Little old Charlottesville may seem somewhat isolated from the larger metropolitan areas, but this doesn’t mean that we lack exciting start up businesses. If you look around you may be surprised at what you find. This is the first in a series of “Future Business Stars.” In the future we will discuss non-Internet categories. Suggestions are always welcome.

How do you think about the Future Internet Stars in Charlottesville?

I spent the last month or so crawling through the muck, marketing bs and ignoring white hairs and generally looking over businesses in the area. There are a lot of businesses out there to consider. Many of you know about Cupcakes & Co, Wahooptie, C-Ville Concierge and Caromont Farm represent locally minded businesses that are interesting, but they don’t qualify as internet businesses because they don’t target a large national audience.

While there is no perfect way to select our favorite Future Internet Stars, we did rely on some advice from Kyle for the business angle. We decided to focus on businesses that had their offices based in or around Charlottesville, focused on large markets and have a strong potential for growth. These businesses must also have a unique and engaging story.

Now to present our winners:

Who are the Future Internet Stars of Charlottesville?

Vibe Agent & Perfect Flavor

VibeAgent is a social hotel review and search engine. Charles Seilheimer and Adam Healey founded VibeAgent in early 2006 to provide a new resource for travelers to research and book hotels online. This means that you can rely upon a trusted network of people to review hotels and make recommendations.

VibeAgent competes against some pretty big and well funded competitors in its space. Heard of Kayak or Expedia? Well if you haven’t think about this. Kayak has raised over $200 million dollars and Expedia is worth over $6 billion dollars. Charles explains that VibeAgent provides a more personalized, richer and larger search engine than his competition. If you ever get the chance to meet the VibeAgent folks, you will recognize they want to help travellers get the real deal on hotels. We like that. Power to the people! I know that I’ve been misled by TripAdvisor reviews in the past. Keep them on the short list, because these guys are set to grow really fast in the near future!

Colin Steele built something that is near and dear to your little internet hearts. Ever heard of AOL’s instant messenger? Colin was one of the guys at AOL that built that program. He enabled you and all of your teenage (now adult) friends to chat into the wee hours of the night.

Colin founded Perfect Flavor, a high-end locally based create-your-own ice cream online store. When asked about the shift from high-tech to ice cream, Colin explained:

Yep, I’ve taken my technologist-turned-business-guy career, and completely turned it on its head. And in doing so, I’ve discovered that everyone, yes, everyone, loves ice cream, and loves my new business.

Perfect Flavor lets you choose your favorite ice cream flavors and ingredients. Colin has partnered with local suppliers and farms to offer customers organic, locally made ice cream. The internet lets him sell to people all over the world.

Now, go to some hotels and eat some ice cream!

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