How in Silicon Valley chose the best startup

Diana Thamadokova was already preparing to present her startup at the Silicon Valley Open Doors conference, but the computer from which the presentation was displayed, now hung, then turned over the slides. Diana left the stage, giving way to another project, later returned - and all the problems were repeated anew. She was only able to begin her speech from the third time.

Her startup IStyleMyself is a mobile application that helps women create a stylish look using items from their own wardrobe. Users just need to upload a photo of the clothes they already own, and IStyleMyself, thanks to a special algorithm, will tell you how to arrange them correctly or, when buying a new item, show you how it will fit with your clothes.

“The idea was born during a period when I was working 18 hours a day and simply could not afford to spend another half hour in the dressing room, choosing what to wear. I thought: there must be a better way to do this,” says Diana, founder and CEO of IStyleMyself. She is originally from Kabardino-Balkaria, now lives in London, but plans to move to the USA this year.

8 months she wrote a team with a team to solve the fashion-puzzle, but investors met with Diana, doubted that it can be implemented. The IStyleMyself team did it.

Since the launch of the iPhone application, 27 has been used by thousands of users who have downloaded about half a million photos from their wardrobe. Active users open the application six times a week.

Bill Reichert, managing director of Garage Technology Venture, a well-known venture capital fund in Silicon Valley, was delighted with the project. “I really liked him. It would be interesting to invest in it. I will definitely keep in touch with its founders,” says Bill and admits that he himself constantly faces the problem of choosing the right wardrobe.

In total, 10 startups from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Armenia, the USA, England, India, Turkey, and Australia were presented at the current investment and technology conference Silicon Valley Open Doors, which was held on June 11-31 in Silicon Valley. However, geographical boundaries in the IT field are a rather relative concept. Many companies have offices in several countries, and some of the startups that are now launched in the USA, England or Australia are founded by entrepreneurs born in post-Soviet countries. Almost every third startup presented on SVOD is, in one way or another, connected with Ukraine or Russia.

Alex Warsawsky, who moved from Russia to the USA in 1990, set up a company in San Francisco four years ago. Talksumthat works with so-called big data.

The essence of its development is explained by the example of an accessible analogy: sorting garbage, initially putting it in different baskets, is much easier than then dismantling it in a landfill. The same is with the information: the data are sorted by importance Warsawsky offers at the time when they arrive, and not after the information becomes so much that the company can no longer process it. To do this, Talksum has developed a device and software for it that allows you to efficiently process information in real time. In his project, Warsaw previously attracted $ 7 million dollars in investments.

Eframe Lindenbaum, managing director of the American venture fund Advance Ventures, liked the Talksum startup. “We are interested in the big data space, but we want to get more information about the company and the ecosystem in which it operates. Therefore, at this stage it is too early for us to talk about investments,” he explained.

The organizers of the conference, Anna Dvornikova and Stas Khirman, who moved to America from Russia and Ukraine many years ago, initially planned SVOD as a link between the business of post-Soviet countries and investors in Silicon Valley. And, for example, after participating in the first conference in 2005 EverNote, a company from Russia, could receive the first investment, and now its capitalization has exceeded 1 billion dollars.

Over the 11 years of its existence, the scale of SVOD has grown significantly; the conference has become one of the main platforms where startups from all over the world can attract the attention of American investors. Over the course of two days, about 2015 investors, business angels, and venture capitalists visited SVOD-200. The conference format gives any startup the opportunity, even if it does not present its project on stage, to communicate with an investor and present it individually.

Pavel Kalmaev, Deputy CEO of the Latvian company Nemo.tv, on the sidelines of SVOD was doing just that. The company's assets include more than $20 million in attracted investments. Thanks to a special platform, they provide access to digital television via the Internet and focus primarily on the Russian market.

Pavel Kalmaev, Deputy CEO of the Latvian company Nemo.tv. Photo by Julia Bunyak

“The Valley is one of the few places where investors believe in the technology of transmitting services over a network of providers, see the success of Netflix, whose capitalization has reached $38 billion, and understand that the future lies with such technology,” Pavel is convinced.

Another trend popular in Silicon Valley is augmented reality. Startup Arloopawho came to SVOD from Armenia, works in this area. Their mobile application, when pointing the camera of a smartphone to certain images, shows on the 4D screen a video or animation.

Co-founder and CEO of Arloopa, Arman Atoyan. Photo by Julia Bunyak

The startup’s portfolio includes an advertising company for Coca-Cola in Armenia. The manufacturer of the drink released special pictures that you had to point at with your smartphone with the Arloopa app turned on - the image would immediately “come to life” on the screen.

“Old advertising methods no longer work; companies are looking for new ways to attract customers. We are helping them solve this problem,” said company co-founder and CEO Arman Atoyan in his presentation.

All presentations of startups were evaluated by a jury of investors. The best project was named at the end of the second day.

“No issue with databases, medical or environmental solutions can compare in importance with the most important issue - what to wear for a woman!” - sounded from the stage. Fashion project IStyleMyself by Diana Thamadokova was recognized as the best startup of the conference.

The second place was taken by the project developed in Silicon Valley Indoor Atlas, which with the help of special technology helps to determine the location inside any premises with the accuracy of the 1-2 meter.

Third place went to another American startup. SureClinical. It provides an opportunity to eliminate paperwork during medical clinical trials using a digital signature and process automation. Its founder, Zack Schmidt, has already received a call from interested investors who are willing to invest in his project up to 10 million dollars.

Ukrainian startup received a special prize from the audience. Petcubewhich brought to the market a camera that allows you to play remotely with your pet through a mobile device, about which previously wrote “Forum Daily”.