Hearing about Shoefitr during the presentations at AlphaLab’s Demo Day left me not only impressed but wanting to know more. I got in touch with CEO and COO Matt Wilkinson (who founded Shoefitr along with Nick End and Breck Fresen) for an interview to talk shoes, startups, and Pittsburgh.

Did you and your co-founders know you wanted to start a business, or did the idea to start Shoefitr evolve from the problem you saw that exists in online shoe sales?

We had each previously attempted our own respective ventures prior to Shoefitr so we are entrepreneurial and always looking for opportunities. With that said, Shoefitr was started from a problem we experienced first-hand when trying to buy shoes online. Although we knew it would be a challenge, we felt strongly that we had the technical experience and background to find a solution. Its not magic, there is a reason somebody fits better in a certain shoe than others, and there just had to be a good way to capture fit without trying on a shoe.

How did you find out about AlphaLab, and did it benefit you?

We heard about Alphalab through a friend/entrepreneur from Carnegie Mellon, Matt Humphrey, who is on the advisor board at Alphalab. The Alphalab experience has been extremely valuable. The mentoring and resources were crucial in getting us to the next stage but most importantly being accepted into the program gave us that extra push from working part-time on Shoefitr to going fulltime.

How did you balance growing your business while maintaining outside employment?

We had been working on Shoefitr part-time for over a year, including a complete revamping of our approach. We had mitigated as much risk as possible before quitting our previous jobs and going full-time.

For now, Shoefitr is integrated into affiliate sites, such as Running Warehouse. You mentioned during Demo Day that Shoefitr would like to build into “a comparative fitting site where consumers can search by fit before purchasing through an affiliate network.” Can you elaborate?

Shoefitr will be integrated into retailer’s websites, but at some point, it might make sense to reach customers through a fit-centric comparative shopping site as well where Shoefitr can drive more traffic to retailers. We think that there could be a demand for a site like this because 35% of shoppers first visit comparative pricing sites prior to purchasing; however, our market research shows that fit is a bigger concern than price when it comes to buying shoes online. Our vision is to create a comparative shopping site where customers can search by fit and price.

Has Shoefitr received funding?

Outside of Alphalab, Shoefitr has been self-funded and will be looking for funding in the future when the time is right.

If/when you expand to other markets beyond athletic shoes, will the technology be able to detect other possible fit problems? What do you see those being?

Our approach and most of our software will not change when moving to new footwear verticals; however, different types of footwear may require different fitting algorithms and measurements for our recommendation engine. For example, high heels will obviously require us to look into heel heights. Discovering exactly what those are will require some more research, user testing, and also understanding the shopping/fitting behavior of those consumers.

Where are you planning to move your operations after AlphaLab?

Shoefitr will keep its operations in Pittsburgh, and we are currently exploring our options for office space around the city.

How do you and your co-founders come to be in Pittsburgh? What do you like about it in general and for startups in particular?

The 3 of us are all from different places, Breck grew up outside Chicago, Nick came from Milwaukee, and I am from New Jersey but all came to Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon. We all really enjoy Pittsburgh. Breck’s favorite spot is the Pretzel Shop across from the Alphalabs where he can be found eating for most meals. Nick and I enjoy Double Wide, their TV Dinners are awesome. Nick and Breck like running in Shenley Park and head there almost daily. Pittsburgh is a very start-up friendly city. We have friends working on startups in the valley and there are just so many out there that it’s hard to find people who want to help you. In Pittsburgh everyone is excited about all the new companies and willing to help.

How did Nick become a professionally sponsored runner?

Nick and Breck both ran cross country and track at CMU and Nick continued afterwards. He start runnning marathons last year and after a fast one in Boston he applied for a small sponsorship with Saucony. He really likes their shoes and gear. He runs daily and every month or so enters a big race. On most days he convinces Breck and I to run with him which I always regret as I am in no condition to keep up with them.

Last question, do you have a favorite startup company in Pittsburgh?

Our favorite Pittburgh startup is DeviceKnit. They introduced us to a bar that has 10 cent wings so it was the perfect place for all of us to hang out and talk about startups.

