Atlanta Startup Battle is the premier startup competition in Atlanta. With 300+ startups and 2 days of competition, the top participants will develop their ideas with seasoned mentors and present to investor judges, real VCs from Atlanta and Silicon Valley, all in an effort to help Atlanta build, scale, and fund the next generation of outstanding tech companies.
The winner of the Atlanta Startup Battle takes home a $100,000 investment into their startup. Last battle, the winner was OSS Police, a cloud-based audit platform for businesses that offers software under dual free/commercial licenses terms.
We took the time to interview co-founder, Ashish Bijlani, a Ph.D. candidate for computer science at Georgia Tech, to talk about OSS Police and the Atlanta Startup Battle!
Tell us about OSS Police?
Mobile is a new way of engaging with customers. There are over six million apps. Given the heavily crowded market, developers often rely on Open Source Software (OSS) to beat the competition.
However, careless use of OSS can lead to high financial losses and damage business brand. OSS is available under multiple esoteric licensing terms with serious legal ramifications. OSS may also contain security vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. The recent data breach at Equifax was a result of an OSS security bug.
We are building a cloud-based audit technology that can scan mobile apps for businesses and detect legal risks as well as security threats in real-time. We do not need access to source code or any proprietary details. All you need to do is point us to your mobile app on the app store, and we will generate a detailed risk assessment report for you.
What’s next for OSS Police?
We are validating our technology by working with businesses across various sectors. We will be launching a public version early next year.
What was your experience with the Atlanta Startup Battle?
Atlanta Startup Battle was a phenomenal experience! We received very insightful and highly useful feedback from the judges, mentors, and attendee entrepreneurs. Winning the 4th Atlanta Startup Battle has been instrumental in gaining public attention and getting connected to seasoned entrepreneurs and VCs.
How did you prepare for success at the Atlanta Startup Battle?
We were encouraged by Georgia Tech alumni and past ASB winner to apply. By the time we filled out the application, we had already won the IISP Demo Day annual competition at Georgia Tech. So we were confident of targeting the right problem. Before the interview and the final competition, we talked to potential customers and gauged their interest in our technology. That helped us get some customer traction and realize new use cases for our technology.
Do you have any advice for the new contestants apply to the 5th Atlanta Startup Battle?
I would highly encourage all startups, regardless of the stage, they are in, to apply for ASB 5. It is an incredible opportunity to pitch your ideas and get feedback from Atlanta entrepreneurs and VCs.
My advice would be to come fully prepared to be able to get useful feedback.