about 7 years ago

Get an advantage for the next $100K RootsTech Showdown

While we are busy getting the next RootsTech Showdown ready to announce soon, we have another special opportunity for you to consider.  RootsTech is hosting a Startup Weekend in the Salt Lake City area for developers, designers, and entrepreneurs. Put ideas into action and be part of actually building the foundation of a startup - all during this faced-paced 54 hour event. You can pitch your idea or join a team around another  idea. Network with others and learn what it takes to get a startup launched. Any project that is family history related is welcome, even if it mainly targets a differnt industry.

We…

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over 7 years ago

Announcing the winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of the RootsTech Innovator Showdown 2016.

  • 1st Place: TapGenes
  • 2nd Place: Studio
  • 3rd Place: Twile
  • People's Choice: Twile

Thank you to all who participated in this event! We are looking forward to next year!

The RootsTech Innovator Showdown Team


over 7 years ago

Announcing the finalists

We are pleased to announce the six finalists that were selected to move on to the final showdown taking place Friday. You can watch the event live at https://www.rootstech.org.

Thank you,

The RootsTech Innovator Showdown Team


over 7 years ago

Opportunity to present your project at BYU

RootsTech participants,

Here is a new opportunity you may be interested in that is open to all of you, regardless of whether you were selected as a semifinalist of the RootsTech Innovator Showdown.

Family History Technology Workshop

Brigham Young University (BYU) hosts a "Family History Technology Workshop" each year and have invited you to come present your project to those attendees.  This is held in Provo, Utah on Tuesday, Feb. 2nd, the day before RootsTech begins. In addition to their own event on Tuesday, BYU then has a session at RootsTech on Wednesday where they will highlight the best of what happened on Tuesday.…

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over 7 years ago

Announcing Semi-finalists!

We are proud to announce twelve semi-finalists that are coming to RootsTech to compete for $100,000 in total prizes.  

For those of you who did not make this list, we want to not only thank you for participating, but hope to see your projects progress. Judging so far has been very difficult, all the projects submitted have been impressive. At least one of the teams above was a submitter last year and are making the rounds again. Please keep at…

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almost 8 years ago

First round results

Here are the results of the first round of judging that our panel has completed. If you are on this list, you have moved into the next round wherein the 12 semi-finalists will be selected!

AncestorCloud
Arkiver
Briobi
EveryStory
Famicity
GenerationStory
GenSoup
Goze
JRNL
KID CHATTEROO
Kindex
Legacy Scribes
Little Family Tree
My Family App
Perspectives
PostcardTree
Scribbitt
Studio by Legacy Republic
TapGenes
The Family History Guide
The History Project
Tribergy
Twile
weGather

This is about half of the total submissions, so you are half way there!

To those of you not on this list... 

Some of you might…

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almost 8 years ago

One more day!

Tomorrow is the final day to get your submission in for the RootsTech Innovator Showdown.

Here are a few reminders.  

  • Important: You cannot edit your submission after the deadline. All videos, images, links, descriptions are final at 11:45 pm Mountain time, Dec. 1.
  • Be sure to include a video, maximum of 90 seconds. Additional videos can be supplied as a link in the 2nd page of the submission form for judges to access.
  • You can continue working on your project between now and the final round of judging in February, just be aware that the first rounds of…

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almost 8 years ago

Your video is key

We're on the final stretch here.  It is exciting to see the submissions coming in!  We will start publishing them this week.

Here are some important tips:

Your main video MUST be no longer than 90 seconds. Please do whatever it takes to come under this duration.  Longer videos will risk you being disqualified right in the first round of judging and screening.

You can submit additional videos of whatever duration and related content you want, by leaving links for the judges in the other fields on the 2nd page of the form, but that main video really must be…

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almost 8 years ago

What do you want — The money, the media attention or bragging rights?

What do you want — The money, the media attention or bragging rights?

You walk across the stage in front of thousands of people and some short little guy with a smooth voice hands you a check for $30,000. Elated? Of course! Ecstatic? You betcha!

I want you to stop and visualize the scenario above for just a second. $30,000 would mean you are the judge’s first choice AND the people’s choice in the RootsTech Innovator Showdown.

Second’s up!

With only 12 days left to submit an app, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’d do with the money if…

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almost 8 years ago

Get your project in front of investors!

Did you know?  Two of the judges we've announced so far are investors. Not only that, new this year, we are inviting a special VIP group of investors to attend RootsTech to get an inside look at the activity in the family history industry, and see your projects. 

Amy Rees Anderson is the CEO of REES Capital, an angel investment firm. She is also the founder of IPOP, a charity focused on helping promote, educate and perpetuate entrepreneurship.

David Bradford is Chairman of the Board of FluentWorlds.  He has experience running several companies, raising hundreds of millions of dollars in…

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almost 8 years ago

3 weeks to go! RootsTech Innovator Showdown

This is the first in a series of updates in the final weeks leading up to the RootsTech Innovator Showdown deadline. We are grateful for your interest and we're looking forward to making this a great event for all.

If you are still deciding whether to enter, here is some important information that may help.

Travel

We help with travel costs! Don't let this hold you back. If you make it to the semi-final round, we want you in Salt Lake City, Utah in February.  Here is an excerpt from the official rules about travel costs:

"All semi-finalists can receive

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about 8 years ago

Webinar on RootsTech Innovator Showdown

If you can, please join us for a webinar on the showdown.  Hosting this webinar is the director of the showdown who will offer some great insights on the industry as well as tips on how to do well in this challenge.

Date: Sep. 15, 2015

Time: 9:00 AM, Mountain Time

Linkhttps://meet.lds.org/orion/meeting/meetingInfo?MeetingKey=999799977

Meeting ID: 999 799 977

Dial In:  1-801-240-9700, or, 1855-537-4000

You won't need to dial in as long as your PC audio is working. You will be prompted to install the Cisco WebEx plugin.

The webinar will be recorded. If you miss it,…

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