Editors Note: Shoefitr has also just won a global pitch competition. Check out the Alphalab blog for video of the winning pitch!

Read Write Web recently posted a great article called “Going Alone: Thoughts on the Single-Person Startup”. It talked how founding a business alone can be more risky and difficult then founding one with a co-founder.

Even with what looks like hard road to travel alone not having a co-founder is not an excuse. The article stresses that point and the fact that there are other factors that dictate a startups success and failure.

Check out that the article and let us know what you think.

Are you or someone you know a single person businesses in Pittsburgh? Let you know, we would love to hear you story.

[Photo by lensbug.chandru]

One look at the business cards of DeviceKnit co-founders John Ganotis and Jordan Messina will tell you these guys aren’t your typical entrepreneurs. Listed as the chief espresso officer and chief tea officer, the recent AlphaLab grads have a knack for setting themselves apart (and employing humor while they’re at it).

DeviceKnit began as a web application for Ganotis and Messina to keep track of their gadgets and share ideas of how to use them with friends. Both were often asked to help setup electronics for other people and like finding new uses for devices they already own.

“I was always tinkering,” Ganotis said.

The best use Ganotis found was using the Wii remote, which he describes in a video on DeviceKnit.

Messina said he is looking forward to using GoogleTV with the iPhone.

Working from their interest in devices, Ganotis and Messina thought to expand the network by including more users and to make a profit through pay-per-click and affiliate sales. They decided to apply for the Spring 2010 AlphaLab session after Messina heard Resumator founder Don Charlton on the podcast This Week in Startups. Charlton had mentioned AlphaLab during the talk.

“I looked up Don after I heard it and emailed him last June,” Messina said.

Now that the program is over, DeviceKnit has moved in to office space with fellow AlphaLabers CloudFab in the Hill District. The building is owned by Dale McNutt, who is calling the location “Startup Town” and offering graduated pricing for new companies. Ganotis and Messina agreed that the community of local business owners in Pittsburgh offers a lot of different groups to get involved with and provides opportunity and guidance.

“Everyone is pulling for each other and giving a helping hand,” Ganotis said.

When it comes to funding, Ganotis and Messina are hopeful about their prospects and can self-sustain from profit in the meantime. Receiving support will enable the two to grow the community for DeviceKnit at a quicker pace by allowing them to move forward with development and gain users.

Ganotis and Messina are working on development along with the help of an intern from Duquesne University. The private beta for users who sign up is expected by the end of June, with a public beta to follow.

Not to be forgotten are the efforts of “Pluggy,” the logo for DeviceKnit, which can be found on Twitter. Pluggy was described as a “plug with an attitude” and picked from several designs submitted to 99designs.com, the site Ganotis and Messiner used to solicit ideas for the logo. Plans for Pluggy include t-shirts and stickers. The stickers, as Ganotis said, may find their way onto devices in different stores (some with angry faces to show Pluggy’s disgruntled opinion).

Eventually, Ganotis and Messina hope to expand DeviceKnit to include person-to-person sales, similar to how craigslist operates. No matter how the business expands, the initial idea for DeviceKnit remains the motivation behind the company.

“DeviceKnit is about sharing ideas and getting inspired by what others are doing,” Ganotis said. “Too many people are trying to reinvent the wheel when they should be figuring out how it works.”

The Pittsburgh Business Times reported that ModCloth, a Strip District based online indie clothing company, raised $19.8 million in the largest VC round of 2010. They plan to continue to seek funding until they raise over $30 million in funding.

I am really happy for these guys and there a shining example of what can come out of the Pittsburgh startup community. What started out in a dorm room is now a large company with offices three cities. I can no longer call ModCloth a startup but I am still going to follow these guys closely.

Very quickly they moved from startup, to small business, to an internationally known brand. I think my only concern is that as they gotten bigger, their quality has dropped. Still I don’t think that is enough to stop them from growing even larger. All the girls I know that complain about the quality, still buy over $100 worth of merchandise from them monthly (no joke).

