TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

From the online market to the streets – Pedalr launches

June 17, 2010 | by Jeff Pesek Comments

Minneapolis-based Pedalr announced today the official public release of their online marketplace for pedal bike products, peripherals and paraphernalia.

Having been in private beta for the past year,  Founder Andrew Korf gave us a taste of what he was doing and where he was going at Minnedemo earlier this year;  while he still considers the release to be a minimum viable product/beta, the site has since matured enough to open the doors for business.  While he doesn’t guarantee that initial users won’t experience technical bumps, Korf does pledge “to listen attentively and respond rapidly.”

What started as an experiment is now a business “to create a community of bike-minded people that makes selling online easier, more trustworthy and more profitable.”  And here’s how it works:

“Bicycles are beautiful. Why hide them behind a link or a shoddy picture-at best?  While eBay and Craigslist obviously work, we’re pushing the edges of online retailing with a clear focus on aesthetics, user experience and humanism,” says Korf, adding “it has needed to exist for a long time… it’s just a matter of who would do it.  With my passion for cycling and curiosity towards social commerce, I knew it was the right fit.”

Korf is currently the original Founder of Pedalr, although he’s recently added James Hayden as a co-founder out of San Francisco for support with business development and operations, and has received advisory input from Gene Oberpriller of Minneapolis and Joe Parkin of Santa Cruz, California from day one.

The Pedalr community currently includes 400 registered users and about 50 Pedalrs (no pun intended) with over 150 items listed for sale.  Looking ahead, Korf is exploring value-added options including flash sales (group buying discounts?) and potentially partnering with high quality niche ad networks such as The Deck.

As Minneapolis was recently voted  “Top bike friendly city in the US“  by Bicycling Magazine, Pedalr is positioned in a great time and place to bring this product to market and capture early adopters.

February 5, 2010 | sourced Comments

Part I

1. ArtsApp – (1:14)  Like Monster.com for artists to submit multimedia (Dejen Tesfagiorgis)
2. Reliacloud – (10:23) A cloud computing platform that allows people to build scalable computing infrastructure on demand (Jason Baker, VISI)
3. Pedal Brain – (18:50) Advanced cycle computer based on the iPhone platform combined with web-based data analysis (Matt Bauer)
4. MinuteBids – (29:25) An online bidding platform that makes it easy for property managers/owners to request and get bids for their property maintenance needs from top rated service providers (Jon Coudron)
5. Pedalr – (37:37) A many-to-many market place for people who love bikes (Andrew Korf)

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Part II

1. MobileRealtyApps.com – (00:01) Custom branded MLS home search apps for realtors on iPhone and Android (Aaron Kardell)
2. MileMarker – (10:00) Helps organizations capture ideas and prioritize them, making it easier to understand what to work on first (Bill Galfano)
3. Live Information Manager for Business – (19:43) Connects employees of an organization to their data and each other from anywhere in the world, all from within a single workspace (Roger Peters)
4. Mobile Roots – (28:41) Customized iPhone applications for campaigns (Lynn Smith)
5. WebSlide – (35:32) Provides you and your clients with a private, secure, easy-to-use system for uploading, sharing, and collaborating on designs without ever leaving your browser (Paul Armstrong)