Startup Monday

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

An Arlington company is attempting to eliminate human error from accounting by focusing more on technology and less on accountants.

Bookkeeping Express, or BKE, is using technology to eliminate as much human touch as possible when it comes to accounting, said CEO Keith Mueller.

“We start with the premise that no data should get into the ledger by someone typing it in,” Mueller said.

Technology is more reliable, and it helps drive the cost down. It is also what sets BKE apart from other accounting firms, he said, adding that he could not go into detail about the business model due to privacy policies.

In general, the company is replacing the traditional roles at an accounting firms with people with computer science backgrounds. Where accounting firms use humans to report and calculate data, one could expect a computer program at BKE.

The accounting company uses cloud-based technology, meaning data can be accessed anywhere instead of on a desktop computer.

“Our BKE applications are all cloud-based to drive client interactions no matter where or when they need access,” Mueller said. “This allows our clients to be more efficient, save time and also allows for easy sharing of data with our team of experts and the client where and when we both require it.”

Traditionally, businesses use desktop applications to do accounting, he said, adding that costs accrue from constantly updating software. Introducing technology to accounting has worked well for the Ballston-based company, Mueller said.

“We’re using technology to eliminate literally all the data,” Mueller said.

He added using technology allows the company to keep the costs down and many franchises use the accounting firm because it provides a good quality service at a lower price.

Among some of its clients are big name chains like Five Guys, Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and Great Clips.

“From a franchisee perspective, we deliver good books at a good cost,” Mueller said.

BKE provides accounting services, including data entry and reporting, as well as expense and payroll management for each of its clients. In addition to its general services, the company provides individualized consulting and accounting features based on different industries.

For example, for gyms, spas and salons, BKE can provide membership revenue tracking and a bookkeeper who specializes in the industry. For quick-service restaurants like Five Guys and Auntie Anne’s, the company can help the franchisees with profit and loss statements, among other services.

Having an office in Arlington has helped the company expand its technological accounting services, Mueller said. The company also draws from the local applicant pool provided by nearby colleges.

“We love being in Arlington,” he said.”Great location. Great restaurants. Lots of talent.”

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

A new app is aiming to help people with chronic illness lead healthier lives through a set of games where participants earn money for meeting goals.

With BushyTail Health, people with chronic illnesses will be able to wager money that they will be able to complete a personal goal in six months. Those who cannot accomplish the goal forfeit their money, but those who achieve their goal get their money back plus an extra bonus, said co-founder Dr. Jason Hoefling, an anesthesiologist at Georgetown University Hospital.

With chronic illnesses, people often don’t feel sick so they become less compliant, said co-founder and Arlington resident Dr. George Hwang, who’s also an anesthesiologist at Georgetown.

“It is hard to make people recognize that they are sick and scare tactics don’t work,” he said.

With BushyTail, the doctors are relying on financial incentives and motivation to encourage people to lead healthier lifestyles. The app is still in its design phase but the co-founders hope to release it early next year, Hwang said. BushyTail Health is a startup under the 1776 incubator program in Crystal City with backing from MedStar Health.

To use BushyTail, players will download the free app and set a personal goal. The app will connect them with other people who have similar goals or illnesses to create a game. A pot of money will be created from each of the participants’ wagers. If everyone completes their goal, they each walk away with the same amount of money they put in. If someone drops out or fails to achieve their goal, the remaining players will walk away with their money plus a cut of the leftover money.

Goals will be set so that they are attainable for each person and BushyTail will offer support and help, giving the participants a good chance of earning their money, Hoefling said.

“The entire experience is not designed to take money from people for the company,” he said.

The participants are given complete control over whether they complete a goal or not, such as losing weight or keeping their blood sugar level at good numbers, said

“This game is not gambling because you have all the control in the world,” Hoefling said.

Participants will be able to link the app to their lab results from lab services like Quest or LabCorp so that the data supporting their progress is objective and prevents a “fudge factor,” Hwang said.

“It is pretty unique that we’re using lab data, but its what separates from other apps,” he said.