Demo Day at AlphaLab featured recent program grads DeviceKnit, 80 Degrees West Interior Design, Inc., Black Locus, PhotoSynesi, and Shoefitr. Let’s go ahead with a description of each of the companies before I get into the nit and grit of who stood out (after all, you may want to judge for yourself).

DeviceKnit: “A consumer electronics content and community site focused on helping people discover new uses and connection options for their devices.” With so many newfangled gadgets out there, figuring out how to connect them all (or even what they all do for that matter) can be confusing. Here’s where DeviceKnit can help. “We are the neighborhood nerds,” CEO John Ganotis said. The site lets you pick what devices you would like to connect, then tells you what you need to connect them and where to get it. Pictures are provided in case, like me, you have no idea what different cables look like.

80 Degrees West Interior Design, Inc.: “An online design space providing a new and better way for do-it-yourself consumers to collect design inspiration, organize their decorating projects, and collaborate with professional interior designers.” Thinking of decorating? 80 Degrees West is a website that gives users the ability to organize design projects in an online notebook where they can store photos and ideas, get feedback from family and friends, and ask for professional input.

Black Locus: “A SASS cloud-computing platform that gives small and medium online retailers a similar level of analytical sophistication as larger e-tailers.” So you’re a small to medium web company with a need for market research. Welp, Black Locus is ready to give you the info you need for pricing, marketing, and inventory management. Users are able to implement recommendations with a click of a button and track the impact of each recommendation over time.

PhotoSynesi: “A premium online service delivering professional reviews and feedback to amateur photographers.” Digital cameras with auto focus lenses have led to an increased market of amateur photographers, many of whom spend money to attend workshops or similar events for professional critiques of their work. PhotoSynesi provides more readily available feedback at a lower cost.

Shoefitr: “Technology for online retailers to help customers find the correct size and best fitting shoe.” Not a lot of people buy shoes online. The reason? Shoes sizes are unreliable and the hassle of having to send a pair of shoes back that don’t fit outweighs the convenience of Internet shopping. Shoefitr wants to make the experience easier for the consumer and retailer by letting you choose a shoe size of what you want to buy based on what you already own. So, if you’re wearing a size 10 Nike and want to buy a New Balance, Shoefitr guides you through picking your exact shoe, then figures out what would be the best size of the new one. As one retailer said of Shoefitr “This is bitchin’.”

I was most impressed by DeviceKnit and Shoefitr. To start, I could see the utility of both without much effort. I don’t know what to do with half my electronics. I have returned shoes I bought online because they didn’t fit. I’m also a pushover for a good presentation. DeviceKnit and Shoefitr gave smart, interesting, and enjoyable overviews of their companies. The CEOs seemed generally enthusiastic about what they are doing, and they made me correspondingly excited.

Where the other companies fell short for me may have been because of consumer bias. I’m not a do-it-yourself type making 90K a year (80 Degrees West), I don’t have an online retail business (Black Locus), and even if I was an amateur photographer, I don’t think I’d pay for criticism unless I was trying to become a professional (PhotoSynesi). What I can say is they are certainly hitting niche markets and have the research to show that someone, somewhere is paying for these services. Whether they want to begin paying for online versions of those services is a consideration. I should also mention that 80 Degrees West and Black Locus both offer free accounts with limited, but useful options.

On a final, perhaps random note, I noticed that for whatever reason, smashing your company name together is all the rage with startups. DeviceKnit, PhotoSynesi, Shoefitr. Just saying.

This post originally appeared on Steve Klabnik’s blog and is reproduced here with permission. Steve is the CTO and co-founder of CloudFab, an AlphaLab graduate. If you would like to write a guest post for Startup Pittsburgh please contact us.

Ever wonder why some websites are so addictive? Certain sites always keep you going back, time after time after time. Well, I can’t speak for all of them, but there’s a subtle reason that some sites draw your attention on such a repeated basis: They’re actually games.

Wait, games?

