lunes, 28 de marzo de 2016

The Uber Model, It Turns Out, Doesn’t Translate

By Farhad Manjoo

In San Francisco, as in most cities, parking is an expensive daily grind that saps the soul. So a year and a half ago, when I discovered the valet-parking app Luxe, the heavens parted, choirs began singing and double rainbows colored the sky. This, I was convinced, could be the next big thing.

Luxe solved parking with an army of smartphone-guided attendants who parked and retrieved your car at the push of a button. That sounds like a bourgeois luxury, but the real magic of Luxe was its underlying economics. By ferrying cars from popular areas to underused parking lots, Luxe’s founders argued that they had discovered a loose thread in the city’s parking knot. It wasn’t simply more convenient — at $5 an hour, with a maximum of $15 for the day — Luxe was also significantly cheaper than just about any other way to park.

Things have since changed, and not for the better. Luxe is less reliable, and prices have gone way up. Where I park in San Francisco, Luxe now often charges close to $30 a day, a rate that exceeds those of local lots, especially when you include the app’s suggested tips for valets.

How Any Business Can Develop a Big Data Mindset

Many business owners and managers make decisions based on gut feeling rather than hard facts. Sometimes this works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. The truth is that facts are far more likely to lead to consistently good business decisions – and that’s where data can help.

In an age when everything can be measured, quantified, and analyzed to gain new insights, it makes sense to use that process to improve your decision making. Basing decisions on what data tells you helps you to implement your business strategy faster and more efficiently, whether you want to increase staff retention, increase efficiency in your manufacturing process, or achieve some other meaningful objective.

How this 'Shark Tank' entrepreneur negotiated hard for a $2 million deal with Kevin O'Leary and Lori Greiner

Vengo Labs founding CEO Brian Shimmerlik not only had the confidence to demand that "Shark Tank" investors Kevin O'Leary and Lori Greiner adjust their joint offer before he would accept their $2 million, he had the tact to pull it off.

Shimmerlik and his cofounder, Steven Bofill, left the Tank with $2 million in venture debt, to be paid over three years at 7% interest, in return for just 3% equity of their digital-vending-machine company.

Before arriving on set last summer forthe taping of a Season 7 episode that premiered on Friday, Bofill told Business Insider he "never thought they'd get to a deal like that."

34 Remarkable and Surprising Things About The Future

I’ve been reading and thinking about the future a lot recently, and decided to spend a week “nerding out” at Singularity University, to satisfy my curiosity. It was a great event, featuring experts from across the entire spectrum of technology and innovation. In this post I’ll share the ideas I’ve been developing for some time — based on my own research as well as time at spent at SU — on how we should think about the future and the myriad opportunities it presents.

I am extremely optimistic about our future being a world where powerful technologies solve some of our biggest challenges across a range of industries from medicine to transportation to energy and many others. This will result in a significantly better standard of living for all as well as many remarkable inventions, in the same way that we live significantly better and different lives than our great great grandparents did. The rate of change is starting to achieve breakneck speed with breakthrough inventions, new businesses, and technologies announced every week and it’s only going to accelerate. However, it will also bring it’s own share of ethical, cultural and societal challenges that while are non-trivial, I’m confident we will ultimately solve.

Much of this innovation is built on a foundation of expanding capabilities including increasing processing power, more connectivity, increasingly inexpensive memory and a proliferation of sensors. As our world becomes increasingly digitized it will also become increasingly democratized. Buckle up and get ready for our incredible future.

“ENTREPRENEURSHIP MEANS TURNING A PASSION INTO A CAREER”

“Entrepreneurship requires persistence and patience,” believes pop singer/songwriter Audrey (Proulx, MSCS/MBA ’17). Music has been a part of Audrey’s life since she began playing violin at age three, and today she’s pursuing her music career like a startup. Below, she discusses her entrepreneurial approach in the music industry, including the importance of identifying and understanding your target audience:

“For me, entrepreneurship means turning a passion into a career,” shared Audrey. She spent the past year writing and recording her new album “Colors,” which was released in July 2015.

GE CEO Jeff Immelt on Boston's startup culture: 'It's astounding'

Boston's thriving startup sector played a major role in the decision to move General Electric Co.'s headquarters from Connecticut to Boston, said CEO Jeff Immelt on Thursday at a Boston luncheon.
Immelt said Boston's "astounding" startup scene and the plethora of universities were key factors in the decision, which was announced in January.

GE announced Thursday, ahead of Immelt's talk at the Boston College Chief Executives Club at the Boston Harbor Hotel, that its new world headquarters will be located in the Seaport District of Boston along Necco Street.

miércoles, 23 de marzo de 2016

¿Qué es FinTech?

