I just got home from the second night of practice pitches by the Techstars Class of 2011. Techstars requested that we not publish a full list of companies until they are announced on Thursday. You know like I did last year, here and here. Oops. So, instead of the full round-up, I’ll just share two from tonight (I missed last night’s show), which was very much a big data night!

Hands down, my favorite was ReportGrid, tackling big data analytics with only a couple lines of code on your site. These guys have a potentially huge market with a complex problem that needs to be solved by almost everyone right now. To top it all off, it sounds like they have the team to make it happen. It’s where I’d put my money.

While most of the pitches tonight involved big data, there was one really sexy pitch: FlixMaster. These guys allow you to drag & drop to create what they call branching videos. I kept flashing back to the choose your own adventure books I read as I kid. This is the same thing, but it works for video and can link to anything on the web, including pre-built forms. I love the idea, and I’m sure others will realize that it’s great too and will replicate it.  I still think these guys will pull through, though. It sounds like they have the market and domain knowledge to see this through and edge out competitors.

That’s all you get! Here’s hoping I can find a Demo Ticket so I can give you the full roundup on Thursday!

P. S. I was wondering how the Class of 2010 was doing, so I took a minute to check out their sites. It looks like all but one of the companies is still actively pursuing the work from last summer. Omniarc appears to be heading in a different direction. Gearbox has become Orbotix, and I’m on the waiting list for their first piece of hardware coming out this fall!

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