Try a little thought experiment: If I say, “Yeah, he’s a ______ addict,” what are the first few things that pop into your mind? For me, top two are “heroin” and “World of Warcraft.” I’m not sure what that says about me as a person, but ignore that for now. What makes these two things so addicting? Why are they basically synonymous with the word “addict”? Lots of people smoke pot. Lots of people play Call of Duty. Lots do both, and in copious amounts. So why don’t they get the same label?

Heroin: it’s a hell of a drug

Yeah, that reference is to cocaine, another famously addictive substance. Oh well.

Heroin is the poster child for addiction because it’s got a built-in viral loop. That sentence sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. It’s very easy to start out with, as it’s snorted. No scary needles or anything. You get high really quickly, due to its chemical properties combined with the fact that your nose is already close to your brain. It gives a really intense high that is also fairly short. As you do it, you develop both a psychological addiction as well as a tolerance. You simultaneously develop a deep desire for more of the drug as you need a larger quantity of the drug to get the same high. Eventually, it becomes more and more difficult, but you’re so addicted that you get over your fear of needles and start mainlining.

World of Warcraft works the same way. It’s easy to try, as there are mechanisms to invite your friends, and the system requirements are fairly low for a video game. The first few quests are super easy, and so you hit that quick reward. You get addicted to “Ding!” but it takes longer and longer every time you do it. Eventually, you max out on levels and have to start doing other things to get your fix. It may sound funny, but it’s absolutely true. People talk about “relapsing.” They speak of “craving.” That’s why WoW has so many subscribers.

How to replicate this success

I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to make your site as addictive as heroin is, but many sites use the same basic psychology to keep you coming back. Game mechanics are one of the tools they use to develop that psychological addiction. This is something we’ve been seeing more and more of lately, but it isn’t really being talked about explicitly as a major trend. I really think that this stuff is really important and useful.

There are a couple of different mechanisms that web sites can incorporate that fall under the realm of “game mechanics:”

• Collectibles: Any sort of item you can accumulate. Sometimes comes in “sets,” which are finite lists.
• Points: A concrete number that lets you compare two people.
• Levels: A target number of points, you gain the “level” when you go over that number.
• Trophies: A special kind of level that’s unrelated to points. You get it for some other arbitrary reason.
• Rankings: A place where you can go to see how many points, levels, and trophies others have
• Tournaments: A competition between people.

We’ve all heard these terms used in games. But in web sites? Okay, let’s try those things again:

• Collectibles: Gowalla items. Facebook “Gifts”
• Points: Twitter followers. Facebook friends. Number of feedbacks. Reddit Karma.
• Levels: eBay “Power Sellers.” Foursquare “Super Users.”
• Trophies: Badges, of any kind. “Achievements”
• Rankings: FourSquare’s Leaderboard. Klout. Listorious. Hacker News’ top list.
• Tournaments: I actually can’t come up with a good example of this. Thoughts?

The same feedback loop happens on these websites. You say something interesting on Twitter, you gain another follower or two. You say something else, another follower. You check in, oh look, you’re the mayor! You sell an extra hundred things and get your Power Seller discount.

That’s the hard stuff. It’ll get you hooked, and coming back for more.

Where’s all of this going?

This is the current stuff that’s being done with game mechanics. But where could we go, in the future?

A while back, there was a huge debacle over ReadWriteWeb and Facebook connect. To give you the basic idea, ReadWriteWeb is a blog that talks about everything Web2.0. They wrote an article entitled “Facebook Wants to be your One True Login.” Read the comments. Notice something funny? Due to some Google magic, if you were to Google “Facebook login” the day that was posted, that article would appear at the top under the “Google News” results. Now, RWW uses Facebook Connect for their commenting system, and a ton of people apparently don’t know how to use the Internet. So when they said, “Hey, I think I’ll go to Facebook today,” they Googled “facebook login,” clicked the news story, and went to RWW. They then ignored that RWW is a blog completely covered in red that looks nothing like Facebook, scrolled until they found the Facebook icon, clicked it, logged in, and then said “wtf, this isn’t my facebook? Why’d they change the interface again???” This happened a week after a middle-sized interface upgrade on Facebook, for extra hilarity.

