Niantic initially rejected Bell's pitch, so he emailed the company's CEO once per week for three months — ultimately securing $150,000 in startup funds, Bell said. "That's brilliant, and I hate you, because now everybody out there is going to send us 600 emails a week," investor judge Mark Cuban told Bell in response. His Austin-based app, Card.io, is a social game where users compete for turf in their city by walking, running or biking. The app is free, with individual and group subscription tiers that remove ads and offer social media-type functions for members. "I told my mom, 'We're going to be on this show one day, Mom, and I'm going to bring you,'" he said.

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Persons: Destin Bell, Bell, Niantic, Mark Cuban, Austin, Card.io Organizations: Developers Initiative, CNBC