One Spark Highlight: UFM Creator #21801

One of the most interesting creators we've seen at One Spark this week is UFM: Underwear for Men.  This team is taking a fun and interesting spin to supportive men's underwear.  Just check out their booth and mascot to see why.

If you're traveling about One Spark, be on the lookout for the most recognizable mascot around, Manny!  Manny is keeping the fun going all weekend long.  Catch him while you can!

Manny is all about proclaiming the new revolution in men's underwear: a mix of technology and the cool factor.  UFM prevents chaffing, increases comfort, provides support, and looks sleek at the same time.  With over 100 5-star reviews on Amazon, the people agree: UFM is the new face of men's underwear.

For more information about their product and team, check out their website: www.ufmunderwear.com/

Saturday at One Spark 2015

We are waking up Saturday with a clearer picture of who is jumping ahead at One Spark. By ahead, we mean in an official way in terms of voting. There are many ways to win including donations, judging, vetting, branding, meeting investors etc. That is what is so cool about One Spark.

But One Spark released a list of the five most trending Creators as of yesterday in all six Creator categories.

 The Creators listed below had largest increase by percentage change in votes at One Spark yesterday. The ones in boldface have been working with us at the UNF SBDC:

Art

• Creator #22008 Our Wild Parks!
• Creator #22405 Airing Grandma's Laundry and other hush hush family secrets: the movie
• Creator #21863 The YarnBomb
• Creator #22078 Midnight Espresso Troupe
• Creator #22161 Mechanicus Pygoscelis (Mac)

Education

• Creator #21800 The Adventures of Moxie Girl
• Creator #21926 Champaint
• Creator #21923 FairTax
• Creator #21951 Textbook Boomerang
• Creator #21914 Day in the Real World Mobile App

Health & Science

• Creator #21880 Tamarin Fruits: Eat Healthy, Live Happy :)
• Creator #21819 The Polar Pod
• Creator #220465 Sandtray Therapy  
• Creator #22127 Children’s Mental Health Research
• Creator #22124 Let’s Go Tribal!   

Music

• Creator #21956 Fort Stories
• Creator #22186 Mal Jones The Lyricist LIVE   
• Creator #22254 Serious Alarm
• Creator #21964 JP Corwyn
• Creator #22222 Strangerwolf

Social Good

• Creator #21780 Eradicating HUnget
• Creator #21836 Second Helpings
• Creator #21784 P226
• Creator #21809 Under The Rainbow Ranch
• Creator #22265 SPARTAN - UNLEASH THE POWER       

Technology

• Creator #21961 TheCity.Guide
• Creator #21797 gonogo
• Creator #21774 Bountay!
• Creator #21769 Phyrefly
• Creator #21985 KATY Cube

So we have five clients in the mix, but this could change. We are working with all of them to boost their vote acquisition with aggressive crowd interaction, social media and more signage.

Some Creators worth looking at and, we believe well in the running:

Bedder Covers #21857 at the Landing

ignite duval #21899 at EdSpark

Love of Literacy #21866 at EdSpark

Alfies #21762 Riverwalk

The Band Be Easy #22176 Hemming

 

One Spark Client Interview: Patient Harmony #22175

We caught up with Remo Kousins, creator of Patient Harmony:

Describe your creator idea.

My project reduces the risk of post-medical treatment patient readmissions.  Imagine you go in for knee surgery. Upon being discharged, you get a sheet of paper with how to treat yourself at home.

Chances are you are compliant the first few days, but it's not consistent because you don't remember to look at the paper, or maybe you lose it. Even worse, no one is keeping you accountable by following up to make sure you do these things.

Now you are at risk of not recovering quickly, if at all.

Through an integrated suite of communications, alerting, and analytics - we create safe transitions, reduce admin work, and decrease penalties by automating reminders, followups and identifying high-risk patients.

Why One Spark?

One Spark is the perfect venue for this project.  Innovative yet cost saving improvements on how medical care can be delivered is a hot topic now.  The primary challenge of health organizations is cutting waste. This project is an efficient and effective way to cut waste while at the same time, keeping patients as the #1 priority.  And besides, One Spark is one more thing that makes Jacksonville such a cool place to be.

How is One Spark going so far?

I’ve been getting good responses so far and I’m looking forward to some productive follow-up conversations.

What is next after One Spark?

