5 Across returned to Lexington on Wednesday for the second meeting of 2013. Five competitive teams pitched their company ideas to a panel of judges as well as a full crowd who traveled from as far away as the greater Louisville and Cincinnati areas to be in attendance.

Teams included:

Arial Boulware pitched her idea for a 24/7 workspace for students to study, print, nap, and more. The business has no official title yet, but a working title is Growing Ambitions

LaShana M. Harris pitched Babylocity, a new baby bottle designed to make it easier for parents to mix powdered baby formula on-the-go.

Brock Klein pitched Givr, a native donor-facing mobile payments application optimized for giving.

Jeff Garrison, Darrin Croucher, and Andrew Wright pitched iReport360, an internet, cloud-based communication system for the construction industry.

Cyrus Adkisson pitched hoozon.tv, which watches a local TV station, uses biometric facial recognition to look for reporters’ faces, then drives traffic to the station by automatically sharing the live stream via media personalities’ social media posts.

Babylocity took home the $500 prize for their innovative baby bottle. They will be given the opportunity to pitch at the 5 Across Finals in December as well the Lexington Venture Club in May. Babylocity also won the audience text vote.

The night’s excellent pitches and heavy turnout resulted in another great event for Lexington’s startup community. Congratulations to all of the teams who participated and we offer a special thanks to our sponsors and friends who help make 5 Across happen! Be sure not to miss 2013′s third meeting of 5 Across Wednesday June 26th where five teams will once again compete for the $500 prize.

5 Pitches from different teams

5 Minutes per pitch

5:00 PM start time

$5 cost (includes food)

$500 Prize to winner

5 Across returned to Lexington on Wednesday for the first meeting of 2013. Five competitive teams pitched their company ideas to a panel of judges made up of seasoned entrepreneurs as well as a full crowd who braved slippery roads and cold weather to be in attendance.

Teams included:

Justin and Lauren Fox pitched NoRoom LLC, a team heavily involved within Lexington’s thriving video game industry that creates video game entertainment for gamers of the Christian Faith.

Grant Weherly pitched Control My ADHD, a subscription-based video service for those with ADHD to help get their lives in order. Control My ADHD was one of fourteen pitches at UK’s Venture Challenge competition.

Jeffery Billion and Kevin Yates pitched Career-Match, an online service matching job applicants with vacant jobs using details profiles, going beyond the resume.

Brian Johnson, Ryan Riddle, and Robyn Kaw pitched The Unity Box, new home automation hardware that learns your daily routine to save home owners energy and money. Like Control My ADHD, Home Unity also pitched at the 2013 UK Venture Challenge.

Zach Pennington and Josh Strange pitched GiftPool, a crowd-funding website for giving gifts, allowing family and friends to pool money to purchase more expensive gifts. GiftPool also won the first prize at Startup Weekend Lexington 2012.

GiftPool took home the $500 prize for their crowd-funding platform centered around giving gifts. They will be given the opportunity to pitch at the 5 Across Finals in December as well the Lexington Venture Club in March. Home Unity won the audience text vote for their excellent pitch of The Unity Box.

The night’s excellent pitches and heavy turnout resulted in another great event for Lexington’s startup community. Congratulations to all of the teams who participated and we offer a special thanks to our sponsors and friends who help make 5 Across happen! Be sure not to miss 2013′s second meeting of 5 Across Wednesday April 24th where five teams will once again compete for the $500 prize.

The 2012 series of 5 Across has officially ended with the finals round on December 5th, 2012 meeting bringing the best pitches to date to the Awesome Inc co-working space. The room was packed by attendees cheering on friends and family as they pitched their products and services.

Wade Powell and Geoff Carlson of Cornerstone Innovations pitched the company’s disposable cup lids for cold drinks promoted to a few different markets, the first being the long-distance running event market. This high-flow disposable cup lid allows runners to consume water or sports drinks quickly without slowing down, choking, or spilling the liquid all over themselves.

