Start up presentations are the cherry on the pie of any conference nowadays. For startups, the downside may be the nerve racking experience, but the upside of free pr and feedback of people outweighs that massively. The Rising Sun Startup competition at The NextWeb Conference in Amsterdam saw some international startups presenting their company. Some entrepreneurs had read the Rules of Pitching and clearly practised before a mirror with a timer close by.

The startup pitch of Mendeley was clear. It's a Last fm for researchers, and it wants to conquer a huge market where old fashioned ways of getting attention are still in place. Moreover a monopoly of publishers is calling for a new web based method. The solution presented is disruptive. Great presentator.

Mimic me, has invented a real time 'fitting room' where, if one buys clothes at online retailers, one has the possibility to see them on a avatar. The business model: White label tool for online retailers, they digitze their collection, just by researching patterns. Already in the pocket is a partnership with Sanoma Publishers.

Aroxo, a new way to buy and sell online, is again a disruptive method. Aroxo is good in the credit crunch. As a buyer you name your prize, instead of the seller asking an asking prize. The platform works as facilitator, between seller+ buyer. Aroxo connects the buyer to all sellers who are offering that product. No fees, no comitment for buyers and for sellers it is a new distributiebon method Real business model: sellers pay small fee, and a white label option. London launch is next week. Sellers are not screened, but there is feedback. It's Ebay the other way around. Buyer's driven commerce market.
Citisens is a city guide, based on smart recommendations. For tourists, who can make their guide on the spot, published on a booklet and on your phone. Customers pay for printed book, mobile app. Offbeat guides is competition, but it takes the content from wikipedia. Citisens make own content + social layer. So Lonely Planet+social layer?

Yourtour is, yes, a travel platform.

Co tweet is how business does twitter, its an application used by the founders of twitter, so must be good?

IRL Connect is a visual social network, real time, yes real time. The founder on stage did a flawless sequence: What is the problem?  What is our solution?
Where is the money? Great, but the answers just did not come across.

Myname isE: Business card exchange tool, and later a paypal account can be added. Its not poken, which cannot be taken serious for adults. They invested 100.000k in startup in seedcapital, and you could hear the investors starting their engine. Oh, poor moo.com

Yubby of Vincente Everts, a smart presentation of a video widgets site. We come back with a post on it.

Kimengi was last, our attention span was not superb. It help blogs, like thenextwomen, to make recommendations to readers what else to read. A sort of Zemanta competitor, but different.

There were a couple of others, which may have been the best for the judging panel, but just not for us. It was a pity that none of the entrepreneurs on stage can be qualified as female internet heroes.