smartphone software that can track instability and movement.
The multi-purpose device is intended for use in gaming, fitness, and physical therapy. It could improve quality of life for the elderly, and provide a competitive advantage for athletes, Polinsky says. Consumers will be able to log balance and fitness data with the machine, competing with friends and family, a la Fitbit, he adds.
“Modern Movement wasn’t focused on a product, but a product category,” Polinsky says. “Balance matters.”
—Project Foundry: The traditional educational model of standardized lessons taught from textbooks to large groups of students was better suited to the 20th century American industrial economy. But as jobs shift toward more small-group projects and one-on-one interactions, teaching methods are also moving in that direction, says Project Foundry co-founder and product development director Shane Krukowski. The problem is, this new form of project-based learning and individual instruction “is a nightmare for teachers to manage,” he says.
Enter Project Foundry, which created software to help K-12 teachers and students manage project planning, reporting, and assessment. The software provides teachers a snapshot of what students are working on and lets them drill down into the details. On the other side, students can track completion of tasks, attach results of a project, and take a self-assessment at the end of an assignment.
The software costs between $19 and $25 per student per year. Project Foundry is generating $250,000 in annual sales by serving more than 100 schools in 25 states. Now, the company intends to boost its sales and marketing and hire more staff, including a director of sales, Krukowski says.
—Stock Manufacturing Co.: Stock’s business is a 21st century rarity: an American-made clothing brand. Yep, Stock is designing and manufacturing high-end menswear in a 50-year-old Chicago factory owned by one of the startup’s co-founders. But Stock’s strategy is to sell its products directly to consumers online, which allows it to “hack the retail supply chain” and charge considerably less than comparable brands, co-founder and CEO Jim Snediker says. And the company is paying its workers a living wage, he adds.
Prior to going through Gener8tor’s program, Stock was bootstrapped, Snediker says. The company has achieved more than $400,000 in revenue since February 2013, with minimal spending on marketing, he says.
