Forget the Cronut, You Need To Try Mise En Place

It's time to bring people back around the dinner table, not back around the stove. Cooking dinner shouldn't require standing by the stove for the same amount of time as it takes to watch two episodes of Game of Thrones. Meticulously preparing, chopping, dicing, mixing, and cooking so you can eat for 20 minutes all before you have to clean up, is no longer ideal in todays fast paced world. I'm looking at you Grocery Stores, Fresh Direct, Blue Apron & Hello Fresh... 

It's the prepping and the clean up that are the biggest time consumers when cooking a fresh dinner. The cook part of cooking, is the part I actually enjoy. I have tried many meal kit companies in the past year but there is one that shines above the rest.

Mise en place (mepNYC for short & those that don't speak French) believes in bringing people back around the dinner table by designing a home cooking experience that is both convenient, and fulfilling. They successfully address the "last mile of cooking", the prep, and are the next evolution of the current meal-kit industry. And by handling all the prep work earlier in the day, you use many less dishes when cooking the meal so you save on the clean up too. 

In my honest opinion the food is delicious. If you want to try Mise En Place use the code "siskarlovesmep" and you will get $15 off your first order! If you want to bring your family back around the dinner table, I highly recommend giving mise en place a try! 

FounderX Brings 42 Global Companies To Silicon Valley

This week is the Founder Institute's inaugural 'FounderX' event in Silicon Valley. 42 top up-and-coming FI Graduates from across the globe were invited to participate. Attending from Founder Institute New York are DADA, Easy Aerial, Mise en place and Ward eSports.

FounderX was reserved for FI Graduates on the cusp of significant growth, providing them with valuable office hours and strategic assistance from Adeo Ressi (CEO of the Founder Institute) and other top startup mentors, access to the exclusive FounderX event, and a VC roadshow to visit top Silicon Valley investors; such as Sequoia Capital, FLOODGATE, Venrock, Shasta Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Mohr Davidow, True Ventures, Founders Fund, Altos Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and 500 Startups. 

FounderX is a private gathering of the FI Network in Silicon Valley that will bring together some of the biggest industry leaders from around the world. This 3-day long event from May 4 - 6, 2016 will feature a series of networking events, workshops, and formal dinners for top members from FI’s global network, including startup CEOs, technology executives, and Directors.

Below were the "up-and-coming" FI Graduate companies selected to the program.

