What's Up Doc?

Perhaps you've heard of this one because they started in New York City. And although this health care booking site is already in a few other places (LA being the most recent one), they have just unveiled that they are ready to cover most of the country. ZocDoc is a too-simple-to-be-true website that lets you find same-day dentist or doctor appointments in just one click. All you need to provide is your zip code and insurance company and voilà! A list of available doctors and appointment times comes up and all it takes is one more click to book.

Founded: 2007
Website: zocdoc.com
Blog: blog.zocdoc.com
Twitter: @zocdoc

Signing Bonus Without Getting Hired

Think that your friends are a lot more qualified for jobs than you are? No problem. Just refer them to one of the companies looking for candidates at TopProspect and get paid up to $20,000! By connecting your Linkedin account to this website, TopProspect matches your connections (based on their experience and skills) with available job offers and all you have to do is suggest them for the job. If the company ends up hiring your friend, they send you a check ranging from $10,000-$20,000, and believe it or not, they are happy to do it. You wouldn't even imagine how much money is actually spent in the recruiting process (try $8 billion a year).

As a member you can build a reputation for being good at referring people, and that's when the true value of the company comes in. This is because as a business, can you really trust these referrals more than any other resume submission? Some people think so, I don't; probably why TopProspect still isn't taking any cuts from these "referral bonuses."

Funded: 2010
Website: topprospect.com
Twitter: @topprospect

Luxury At Your Fingertips

 

Uber is an application that lets you book a private black car straight from your Apple or Android phone. The app recognizes your location and can send you a car in 5-10 minutes! It's as simple as that. No dealing with money, no need to tip and the best part, the full service costs less than the average black car. The fare is $8.00 (base) + $4.90 (per mile) + $1.25 (idle minute). Even the 5-10 minute can't hurt because Uber lets you track the incoming car via G.P.S. So what's the catch then? The company only operates in San Francisco at the moment. However, TechCrunch reported today that they have just received $11 million in financing valuing them at $60 million. Translation: expect Uber to be coming to your local metropolis very soon.

Founded: 2010
Website: uber.com
Blog: blog.uber.com
Twitter: @uber

A Million Dollar Idea

Perhaps not a new idea if you have heard of The Million Dollar Homepage. This, however, does not make StartupsWall.com any less functional. The idea in a nutshell: you can purchase (for $1 a pixel) space on their home page (a.k.a: "the wall") and your company logo, text, or whatever you want to use to represent your business will be displayed on the ad space acquired.

StartupsWall claims to have a team of very good marketers and professional SEO gurus. If this is the case then this is a good way for any new business to market themselves on what could become a good source of traffic (the Million Dollar Homepage gets around 30,000 page views every day!). As for the company founders, this is a simple enough way to make a quick $1,000,000.

Founded: 2011
Website: startupswall.com
Twitter: @startupswall

More Power, More Songs

Spins.fm is simple yet clever. When I'm not living in New York City and I actually need to drive a car to get to places, the radio becomes the most essential feature of my journey, followed by the seat belts of course. And thanks to the founders of Spins.fm anybody can now send song requests straight from their phones to any of the local radio stations. Just type the name of any song/artist and this site will give you a list of all of the nearby stations with the option to generate an automatic facebook or twitter song request on their pages. Not bad as long as you do it on a red light. But then again, who isn't an expert at texting while driving?

The site also gives you the option to "like" or "follow" the radio station benefiting everyone involved.

Founded: 2010
Website: spins.fm
Facebook
Twitter: @spinsfm

Rent Made Simple

I will dedicate my first post to the winner of the Pitch.co challenge; a contest that gave $50,000 (and a free .co domain name) to the company pitch that received the most votes on the site. The winner was Rentcycle.

Rentcycle.com is a website that allows you to search, compare and rent numerous items in a specified location all from one place. This is a very interesting idea since (believe it or not) there weren't many simple sites out there that provided this service. When we think of renting, we usually think of cars, DVD's or apartments. However, in this site you can rent iPhones, textbooks, solar panels for your house, designer dresses, Christmas trees and yes, even pets. So no need to get stuck with an old lifeless dog when you can just keep renting puppies for life.

The company has done a great job at creating a very simple and convenient interface (with maps and lots of images) for users and also businesses who can promote and rent their products from the same location.

Founded: 2009
Website: rentcycle.com
Blog: blog.rentcycle.com
Facebook: /rentcycle
Twitter: @rentcycle