This Startup Makes Finding Lost Items Easy FinderCodes makes finding lost items as easy as scanning a code on your smartphone.

Blame it on the dog. When Blake Sohn moved to a new house in Minneapolis, his dog--still wearing tags with the old address--ran away. Sohn, a marketing exec, was eventually reunited with his pet. But the experience led him to develop FinderCodes, a QR-code-based system of waterproof and tear-resistant stick-on labels for items like key chains, laptops, phones and, yes, dog tags.

A stranger who finds a dog (or anything else) with a FinderCodes tag can scan the code with a smartphone. The owner is automatically sent a text or e-mail notifying them that their item has been found and where it is. Then the two parties can arrange to make the exchange.

For nonliving items, FinderCodes employs FedEx's Re-TurnIt program to provide anonymous shipping back to the owner--all a finder has to do is take the lost object to a FedEx store, and the owner pays a discounted shipping rate. So far this no-friction return system has resulted in more than 1,300 people being reunited with their stuff.