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 was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (where WWII battleships were once manufactured) to check out Beta Space, a precursor to New Lab, an advanced manufacturing hub and high-tech design + prototyping center slated to open in 2015. It'll anchor a 220,000 sq ft Green Manufacturing Center (backed by $46 million from the city and state). With MakerBot cranking out 3D printers in downtown Brooklyn and Shapeways building the Factory of the Future in Queens, it feels like a new kind of manufacturing renaissance is under way in our city. Exciting times!

Also at the Yard is Steiner Studios (the largest sound stage on the east coast). Last week at NY Ideas, NYC Film Commissioner Katherine Oliver commented on how increasingly more shows were being shot in the city, apparently including a series set in Chicago.

Don't miss Funding the Best in Global Innovation III this Thursday. Showcasing some of the best international startups, including Israel's Zimperium (voted #1 in Israel in 2013), Finland's CrowdValley (a leading crowdfunding platform) and France's Augment (the top augmented reality platform in Europe). Keynote by Divya Narendra (Co-founder & CEO, SumZero). FYI, I have 2 Free Passes to the event.

Want a free Apple TV? Duh, who doesn't? Thats what the good folks at the upcoming Vision conference are promising. And you get to learn about secure mobility, cloud solutions and collaboration. Did I mention the event is free? That's a win-win, people!

This week (May 10-21) is the inaugural NYCxDesign Week, with a ton of events that will showcase and promote design across all disciplines. Nice!

Tix for the Webutante Ball (aka the REAL #nerdprom!) are selling like hot cakes! But you, lucky GarysGuide reader, get $15 off with discount code GARY15. You're welcome.

Are you excited about the first evah Book Publishing hackathon this Saturday? I know I am! $10k in prizes AND a chance to pitch to Ari Emmanuel, CEO of William Morris and also the real life inspiration for Entourage's Ari Gold. Just don't ask him to hug it out.

Don't forget: the deadline for the NYC SeedStart Accelerator Summer 2013 program is May 13 and the deadline for the Enstitute program is May 15.

Coming up next week on May 20 is a unique, interactive evening celebrating 15 years of M.O.U.S.E. (a national ed-tech nonprofit empowering underserved youth to learn and create with technology). Being honored at the event are my buddy Bre Pettis (Co-Founder & CEO, MakerBot) and Joanne Wilson (Angel Investor and Advocate, Best Buy Children's Foundation). I'll be there. Hope you can make it too.

Also coming up ... Amusemi's Summer Tech Picnic on May 19, User Experience Awards on May 21, Mobile UX in Complex Business Models on May 23 (w/ David Fine, Director UX @ Time Inc and Tim Reis, Head of Mobile & Social Solutions @ Google) and AngelHack (a.k.a. The Largest Global Hackathon Competition) on June 1.

A historic moment recently as the spire is placed on the World Trade Center, which, now at 1,776 feet, is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. Nice! Even more awesome? We might FINALLY be getting WiFi in the subway trains. Sahhweet!

And finally, here's Commander Chris Hadfield performing David Bowie's Space Oddity on board the International Space Station.

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

AppNexus Speaker Series
With Howard Lerman (CEO, Yext) and Brian O'Kelley (CEO AppNexus)
Monday (May 13), 6 p.m. @ AppNexus, 28 W 23rd St, 4th Fl

Discussion Series: The Founders & Funders Dilemma
With Elizabeth Canon (Fashions Collective), Lilly Chan (Fareskind), Sindhya Valloppillil (Helix Men), Nikhil Kalghatgi (Softbank Capital) and Jacob Brody (Mesa+ Ventures).
Monday (May 13), 6 p.m. @ Lim College, 12 E 53rd St

General Assembly Fireside Chat
Gary Swart (oDesk) in conversation with Dan Schawbel (Millennial Branding)
Monday (May 13), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly East, 902 Broadway, 4th Fl

Facebook and Girls In Tech Present: Lessons Learned and Overcoming Our Mistakes
With Goranka Bjedov (Software Engineer, Facebook), Bethany Sumner (Engineer, Kickstarter), Nikki Stevens (Director of Engg, Refinery29), Catherine Hui (Head of Technology, Bloomberg Tradebook Equity Group) and Amanda Stent (AT&T Labs research).
Tuesday (May 14), 6:30 p.m. @ Facebook HQ, 335 Madison Ave, 17th Fl

