TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

Four local tech entrepreneurs have banded together as Strike Force to package and sell their talents alongside their respective startups like Deals.by, MobileRealtyApps, Kipsu and Train Brain.

From wire frames to deliverable code, the group is experimenting with the goal of pre-selling eight day engagements for “rapid mobile and digital prototyping” at $50k a pop.

“Our aim is to create proof of concepts inside a larger organization that wants to bring new ideas to market, much like a nimble startup would when crafting a new product pitch or launch,” partner and designer Nate Kadlac tells me, describing the ideal customer.  “You’re not buying hours, but a quick and clear result…which isn’t for everyone, but yet is exactly what others are in need of right now.”

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By Jim Buchta, Star Tribune

“The Northstar Multiple Listing Service, the group that manages most Twin Cities-area home listings, is updating its iPhone/iPad app for real estate agents and other MLS members with a technology called HomeSpotter, which was developed by Twin Cities tech guru, Aaron Kardell.”

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Via News Release

“House hunting just got easy. HomeSpotter is a new feature from MobileRealtyApps that shows customers home listings simply by aiming their iPhone or iPad at homes or condo buildings. HomeSpotter uses a technology called augmented reality to overlay property information on a device’s live camera feed.

As a home hunter points their iPhone down the street, they see a view of the street and info on all the houses for sale pops up. There’s even a radar display that show the direction and proximity of nearby properties for sale.”

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Via News Release

“Minneapolis, MN (5/5/11) – Performant Design announced today the general availability of iGarageSale for Android smartphones. iGarageSale for Android provides the same great functionality offered by its popular iPhone app – allowing users to locate garage sales on a map near your current location.

iGarageSale for Android is available in two versions. iGarageSale Lite is free, and iGarageSale Pro is available for $1.99. The pro version adds the ability to search, track favorites, and more.”

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After months of development, refinement and private beta testing, Startup Weekend Twin Cities offspring  Locate My Deal is ready to launch.

Positioned as ‘the one place to go for all the deals’, the experience is all about immediacy,  proximity and savings.

The free iPhone app/mobile browser (Android soon) aggregates and filters nearby deals, coupons and specials in real time from a variety of places –  Valpak, Money Mailer, Campus Special, Groupon, Living Social, etc., and also pulls in ‘free’ listings from Craigslist. “It’s an ever-growing list of sources,” explains co founder Aaron Kardell. “If there’s a deal that exists, it will be included — and if there’s not a deal listed, then it doesn’t exist.”

Do we really need another web-based deal company? Despite the plethora of choices consumers can choose from,  “Where is there a deal right now in my neighborhood and how do I know that I’m seeing all options” aren’t questions we’ve been able to confidently answer just yet.

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Starting with customer Counselor Realty, MobileRealtyApps released this week an integrated suite of mobile lead generation services for real estate brokers.

Founded by serial entrepreneur Aaron Kardell in 2010, the Arden Hills startup initially went to market with two iPhone application earlier this year for Champlin-based TheMLSonline.com and empowered brokers with unique method of delivering a thorough list of MLS inventory of homes for sale throughout the Minneapolis-St.Paul metro. From there, MobileRealtyApps engaged with Counselor Realty (a top five Broker in the Twin Cities) to develop an upgraded iPhone app, a new Android app, an integrated text/voice response solution and custom mobile website.

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Performant Design announced today the general availability of iGarageSale 2.0, its popular iPhone app for locating garage sales on a map near your current location. iGarageSale 2.0 adds native support for the iPad and improved usability when viewing garage sale information.

In addition, the company announced that iGarageSale Lite, previously a paid app, is now available for free.  “We are pleased to make iGarageSale Lite a free download so that more people can use our apps to find garage sales in this busy season,” says Aaron Kardell, founder of Performant Design.

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by Arundhati Parmar, Finance & Commerce

“Lead generation is crucial for almost all companies, but in residential real estate it’s the bread and butter.

Now, a Minneapolis developer is trying to convince real estate agencies that his custom branded smart-phone app can help them cast a wider net and lock in more potential home buyers.

Aaron Kardell believes that in the future, an ever-increasing percentage of home searches will be conducted on the mobile Web using smart phones and other mobile devices, rather than via a standard computer. Consequently, he says, those real estate companies who can get in front of potential buyers in the mobile arena are likely to score big.”

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By Randy Salas, Star Tribune

“Have you seen Aaron Kardell’s new baby? Thousands of iPhone users have.

No, not his 13-month-old son, Elijah, but the popular app that the little fella inspired.

Kardell said he had never been interested in garage sales until Elijah came along, but then the desire to get baby items cheaply kicked in.

“There are so many garage sale listings on Craigslist, though, and I didn’t want to take the time to scan through all of them,” he said. “But if I could do a quick search for maybe ‘baby toys’ and see within a 5-mile radius what sales were available, I thought that would be really useful to me.”"

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Although Connected Information Systems, LLC originated in the Fall of ’07, the venture is still alive and well in startup mode come Winter of 2010. The company’s core SAAS technology powers collaborative learning communities in K-12 schools and makes Web 2.0 technologies accessible in the school setting. Founded by local tech entrepreneur Aaron Kardell and former Pearson Plc colleauge Lou Delzompo, the service has been in “pilot beta” to this point, deployed amongst 5 school districts within California and Iowa.

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