Cameron Lippert of Last Call Ventures pitched Faveo, which is a beverage for hangover pre-treatment. This beverage, when taken during alcohol consumption, scavenges the toxins produced from alcohol metabolism therefore reducing hangover symptoms or even preventing them all together.

Nick Jordan, Sam Blake, and Kyle Vaughn of Rate My Rental pitched the company’s online platform, Rate My Rental, which allows students to easily access information concerning area housing by viewing property listings around their college campus alongside reviews of previous tenants.

Mike Sullivan of Alliance Virtual Offices pitched the company’s business model of combining three central components necessary to service mobile and work-from-home professionals: People, Place and Technology. The company delivers the complete virtual office.

Dan Adams of Earthineer pitched the company’s network designed exclusively for homesteading and sustainable living which allows people to socialize, find experts, and trade commodities.

The winner of the text vote was Cornerstone Innovations. The second place winner was Dan Adams with Earthineer, who won $1000 in prize money. First prize winner Mike Sullivan of Alliance Virtual Offices took home the remaining $4000.

Congratulations to all of the teams who participated. Awesome Inc wishes them the best of luck in their entrepreneurial pursuits! We would like to thank all of our sponsors for helping make this year’s 5 Across season possible:  Lexington Venture Club & Awesome Inc

5 o’ clock, 5 pitches, 500 dollars: 5 Across. Halloween’s meeting saw more excellent pitches for innovative ideas and businesses. This meeting also saw Brad Feld, seasoned entrepreneur, startup community thought leader, and angel investor, amongst the panel of judges. About 50 people attended the event.

Will Blackford pitched Pegasus, an on-demand, on-campus ridesharing mobile application designed to cut down on a myriad of issues that arise on college campuses from unreliable taxi companies to driving under the influence.

Chelsea Moore pitched Chelsea’s List, a database of local equine businesses and individuals providing services within the industry available for the public to search.

Stephanie Quinlan pitched her idea for a social network to bring athletes, coaches, and those in the sports industry together, as well as provide exposure for all the above parties. It is conceptually similar to LinkedIn, but it offers specialized features that LinkedIn doesn’t offer that are particularly pertinent to the sports environment.

Anne Nash and Bebe Brechner pitched Enskri, an e-gifting personalization and enhancement service. Enskri adds on pricing for personalization options at point of purchase of virtual gifts including e-books, games, music, movies, and more!

Dan Adams pitched Earthineer, a network designed exclusively for homesteading and sustainable living which allows people to socialize, find experts, and trade.

Stephanie Quinlan and her idea for a social network for the athletic industry was chosen as the favorite by the audience via text vote. Earthineer was chosen by the judges as the winner of the grand prize. Overall, this meeting was a resounding success!

Congratulations to all of the teams who participated. Awesome Inc wishes them the best of luck in their entrepreneurial pursuits! Stay tuned for more information on the final meeting of 5 Across for the 2012 season on December 5th!

The fourth 2012 5 Across meeting is officially in the books after some of the fiercest competition and best ideas yet were presented. The 5 pitches this time were:

Mike Sullivan pitched Alliance Virtual Offices which combines three central components necessary to service mobile and work-from-home professionals: People, Place and Technology. Simply put, they deliver the complete virtual office.

Sue Whitaker & Daniel Morris pitched Wine Clubs Online which provides marketing services for wineries. They offer a website to drive wine consumers directly into the wine club page of wineries to increase membership.

Joseph V. Alexander pitched triblueengineering.com which provides membrane products; blood oxygenators, gas separation units, industrial filtration units.

Chris M. pitched Kitcase which is a “mobile case that connects”. Kitcase allows you to build your personal pocket kit with interchangeable accessories they call ‘hard apps.’

Lauren & Pam Stein pitched Local Bride which will provide recent brides with a way to sell used wedding items purchased to brides-to-be. This helps recoup money for the recent bride and helps save money for the bride-to-be or her family.