Evolving Design Communities
With Dan Cederholm & Rich Thornett (Co-founders, Dribbble), Ignacio Oreamuno (Exec Director, Art Directors Club) and Matias Corea (Co-founder & Chief of Design, Behance).
Tuesday (May 14), 7 p.m. @ Huge BK, 45 Main St, Ste 220, Brooklyn

[NYCxDesign] Designer Founders in Tech
Featured panelists are Enrique Allen (Founding member, The Designer Fund & 500 Startups and previously at Facebook Fund & Venrock), Cameron Koczon (Founder, Fictive Kin and Organizer, BrooklynBeta) and Dayna Grayson (Investor, NEA).
Wednesday (May 15), 5 p.m. @ NEA Studio, 110 5th Ave

Fashion 2.0: Retail & Big Data
With Amy Jain (Co-founder, BaubleBar), Elyse Estrada (Manager Client Services, Foursquare), Florent Peyre (Co-Founder, Placemeter), Jared Schiffman (Founder, Perch Interactive) and moderated by Elizabeth Holmes (Wall St Journal)
Wednesday (May 15), 6 p.m. @ Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave

NJ Tech Meetup 36 with Scott Belsky
With Scott Belsky (Co-founder of Behance which was acquired by Adobe). Demos by Sproute, Howndog and DJPlayerApp.
Wednesday (May 15), 6:30 p.m. @ Howe Center, Stevens Institute of Technology, 4th Fl, Hoboken

Entrepreneurs Roundtable 58
With Peter Stern (CEO of Bit.ly and Founder of Datek Online, Zenbe)
Wednesday (May 15), 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 6th Ave, 6th Fl

Meet The Innovators: The Venture Capitalists
With Joy Marcus (DFJ Gotham), Donna Novitsky, (CEO, Yiftee), Jeanne Sullivan (Starvest Partners), Kathleen Utecht (Comcast Ventures) and Ellie Wheeler (Greycroft Partners).
Wednesday (May 15), 7 p.m. @ Apple Store SoHo, 103 Prince St

Funding the Best in Global Innovation III
With David Aronoff (Flybridge Capital), Brad Svrluga (High Peaks Venture Partners), Ann Li (NYCEDC), Eliot Durbin (BOLDStart Ventures), Jalak Jobanputra (FuturePerfect Ventures), Andrew Cleland (Comcast Ventures) and others.
Thursday (May 16), 8:30 a.m. @ Dentons, 1221 Ave of the Americas

NYC BigApps + Huge App Design Night
With Jared Coken (Fitocracy), Ian Curry (Paper App), Jon Huang (NY Times), Justin Van Slembrouck (Digg), Michal Pasternak (Huge), Ian Spalter (Foursquare) and Khoi Vinh (Mixel).
Thursday (May 16), 6:30 p.m. @ Foursquare, 108 Crosby St

NYC Uncubed Spring 2013
Friday (May 17), 1:30 p.m. @ Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 W 18th St

First Ever Book Publishing Hackathon!
Win $10,000 AND get to pitch the Ari Emmanuel, CEO of William Morris and also the real life inspiration for Entourage's Ari Gold! :)
Saturday (May 18), 9 a.m. @ AlleyNYC, 500 7th Ave, 17th Fl

NYC Tech Picnic
Enjoy the outdoors with your fellow geeks and entrepreneurs. Join us for the 2013 picnic kick off!
Sunday (May 19), 2 p.m. @ Chelsea Piers, Pier 64, 64 Chelsea Piers

More events on the horizon...
MOUSE@15: Celebrating 15 Years of Inspiring Innovators on May 20 @ The Pier 61, Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers
New York Crowdfunds 2 on May 20 @ WeWork Lounge
Vision 2013 Tri-State IT Conference & Expo (hosted by PCM) on May 21 @ Hilton Woodbridge
User Experience Awards 2013 on May 21 @ Tishman Auditorium
NYC BigApps Cleanweb: Is IT the Secret to a New Energy Future? on May 22 @ The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC
Opportunities for Mobile UX in Complex Business Models on May 23 @ Venue
dd:IMPACT Groundswell: The Next Wave of Content on May 30 @ Galapagos Art Space
AngelHack NYC - Spring 2013 on Jun 01 @ Huge Inc
F.A.T. Session 2: Sales/Use Taxation for 21st Century Commerce on Jun 11 @ Marks Paneth & Shron

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 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.