1. Aomm.tv & Founder Maria Cebrian (Madrid Founder Institute): Aomm.tv is the leading Spanish-speaking yoga and pilates online platform, offering a growing catalog of 500+ customizable classes shot in HD video and taught by top teachers from all over the world. The company already has 6,000+ active subscribers.
2. Asegurate Facil & Founder Juan Ayala (Bogota Founder Institute): Asegurate Facile is an online insurance broker for Spanish-speaking markets, with products spanning auto, travel, and more. The company also has over 5,000 customers.
3. Ask PAM & Founder Pamela Alfred (Montreal Founder Institute): Ask PAM is a web-based productivity & management tool for the modern-day Concierge. The company is already working with several five-star hotels, and top tourism and event organizations in their limited trial.
4. Auto Force & Founder Ben Lin (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Auto Force is used-car marketplace that has already facilitated several hundred car sales, and is generating signficant revenue.
5. Azestfor & Founder Siobhan Oldham (Los Angeles Founder Institute): Azestfor produces canine nutritional supplements, with the ultimate mission of helping dogs lead longer and healthier lives. The company's online sales are growing very quickly, and it also have several high-end pet boutiques as customers.
6. Bandwagon & Founders Harold Hughes & Susan Donkers (Greenville Founder Institute): Bandwagon is an online fan community and ticket marketplace that helps fans optimize their game day experience. The company is securing inventory and growing sales significantly. 
7. DADA & Founder Beatriz Ramos (New York Founder Institute): DADA is a 'Facebook for Artists' - a social platform where people speak to each other through drawings. The company already has nearly 150,000 users. 
8. Daylighted & Founder Alex Cammarano (San Francisco Founder Institute): Daylighted brings art to places where people go through interactive art galleries. The company works with top hotel chains like Sofitel and Joie de Vivre, and has been posting triple digit QoQ growth.
9. Easy Aerial & Founder Ivan Stamatovski (New York Founder Institute): Easy Aerial provides infrastructure inspection services to utility companies using drone deployment technology, saving customers time and money. The company has raised funding and received top media.
10. Energyly (Vidabest) & Founder Dayal Nathan (Bangalore Founder Institute): Energyly is developing a blended hardware-software energy analytics product to help small and medium-sized businesses reduce their energy consumption. The company has already signed on 20+ B2B customers to date.
11. Find Bob & Founder Roland Chan (Toronto Founder Institute): The Find Bob platform makes it easy to internally transition financial practices so firms can protect & grow their most precious asset: their Book of Business. The company has already signed on 500+ customers, including the largest general agent in Canada.
12. Flystro & Founder Bassam Rhou (Montreal Founder Institute): Flystro is an online marketplace connecting drone pilots to clients needing drone filming services. The company has already recruited a significant number of top drone pilots, and starting to generate revenue through bookings. 
13. Genial.ly & Founder Juan Rubio Lopez (Cordoba, Spain Founder Institute): Genial.ly is an interactive content creation software to create images, presentations, infographics and more with interactive effects and animation. The company already has 85,000+ users from 150+ countries.
14. Hava.io & Founder James Martelletti (Melbourne Founder Institute): Hava is a platform that creates automated cloud diagrams with two clicks, helping to reduce waste in cloud IT systems. The company has 1000+ users and recently secured a $500,000 seed round.  
15. Indigo Drones & Founder Sergio Ballester (San Jose, Costa Rica Founder Institute): Indigo Drones is a company that utilizes aerial drones for imagery, remote data monitoring, and management of crops. The company has already signed three contracts with pineapple, banana and coffee producers.
16. KangarooHealth & Founder Xiaoxu Kang (San Francisco Founder Institute): KangarooHealth creates cloud software platforms for orthopedic physicians to track patients' outcomes and improve their bottom line. The company already has paying customers and was selected as a top digital health start-up by the Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Innovation Program. 
17. Kangarootime & Founder Scott Wayman (Los Angeles Founder Institute): Kangarootime automates the child care business, the class room and connecting childcare professionals with the families they serve. The company already has secured many customers and is booking six figure monthly recurring revenues.
18. MakerBloks & Founder Francois Poirier (Montreal Founder Institute): MakerBloks are electronic building blocks that teach kids basic STEM concepts, complemented by an app that links the blocks to interactive stories. The company has won several competitions, has signed LOIs with top retailers, and is about to surpass $100,000 in pre-sales.
19. Maven & Founder Alissa Cronau (Sydney Founder Institute): Maven is an app to help artists promote their music on streaming services, through building a curator network that will offer artists targeted databases and allow fans to receive more music to suit their taste. The company is bootstrapping and growing very quickly.
20. Mise en place & Founder Vicente DyReyes (New York Founder Institute): Mise en place brings people back around the dinner table through fully prepped recipes and same-day delivery. The company has already raised funding and established on-brand partnerships with Athleta, Sir Kensington's, lululemon and Martha Stewart's American Made.  
21. NUKERN & Founder Philippe Rivard (Montreal Founder Institute): Nukern is a full software solution that helps customers set their web hosting business on autopilot. The company recently launched a very popular open beta, and is growing very quickly.  