The judges picked Alliance Virtual Offices as the winner of this 5 Across event. The audience choseLocalBride with an overwhelmingly dominant vote. There must have been a lot of brides-to-be in the audience!

Thanks for packing the house for another successful and awesome 5 Across! Make sure to come out for the next event on Halloween 2012! It will be a blast!

Last Wednesday, as temperatures rose on the streets of Lexington, cool and collected were the 5 teams who competed at the Awesome Inc space for the top spot at 2012’s third meeting of 5 Across. Local entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers gathered, in the largest turnout of this year, to hear live music from the local band Radiolaire and listen to entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to our panel of judges.

• Adam Treister took home the five hundred dollar grand prize for his idea, Student Designed, which streamlines the process of connecting students to real-world assignments. StudentDesigned.com provides businesses and universities an opportunity to connect via an online marketplace where companies list available projects that vary according to student major, i.e. engineering, finance, marketing, business, research, etc., for universities to review and assign to their students.

• The crowd chose Bob Farinelli and his idea for an RF remote controlled farm pump irrigation system as the favorite by text message vote. Farinelli and his company Smart Farm LCC offer an alternative to the time and labor costly methods of on-site, manual intervention to turn on and off ground water pumps through real time monitoring and control algorithms. The affordable irrigation pump not only saves money and labor, but also conserves energy and ground water, reduces pump down time, and increases crop yield.

• Nick Jordan and Kyle Vaughn, participants in the startup accelerator program Awesome Inc Experience, presented an aid to college students in their search for adequate housing with Rate My Rental. Through an online platform, Rate My Rental, allows students to easily access information concerning area housing by viewing property listings around their college campus alongside reviews of previous tenants.

• Curtis Droege of Sheltowee Tool Company pitched his idea for a fixed blade multi-tool inspired by his own camping experiences. His fixed blade multi-tool fills the gap in the current market by being comfortable enough for everyday carry but possessing patentable features that enable survival capabilities in extreme environments.

• Carolyn Hall and Mark Strickland’s idea, Light Up For Me, solves the problem of the bottomless purse, briefcase, or backpack with their pitch for a removable light. By illuminating the bag from bottom up not top down. Light Up For Me light provides a faster, easier, and safer solution to find lost items when not much light is available.

The night’s excellent pitches and excellent turnout resulted in another great event for Lexington’s startup community.  Congratulations to all the teams who participated and a special thanks to all those who make 5 Across possible. Be sure not to miss 2012’s fourth meeting of 5 Across Wednesday August, 29th where 5 local entrepreneurs will again compete for the $500 grand prize.

View video from the event in the Video Archives.

The April 25th 5Across event was yet another success!

The 5 pitches were:

• Eric Gaines presented Party Tutor which will provide college students with an easy to use smartphone app/ website to access everything they need to allow them to have an awesome college experience as well as saving money at the same time!
• Grant Weherley and his team pitched SmartLit which is a bluetooth controllable outlet which can be set to automatically turn on or off when you leave your house (by detecting that your phone is out of range)
• Cameron Lippert pitched Last Call Beverages, which is a Beverage for hangover pre-treatment. This beverage, when taken during alcohol consumption, will scavange the toxins produced from alcohol metabolism therefore reducing hangover symptom or even preventing them all together.
• David Nelson presented EHW, LLC which will create an improved walker for the elderly. Many current medical devices are “sterile,” lack emotionally supportive design, and convey a sense of morbid responsibility. This causes people to not use home-health products when they should. This problem is solved by designing a walker that people simply want to use. A device that has an organic feel, friendly features, and enticing curves.
• Tom Dugan pitched Bluestone Geologic, which provides Geologic Mapping Services – Aquifers & groundwater development; sinkholes & build site evaluation (pre & post build) using geophysical equipment & techniques applied to detailed underground mapping.