Hi folks,

Hackathons are all the rage these days, and even the White House is hopping on the bandwagon. they held their first hackathon a couple of weeks ago, welcoming 21 programmers and tech experts to spend the day working alongside seven members of the administration's own development team on the online petitions platform We the People. Check out the videos.

Applications for the fall 2013 Master of Engineering program at Cornell NYC Tech are now open. Deadline is March 15. Questions? Email admissions@tech.cornell.edu.

Applications for Startup Chile open up soon (March 25) so if you wanna get your hands on that $40,000 cash + 6 months of relaxation, you'd best get on it.

Later this week is the Start Summit, called "Davos for Geeks" by Bloomberg and one of the hottest tech events of the year. Invitations are hard to come by, but hey, its worth a try!

Anyone reading this who isn't a New Yorker? Heads up if so: Warby Parker is giving away a weekend for two here in the city to celebrate the opening of their very first flagship store.

An in-depth report on  my SXSW adventures is coming soon. It's been a blur of schmoozing, boozing, celeb spotting, pool partying, BBQing .... and a monkey who went just BANANAS with my business cards.

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

5th Annual North by New York City (NxNYC)
Don't want to drive to Austin because you might hit a roadrunner? Don't like cowboy boots because they don't match your black clothing? Don't want to leave because it might rain more in Austin? Then this is the event for you!
Monday (Mar. 11), 6 p.m. @ The Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery

FurtherEd TV Premiere + Launch Party
Think TED Talks but with a sole focus on edtech and entrepreneurs.
Tuesday (Mar. 12), 6 p.m. @ FurtherEd Studios, 61 Broadway, Ste 1105

NY Enterprise Tech Meetup
Fireside chat with Ed Sim (founder, Boldstart Ventures and cofounder, Dawntreader Ventures). Demos by DataHug and Waratek.
Tuesday (Mar. 12), 6:30 p.m. @ Cooley, 1114 Avenue of the Americas

New Challenge Presents Panel & Celebration
Panelists include Cheryl Dorsey (President, Echoing Green), Jeremy Heimens (founder & CEO, Purpose), Sasha Dichter (Chief Innovation Officer, Acumen Fund). Moderated by Bruce Nussbaum (Professor of Innovation & Design, Parsons The New School for Design).
Wednesday (Mar. 13), 6 p.m. @ Theresa Lang Center, 55 W. 13th Street

2013 Fashion 2.0 Awards
VIP reception and red carpet with nominees and presenters, cocktails & hors d'oeuvres, black tie.
Wednesday (Mar. 13), 6:30 p.m. @ SVA Theater, 333 W. 23rd Street

Entrepreneurs Roundtable 56
With Gil Beyda (Genacast Ventures)
Wednesday (Mar. 13), 6:30 p.m. @ NYU Stern School of Business, 44 W. 4th Street

Engineering @ Scale: 3 Failures and 1 (Big) Success
AppNexus CEO Brian O'Kelley tells the story of three failures and one (big) success: the evolution of a startup CEO.
Wednesday (Mar. 13), 6:30 p.m. @ AppNexus, 28 W. 23rd Street, 4th Fl.

Aaron's Law: Crowdsourcing the Future of Anti-Hacking Felonies
Digging into the expansion of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and its current conflicted treatment in the courts. A look at what exactly is meant by "exceeds authorized access," while also looking to potential avenues for reform.
Wednesday (Mar. 13), 7 p.m. @ Projective Space L.E.S., 72 Allen Street, 3rd Fl.

