Obvious
bias aside, the San Francisco Bay Area is one bad ass region. We embody
ingenuity and create products that people around the world love and enjoy on a
daily basis. You're all very welcome.
Though
nothing more than a pen-sized dot on your average globe, a lot goes down here.
Brilliant engineering minds, vibrant recruiting teams, and young CEOs are
becoming a staple in the city—seriously, when else in history has running a
multi-million (sometimes billion) dollar company before turning the big 3-0
been this common?
We've
partnered with fellow local brand Hangar 1 Vodka,
quickly establishing itself as an industry leader, to recognize other Bay Area
startups making California proud. Google, Twitter, and Facebook need no
introduction. Cheers to small companies doing big things that you may or may
not have known are locally grown.
1 | AdRoll: Ever been online shopping for a new pair of boots and the next
thing you know that same pair of boots is in every advertisement no matter what
website you're on? Some call it fate, but those who know better call it AdRoll.
At the ripe old age of seven, AdRoll boasts the most widely used ad-retargeting
platform in the world, calling household names like Google and Facebook
partners. With a 97% retention rate, this team of young people connects brands
with their "most likely to succeed" customers.
2 | Afterlight: If you're an avid Instagramer
(#WhoIsntTheseDays), you've noticed more and more photos with thick white
borders, light beams, and filters that go above and beyond the average X-Pro II
and Hefe. This Sacramento-based company of two (yes two) people is taking over
the photo editing market, establishing a new style that competitors are
mimicking all around the world. Simplifying professional-level photo editing
tools for the average person to turn iPhone pics into decent looking works of
art--making ordinary people, places, and things look extraordinary.
3 | AGOGO: Who are the all stars of the 2014 NBA season? Is the Ukraine on
the brink of civil war? Do animals like music? Pretty much anything you ever
wanted (and didn't want) to know about is now in one place, ready for your
ears. AGOGO brings together top news, music, and entertainment platforms
to produce one go-to place for people to hear their favorite things, all the
time. Listen to what both Fox News and NBC have to say about the same subject
matter in one click. Catch multiple ESPN interviews on a single player in one
channel. Time to listen up.
4 | Airbnb: For the longest time, there was no reasonable middle ground
between an expensive hotel and a dirt-cheap hostel when it came to world
traveling, unless of course you knew someone who knew someone with a spare room
wherever it was you were going. Now people can input their destination, budget,
travel dates, and number of guests in exchange for a plethora of detailed,
photographed listings of available housing options. On the flip side, people
all over the world are uploading their homes, lofts, and yes, even castles, for
their fellow humans to choose from and enjoy. With 600,000+ worldwide listings,
Airbnb continues to change the way the human population explores the world.
5 | CreativeLive: Technology is continuously allowing people to
learn about the world and connect with one another, more so now than ever
before. In a time where education is an expectation and tech degrees become
outdated in a matter of years, CreativeLive presents a plausible solution.
Introducing industry experts in a classroom setting to people in the comfort of
their homes is quickly becoming a new reality. Now you can learn the latest
version of Photoshop, get professional tips on launching an online business,
and even find out how to market yourself on YouTube, all without putting on
pants. (Please consider pants before your YouTube debut.) Isn't technology
great?
6 | Evernote: For the sake of explanation, take a moment to imagine the last
project you worked on, whether it be personal or professional, and everything
that went into it's conception. Maybe you jotted a phone number down on the
back of a receipt, communicated through a long stream of emails, snapped iPhone
photos of inspiration during your morning jog, and bookmarked related websites
to use as references. Now imagine streamlining all of that into one place that
you can reach on any device at any time. Yes, it's possible thanks to another
boss-ass Bay Area business. Evernote, that "personal assistant that you
never could justify the cost of because you should be able to organize your own
life, but it's just so hard to keep it all together" app. Take a deep
breath and download.
