Mind Map will promote collaboration, investment
AUSTIN, Texas–The new year is an exciting one in Austin, as the phenomenal growth in mobile broadband is picking up the local economy as groups involved in the industry look to expand.
In an effort to spread the cheer, Steve Guengerich, founding shareholder and executive producer of new startup Appconomy, is one of the head collaborators behind designing a map that splits Austin’s mobile scene in easier to define categories and is able to be used as a directory of sorts.
Groups on the mind map are divided into investors, accelerators/incubators, media, events, organizations and companies. As the largest category, companies are split into three other branches of software, hardware and app services providers. In the five to six weeks since its inception, the map is taking off and corralling local interests both in and outside of Austin. Ultimately, Guengerich says the goal of the map is to bring together a global ecosystem including the likes of Fortune 500 companies to the awareness of Austin’s mobile scene.
“We’ve seen a couple of informal collaborations,” said Guengerich. “We’re also planning for a events on issues in our industry that we don’t believe are being covered anywhere else.”
The Austin Mobile Scene map can be viewed here.
If your mobile company is not listed, the collaborators request you add it yourself after registering with the site. Please make sure to properly classify your company or organization.
Guengerich and Brian Magierski, founder and CEO of Appconomy, say the time is ripe for application developers and cite that in its 21st annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted “app,” abbreviated for application used as a software program for a computer or phone, as the word of the year for 2010. The two say that the way software is being used is changing and that a shift to apps is inevitable.
After launching in November, the company announced towards the end of December that they raised $1.5 million in funding, mostly through True Ventures, located in Palo Alto, Calif. The products of Appconomy will focus on work-based applications and the ability to organize a user’s life, whether at work or at play.
“We see opportunities in the areas of sales, inventory, order processing and beyond,” said Magierski. “We also want a user to be able to use an app we design to organize for their kid’s soccer game.”
Appconomy plans to launch their first couple of apps in February. An interview with Guengerich and Magierski can also be seen above.