NJ Tech Meetup 34
With David Kidder
Thursday (Mar. 14), 12 a.m. @ Babbio Center, Stevens Institute Of Technology, Hoboken

Investor Feedback Forum
Panelists include David Aronoff (Flybridge Capital), Gil Beyda (Genacast Ventures), Ed Sim (BOLDstart Ventures) and Mark Wachen (DreamIt Ventures). Startup Pitches by Caleb Gandara (DegreeCast), Michael Strong (Zola Books), Melchior Schöller (Poutsch), Rohit Vashisht (Sverve), Domi Enders (Open Assembly), Noah Smith (Dwelleo), Bernhard Mehl (KISIBOX), Dan O'Sullivan (Rock the Deadline) and David Carlos (myHomePayge).
Thursday (Mar. 14), 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 6th Avenue

Cultivated Wit #WhiskeyFriday
With Baratunde Thurston (cofounder, Cultivated Wit and author, How To Be Black) and Ron Williams (cofounder, Knodes)
Friday (Mar. 15), 6 p.m. @ Dorian Gray, 205 E. 4th Street

International Space Apps Challenge Meetup
Calling all space and data geeks! Come learn more about the International Space Apps Challenge.
Friday (Mar. 15), 6:30 p.m. @ AlleyNYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

More events on the horizon...
The Future of 3D Manufacturing - Brooklyn Style on Mar. 18 @ Brooklyn Law School - Moot Court Room
March 2013 NY Tech Meetup on Mar. 19 @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts
Mobile UX Design: Session 1: Theory and Practice of Mobile UX on Mar. 20 @ Frankfurt Kurnit
Design for Manufacturing Summit #3 on Mar. 21 @ Dumbo Spot
Silicon Dragon Alley 2013: Digital Media Innovators Venture Capitalist Mavericks & Dealmakers on Mar. 21 @ NASDAQ MarketSite
Made in NY Happy Hour on Mar. 21 @ Green Spaces
FinTech Hackathon on Apr. 6 @ AlleyNYC
Big Apple Smackdown: Silicon Alleys 1st Annual Ping-Pong Tournament! on Apr. 14 @ SPiN New York
Kingpins of Silicon Alley on Apr. 15 @ Bowlmor - Union Square
NY Tech Day on Apr. 25 @ Pier 92
Women Entrepreneurs Rock the World - 2013 on May 8 @ Altman Building, NYC

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 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.

You get an Oscar. And you get an Oscar. Everyone gets an Oscar! Well, maybe not everyone, but spreading the love was very much the theme of Hollywood's big night, with awards divided fairly equally among Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, Django, Skyfall and others. Best photobomb goes to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and @RichardDreyfuss took home best tweet: "I always dreamed that the score of one of my films would be used to play people off at the Oscars. We did it, Steven!" :) Also, really liked Ben Affleck's heartfelt and emotional acceptance speech: "‎It doesn't matter how much you get knocked down in life, you gotta get back up." Word.

BUZZtheBar is a new mobile app (iPhone and Android) that allows you to order & pay for drinks on your phone. They're throwing an awesome launch party on March 5: classy 1940s meets modern-style boozing, games, giveaways and more! And with the discount code "GarysGuide," you can also get in for FREE. Offer only valid for the first 50 users, so ya better hurry! Once you sign up, you'll also get a $10 credit in the app. Nice. :)

Heard of Startup Chile? They give you $40,000 to spend six wonderful, relaxing months in the lovely country of Chile. Sounds crazy right? Well, of course you also have to work on your startup while there. But still--tempting. Deadline is March 11.

Speaking of $40,000, what if I told you you could get the same amount right here in New York City and in only four months? Say hello to the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator! Early application deadline is March 7.

And speaking of deadlines, applications for the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards are due by March 8.

If you have a high-school kid who's interested in tech/design, AIGA is offering a few free workshops this Sunday where they could learn how to make a mobile app, learn about graphic design or publish an e-book. This is part of their Inspire/Make Teen Program. Also check out TEALS, a grassroots program that recruits software engineers to teach computer science to high school students. Love this idea! More info here. They're looking to recruit up to 50 software engineers here in New York City and there's an information session next Monday on March 4. Interested? RSVP here.

Heard of International Business Week? They're a one-week program (March 4 to 10) bringing entrepreneurs from around the world to Israel to expose them to the nation's unique ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship. Interested? You can apply here.