7 | Fitbit: A tight group of NorCal folks have developed a series of products
that show the average person how their daily routine translates into health and
fitness standards, from a wearable wristband to a bathroom scale. Whether
you're sound asleep in your city loft or huffing and puffing up a flight of
stairs, Fitbit tells you how good/bad everything you do is compared to previous
tracked days and industry benchmarks--a constant reminder that you're either a
monumental success or the world's laziest sack. Sync your Fitbit device to your
mobile device for a visual translation into charts and graphs, all at the touch
of a button.
8 | Flipboard: There is something to be said for flipping
through a magazine--that simple satisfaction that you get from turning a page
as oppose to scrolling through cyberspace (at least the 7x7 mag team thinks
so). But what about the ease of clickable links, creating that beloved
breadcrumb trail of related info? Flipboard has seemingly addressed all of the
above with their digital, flippable magazine platform. Mags are no longer
limited to text and photos, but are rather entering an age of multisensory
experiences, incorporating videos, music, and social media into their once
one-dimensional paper pages.
9 | GoPro: Extreme sport meets extreme photography. Thanks to this Bay Area
company, people are documenting their journeys in ways we've never seen before.
Together the world has taken jumps out of planes, dived deep below the ocean's
surface, flipped upside down on snowboards, and climbed the highest mountains,
all through the lenses of tiny cameras stuck to athletes' equipment. GoPro is a
simple invention that allows those of us who have a harder time channeling our
inner daredevil to live vicariously through the adrenaline-inclined.
10 | Homejoy: You have to admit that a clean home makes you feel a little better
about the other aspects of your life, even if ever so slightly. From folded
laundry to dusted baseboards, these maids do just about anything and everything
you could possibly need, just short of tucking you into your neatly made bed at
night. If for whatever reason, your house isn't sparkling as brightly as you
had imagined, they come back and do it again for free. Employees go through
extensive background checks prior to stepping through your door, if that eases
your mind at all. From SF to Boca Raton, Homejoy is cleaning this country up.
11 | IFTTT: If This Then That, pronounced "gift" without the
"g." If you like a song on Soundcloud, then it downloads to Dropbox.
If it's supposed to rain in the next hour, then you get a text alert. If your
stock drops by 5% or more, then you get an email. Using the trigger/action
recipe, you can make your apps work even harder for you. It's like all your
favorite apps are best friends and working together to make your life easier. What
a happy thought.
12 | Indiegogo: From spy cams to heart transplants, the amount
of things that require funding in this world is endless. Indiegogo provides
deserving causes with an opportunity to get the world invested in something
bigger than themselves. Even James Franco turned to this Bay Area brand for
film funding.
13 | Jawbone: Once known for its wearable fitness-tracking device, Jawbone has
since released portable speakers controlled by users' iPhones. The Mini Jambox
brings pocket-sized sound to a world full of clucky hardware. It's not often
that one company takes over two entirely separate industries. But what can we
say? They're from the Bay.
14 | Kitchit: It's not every day that you host a dinner party in your home, or
maybe it is. Think The Real Housewives of San Francisco. Whether you're
planning a romantic date night or impressing a group of frenemies, Kitchit
brings top culinary talent into your home for the ultimate personal chef dining
experience. Choose from pre-planned menus and customize as needed to ensure
everything is perfect for your guests, whoever they might be. The chef grabs
the groceries, cooks, and even cleans up! A-freaking-men. This local startup of
less than 20 people is making a huge impact on this niche in the market,
changing the way we do dinner. Now if only there were a hot waiter app...
15 | Leap Motion: Making the average person feel like the wizard
they always wished to be. Imagine sitting in front of your computer, twirling
your index finger, and making things move on the screen. A world without mouses
and controllers is an amazing thought, one that is slowly becoming a reality
thanks to Leap Motion. Keep up the good work, guys. We're here to offer our
magical hands for any sort of testing you might need!
16 | Lookout: As inconceivable as it may seem these days, nobody used to believe
it was possible for cellphones to be hacked. That is, until the Lookout
founders (and in those days, just a couple of super smart dudes) built the
Bluetooth Sniper and used it to break into celebrities' mobile devices at the
2005 Oscars. Glad these masterminds are on our side now. This team of hackers
hacks in the name of justice these days and is constantly finding new ways to
protect our privacy, two steps ahead of the bad guys.
