Company: GroupMe

Web: www.groupme.com

Twitter: GroupMe

Facebook: GroupMe

Business Idea: Create a cell phone app that allows group messaging on any phone that can text—regardless of who makes the phone or what operating system it runs.

Pitch: Imagine you’re organizing a wedding. You need to provide up-to-date information about the arrangements to everyone at the wedding party. You like to text, but there isn’t a convenient way to text everyone simultaneously and create a chat room–type setting where anyone can respond and everyone sees the response. Until now.

GroupMe is a cell phone app that allows group messaging on any phone capable of texting. It assigns one phone number to a group. You can also use this single number to initiate a conference call. While GroupMe is used primarily to send text messages to groups, users can also send a message to just one person in the group for more privacy. The service works in 90 countries and is compatible with more than 900 carriers.

GroupMe is also user-friendly. People who are added to a GroupMe group receive an initial text message confirming that they have been added to the group. If it’s a person’s first time using the service, he or she receives another text that explains how to use GroupMe and how to opt-out. Any member of a group can remove himself or herself from a group by typing #exit in response to a group text.

GroupMe is entirely free, and there are many advanced features available to users. For example, if you’re going into a meeting or the theater, you can type #mute to a group, and this will prevent you from getting text messages. When you’re out of the meeting or the movie is over, you can type #unmute, and you’ll be included again.

GroupMe is a convenient and fun way for people to organize and communicate with groups of people who are important in their lives.