This week’s 1 Million Cups at the Kauffman Foundation featured startup pitches for a mobile app sales tool and a social commerce lifestyle brand for young women.
The guest panel of startup questioners consisted of Ryan Weber, president of KCnext; Tina Peterson, a manager at the Sprint Accelerator; and Lance Windholz, a 1 Million Cups organizer and entrepreneur.
CallOnTheGo at 1 Million Cups
Mark Michuda, founder and CEO of CallOnTheGo, began his presentation by declaring: “We help salespeople make more money in less time.”
CallOnTheGo is a mobile app for busy sales professionals in the field, who no longer want to manually dial the phone numbers of leads, take notes on whatever’s handy (scratch paper or a napkin) and then have to review their activity and input the data for later reference.
With CallOnTheGo, Michuda explained, salespeople can auto-speed-dial sales leads, prospects and customers, easily track their call activity and take instantly retrievable notes. The app also incorporates a predictive data analysis and forecasting engine.
Michuda founded CallOnTheGo about a year ago. The biggest users are insurance and real estate agents, he said, but “we’re not limited to those spaces” in what he called a $46 billion market. A three-tier monthly subscription for CallOnTheGo costs $99 for “sales rep,” $129 for “sales pro” and $495 for “sales manager.”
“This is absolutely a B-to-B sales model and tool,” Michuda said, adding that the greatest opportunity for CallOnTheGo was to integrate or partner with cellphone carriers and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
UChic at 1 Million Cups
Next up was Christie Garton, founder of UChic, a for-profit social commerce lifestyle brand aimed at young women ages 15 to 22. The company plans to sell lifestyle and fashion items to young women, and part of each sale will help fund scholarships for that demographic.
“We are out to fund the dreams of our consumers through our product sales …” Garton said. “Every purchase supports the dreams of real young women nationwide.”
About 15 percent of the money made from every UChic product, such as a designer handbag or tote bag, will go into a scholarship fund that will “make a difference in the lives of amazing young women,” Garton said.
Every UChic product will be affordable, functional and fashionable, Garton said, and it will be manufactured as a limited-edition item. Products will be available through e-commerce, through UChic “brand ambassadors” mostly located on about 100 college campuses and via other partners and retailers to be determined.
“We are taking a real hard look at the retail space …” Garton said. “We have a charitable goal, but we have to be profitable.”
