(image courtesy Raise Cache)

Raise Cache, the techie fashion show presented by Raptor Ventures, raised $75,000 from selling 1,500 tickets, an additional $20,000 or so in Skillshare classes, and another $5,000 or so through an auction. That means the event slightly exceeded its rather ambitious $100,000 goal for the HackNY programmer apprenticeship program that encourages students to intern with startups instead of heading to Wall Street.

"A lot of times I thought it wasn't going to happen," organizer Rebecca Zhou told Betabeat. "In the Armory, a car looks like an ant. I was like, 'omigosh, how are we going to fill this thing?' But it all came together."

The idea for Raise Cache came to Ms. Zhou after she finished TechStars in May. She started talking casually about it to fashion companies and the reaction was enthused. "Every company, ever person we'd meet introduced us to ten more people," Ms. Zhou said. "We were blown away."

From idea to customers to PR push, organizing the event was like doing a startup, she said.

The planning culminated in a glamorous runway show at the Park Ave. Armory, where the likes of Fred Wilson, Alexis Tryon, Roger Ehrenberg, Dave Tisch, Rachel Sklar and more stalked the catwalk with attitude.

"It had the finesse and the drama and the elegance of New York the same way our companies do here," Ms. Zhou said. "My friends who came, they had fun, got a little drunk and laughed. Who knew that tech people on the runway would actually turn out so well?"

She doesn't have any plans for another event, she said, although she imagines doing another fundraiser or event in the future, "something that reflects New York's personality," but it will depend on what is needed and when. Raise Cache is not an annual event, she clarified.

Everyone who's anyone from the startup world had gathered there to raise money for a universally-beloved cause: a fundraiser for hackNY, the program that shepherds computer science students towards Startupland--and away from Goldman. And, oh boy, did folks clean up nice. Seriously, where have all you PYTs been hiding?

The last time we stopped by the Armory it was for a startup job fair back in June. But last night, the ping pong tables and meet-and-greet booths had been swapped out for an indoor red carpet, flood lights on the runway, and giant cut-outs of Turntable.fm avatars standing guard from the DJ booth overhead.

The techno was blaring when we walked in and ran into OnSwipe's Jason Baptiste, the inspiration for our Tech Poachables article, who said he's on the hunt for hires and had scoured our list. But, he assured us, Mark Bao, his 19-year CTO, wasn't going anywhere. Duly noted. Rex Sorgatz also had a quibble with the list, namely whether $2 million plus equity wasn't a little steep for HuffPo CTO Paul Berry. We allowed for the possibility that our super-scientific calculators may have been off on that one.

In addition to the sizable list of entrepreneurs-turned-models getting gussied up in the back, Foursquare's Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert, Aviary's Michael Galpert, Kal Vepuri, and GroupMe's Steve Martocci and Jared Hecht were all there. Mr. Hecht invited Betabeat and Jenna Wortham to stop by GroupMe's new Microsoft digs. Did they put the kibosh on those bottles of Johnny Walker lying around, we wondered.

Twilio's Rob Spectre was on also hand, fresh off a trip across the pond to get London's booming startup scene to play around with Twilio's API, now that they've added UK phone numbers to the mix. It seemed like YouAre.TV founder Josh Weinstein was having a good birthday. "I just picked up a 50-year-old chick on UserTesting.com!" he exclaimed while checking his phone. He also extolled the design chops of Art.sy's Robert Lenne, the IDEO veteran standing across from us, which we're filing away for future poachables lists.

RRE Ventures' Tom Loverro noted the "few if any poseurs" last night, taking the opportunity this morning to pontificate on what makes us different from the Valley. "Last night’s event couldn’t have physically happened in the Bay Area. Of course you could find hundreds of folks in SF to get together to celebrate tech, but it would have been different "

But you came here to hear about the fashion show, didn't you?