The winner decided by the judges, was David Nelson with EHW, LLC. The audience winner (decided via the text messaging system) was Cameron Lippert with Last Call Beverages.

All the pitches were great! We’re sure the judges had a hard time making their decision. Thanks to everyone who came out in support of this event. We were happy to see you and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. If you missed the event, you can see videos of the pitches in the Video Archives. We hope to see you at the June 27th event!

View video from the event in the Video Archives.

The February 29th 5 Across event was yet another success!  The 5 pitches were:

• Michael Ward pitched Tag-a-Pet, which uses custom NFC (near-field communication) tags with an integrated website that allows information to be stored and accessed electronically using smartphones.
• Matt King pitched an idea for a new interchangeable iPhone case. Starting with customizable back pieces, the customer can have an iPhone case that truly represents them.
• Calvin T. Mann pitched Pail Green, which is a measurement system for a personal “green” score. For environmentally conscious individuals wanting a measurement on how “green” they are.
• Wade Powell and Geoff Carlson pitched their idea for disposable cup lids for cold drinks promoted to a few different markets. One market is the long-distance running event market.  This high-flow disposable cup lid allows runners to consume water or sports drinks quickly without slowing down, choking, or spilling the liquid all over themselves.
• Michael A. Loffredo pitched ConnectIntoClass.com, which is a social utility that will allow students to collaborate with other students that would otherwise be outside their network. ConnectIntoClass.com creates a learning community comprised of students in the same class to form study groups, answer questions about lectures and the course material, solve problems, etc.

The winner decided by the judges, as well as the audience (decided via text message) was Wade Powell and Geoff Carlson with Cornerstone innovations.

All the pitches were great! We’re sure the judges had a hard time making their decision. Thanks to everyone who came out in support of this event. We were happy to see you and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. If you missed the event, you can see videos of the pitches at 5across.org. We hope to see you at the April 25th event!

View video from the event in the Video Archives.

This final 5 Across event of 2011 was a great success!

As always, the 5 pitches were the winners from all the previous events:

Shawn Campbell pitched iJonze, which is a real time, location based, on demand advertising/get the work out engine. iJonze provides businesses with the latest in technology to help them drive customers to there location and give them a very inexpensive way to do so. For the end user, they provide free web and mobile apps that allow them to find out what is actively happening in their area.

Michael A. Hartman presented Frogdice, which is a local developer of online computer games that utilize the Free-to-Play business model.

Eric Hartman pitched the ACLerator which is a physical therapy device for the sports medicine / rehabilitation market. The device is intended for muscle strengthening during post-surgical knee immobilization following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction (ACLR) or Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA).

Evan Leach and Scott Wagner presented a mobile application called Crowded. This free application uses live interactive play prediction and trivia at baseball games to test the knowledge of competing viewers. Players are awarded accolades and offered the incentive of prizes for top scores, which will be tied into stadium concessions and prizes. The user interface allows fans of all ages and sports knowledge to play, while effectively delivering advertisements for team and stadium sponsors.

Anthony Pistilli pitched the Guardian Ace, which does wireless real time location of assets including the management, monitoring infrastructure through a database. Presently focused on health care industry. This system will manage their equipment, provide location and allocation information, and in the process of providing this visibility, will discourage theft through alerting mechanisms in the system.

The audience winner (decided via text message) was Michael Hartman. The winner decided by the judges was Anthony Pistilli with The Guardian Ace. Congratulations Anthony on winning the $3,500 grand prize! You had a great pitch.

All the pitches were great! We’re sure the judges had a hard time making their decision. Anthony’s score was just a hair over Eric’s, with Michael score right behind theirs. It was a very close competition. Thanks to everyone who came out in support of this final event of the year as well as all the previous events. We had a record crowd out here and everyone had a great time. We here at Awesome Inc. are always happy to see you and hope you enjoyed the event as much as we did. See you all next year!