out that part of the appeal of the average blog is that it’s free.

Wizpert is seeking $800,000, and they’ve already raised $220,000. Weinberg and his team hope to use the money to grow the platform.

Let’s Wombat

Product sampling is often associated with a) little old ladies at Sam’s Club and b) strange dudes at music festivals. But the conversion rates are quite good, explained CEO Hannah Brooks, and businesses want to do more--provided it’s targeted, trackable, and scalable. That’s where Let’s Wombat comes in. The company uses its technology platform to match a brand with events attended by the audience that brand wants to reach. The event organizer receives samples to distribute. Then--to get the all-important metrics--attendees go to an app, sign in with Facebook Check-In, and answer three questions about the product.

To demonstrate, Ms. Brooks brought high-end Scotch.

At the moment, Let’s Wombat is working on a pilot program that involves Vita Coco, Pop Chips, and 8 other brands. They were seeking a $500,000 seed round.

Stray Boots

The basic concept behind Stray Boots: Guidebooks, tour guides, self-guided audio tours--they’re all outdated. Forget all that, and let’s turn urban exploration into a game. “An easier way to think about that is like your own private Amazing Race on your own cell phone,” said CEO Avi Millman.

Mr. Millman and his cofounders have been bootstrapping for a couple of years now, and they’ve got a proof-of-concept in the form of a surprisingly successful SMS product. Right now the company has 40,000 customers paying $6 to $12 per game, amounting to more than $200,000 over the last 12 months. The presentation also included a seemingly endless parade of photos submitted by users who looked to be having an awfully good time. The app version is currently in private beta, with a projected App Store debut later this spring.

Stray Boots is raising $1.2 million, with $250,000 already committed. For especially eager investor, Mr. Millman included all the necessary information for an immediate wire transfer.

Tapfame

Initially, Satjot Sawhney and his cofounder Ankit Ranka started building an iPhone game, the plan being that it would become wildly popular and they’d make roughly a bajillion dollars. Then they realized they had zero distribution strategy and that it’s almost impossible to get users hooked on a game, which means app developers make, on average, a whopping $682. Ouch. TapFame is their attempt to solve that problem. They’ve built a platform that allows developers to run contests and sweepstakes within their games, thereby driving engagement (i.e., more time for advertising and in-app purchases) and increase user retention. Current clients include Map Lips and Lock and Roll.

Over the next few months, they want to create a self-service platform where developers can sign themselves up and grow the customer base to 1,000. To do that, they’re seeking $500,000.

Stylyt

This pitch immediately stood out, simply by virtue of presenter Jenny Wu’s ultra-bright ensemble of orange-sherbet skinny jeans and fuschia top. Eye-catching! Her set-up, on the other hand, was old news: brands are still spending huge amounts of money on magazine ads, while spend-happy Gen Y consumers are elsewhere, pinning their hearts out.

Their plan for catering to this demanding cohort is interesting, though: Allow them to customize designer products, crowdsource the best ideas, then charge full market value. (Wu emphasized that markdowns are in no way an element of their business model. Sorry, bargain-hunters!) A brief video demonstrated how this might work, showing a young woman creating a limited-edition, Mondrian-inspired Rebecca Minkoff bag. To limit the fashion disasters (and presumably to preserve some element of brands’ control), users are required to work within certain constraints, like the silhouettes and color palette the designer had already chosen for the season. Besides Minkoff, they’re launching with Nicole Miller and a number of other brands.

The company is seeking $800,000.

LocalBonus

Remember green stamps? Yeah, neither do we. But they’re apparently the retro cousin to LocalBonus, which aims to enable local business loyalty programs without turning your wallet into an overstuffed disaster area. Rather than relying on annoying plastic cards, the program is linked to customer credit cards. So if you’re a member of Corner Cup of Joe’s rewards program, it’ll register when you swipe to pay. (After the demo Betabeat cornered CEO Derek Webster on the subject of security, but he said the company adheres to all the relevant standards and besides, people don’t seem that worried.)

Of course, there’s nothing stopping Google Wallet from launching a competitive feature, but why borrow trouble?