Sure there were a couple glitches. The sound was off. Unless you were lucky to get a seat up front (ours got stolen, so we stole someone else's, sorry row 5!) it was hard to hear Shelby.TV's Dan Spinosa emcee the festivities, but his formidable mohawk more than made up for it. And Mayor Bloomberg's taped greeting closed the show instead of starting it. But his quip, "Hold on, I forgot to check-in," got a big applause. The mayor was kind enough to take time out from arresting protesters in Zucotti Park to send the message that, "Now more than ever, [New York] is the place for to be for tech soirees."

Once it got going, the notion of dressing up a bunch of nerds and having them prance down a catwalk, however, was a surprising success."Carter just pulled off an epic Zoolander at #RaiseCache give him the trophy- nailed it!," tweeted Aviary's Alex Taub. Artisicle's Alex Tyron sported red lips and a rocker up-do. TechStars's Melanie Moore stomped with the best of them. Shelby.TV's Reece Pacheco tried to run off stage, but made it to the end to pose. In Warby Parker glasses, disheveled hair, a corduroy blazer, and bright colored khakis, Lerer Ventures' Jordan Cooper looked ready to be cast in a Wes Anderson film.

There were plenty of shenanigans at the end of the runway, with "models" pulling napkins out of their crotch, showering photogs with dollar bills, and whipping out a trademark baseball cap to top off a suit (we're looking at you, Tisch). But without a doubt, the evening's show-stoppers were Roger Ehrenberg and Fred Wilson. Mr. Ehrenberg shimmied and strut the entire way up and down the catwalk, pausing only to do the Robot. Mr. Wilson, however takes the cake for opening up his jacket to reveal a homemade OCCUPY sign. #powertothepeople

After Mr. Wilson exited the stage, Mr. Spinosa told the crowd, "You may not believe this, but he's not a professional model. He's a full-time blogger." The young lady to our right had to explain the joke to her hipster friend who was slouched in his seat. "See, that's why it's funny. Actually, he owns half the people in this room."

We didn't make it to the after-party at the Ace, but it may have been a good thing. It was so crowded even the miniature femme fatales behind Small Girls PR couldn't get in. And they did all the press for it. Mallory Blair emailed us a disclaimer: "We got in after 30 mins, but still, that's half an hour of waiting in the cold for your own party."

Mr. Ehrenberg:

Mr. Wilson:

Internet rock stars

Silicon Alley is buzzing for tonight's fashionable tech fete, the runway party to Raise Cache for HackNY. The DJs for tonight's event will rocking the house via Turntable.fm, which bestowed special avatars on Fred Wilson, Andy Weissman, Dennis Crowley, Dave Goldberg and Lauren Leto.

Betabeat chatted with Turntable.fm co-founder Billy Chasen, who will also be spinning tonight. "To be honest, I've never really been a DJ in real life," Mr. Chasen said. "It's a little intimidating."

Online, however, he has no such hang ups. "When I am DJing on Turntable.fm and a whole room is listening to what I want them to, people pressing the awesome button, that's just a powerful feeling."

Turntable.fm is now up to ten employees and streaming as many as 1 million tracks per day, said Mr. Chasen, who spends his work day in techno rooms, but relaxes at home with some indie chill vibes.

The offline success of Turntable.fm has been a pleasant surprise. "It's great to see an event like Raise Cache doing things in the New York tech scene with our product. We just let this stuff happen organically." The rapper Wale, for example, is using Turntable.fm as the opening act on his tour, letting his fans in concert and at home DJ the set before his performance.

The next challenge in perfecting the Turntable.fm product is figuring out a better way to get new users involved. "Once Twitter started suggesting people for new users to follow they found engagement jumped way up. We are working on ways to help our new users connect with the DJs they might enjoy following," Mr. Chasen said.

Like his early projects, Firef.ly and Chartbeat, Turntable.fm is about interacting with a community of web users in real time. "We believe in our bones that music is inherently social, and that a lot of that got lost when you're just plugged into iTunes with your headphones on. People are reacting to Turntable because they are finding that social element again, even when they are stuck at their computer."

