From left, Gabriel Pendleton, AudioStaq co-founder; Emily Call, idoolocal co-founder; Go Figure CEO Justin Call; Michael Leonard, head of customer care at Go Figure; Terren Klein, Pulse co-founder; and Chris Martin, Off the Cuff founder (Photo credit: Griffiss Institute)
ROME, N.Y. — Justin Call, CEO of Go Figure, located in Utica, walked away with the $15,000 prize at the Air Force Research Lab Information Directorate’s (AFRL) Commercialization Academy.
And his wife, Emily Call, co-founder of idoolocal, from Clinton, won the audience vote and $5,000 for her startup.
The commercialization academy held its Spring 2018 Demo Day on May 31, at Griffiss Institute. Investors, entrepreneurs, tech enthusiasts, and the local business community came to watch five tech startups take the stage to pitch to judges and an audience of 85 on how they have been, or plan to, disrupt the market with AFRL technologies as a pivotal part of their business model.
The judges’ panel evaluated each startup based on such factors as the ability of the business to affect Upstate’s startup ecosystem and high-tech economy, the culture of innovation that has been created within the startup due to incorporating AFRL technology, the sustainability of the solution beyond the initial startup period, and marketing strategy.
The startups were incubated by early-stage venture capital firm Wasabi Ventures.
The top winner, Go Figure, grew from a residential contracting business that wanted to dramatically reduce the time to provide a proposal to a customer, from more than three hours to just minutes, and to accurately order materials for a job. They couldn’t find that technology, so they built Go Figure.
Idoolocal works with local businesses only (no chains) to create out-of-the-ordinary experiences, like learning how to make sushi from the chefs at The Lotus Garden, or gourmet chocolates alongside the chocolatiers at Sweet Escape.
Also competing were AudioStaq, Pulse, and Off the Cuff.
“This win for us means that we can invest more into our platform,” said Justin Call. “We are developing the second-generation app, and so every dollar that we can throw to that means that we’re going to grow.”
“The win was very unexpected,” said Emily Call. “We are looking to utilize the proceeds to get an actual TV commercial in the local community out there, and to expand our customer base and our partnerships in the Oneida County area.”
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