They’re raising $1.2 million, and they’ve already got $350,000 committed.

Dibsie

In the real world, people shop with their friends. Online, the closest thing is a roundabout process involving Facebook likes or Pinboards. That’s the basic argument sharp-dressed Dibsie CEO Garren Givens made for his company, “a shopping site curated by your friends.” They take products you’ve shared or liked and push them out to your friends. The pitch was pretty simple, focusing largely on three numbers: 4 percent of consumers buy when browsing alone. 16 percent buy after friends recommend something. That means Dibsie produces a 400 percent life in purchases. They’re still hashing out their monetization strategy: Right now they’re taking a 4 to 6wai percent commission on each sale, but they’re also experimenting with partnerships.

Dibsie is seeking $500,000.

Pictorious

Pictorious CEO Alberg Chung is unpersuaded as to the awesomeness of current mobile social photo offerings. He proposes to go beyond filters and party pics, creating a social game played through photos. So, for example, someone might post a challenge soliciting the most creative planking photos; Mr. Chung would respond with a picture of his (seriously adorable) baby lying on her back in seeming imitation of the meme. The monetization strategy? The idea is that brands would be willing to shell out to engage directly with users. If Oreo can get 500 users to submit pictures of themselves eating Oreos, that’s at least a little more exciting than Facebook links. The problem, though, is how to get users into a network that’s not Instagram.

Pictorious is raising $500,000.

Triple Lift

Pinterest offers brands perhaps the most direct route from social media presence to cash money in the bank. The advent of the first enterprise marketing platform specifically tailored to the social network was therefore inevitable, and here it is. Built by ad tech veterans, Triple Lift offers brands the Pinterest-specific analytics dashboard--including ROI analysis--marketers so badly need. They also turn brands' existing display advertising into something more pin-friendly, allowing users to pin looks or products from an ad, rather than the ad itself. All that data allows smarter media-buying, so a brand can target users with ads across the web.

Triple Lift is seeking $1.5 million.

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder & CEO of GarysGuide, Mentor at ER Accelerator and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can follow him at @garysguide and reach him via email at gary [at] garysguide.com.

An absolutely crazy, crazzzzzzy week in tech coming up with a ton of really good events including hacker townhalls, demo days, Startup Weekends, TEDx-es, hack days, incubator openings, happy hours, roundtables and more. Lets take a look, shall we? ...

January Hacker Townhall
Pizza, beer and hanging out with other fellow hackers, technologists, tinkerers, and thinkers? Life just doesn't get better than that, my friend! :)
Monday, 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway 4th Floor

MIT Enterprise Forum of NYC Presents: Business Plan Presentations: Innovations in Digital Commerce
Panel Speakers include Albert Wenger (Partner, Union Square Ventures), David Teten (Partner, ff Venture Capital), Eric Nordlander (Engineering Partner, Google Ventures) and Sim Blaustein (Principal, BDMI). Companies presenting include Agnik (data analytics for distributed, mobile & embedded), Echoer (Finalist at Le Web), Moviecom.tv (Red Herring Global 2011 Winner), Megawatt Hour (decision-making platform for energy purchasing) and WishMash (The social wishlist platform).
Tuesday, 5:30 p.m. @ Chadbourne & Parke LLP, 30 Rockefeller Plaza

BMW i Ventures Incubator opening
With Mitchell Moss (Director, Rudin Center for Transportation Policy), Kurt Buecheler (VP BizDev, Streetline), Bill Schwebel (Senior VP, Inrix), John Schmid (Chairman, Green Parking Council), Anthony Eskinazi (CEO & Founder, ParkatmyHouse), Ulrich Quay (MD, BMW i Ventures) and Alexander Diehl (MD, BMW i Ventures).
Tuesday, 6 p.m. @ BMV i Ventures, 95 Morton St 7th Floor

Making Startups Work - Optimizing the Front End
With Damian Galarza (Thrillist), Pau Santesmasses (Tumblr), Mike Singleton (Foursquare), Ahmed Hashim (Etsy) and Benjamin Wilson (Refinery29).
Tuesday, 7 p.m. @ Refinery29, 30 Cooper Square 4th Floor

