Data is a sexy word these days, and the New York-based startup Exversion is making it sexy for businesses. The company’s data visualization platform allows companies to create interactive dashboards that can be used across multiple platforms.
I fooled myself into thinking I was pulling a quick one. I really did.
I was emailing Brooklyn Bridge Ventures legend Charlie O’Donnell about his awesome blog ThisIsGoingToBeBig.com and how I’m converting blogs into books for my DigitalBookNetwork.com before I ever got on the StartupBus.
He wished me well and told me to see him at SXSWi in Austin, Texas. But, when we were on the bus, I needed his help with some professional startup advice:
Charlie eventually admitted that he’d be on the startupbus himself, but that he had any useful talents (which is why he became a venture capitalist).
Unfortunately for me, our bus had no internet or mobile phone connection, and it seems that Charlie’s tweet was caught by the New York bus before it ever reached the five boroughs. Their packed bus of entrepreneurs provided the energy, and one of the New York-based companies is still going strong months later…
Exversion is the world’s first social data collaboration platform, with one goal in mind: to make data sexier. It’s not an easy task.
When you say it out loud, it sounds a little sexual. “Exversion.” “Exversion,” repeat it to yourself (or the person next to you) in hushed tones. Isn’t it sexy?
On the New York bus, Tal Flanchraych, Marianne Bellotti, and Jacek Grebski collaborated to develop a single API for the world’s open data, as well as publishing tools for businesses looking to share their data. Exversion enables you to discover the useful data you need by collecting open datasets from around the web, which you can then access, integrate, and distribute immediately through a single API.
Exversion not only advanced to the Rackspace StartupBus finals, but hundreds have already sought invitations to their private alpha. The Exversion crew is so committed to this goal that they’ve made it their full-time job!
When they had an interview with Y-Combinator, these three co-founders even flew out west.
While Jacek was being interviewed by Fast Company and ijNet, Tal networked her way across Silicon Valley.
Meanwhile, Marianne was looking for a place to stay when she came upon an RV home/office on wheels. Bellotti exemplified entrepreneurship at its best when he published the most fantastic post about Exversion’s StartupBus experience and Tailgating Y-Combinator, which made it to page one of Hacker News.
Then they traveled to the Book Expo America Publishing Hackathon, where they assisted in mentoring the hackers and gave the API a test run, as well as seeing an app developed on top of it. Isn’t it sexy? “Exversion”.
As a book publisher, I can attest to the fact that this technology is very new, and there are many applications for it in data analysis. Over the years, I’ve written a few hundred books and have a mountain of data. I’m not sure what to do with it; it’s hideous, yet I want it to be seductive. I’m looking forward to seeing what Marianne, Jacek, and Tal accomplish with it.
The tech scene in New York is thriving. Check out this heat map of tech companies to see how hot it is.
Exversion is presently negotiating possible collaborations with a number of groups and agencies, so stay tuned for more information!
