This Fairbanks Business Helps Speakers
Measure and Improve their Effectiveness
Eric Solie and his co-founder, Vincent Castro met at a Fairbanks Startup Weekend and combined their strengths to create a rough prototype that ran as a web application. This “simple” attention detection filter won them the competition and, after improvements to their MVP, led to their triumph at the Arctic Innovation Competition. This catapulted them into creating Attently, an analytics platform that determines the engagement of live audiences.
Eric worked with Small Business Development Center advisors in Fairbanks and Anchorage to refine the pitch and presentation of Attently. This software uses algorithms to measure the engagement of individuals in an audience. The data can then be used by presenters to learn how attentive their audience is, or is not, giving them powerful cues for improvement.
His business advisor, Lance Ahern shared, “It is rare in Alaska to find a strong startup team with world-class technology going after high-value global markets. Attently’s fast progress – from success at Startup Weekend, to winning the Arctic Innovation Contest, to securing an investment from Launch Alaska – has been a great example for other tech startups in Alaska.”
“From the very first days of our company, the SBDC has been at our side, providing introductions and expert guidance. Their assistance as a sounding board for both high-level strategy and day-to-day minutiae has been invaluable. They’ve been responsive, friendly, and supportive- while not shying away from giving tough advice when we needed to hear it. When friends approach us with business ideas, we send them to the SBDC, knowing that they’ll be able to receive sound advice and timely introductions from this fantastic free resource. I can’t recommend the AK SBDC offices highly enough.”
It is exciting watching this business succeed! Connect with Eric, Vincent, and their partner, Erik Talvi at https://attently.io/ to keep up with the innovation.