Now, I won’t comment on those people or that situation directly. But one of my favorite Hacker News posters, patio11, posted a really interesting comment about the situation. I’m linking to the person he’s responding to, for context:

Pyre: Facebook can’t improve their interface to make users not type “facebook login” into Google as a way of accessing their site.

patio11: That is a failure of the imagination. They certainly could — whether it is worth doing or not is another question, but hey, that is what God gave us A/B testing to figure out.

“Hey user, it looks like you came to us today from Google searching for [Facebook login]. Did you know that there is a better way? Type facebook.com into [blah blah blah]. Try it now and we’ll give you 5 free credits for [without loss of generality: FarmVille]!”

Great job! You should do that every time. If you do that to log into Facebook the next five days you use the service, we’ll award you a Facebook Diploma and give you another 10 free credits for [without loss of generality: FarmVille]!”

On the back end, you show the above prompts to N% of your users who you detect coming to the login page from Google search results (this is trivial — check the referer). You then compare any user metric you want for the “Was Shown Facebook Login Course” population and “Complete Facebook Login Course” population with the population at large. Kill the test if it hurts your metrics, deploy it sitewide if it helps them.

How cool would that be? Now the game mechanics aren’t being used just to increase engagement, but to actually teach people how to use your site or service. It’s classical conditioning; reward people for doing the right thing, and they’ll keep doing the right thing.

Game mechanics are your MVP

So how’s this stuff relevant to your startup? Well, I think this idea ties in really well with the concept of a Minimum Viable Product. Here’s the idea: Build your MVP, and then build game mechanics in. Unlock new features based on game mechanics. This gives you a few advantages:

1. Your new users only get the most basic experience, which is still useful. It’s a simplified, streamlined experience.
2. Users only get the new features added that are relevant to how they use the site itself.
3. You can “fake it till you make it” by implementing the features that are most useful to your users. Is everyone getting Badge A and not Badge B? Implement Feature A Level 2 first!

I think that this makes for a really strong experience, if done right. Foursquare kind of does this already in a crude way with their Super User features. But I think it could be taken to a whole new level.

Think about this: Facebook, where you can only friend people, update your profile, and send messages at first. Soon you unlock the ability to use applications. Then the ability to create pages and groups. The interface slowly unfolds in front of you. What about Reddit, where posting comments is all you can do at first? A hundred upvotes gives you the ability to downvote. Ten comments lets you post stories. (Hacker News sort of does this already, with a minimum karma before downvoting is enabled.)

If you could pull it off, I think it’d make for a really compelling user experience. It does bring one extra design skill that many people may not have, though: balance. Game designers are used to this already, but your potential “Power Users” might not like having to wait to get more advanced features. Then again, this might also solve some issues, like spam. If you had to have 100 positively moderated comments before posting a story on Digg, it’d be much harder to just sign up for spam accounts to submit bogus stories.

This idea can be taken in a lot of different directions. I’m sure I’m only barely scratching the surface with this idea, but I think it’ll go really far. What do you think? Any interesting mechanics I’ve missed? Any really interesting thoughts for how services can incorporate game mechanics? I’ve decided to re-open comments, but if nobody uses them, I’ll just shut them off again. Let me know what you think.

February 10th, Google announced they are putting their hat in the ISP ring. While they are blatant about their reasons (to encourage more competition, improve speeds and decrease price) the hope of communities to be one of the test markets quickly grew. Councilman Bill Peduto, Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, UPMC and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, on February 12th announced their plans to put together a comprehensive response. Thanks to the support generated by the local community.

When news broke on Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Startup and tech communities rapidly fired off tweets employing their elected officials to put together an official response to the RFI. Since the crash of the internet bubble people have been bootstrapping and finding more and more ways to reduce the cost of starting a company. High-speeds and cheap internet have always been known as an attractor of entrepreneurs and helps a city be “start-up friendly.”

