IBD NETWORK'S UNDER THE RADAR EVENT

IBDNetwork (International Business Development Network) had its Under the Radar event for consumer technologies this past Tuesday. This is where various early-stage companies pitch to VCs in front of an audience for 5 minutes and the VCs pepper them with questions afterwards.

Valerie, who I work with on some projects, was kind enough to get me a free invite. I wanted to get there earlier, but I had to finish up on some documents so I only caught the last session. The winners are listed below and John Furrier, from PodTech.net, has podcasts from the event:

Search

VC top pick: FatLens
Audience Choice: Wondir, Medio Systems

Mobile Apps
VC top pick: GoTV Networks
Audience Choice: UpSnap, GoTV Networks

Social Software & Tools
VC top pick: PeerFlix
Audience Choice: PeerFlix, PubSub

Home & Entertainment
VC top pick: PureDepth
Audience Choice: PureDepth, RadioTime


William Luciw, from ViewPoint West Partners, has more insights and commentary from the event here.

American Idol for Startups
You can think of this event as a sort of "American Idol" for Startups, and this was in fact the running joke throughout the day. Company principals, mostly CEOs & Founders, would perform a 5 minute company pitch in their best singing voice, a cappella, to a panel of three Venture Capitalists for each area: Search, Social Software, Mobile Applications and Home & Entertainment. Ok, they didn't actually sing, but for some contestants it may have helped their efforts tremendously. You see, singing involves rhythm, precision timing, and a good ear. And when done well, it results in several minutes of audience reverie while the artist interprets a lifeless score and gives it meaning and impact. There's alot to learn from those crooners on Fox's America Idol ... but at least the judges at this event were more like Paula Abdul than Simon Cowell. Lucky for all of us! (full post)