Hey,
found a 13 year old kid who produces candles that are targeted to the male market. Scents range from camp fire to Pizza..... Why do older guys like me not get across ideas that are that simple. For sure a great gift for fathers day.
http://www.man-cans.com
Maybe its just a bullshit idea, but why not taking this way of thinking towards a new stage of new products for men. Formerly known as a girl product men deserve more than candles targeted exclusively to the female market. Well done kiddo! You are a true entrepreneur! Work a little on the packaging and you could be king of this years x-mas. I'll get one!
Friday, 3 June 2011
Friday, 27 May 2011
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.
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."
Monday, 9 May 2011
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.
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.
Friday, 6 May 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
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/
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
I'll post a new idea soon, I've been busy these days!
Cheers
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Crowdsourced Venture Funding
Here is some good entrepreneurial trends for you guys....
There is this obvious trend of crowd-sourcing all kinds of things and we can see more and more companies taking care of this concept. Finally we have reached a step of maturity in that trend, which in my opinion, did not reach business schools or any other entrepreneurial lecture yet. And I graduated in 2010. It should be included. For sure is that this idea is a clear part of the future of funding, more accessible, democratic and absolutely capable of moving the masses....remember the critical volume thing...?!
Crowdsourced Venture Funding.
Check this out, as of today you can become shareholder of the following projects by simply "buying into a a venture either by investing directly or indirectly by buying products. A clever way of raising capital ahead of production (of a crowd-sourced movie) or after production occurred (in case of a beer brand in Australia).
1. Iron Sky is a movie to be sourcing ~$900.000 in venture capital by offering stock for financing the last financing necessary to bring the movie to theatres. Later on, based on the crowd-sourced success of the movie in cinemas, DVD rentals, and so on shareholders will be paid out their dividends. The story is a smart viral marketing move with a story that sticks...war bonds are out to support the fictitious war against Nazis from out of space...remember the trend from an earlier post? Great move and storyline, maybe we'll see more Hollywood production companies converting into marketing agencies for creating stories that stick for blue chips...by the way, an old friend of mine is the main actress...I'm going to see it for sure! Trailers are out...check the site...
2. Broo Beer in Australia is a new locally produced beer company differentiated as the "first 10% Australian beer". Online buyers of 1-50 catons of the first production batches will receive 10 free shares in the beer brand until the 28th of February. A smart way to keep a beer brand local and owned by locals and at the same time to get preorders and the first volumes in production out there. I don't have to mention the brand affinity of the new customers....the more you drink, the better your return....brilliant idea with a sticky story: Live the dream and own your own beer company...., we'll see more of this type of funding coming up in IT and other sectors. For sure!
Cheers.
There is this obvious trend of crowd-sourcing all kinds of things and we can see more and more companies taking care of this concept. Finally we have reached a step of maturity in that trend, which in my opinion, did not reach business schools or any other entrepreneurial lecture yet. And I graduated in 2010. It should be included. For sure is that this idea is a clear part of the future of funding, more accessible, democratic and absolutely capable of moving the masses....remember the critical volume thing...?!
Crowdsourced Venture Funding.
Check this out, as of today you can become shareholder of the following projects by simply "buying into a a venture either by investing directly or indirectly by buying products. A clever way of raising capital ahead of production (of a crowd-sourced movie) or after production occurred (in case of a beer brand in Australia).
1. Iron Sky is a movie to be sourcing ~$900.000 in venture capital by offering stock for financing the last financing necessary to bring the movie to theatres. Later on, based on the crowd-sourced success of the movie in cinemas, DVD rentals, and so on shareholders will be paid out their dividends. The story is a smart viral marketing move with a story that sticks...war bonds are out to support the fictitious war against Nazis from out of space...remember the trend from an earlier post? Great move and storyline, maybe we'll see more Hollywood production companies converting into marketing agencies for creating stories that stick for blue chips...by the way, an old friend of mine is the main actress...I'm going to see it for sure! Trailers are out...check the site...
2. Broo Beer in Australia is a new locally produced beer company differentiated as the "first 10% Australian beer". Online buyers of 1-50 catons of the first production batches will receive 10 free shares in the beer brand until the 28th of February. A smart way to keep a beer brand local and owned by locals and at the same time to get preorders and the first volumes in production out there. I don't have to mention the brand affinity of the new customers....the more you drink, the better your return....brilliant idea with a sticky story: Live the dream and own your own beer company...., we'll see more of this type of funding coming up in IT and other sectors. For sure!
Cheers.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Snapgoods
Hi, I guess I have seen some 10 projects on renting high end handbags, shoes, and other things that really matter... now Snapgoods.com is the first one from my point of view doing it right.
They have basically everything. A funny local platform idea wit Amazon-ish elements. A one stop shop for people with the desire to have things they cannot or do not want to afford.
I like.
