WillCall Brings Hotel Tonight Model to Live Events

WHAT: Find live music and theater events happening in your city each night, generally at a 50% discount. WillCall [ @Willcall ] only lists events in San Francisco right now. In beta, will be available as iPhone app.

LAUNCHERS:  Donnie Dinch, CEO [ @ddinch ].  Patrick Tescher, CTO [ @pat2man ].
Julian Tescher, developer [ @jatescher ].

INSPIRATION: "There are great shows going on every night – and I was missing all of them," Donnie told LAUNCH via email. "This wasn't an app problem or a pricing problem; it was an experience problem. We found that...

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Groupon Alternative: Daily Gobble Offers Exclusive Restaurant Deals--No Coupon Required--to Increase Revenues

WHAT: Exclusive deals for customers at more than 400 restaurants in New York City and San Francisco. Deals can be available all day or for a few hours. Members use the website and mobile app to find and activate a discount, upload a photo of their receipt and receive money back within an hour.  

On the business side, Daily Gobble [ @dailygobble ] helps restaurants maximize revenue (a.k.a. yield management) and provides a loyalty marketing tool.

LAUNCHERS: Dazhi Chen, CEO [@tigerchen , LinkedIn ]. Tao Yang, Business Development [ @taotaoya , LinkedIn ].

BACKSTORY: This is actually the second time Dazhi is working on this idea. "The first time was in 1999...

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Restaurants Make Their Own Deals with Appetizer App

Restaurants Make Their Own Deals with Appetizer App

 

WHAT: Restaurants can offer immediate redeemable deals through push notifications. Restaurants can customize the Appetizer app to fit their branding and add information like menu items and contact info. 

LAUNCHERS: Steve Espinosa [@stevemcstud ] , Tom Jones [ @motbones ], Taylor Rose [ @taylorrose87 ] , Dylan Huds

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OVIA Makes Recruiting Easier with Video

WHAT: Tool for corporate HR departments to conduct asynchronous video interviews. Candidates see a canned video of an HR person asking a question and then have a set amount of time before their answer is recorded. The process repeats until the candidate has answered all questions. Ovia http://oviahr.com/ [ @teamovia http://www.twitter.com/#!/teamovia ] then sends video responses to a secure account where the hiring manager can review at her convenience. Platform includes evaluation tools.

LAUNCHERS: Rodrigo Martinez , CEO and founder, [ @mvrod , LinkedIn ], Jaime Romero, CTO and founder [ LinkedIn ], Jaime Ignacio Rovirosa, director of business development, [ LinkedIn ], Imo Udom, business development [ LinkedIn ].

WHY: Companies waste too much time and money...

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LinkedIn Killer? Zerply Makes Professional Networking More Social, Attracts 18K Beta Users

WHAT: Professional networking based on not just people you already know but those you find by skills, location and more. Connect with Facebook or Twitter and import your professional data from LinkedIn. Zerply  [ @zerply ] gives you multiple designs for your profile page.

LAUNCHERS: Christofer Karltorp, CEO [ @ckarltorp ]. Taaniel Jakobs, CTO. [ @t_jakobs ].

INSPIRATION: "That it was extremely hard to discover new people on LinkedIn and other professional networks," Christofer told LAUNCH by email. "They were also way too...

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