The idea behind BushyTail is based on research, Hoefling said, adding that medical research suggests that the best way to change human behavior is through financial incentives and motivation.

“We encourage people to waiver an amount of money that will motivate them,” he said. “If it’s something that will hurt to lose, it’s more motivational.”

The doctors will be using the app to collect their own data on human behavior, looking to find information that can help physicians better treat people with chronic illnesses, Hoefling said.

“You’re obviously hoping to find what makes people better because it is so hard,” he said.

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

A startup based out of a Crystal City incubator is looking to help break down the cacophony of government abbreviations and acronyms.

Govlish, a startup out of Eastern Foundry, is a searchable online database of acronyms and abbreviations used by the state and federal governments.

“Govlish is a data-driven tool for navigating our government maze — the largest, most complex organization on the planet,” said founder Robert Mander.

The idea behind Govlish is that there are hundreds of thousands acronyms used by governments, both federal and state, and many times there are acronyms with multiple definitions.

For example, there are 14 different terms that are abbreviated to “CIP” in the government. For one department, it might mean “clean in place,” but another might use it for “College Intern Program.”

Finding what a specific term means and in the right context can take up to 30 minutes by using a Google search, but with Govlish it would take 25 seconds, Mander said.

“I learned very early on that you cannot understand the government without learning the government language,” he said.

Right now, people use Google to look up terms, and according to Google’s index for government term searches, 14 million people are searching different acronyms. Mander said he expects to capture the “lionshare” of the people once he launches Govlish.

The idea for Govlish came from Mander’s experience as a technical writer for the government. He had collected lists of the different acronyms and abbreviations he did not know, and noticed he wasn’t alone.

“I’ve been to hundreds of meetings and no one does that [ask what a term means],” Mander said. “No one wants to admit they don’t know something.”

With Govlish, people will be able to look up the acronyms during a meeting in a private manner, allowing them to follow along with a meeting, he added.

People can also look up the different acronyms under departments by using tracing features.

Once launched, there will be three different user plans, Mander said. One will be access to an app, or a “cheat sheet,” meant for the casual user, most likely with a $0.99 access fee.

The app will allow people to search different acronyms, or if a term is a true acronym, the app will pronounce the word.

One example would be the Freedom of Information Act, which goes by the word FOIA and pronounced as a word instead of individual letters. Users could either speak “FOIA” into the app or search “FOIA” and have the app pronounce the word and explain what it means, Mander said.

Govlish also offers a website and data sets, both which would be paid for on a subscription basis, Mander said. Those who buy access to the website or the data sets, will be able to use the app for free.

Mander plans to provide a subscription model for nonprofits, government contractors and schools, he said.

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

(Updated at 3:55 p.m.)An Arlington resident has created a new way to play fantasy football.

Rishi Nangia is the CEO of Syde, an app that gives people a new, simpler way to play daily fantasy sports by providing the teams for the players instead of making them create each side from scratch.

“We want to give people a vehicle for people to have fun with fantasy sports without being bogged down by needing to have a full team or roster,” Nangia said.

Traditional season long fantasy sports require people to build up a fantasy sports team and follow athletes over the regular season. With daily fantasy sports games, like Syde, players are responsible for single games.

“We offer the same excitement that you get over 22 weeks in one day,” Nangia said.

Syde makes fantasy sports simple, Nangia said, so that anyone can use the app.

The app provides the two fantasy teams for each game, or “sydes.” Each “syde” is equally-matched and can consist of a full team or just a couple of players, Nangia said.

“We present you with two sides of the equation, A or B, and we ask you which side you think will win,” he said.

Nangia has a team dedicated to coming up with the different “sydes” so that each “have the look [and] feel of [equality],” he said.

“I don’t think its a process that is repeatable by anyone else,” Nagia said.

The team also works to make sure that matchups are not repeated.

“We don’t repeat in any week and we try not to repeat in any consecutive week,” Nangia said. “So if we play Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, you probably won’t see that for the rest of the season.”