We want to implement our system in Emergency Rooms, Home Health Agencies, and Veterans Administration Facilities. We’ve received a massive amount of feedback and requests from clinicians in our target niches who are not happy with their existing system.  With more developer hours, we have the capability to give them exactly what they want.  In addition, once the expanded functionality is there we will need to increase our reach through marketing.

2015 One Spark at Record Pace

We keep running into more and more of our regular clients downtown. There have to be almost 50 Creators that we have worked with. Two that we believe are doing particularly well in getting votes is TheCity.Guide, a new online magazine in Jax and p226 which is a safe fun teen community center concept. Also keep an eye on CATA, the organic clothing Creator who is really turning heads revealing how many chemicals there are in clothing.

One of the more entertaining stops is Plive My Pickle whre you can get your photo taken an play a quiz game with the prize being...a pickle.

On the nonprofit side, Bring Home 100 (www.bairfind.org), Is funding the placement of signs in minor league ballparks with pictures of missing kids on them. The result is that they have found no less than 26 kids in a very short time!

Renaissance Jax has a working display of student created robots and they are determined to expose ALL kids to science and math using robot projects. Training the workforce of the future.

Melinda's Confections feature lawyer Melinda Powers handing out so many of her hand made banana pudding sample that she had to sneak out and make more...twice!

What do they all have in common? They are all clients of the SBDC at UNF. Their good ideas, determination and planning are paying off.

On Our Way to One Spark 2015!

Well at this late date we can positively identify at least 26 Creators that are both Creators at One spark and also clients of the SBDC. This creates two scenarios. We will be spending extensive time with our current clients while helping ANY Creator who wants some last minute advice. We look at helping our Creators any way we can, but we also know that it is our role to be there after the event to ensure continuity of good ideas. That's right, only the best ideas will move on. Why? Because One Spark is much more than a crowdsourcing event. It is a chance to prove your idea has merit to 260,000 plus people.

But it is also an opportunity to brand your idea as well. We stand ready to take you to the next level. Jacksonville is a great place to start a business. From Co-work Jax to the Jacksonville Chamber and beyond, there are organizations here that want to support your success.

Look for us at One Spark. We will be travelling nomads with a backpack of resources to help you. See you tomorrow!

One Spark Client Interview: Dragonboats/In the Pink

What is you idea?

Our idea is In the Pink...a one-stop shop for women with all types of cancer.  As a non-profit, we are always searching for creative ways to generate funding.  We brought dragon boating to Jacksonville as another healthy activity to get cancer patients engaged after treatment.  It was so well received that we opened up paddling to all people.  We now have several teams that paddle all year long.  We hosted Jacksonville's first dragon boat festival in September 2013.  In the Pink hosts several dragon boat teams. This sport is for everyone, regardless of age of athleticism. For more information, contact Marty at 536-3475 or email: millardm@comcast.net. We have one team for breast cancer survivors only called the Mammoglams. The funds raised at the festival stay at In the Pink, helping men, women and children in the Jacksonville area.

 

Why One Spark?

We decided to participate in One Spark to expose people to In the Pink and the dragon boat festival.  We hope to generate funding to assist US in expanding our services for cancer patients.

 How has the event been for you?

One Spark has been great.  We have met many people who were unaware of In the Pink yet know people who are in need of our services.  We have also found a lot of people who are interested in being involved in the dragon boat festival on September 27, 2014!

 
What's next?

After One Spark, we will continue to pursue funding to allow us to continue our services at In the Pink.  www.jaxinthepink.net
 

Amazing Finish to One Spark! Three FSBDC Client Winners! Congratulations!

We had 60 clients in this years One Spark crowd sourcing event. Congratulations to all of them as they made a great deal of progress vetting their idea and branding their concepts in front of 250,000 attendees. 

Congratulations to One Spark client winners Theatre on a Mission, Snyder Memorial Restoration and Aqua Jax for their first place finishes!. We also had checks presented to the St. Augustine Aquarium effort as well as the folks from Catty Shack Ranch!

But the work is just starting, and these winners as well as most of the other clients we assisted during One Spark will start digging in an planning their next steps after One Spark. Our team of experts is excited to be part of this process. We will keep this blog open longer to track the progress of these clients going forward!

The victorious Theatre on a Mission crew!

Snyder Memorial Restoration aka Amplify!

A big Jacksonville win by the Aqua Jax team!