The current internet offerings in Pittsburgh aren’t dismal, but there is always room for improvement. One of the main goals of the program is to enable bandwidth intensive programs such as streaming three dimensional medical data to doctors around the world to learn and improve the care given. UPMC provides a prime opportunity for this given their innovative medical procedures and “early-adoptor” mentality to technology.

The Pittsburgh government, rightly, sees this as an opportunity to continue to spur economic growth. Hopefully they can put together a legitimate response and show Google that Pittsburgh can be more than just an engineering shop.

To assist in the effort you can write in to support your community, complete the Nominate Your Community form. Some things you may want to highlight in your response:

• Lack of true competition for decent Internet
• UPMC as a medical hub for the region
• A number of current start-ups build on the internet
• Faster internet will continue Pittsburgh’s economic recovery

AardarQ, a provider of a B2B AppStore framework for embeddable devices, just received $100k in funding from Innovation Works. Employing six people with plans to grow, AardarQ looks to build their customer base from two to three.

“The Innovation Works funding is a stamp of approval for our technology and our team’s ability to grow the business,”

• Pittsburgh, PA – February 10, 2010 AardvarQ™, LLC, provider of the industry’s first configurable, B2B AppStore™ Framework, today announced that it has been added as an Innovation Works portfolio company (http://www.innovationworks.org). Innovation Work’s resources will be used to expand AardvarQ’s AppStore Framework and to service initial customer demand.

  AardvarQ’s AppStore Framework enables embedded device manufacturers to offer an innovative user experience for their B2B customers via a fully configurable online storefront. In addition to providing a steady flow of valuable productivity applications for their devices, AardvarQ enables device manufacturers to obtain detailed usage profiles for their installed base through its Web-based Device Dashboard.

  “AardvarQ is a great addition to the Innovation Works portfolio,” said Richard Lunak, President and CEO for Innovation Works. “Their AppStore Framework provides a very innovative approach for embedded device manufacturers to stay connected with their installed base.”

  Commercial devices are regularly purchased in bulk by large field service organizations with the assumption of a five- to ten-year usable life. Once shipped, manufacturers often lose track of these devices as they are assigned to a geographically dispersed mobile workforce. Whether a diagnostic, medical, point-of-sale or industrial control device, maintaining connectivity plays a crucial role in a manufacturer’s ability to manage a positive customer experience.

  AardvarQ uniquely addresses this challenge by providing a virtual channel between a device manufacturer and their installed base of commercial devices. Device users are driven to the manufacturer’s branded AppStore to browse and install a steady stream of new/updated productivity applications. Upon accessing the AppStore, each device uploads a usage log that details the device’s location, usage and performance.

  “The Innovation Works funding is a stamp of approval for our technology and our team’s ability to grow the business,” says Greg Quiggle, CEO of AardvarQ. “Our growing customer base needs to stay connected with their installed base of commercial devices. AardvarQ’s unique ability to log the usage of deployed devices enables manufacturers to (1) fine tune their feature sets, (2) proactively address performance issues in the field and (3) offer targeted on-the-job training aids.”

About AardvarQ

AardvarQ is the provider of the industry’s first configurable, B2B AppStore Framework. When licensed, AardvarQ provides a branded, hosted AppStore that can be offered in concert with an embedded device manufacturer’s product lines. Located in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, AardvarQ is a privately held corporation and both an Idea Foundry and an Innovation Works portfolio company. The AardvarQ team brings more than 20 years of experience defining, developing, launching and supporting successful embedded devices within a wide variety of B2B markets. For more information, visit www.aardvarq.net.

[via Pittsburgh Business Times]

Local startup Skill-Life has just been acquired by BancVue. I first saw this story on the blog TechBurger. The full press release is posted below for your enjoyment.

Skill-Life has developed just the sort of Web-based applications that can teach children the fundamentals of managing their money

• Austin, TX—February 9, 2010—BancVue (www.BancVue.com), a consumer research-driven product development and marketing company for community banks and credit unions around the country, today announced it has acquired Skill-Life, Inc., a provider of interactive, game-based resources focused on developing financial literacy.

  Skill-Life’s youth-oriented platform adds to BancVue’s innovative lineup of solutions designed to help community financial institutions win the war against megabanks.