Our "ULTIMATE Guide to SXSW Parties" is now at a whopping 225 events! Hope y'all have been busy RSVP'ing :) Some of the recently added parties I like: the Wall Street Journal Pool Party, Made In NY & American Express Sunset Rooftop Cocktails, Salesforce Rooftop VIP Party and the ff Massive Party. You had me at pool party!

FYI, the Red Tie for SXSW sponsorship is now sold out! But the demand is still strong so I'm opening up Overflow Sponsorship Slots on my lapels. Email me if interested!

My buddies @ General Assembly are giving away an Insider Access ticket for two to Silicon Valley. Roundtrip flights, hotel, tours of Apple, Facebook, Google, meetings with Sarah Lacy and Dave McClure and much more. Here's the link. Just promise me you'll come back to New York City. You will, right? Don't make me have to come there and get you!

Ever dreamt of having a 3D-printing pen that would let you draw sculptures in midair? Well, who says dreams can't come true? I give you The 3Doodler!

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

Entrepreneurs Roundtable 55
With Dayna Grayson (partner, NEA New Enterprise Associates)
Monday (Feb. 25), 6:30 p.m. @ NYU Stern, 44 W. 4th Street

The Elevator Pitch Roundtables and Workshop
With Brad Gillespie (IA Ventures), Micah Rosenbloom (Founder Collective), Ellie Wheeler (Greycroft Partners), Matt Witheiler (Flybridge Capital) and Lisa Wu (Norwest Venture Partners).
Tuesday (Feb. 26), 9 a.m. @ Orrick @ CBS Building, 51 W. 52nd Street, 23rd Fl.

Silicon Harlem Launch Party + Around The Way Launch Party
Silicon Harlem supports tech entrepreneurs of color and creates technology-enabled job opportunities. Come network with the Harlem Tech Community!
Tuesday (Feb. 26), 6 p.m. @ MIST Harlem, 46 W. 116th Street

Brooklyn Tech Meetup
With Mark O'Neill (CTO, Thrillist). Demos by Tutonic and Advisoray.
Tuesday (Feb. 26), 7 p.m. @ Brooklyn Law School Feil Hall, 205 State Street, 22nd Fl., Brooklyn

AIPAC Technology Division: Launch Event w/ Dan Senor
Featuring Dan Senor, coauthor of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle.
Wednesday (Feb. 27), 6 p.m. @ Bloomberg Tower, 731 Lexington Avenue

DUMBO Startup Lab Demo Day
Panelists include Owen Davis (NYC Seed), Ryan Armburst (ff Venture) and Harrison Weber (The Next Web).
Wednesday (Feb. 27), 6 p.m. @ DUMBO Startup Lab, 68 Jay Street, #718

Engineering @ Scale: Scaling Right Media - Architecting for hypergrowth
A fireside chat with Matt Philips (cofounder, Right Media) and Brian O'Kelley (CEO, AppNexus)
Wednesday (Feb. 27), 7 p.m. @ AppNexus, 28 W. 23rd Street, 4th Fl.

Hack+Startup by First Round Capital
Bringing together engineering leaders to direct technical discussions on crafting superior software. The theme this time around is working with data.
Thursday (Feb. 28), 6:30 p.m. @ AppNexus, 28 West 23rd St, 4th Fl

Speakeasy - A New Monthly Happy Hour for Community Managers
Hosted by Tina Yip (R/GA), Zack McCune (R/GA), Sarah Judd Welch (LoyalCX), Allie MacPherson (TEXT 100) and Arielle Calderon (Gotham Inc).
Thursday (Feb. 28), 7 p.m. @ Percolate HQ, 481 Broadway, 2nd Fl.

