It has been just over a day since we opened nominations for the Cringely (NOT in Silicon Valley) Startup Tour and already there are more than 100 companies in the system, all six categories are covered, and the level of competition is very high. At this point I am confident we’ll get 500-600 companies in the eight week period, which is what I had hoped.
While all six categories are represented, more than half are IT companies, which isn’t surprising given the orientation of this blog. But the Kauffman Foundation just sent out a press release about the Tour to 11,000 reporters and editors, so I’m guessing the technology base will broaden as some of those people write their stories.
Still, if you are novel enough and tell a good yarn, upi might still fit in.
And don’t forget that I’ll shortly start profiling some of these companies right here.
We’re already learning quite a bit about the new web site, which uses completely new software from a startup that is itself more than 15 years old! This type of application is an entirely new thing and we have the first instantiation of it, anywhere. Look for the product from which the site was derived to be announced later this month.
There have been a few bugs, of course, but most of our problems have been pilot error: I screwed-up the links (now fixed) and some companies have submitted multiple entries (a no-no). If you want to change your entry, I’m afraid, you have to start over. We may work to change that.
Another thing I need to change is how I organize and communicate wth the various experts who will be helping ou
