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Posts tagged ideas
A device that proves if you’re really sick
May 3rd
Calling in sick and “having a doctor’s note” won’t get you a free day off work anymore, at least not in Malaysia. A USB device, called SickVerify, will eventually substitute the role of doctors as providers of medical certificates. By August 2012, doctors across Malaysia will lose the legal authority to issue medical certificates. From then on, all workers will have to submit to a test using SickVerify to substantiate their claims for sick leave.
Using a complex series of algorithms, SickVerify measures the concentration of antibodies and cortisol (shows up specifically from stomach cramps) in the saliva sample to determine whether the subject was ill during the time period claimed for sick leave. The device is reportedly 98.9% accurate.
The test itself is blindingly simple and quick. The subject wets a fingernail-sized piece of cotton with his/her saliva. The cotton is inserted into the compartment of SickVerify, which is then plugged into any laptop or desktop via a USB socket. A program provided with SickVerify can then be run to begin the test (which takes approximately 3 minutes) and display the results.
This might not be a bad idea in the United States, as employers loss $1.8 billion from March Madness alone. But would verifying everyone’s sick leave excuses really fly in this country?
MyBestFit finds the best fit for women’s clothing
Apr 27th
With no sizing standards for apparel manufacturers, women especially have the toughest time in finding clothes that fit. Different sizes will fit depending on the brand, meaning that venturing into a new brand will need guesswork in determining the size that fits. All that is no more with MyBestFit, a full-body scanner similar to TSA checkpoints at airports, and go through a 30-second scan which takes 200,000 measurements using low-power radio waves. After the scan, the MyBestFit kiosk uses a database of over 50 stores to spit out which numbered size at which store in the mall will fit the woman best.
Currently, the full body scanner is only in one location: the King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania. But, the kiosk will show up in four other malls in the coming weeks, as the technology has already received positive reviews for its accurate results. To be included in those results, stores must pay a fee, and will come up if a woman’s size and body shape are a great fit for that stores clothing. These results are put together into a Shopping Guide for shopper to take with them. The Shopping Guide lists styles that fit the exact body shape and can be filtered the list by brand, style, price or retailer. The Shopping Guide can even be accessed online at the MyBestFit website.
Best part? The service is free for shoppers
The body-scanning technology won’t stop at apparel, said Bob Kutnick, the company’s vice president of Technology. Within the year, the machines will work in a variety of different settings, including the health, fitness and automotive industries.
“Right now, it’s simply recommending some apparel, but since we have your body dimensionality, it will tell us what bikes and cars best fit you,” Kutnick said. “We can also work with you on toning your body, so rather than just weight loss, a number on the scale, you can see how your body has changed, let’s say from fat to muscle. So if you wanted to take off stuff in your waistline, we can actually show this visually and highlight it in green, for example. If you gained, we could highlight that in yellow.”
Eleven Learnings I swear by!
Apr 13th
It’s been some fun filled years as a ‘digital’ entrepreneur. With a couple of good hits, some misses and a few big bets, I have chuckled, cried and framed these 11 learnings to carry with me all my life.
1. Just an ‘Idea’ is worth a ‘dropped cricket catch’
An idea by itself, despite its greatness, is worthless. Nada. Zilch. It’s all about massive and backbreaking execution. When I founded Contests2win in 1998 (first ever brand contesting site in the world), I thought that my idea would take the world by storm. Nothing of the sort happened. It took me a good 2 years just to convince people to meet me so that I could explain the idea!
I purposely say ‘dropped cricked catch’ because not executing a great idea can be as painful as dropping a cricket catch – you will not be able to forgive yourself. Example – the Winklevoss twins who had the original ‘facebook’ idea and innocently assigned someone else (hmmm…we know who) to execute it.
2. Don’t be a textbook.
Even God would be confused if she examined the crazy and unpredictable entrepreneurial world carefully. No one understands how some concepts become such global hits and neither can one analyze why the most brilliant ideas and execution failed. For example, I used to ‘check in’ once in 2 months in a hotel room on my travels. So, if you told me to ‘check in’ to my own house on an Internet map twice a day, via my mobile phone in return for virtual ‘ownership’ of my own home, I would have laughed at you like a jackass. Today I check into my home address like a fiend on Foursquare and fight like a marine to preserve my ‘mayorship’.
Don’t go by theories and textbook case methodologies while planning your business. Just take your best shot at your great idea and execute like hell. Then whether it snows or shines, it won’t matter.
