Baltimore TechBreakfast: Procurely, NewsUp among September’s presenters

Another month, another installment of Baltimore TechBreakfast. (Presentations! Questions! Microphones! Free bagels!)
Among September’s presenters were Justin Smith, the founder and CEO of Procurely, which Technically Baltimore covered in July. Also presenting were the respective teams behind NewsUp and Easy WebContent Presenter (read more here), both of which held events Thursday night for Baltimore Innovation Week.

The presenters from September’s Baltimore TechBreakfast:

• WeLearn: Makers of a note-taking app for the iPad that allows students to write notes directly onto pages of PDF documents, and then rearrange those pages of notes around just like they would in a three-ring binder. The big takeaway from founder Kevin Giffhorn, a high school teacher in his 16th year: “[Companies] create technology and tell educators how to change to fit it. We should create technology that works best in education.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88PxYm9hl2c?list=PLtyAFAXWOCPQGcFaFvQE68Kwd5oMUOaZT&hl=en_US]

• NewsUp: It’s an app that’s trying to reinvent news dissemination for the mobile generation. Users receive points for reading personalized news, answering trivia questions and sharing stories with friends. Those points are then redeemed for prizes, like money off your next order at Midtown BBQ & Brew.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px2FKxmgTy8?list=PLtyAFAXWOCPQGcFaFvQE68Kwd5oMUOaZT&hl=en_US]

• Optimium Health: Apparently, close to 30 people are involved when it comes to scheduling surgeries in hospitals. If that sounds like a bigger pain than realizing the surgeon forgot to anesthetize you, then you’ve discovered why Optimium, which “orchestrates clinical workflow,” could matter.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGaKSb2YK8U?list=PLtyAFAXWOCPQGcFaFvQE68Kwd5oMUOaZT&hl=en_US]

• Procurely: Raise your hand if dealing with requests for proposal is more fun than a pillow fight. Yeah, Justin Smith doesn’t think so either. That’s why he created Procurely, which is meant to standardize the entire RFP process and move it to the Cloud so multiple people can work on getting those things completed.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHvBzx9fS8Y?list=PLtyAFAXWOCPQGcFaFvQE68Kwd5oMUOaZT&hl=en_US]

• CoupedOut: An iOS and Android app (both available next week) that allows restaurants and retail stores to display specials and promotions electronically, patrons to redeem promotions via smart phone and merchants to connect with each other, Facebook-style, to promote each other’s promotional deals. They’re from Philly, yet no one booed them.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am1CSCF5e-E?list=PLtyAFAXWOCPQGcFaFvQE68Kwd5oMUOaZT&hl=en_US]

• Easy WebContent: If you need to build a website, but think HTML and JavaScript are the equivalent of having an Awful $%#ing Time, drop the Codecademy lessons and go with the EWC team. Plus, the Presenter tool will allow you to create infographics and animations to display on your new, Web- and mobile-friendly website. See our coverage of the team here.