22. deLaGuayaba & Founder Eric de La Goublaye de Menorval (Costa Rica Founder Institute): deLaGuayaba offers a Predictive Project Management Software as a Service to reduce operation costs and cycle time. After completing a successful pilot program, new companies are joining OASIS platform at an impressive rate.
23. OnContracting & Founder Pradeep Chauhan (Seattle Founder Institute): OnContracting is the top global platform for finding vetted local professionals for onsite contract jobs at major corporations. The company is nearing $1MM in billing for for contractors placed at top companies like Microsoft, Google and Apple.
24. Partfiniti & Founder Geoff Laycock (Washington DC Founder Institute): Partfiniti makes the process of creating and pricing a bill of materials not suck. The company already has thousands of users and is booking six figure revenues.  
25. Peerfunder & Founder Jonathan Lam (Toronto Founder Institute): Peerfunder is a peer-to-peer revenue-based lending marketplace focused exclusively on helping main street businesses finance their growth and expansion. The company has secured significant funding, and has also secured over $300,000 in committed capital to fund Peerfunder loans.    
26. ProfHire & Founder Lesa Hammond (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): ProfHire is a web platform that connects colleges and universities with vetted scholars and industry professionals for part-time faculty positions. The company is already working with 8 top universities across California, with thousands of professionals on the platform. 
27. RentHunt & Founder Pierre Sabbagh (Montreal Founder Institute): RentHunt is a matching platform that helps landlords find their perfect tenant. The company is growing quickly, and recently secured a partnership to facilitate the management of over 45,000 rental units.
28. Rever & Founder Errette Dunn (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Rever is a Frontline Innovation platform that helps companies engage their non-office workers in daily improvement through mobile technology and Machine Learning. The company has secured funding and is currently engaged in a pilot with Tesla. 
29. RushTix & Founder Jill Bourque (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): RushTix is the first unlimited pass to local arts and culture. The company was accepted to the LAUNCH Incubator, and has already signed up large companies like Salesforce for their perks program. 
30. Shapetrace & Founder Ernest Yap (Toronto Founder Institute): Shapetrace develops AR/VR software for construction teams that enables same-day error detection and reduce re-work costs. The company already has active pilot projects with two of Canada's largest transportation projects, and more.
31. Skinnyprice & Founder Daniel McGuire (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Skinnyprice makes marketing technology for retailers that improves engagement by taking the traditional sale and turning it into a game for discounts. Skinnyprice recently landed a deal with a $200 million dollar per year furniture retailer to power their sales platform.
32. Stample & Founder Edward Silhol (Paris Founder Institute): Stample creates technology to facilitate knowledge curation for teams, allowing you collect, capitalizee and publish collaboratively. The company's is already showing 3 figure month over month growth rates.  
33. Swaple & Founder Bridget Farmer (Sydney Founder Institute): Swaple is a new payment platform for the sharing economy that lets Entrepreneurs swap services with each other instead of using cash. The company is quickly signing up users for their paid subscription service.
34. tForm & Founder Benjamin Moore (Greenville Founder Institute): tForm has developed quick responding custom thermoformed packaging to help manufacturing companies solve the problems of poor quality, slow delivery, and high prices. The company has already quoted over $2MM of product with a win rate of 10%.
35. theTravelPorter & Founder Katia Mavrikou (Athens Founder Institute): theTravelPorter is a marketplace for extraordinary tours and activities. The company is already generating sales, and is signing key partnerships in the travel industry. 
36. Touch'd & Founder Mohammad Mansoor (Islamabad Founder Institute): Touch'd is a personal relationship manager that learns from your interactions over calls, text, WhatsApp, Email, social meda, and gives timely touch-base reminders. Their successful beta launch is helping them generate 100% MoM growth.
37. Upfluence & Founder Kevin Creusy (Silicon Valley Founder Institute): Upfluence develops algorithms and software to scale influencer marketing. The company booked seven figures in 2015, and is growing at a rate of over 650% QoQ.   
38. Ward eSports & Founder Jose Lincuna (New York Founder Institute): Ward eSports is a mobile app connecting global eSports fans with their local gaming communities. The company has already secured key partnerships with over 20 major event organizers, and there are 60 tournaments already live on the platform.
39. WealthTab & Founder Mike Blicker (Montreal Founder Institute): WealthTab is an integrated, white-labeled platform for financial professionals and their clients. The company is currently in private beta and is signing up financial professionals at an impressive rate.
40. Whizmeal & Founder Droston Tang (Singapore Founder Institute): Whizmeal is an app helping parents pre-order better, affordable school meals to help curb childhood obesity. The company received an official letter of support from Health Promotion Center, the Ministry of Health, and Brunei Darussalam to have the app implemented in private schools.
41. XBand Sports & Founder Jose Doval (San Diego Founder Institute): XBand Sports creates intuitive, easy to use training aides that are designed to give coaches and athletes deeper insight into their form through shareable,  automated video clips and data. The company is already generating sales and acquiring significant strategic endorsements.
42. Yo Viajo & Founder Dagoberto Medina (Costa Rica Founder Institute): Yo Viajo is an app that provides accurate and intelligent information to users of public transportation in Costa Rica. The company is currently cultivating a close relationship with Costa Rica's goverment.