3. Be ready to build the Suez Canal
It took 10 years to build the Suez Canal and it takes the same time to build a business from scratch. Even the biggest stars in the Galaxy – Yahoo, Facebook and Google were built painstakingly. Makemytrip.com (a star Indian travel portal) took 12 years to IPO. If you have the misconception that you can build a great idea into a huge business and then hope to exit in a couple of years and buy an island, I suggest you take a boat trip to the island and buy a shack. It will be the faster way of getting there and owning something on it.
4. Don’t play Rambo.
Unlike Rambo, trying to beat the world alone would kill you. Find a team that not only compliments you but also is better than you. They will allow you to – get financing; sleep at night and also get acquired. And sure, if you are a brilliant hermit and just can’t stand people, then write haiku poetry. At least that will help you attain nirvana.
5. Go back to the Altar and Marry again – this time your co-founder.
A VC recently shared an interesting joke with me. He mentioned that since a start-up venture takes 7-10 years to build into a Company of significance and given the fact that an average American marriage lasts about 5 years, the co-founder becomes more important than the spouse!
Employees are those whom you hire and can fire.
A co-founder is someone who can hire and fire YOU.
6. VCs are like God Parents
VCs are good godparents. They are rich, experienced, and very well connected. They can get things done. They have ‘seen the world’. VCs have a method of working and sometimes can be rightfully conservative in matters of corporate responsibility and ethics. VCs also demand respect and are selfish for your ‘Company’ (pun intended). So, go to VCs, explain to them your needs and then choose them very carefully (yeah, unlike parents, you can actually choose these godparents).
Be more honest with them than you can be with your spouse or your parents. And be patient with them. Make your ‘Company’ work for them and win along the way.
7. Spend your money like it’s a debt from Don Corleone
Think of all the investments (your own and that borrowed from VCs) in your start-up as debts that need to be paid back to Don Coreleone (of Godfather fame). You know what he does when you don’t pay him back.
I am not suggesting not to spend money – I am saying spend cash with ‘returns’ in mind – calculated on everything you spend on. The returns may be revenue generating or for creating assets that can be valuable later. But don’t spend on vapor coz that is something Don Coreleone will cut your throat for.
8. Enjoy a slice of Cake. And let others eat it too.
Imagine hosting a birthday party, inviting lots of friends over, cutting a large cake and then refusing to share it!
Don’t fight over equity dilutions. Give enough to Investors, partners and especially your employees so that the party becomes meaningful. If you have a meaningful exit after a few years, the slice that you kept for yourself (oops ate) will be worth more than the effort you put in!
9. Be a mechanic. Dirty your hands
When I joined my father’s factory and asked him a technical question, he didn’t know the answer. He had to ask his ‘jobber’. I didn’t like that and I traveled to Italy to become a ‘jobber’ myself. That greasy, dirty, hands-on experience on knitting machines partially made me who I am today.
Learn the nitty gritty of your business before you hire people to run different aspects of the venture for you. That will help you to understand the moving parts of your business and fix things immediately when they break down.
10. Go to a movie everyday
Going to work should be like going to a movie everyday. And here I am not exaggerating the emotion. Even on the darkest days of all start-ups and businesses, there is a pleasure of having done ‘something’ that felt nice, worth it or just painful pleasure. No matter what the result. If you can’t enjoy your work and it’s become like some crappy job, then you need to press the reset button.
11. Don’t be Marc Zuckerberg. Be your ‘Ownbook’.
Businesses, like people, have a destiny of their own. So many factors working within and out of your control can create successes like you never dreamt of or will just bust you.
Emulating someone and hoping that you can be ‘as’ or ‘more’ successful than him or her is a complete waste of time and emotion. Do your utmost best, be humble to everyone, tackle every challenge that comes your way and respect your circumstances. Then, if it works – wow! If it doesn’t, try again.
You and I, and every entrepreneur will have our own book to write. Who cares what it’s called and how many pages are in it?
[via Rodinhood]
Startup Talk: ebook lending picks up steam, ebookfling launched.
Mar 28th
We know how popular ebook readers have become off late, growing at a higher rate than ever. Sure there are tablets spoiling their niche party but ebook vendors have found their way around by introducing ebook stores on all mobile OS and PC platforms. The industry saw an eye popping $1b spent on ebooks by consumers in 2010 which will triple by 2015 according to a report by Forrester Research. Although the market is growing via first time users the industry had to find a way to make money out of ebooks already sold to consumers.
