The headline says it all!  We’re excited to announce that we’ve joined Amplify.LA!  Details in the release below:

Startup Accelerator Amplify Announces 5 New Portfolio Companies and Unique Mentor Curriculum

Startup accelerator Amplify today announced five new startups selected to participate in its intensive, mentor-driven program.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) January 17, 2012

Startup accelerator Amplify today announced five new startups selected to participate in its intensive, mentor-driven program. Well over 100 applicants spanning a dozen states and several international cities were evaluated based on a wide array of criteria. Those that have joined Amplify include:

• GetBonkers (@letsgetbonkers) is a game publisher and aggregator building a large suite of fun and engaging mobile learning apps for children.
• Look IO (@lookio) overlays live chat support with visual feedback into mobile apps that allows customer service agents to view & support mobile users in real-time.
• TidePool (@TidePoolinc) is a gamified psychometrics platform to assess and track the characteristics of job seekers.
• Invested.in (@investedin) quickly and easily allows users to create and customize interactive fundraising campaigns. Invested.in also offers licensing and partnership deals to larger entities for their own customized “crowdfunding” platforms.
• StackSocial (@stacksocial) is a white-label eCommerce platform enabling technology-focused publishers to generate additional revenues by offering exclusive flash sales on software, apps, video tutorials, and other digital tools.

“We are thrilled with both the quantity and quality of deal flow since formally launching only a month ago,” said Paul Bricault, co-founder and managing partner at Amplify. “Our thesis that LA is an underserved market which is ripe with opportunity is already proving to be true.”

Amplify takes a unique approach to the traditional accelerator model, accepting startups on a rolling basis rather than setting specific application deadlines. The curriculum repeats every four months and revolves around 14 “Centers of Excellence,” from finance and operations to fundraising, marketing and product management. Once admitted, a startup can simply jump into the Amplify course work and continue until they’ve completed the program.

“Our mentors have committed a tremendous amount of time to the program; in addition to providing hands-on guidance, they teach invaluable lessons from their own experiences in the form of weekly lectures, workshops, panels and classes,” said Jeff Solomon, executive director at Amplify.

Amplify will facilitate these weekly mentor events at its campus, currently under construction at 1600 Main Street in Venice Beach, California. Each startup in the program will receive up to $50,000 in seed funding, dedicated office space, hands-on mentor meetings, introductions to investors and a three year hiatus on city taxes.

To apply for the Amplify accelerator program, visit http://www.amplify.la

About Amplify LA
Based in Los Angeles, California’s historic Venice Beach, Amplify.LA is a hands-on startup accelerator designed to help members amplify their companies for success. The program operates from a 10,000 square foot entrepreneurial campus originally designed by renowned architect, Steven Ehrlich. Amplify.LA’s investors, mentors and management include some of the most connected names in media and entertainment. To learn more, please visit http://www.amplify.la.

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Alon, one of the founders of Invested.in just wrote an article on his personal blog with some great lessons in promotion.  I recommend you go check it out when you have a chance.  It’s a bit long, but definitely a worthwhile read.  I would try to summarize it here, but he already did it best:

When promoting an event, just like promoting a startup, a fundraising campaign or really anything, all you really need to understand is who the target audience is, and why they care.  If you can get that initial crowd (validation), find your die-hard fans (evangelists) and use them to bring in that target audience (customers), the game’s over and you’ve won.

Read the whole article here:  http://www.allidoispunk.com/crowd-punk-lessons-promotion/

Below is our latest press release.  More info soon!

Invested.in Announces FitFunder.com – A Revolution in Fitness Fundraising for Charity

Los Angeles, July 19, 2011 – Invested.in today announced that they will be launching FitFunder.com, a site that will allow its users to create personal fitness fundraisers for charity.