Startup! Real Stories & Life-saving Tips
With Rick Webb (Tumblr, angel investor), Allison Goldberg (Managing Director & VP, Time Warner Investments), Ryan Freitas (cofounder, About.me), Gino Zahnd (cofounder, Cozy) and others.
Thursday (Feb. 28), 7 p.m. @ Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue

2nd Annual NYU Entrepreneurs Festival
Rockstar group of speakers including Jack Dorsey (Twitter, Square), Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines), Alexandre Douzet (TheLadders), Rachel Haot (Chief Digital Officer NYC), Dan Porter (CEO, OMGPOP) and more.
Friday (Mar. 1), 10:30 a.m. @ Tisch Hall, 40 W. 4th Street

NYC EDU Startup Weekend
Friday (Mar. 1), 6 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

ITP Presents: Big Screens
Friday (Mar. 1), 6:30 p.m. @ IAC, 555 W. 18th Street

More events on the horizon...
BRITE 2013 Conference on Mar 04 @ Columbia University Lerner Hall
Founders@Fail: How To Build A Community on Mar 04 @ General Assembly East
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator Happy Hour on Mar 04 @ Galway Pub
BUZZtheBar Launch Party! (Free with discount code GARYSGUIDE) on Mar 05 @ Hotel Chantelle
Spacebrew: A Toolkit for An Open Internet of Things on Mar 07 @ General Assembly
In NYC for SxSW? Join us for Brunch! on Mar 10 @ Venue
Unleash the Beast: How to Hack a Hackathon Save the World and Make Your Parents Proud on Mar 14 @ Internet Media Labs
Investor Feedback Forum (New York March) on Mar 14 @ Microsoft
March 2013 NY Tech Meetup on Mar 19 @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts
Mobile UX Design Four-Part Series: Theory, Science, Optimization & Design on Mar 20 @ Frankfurt Kurnit

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 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.

You know what time it is? Why, it's SXSW 2013 Panel Picker time, of course! Which means that right now, you fine folks are probably putting together a bunch of awesome, amazing panels. So, same as last year, I'll be setting up a special section on GarysGuide listing your panels. This should be a good way to get the word out and pick up some valuable votes! :) To submit your panel, just email me the link to your panel at gary@garysguide.com and I'll add it to the list. Remember, voting ends August 31!

Wanna hang out with Jessica Alba? Of course you do! She, along with hot-CEO-of-the-moment Yahoo's Marissa Mayer, Path's Dave Morin, SV Angel's Ron Conway, Google Venture's Kevin Rose, SF Mayor Edwin Lee, Khan Academy's Salman Khan, Crunchfund's Mike Arrington and others will be at the annual TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco next month, from September 8 to 12. Go grab your tickets!

And speaking of San Francisco, I'll be heading there for a week or so to attend the TechCrunch Disrupt conference and hackathon. In addition, I plan on attending a bunch of other parties and events, spending time at some of the incubators, accelerators and coworking spaces and meeting a bunch of startup founders, CEOs, VCs, angels, bloggers and others. So if you are interested in sponsoring my world-famous Red Tie during my San Francisco / Bay Area trip, contact me ASAP! This will be an amazing way to generate buzz in the Valley about your awesome startup / company / firm / service :)

How does it work? You give me your company's one page summary + elevator pitch and also your awesome logo sticker(s), which I'll put on my Red Tie. If you wanna sponsor the entire tie and get complete exclusivity, that's also possible. Contact me at gary@garysguide.com for more details.

The NYC Economic Development Corporation is currently organizing the NYC Tech Talent Draft, a series of on-campus information sessions that provide computer science and engineering students at universities a firsthand look at exciting startup careers in New York City’s booming tech hub. If you want to get involved, the deadline for the first-round registration is today.

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

The Mobile App Developers Roundtable
Participants include Nina Sodhi (BluTrumpet), Mark Ghermazian (Appboy), Eli Sappir (Apptopia), Arie Abecassis (AppStori), David Ambrose (TravelZoo), Bob Walczak (PubMatic), Jamie Hall (MocoSpace), Rachit Shukla (Two Toasters), Gauri Manglik (Fondu), Jonathan Slimak (Piictu), Will Koffel (Thumb), Luke Melia (Yapp), Brett Martin (Sonar), Kevin Galligan (Touchlab) and David Weinfeld (Screach).
Tuesday (Aug. 21), 8:30 a.m. @ Frankfurt Kurnit, 488 Madison Avenue

Free High-Tech Fashion Event: Get Feet Scanned & Create Sexy Shoes That Fit
They'll scan your feet and use your biometrics to make high heels that are as stylish as they are comfortable!
Tuesday (Aug. 21), 5 p.m. @ 519 8th Avenue

NYTM Change-The-Ratio Womens Demo Night
Come see eight great female-founded startups demo! Lineup includes Fun Org, UpswingMe, ClearHealthCosts, GiftHit, Continuum Fashion and more.
Tuesday (Aug. 21), 6:30 p.m. @ Facebook, 335 Madison Avenue, 17th Fl.

