The team is currently looking for funding, and is doing so along with the many teams participating in the Mass Challenge. They’ll need that funding if they ever hope to grow beyond their initial Boston-based geographic location. But it’s not just the physical infrastructure they’ll need. . In order to make this work, a smart automation of the way items are checked in, stored, requested, scheduled for delivery and arrived on time is not something for the faint of heart. Actually, I’d say that getting cheap storage space and delivery trucks is probably not one of their largest problems.

But the cofounding team of Jesse along with Brij Patel and Christian Baxter are off to a great start, with a few employees and over 100 paying customers, including several local businesses such as the Boston Metro Newspaper, that uses Fetch to store the paper’s back issues. I met up with Jesse and Christian at WorkBar Boston, who were kind enough to let us record our meeting in their lounge during one of their free co-working days.

Ubiqi currently has one product in closed Alpha test with 40 migraine sufferers. The plan is to prove out the hypothesis that patients will actually use mobile applications to track their conditions on a day to day basis, and then roll out new applications geared toward other chronic illness. Sounds like the beginnings of a platform play. Think Facebook game platform meets 21st century medicine in the form of a symptom tracker in your pocket. Just slap on a new skin and viola – you’re tracking painful joints caused by arthritis rather than painful migraines.

With a 4 person virtual team that originally met in business school in France (of all places), and is now inconveniently located in LA, Minnesota, London, and Boston, Jacqueline told me that Ubiqi is self funded with enough runway until next spring. They’re doing side projects to bring in cash to lengthen their runway, but their big bet is being placed on the numerous business plan competitions that they’ve entered. Ubiqi was a finalist in North Bridge’s seed funding competition, and is currently a finalist in both the Cartier Women’s Initiative, and in Mass Challenge.

Regarding plans for future revenue, Jacqueline told me they’re confident that patients would pay for access to the app, as a result of surveys and market research, but Ubiqi also plans to sell aggregated, anonymized data to drug makers and other interested parties.

I visited Dogpatch Labs to meet with both of the guys that comprise Baydin – founder Alex Moore and Mike Chin, to learn what’s new with this startup.  Timing is everything in life, and I was happy to learn a couple of big new developments at this emerging company. First, Baydin has recently launched a Gmail version of Baydin, and I was treated to a beta version, which can be seen in the video below. You can view and download the Boomerang for Gmail beta here.

Second, in the video below, Alex also discusses the next big thing that they’re working as a new game related to “getting people to inbox zero.” When I asked Alex to elaborate on how he’s bringing game theory to the typically mundane task of email, he told me that most people check their email first thing in the morning, and now they’ll have to do it “on the clock.”

Greenbean Recycle is a startup looking to change the way people think about recycling. Even if you don’t know what a Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) is, you’ve probably used one. An RVM is the machine you drop your recyclable beverage containers in, and get a printed receipt that you turn in for refunds at a store cashier. Greenbean has joined the MassChallenge competition to fuel their idea of marrying RVM technology with wireless Social Media and eCommerce capability to personalized the recycling process and make it “cashless.”

Greenbean joins the list of local clean tech startups, like Big Belly Solar, that are focusing on ways to insert conveinent recycling stations into the daily lives of the busy urban eco-friendly set.  So, I sat down with Shankar Sahai, the founder of Greenbean Recycle, to learn more about his vision, and what progress has been made since the initial forming of the team to compete in the MassChallenge.

We don’t have all the answers on what makes a successful pivot, and if you watch the video below you’ll see that we got a lot of great help and advice from John Prendergast, the LSC Boston organizer and the people in attendance.

View the Slides

Watch the Video

With backgrounds in Finance, the initial career path put Fruzzetti on Wall Street as a trader, before returning to Boston, reconnecting with fellow Suffolk grad Dolgoff and forming an umbrella company ByteVentures that they’ve used to create several internet business. Peekaboo Mobile is their 4th venture together.

They realize they’re under stiff competition from the many “Groupon-clones,” as well as New York-based Postabon, which recently secured a $1.05 million round from Spark Capital and has presence in Boston, New York, and San Francisco. But, the Peekaboo duo feel they have a strategic advantage when it comes to the competition – the thriving, vibrant, and helpful community that surrounds entrepreneurs here in Boston.

Currently housed in the entrepreneurial frat house HangOut Labs, and planning to secure angel or seed funding from one of the many startup competitions such as Mass Challenge, both Fruzzetti and Dolgoff are supremely optimistic on their future outlook, with plans to bring their currently offshore development team in-house, and expansion to other cities in the near future. As Dolgoff explains, “there really is a community here. People who actually want to help. We’ll expand to other cities, but our homebase will always be here in Boston.”

What do you think of a “real time deal” service on your mobile phone? Is this a service you’d use, and do you think it will affect buyer behavior when out shopping? Leave your opinion in the comments, below.

1. Boston needs to celebrate our success stories in our backyard. EnerNOC is a great example.
2. This video is a must watch for any entrepreneur – it is very inspiring and it includes lots of lessons learned.

I’ve blogged about VentureFizz in past. I feel that Keith and team are doing terrific work in gathering and organizing the great tech entrepreneur community here in Boston. Be sure to watch the video below and also check out other great content on the VentureFizz site.

Many thanks to the Cambridge Innovation Center for graciously hosting this event and helping to keep it free. If you’re interested in the many great talks that were held, please be sure to check the Startup Lessons Learned website for information on how to watch the recorded day-long events.

If you’re a local Boston Entrepreneur, you may be interested in checking out the video, below, that I took during the event. Here you’ll get a chance to (virtually) meet the members of the Boston chapter of the Lean Startup Circle. I also took a few photos of the event.

Whether or not you’ve “got religion” when it comes to Lean Startups, here’s an interesting case study by a pair of folks from a local Boston startup that actually have been practicing the methodology for the past 9 months or so. Austin and Cheryl from Pinyadda.com share their experiences with Customer Development in the video below. Apologies in advance for the lousy camera work.

If you’re a local startup and interested in learning more about building your minimum viable product, or Customer Development, join us for our next meeting in April where Matt and I will be giving a case study on EditMe’s Customer Development experiences.

Management

Strategy

Customers

Company & Culture

There’s no one single question here that should make or break your decision to join a startup company. By nature, a startup is filled with risk, uncertainty, and change. But, after you’ve found out the answers to all these questions, put together a scorecard. Trust your gut, and choose wisely.