Players made a $5 bet for each game and can win $9. In the future, Nangia said he hopes to give more options for bets in the app’s future.

By providing the teams for the players, Syde makes fantasy sports easier to play, he said, adding that people don’t have to worry that they have all the required athletes for a team if they are handed the two options.

“We want to keep this open to everyone,” Nangia said. “And we’re finding more and more that people are playing with less knowledge about NFL.”

Syde offers a new game every day, but games might not always be resolved in a day, he said.

For example, if one “syde” was Tom Brady and the other Peyton Manning, the game would be resolved after each quarterback played that week.

Currently the app can only offer one game, regardless of how many sports are in season. In the future, Nangia said he would like to offer at least one game per sports and offer games that would combine athletes from different sports for games.

Nangia would also like to give players the option of customization, he said. Once that is added, players would be able to set up the two “sydes” and offer the games to their friends or any app users.

“If a user creates a game, for another person to accept the other side, it has to be even,” Nangia said.

The company is mostly Arlington based, with the app “created, so to speak, out of my garage,” he said. Living in Arlington has contributed to the app’s success because of the strong talent pool that lives in and around the county.

“I think the talent pool is second to none in Arlington,” Nangia said.

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

It’s no secret that Arlington is home to dozens of startups and more than a few incubators.

Inc., a magazine covering business and entrepreneurship, recently identified three reasons as to why Arlington is attracting so many startups to the area: location, talent pool and access to government resources.

Arlington’s location gives startups the big city feel without many of the traffic hassles. It also gives better access to the Dept. of Defense, which is among the largest of potential customers, Anna Hensel writes.

The proximity to the federal government is one of the top reasons Arlington is attractive to defense and technology startups, said Geoff Orazem, the founder of incubator Eastern Foundry in Crystal City.

Startups backed by Eastern Foundry are often looking for federal grants or contracts, and having the access to the Pentagon or other areas of the federal government makes it easier to secure funding, Orazem said.

“Working in the federal government requires a lot of relationships,” he said.

Arlington and startup incubators in the county provide various ways for companies to network, said Cara O’Donnell, spokeswoman for Arlington Economic Development.

“The networking opportunity is excellent here as well — this is where startups can meet the individuals that can give them their big break, whether it’s through initiatives like TandemNSI, pitch competitions or workshops through our BizLaunch program,” she said.

Being so close to D.C. also means access to mass transit and to three different airports. Startup founders and employees can easily hop on the Metro to travel to and from D.C. and the proximity to Reagan National Airport, as well as Dulles Airport and Baltimore Washington International, is helpful for companies requiring travel.

When startups are first starting, the public transit can help cut down living costs. But for the most part, being able to go car-free or having access to an airport are added bonuses and not necessary for a startup’s growth, Orazem said.

There are some Arlington startups that need the access to the airport, which makes the county’s location a prime destination. Ingo and mProve Health, two companies in Arlington credit the access to airports as one of the reasons the companies set up shop here. Both require travel as they both have multiple international clients.

Arlington is located in area with numerous colleges. Although Arlington is only home to one university — Marymount — there are several key satellite campuses here.

“In Arlington startups also have access to unprecedented university research and opportunities to connect with federal defense and research agencies — the very agencies that seek high-tech businesses to build on top secret technology,” O’Donnell said.

D.C., Maryland and Virginia universities also provide a rich pool of talent for whom Arlington is an attractive first post-college home. Inc. noted that 71 percent of Arlington residents ages 25 and up held a bachelor’s degree. A strong talent pool is important for startups, Orazem said, adding that to build a startup, entrepreneurs need a good team, a good idea and capital.

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Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

An software company born out of an Arlington-based research lab says it has the solution for stopping certain types of large computer hacks, such as the recent federal Office of Personal Management hack.

Invincea helps prevent information leaks and hacks by protecting companies from human error.

Hackers commonly use “spear phishing,” which is when a hacker sends an email to an unsuspecting that appears to be from someone they know, with a link containing malicious code. The virus only enters the computer when the person who receives the email clicks on the link, said Invincea CEO Anup Ghosh.

