LAUNCH 11 kicked off two competitions for technology start-ups this week in San Francisco. The event is for early stage companies who have never had any press, public demos and whose services are currently in closed alpha or beta.
Judges included Matt Coffin | Dave Goldberg | Drew Houston | Mike Jones | Dan’l Lewin | Josh Williams | Dave McClure | Kevin Pollak | Niel Robertson | David Sacks | Yossi Vardi | Aarron Walter | George Zachary | Ryan Block | Don Dodge | Bill Lee | Jay Levy | Shervin Pishevar | Bill Warner | Mo Koyfman | Aaron Patzer | Kevin Rose | Kara Swisher | Greg Tseng | Aaron Batalion | Ted Maidenberg | Dave Morin | Chris Sacca | Jeff Thomas | David Young | Andrea Zurek | Brian Alvey | Jose Caballer | Marshall Kirkpatrick | Om Malik | Mark Pesce | Naval Ravikant |Adeo Ressi | and Robert Scoble.
Below is a video clip of the grand finale of LAUNCH producer Jason Calacanis and a handful of judges announcing the winners in a variety of different categories, such as best UI, technology, overall, etc. Here’s the #L11 Twitter thread. Kudos to @Jason and his team.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
