Author Archives: AlphaLab

AlphaLab Application Cycle Now Open!

It’s that time of year!  We are excited to announce that AlphaLab is now accepting applications for its Winter/Spring 2010 cycle!

AlphaLab is a catalyst for launching the next generation of software, web, mobile, and entertainment technology companies.  Created by Innovation Works, one of the nation’s most active seed-stage investors, AlphaLab provides funding, free office space, expert business advisors and services during its biannual program in Pittsburgh.  AlphaLab helps companies rapidly develop their technology, gain user feedback from early product releases, develop go-to-market strategies, and move towards a successful commercial launch.

For more information and to access the application, visit: www.alphalab.orgThe application deadline is October 20th and the program begins on January 5th.   You can also learn more about Pittsburgh’s entrepreneurial scene and AlphaLab’s role within it in the following blog entry from Center Networks: http://www.centernetworks.com/why-i-love-pittsburgh-startups.

If you would like to learn more about the program, you can attend the next Open Coffee Club meeting at AlphaLab (2325 East Carson Street in Pittsburgh’s South Side) on October 1st starting at 9 am.  AlphaLab team members will be at the Open Coffee Club meeting to answer any questions you may have about the program and to help you determine whether your business idea is a good fit for the program.  You can also meet others who are interested in the program and a few of the current AlphaLab teams.


Innovation Works’ Portfolio Company Showclix Closes on Series A Investment!

Congrats to Showclix - an online ticketing solution for event organizers – for closing on a round of funding from Pittsburgh Equity Partners! They were featured in this Techcrunch article discussing the funding round.  We look forward to seeing how Showclix grows as a result of this funding and are just very happy for Josh and Lynsie (Showclix’s cofounders in the photo above) for this accomplishment!

AlphaLab Company Vivo is Featured Story on Post-Gazette.com!

Vivo – a current AlphaLab company  - was featured in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Vivo is a web-based video broadcasting service that provides users with a private, customizable environment for sharing events.  The article about Vivo is the featured story on the Post-Gazette website and is on the front page of the business section in the print edition.  You can access the article by clicking on the following link: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09197/984226-96.stm.  Congrats, Vivo!

Advisor Chris Shipley Visits AlphaLab!

chris-shipley

Chris Shipley – Co-executive Producer of the DEMO conference, Founding Partner and Chairman of Guidewire Group, and AlphaLab Advisor – dropped by AlphaLab last week to visit with us and share some of her insights.  Chris is a native Pittsburgher but lives in California so this visit was quite a treat.  We knew Chris would be in town but only found out that morning that she would be able to spend the afternoon with us
so we got together a group of AlphaLab companies and neighboring Innovation Works’ portfolio companies together last minute to meet with her.  Participating companies gave their elevator pitch and Chris asked them questions and shared her thoughts on their products.  Given Chris’ 20 years of experience working with technology companies (and the fact that she works with about 500 companies a year), this was greatly appreciated advice.  We hope she visits us again soon!

Congratulations to Shanna Tellerman of Sim Ops Studios!

Shanna Tellerman in BusinessWeek Magazine

Shanna Tellerman – CEO of Innovation Works’ Portfolio Company Sim Ops Studios – was featured in a recent BusinessWeek article and was named one of the best young tech entrepreneurs by BusinessWeek Magazine.  This is quite an accomplishment and we at AlphaLab would like to congratulate her.

Sim Ops Studios is the creator of a really fun consumer and enterprise product called Wild Pockets, which I personally became addicted to when it launched.  Wild Pockets is a software service that lets you create just about anything you can imagine using 3D content.  I highly recommend playing it!

Networking at AlphaLab + Announcement of Second Group of AlphaLab Companies

Yesterday we hosted our fourth Open Coffee Club meeting – a group organized by Aaron Tainter and Alan Veeck of Meakem Becker Venture Capital.  Alan speaks to the goals of Open Coffee Club in this post on his blog, Pittsburgh Ventures.  The turnout was great, as can be seen in the picture.  We had a nice mix of entrepreneurs (seasoned, new, and wannabes), investors, and service providers all mingling with each other.  One of the attendees texted me, “good networking” after the event and I would agree: I saw a lot of familiar faces but many new faces and had an opportunity to speak with many of the attendees.  Justin Kownacki – self-proclaimed social media explorer – discussed his experience at the event in this post on his blog, Cafe Witness.

In conjunction with the Open Coffee Club event, we announced our second group of AlphaLab companies.  You can read more about the new AlphaLab companies here. We are excited to work with the six companies and look forward to a busy twenty weeks!

If you’d like to find out about the next Open Coffee Club in Pittsburgh, join the Open Coffee Club group on Facebook.

AlphaLab Application Cycle for Winter/Spring 2009 now open!

Applications!

(Flickr Photo by Presta)

Have a great idea in the software or web space?  Have a working version already?  Think you’re doing something innovative around gaming?   Interested in spending 20-weeks in a great, collaborative space interacting with advisors and experts with $25k to boot?

We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting submissions from prospective applicants for our next cycle!  The application is submitted online, and can be saved so that you can resume it at a later time.  We also provide a readable version of the application to review beforehand, so you know what to expect.

We also love people with lots of great ideas… so if you have more than one please submit it!  However, note that you have to create a separate ID and submit a separate application.

Applications will be reviewed as they come in, so we encourage you to apply sooner rather than later.  The application period closes on October 15th, and we’ll be conducting interviews with selected companies in late October.

Good luck!

Welcome to the AlphaLab Blog

AlphaLab is an accelerator for software, web, and game-related startups located in Pittsburgh, PA.   We invest in companies that are developing innovative ideas and technologies and have the ability to make rapid, significant progress during our 20-week intensive program.  Our first group of companies moved into the AlphaLab space in June and have been busy talking to prospective users and customers, developing their products, and defining their initial market strategies.  They have also had the opportunity to interact with our advisors, meet other entrepreneurs, investors, and experts, and collaborate with each other.

With this blog, we plan to keep you up-to-date on what’s happening at AlphaLab and to share and discuss other blog posts, articles that are relevant to our companies and the areas they’re targeting.  The AlphaLab team will all be contributing to the blog and we hope to have some guest writers as well.  We invite you to comment and contribute to the discussion.