As the TechStars 2008 companies gear up for Investor Demo Day, many of them are asking me to write about them on this humble blog. I’m really proud of what they all have accomplished this summer – it’s pretty remarkable to look at them now and compare them to where there were at the beginning of the summer. Many of them are launching (or have recently launched) so I’ll start talking about them as individual companies.
The Ignighter team – in addition to coming up with a new approach to online dating – have provided endless laughs throughout the summer (note to self – always include at least one team of comedians in the program each year.) The first time the Ignighter guys did the now infamous "elevator pitch" exercise, I was confused and simply responded "Oh – you have a group sex site."
The Ignighter guys (and everyone else in the room) took this in stride and I found out later that they were secretly almost pleased with the misconception. I made it clear to them that this wasn’t a good thing and that I thought it was important to deliver the message of their site more clearly. Over the course of the summer they worked really hard on it and now it’s a novelty when someone’s mind goes to group sex when he/she hears Ignighter’s elevator pitch.
Ignighter is launching this week and their first fun launch event is a group date between Obama and Clinton supporters in NYC. If you’re going to be in NYC and want to attend or learn more about the event, RSVP here. They promise me there won’t be any political sex scandals that emerge from the event.