(flickr.com/photos/ericwahlforss/)

STARTUP WEEKEND. Startup Weekend is now an affiliate of the Kauffman Foundation, the same entity that funds AngelList. "While Startup Weekend will continue to operate autonomously, becoming a Kauffman affiliate will allow the organization to increase its geographical reach, conduct more frequent events, and build long-term sustainability. Startup Weekend events bring entrepreneurs and supporters together and teaches them how to share ideas, form teams, build products and launch companies, all during a 54-hour crash-course weekend."

MORE STARTUP WEEKEND. "As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2011, a weeklong celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship, Startup Weekend events will take place in more than 50 [UPDATED --ed.] 20 U.S. cities, fostering new companies that change industries and create jobs. Two of these hosts will be in New York City and New Jersey." GEW takes place from Nov. 14 to 20.

RAISE CACHE FOR HACKNY. The highly-anticipated fundraiser is coming up. "Raise Cache has brought together more than 75 companies, from the hottest start ups, to the biggest corporations, to create a once in a lifetime event that highlights the power of our community and the passion of our city. On November 17th, we will bring together more than 1,000 members of New York tech, fashion, media, and arts under the roof of the State Armory to raise $100,000 in cache for hackNY."

THRILLIST APP. Thrillist Rewards NY will be available to download for free on iPhone and Android devices on Thursday (Nov. 10th). "Users will receive mobile notifications of new Thrillist Rewards in New York, each week, as soon as they become available, and can quickly, easily and securely purchase the Rewards through the app. Rewards can be redeemed by simply presenting a voucher built within the app to a participating merchant – no schlubby printed coupons required."

SECOND SCREENS. NYC-based Umami debuted an app yesterday, "a significant new second screen TV app for the iPad ... The app also serves as a scaleable publishing platform for TV programmers, with National Geographic Channel first on board."

LOCAL LAUNCH: CAPSULE. "Remember The Fridge? We learned about them just a week before they were acqui-hired but our product is vaguely familiar even though we're going at it from a different angle. Capsule is sorta like an Evite or Facebook Group... the way espresso is sorta like a cup of coffee. We're making it easier for people to share photos and memories in private groups centered around events rather than individuals (experience graph vs social graph). We're in private beta but here's a quick tour: http://bit.ly/v36QlN."

WHO'S HIRING? Want to work at SportsPickle.com? College Humor is looking for a PHP/MySQL engineer.

11/11/11. That's the date of the next Silicon Alley Talent Fair. So far 70 companies have signed up to meet job seekers at the Altman Building in the Flatiron. 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

CAPITAL FACTORY DEMOS. The Austin incubator is having a demo night tonight.

STARTUP BUS UNCONFERENCE. A six hour intensive workshop for entrepreneurs who like to think fast, and under pressure. Saturday, Nov. 19.

STARTUP PARTIES. This time it's Gojee, the recipe-suggester, on Saturday at WeWork; and SNAP Interactive kicking off the holiday party season with an office-warmer near Penn Station on December 1. With ping pong.

Betabeat just came across this oddly addictive super short film to promote Raise Cache and it has native New York cred in spades. 

As we mentioned back in October, Raise Cache is an upcoming party to raise funds for hackNY. Organizer and former TechStars's HackStar Rebecca Zhou promised Moot as model in the party's fashion show and spinning via Turntable.fm.

But beyond the illustrated presence of @Dens and Mr. Wilson, New York startups were also involved in the making of the video: Everything Butt Art made the avatars and GraFighters, which is backed Union Square Ventures, designed the battle.

Please enjoy responsibly and good luck getting this song out of your head!:

Saturday, back when everyone had gotten some sleep.

There were a few factors that made hackNY's fourth intercollegiate hackathon the one to beat.

First, the much-loved local fellowship program got ambassadors from the likes of Pivotal Labs, Foursquare, Code Academy, Twilio and Google ("But I'm not here officially," said the rep who shall not be named) to hold office hours during the hackathon. They were on hand to help bleary-eyed hackers running on empty RedBull with the finer points of MongoDB and JavaScript. Then we heard 10gen, Kevin Ryan's most promising investment, was sponsoring buses to pick up coders all the way from schools like RISD, Carnegie Mellon, and UPenn. But the real clincher was that the hackathon was organized using the Hacker League, which was itself a hack cobbled together last week by three students from Rutgers who skipped class to get it ready in time.

