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Talent Sprocket Earns Business Opportunity through Twitter Post
Hiring analytics company wins invite to Duke Entrepreneurship and Venture
Capital Conference through 140 character pitch.
LARGO, Fla. – (Nov. 7, 2011) – Talent Sprocket, an automated hiring solution company that
streamlines the candidate selection process, didn’t realize that 140 characters could lead to a spur
of the moment trip and the opportunity to present in front of a group of venture capitalists and
investors.
Tony Duda, CEO of Talent Sprocket, a client of Tampa Bay Innovation Center, spotted
a tweet from an investor at Southern Capital Ventures early last week that put a pleasant hiccup
in his weekend plans. The tweet read, “Looking for a startup to pitch at Duke Entrepreneurship
and Venture Capital Conference on Sat 11/5. Best 140 characters wins.” Thinking it was a long
shot, considering they weren’t a local company, Duda decided he had nothing to lose. He
tweeted “@jcaplin Talent Sprocket is a self-funded ready to rock hiring analytics tool actively
spreading corporate hiring bliss. Ask our clients” and then moved on with his day. Twenty-four
hours and a direct message later, Duda was booking his flight to North Carolina.
“Seeing that the initial invitation from Southern Capital was both retweeted and
responded to so heavily, I thought our chances were slim,” explains Duda. “When I received a
message from the investor telling us we had been selected, I was thrilled.”
The Duke Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Conference is held annually by the
Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and provides an opportunity for early-stage
entrepreneurs to present to an audience of 400 investors and students. This year’s conference was
held on Nov. 5 and featured New York Times bestselling author Grant Cardone and Jay Faire,
founder of Mammoth Records.
“We are at the point where our growth relies on gaining exposure, so the opportunity to
showcase Talent Sprocket to several hundred entrepreneurs, investors and business owners who
had previously never heard of us was an ideal opportunity,” says Duda. “The ability to quickly
and concisely interest the audience in your company is an invaluable skill. We did this first in
140 characters and next, in a brief four-minute presentation.”
Duda credits Tampa Bay Innovation Center (formerly STAR TEC), an innovation and
entrepreneurship center for technology businesses, with his company’s ability to bring Talent
Sprocket to market. “The resources and mentoring team made available to us by the Tampa Bay
Innovation Center have been invaluable in both our product development and marketing.”
So what’s next for Talent Sprocket? Only time… and twitter will tell.
About Talent Sprocket
Talent Sprocket (http://talentsprocket.com) provides an easy-to-use online job matching tool that
helps users automatically shortlist the most compatible and qualified candidates against the
position’s ideal technical and character attribute benchmark. Powered by a patent-pending
analytics engine, the Talent Sprocket tool complements existing recruiting processes.
About Tampa Bay Innovation Center:
Formerly the STAR Technology Enterprise Center, the Tampa Bay Innovation
Center (http://www.tbinnovates.com) creates successful entrepreneurs, fosters the creation of
high-tech jobs and develops new sources of technology and manufacturing capabilities by
nurturing early stage ventures as they grow and launch their products into the marketplace.
Programs are tailored to the innovator/entrepreneur and address business intelligence, planning
and business formation, strategy execution and technology transition. Follow Tampa Bay
Innovation Center on Twitter, www.twitter.com/#!/tbinnovates.
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