500 Startups Demo Day NYC
Back by popular demand! Go check out Startup Pirate (Aarrr!!!), Wearer of 500 Hats and Super Angel Extra-ordinaire Dave McClure and his 500 Startups Accelerator's 3rd batch (Fall 2011) of startups.
Wednesday, 10 a.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway 4th Floor

Xconomy Forum: New York’s Venture Emergence
Rockstar speaker list including Fred Wilson (Founder & Managing Partner, Union Square Ventures), Todd Dagres (Founder & General Partner, Spark Capital), Barry Silbert (Founder & CEO, SecondMarket), Nick Beim (General Partner, Matrix Partners), Alexandra Wilkis Wilson and Alexis Maybank (CoFounders, Gilt Groupe), Rich Levandov (Managing Director, Avalon Ventures), Dave Morgan (Founder & CEO, Simulmedia), Peter Stern (CEO, bitly), Eric Wiesen, General Partner (RRE Ventures) and more.
Wednesday, 2 p.m. @ Apella Event Space at Alexandria Center, 450 East 29th Street 2nd Floor

The Business Side of Dating
Dating can be fun (or not). But there is no doubt that there is a lot of ka-ching! to be made in the business of dating. Featuring the-guy-who-started-it-all Gary Kremen (Founder, Match.com), Brian Schechter (HowAboutWe), Adam Sachs (Ignighter) and Dana Kanze (Moonit).
Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. @ Goodwin Procter, 620 Eighth Avenue Floor 26

BD Meetup Happy Hour
Boozin' and schmoozin' with the biz dev crowd!
Wednesday, 7 p.m. @ Gallery Bar, 120 Orchard St

Expanding Your Business into Europe for Early Stage High Growth Companies (NY)
With Matt Meeker (Partner, Polaris Ventures), Terry Jost (CEO, Mycroft), Peter Melerud (CoFounder & COO, Kemp Technologies), Adrian Crawford (Partner, KPMG) and Mark Gallagher (SVP, Silicon Valley Bank).
Thursday, 6 p.m. @ Dogpatch Labs, 36 E 12th St

Meet DreamIt Alumni in NY
Interested in applying to DreamIt accelerator? Then go hang out with DreamIt alumni including Adapt.ly, ClothesHorse, Easel Learning, LearnBop, LetsGiftIt, Parse.ly, Postling and SeatGeek
Thursday, 6 p.m. @ Solas, 232 E 9th Street

Startup Roundtable Series 7 - Mobile
Panelists include Nihal Mehta (CEO, LocalResponse & Partner, ENIAC Ventures), Veronika Sonsev (CEO, inSparq.com & Founder, Women in Wireless) and Brett Martin (CEO, Sonar.me).
Thursday, 6:30 p.m. @ Select Office, 116 West 23rd Street

18th Annual Columbia Business School Private Equity & Venture Capital Conference
Throwing a little bit o' private equity into our usual mix of Startup and VC related events. Keynoting are Tim Draper (Founder, Draper Fisher Jurvetson), Bob Nardelli (CEO, Cerberus) and David Rubenstein (CoFounder & Managing Director, The Carlyle Group).
Friday, 12 a.m. @ Columbia Business School, Alfred Lerner Hall

NYC EDU Startup Weekend
StartupWeekend is back for another red-bull and pizza fueled all night coding and hacking and startupping weekend. This time the focus is on education. Oh yeah.
Friday, 6 p.m. @ The Mandell School, 795 Columbus Ave

API Hackday NYC
Time to get ur hack on, yo!
Saturday, 8 a.m. @ Mashery, 597 Broadway 2nd Floor

TEDxBigApple presents Disruptive Ideas
Its gonna be all about disruptive ideas with near-term impact in housing, biotech, local spaces, biomimicry, fashion, business and much more. Looks like its gonna be off the hook. :)
Saturday, 2 p.m. @ Saatchi & Saatchi, 375 Hudson