NJ Tech Meetup 27 (Hoboken)
Startups demoing include Memori.al, GeneralMachin.es (DeafTel) and SilverLiving. Featured speaker is Peter Shankman - angel investor, founder (HARO), world traveler, ironman triathlete and cat father!
Tuesday (Aug. 21), 6:30 p.m. @ Stevens Institute Of Technology, Babbio Center, Hoboken

Brooklyn Tech Meetup
Companies scheduled to present include Sedan Magic, Loosecubes and Headliner.
Tuesday (Aug. 21), 7 p.m. @ Huge BK, 45 Main St., Suite 220, Brooklyn

Bubbleproof: Social Good For-Profit Meetup
So whats on the agenda? Dwolla's Alex Taub with a huge secret social good project, Gene Gurkoff (founder, CharityMiles) will tell the story of their model & business to date and a 21st century networking experiment.
Tuesday (Aug. 21), 7 p.m. @ New NYU Poly, 137 Varick Street, 2nd Floor

Entrepreneurs Roundtable 50
Drinks + Snacks + Networking! :)
Wednesday (Aug. 22), 7:30 p.m. @ The Alley, 500 7th Ave

TechHub NY by Flurry - Android Developer Dive
With Nick Burton (Foursquare), Matt Parker (LumaViro) and Kevin Galligan (Touchlab).
Thursday (Aug. 23), 6 p.m. @ First Round Capital, 200 Park Avenue South, Ste 1501

Facebook Presents: When ___ Companies ___ Great Designers
With Cameron Koczon (partner, Fictive Kin and co-organizer, Brooklyn Beta), Mimi Chun (design director, General Assembly), Charles Adler (cofounder, Kickstarter), Luke Woods (product design manager, Facebook) and Nate Bolt (research manager, Facebook).
Thursday (Aug. 23), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway

Helping Hacks: The Goodnik Hackathon
An opportunity to create real solutions to the technology challenges facing nonprofit organizations or benefit corporations by engaging some of New York’s best developers, designers and project managers.
Friday (Aug. 24), 6 p.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Floor

More events on the horizon...
NY Games Conference on Sep 05 @ Museum of Jewish Heritage
September NY FinTech After-party and Networking on Sep 05 @ Butterfield 8 Restaurant & Lounge
2012 Tech Does Fashion Week (#TDFW): A Kickoff Party on Sep 07 @ AlleyNYC
Comedy Hack Day on Sep 08 @ Pivotal Labs NYC
Digital Money Unconference-- From NYPAY and Consult Hyperion on Sep 11 @ Google
FinovateFall 2012 on Sep 12 @ Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Investor Feedback Forum (New York) on Sep 13 @ Columbia University - Schapiro Center
Design for Manufacturing Summit on Sep 20 @ Dumbo Spot

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 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.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and a chance to catch your breath after all the craziness of the past few weeks!

In case you missed it, here are my highlights blog posts for Internet Week (nerd proms, rooftop parties, Will Arnett DJ’ing, Michael Stipe sightings) and The Webby Awards (Steve Jobs tribute, Richard Dreyfuss, Bjork, Patton Oswalt, cat memes).

The Annual User Experience Awards #UXAwards is coming up soon on June 12. It'll showcase great user experience in digital products and services. An all-star jury including Union Square Ventures, Google, AOL, Razorfish, Huffington Post, Creative Good, UPA and IXDA and followed by a cocktail reception. Get your tickets now.

And now let's see whats going down in the world of Silicon Alley tech this week...

