Peter Thiel Foundation

This is brilliant move I came across. The co-founder of Paypal announced to give some money away...to students under 20 who are wiling to give up their college careers to start a business!

http://www.thielfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=19

Read also this article I found on Bloomberg, the guy is good and I share his opinion on risk taking. Nowadays, especially in Europe, people are way to risk averse and do not trust young entrepreneurs enough to help good biz-ideas fly.

"Facebook Inc. investor and board member Peter Thiel plans to make 20 grants of as much as $100,000 apiece to teenagers who have promising ideas for technology businesses.

The investor’s Thiel Foundation will award as many as 20 grants to individuals or small teams of entrepreneurs by the end of 2011, Thiel said today during a technology conference in San Francisco. Some partners at the Founders Fund, the venture capital firm co-founded by Thiel, will act as advisers and mentors to the grant winners.

The grants are aimed at removing some of the barriers, such as heavy course loads and high college costs, that young people face as they try to create businesses, Thiel said in an interview. He was one of the first investors in Facebook, which like Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc., was founded by a person who hadn’t completed college.

“We need to encourage young Americans to take more risks,” Thiel said. Traditional education steers young people away from entrepreneurship and into steady jobs, he said. “While they are able to get certain types of jobs with it, the problem is they can’t actually do anything that pays less in the short term and may have more value in the long run.”

Thiel contributed to Facebook’s $500,000 first round of funding in 2004, when founder Mark Zuckerberg was 20. Zuckerberg hadn’t completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard University when he began Facebook."

The perfect gadget for men

Hello,

I just tell you what it is: The worlds first personal brewery in the world. No more words needed, the micro-brewery trend is a clear winner, now this one is about to make its way into every single male household.

Just watch the video, its amazing.

I actually remember the clumsy beer brewing kits being sold and moreover the disappointed guys who were invited to a tasting session. Usually we had to source some more from a the gas station around the corner in order to make it a successful evening. Enjoy.

DIY Hardware

Hey,

I came across this brilliant guy from Poland (now USA) who is running an opensource project on agricultural do-it-yourself starter kits. He calls them Global Village Construction sets. Amazing how simple his solution for a huge problem is...just do it attitude at its best. He gave an inspiring talk at TED 2011 and I encourage you to watch it.

Maybe check out his website as well, I think there is some serious business there especially because he builds the stuff on a modular base.. lego for grown ups.... Brilliant.

http://opensourceecology.org

Have fun.

E Menus

I have seen a lot of e menus until now, based on Ipads, normal touch screens etc...this by far is the most complete gadget on the market. I honestly thing there is some space in the market for this niche product, especially in places that are supposed to be quick turnover. One of my favorite restaurants in Munich (LaBarracca) offers that service since a year or so...the only shame is that they invested about 1 million€ in the development of the system and now the stuff goes mainstream without them making a buck on licensing or franchising....what a waste of time and money, they need a marketer I guess...for the website as well, its rudimentary.

Here the guys who do it right!

10% revenue boost per order up to 300.000 in extra profits sound teasing to me. You know by now that I am into good food and restaurant ops. I was even in contact some guys developing this kind of apps on touchscreen devices 9 months ago, but it turned out that his biz model was a spoiled little brat...

Check them out and watch the video at http://www.elacarte.com/

Back in Biz

Hey, it has been a longer time since my last post...you know how things are...busy times, I am actually struggling a little with my first indian outsourcing experience, but things turn out to be working now and I am really looking forward for some good starting up. As usual things delay and certain topics are chaotic and cost way more than you actually anticipated but hey, thats eship life....better get used to it.

I'll post a new idea soon, I've been busy these days!

Cheers