“October is cybersecurity month. And you’ll see a lot of software companies telling their employees, ‘hey, don’t click on suspicious link.’ But the reality is employees will always click on links, they’ll always open attachment,” Ghosh said. “Not because they are bad, but because they don’t know.”

Invincea was born out of Ghosh’s first venture, a research and development company that later became Invincea Labs. Ghosh was working with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) on the first company when he noticed that most computer attacks came in the forms of links in emails.

Ghosh built the software while he was a faculty member at George Mason University and started Invincea. The main company, Invincea, has its headquarters in Fairfax, while the original research and development company, Invincea Labs, operates out of Ballston.

The name Invincea came out of the software’s ability to stop threats that other antivirus programs do not, Ghosh said.

“I think it represents our core values in the product which is its meant to signal strength,” he said. “That our product can protect from any threat.”

Invincea works to protect data two different ways. The first is a preventative measure.

When an employee clicks on a link in a spear phishing email, Invincea’s software isolates the code and examines it in a virtual space. The software looks at the code to see if there is anything dangerous, and if there is, it destroys the virus, Ghosh said.

“When it comes to spear phishing, which is how they get on the network, security is depending on users,” he said. “They depend on user to not click the link, which we know does not happen.”

However, for many customers, the computers are already compromised by a virus when they hire Invincea.

“Once we identify a machine as compromised, we will quarantine that machine from the enterprise network,” Ghosh said.

By quarantining the computer, Invincea’s software prevents the virus from hopping to other computers on the network and accessing data, he said.

Invincea’s software can stop hacks like the OPM leak or the attack on Target, which leaked personal information from thousands of customers. Attacks like these happen all the time and in all types of sectors, including government and retail, Ghosh said.

“Every single day, Invincea stops sophisticated threats that most security networks don’t,” he said.

Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

(Updated at 2:40 p.m.) Arlington is now home to a new startup competition with a prize of $15,000 and a trip to China.

The Dongsheng-ACBridge Cup U.S. Entrepreneurship Competition is hosted by the Dongsheng Science and Technology Park and Dao Ventures, a China-based company that looks to help small to mid-sized startups, and is co-sponsored by Arlington Economic Development.

“This competition will bring early/seed-stage or growth stage technology companies from around the globe together to pitch their products and services for the chance at cash prizes, significant investments and mentoring, and the chance for free office space in one of China’s top accelerators,” Dao Ventures said in a statement.

Early-stage startups with an international focus are encouraged to pitch their companies for the chance to win $15,000 and a chance to represent the United States in a global competition held in China. Winners of the global competition will receive $160,000 and the chance to bring the company to China.

Companies can submit applications until Nov. 6, and the top three U.S. companies will be selected on Nov. 13. Dao Ventures will hold the awards ceremony on Dec. 2 at the Arlington Economic Development building (1100 N. Glebe Road).

Companies will be evaluated on the company’s likelihood of succeeding, how its product or service helps solve a larger problem and the company’s potential growth.

Dongsheng and Dao Ventures — which has offices in Reston — decided to host the U.S. competition in Arlington after considering other D.C. area locales because of support from the county, said Mark Marangella, a spokesman with Dao Ventures. He added that AED Director Victor Hoskins’ knowledge of and experience in China helped win over Dongsheng.

“Having the opportunity to collaborate with one of the largest technology accelerators in China speaks volumes to the work we are doing internationally and the interest we are drawing from around the globe in the technology space,” Hoskins said.

The competition is the first of its kind, Marangella said, adding that Dongsheng Science and Technology Park has not held a competition in the United States before.

“Our objective at the end of the day is to create jobs,” he said.

By participating in the competition, companies have the chance to network with global companies, including those in China, and also get media attention. Even if a company does not advance to the final rounds, Dao Ventures is aiming to help companies find more networking and funding opportunities, Marangella said.

“The ones that are going to stand out, as you can imagine, are the ones with unique and compelling technology,” he said.

Competition logo courtesy of AED, Dongsheng Science and Technology and Dao Ventures