Badgeville Did Not Earn a Badge Checking in at Twiistup 8
At Twiistup 8 last week ten startups gave their pitches to a panel including a VC, Angel Investor, Advisor and industry expert. No startup recieved harsher criticism than Badgeville. Not because their startup lacked the technical build or wow factor but rather that their presence was not needed at this event.
Badgeville debuted four months ago and won the Tech Crunch Disrupt Audience Choice award. The service is, in it’s most simplistic form, Foursquare for websites. Website developers can signup for an account and allow their visitors to checkin on websites and earn badges by visiting, sharing content, etc. They have raised over $3 Million in funding to date and are scaling quite nicely. So why were they there?
To quote Adena DeMonte, Marketing Director at Badgeville, “We wanted to support the LA startup ecosystem”. While I appreciate the the support it seemed more of a marketing ploy than a true Startup Showoff.
Would it be okay if Twitter or Facebook came and gave a pitch? I realize this is a far stretch but the analogy rings true. When are you past a valid attempt to get your startup known and sitting square in a cheap advertisement space?
If you were at Twiistup 8 let me know your thoughts.
