Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco Announces Launch Pad Finalists

O'Reilly Media, Inc. and UBM TechWeb, co-producers of Web 2.0 Expo, Web 2.0 Summit, Gov 2.0 Expo and Gov 2.0 Summit, today announced the five companies chosen to participate in this year's Launch Pad, sponsored by Elance and supporting sponsor, Zoosk. Launch Pad is a program designed to spotlight new products or technologies to the Web 2.0 market and will take place during Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco at the Moscone West Convention Center, happening May 3-7, 2010. For more information visit: www.web2expo.com/sf.

The five finalists were selected from over 80 submissions based on their innovation and value to market. Each finalist will present for five minutes in front of Web 2.0 Expo's audience and judging panel of industry experts who will provide real-time feedback. Web 2.0 Expo's panel of judges includes: Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb, Dave McClure of 500 Hats and Ellen Pack of Elance. Brady Forrest, Web 2.0 Expo Co-Chair, will emcee the program.

"We want to congratulate Launch Pad finalists for their innovation in the Web 2.0 market," said Brady Forrest, Web 2.0 Expo Co-Chair. "This year's Launch Pad competition received over 80 submissions and the industry enthusiasm of all participating companies is notable. Judges selected companies that are transforming the market and will demonstrate promising applications relevant to the Web 2.0 Expo audience."

The following five companies will present at Web 2.0 Expo's Launch Pad on Wednesday, May 5 at 1:15 pm:

  --  AskYourTargetMarket.com: is a self-service target market research
      platform that includes a built-in consumer panel to answer surveys on
      demand
  --  Pearltrees: is a social curation tool that gives users a social way to
      organize, discover and share stuff they like on the Web
  --  Rhomobile: provides mobility solutions for the enterprise and creates
      cross-platform native applications for all major smartphones
  --  Strings: a social tracking and filtering platform to enable consumers
      to share and discover experiences that are meaningful and relevant to
      them
  --  Stupeflix: the Stupeflix Play platform transforms pages static content
      into engaging videos, on-the-fly

Additionally, Startup Weekend is an event where individuals come together to build a product and sometimes a company in two short days. A winner is chosen at the end of the event and this year's Launch Pad will include that winner on stage along with the five selected Launch Pad finalists.

A People's Choice Winner will be announced on-site at Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco. Audience members will be asked to vote for their top choice based on the demos. Votes will be tabulated in real-time and projected live on screen. All presenters are Launch Pad winners and benefit from the instantaneous feedback provided by the judging panel and the audience.

To learn more about the 2010 Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco or register visit: http://www.web2expo.com/sf

For articles, blogs, photos, videos, and speaker presentation files from Web 2.0 Expo SF 2009, see: http://www.web2expo.com/webexsf2009/

To read the O'Reilly Radar, visit: http://radar.oreilly.com/

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About UBM TechWeb

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its three core businesses - media solutions, marketing services and paid content -UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands and media applications in the technology market. More than 14 million business and technology professionals (CIOs and IT managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software Developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively engage in UBM TechWeb's communities and information resources monthly. UBM TechWeb brands include: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and Enterprise Connect; award-winning online resources such as InformationWeek, Light Reading, and Network Computing; and market-leading InformationWeek, Wall Street & Technology, and Advanced Trading magazines. UBM TechWeb is a UBM company, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

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