Inside VT KnowledgeWorks

The App Effect

A version of this post first appearend on Handshake 2.0, an enterprise of Handshake Media, Incorporated.  Handshake and Actifity are VT KnowledgeWorks member companies.

Consciousness is everything.

Freud and Jung said it in so many more eloquent ways, but consciousness is still the essence of what gives people a chance to change.  Therapy - the “talking cure” - is based on the notion that if I talk about it, I become conscious of it - whatever it is - and can do something about it.  Weight Watchers asks me to become conscious of what and how much I eat by keeping a food log.  Once I'm aware that I eat a whole bag of SunChips at lunch every day, I can change to half a bag. 

A software application, a web application, or a mobile application could possibly be a catalyst for consciousness.  If it were, that app would offer what I’ll term The App Effect.

I have been a beta tester of Actifity, a health and fitness web application currently in private beta, for about a month.  Founders Fred Cook and Rishi Ishairzay were featured in The Roanoke Times on June 26, 2010.  They have asked me not to reveal too many details, but it allows users to track and share health and fitness information in innovative ways.

In the check-ins of some Actifity users, I can see an increased frequency of use and an increase in the level of exertion - from walking to the car, for example, to taking a short run.

Is that The App Effect?

I heard the pitch from Actifity at the Entrepreneurship Summit in April, 2010.  I was impressed that the purpose of the site was not necessarily to prepare each of us for an Ironman or the Tour de France, but to encourage each of us to move a bit and log it.

When I set a personal record for circuit training at The Weight Club on Saturday, as I was running the after-mile, I became conscious of thinking to myself, "I look forward to sharing my new personal record with the people on Actifity."

That is The App Effect.

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Actifity was a VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Summit Open Angel Forum finalist.  Actifity announced that it has partnered with DayOne Ventures. DayOne Ventures is housed at VT KnowledgeWorks.

On the Founding of Actifity

An excerpt from Startups in lean times by Katelyn Polantz, The Roanoke Times, 6/27/10:

A profound influence

Fred Cook, 24, has a master's degree from Virginia Tech in engineering mechanics, but he'd rather go into business.

Cook and Tech student Rishi Ishairzay built their business, Actifity, this spring after Cook's graduation. The site is a social network that tracks users' health and fitness. It will launch publicly at the end of the summer, Cook said.

Q: What made you want to start something on your own rather than find a company or firm to work for?

A: I've always had an inkling that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Looking at the various things one can spend their life working on, it seemed to me the people who were most successful that I knew worked for themselves.

via www.roanoke.com

Please read the full story here.

Actifity was a VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Summit Open Angel Forum finalist.  Actifity announced that it has partnered with DayOne Ventures.

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VT KnowledgeWorks has announced a Global Student Business Concept Challenge, August 29 - September 4, 2010, in Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia, USA.  The Challenge celebrates the energy and ingenuity of university students and their important contributions to the future of our global economy.  The name of the winning team, their university name, and their home city will be etched into the base of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Challenge Trophy as a permanent tribute to their outstanding effort.  The winning team will earn a $25,000 cash prize.

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VT KnowledgeWorks sponsors include Attaain, Inc., BB&T, Handshake 2.0, Harris Office Furniture, Hodges, Jones & Mabry, P.C., Hutchison Law Group, LeClairRyan, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and The Becher Agency (TBA).

Open Angel Forum Finalist Frederick Cook Will Pitch Actifity

We're featuring Open Angel Forum finalists who will pitch their companies and funding requests to an amphitheater full of angel investors and spectators on April 8, 2010, the second day of the the two-day VT KnowledgeWorks Second Annual Entrepreneurship Summit on April 7-8, 2010 at the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Actifity - Frederick Cook

Actifity is a web application currently under development that provides a simple structure to track the healthy activities users perform, and to share them through social media. Users can create teams with friends, family, and coworkers, share and compare activities, and live healthier lifestyles. According to Cook, "Actifity is health and fitness, simple and social."

To learn more from Frederick Cook about Actifity, you're invited to attend the Open Angel Forum at the VT KnowledgeWorks Entrepreneurship Summit on April 8, 2010.

Part of multiple Angel Funding events at the E-Summit, the Open Angel Forum features ready-to-fund companies from the Roanoke/New River Region of Virginia. Company founders will pitch to a panel of locally focused angel investors and an assembly hall full of educators, business leaders, researchers, investors, and entrepreneurs.  The Open Angel Forum provides audience members with a unique opportunity to see how raising capital is done with real companies and real investors.  After each company pitch, the panel will provide feedback to the entrepreneurs on how to polish their business models to increase the chance of receiving funding now.

Registration for the Entrepreneurship Summit is open for attendees, advertisers and vendors as long as space is available until March 31, 2010.

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VT KnowledgeWorks, a regional business acceleration center that helps companies bring ideas to market, will present the Second Annual Entrepreneurship Summit on April 7-8, 2010 at the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center in Blacksburg, Virginia. This two-day comprehensive workshop is for prospective company founders, entrepreneurs launching or re-vamping a business, growing companies seeking expansion capital, and individuals interested in investing in early-stage companies.

VT KnowledgeWorks is pleased to announce a Global Student Business Concept Challenge, August 29 - September 4, 2010, in Blacksburg and Roanoke, Virginia, USA.  The Challenge celebrates the energy and ingenuity of university students and their important contributions to the future of our global economy.  The name of the winning team, their university name, and their home city will be etched into the base of the VT KnowledgeWorks Global Challenge Trophy as a permanent tribute to their outstanding effort.  The winning team will earn a $25,000 cash prize.

DayOne Ventures @ VT KnowledgeWorks is an invitation-only seed stage investment and mentoring program for technology-based startups, funded and operated by experienced, successful entrepreneurs who are also angel investors. 

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VT KnowledgeWorks sponsors include Attaain, Inc., BB&T, Handshake 2.0, Harris Office Furniture, Hodges, Jones & Mabry, P.C., Hutchison Law Group, Latimer, Mayberry & Matthews IP Law, LeClairRyan, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and The Becher Agency (TBA).