  “An important mission of any community financial institution is providing financial education for its customers,” said Gabe Krajicek, Chief Executive Officer of BancVue, “and Skill-Life has developed just the sort of Web-based applications that can teach children the fundamentals of managing their money. The combination is a compelling value proposition for our community bank and credit union partners and their account holders.”

  MoneyIsland™, Skill-Life’s flagship product (formerly called CentsCity), is essentially an online world where ‘tweens’—children in the so-called middle years between 8 and 12—learn financial skills and earn rewards from their financial institution. Parents are able to follow their childrens’ progress through a dynamic administrative interface. The firm expects to develop additional products applying Skill-Life’s platform, which incorporates casual games, interactive videos and quizzes, administrative tools for adults, and a customizable rewards system.

  “With 81% of ‘tweens’ playing online games, and 87% of adults interested in teaching their children financial responsibility, we’re at the nexus of an emerging opportunity,” said Felix Brandon Lloyd, President of Skill-Life. “Through the extensive network of branches of BancVue’s clients, hundreds of thousands, eventually millions, of children around the country will gain access to much-needed financial education.”

  The Skill-Life transaction is BancVue’s first corporate acquisition. The Texas-based firm has recently announced a number of strategic partnerships, including Allied Solutions and Myers & Associates. BancVue and its marketing partner FIRST ROI provide REALChecking®, a system of innovative products, superior marketing, and data-driven consulting, INMO™, the online account opening system with the highest funding rate, and FIRSTBranch®, a dynamic online marketing system designed exclusively for community financial institutions.

  “In Skill-Life, we’re recognizing that industry leaders like Mr. Lloyd and his company can benefit from our network of clients,” says Krajicek. “At the same time, we gain from their creativity and enhance our own ability to serve BancVue’s partners.”

  BancVue was recognized last year as the second fastest growing financial services firm in Inc. Magazine’s 28th Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies—the Inc. 500. In addition to the Deluxe partnership, the Austin-based firm expects to maintain its growth trajectory in 2010 with the nationwide launch of Kasasa™, a national brand of superior products designed to unite community financial institutions with the marketing scale they need to compete and win.

[via TechBurger]

Fooala tries to bridge the gap between online food ordering and local restaurants. When I first heard their idea at last year’s AlphaLab demo day, I was like “Wow that’s a great idea”! A lot of small restaurants do not have the time or the money to launch a platform to take orders online. Even if they did, trying to promote the fact that they could take orders that way would also be costly and time consuming.

Fooala provides an open online ordering system to restaurants as a Software as a Service. This means there is no hardware or software the restaurant needs to install. Fooala ties in to what the restaurant already does to take orders by phone and fax. They take it another step to help the restaurant integrate the system on an existing website.

Now here is where Fooala get interesting, the restaurant can also tie into a network of high quality websites and applications to engage and attract new customers. A great example of this is CollegeBite.com and the Facebook game Bite Bandit.

Fooala created College Bite to provide online ordering for delivery and pickup from local restaurants. Right now it’s only in Pittsburgh but they plan to launch in other cities soon. I could take the time to explain how the site works, but if you just go to it, it’s self explanatory. Think of it as an interactive menu section of a phonebook (if anyone still uses one of those giant wastes of paper anymore).

Another great example, Bite Bandit creates an interactive food ordering experience. The recently launched Facebook game gives away valuable coupons for orders from CollegeBite.com. They tell me the game has reached thousands of people and has given away thousands of dollars since they launched it a few weeks ago.

The game is setup like a slot machine and with each spin you can win up to $10 off your net order from College Bite. You only get 5 credits a day but you can score you self some more by promoting the game and your winnings.

Fooala is making it easy for small restaurants to reach an audience they would have never been able to reach themselves. I’m really looking forward to watching what this local startup will do next.

They wouldn’t give me details but they tell me they are working on a few major deals with publishers to use their system. I am thinking it’s going to be some kind of widget that the publisher could tie in with their food section. If this is true, then this would give restaurants another great way to reach customers.