Here’s a short Q&A with Chris Tonog.

What inspired you to launch your product/service

Like many startups, Getset was built to scratch my own itch. Many times cost was the primary factor in how I decided my method of travel. Calculating the cost of driving, looking up and entering my destination was pretty cumbersome, so I built a site that automates this for you, and provides the information in an easy to understand manner.

How are you making money (or how will you make money in the future)?

In the forseeable future, affiliate fees and advertising. However, we’re definitely looking into more unique and value added business models.

Where do you see your product/service within a year?

Providing more travel methods (train), more accurate prices, as well as allowing users to change their settings.

Are you self-funded?

Yes.

URL: www.getsetapp.com

The conjunction of mobile computing and cloud-based services will unleash an entire new wave of product and market growth. At this year’s conference, we’ll show you how cloud computing and mobile web will create the beginning of further opportunity.

The success of touch based tablet devices is likely to see the addition of millions of new subscribers in markets already considered saturated. Then add to that base a new legion of machines as subscribers – your car, your fridge, your TV for example, and you have the makings of a vast new opportunity.We will examine what it means to have wireless broadband speeds at the Gigabit scale and how the proliferation of hardware forms beyond traditional handsets create new opportunities, for entrepreneurs, investors and consumers.

Register today and you can learn about:

• What the “mobile cloud” will do for innovating new services and products
• How new wireless broadband networks will enable consumer adoption of cloud services for mobile
• What impacts touch devices and new form factors are having on markets
• Where the opportunities are for Internet-connected objects – “The Internet of Things” or M2M (Machine-to-machine)
• Which mobile monetization options are succeeding
• Why the architecture of new wireless networks will be linked to Cloud based services
• Which new mobile web technology areas are being funded and why

Discussion Topics Include:

App vs. Web

What’s a developer to do? Should they go for a native app based approach to their proposition or go for a web based approach? How will Cloud Computing and new wireless speeds affect the balance? The core debate is exciting, important and could dictate the future of the mobile web. Join us!

The Internet of Things

The M2M or “Internet of Things” proposition opens up a vast new array of opportunity for carriers, entrepreneurs and consumer experiences. We look at some of the biggest markets out there – medicine, consumer goods, automotive and more. We ask what needs to be done to catalyze the opportunity and what returns these markets will yield.

Monetizing Location Services

We see a flurry of investments in the location services space. But what will be the business models that provide both a revenue stream and a return on investment? Will it come from the sale of the apps themselves, coupons, advertisements or from the middleware layers that make such services possible? We gather some of the people tasked with the job of making location services pay to talk about what’s working and what’s not.

Handset Virtualization

With growing processor power and faster network speeds, handset virtualization is about to hit it’s stride. New services, user experiences and business models will be enabled by this technology. We examine what what new opportunity is being created from the intersection of higher bandwidth, powerful chips and handset virtualization.

Mobile Payments: Finally here?

Mobile payments have long been promised and indeed the potential is huge. Has its time for mass market success finally come? Are subscribers ready for mobile payments? Can app publishers use these new payment channels for new monetization models?

The VC Panel

Our annual VC panel will ask about 2010 investments and also ask what the 2011 investment plan looks like. Chips? Middleware? Apps? Media? Infrastructure? Find out as we ask 5 of the valleys finest investors where they are putting their money.

4G with 4 Wheels: The Automobile as an App Platform

Take an advanced car and add to it a powerful computer and display. Add fast wireless broadband and what do you have? A huge new rolling opportunity, that’s what! But it comes with an equally large number of questions: What new applications will this new platform support? What sort of consumer demand will it see? How will the market evolve? Who will have the dominant platform? What role will the smartphone play in the ecosystem? These and many other questions will be raised.

Please check the Mobilize website for an updated list of topics and speakers.

See Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, and Jason Calacanis, CEO of Mahalo.com, speak at the The Founder Showcase. This quarterly start-up pitch and networking event gathers over 300 investors, founders, and members of the press in Silicon Valley to network, hear talks from leading CEOs, and pitches from 10 hot technology start-ups. Over $1 million has been raised by presenting companies at previous Founder Showcase events. Tickets start at just $50, but space is very limited.

To register, go to www.FounderShowcase.com. Pajama Entrepreneur readers get 15% off by using discount code pajamas.

The Founder Showcase
Tuesday, 3 August 2010 3rd from 4 – 10pm
Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus, Mountain View CA
1065 La Avenida St.
Mountain View, CA 94043

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Hangchillparty is an online application that allows you to tell your friends if you’re down to hang out, down to chill or unavailable. You can tell your friends where you will be later and find out where your friends are right now and at a later time. The online application launched on 20 July 2010. The founders are Drew Sing and Eric DeBusschere based in Berkeley, California. I did a Q&A with Drew via email.

How do you describe Hangchillparty and why is it different from anything already out there?

In the old days, friends constantly texted to keep each other updated on when they would hang, chill, and party. Now, Hangchillparty is the easiest way to let all your friends know when you’re free to socialize. Simply signal your socializing status with a green, yellow, or red light. That’s all. If you want, let friends know who you’re with and what you’re doing. Join social signals to create real time social groups. Facebook, Twitter, or group text your friends with Hcp. When friends hang out, they Hangchillparty.

What inspired you to launch Hangchillparty?

We are two college students who are too lazy to constantly call and text friends. Instead of having to call and text friends individually, we wanted a more casual form of communication that allowed us to simply signal when we were free to socialize. We were inspired by how little friends actually hang out, and how much they spend sitting in front of a screen by themselves. We hope people are still interested in hanging out in real life.

How are you making money (or how will you make money in the future)?

Some sort of group coupon service since we organize spontaneous groups of any size. Collaborations with companies and brands that can benefit from our site and image.

