Mark Cuban Has Got A Few Good Businesses

About a month ago, Mark Cuban posed an "open source funding" challenge: present him with a business plan (or one already put into use as an existing start-up), and he'll invest in the most innovative and potentially profitable ideas.

Yesterday, Cuban announced the startups that passed the first test and that he is trying to cut deals with:

1) Naked Pizza – Simply the Worlds Healthiest Pizza. Based in New Orleans, it tastes good. They work their asses off. Try the pizza for yourself

2) Wickler – Takes the ability to track patrons in venues, from bars to restaurants to concert venues to the next level. Their product is selling well and the funding will take them to the next level. A strong product with hopefully a unique future.

3) P5 Foods - They make an original food, Stuffed Chicken Wings. Its a unique product that tastes great and could provide an attractive upsell to specialty restaurants and for groceries

4) Tycoon Online – Just as it appears, an online game that makes money from subscriptions. They have subscribers around the world and will use the investment to increase their marketing efforts

There are indeed some really cutting-edge ideas here. In particular, read more about the Wickler:

In brief, the device will not only be able to tell a club manager/owner how many people are in the establishment at a given moment, but it can track the length of time spent there, the ratio of drinks ordered, the rate at which they are ordered, and even how sales are affected by the DJs set! The Wickler also surpasses traditional Point of Sale data by merging it with the headcount to give the club manager/owner a clear sense of how club capacity can affect the sales traffic. More is not always better, as an overcrowded club can actually hinder the guests' ability to get to the bar and result in a sales bottleneck. These usages and applications only scratch the surface of the potential of the Wickler, an invention that is sure to have a massive impact on other types of venues like casinos, sports arenas, museums and amusement parks, just to name a few.