FitFunder will utilize Invested.in’s versatile and cutting edge crowdfunding platform and RunKeeper’s recently launched HealthGraph API, providing users with a simple and easy way to create, promote, and manage their personal fitness fundraising campaigns. Invested.in’s platform is a social networking hub devoted to raising funds and gaining support for fundraising projects.  Utilizing RunKeeper’s HealthGraph API will allow FitFunder to automatically monitor a user’s fitness goals and update their followers and donors.

Invested.in is currently signing up interested charities and non-profits at http://fitfunder.com.  There is no commitment required on the side of the non-profit, only that they accept the funds pledged by FitFunder users.

“The Invested.in platform was built to empower communities, allowing them to ‘invest’ in their own future.” Says Alon Goren, President of Invested.in.  “As avid RunKeeper users, we’re so excited to be utilizing RunKeeper’s HealthGraph API to not only raise money for charity, but also to help motivate us all to reach our fitness goals.”

“We are excited that FitFunder.com is now integrated with the Health Graph.  Fundraising and fitness go hand-in-hand, and it is great that RunKeeper users will now have the ability to put their miles to work to help raise money for important causes.” Said Jason Jacobs, CEO of RunKeeper

About Invested.in

Invested.in provides a comprehensive web-based platform that manages fundraising efforts from start to finish. The company’s grassroots fundraising solution is available to all individuals, businesses, and not for profit organizations. Invested.in is a self-funded, private company, and is located in Los Angeles, CA. Visit http://platform.invested.in

Below is our latest press release.  More info will be posted here soon.  :-)

“A Revolution in Fundraising for Jewish and Israeli Initiatives”

Tel Aviv/Los Angeles, May 28, 2011 — JCrowd.com and Invested.in today announced their partnership to launch a fully customized crowdfunding platform for Jewish/Israeli initiatives and causes.

JCrowd.com will utilize Invested.in’s versatile and cutting edge crowdfunding platform, providing Jewish themed projects with a simple and easy way to create, promote, and manage their online fundraising campaigns. Invested.in’s platform is a social networking hub devoted to raising funds and gaining support for projects.

“JCrowd is a revolution in fundraising for Jewish initiatives. It applies the full power of social networking to ensure the success of fundraising campaigns. We’re lucky to be partnering with Invested.in, a leader in crowdfunding technology,” said Moshe Tokayer founder and CEO of JCrowd.com.

“Invested.in was built to empower communities, allowing them to ‘invest’ in their own future.” said Alon Goren, President of Invested.in. “We are so excited to have JCrowd as a partner, and to help everyone within the Jewish and Israeli community simply and easily create their own fundraising campaigns.”

The JCrowd platform is expected to launch at the end of April 2011. Please visit their website at http://www.jcrowd.com and register to be notified of the launch.

About Invested.in

Invested.in provides a comprehensive web-based platform that manages fundraising efforts from start to finish. The company’s grassroots fundraising solution is available to all individuals, businesses, and not for profit organizations. Invested.in is a self-funded, private company, and is located in Los Angeles, CA. Visit http://www.invested.in

About JCrowd.com

JCrowd is a revolutionary new way for Jewish/Israeli initiatives and causes to raise money and gain support. As an online social network hub it taps a tremendous resource at a grassroots level, a resource that is otherwise difficult and expensive to access. JCrowd enables project owners to leverage their social capital to help fund their initiatives. JCrowd.com is a privately held company located in Israel. Visit http://www.jcrowd.com

deadside is a new episodic show from up and coming production house SL8IT. deadside is set in Australia, yet it’s core inspiration is rooted in Voodoo mythology and folklore. The show is centered around Sara, a hapless Sydney school girl, who has a powerful calling to worlds she has only ever dreamed of. Packed with lashings of action, drama, horror, Aussie wit and intrigue, deadside takes you on a journey to both the familiar and the unknown.

SL8IT are developing deadside in partnership with VODO.net and invested.in. They have shot a kick-arse teaser on a minus-zero budget using their own equipment and connections in the local industry.

The show will be released under a Creative Commons license with original show investors to be forever held in the highest esteem and granted access to special footage withheld from the public. Have you ever wanted to be a philanthropist?