They have basically everything. A funny local platform idea wit Amazon-ish elements. A one stop shop for people with the desire to have things they cannot or do not want to afford.
I like.
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
100 things to watch in 2011
Out again, JWT on trends...and my big favourites for the year 2011...have fun, there is some interesting year coming up...
Jwtintelligence.com - 100 things to watch in 2011
No. 4 Art.sy
No. 22 Decline of the Cash Register
No. 27 Digital Indoor Maps
No. 31 Electronic Profiling
No. 32 Entrepreneurial Journalism
No. 34 Fashion Fast-Forward
No. 37 Gay-Centric Hotels
No. 40 Group-Manipulated Pricing
No. 54 The Nail Polish Economy
No. 69 Pogo
No. 81 Social Browsers Go Mainstream
No. 85 Storied Products
Jwtintelligence.com - 100 things to watch in 2011
No. 4 Art.sy
No. 22 Decline of the Cash Register
No. 27 Digital Indoor Maps
No. 31 Electronic Profiling
No. 32 Entrepreneurial Journalism
No. 34 Fashion Fast-Forward
No. 37 Gay-Centric Hotels
No. 40 Group-Manipulated Pricing
No. 54 The Nail Polish Economy
No. 69 Pogo
No. 81 Social Browsers Go Mainstream
No. 85 Storied Products
Thursday, 3 February 2011
The joy of stats...
I am sure this is inspiring in some way. Check also the TED.com talk on that guy, he is a genius.
Check also his website Wefeelfine.org. Brilliant piece of design in stats. State of the art...
By the way, hope you twitter positive stuff! I hope you dont think I am a complete nerd...
this one is great as well, welcome to fun in numbers:..Hans Rosling is always worth a look. The idea to compare university students and chimps answers to economic questions to prove preconceptions is amazing. NOT boring....
Check also his website Wefeelfine.org. Brilliant piece of design in stats. State of the art...
By the way, hope you twitter positive stuff! I hope you dont think I am a complete nerd...
this one is great as well, welcome to fun in numbers:..Hans Rosling is always worth a look. The idea to compare university students and chimps answers to economic questions to prove preconceptions is amazing. NOT boring....
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
When games invade real life
Hi, you know by now that I am a fan of videos that I discover on the web. This one is a really entertaining one, but more than that it is related to a project I worked on a while ago. Have fun watching...
I also admire how consequently this professor in Indiana University created his Syllabus based on the "game theory". http://gamingtheclassroom.wordpress.com/syllabus/.
Enjoy, its a little different from other talks but I think they have a point there, there are thousands of untapped possibilities...
I also admire how consequently this professor in Indiana University created his Syllabus based on the "game theory". http://gamingtheclassroom.wordpress.com/syllabus/.
Enjoy, its a little different from other talks but I think they have a point there, there are thousands of untapped possibilities...
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Update mobile social applications - Hot stuff
Hi,
you might want to check these two as well if you are into location based social networking application strategies:
Gowalla.com
Yelp.com
Both are really interesting concepts, we will see how and where future touch-points emerge. Other applications and websites will be competing fiercely and dependent on some considerable external funding to survive the crowding out, which obviously will happen some time in the future. Prove me wrong on that one!. I just hope the niches are as stable as expected by the tech-world and the contestants stick to a certain level of differentiation in between each other. Different animals require different strategies....as I realized today even Tuenti.com gets into it...hot stuff for entrepreneurs.
Gowalla
Yelp
you might want to check these two as well if you are into location based social networking application strategies:
Gowalla.com
Yelp.com
Both are really interesting concepts, we will see how and where future touch-points emerge. Other applications and websites will be competing fiercely and dependent on some considerable external funding to survive the crowding out, which obviously will happen some time in the future. Prove me wrong on that one!. I just hope the niches are as stable as expected by the tech-world and the contestants stick to a certain level of differentiation in between each other. Different animals require different strategies....as I realized today even Tuenti.com gets into it...hot stuff for entrepreneurs.
Gowalla
Yelp
Monday, 17 January 2011
The new travel world...2.0, Cool & Interactive
A close friend of mine and me got into the topic of travel guides not too long ago. Even though we had no clue about the industry at the beginning we quickly realized that it is one of the hottest start-up areas right now.
So check out part of our research or simply have fun travelling!
We think it will be one of the core markets for recommendation based social interaction applications (like the famous Foursquare.com) that will add to everybody's travel experiences. Additionally to that there is a strong trend to experience travel as an interactive experience or even as a game (see the famous Geocaching.com website, video below).
To keep a long story short: We love to play, hate to see churches, desperately seek the twists and cool stories behind the scenes and please get us a drink in the coolest secret bar nearby...we pay for that, mobile devices will drive this market niche and I bet you the conventional city map will be history in 5 years. Just look what Alacartemaps.com is doing...