Mise En Place Featured In Gilt City New York

This week is quickly turning into the week of startup companies on this blog and here comes another one. Starting today Founder Institute New York graduate company Mise En Place has launched an exclusive deal going on with Gilt City right now!

If you live in New York City and haven't tried a meal delivery service before (or even if you have tried Blue Apron and then realized its prep times take FOREVER) then Mise En Place is probably for you. I personally have tried both Blue Apron and Mise En Place and much prefer the simplicity and high quality meals Mise En Place provides. 

MEPnyc for short, Mise En Place is working to bring families back around the dinner table by providing fully prepped meals for two, that are available with same day delivery. There are a few options for you to give Mise En Place a try through Gilt City before February 19th. I suggest grabbing the "$25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" for $5 or at the very least make sure you grab the FREE "$15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" before the deal ends! 

• $15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - Free
• $25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - $5
• Two Meals for Two Membership - $44
• Three Meals for Two Membership - $66

Founder Institute Reviews From New York City Entrepreneurs

Last night we graduated twelve new companies from the Founder Institute in New York City. I couldn't be more proud of all the founders that graduated last night. Some of the new graduates recently published their thoughts and opinions on the program now that they have been through it. I wanted to share with you a few quotes from the thoughts they had. I am including links to the full posts below each quote so you can read those as well.

Thank you to all our mentors and congratulations again to the Summer 2015 New York Founder Institute Graduates! 

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Mise en place - Vicente DeReyes

"Initially, I wondered how an incubator program would help us achieve our mission of bringing the communal spirit back to dinner.  "Is the program designed more for tech heavy startups like emerging app companies or B2B service technologies?  Would our mission resonate with the program’s curriculum?”  These are a few of the questions I asked myself before joining.  As I write this post on graduation day, I look back at the past three months in awe of how much progress we have achieved.

Week after week, milestones were continually set and the bar constantly raised.  Have a B2B service? Go get LOI’s.  Have a B2C service? Create a landing page and get 500 signups.  Think your customers want “X”? Well go ask 200 of them and find out for yourself.  After many sleepless nights, countless pitches to mentors, and the reality-check of graduating with only 12 of my fellow companies out of an original class of 36, today is graduation day." 

- Vicente DeReyes: Link to full article

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Viozel - Roddi Simpson

"The training in lean startup methodology has been exceptional. Support has been excellently balanced. We were given the tools and enough space to figure it out ourselves but help was at hand if needed, challenges are given to strengthen weaknesses and it is all done in an environment of support between fellow founders that are literally (and I mean the literally!) invested in each other's success." 

- Roddi Simpson: Link to full article

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Bigger Dreams - Stefan Klotzbuecher

"Each one of us pitched our ideas about seven to nine times from start to graduation. While I sucked big at the beginning, you see everyone raising the bar and getting better, so you don’t want to be left behind. I invested a good amount of time in getting my pitch right, incorporating feedback and new insights along the way. I haven’t presented this much in a row before and think it is not only a helpful exercise, it’s also important as a founder, as you basically sell something (including yourself) all the time to someone (customers, investors, mentors, friends, employees)."

- Stefan Klotzbuecher: Link to full article

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Virtzy - Isak Mirzak

"For three months, influential mentors not only provided us with advice and their own experiences of being entrepreneurs, but also gave us invaluable feedback about our ideas and helped direct and guide us the right way to accomplishing our goals.

We've also developed great friendships with other founders that will continue beyond graduation. I want to commend other founders for their resilience, hard work, unrelenting passion and amazing support! This journey would have not been the same without my fellow team mates." 

- Isak Mirzak: Link to full article

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Ward eSports - Jose Lincuna

"One of the greatest challenges of your life..." "...You will meet some of the smartest and passionate people in your life." 

- Jose Lincuna: Link to full article

Founder Institute New York Graduates Twelve New Companies

With the 2015 Summer Semester of the Founder Institute coming to a close this week there is now twelve new companies formed in New York's Silicon Alley.

The Founder Institute is an early-stage startup accelerator and global launch network that helps entrepreneurs create meaningful and enduring technology companies. Through a four month program, existing and prospective founders can launch their dream company with expert training, feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs. 

On November 4, 2015 we will gather graduates, mentors, investors, and friends to celebrate the twelve newest Graduates of the New York City Founder Institute. In addition to the Graduation Ceremony, guests will be treated to short business pitches from the graduates.

Here are the companies building a better tomorrow: 

Beginex -  Start your tech career with real work experience.

Bigger Dreams - Comprehensive career prep for High-School students.

Ballyhoo - Home of parody.

Collar and Kitchen - Real food, balanced just for dogs.

Easy Aerial Inc - Modular smart drones for industrial applications. 

Happy Heart Kid - Helping families "Play with Purpose".

Mise en place (mepNYC) - Bringing people back around the table.

The ffoodd company - Creating equal food access one order at a time.

Petvet Technologies Inc - Real time medical billing insurance claims for Veterinarians

Viozel - Find, quote, and track the progress of med tech services.

Virtzy - Connecting beauty & wellness professionals. 

Ward eSports - Find communities for every eSports game.