In the first hour alone, we learned about a stealth New York startup with some big name clients and an upcoming Turntable.fm party. Add in some humorous contestants ("It's its like Chatroulette, but without the dicks!" was one memorable tagline) and some familiar judges (David Tisch, Chris Dixon, Charlie O'Donnell, Khoi Vinh) and it made Betabeat wish we'd stayed up all night too. Well, not really, but close enough.

As Mike Swift explained, the Hacker League came about after he and his fellow co-founders, Ian Jennings and Abe Stanway, found themselves seeing the same people again and again at every hackathon. To keep track of the usual hackathon suspects, prevent good hacks from being lost, or people from cheating with the same hack at multiple events, the trio put together a social network of sorts. All the students attending had a chance to submit a profile with links to, say, their GitHub page or personal website and upload their hacks. When the site was up--hey, it's still in alpha--it also broadcast vital info like where to find the demo livestream or when the shwarma delivery showed up. Mr. Swift, who's working for TechStars finalist CrowdTap, said Hacker League is in the running for Lean Startup.

We can't say much about the stealth startup, Parse.ly and its Dash platform for publishers, which officially launches next month, except that co-founder and CTO Andrew Montalenti showed us a demo and we really, really want to start using it on Betabeat, like yesterday. And after hearing some of the big name publishers they've signed up as beta clients, its clear we're not the only ones. Thankfully, Mr. Montalenti offered to let us come by and see his standing desk at the ff ventures ergonomic new office space in the interim.

As for the party, mark November 17th on your Google Calendars. Rebecca Zhou, a former HackStar that we recognized from the TechStars reality show, is organizing Raise Cache (get it??). It's a party/mixer/fashion show with the goal of drumming up $100,000 for hackNY. If that doesn't sell you, how about the fact that Moot himself is going to walk in the fashion show and that party is being DJ'd via Turntable.fm.

Popular themes for the hacks themselves appeared to be ordering in food without moving an inch and solutions to help ladies evade "creepers." You can view the full API list, including Tumblr, Twitter, Parse.ly, Hyperpublic, Bit.ly, and Etsy, as well as all the hacks here. But you really only care about the winners, don't you?

3rd Place: LoCreep,"like a LoJack for creeps!," which lets women offer the LoCreep group phone number instead of their own, mock the offender with her friends on LoCreep.com to "stir his game up," and then "when they believe that hilarity has reached optimal level, export all activity to public Tumblr" and print out a QR code to slap on his back.

2nd Place: AdRunner, which makes an addictive game out of dodging ubiquitous online ads. The punishment for losing? You go to the page of the ad that tripped your epic run. One of the creators had been playing all night, and got pretty good at it.

1st Place: MidiPhon, which was created by two NYU music students who code on the side. The hack lets up to 16 performers control MIDI instruments through their phone and led to successful audience performance during the demo. Afterward, it sent a Bit.ly link to a recording of the "concert" to everyone that played. Wonder how long before they give up rock n' roll for Startupland.

Betabeat would also like to award an honorable mention to YPNHOI, short for "You've Probably Never Heard of It," to an app we'd probably download for kicks. According to the demo, it was founded on the "first rule of hipsterdom," namely the fact that "coolness is indirectly related to popularity." It attacks the problem that the first results in Foursquare or Yelp are often what's most mainstream. You can enter in a venue and, based on the number of check-ins and reviews, the app will tell you "Is it still cool?" If it hasn't yet been discovered by the norms, it gives you the option to create a misleading QR code or write a bad Yelp review to keep the tragically uncool at bay. As for the unwieldy moniker, YPNHOI, they were just following the hipster golden rule, "We chose a difficult name to remember for a reason."