Where do you see Hangchillparty within a year?

We see it as integral part of all college socializing. When friends want to hang out, they will simply signal instead of weave through their contacts, pick who to text, and wait for a response.

Are you self-funded?

Yes, we are self-funded by part-time on campus jobs and cheap living!

www.hangchillparty.com

sfbeta.com

Screenshot of Facebook store powered by Infused Palermo

Infused Palermo is an online service that allows merchants to sell their products on their Facebook page and through affiliate publisher networks. If you are a merchant, this is very handy because people who visit your Facebook page won’t have to leave to buy the products you offer. They can buy right on your Facebook page!  You can add a fully functioning store with inventory browsing, shopping cart, and checkout capabilities.

If you prefer to sell through affiliates, you can also give those affiliates a fully functioning store (not just a boring banner ad to click). This breaks the physiological click-off barrier to convert more eyes to buys. It also takes advantage of impulse buying behavior.

Infused Industries launched on 1 June 2010. The founders are Brian Cary, Michael Bender, Arthur Tew, and Andy Cary. They have offices in San Francisco and Raleigh, North Carolina.

You can view a demo of Infused Palermo working on a Facebook fan page.

* * * * *

Q&A with Brian Cary, co-founder of Infused Palermo

What inspired you to launch Infused Palermo?

Statistics have shown that regular display ads are becoming less effective in capturing clicks. We set off in July 2009 on a mission to create an ad platform that enables merchants of all sizes to combine their advertising and e-commerce efforts into an interactive experience for visitors on the web, and to change the way customers interact with brands online.

How are you making money (or how will you make money in the future)?

We charge a monthly fee based on customer’s requirements plus a metered commission on transactions processed through our store. We currently charge a setup fee to bring customers on board to cover integration costs and store management costs. We are working hard on popular integrations to significantly reduce, and in a lot of cases eliminate, the setup fee.

Where do you see your product/service within a year?

We see our product line being expanded into additional ad technology offerings, such as combining online video, social media integration (such as ‘Like this product’ and distribute the message to friends on various social networks), and group buying functionality with our e-commerce enabled advertising platform. We are in the process of releasing mass sign-up functionality and an API for retrieving orders, so in a year we should see creative uses of our technology across the web.

Are you self-funded?

Yes.

Zferral is an online service that allows companies, especially startups, to create their own affiliate and referral programs. What’s great about Zferral is that the service is free in the beginning and then you pay as you go. There are no contracts or initiation fees. The company was founded in 2010 by Jeff Epstein and Maciej Zawadzinski, It has offices in the US and Poland.

Q&A with Jeff Epstein

What inspired you to start Zferral?

We were inspired to launch Zferral because neither Maciej nor I could not find an affiliate or referral program that fit for our other startups.  We came across networks (which cost several thousand) and rigid out-of-the box affiliate programs yet we could not find what we wanted.  The harder we looked the more we realized there was a need for this software. We offer a custom solution with no upfront costs.  In addition, everyone starts with a free plan and just pay-as-you-grow.  We believe the goal of affiliate and referral marketing is to efficiently grow your business, this is difficult task when you must fork over several thousand dollars up front.

How are you making money?

We have monthly paid plans. In addition, every company will be able to start for free.  We are still in private beta and have not finalized our pricing structure.  We do guarantee that beta-users will receive a LIFETIME discount as long as we own the company.

Where do you see your service within a year?

We see zferral.com as being the most logical choice for companies to quickly and easily build affiliate and referral campaigns.

Are you self funded?

Yes.

Ringio is an online service that helps businesses (with between 5 to 50 employees) better handle phone calls from customers, partners, distributors, and suppliers. One might be tempted to call Ringio a virtual PBX or call routing system, but it is much better than that. It’s a “mobile” call center that is easy to set up, affordable and requires no hardware purchase.

Let’s say you have a small software company with two people handling tech support for customers and three people handling sales and distribution. These employees are mobile, meaning they are not always in the office and they answer their calls mostly via their mobile phones, even when they are in the office. You want to make sure that the calls are not misrouted and that there is always someone to either answer the call or immediately return it. And you want to make sure that the person returning the call knows what the call is about.

This is where Ringio comes in. It is easy to set up for different employees’ mobile phones to ring depending on whether a call comes in for tech support or for sales. Employees can see what kind of call it is and if the customer is already in the company’s address book or CRM system. They can see who is calling, together with a history of the customer’s dealings with the company.

Ringio has two applications: a Desktop App which runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (all using Adobe AIR) and Ringio Mobile, which runs on Android smartphones (see screenshot below).

Ringio has pre-built connectors into Google Contacts and Salesforce.com. Very soon, Ringio will work with other online CRM services like HighRise (37Signals).

The founders of Ringio – Sam Aparicio, Ashish Soni and Michael Zirngibl – have worked together for almost ten years in telephony. They started Angel.com, a provider of IVR and call center solutions. Their goal in creating Ringio is to save businesses and their customers from the horror of automated phone systems, without the high cost and complexity of a corporate PBX. That’s why they don’t require you to sign up for a long-term contract.

You can try Ringio for free for 30 days and if you like it, they charge your credit card once a month. You can cancel at any time and they will refund the prorated amount left in your last monthly charge. The fees are $99 per month for the first 4 users, and $25 for each additional user. That’s it. This is a very attractive service for businesses that want to control costs and refuse to put up with the complexity of most virtual PBX systems.

As of this writing, Ringio is mostly self-funded. They took a small amount of funding from friends and family. They are based in Herndon, Virginia with development teams in Spain and Germany. It is part of a larger trend called “Communications as a Service” (CaaS), similar to Software as a Service (Saas), which relies on cloud computing.