I recently attended MassInno 19. The brainchild of Bobby Carlton (Carlton PR & Marketing) and Dan Englander (High Rock Media), this free monthly product launch event relies on social media to connect and gain exposure for the most innovative Boston startups. The energy in the room was great- lots of give and take between entrepreneurs and expert advisors. The food and drink was lacking- probably the only negative to making the event absolutely free for everyone. The good news is that there are lots of sponsorship opportunities for brands willing to help!

Any startup can submit its product to be considered for selection to present to the crowd. Popular vote decides which lucky companies get the opportunity. Tip to presenters: take the time to practice your pitch. I know the fear of the blow horn haunts you, but when you speak too fast or hold the mike too far away you quickly lose the room. That said, last night’s event featured some wonderful companies including:

HiveFire – A personal favorite (disclosure- I beta tested for them). HiveFire’s CEO Pawan Deshpande (pictured above) developed this content curation solution to help companies quickly and easily establish topic-specific resource portals. The sites are a valuable tool for marketers running thought leadership campaigns.

Second Glass — Catering to anyone who loves to drink wine, this company just launched a beta site to help you remember which wines you loved and which you hated. If you’re like me, then you enjoy a wine in a restaurant and plan to hunt for it at your local wine shop later, but rarely have success doing so. Second Glass is our new problem solver!

JoyTunes – A MassChallenge finalist, this video game makes learning how to play a real musical instrument fun and easy (at least it looked like it in the demo, which got a lot of laughs when the user showed us how the birdie on the screen drops a doo-doo, if you miss a note when you’re playing).

For videos of the presenters, see the MassInno 19 follow up blog post. Did you attend MassInno before? Share with us your thoughts on the event and the companies participating!