Jose Cayasso (Caya) is no stranger to the startup scene. Or to putting together winning presentation materials. Caya founded Saborstudio, a creative content company, and their first startup – an iOS game called Pota-Toss – was a Kickstarter-funded project, released to the App Store on October 2012 to outstanding reviews (the game also came out of DreamIt). Caya was named as a one of the 40 Under 40 Costa Rican Innovators of the Year by El Financiero Newspaper; and an Innovation Champion by the Costa Rican Ministry of Science and Technology; and he was also invited to speak at the 2013 TEDx Joven PuraVida Conference in Costa Rica.
In other words, he knows something about how to put together a winning presentation, wouldn’t you say? He and the crew just joined the latest class of DreamIt New York’s startups and their mission this time around: to make it easier for you to focus on your presentation content while Slidebean will handle the rest. Beautifully. Caya is here to give us the full picture.
Tell us about the decision to apply to DreamIt Accelerator.
DreamIt is considered one of the top accelerators in the world. I had the chance to experience DreamIt a few years ago with a previous startup, and I believe that the value that they bring is truly valuable, so I didn’t hesitate to apply again with this new product.
Tell us about your product or service.
Slidebean is a super easy to use, web-based presentation app.
How is it different?
By separating the content creation from the design, and taking care of the latter automatically, we are saving our users hours of work in generating beautiful slides. Furthermore, all the content in Slidebean is easily indexed by Google, resulting in a lot of traffic for us, thanks to the content generated by our users.
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
Over 35 million PowerPoint presentations are delivered every single day. However, we are initially focusing on the Academic sector, which has found a big added value in how efficient Slidebean is.
What is the business model?
Slidebean is free and will remain free forever. Some premium features are available for some users.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within 6 months?
The tool will be launched within the first month of DreamIt Ventures, and we will be focusing on growing the use of the app within the NY startup community. We intend to open a round towards the end of the program.
If you could be put in touch with one investor in the New York community, who would it be and why?
We’re not fundraising at the moment, but we’re working hard to reach out to Esther Dyson because of her portfolio, quite related to productivity apps.
What is your take on the current scene in New York today?
I believe the NY scene can compete with the Austin and Boulder tech scenes, and it has the potential to be even larger.
How will being in NYC help your startup?
Our team is originally from Costa Rica, where the startup scene is only beginning to appear. Having the chance to play in the startup big leagues can be a key differentiator for us, as well as giving us the chance to bring some of that knowledge and culture home.
Where’s your new favorite place to hang out downtown?
Washington Square Park.