Amazon and B&N did what was natural to physical books – allow users to rent books from friends (only). This limited scope of book sharing has spurred the emergence of new startups in the book lending space like Lendle, Booklending and Ebookfling that are aiming to transform an already evolving industry. Lendle and Booklending allows lending and borrowing ebooks on the Kindle platform (on any mobile OS or PC) while Ebookfling allows you to rent and borrow ebooks on both the Kindle and Nook platforms. But how does Ebookfling stand out from the rest? Well, they let you borrow and lend books using what they call a credit system within the Ebookfling ecosystem where you get 1 credit point for every book you lend which can be used to borrow another ebook through the system.
First time user? No problem – you can purchase credits at $1.99 a credit point. So how does it change the ebook ecosystem? This model potentially limits the amount of money flowing into the Amazon and B&N’s coffers by cutting off a substantial number of first time ebook buyers. For example, if Ebookfling has 1000 books available for renting and the system takes off, no new ebook adopter has a reason to purchase books directly from Amazon of B&N. Instead of spending an average of $10 per book, a lent book only costs 20% of the price although it stays with you only for 14 days before it goes back to the original user. Plus the used ebook is always in mint condition no matter how many people you lend it to.
So will it permanently damage the revenue source for Amazon and B&N? That aspect is yet to be explored. The recent API block episode where Amazon blocked its lending API to Lendle should serve as a notice to future entrepreneurs treading this path. Although Amazon reinstated the API’s access to Lendle, it was not before heavy media exposure to the issue. just like Apple’s App store policies frustrated developers (even today it does!) the ebook lending policies will require a lot of fine tuning and tweaking before it becomes a sustainable, profitable model and eventually create an ecosystem like the Apple App store. Ebookfling CEO George Burke notes that “the initial reaction may be a negative. Publishers and authors will claim the lending feature is being abused and causing cannibalization of sales. Authors are already bending over backwards by giving away many of their backlist (older) books free in the Kindle never needing to purchase.”
From an analyst’s perspective the market is ripe for more than 5 lending services to co-exist and be profitable in the long term. Let’s just hope Amazon and B&N do the right things over the next year.
Entrepreneur Outfitters out Startup Checklist mobile App for those daunting government contracts
Mar 21st
Government contracts are like unicorns, at least for startups. The super stringent norms and red tape could discourage any entrepreneur from making a bid in the all too closed world of government contracts. However, there’s help at hand. Entrepreneur Outfitters – an early stage VC firm has outed a mobile app that could make lives of entrepreneurs a little more streamlined when trying to bid for a government contract. Aptly named Start up checklist the app lets entrepreneurs prepare for Uncle Sam’s contracts through a 36 step checklist.
The checklist allows an entrepreneur to make sure she gets everything right before and after landing a contract. This app is quite cool since a lot of fine points are covered by the app that only an expert could tell you. This was earlier available as a handbook from EO for $150. But now you can get the app for about 8 bucks. It’s a great deal given that you don;t have to maintain the papers anymore. Go give it a try, it’s available for Android and iOS.
Startup Talk: Time3 tries to solve the cloud security problem in its entirety
Mar 21st
Now that the “cloud” has taken over our lives it’s natural that startups will sprout like weeds in an ill maintained garden. But every now and then flowers blossom from among the weeds. Time3 is one such startup based out of Nevada, USA.
The most pressing issue about the cloud is about data security and privacy. What makes security implementation so difficult on the cloud is it’s complex architecture and multiple points of access, especially in public clouds. Time3 has engineered a brilliant solution that counters this problem by wrapping the entire cloud in a shield of sorts. By doing this, Time3 is trying to solve privacy and security problems as a whole instead of working on an incremental approach to cloud protection. Since the internet was designed to let you access prettily rendered HTML, the current scenario of web applications creates a scenario that was never imagined when the www was engineered in the first place. Time3 solves these issues while restructuring the way people access information from the cloud. We wouldn’t be surprised if Time3 is acquired by large cloud and security corporations such as EMC or Symantec in the near term. PR follows.
*********Start Press Release***********
US start-up company TIME3 Inc. has reached agreement to commercialize the Total Information Management Environment (cubed) “TIME3″ – a revolutionary framework that radically alters the paradigms underlying the World Wide Web. Online security, privacy, control, and efficiency are all at your fingertips with the TIME3 internet software solution.