Ladies and gentlemen, here are my personal winners so far and if you want to travel "the new way" are down there. Great business models, I bet bucks on that as the future of travel, not only leisure, but also professionally (develop that area, its more profitable I bet!). All operate on different business model and plan engineering axis. There is probably 100 more of them around, so please feel free to post it!
The winners are:
Whaiwhai.com
Gogobot.com
Geocaching.com
Have fun travelling or starting up...its worth it.
So check out part of our research or simply have fun travelling!
We think it will be one of the core markets for recommendation based social interaction applications (like the famous Foursquare.com) that will add to everybody's travel experiences. Additionally to that there is a strong trend to experience travel as an interactive experience or even as a game (see the famous Geocaching.com website, video below).
To keep a long story short: We love to play, hate to see churches, desperately seek the twists and cool stories behind the scenes and please get us a drink in the coolest secret bar nearby...we pay for that, mobile devices will drive this market niche and I bet you the conventional city map will be history in 5 years. Just look what Alacartemaps.com is doing...
Ladies and gentlemen, here are my personal winners so far and if you want to travel "the new way" are down there. Great business models, I bet bucks on that as the future of travel, not only leisure, but also professionally (develop that area, its more profitable I bet!). All operate on different business model and plan engineering axis. There is probably 100 more of them around, so please feel free to post it!
The winners are:
Whaiwhai.com
Gogobot.com
Geocaching.com
Have fun travelling or starting up...its worth it.
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Crowdsourced Design Competitions
I) need a logo for a project.
A professional custom logo design in Europe or the US costs approximately 500-1500 €. Ok, if you want to spend that on 6 proposals and unlimited corrections you should go and visit a doctor I guess. They will most probably be out of business by 2030.
Here is the fix, that I think changes the game: Crowd-sourced Design Competitions, one of my best friends from business school came across and he had some great results!
99designs.com is a startup that hosts design competitions on logos, businesscards, etc. The platform links us to a pool of freelance designers who want to earn some extra bucks. Based on the amount you pay for you project, they compete for your project based on the description, customer info and requirements you post.
Competitions last for up to 7 days (or even 3 days for quick designs), so expect some 30-200 design proposals depending on the amount you bid and some other factors. I have seen competitions with + 500 proposals.All you have to do is select the proposals that match your needs and dump the rest. Corrections to designs are possible. The more you bid, the more you proposals you get. Easy Adam Smith stuff right?
I'll keep you posted on how my competition goes...Since I am a tight guy I'll spend some 300 US (250€) lets see what happens...after 2 hours I had 2 designers work on it already. If I am not happy with that I'll obviously bid more on the go.
Cheers.
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Unconventional ventures tell a story
Hi,
sometimes entrepreneurs have to give something back.
Granniesin.co.uk or Goldenhook.fr are of the special kind of ventures I really like to highlight, simply because they create a win-win situation, that benefits all involved parties not only economically but also from a social point of view. More on the customer side, for me as an ex-fashion marketer, it is a no-brainer that we are living the trend to demand more and more customized and unique DIY-products in the industry. Just look at all the fair trade, ecological and non-child labour must have best practices in fashion stores worldwide to see the trend.
What's the story? Well, its an easy concept, everybody is a born designer, but not everybody has a granny to produce some some of the basic items that we like to wear especially if we think about a pure urban-alternative target market. These companies provide it. The granny, the scarf and the special touch that only a customized scarf made by granny can provide. Overall: The story is key.
Sounds dodgy to rent a grandma to knit you new scarf, beanie, etc?! See a trend? Can this apply to other areas in which older people can contribute and receive recognition for their (barely forgotten) passion? I think yes. Think about it, its a beautiful project that has already found copycat examples in other countries:
Netgranny.ch from Switzerland.
Oma-strickt-es-dir.de from Germany
sometimes entrepreneurs have to give something back.
Granniesin.co.uk or Goldenhook.fr are of the special kind of ventures I really like to highlight, simply because they create a win-win situation, that benefits all involved parties not only economically but also from a social point of view. More on the customer side, for me as an ex-fashion marketer, it is a no-brainer that we are living the trend to demand more and more customized and unique DIY-products in the industry. Just look at all the fair trade, ecological and non-child labour must have best practices in fashion stores worldwide to see the trend.
What's the story? Well, its an easy concept, everybody is a born designer, but not everybody has a granny to produce some some of the basic items that we like to wear especially if we think about a pure urban-alternative target market. These companies provide it. The granny, the scarf and the special touch that only a customized scarf made by granny can provide. Overall: The story is key.
Sounds dodgy to rent a grandma to knit you new scarf, beanie, etc?! See a trend? Can this apply to other areas in which older people can contribute and receive recognition for their (barely forgotten) passion? I think yes. Think about it, its a beautiful project that has already found copycat examples in other countries:
Netgranny.ch from Switzerland.
Oma-strickt-es-dir.de from Germany
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