• The Ultimate Guide To Disrupt NYC 2011

    Devin Coldewey

    Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He has written for the TechCrunch network since 2007. Some posts he’d like you to read: The Dangers of Externalizing Knowledge | Generation i | Surveillant Society | Choose Two | Frame Wars | The User’s Manifesto | Our Great Sin His personal website is coldewey.cc. → Learn More

    Friday, May 27th, 2011


    The latest Disrupt has wrapped, but given the volume of news it created and the rate at which posts were pushing each other off the front page, you could be forgiven for missing a few items or videos here and there. Don’t worry, though: we’ve got the highlights of the show collected right here.

    Actually, that’s not entirely true. We still have a ton of backstage talks and other footage we’re editing and processing, so expect more Disrupt content over the next week as we post these candid interviews with CEOs and Battlefield competitors. In the meantime, enjoy this central repository of all things Disrupt NYC 2011.


    Hacks:

    • NerdNearby: finds tweeters and people checking in near you
    • Gilt-ii: a second layer for shopping site Gilt that lets you auction off your reserved items
    • Joinable: a cloud-based tool for providing email and voice mail to the homeless
    • JoystiCC: lets you control other human beings like chess pieces?
    • Dispatch.io: for easily sharing local documents to cloud services like Google Apps
    • Docracy: allows for collaboration and version tracking on legal documents

    Interviews, panels, and Fireside Chats (with video and transcript):

    Battlefield session one: disrupting search and discovery:

    Do@: a slick search engine that searches using apps instead of the web
    Rexly: a media recommendation engine based on trusted social graph connections
    Weotta: plans an outing for you based on mood and intention
    Skylines: a personalized photo stream based on topics and keywords, instead of people
    Deja: a flashy interface for video discovery and consumption

    Battlefield session two: disrupting location, location, location

    SpotOn: recommends places to go nearby, based on your own social network information
    Karizma: a video chatting app that connects you with people nearby
    Sonar: find people by you who you don’t know but should know, based on mutual connections
    Arrived: a location-aware social planning app that tells you what to do now that you’ve arrived
    Gnonstop Gnome: an experimental gnome-sharing application with a clever transfer method

    Battlefield session three: disrupting commerce

    SneakPeeq: a social shopping site that counts down prices until someone buys an item
    StyleSeat: a powerful job management system for stylists and other independent operators
    Spenz: deep spending tracking app with a reward system for usage
    BillGuard: “Antivirus for bills” that identifies fraudulent charges on your bank account
    Happy Toy Machine: a plush toy customization engine, “Build-a-Bear on steroids”

    Bonus link:

    The TechCrunch Disrupt Official Drinking Game


    Interviews, panels, and fireside chats:

    Battlefield session four: disrupting the real world

    Desmos: a platform for rich educational content
    Smartheart: world’s smallest hospital-grade ECG and an iPhone app to go along with it
    Avado: a tracking and communication platform for doctors and patients
    MotherKnows: an app for keeping track of all your kids’ important medical data from shots to height

    Battlefield session five, disrupting enterprise

    Getaround: rent nearby cars or put yours up for rent, with a special keyfob and app
    Thinkfuse: richer, shareable status reports for your business
    ccLoop: collects emails into subscribable “loops,” reducing email clutter
    ThriftDB: a powerful database tool that’s difficult to describe but very impressive to watch
    Foretuit: a platform for collaborating on and tracking projects and sales
    InvoiceASAP: a mobile invoicing app with cloud backup and media integration

    Battlefield session six, disrupting something else

    Lumier: no one is quite sure what Lumier is – possibly a skin for Windows
    Meporter: a citizen journalism platform aimed at hyper-local news
    Everything Butt Art: an iPad app for teaching kids to draw, relying on butt-based drawings (yes, really)
    CatchFree: a platform for finding, rating, and recommending free services
    Kohort: a unified service for managing groups and events
    Tracks: “Color for normal people,” creates collaborative picture timelines for events
    Codeguard: an enterprise-level website backup system for consumers

    Bonus link:

    Lark launches in Apple stores (plus an onstage proposal)


    Interviews, panels, and fireside chats:

    The final Battlefield session

    The ultimate liveblog of the final battlefield session

    And the winner is … Getaround!

    From 30 awesome demos came six extra-awesome finalists. We were impressed by every startup that made the stage, but those final six really blew our socks off. Congratulations to all the companies, with special mention to Billguard, ccLoop, Do@, InvoiceASAP, and Sonar — and, of course, the Disrupt NYC 2011 Winner (and Audience Choice Winner), Getaround, which captured the Disrupt Cup with its killer car rental marketplace. Not to mention that they brought a Tesla, which always helps.

    And of course, thanks to all our attendees, sponsors, and team members, who all help make Disrupt possible. This was the biggest yet, and we think it was also the best. See you next time.