SL8IT are also producing interviews and behind the scenes supporting material so investors can see who they are, and fall in love with the focused, yet crazy bunch of film-junkies hell bent on delivering something the public that they have never see before!

INTERVIEW: http://www.youtube.com/sl8it#p/a/u/1/yn5Vgsy_jso

They need $10,000 to fund the thirty minute pilot episode. At the time of writing this article they are around the 16% mark and need approximately another $8,500 to reach their goal.

To see more and support their project please visit their invested.in page to watch the teaser and join their Facebook group to receive project updates on promotional videos and exclusive interviews as soon as they are released. Also, don’t forget to LIKE! their invested.in page and help spread the word to your peers!

Support a production house seeking to deliver something straight to the audience without all the bulls#!t and industry fat-cats who make this industry so prohibitive and stifle creativity. deadside is real and by becoming a part of it you can help turn the film/TV industry on its big, fat head.

Do it: www.deadside.tv

We’ve just launched Google Analytics support for your Invested.in projects!  It’s awesome, easy to use and FREE.

What does this mean?

Basically, Google Analytics will tell you how people found your project, in incredible detail.  It’ll also tell you (as best they can) who these people are and where they come from (geographically and from which websites).  It’s an amazing and useful tool, and now it is available to all our users.

If you’ve already got an active project, just go to your project dashboard and add your Google Analytics Tracking Code.  More details here.

As always, contact us if you have any suggestions, feedback, or need ANYTHING.  :-)

Listening to podcasts is wonderful.  Usually, you get uninterrupted quality listening time with the actual people you tune in to listen to.  Not like traditional radio.  With podcasts there are limited (if any) commercials, you get to listen whenever you want, you can re-listen, rewind, easily pass it around…it’s great.  Over the last few years, I’ve become obsessed with a few podcasts.  It all started because I needed something to listen to on my hour+ commute.  It’s almost scary what kind of bond you get with the folks on these podcasts.  It’s like being a part of an hour long conversation with them on an almost daily basis.  You get to know them very well, and the longer you listen to them, the better the shows get and the more you HAVE to listen when a new episode is up.

Low Budget FM is one of those podcasts for me.  Marc and Mike (the co-hosts) are kinda nerdy, LA based guys who post a couple of shows a week where they talk about their personal lives, do a bunch of different comedy bits, and they make it feel like you’re one of them.  The show kinda feels like you’re hanging out with your (possibly drunk) friends, telling obviously tongue-in-cheek jokes and stories.  You have to start listening.  It gets better every week.

Holy carp!  That intro was longer than 90% of my posts.

So what I’m trying to say is…when Low Budget FM decided to create an Invested.in project to raise money for their new studio, I was so extremely excited.  I have been following them through all the drama surrounding their recording space.  They have bounced around all over the place the last few months, and now, they’re finally setting something great up, independently…the way I feel podcasting should be.  Please support Mike and Marc.  They’re (kinda) my friends, and if they’re not already, soon they will be yours.

-A

PS…Support them NOW.  Only 1 week left!

Hello, friends!

Just a quick blog post to announce the upcoming release of our API and affiliate program!

Over the next few weeks we will slowly release our API/affiliate program, and ask for any individuals who would be interested in helping us test and give us feedback on the new releases.

If you are interested in getting involved, getting the most up-to-date info, or to be invited to the beta, please sign up here.

What features are you most interested in seeing released in our API, and what would you use our API for? (Post replies in the comments, please!)

Emily Beck has an ambitious (and amazing) goal. She and her organization, The United Saints Community Art Program, plan to paint 20 murals in New Orleans throughout 2011. Volunteers will learn the basics of mural painting, and the community will benefit from the positive messages and beautiful art of these murals.

With less than 5 days remaining, please consider donating to this very worthy cause. For your donation, you can expect to receive letters from the volunteers, artwork and even some time in New Orleans depending on the size of your contribution!

Check out the project for more details (and to contribute!!):