Por Victor Rico
Enabling Financial Technology Infrastructure thru Fraud Prevention and Digital Banking

FinTech es un anglicismo de las palabras Tecnología Financiera:

Financial + Technology = FinTech

Este sector económico es cada vez más popular en el mundo financiero. FinTech está compuesto por empresas que usan tecnologías disruptivas para mejorar los servicios financieros y hacer que estos sean más eficientes.

Las compañías FinTech son generalmente fundadas por organizaciones emergentes en búsqueda de un modelo de negocio escalable y replicable, estás compañías son conocidas como Startups.

martes, 22 de marzo de 2016

How to start a business in an industry that doesn't exist


New technology is not just disrupting existing industries, it’s creating entirely new ones. Today we speak with Erik Fairbairn, the man behind POD Point, the UK’s leading provider of electric car charging points...

Fairbairn founded POD Point in 2009, two years before electric vehicles were even on the market. Since then it has shipped more than 20,000 chargepoints to over 15 counties – charging 10 million miles of electric vehicle driving in the process. In 2014, and then again in 2015, POD Point turned to crowdfunding, where it raised a total of £3.7 million and the company has recently been featured in the Tech Track 100.

Freshly created sectors such as this present CEOs, like Fairbairn, with handfuls of risk, opportunity and challenges. So what advice would he give to start-ups trying to make their mark in such unexplored territory?

lunes, 21 de marzo de 2016

These 10 Student-Founded Startups Are the Most Valuable of All Time

Get inspired by crazy successful entrepreneurs who launched their empires while they were still students.
BY LARRY KIM
Founder and CTO, WordStream

It's not uncommon for an entrepreneur to have many failed businesses in their past by the time they find their stride. Colonel Sanders, the founder of fast food giant KFC, didn't get his start until he was already in retirement! In fact, his first social security check became part of his startup funding.

Even so, there are those at the opposite end of the spectrum: people with such natural business acumen and talent, they experienced success early in life.

In the case of these entrepreneurs, very early--while they were still students!

jueves, 17 de marzo de 2016

Why Silicon Valley’s ‘unicorn problem’ will solve itself

By Mike Trigg


The rise was like a tech startup fairytale. Within three years of founding, this unicorn company had raised more than $1 billion in venture capital — closing an astonishing $950 million in its final private round at a nearly $5 billion valuation. Revenue growth was skyrocketing from $30 million in year two to $713 million in year three and a run-rate of $2.6 billion in year four. On the strength of these meteoric numbers, the IPO was over-subscribed, pricing well above their $16-$18 range and raising another $700 million. Shares popped 30 percent on the first day of trading. It was the largest Internet IPO since Google.

Just as quickly, the fairytale ended. Amazon, Facebook and Google itself aggressively entered the market. Investors grew skeptical the company could live up to the lofty expectations around users and revenue. Expenses ballooned in pursuit of growth, exacerbating concerns the company could generate long-term profit. Within a year of IPO, the stock price plunged 90 percent, wiping out nearly $15 billion of shareholder value. The unicorn in this fairytale-turned-nightmare? Groupon, in 2011.

Why Standing Out is More Important than Ever

Your Personal Buzz


Recently, I shared my observations about all things honey.  A honey festival demonstrated that it’s possible to differentiate almost anything—at least from my uninitiated view of the product.


“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” –Dr. Seuss


Differentiate YOU

The Time to Stop Listening Is Anytime Anybody Says You Can't

Around my office in Miami Beach we don’t make many “policies”. We do have one, though -- No Negativity Allowed. Negativity isn’t just complaining about the heat outside or how your lunch sucked. Negative talk comes in many different forms. Whenever you hear any of the following statements, don’t listen:

1. “You can’t do that.”


Negative people, intentional or not, walk around telling people all the things that can’t be done. “Can’t” is their favorite word. Companies often turn this around and say, “We can’t do that”. This is a policy a company uses when service isn’t convenient. It’s used to say we aren’t taking care of you. Can you imagine advertising, “We can’t do that”? The solution is saying, "We’ll do it" or, "Let me show what we can do."

The “we can’t do that” or the “you can’t do that” drives me crazy because most often it is something that can be done. Even if it isn't, at least try or offer an alternative. Whenever policies come before people it’s a no-win situation. Be deaf to people who use the word can’t.

miércoles, 16 de marzo de 2016

What Founders Need to Know: You Were Funded for a Liquidity Event – Start Looking

There are many reasons to found a startup.
There are many reasons to work at a startup.
But there’s only one reason your company got funded.   Liquidity.
——-
The Good News
To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling.
But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. Traditional lenders (banks) think that startups are too risky for a traditional bank loan. Luckily in the last quarter of the 20th century a new source of money called risk capital emerged. Risk capital takes equity (stock ownership) in your company instead of debt (loans) in exchange for cash.
Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices, Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.)
At its core Venture Capital is nothing more than a small portion of the Private Equity financial asset class. But for the last 40 years, it has provided the financial fuel for a revolution in Life Sciences and Information Technology and has helped to change the world.

