We recently had the chance to chat with Nathan Roth, CEO of Badger Media Inc. about their upcoming release of Badger, a new app that lets users share photos around interests. The app in itself is something completely new and innovative in the ever growing sea of social picture sharing applications, that for the most part don’t do much aside from sharing photos. Badger is different, it creates communities around the interests that people have, and lets people connect though their common likes, and more importantly in this social-location oriented market also around place.

How did you come up with the idea for your company?

I was at ITP and a former iteration of Badger was my thesis project. We thought about icons, what they mean, and how to initiate new behaviors around those icons. Especially with the ever growing prominence of mobile technologies we saw a great possibility not only in fostering conversation, but also human interactions around those things that people find most important to them. We looked at varying icons, and eventually settled on badges due to their deep rooted significance in western culture.

Any milestones that you’d like to share?

Yes, after building the initial prototype of Badger, we headed down to South by Southwest, a festival in Austin TX, to see if the platform could gain any clout. At the time we only had very limited MMS functionality, and the entire submission process was archaic in comparison to what we have today. It was enough however to get us into a Tech Stars affiliated program and brought us to where we are today, on the brink of app launch.

Can you tell us a bit about the team?

Sure, it’s composed of three guys including myself. None of us really knew how to code when we started this project, but the thing about coding is it’s pretty logical, and we just started hacking at it. I think the team is well balanced overall, as it’s myself, I have a background in anthropology, Oscar, who I met at ITP, he ample agency and graphic design experience, and J, who brought the whole business side of things to team. The funny thing is we all contribute to the technology in different ways, but really have no formal training.

Any advice to pass on to budding entrepreneurs?

Just go for it, if you don’t know how to do something, just learn it, and if you think your product isn’t ready for launch, launch anyway, you can always make adjustments as you go along the way, but one thing for certain is, plan, not for others, but for yourself. We didn’t plan in the beginning and it definitely set us back a bit.

Badger will be launching their iOS App very soon, so be sure to check them out, and spread the word on this great and innovative new startup out of NYC.

Link: http://playbadger.com
Twitter: @playbadger
iTunes App – Badger *

Consumer internet is still the hottest US VC investment category, swiftly followed by clean tech and energy

The sector was voted the hottest growth area in the industry with 73.5% of those VCs polled backing it. Cleantech and energy is the second hottest growth area in the venture capital industry, according to more than half of (53.1 per cent) venture capital executives, third place goes to Internet Marketing with 40.8%.

Perhaps the question for those hunting more innovative products and business models at better valuations is whether they should be following this trend? Although it is a positive sign for early stage growth companies whose investors are looking to exit in upcoming fundraising rounds.

Overall, the annual study’s results indicate optimism in the venture capital scene compared to previous years. Over half, 56 per cent, of US venture capital executives are more confident and optimistic about the industry today, compared to a year ago when an overwhelming number of executives felt the industry was ‘broken’.

The survey found executives to be split down the middle when it comes to which geographical region currently represents the area of hottest investment opportunities, with 42 per cent indicating the east coast, namely Boston and New York, and 42 per cent Silicon Valley.

Seventy-one per cent of respondents are not worried about new deals and 72.9 per cent indicate they expect to see a steady deal-flow over the next six months.

When asked to identify which functional trends they were most concerned about, 62 per cent of the executives indicated they were very worried about the uncertain return of exit markets.

The survey also asked how the tax legislation on carried interest will impact the venture business and 46 per cent indicated it will have a major negative impact, while 16 per cent believe a ‘work around’ will be found.

This (second) annual VC survey was undertaken by Polachi Inc, a provider of Access Executive Search, canvassing VC executives across the US of which more than 98% are partners or managing partners.

In January we covered Europe’s top 10 entrepreneurial friendly cities, today we hop across the Atlantic and visit America, and while Silicon Valley, Boston and New York may all pop into mind as the de-facto places to start, we have some very interesting revelations. Sit back, and enjoy.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

Say what? Yes. North Carolina, not only is there plenty of activity in the technology scene here but there is also a local push from government, and universities to foster entrepreneurship in NC.

Pros: The NC Research Triangle is a hub of activity for Linux, SAS, IBM among other initiatives.
Cons: People may make fun of you when you tell them you live in one of the Carolinas.
Strange Fact: Chances are you may find more native New Yorkers in NC, than in NYC.

Boston, Massachusetts

Will refrain from making any Boston accent jokes here, but Boston is undoubtedly a hub for entrepreneurial activity. With MIT and Harvard both being in earshot of each other, and entrepreneurship activity coming in from a multitude or sectors, you can rest assured that Boston is not a place to start your company, be it biotech, or software.

Pros: Wealth of activity in research coupled with a multitude of initiatives makes Boston a great location to start a business.
Cons: Strange accents, and clicky locals. It’s been said that making local friends in Boston is not the easiest thing in the world.
Strange Fact: Whatever you do, don’t wear a Yankees shirt/hat to a Boston outing or bar. We warned you.

San Francisco Bay Area, California

Like Boston, this place has got it all, Universities, Research, Software, Biotechnology, Venture Capital, the whole 9 yards and a great healthy lifestyle to boot.

Pros: With all the activity in Silicon Valley it’s no surprise that the world looks at this little piece of California for inspiration, it’s the place European Startups go to when Europe fails its leading innovators.
Cons: SV is not the epicenter that it once was, other hubs have popped up around the U.S. which offer entrepreneurs and more mature companies the same or very similar benefits as SV
Strange Fact: If you lose a prototype product in a bar, chances are you’ll wind up swimming with the fishes. Collective Intelligence is very very very important here.

New York, New York

The concrete jungle where dreams are made of has its ups and downs. Typically a financial and media hub, NY has made strides in the past few years to become more appealing to entrepreneurs, and even boasts some great entrepreneurship initiatives from the city gov, i.e. all the stuff at the Levin Institute.

Pros: There is a lot of money, there are a lot of unemployed execs and financiers who can help get your startup to where it needs to be. Networking is great here.
Cons: Let’s face it, New York is not a cheap place to live, and the locals (at least those who haven’t moved to N.C) may be hard to come by.
Strange Fact: New York loves media, be they newspapers, new channels, blogs, what have you some of the nations biggest media companies are based here. If your startup is media focused. Well….

Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Minnesota

Makes up one of the leading medical device clusters in the U.S. and rank in the top 10 biotechnology centers in the U.S.A.

Pros: Cost of living is relatively cheap compared to the other cities on this list, which as a startup you know is a key factor to keeping you going when in the early stages.
Cons: Unless you’re focused on the biotech market, not much here in the way of media, web/mobile, clean tech space, and it’s cold.
Strange Fact: When a man meets a cow in Minnesota, he is required by law to remove his hat. Seriously.

Tomorrow we round out the 10 places to start your company in the U.S. – so be sure to check back.