10 Aussie start-ups gunning for Silicon Valley – Page 3 of 3 – StartupSmart
8. Wyngle
What’s in a name? For a new business, it’s often very little, unless you’ve made a mis-step, as Veokami did.
Wyngle’s problem was a little more serious than a mere pronunciation issue. Its research suggested that US consumers had a negative reaction to a moniker that sounded a little too much like “wangle.”
Wisely, founders Damien Cantelo and Sebastian Langton acted quickly, changing the name to Wynbox.com.
The Sydney duo plan to prise open a new niche in the US – a category of online retail dubbed “ratio buying”.
Instead of offering discounts, Wyngle offers shoppers the chance to pay $1 for a product instead of paying full price.
9. WeTeachMe
Hunting for Silicon Valley funding shortly after launch is one thing, but doing so after also only knowing your co-founders for a matter of months is a challenge few businesses would tackle.
WeTeachMe hopes its ambition will pay off after touring California in October last year in search of $3 million.
The visit came just six months after the five founders were introduced to each other at Launch48, a start-up event in Sydney.
The business, which helps teach users various skills by displaying tutorial videos made by experts, has garnered plenty of attention, if not yet the funding, impressing investors at an Innovation Bay dinner back in Australia this year.
10. StageBitz
Canberra entrepreneur Catherine Prosser launched her software company Production Genie in 2007, but it wasn’t until the business was up and running that she came up with the proposition that would have international appeal.
StageBitz is a web-based system designed to simplify prop management for theatre production professionals, allowing them to manage the lifecycle of prop sourcing, maintenance and tracking.
At last year’s Tech23 event, StageBitz was awarded an all-expenses trip to the US in order to meet the high rollers that will turn the technology into a leading business.
Prosser says the technology has already attracted interest in the United Kingdom, as well as the United States. She hopes to have four million props running through the system by the end of 2014.