Under the Radar Showcase Attracts Nearly 400 Decision Makers

Dealmaker Media delivered on its “deal-maker” promise as it brought together nearly 400 entrepreneurs, innovators, industry experts and investors from Silicon Valley—and beyond to forge partnerships and alliances.

Under the Radar, the 18th annual tech innovation conference, took place at facility on Thursday, Nov. 10.

The conference opened with Fast Pitch, where eight start-ups pitched to the VentureBeat Executive Editor Dylan Tweney, Topix CEO Chris Tolles, Anthem Worldwide Senior Vice President Mark Silva and Christine Lagorio, executive editor of Inc.com.

Norwegian based online time tracker company, Yast took the top spot as CEO Halvor Gregusson "rocked it," with what the judges called a "killer presentation." The company 71 lbs.com, which that hopes to "revolutionize the way businesses handle their shipping," stood its ground with a respectable second place.

Thereafter participating companies were divided into categories–Talent 2.0, Retail 2.0, Measurement, Back Office, Engagement, Sales Operations and Customers in the Door–which were then evaluated by a panel of judges and the audience. With six minutes to pitch and eight minutes of Q&A, the passionate entrepreneurs took center stage.

The top honors went to the recently launched and innovative San Francisco-based Tagtile. Tagtile helps local businesses engage with their customers as consumers tap their smartphones against an interesting hardware device called "Tagtile Cube."

It was a clean sweep for automated e-commerce platform and provider of real time pricing information, BlackLocus, in the Engagement session, who also won the overall Audience Choice. Also on the e-commerce side, Palo Alto-based Slice cracked Retail 2.0 segment with its solution that automatically tracks, organizes and manages purchases, helping shoppers stay organized.

Field sales and service automation solution provider, Salespod pulled it off in the Sales Operations category. All the way from Croatia, and excited to be in the Valley, the four-member team told Patch about the the stark contrast in the business landscape and opportunity between the two countries.

Other winners were SteelHouse, TribeHR, BetterWorks, Expensify, myERP and ThinkNear.

Among the 29 presenters were Mountain View-based RewardMe, GinzaMetrics, and . graduate, VidYard that provides an online video platform for businesses, also participated.

Judge on the Talent 2.0 panel, Scott McMullan, a senior product manager at expressed his "Like" for the presenter companies with a "+1."

Partnerships and go-to markets played on his mind, as he carefully evaluated pitches.

“Good companies have a way of making themselves heard,” he said.