Top Start-Up Investors Are Betting on Growth, Not Waiting for It

SAN FRANCISCO — For the last few years, the spotlight in start-up investing has largely shone on those who poured money into a company when it was already well along on a growth path. It turns out that spotlight may have been misdirected.

While some investors are throwing giant sums into more mature start-ups like Uber and Airbnb at soaring valuations, it is the venture capitalists who identify a promising company at its infancy and bet on its growth who often come out on top.

Known as early-stage investors, they dominate a list of the top 20 venture capitalists worldwide that was recently created by the research firm CB Insights. About three-quarters of the top 20 are investors who put money into start-ups during their early rounds of financing. Only a handful on the list are focused on investing at a later stage in a company’s life.

lunes, 14 de marzo de 2016

martes, 8 de marzo de 2016

Wearable Fitness Technology Market Worth 12.44 Billion USD by 2022

PUNE, India, March 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

According to the new market research report "Wearable Fitness Technology Market by Product (Smartwatch, Wristband, Shoe, Shirt, Headband), Category (Handwear, Torsowear, Legwear, Headwear), Component (Display, Processor, Memory, Power, Networking, Interface, Sensor) & Geography - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is expected to reach USD 12.44 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 13.7% between 2016 and 2022.

The driving factors for the growth of this market include consumer preference for sophisticated gadgets, increasing popularity of wearable fitness and medical devices, increasing awareness about fitness, and rise in disposable incomes in developing economies.

In 2015, smartwatch was the largest product segment:

WHAT IS DATA MINING?

If you’re using technology — to shop, communicate, or find information — the results of data mining are all around you. Just think of the influx of recommendations of items to purchase, shows to watch, and friend suggestions on social media. Data mining allows companies to take the giant pile of consumer information generated daily and analyze for relationships and patterns. When it comes to big data, the possibilities for exploration are nearly endless.


How Does Data Mining Work?


First comes data collection — with modern technology, amassing click, purchase and other data is relatively easy. Data mining is the more challenging task of finding patterns, making predictions, and drawing conclusions.

But while the volume of data might be new, the methods for analyzing it rely on old-fashioned statistics: data miners look for correlations and relationships in the data, and build models and algorithms that act predictively. Both free and paid programs are available for data mining.

What I wish I knew about creativity when I was 20

Imagine you could go back in time and give your 20-year-old self a bit of advice on investing in the creative process, coming up with new ideas, and producing good, fun work.

What would you say?

I’ve thought a bit about this topic lately, as I reflect on how I’ve changed from the person I was in my twenties to the person I’ve become in my thirties. Creativity has become more and more important to me, both at work and at play. And the lessons I’ve learned along the way (and the ones I’m still learning) seem like something 20-year-old me would have liked to know.

Here’s what I’ve come up with for advice to the 20-year-old version of me on being creative.

1. You’re as creative as anyone


I’ve heard people tell me, “I’m just not that creative.” I don’t believe it. You are creative and ingenious and resourceful and brilliant. Creativity doesn’t have to be defined by the bounds of art or literature. Your creativity can reveal itself in so many different ways: parenting, relationships, wardrobe, problem-solving, ideas, shoelaces, Tumblrs, cooking.

Everyone is capable of creativity.

lunes, 7 de marzo de 2016

How This Entrepreneur Turned Her Diet Coke Addiction Into a Company


“I was exhausted, I weighed more than I wanted to weigh, and I also had terrible acne.”

Kara Goldin always found water plain and boring. She swore by Diet Coke and drank about 10 to 12 cans a day.

“I had just had my third child, I was exhausted, I weighed more than I wanted to weigh, and I also had terrible acne,” said Goldin, founder and CEO of Hint Water.

Goldin decided to try giving up Diet Coke, and she lost 45 pounds in three months. This prompted her to start examining her daily food and beverage intake.


This Danish Grocery Store Only Sells Food Other Supermarkets Are Throwing Away

This Danish Grocery Store Only Sells Food Other Supermarkets Are Throwing Away

Over the last five years, Denmark may have cut food waste faster than any other country. But hundreds of thousands of tons of food still end up in the trash each year. A new grocery store called Wefood is trying to help chip away at that number by selling only food that other supermarkets are throwing out.

