Today, the Hartford Business Journal debuts Startup Spotlight, a periodic feature highlighting young, innovative Connecticut companies looking to make an impact in the state and beyond. Have an idea for Startup Spotlight? Contact John Lahtinen at
jlahtinen@HartfordBusiness.com.
Looking for a new approach to marketing? You might want to give the guys at ChatterAd a call — or, better yet, tweet them.
The brainchild of West Hartford’s Jonathan Smirnoff, president/CEO, and Tolland’s Christopher Cerrigione, VP/CIO, the concept behind ChatterAd is simple — blend the strongest form of marketing (word of mouth) with one of the strongest forms of communication available today (social media).
Smirnoff developed the idea a few years ago after graduating from Boston University.
“I was using AOL Instant Messenger and Facebook a lot and reading people’s away messages and statuses about where they were going out, the car they just bought or a great movie they just saw,” he said. “I thought, these people are advertising these things without even knowing it.”
ChatterAd is building up a database of people (currently more than 100 across the country) interested in posting on their social networks about products and brands they like and use — Influencers.
“These people sign up for free, enter their interests and when we have an advertising campaign that aligns with one of their interests, we send out a campaign link to them,” Smirnoff said. “Then they just post that link and get paid 10 cents every time someone clicks it.”
ChatterAd and its network of Influencers make money through clients who sign up and pay an initial startup fee which varies depending on the scope of the work to be done. Once links are posted, the client pays a dollar for each unique click, slightly below the average pay-per-click ad cost.
“If we are advertising a new restaurant and we have 50 people post a link, there might only be 100 people who click that link, meaning the client only pays $100,” Smirnoff explained. “But with the average person having 669 ties across their social networks, it means over 30,000 people saw that post.”
Find out more about ChatterAd at www.chatterad.com.
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Autotether
After nearly losing a friend in a boating accident several years ago, Anthony Viggiano decided to take action.
“A classic example of Yankee ingenuity and the American entrepreneurial spirit that still exists in this country,” according to Viggiano, Autotether is a cost effective, wireless monitoring system that shuts off a boat’s engine should the operator fall into the water.
Business at East Hartford’s Autotether has been swift — thousands have been sold at $299. Viggiano, Autotether’s inventor and CEO, said sales have doubled each month since January and the company just inked a deal with a major boat dealer servicing Central and South America to make Autotether standard equipment on every boat they sell.
Last October, Autotether received the most promising new technology product of the year honor at the Connecticut Technology Council Innovation Pipeline Awards.
Viggiano, who initially self-funded the venture with his wife, is proud of the fact that Autotether is almost exclusively designed and manufactured in Connecticut.
“We have been to China several times to attempt to get the same quality for less cost,” Viggiano said. “We have not been able to get the same cost advantages for our specific needs as we get by making it here.”
Autotether, seeking to raise an additional $250,000 in funding over the next few months, recently closed on a funding round using the state’s Angel Investor Tax Credit.
Find out more about Autotether at www.autotether.com.
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Smart Health and Fitness (SmartHF)
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Norwalk, SmartHF designs and markets innovative, user-friendly wireless health and fitness devices.
SmartHF takes advantage of the latest and greatest wireless and mobile technologies, making health and fitness products “smarter” and more relevant.
“We started sincere work in late 2010, first on wireless heart rate monitors for Android and iPhone,” said Chad Hollingsworth, vice president of business development.
According to SmartHF, the benefits of personal and home monitoring include greater awareness and understanding of personal health and fitness, motivation to make and meet personal goals, a way to communicate more effectively with doctors, and the potential to lower healthcare costs.
To date, the effort has been self-funded from the founders, family and friends to the tune of about a million dollars. Hollingsworth said the company will most likely be working on a round of financing with investors late this year or early 2013.
“We are selling smart wireless health and fitness products that allow people to automatically track and share their health and fitness measurements,” Hollingsworth said.
Although the company didn’t share revenue figures, Hollingsworth did say SmartHF’s goal is to do $45 million in sales in three years, and $100 million in five year — creating 200 jobs in the process.
Hollingsworth said SmartHF is definitely keeping an eye on the future with a couple of new products in development.
Find out more about Smart Health & Fitness at www.smarthf.com.
John Lahtinen is Special Projects Editor at the Hartford Business Journal.