TIME3 addresses the fundamental design flaws of the Web, including identity theft, e-Commerce fraud, privacy concerns, piracy issues, misuse of social networking, spam emailing and malicious viruses; that currently consumers have no option but to tolerate.
TIME3 achieves this by wrapping a protective layer (“Wrapper”) around the Cloud (content, information,applications and services) and providing a simple, secure, fast, relevant and integrated user interface that only talks to this Wrapper. TIME3 does not replace the Cloud, but provides this Wrapper to ensure the consumer is totally protected by providing them with a single, controlled entry point to the web. In effect TIME3 transforms the way people access and use the web by creating this controlled connection for each validated individual, through which they set their parameters for privacy and access to the Cloud.
The World Wide Web was never designed for the commercial applications and uses now being attempted. Companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook are attempting to apply fixes and enhancements to address issues such as privacy, but they are just “band-aids” on a essentially flawed system.
TIME3 is a fundamental shift in the way you engage with the Cloud and as such is a dramatically different approach. TIME3 has been designed from scratch, with a commercial development approach that changes the underlying paradigms. Its unique 3-party Relationship Security model permeates the core technologies and begins with s SSL connection between the user interface and the Wrapper.
Key features of TIME3 come from each individual, business or other organization being uniquely validated ensuring they are identified throughout the framework. This validation of an entity enables core functions within TIME3 such as: secure access to the Cloud, eliminating the need for multiple login’s and passwords to each service; trusted communications eliminating spam, viruses and unrequested advertising; integrated functionality like Location Based Services providing a simple way for services to be enriched; data modifications needing to be approved by all relevant parties reducing the capability of fraud; and the removal of piracy through inherent Digital Rights Management. These are just some of the features of the TIME3 framework making the difference between this approach and the band-aids of the current technologies glaringly apparent.
TIME3 is not just a secure framework for the current Cloud technologies. It is also able to integrate legacy applications and non-web enabled applications, making this system just as relevant for businesses wanting to migrate in-house software into a Cloud.
TIME 3 Inc. is currently in discussion with a number of parties to secure country licensees to bring this product to the global market. For more information please visit http://www.Time3.org.
Contact: RJ Joksch, 602-324-9530, email info(at)intl-group(dot)com
Contact: Russ O’Kane, 918-407-2892, email russ(at)pacbri(dot)com
*********End Press Release***********
Startup Talk: Appsplit wants to create a massive app marketplace
Mar 17th
We are seeing this as a trend now. When there are too many things to be sold what’s more better than a marketplace? But where there are 500,000 apps available for purchasing, it takes a whole new twist. A few good apps bubble up to the top and the rest get left out sinking to the bottom. All that siad, the app business is so lucrative that more developers want to dive headlong into the app scene without a second thought.
In tha pst we had featured Appbistro – a startup trying to create a marketplace for facebook apps. Today we are featuring Appslit – a startup that wants to create a marketplace for iOS, Android, Blackberry, WebOS and Facbook apps. Technically speaking, the concept is quite simple but Appslit has a whole new angle to it. While the startup allows developers to sell apps at wholesale rates to potential buyers it also allows app developers to work with Appsplit on making a product successful, for a cut of course. This is a brand new way to attract developers to submit and let Appsplit (called the Split program) manage apps that may or may not sell too well while looking out for potential whole sale buyers. This way appslit is doubling up as an app marketing consultant and borderline investor – taking anywhere between 40% to 60% of app profits based on the contract period.
Stratups such as these bring to my mind questions about sustainability of single owner apps. Yes, there is an opportunity to grow thanks to the ever growing consumer and manufacturing base for mobile phones and the ever growing user base of facebook. However, there is also a need for liability sharing in the app developer’s invetments since there are too many apps put there. This is what Appbistro is doing. Taking a share of the liability in an app’s journey to success is a great way to encourage development of new innovative apps.
All this said, we believe that there is space for a bunch of app marketplaces in the ecosystem as single the Android market and Apple Appstore get crowded. All this given, an intermediary who can manage risk certainly helps.
Startup Talk: Codeeval wants to help you recruit REAL coders
Mar 14th
Yeah, yeah, call us what you want but there are more fake coders applying for jobs in the world than real ones. I know, since I have seen it first hand. When resources are spread thin, a startup or even a large company has limited time to look for suitable candidates out of a huge pool of resumes that flow in on a daily basis. Then there is also this problem of immigration fraud where students come from far off lands only to look for jobs with fake resumes. This world is all too evil, trust us.