Startup Roundtable 13 with David Rose
With David Rose, a serial entrepreneur (Gust) and active angel investor (NY Angels)
Tuesday (May 29), 6 p.m. @ NYU Stern Kaufman Management Center, 44 W 4th Street, Rm 2-60

Digital Media MBA May 12 Happy Hour
Boozing and schmoozing with other startuppers.
Tuesday (May 29), 6:30 p.m. @ Solas, 232 East Ninth Street

Aging2.0 May Meetup and Summer Cocktail Party
Speakers include Steve Dean (Partner, Prehype), Tal Ziv (Founder & CEO, Silver Living), Ryan Frederik (Principal, Point Forward Solutions) and Gil Blander (Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer, Segterra).
Wednesday (May 30), 6 p.m. @ The Hallmark Battery Park City, 455 North End Avenue

Entrepreneurs Roundtable 47
Guest speaker Lawrence D. Lenihan (Managing Director, First Mark Capital)
Wednesday (May 30), 6 p.m. @ NYU Stern Rm 2-60, 44 West 4th Street

NY Location-Based Apps Meetup: Demo Day III
Demos by Stamped (a new way to recommend only what you like best), GateGuru (revolutionizing how travelers experience their “day-of” travel), MyCityWay (a real time app designed to transform your hand held device into a mega-utility tool for navigating the urban scene) and RentHackr (helping find the best apartments before they hit the market).
Wednesday (May 30), 6:30 p.m. @ Meetup HQ, 166 Crosby Street, 9th Floor

Social Innovation Demo Night
Hosted by Alexis Ohanian (Co-Founder, Reddit). Demos by Amicus (Seth Bannon), Catchafire (Chris Maguire) and CauseCart (Michael Geer).
Wednesday (May 30), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway, 4th Floor

Beyond the CPM Roundtable
Panelists include Larry Harris (Pubmatic), Todd Anderman (Jumptap), Mark Lehman (Todacell) and Tom Sipple (TapJoy).
Thursday (May 31), 8:30 a.m. @ Loeb & Loeb LLP, 345 Park Ave

Digital DUMBO - dd:IMPACT Conference
Panelists include Amy Cao (Foodspotting), Kasey Fleisher Hickey (Evernote), Alex Rein (Kelvin Natural Slush), Mike Lee (Studiofeast), Raquel Pelzel (Tasting Table), Mollie Chen (Birchbox), Jen Rubio (Warby Parker), Randy J. Hunt (Etsy), Jeremy Fisher (Wander), Alex Rainert (foursquare), Allan Yu (Svpply), Anthony Volodkin (Hype Machine) and others.
Thursday (May 31), 1 p.m. @ The Dumbo Loft, 155 Water Street, Brooklyn

Enterprise Insights: Advertising Innovation
Speakers include Albert Azout (CEO / Co-Founder, Sociocast), Aniq Rahman (President, Moat), Eric Porres (CMO, RocketFuel) and Nikhil Sethi (CEO & Co-Founder, Adaptly).
Thursday (May 31), 6 p.m. @ Microsoft, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, 6th Floor

NY Future Mobility Meetup
Bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, developers and mobility enthusiast for an evening of live demos, discussions and networking.
Thursday (May 31), 7 p.m. @ BMW i Ventures, 95 Morton Street

Women 2.0 Founder Friday – New York
Hang out with fellow women startup founders & entrepreneurs.
Friday (Jun 01), 6 p.m. @ Makovsky + Company, 16 East 34th Street

Friday Night Dinner: Tech Tech Tech BOOM
With Adam Hirsch (former COO Mashable and current Chief Digital Officer for DoSomething.org).
Friday (Jun 01), 7 p.m. @ 92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street

More on the horizon...
Entrepreneurs! Protect & Secure Your Intellectual Property on Jun 05 @ Marks Paneth & Shron LLP
Venmo App Release Party on Jun 05 @ Hotel Chantelle
June NY FinTech Startups feat. Pay Perks and Bloomberg Ventures on Jun 06 @ Day Pitney
PDF:Applied: The Civil Society Hackathon on Jun 09 @ General Assembly
BarCamp NYC on Jun 09 @ Microsoft Offices
Personal Democracy Forum 2012 on Jun 11 @ NYU Skirball Center
Hack and Jill on Jun 15 @ AppNexus
Games for Change Festival on Jun 18 @ NYU Skirball Center
AngelHack Summer 2012: New York on Jun 23 @ Microsoft Offices

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

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.