Startup Weekend Tampa Generates New Social Interaction Platform For Events

Megan Hendricks | Tuesday, December 4, 2012

EXMO, winner of Tampa's third annual Startup Weekend, represents the Tampa Bay region in the first-ever Global Startup Battle. The team is competing against 137 other regional Startup Weekend winners for a chance to travel to Rio De Janeiro for the Global Entrepreneurship Conference, as well as other prizes to help with the company’s launch. ?

EXMO is an interactive platform designed to facilitate communication between organizers, vendors, sponsors and attendees to help people EXperience MOre at conferences and other events. The app provides a localized feed that integrates with other social networks, allowing for real-time virtual interaction. Virtual conversations can occur pre-event, during and post-event, allowing for more personalized connections.

?The motivation for the concept came from co-founder Todd Goldberg, who was looking for a better way to connect with people at large events. As he prepared to attend Startup Weekend, he realized the only way to connect with other attendees was through Facebook or individual messaging. The original idea was to provide attendees with a way to communicate even if they didn’t know each other.

"During Startup Weekend, the concept evolved into a full conference solution that not only provides an amazing attendee experience, but also enables event organizers to offer more,'' says Nancy Vaughn, co-founder of EXMO and principal, pr & marketing director for White Book Agency.

The founders, all of whom reside in the Tampa Bay area, worked together for the first time at Startup Weekend Tampa. Their identification and understanding of the target customer ultimately led to their selection as the winner.

The next step is additional feature enhancement and a beta release using Tampa Bay technology events, expected in late January.

"The Tampa Bay area has a growing and diverse tech community, with many events bringing people together from all aspects of the industry,'' says Karl White, co-founder of EXMO and Founder of Charisma Studios. "We would love to be able to lead the way with a global flagship product, promoting both Tampa Bay’s technology events and its highly skilled community.''

Writer: Megan Hendricks
Source: Todd Goldberg, EXMO; Nancy Vaughn, White Book Agency; Karl White, Charisma Studios

Read more articles by Megan Hendricks.

A Florida native and longtime Tampa Bay resident, Megan Hendricks graduated from the University of South Florida with a master's degree in business administration. She worked at the USF College of Business and has extensive community experience including the Tampa Bay Partnership's Talent Dividend Advisory Board, Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Emerge Tampa Bay, Ekhos, and Bar Camp Tampa. She is a former board member and newsletter editor for Creative Tampa Bay. Megan enjoys telling the stories that make Tampa Bay a unique, diverse cultural experience.