As Indy prepares to pitch for Super Bowl 2018, it seems fitting to reflect on the Powder Keg Startup Bowl of 2012. Just 18 months ago Marc Kleinman and I took the stage at the inaugural PowderKeg to pitch Diagnotes, a health IT venture based in Indianapolis.
Please vote here to support Diagnotes, an Indiana HIT venture!
Verge put together a great event, with the Startup Bowl just one of many awesome activities that gained national attention. We joined 10 other finalists in a competition fitting the location, Lucas Oil Stadium.
It was an honor to share the stage with up and coming entrepreneurs like Max Yoder of Lesson.ly and Santiago Jaramillo of BlueBridge Digital, ventures that have themselves gone on to accomplish great things. While billed as a competition, from a great MC in Pete the Planner to an outstanding judge panel the event truly reflected the passion and cooperative spirit that embodies the Indiana venture community. Of course, it was even more special to me personally given that my daughter Lindsey, a new addition to the local venture scene after graduating from Rose-Hulman in 2012, helped organize (and write about) the event.
The Startup Bowl marked a key transition for Diagnotes. For over two years technical founder Bharath Bynagari had led development of the core technology in conjunction with partner Community Health Network to sow the seeds of what is now Diagnotes. Following a successful pilot project, we were able to lure Dave Wortman, serial entrepreneur and longtime IT visionary, to lead Diagnotes startup team as CEO in the transition from a cool project to a high-potential venture.
We engaged DeveloperTown as a partner to develop a kick-ass interface and a scalable technology platform. Marc joined the team, and we enjoyed a series of wins in 2012 including the Hoosier Healthcare Innovation Challenge and Biocrossroads venture competition. All the accolades culminated in raising over $1.5 million in funding in 2013, allowing Diagnotes to build a team and begin to scale. In 2014, Diagnotes has a core group of paying customers with hundreds of doctors using the system.
Today, Diagnotes is a finalist in a global venture competition called Launch: Silicon Valley World Cup Tech Challenge being held on May 20 at Microsoft’s campus in Mountain View, CA. We are neck-in- neck with an Israeli venture in the HealthTech category as well as several other strong contenders.
Please follow this link to vote: http://www.
This competition in and of itself won’t create further success for Diagnotes—but just as being a finalist in the Startup Bowl, it could be another key milestone in a journey bringing national recognition, jobs, and investor returns to the Indiana venture scene. You can view some of the original pitch in an Indianapolis Business Journal article here.
Thanks for your help and support! And please plan to join the next pitch fest at the Innovation Showcase in July (see www.theinnovationshowcase.com)
CATEGORY: Entrepreneurship