More on the horizon…
February 2012 NY Tech Meetup on Feb 08 @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts
#Techdrinkup (Open Bar) Huge Pre-Party for Social Media Week on Feb 09 @ The Parlour
2012 NYC Pipeline Fellowship Conference on Feb 10 @ Goodwin Procter
SecondMarket Presents: Capitalyze on Feb 15 @ Dream Downtown
NY Beta :: Media & Entertainment Edition on Feb 16 @ GreenSpaces
NYC Gaming February Meetup on Feb 23 @ General Assembly
Lean Startup Machine NYC on Feb 24 @ GrindSpace
Photo Hack Day 2 on Feb 25 @ General Assembly

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends!

Mr. McClure, in shadow

The advent of 500 Startups first-ever Demo Day in New York drew a standing room only crowd to General Assembly yesterday for a long night of seed stage pitches and free beer that went an hour past its 9pm bedtime. Betabeat knew we were in the right place when we overheard, "We want to create a better music experience, better than Pandora," pass for small talk over by the cheese and crackers table. The sight of TechStar's David Tisch in a backwards baseball cap and khaki shorts ("business shabby" strikes again!) high-fiving Dave McClure was another promising sign.

All of the startups pitching were graduates of Mr. McClure's 500 Startups, a Mountain View-based accelerator program, and many flew in from the Valley in search of local froth and perhaps a glimpse of the tall buildings. Each co-founder walked out to their own theme music, with soon-to-be baby daddy Jay-Z making a surprisingly popular choice.

When Mr. McClure started his antic night at the mic by telling the crowd, "I'll write a check for whoever brings me and Paul [Singh, a principal at 500 Startups] a beer. Look at 'em come out, look at 'em come out," followed by "I didn't mean for you guys to give me your beer" after a gentleman towards the front handed him a half-empty bottle, we knew it was gonna be a good night.

Here's what you missed:

Tout: Software that takes the inefficiencies out of repetitive emailing and lets you track the results. The app sends out more than 1,000 emails a day and already boasts 450 paid accounts  Highlight: Tawheed "TK" Kader walked out to a mash-up of Biggie and XX. No surprise there, the man drinks his martinis with 16 olives. Clearly he likes to customize.

Vidcaster: An online video platform that lets clients like Airbnb control their environment under their own domain name rather than rely on YouTube.  Highlight: CEO Kieran Farr worked as a taxi driver around San Francisco while bootstrapping his startup.

Tinfoil Security: A security service to prevent small businesses from being hacked that crawls your website like Google, but looking for vulnerabilities instead of content. Highlight: Co-founder Ainsely Braun showed a PowerPoint slide with the logos of dozens of organizations like the FBI and Wordpress while she said, "Every single company here got hacked in a way we could have prevented."

Ovia: A recruiting service that helps speed up the time to hire with a video interview process that narrows down the number of candidates companies have to meet with in person. Highlight: After CEO Rodrigo Martinez's high-octane presentation ("Who's gonna make it happen?! We're gonna make it happen!!"), Mr. McClure quipped that Mr. Martinez had gotten lessons from Tom Cruise.

Kibin: A proofreading and editing service for things like school papers that offers quality-checked turn-around in less than 24 hours. Highlight: Co-founder Travis Biziorek came up with the idea when he was trying to find someone to help him with his personal statement for law school. He never ended up going.

Snapette: A mobile app focused on shoes and bags that relies on crowd-sourced photos to show users what's new and in stock in the stores around them. Highlight: The crowd at GA cheered wildly when co-founder Sarah Paiji announced that she had just dropped out of Harvard's MBA program yesterday. That was matched by the booing when Ms. Paiji mentioned that she had worked at McKinsey and Goldman before catching startup fever.

Daily Aisle: A Kayak-like service for your wedding day that helps brides find venues and vendors. Highlight: One person offered a pity hand-raise when the presenter asked, "Who here loves spending time with women who are planning their wedding?!"

Culture Kitchen: Classes, recipes, and ingredient subscription boxes that help you cook ethnic food "like the grandmother you wish you had." Highlight: Mr. McClure's intro: "How many of you are white people? How many of you like ethnic food? That's the problem! You're all fucking white and you don't know how to cook that shit!"

