Hoboken’s MissionFifty Goes Online

The MissionFifty coworking space opened its doors yesterday to the public.

I stopped by for a late afternoon visit to find workers busily finishing up this makeover of what was a manufacturing loft.

Even in its almost-complete state, you can get a good sense of what this will soon become: a place for NJ entrepreneurs, designers, developers, and, ahem, perhaps a blogger or two to hatch businesses and get things done while tapping into the collective energy of other Fiftiers.

While I was there, MissionFifty co-founder, Michael Pierce, gave me a brief tour of the office-scape.

I saw common meeting areas with whiteboards, glass-enclosed private rooms equipped with Polycom VoIP phones (good choice), kitchen area, and a comfy mini-living room with sofas.

I took lots of picture, which I’d love to show, but …  my camera’s XD memory card somehow managed to fry its bits.Continue reading

Pay the Blogger

Pavan Katepalli had his ‘aha’ moment about blogs when he was running his second startup, a search engine marketing service.

In trying to expand the online marketing presence of one his clients, he discovered that bloggers hold a lot of power in terms of directing traffic and boosting visits.

After selling the SEM company—his first startup, by the way, was hatched while he was a Rutger’s undergraduate—Pavan then went on to found BloggersCompete.

The idea is simple: advertisers initiate a contest for bloggers, suggesting general themes to write about. Bloggers get exposure by being part of the contest, and the winner or winners receive cash, while runner-ups get some non-cash swag or other prizes.  Continue reading

Venture Forum in Hoboken: Stevens’ Research Day

Stevens Institute held its Research and Entrepreneurship Day conference this past Friday.

It was a chance for this engineering school to give the public a peek at tech projects that have been incubated by professors and students with the goal to commercialize the university’s IP.

Project such as CADEyes (dimensional maps from lasers and cameras), Attila (broadband technology that grabs simultaneous bandwidth from multiple networks), and other efforts were presented during the afternoon’s Venture Forum.

I wasn’t able to make it.

However, one of the spin-off companies, called Instream Media, which developed algorithms to detect deception in text communication, has software that can be tested by anyone.

I decided to give it a try.Continue reading