Startup Battlefield At Disrupt: Day One, Session Three


Round three from day one focused on “Disrupting Commerce.” These are companies that hope to displace giants like Amazon, eBay, and so on. Not exactly easy prey, but these guys think they’ve got a unique take on shopping and money management. The companies in this batch are SneakPeeq, StyleSeat, Spenz, and BillGuard. Plus, a wild startup alley company appears! Happy Toy Machine is our wildcard for Monday.


SneakPeeq is shopping with social and game component that rewards you for checking out popular items by continually lowering the price. But once someone buys, the price goes back up. It’s like playing Chicken… with bargains.


StyleSeat lets hairstylists, many of whom are independent contractors, manage and track their business, providing backend functions like scheduling, reminders to clients, and more.


Spenz is all about tracking your own spending habits. There are mobile and web applications for reporting, tagging, and exploring how and where you’re spending your money, and every action you take counts towards rewards and deals.


BillGuard describes itself as antivirus for your bank account, but a more precise description might be crowdsourced fraud detection. It monitors your credit card statements and compares with thousands of others, then identifies transactions it thinks may be unnecessary or fraudulent.


Design and customize your own plush toys, with tons of color and material choices. Like Build-a-Bear on steroids, and not limited to bears or the Ursidae family in any way.


More details, along with Q&A by the judges, can be found at the individual posts. The rest of our Disrupt coverage can be found, of course, at our Disrupt microsite.