App Grooves: A/B testing for app developers that lets you get feedback on things like which logo and keywords potential users might find more appealing. Highlight: Describing the service as a "Hot or Not for apps."

Skipola: A service that automates the process of ordering from restaurants that only use the phone. Highlight: The pitch to get restaurants to download Skipola's platform? "Are you tired of getting calls from Skipola . . ."

Storytree: An app that helps families (or even groups of friends) collect and share memories with question prompts, videos, and photographs. Highlight: FINE, we'll admit it. Betabeat almost cried during the video presentation, which got the loudest applause all night. We dare you to watch and not get verklempt.

Console.fm: "An easy button for awesome music" that culls browser-based playlists from the web (at the rate of 20 to 40 new songs per playlist per day) to solve the problem that "rocking out is hard." Highlight: "We want you to have Console.fm parties in your pants all the time." Oh yeah, and their adorable plans to dominate Facebook.

CraftCoffee: A service that delivers boxes of artisanal coffee to your door, sorta like a well-designed wine of the month club, but the only side effect is a caffeine buzz. Highlight: Founder Michael Horn's refreshing honesty: "I started with a more traditional e-commerce site and it was a total disaster." He just closed the seed-stage round yesterday, but conceded to the crowd, "If you really wanna invest, I might talk to you about it."

Will Call: An app that lets you find tickets to a curated list of cool shows at the last minute. Highlight: Co-founder Donnie Dinch gave by far the funniest pitch of the night. Regarding a scenario wherein you might be playing Angry Birds on your couch when you see a Facebook update that your friends are at a concert: "I'm slinging birds, thinking they're getting laid." Regarding the market for unused tickets. "We don't think we can get all that $20 billion right away. Whaaat?" Regarding his co-founders: "Both gingers, both brothers, of themselves."

From.Us: A gift-giving service that lets multiple users contribute suggestions and the recipient decide what they want. Launched 45 minutes before the presentation. Highlight: "We all get shitty gifts and it sucks."

Cardinal Blue's PicCollage app: A sweet looking, seemingly easy-to-use app that lets you make collages of your photos in a jiffy and share it with friends. The video was another crowd favorite. "Hipsters love it, grandmas love it, everybody loves it." Highlight: During the slide about the founders, the presenter quipped, "You can see we have a lot of degrees, but don't worry, we get things done."

DailyGobble's Relevantmobile.com: A loyalty rewards system for chain restaurants that doesn't require software, but instead relies on users taking photos of their receipts. That way, restaurants have purchase history attached to a cellphone number and location. Highlight: Decision to rely on users with cameraphones, "Putting an iPad everywhere is not the solution to every single problem."

Zerply: A prettier, more relaxed, more social professional networking service where messaging is free and you can incorporate other online identities like Quora, Tumblr, and Twitter. Highlight: The pitch before the pitch, "For those of you that think LinkedIn is a great professional networking solution, you don't have to listen to this."

Volta: Lightweight CRM for phone-based companies that works with inbound and outbound calls. Highlight: Compatible with Skype, Twilio, Google Voice, iPhones, Androids, and landlines.

Welcu: A tool for managing high-end unique events like conferences. Highlight: Already has funding from Eric Schmidt and clients like Coca-Cola and BBDO.

LaunchRock: A service that lets startups (or even clients like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's upcoming t-shirt line) set up and track a "Launching soon" page. Betabeat was a frequent user even before the presentation. Highlight: Co-founder Jameson Detweiler, sporting some serious rockstar hair, talking about the barriers to getting users to broadcast the fact that they signed up to their friends, "You're not going to share this thing unless it's going to make you look cool to your friends."

So there you have it folks. You can see why it was a long night.  Thankfully, Mr. McClure, our cruise director for the evening, kept the energy-level high with occasional bursts of song or a request that we act out with Cobra-Kai Five with the person to our right. Here, let him demonstrate. Karate Kid reference, for the nostaglia win!

Start your engine(ers):