17 | Lovely: We can't quite think of a better place for an app like this to be
birthed, considering the rental nightmare that is San Francisco. Lovely takes
the best listings from various sites and places them on a map for you to
interact with, bird's-eye-view status. Say you want to live in North Beach or
the Marina, have a max monthly budget of $4.5K (who are you and can we be
friends), need two bedrooms, and have a pet cat. Just fill out the simplified
template and watch the city map populate with available properties fitting that
description. It's like online dating for you and your dream rental home.
Everyone deserves true love. And a cat-friendly building.
18 | Luvo: If it's good enough for Derek Jeter and Jennifer Garner's
stomachs, it's sure as heck good enough for ours. Even Delta Airlines is
presenting these pre-made meals to their first class flyers. From kale ricotta
ravioli to apple cinnamon flatbread, stuffing your face with this food is
perfectly acceptable because it's super healthy.
19 | Medivation: For anyone who has ever lost a loved one to a
disease and wondered if there was anything more that could have been done,
Medivation has stepped up to offer hope. Bringing promising treatments still in
development to patients of Prostate Cancer specifically, the team hopes to
discover new ways to cure deadly diseases. The scale on which this company is
changing lives is pretty remarkable, and happening in our own backyard!
20 | Pinterest: Binders and bulletin boards are so last decade.
For daydreamers and planners everywhere, there is now a digital space
connecting people to inspiration, pin-spiration if you will. Whether you have a
doting fiancé or you're as single as it gets, it's never too early to plan that
dream wedding you may or may not have someday. "Pin" bridal photos,
dress links, and cake recipes from friends and strangers alike, to a personal
"board" for later use. Do this for any of your obsessions (not
limited to weddings). Pinterest is a veteran in the starup world, the perfect
example of new technology reinventing an age-old concept.
21 | Pocket: You've been stuffing your pockets full of everything imaginable
since your days spent running around the playground, always sure you were going
to need whatever it was you found later. This local company takes that concept
and incorporates it into your everyday life on a digital level. And you don't
even need Internet to do it. Funny videos, fitness inspiration photos, recipe
links, and more can now all be stored in one place for when you finally run
into that friend you wanted to show them to. Genius.
22 | Square: Making phones and tablets that much more useful, Square is
essentially a portable cash register. Nothing more than a tiny, for lack of a
better noun, square that you plug into your digital device and swipe a credit
card through. Transactions are handled through the downloadable software and
customers sign on the dotted line with their finger. Viola!
23 | TaskRabbit: Whether you're the type of person that loves to
help or the kind that needs help (you know who you are), this app is
guaranteed to improve your life. Need an oil change, but never learned to
do it yourself? Need help packing for a big move, but too lazy to do it
yourself? Name your task, price, and when you need it done. Somebody, somewhere
nearby is waiting to give you a hand. Not so helpless? Assist those in need and
make a few bucks. Who says you shouldn't benefit from others' misfortunes?
24 | Uber: Along with a handful of other companies on this list, if you
haven't heard of Uber by now, we're judging you. Mean glares aside, Uber is
popping up everywhere, most recently in California Wine Country. This fleet of
average Joes and their automobiles gets people from here to there at the tap of
a phone screen. Friendly drivers, known to supply complimentary beverages,
snacks, and even Valentine's Day roses, swoop you from your stoop and drop you
at your destination. Choose from standard cabs, slightly nicer regular cars
(mostly Priuses), black cars, and SUVs when determining your ride options. Rate
your driver at the end, but be sure to flash them a smile because you're being
rated on your passenger skills, too!
25 | Zoosk: Dating on your phone, not quite to the extreme the dude in Her
took it to, is the new normal and Zoosk is leading that charge. The app
takes note of your taste in the opposite sex as you click around, promising to
match you with people that you're most likely to find attractive. There's 25
million+ fish in this cyber sea, in 80 countries and 25 languages. Sometimes
scrolling through dating profiles on your phone as opposed to a desktop
computer feels a little less "somebody love me" and a little more
cool, calm, and collected. The things we do for love, right?