This is where Codeeval, a California (yeah, where else?) based startup is trying to solve this seemingly unending problem. CodeEval is a platform for identifying strong programming candidates early on in the recruitment process. Employers receive loads of resumes for engineering positions. How does one choose from amongst these, whom to interview? The most foolproof way is to ask all candidates to solve a programming challenge and then choose from amongst the best solutions. CodeEval automates this foolproof process. It allows employers to set up challenges in a variety of languages such as Python/C/C++/Java etc and then auto executes/evaluates candidate submissions arriving at a CodeEval Score. Employers can then view the submissions of the top candidates and continue the recruitment process with these candidates, being assured that they have identified the brightest amongst the lot. i.e. CodeEval takes you from a ‘Mountain’ of seemingly similar candidates to a ‘Molehill’ of the smartest ones.
CodeEval also acts as a discovery platform. Candidates/Developers can log in for free and solve challenges after which they get a public profile containing their solutions. Employers can then search these public profiles and choose the candidates with the best solution. A win / Win for both sides.
So, how did you think Codeeval come into existence? Founder of Codeeval, Jim himself was a techie facing a problem with hiring. Engineers solve problems and Jim built Codeeval. Classic. Codeeval is free for use in beta phase. Go help your self!
Value of an Idea
Jan 27th
Many successful internet ventures are based on the simple concept of connecting buyers and sellers – eBay allows people to buy and sell stuff over the internet , JustDial makes it easy for local service providers to reach out to customers, Job Portals (Naukri, Monster, Timesjobs) connect job seekers with employers, Property Sites (99acres, Indiaproperty) connect property buyers with property sellers, Platforms like SecondMarket connect buyers and sellers of private company stocks, and so on. The idea is to find a niche (except eBay which is the most generic) and then build a forum that connects people around that niche – taking care of all the requirements specific to that niche . The value addition for users is tremendous – it creates a platform where information is exchanged about the supply and demand of the object in question – eventually resulting in a price that tends to be fair for both parties.
The context of this post is the recently launched OpenInvo – a platform for buying and selling ideas. The proposition here is that people like you and me can post their business ideas on a forum – and parties interested in executing the same can ‘buy’ the ideas. The prospect is superexciting – now you have a market for something as intangible as a thought in your head! Of course, as OpenInvo explains, the ideas on ‘Sale’ could be in various stages – from a mere three lines of concept to a fully thought out plan to partial execution – and the value of the idea would vary accordingly. The buyers, OpenInvo expects, would mostly be companies looking out for new ideas in their domains of interest and having the financial muscle to execute.
That apart, what makes me curious is as a seller of an idea – how will you decide for how much will you sell an idea for! The very fact that you are putting your idea for sale shifts the power to the buyer (if you believe it in so much, why don’t you execute it yourself?). This is what makes this concept different from Angel Investments where the ‘Idea Owner’ is only seeking funding and mentoring and not an outright sale. Also it is really difficult to claim ‘owning’ an idea – that is where execution wins. Execution is tangible – something for which you can demand value. Ideas, if not backed by execution, are (mostly) worth next to nothing.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if OpenInvo makes it to the list of ‘successful online market places’ I listed earlier.
Startup Of The Day: Topclassactions.com
Oct 5th
The great land of America is famous for a lot of things. One thing in particular are class action suits. Yup, the Americans make the most out of class action lawsuits in the world that anyone else. So if you live in the USA and do not know about what’s going on in the class action law suit circles then you are missing something. This is a problem today’s SOTD tries to solve.
Topclassactions.com connects consumers to class action law suits and settlements. Yup, you may not even know that you have been scammed by a big corporation till some lawyer somewhere lets you know. But now Top Class Action intends to change the way consumers approach such law suits. The website lists all the recent settlements and class action law suit action for consumers to stay informed about all the big corporations trying to make a buck out of you. You will be surprised to see how many millions are out there for the grabs in case you were wronged. Take the Cash Adavnce America lawsuit for example- they charged customers 450% in payday loan interest while the cap was set at 36% or so. The settlement? About 19 million.
TCA doesn’t just list the lawsuits, it also gives you links to go get your share of the money and also gives you options to join ongoing lawsuits. It’s an end to end solution for people who want to make a living out of class action suits or even if it’s just a hobby making thousands every now and then. Top Class Actions truly brings the power of information to consumers and we support the cause. Congratulations, TCA!
