This Week's Best Start Ups and Mobile Apps: GoPlanIt.com, FitBit.com, REQALL. SearchMe, Sportacular - Cory Treffiletti - MediaBizBlogger

Nobody knows what we39re going to write about within the confines of each eagerly anticipated issue of the Round Up least of all me This week was especially mysterious because I39d spent so much time being out on the road that I barely had time to casually sit back take a deep breath and take in what I39d experienced over the last two weeks From Park City to San Diego Phoenix San Francisco and New York I39ve racked up miles like an airline pilot but thankfully there were lots of content and networkingheavy conferences with informational chit chat that led me to discover a number of new and interesting companies to share with you Of course we can39t talk about a Round Up of the last two weeks unless we talk about the big stinky elephant in the room The economy The last two weeks have been tumultuous and things probably won39t get better before they get a little bit worse The ripple effect of what39s going on as a result of the mortgage crisis and the new restrictions on lending are clearly going to reach the startup business in the coming months It39s already becoming more difficult to raise money and belts are tightening now that the venture capitalists have returned from their summer vacations This doesn39t mean that people won39t still fund great ideas but you39d better do your homework and dot your quoti39squot and cross your quott39squot if you hope to be successful The angel route can be easier for gathering together the initial funding you need but don39t forget the term quotbootstrappingquot Many of the companies we see and many of the ideas we hear about are capable of being bootstrapped for growth if only those in charge are thrifty and economical with their time From my perspective a successful startup requires a scrappy doitrightatallcosts attitude Those are the kinds of people that I would invest with and those are the kinds of people that are destined to be successful especially in an economic environment such as thisNow that we39ve gotten that out of the way here are some of the best ideas that we39ve seen the last couple of weeksThe TechCrunch 50 last week was an amazing source of new companies and funky ideas but one of the best that we saw was GO PLAN IT httpwwwgoplanitcom The site is definitely in beta and needs to be populated with far more cities than it currently covers but the idea is simple and the execution is elegant If you39re going on vacation and you don39t know how to plan the activities of your trip Go Plan It will take care of it for you Go there and type in quotSan Franciscoquot as your vacation destination enter the dates you39ll be there and let Go Plan It spit out your activity itinerary including all the recommended places to go and things to see laid out in a schedule with times and directions It39s one step planning for people like me who have a tendency to lose interest in the research required to get the most out of your trip It39s like a knowledgeable travel agent without all the up sellAnother company that stood out from that conference was FITBIT httpwwwfitbitcom FitBit is a small device that you clip onto your body and it tracks your vitals and calorie burning activity through the course of the day allowing you to log it in and focus on a healthy means of losing weight The idea is not new but once again the execution is elegant Since the device is wireless it automatically uploads the data as soon as you39re in close proximity to the base station taking all the work out of your hands People fall off diets because they get lazy but now laziness is not an excuse One more from TechCrunch was BOJAM httpwwwbojamcom BoJam is a tool that allows musicians to collaborate online without any restrictions such as location or time It is a fully collaborative environment where you upload your music mix it remotely with the music of other people and locate additional musicians to fill in the holes If you ever heard quotThe Postal Servicequot a spinoff of Death Cab For Cutie you know that good music can be created regardless of boundaries Now BoJam makes it even easier and more cost effective no need to pay for stamps with this modelLast week I mentioned a couple of my favorite iPhone Applications and this week I39m highlighting REQALL ReQall is made for people like me who can39t remember anything without writing it down I used to have a habit of sending myself emails with notes to remind me but ReQall keeps a running track of my little reminders while also copying me with an email getting that urgency into my inbox If you39re on the go and you39re juggling too many balls this is a great application SEARCHME mobile may not yet be an application per se but if you add it to your homepage you get a very functional imagebased search engine The format is clean and for those of us who like to see where we39re going it39s a nifty way to searchAnd of course since it39s football season don39t forget SPORTACULAR Sportacular is a great interface for viewing sports scores and news but it39s also the only iPhone app that I39ve come across where you can keep track of your customized fantasy team I actually keep my wife39s fantasy team in the phone so we can keep tabs on Sunday afternoon Yes amp8211 my wife has a fantasy football team those of you men who read that line are definitely jealousThatamp8217s it for this weekamp8217s edition As always if you have something you see and think we should know about it please drop me a note at infocatalystsfcom and let me know or email on the Facebook pageTalk to you in 2Cory Treffiletti ampamp The Digital InfluentialsDon39t forget to sign up for my Facebook Group by requesting to join quotThe Digital Influentialsquot grouphttpwwwdigitalinfluentialscomFind us on Facebook at The Digital Influentials

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This Week's Best Start Ups and Mobile Apps: GoPlanIt.com, FitBit.com, REQALL. SearchMe, Sportacular - Cory Treffiletti - MediaBizBlogger

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