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Name: GiddyUp
Quick Pitch: GiddyUp is a new way to invite friends out to brunch, drinks after work or for any impromptu event.
Genius Idea: The mobile application lets party planners skip long emails and bypass lengthy event invites on social networks. Instead, Giddyup lets users send SMS invitations to their Apple and Android phone contacts.
GiddyUp is a mobile app created by friends Elliot Goldwater and John Zurbach who were looking for a better way to get friends together. Plans often were disrupted when Facebook invites would go unseen or when texts were lost.
"It really was an erosion of patience over time," said GiddyUp co-founder Goldwater. "We got sick of text messages, emails and calling back and forth trying to get a few friends together. It's a problem that resonated with everybody."
Unlike other social-event platforms, GiddyUp uses the contacts list within your phone rather than integrating personal Facebook or Twitter friend lists, which are frequently incomplete. People generally carry the phone numbers of their closest friends and family, say the creators.
"We pull directly from your contacts list, which we think is your truest social network," he said. "Those are the people you rely on, at the last minute, or on any given Friday to meet up with on a whim."
Users may be wary about using their phone contacts within the app because of privacy concerns. However, that should be an issue, according to Goldwater. Contacts ultimately stay local to your phone and aren't uploaded anywhere. All event information — such as your future whereabouts — are also guarded.
"All events and related data are stored safely on our database behind authorization walls," Goldwater said. "We do not look at or parse through individual's data."
The simple phone interface has three tabs — Home, Create and FAQ. On the main page, users can view the events that they will attend and access the individual chat bar within the event invite. The recipients of the SMS invite do not need to download the app to access the details. However, you'll need to download the app to access the chat feature within the invitation.
Generate a GiddyUp invite by selecting the recipients from the contact list in your Apple or Android phone. Users may include details such as location, date, time and notes.
The app launched two weeks ago after more than a year of development. The team has bootstrapped the project to this point and is now looking for investors.
GiddyUp distinguishes itself from other event-planning apps. The GiddyUp team wanted to build a platform that didn't require extra time to sign in or download yet another app. As a startup, Goldwater wanted to make sure interested users were able to use the app without waiting for a large number of friends to sign on.
"We tried to lower the hurdles or barriers to user adoption," Goldwater tells Mashable.
The developers also wanted to introduce the app onto the iOS and Android market at the same time. The creators noted most app developers typically devote time creating one market's app and completely ignoring users on the other platform.
The team is focused on building their userbase. Future business models may revolve around in-app deals, contextual advertising and lending out the software for different applications in the event-planning field.
"Traditionally you think of Evite, Facebook events and Paperless Posts as the traditional medium for planning events — birthday parties, wedding showers and more formal things," he said. "What we want to capture is everything from what's happening later tonight, leading up and including those events."
Image courtesy of Flickr, karramarro
Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
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