"Wefood receives goods from supermarkets and shopkeepers who do not want to sell them anymore—mainly because they have passed the "best before" date," says Jutta Weinkouff from DanChurchAid, the nonprofit running the new store. "Best before" labels indicate when food might be tastiest, but don't mean that food isn't safe.

The 6 Most Profitable Industries for Starting a Business in 2016

Big Profits Ahead 

Finding a growth industry is key when starting a company, but don't discount the sector's profit potential. Inc. asked research firm IBISWorld to find industries that are growing and have healthy profits. The best of the best follow.

Real-Time Traffic Information Providers 

With average profits of 18 percent, this industry is thriving on more and better mobile connections that allow us to check traffic anytime, anywhere. New competitors will service smaller towns and incorporate more detailed data.

Snack Food Production 

Profits in this industry average about 15 percent. As long as disposable income stays strong, says IBISWorld, there's room for new businesses to sell premium snacks and produce new ones using less-traditional ingredients.

9 Reasons Why Some People Almost Always Achieve What They Set Their Minds To In Life

We all feel deep inside people who seem to achieve anything in life have something special. Although I believe there’s something, I don’t think it was given to them at birth. They just constructed their strenghts. They just built out their abilities, brick by brick. Here you’ll find the 9 things I came up with when I started thinking about what things high achievers might have in common. Please leave the ones you believe I forget in the comments.

1. They just jump


They don’t waste days contemplating pros and cons, what ifs…they just jump both feet to their goal.

They don’t think too much about if they have enough money, resources, contacts, time…they just jump. Their goal is pulling them so strongly that no matter what fear or obstacles, that won’t be as powerful pulling them back.

viernes, 4 de marzo de 2016

The singularity is never coming, but it’s already here

When I heard Ray Kurzweil present the concept of the singularity to a small group at TED, the idea that computing power advances would ultimately allow thinking machines to advance beyond humans’ ability to advance them, and eventually allow us to “upload” our own consciousness into an eternal ether, I was so smitten I committed to living long enough to live forever.

I even practiced caloric restriction for several years.

Although many things can improve life expectancy, caloric restriction is the only one to have been proven to extend life span — and every life-extending drug experiment attempts to duplicate its effects.

Baba Shiv: Failure is the Mother of Innovation

Startups may embrace the “fail-fast” mantra, but many leaders are risk-adverse.

Invention has another mother: failure. It may seem counterintuitive, but repeated failures can, and often do, lead to success. Every time we try something new and fail, it provides valuable information about what went wrong and, as important, what went right. From that, we can make small changes and try again, continually learning and innovating. “If you’re trying to solve a problem there are potentially hundreds of possible pathways to take, but only a few are going to lead to the appropriate solution. And the only way to discover that is to try and fail and try again,” says Baba Shiv, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business whose research focuses on innovation in the workplace.

jueves, 3 de marzo de 2016

Cómo funciona la mesa de innovación, el nuevo cerebro creativo de la Ciudad

Empresarios trabajarán ad honorem para asesorar en iniciativas que buscarán impactar en el día a día de los vecinos.


"El concepto de la mesa de innovación, va más allá de los proyectos, tiene que ver con el impacto que estos proyectos pueden tener y los puentes que pueden construir, para darle la mejor solución a los problemas que tienen los ciudadanos", dice Andy Freire, ministro de Modernización, Innovación y Tecnología de la Ciudad.


martes, 1 de marzo de 2016

6 Must Have Marketing Tools When Starting a New Business

So you want to start a business? There’s definitely a few Marketing Tools you’re going to need to get started. I know you’re wondering, well, what exactly do I need? There’s an enormous amount of marketing materials out there that you can choose from, but you want to choose the best ones that will give you the best return and fit best for your company. And if you’re just getting started you don’t need a ton of stuff.

Here are 5 must have marketing tools that all entrepreneurs and small businesses need:

A Logo


First, and foremost, you’re going to need a logo. Your logo is how clients will identify with your brand and know who you are. This is the first thing that customers and clients will think of when they think of you. Having a great logo also makes your business look more professional and established.

The Very First Mistake Most Startup Founders Make

Founders face a wide range of decisions when building their startups: market decisions, product decisions, financing decisions, and many more. The temptation is to prioritize these choices over decisions about how to structure their own founding teams. That’s understandable, but perilous. Our research, forthcoming in Management Science, identifies one of those important pitfalls: founder equity splits, i.e., the way founders allocate the ownership amongst themselves when starting their company.

Since 2008, we have studied the equity splits adopted by over 3,700 founders from over 1,300 startups in the U.S. and Canada. This builds on Noam’s work over the last fifteen years, which has shown that even the best of ideas can falter when the founding team neglects to carefully consider early decisions about the team: the relationships, roles, and rewards that will make the founders a winning team.