ventures April 2013 - Issue I
Jason WHO?
�Social media is really set up well for brands to tell their story and do customer service.�
Why this man sold his last name e Swip
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In this Issue COVER STORY: Jason HeadsetsDotCom (formally Sadler)
Why this man sold his last name In our first cover story interview, Ventures Magazine talks to a man that was crazy enough to think he could build a business out of wearing t-shirts, and now has sold his last name to the highest bidder. Read page 14
23 Entrepreneurialism Are you an entrepreneur? Many people have a real desire and inclination to start up and run their own business.
26 Dotcom How Fiverr.com is changing freelancing With the value of the dollar still in decline, $5 doesn’t go as far as it used to.
6 Appreneur While entrepreneurs span all markets, industries and business models, appreneurs are 100% focused on the app industry and in this issue we focus on the apps targeted at the business traveler that help make their journeys more productive or less stressful.
28 Subscribed TastingRoom.com Simple Concept, Complex Flavors For most people, the term wine tasting conjures up images of a trip to a rural, remote location and spending lots of time, and money, at a winery.
10 Innovator
20 Gadgetry
Is Ouya the Next Big Thing in Gaming?
The New Teleconferencing Device For Your Business
Pronounced ooyah, this console could revolutionize the industry because it is an Android-powered open gaming system...
When it comes to businesses, capitalists never compromise with technology used to enhance their marksmanship
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Ventures Magazine © Copyright 2013 by Paperless Mags Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Business
Why You Should Build Your business Around Your Personality
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Money
The Wallaby Card As founder and CEO of Wallaby Financial he is looking to make the credit-card system work for you.
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Franchise It
How Do You Roll? Sushi lovers normally have to choose be-
tween fine dining with prices to match or the less expensive prepared rolls...
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Bad Idea
Toygaroo – How Not to Pitch a Company If you’ve ever seen the hit TV show, “Shark Tank” on ABC which involves entrepreneurs and inventors pitching their ideas to potential investors you may have heard of the company called, “Toygaroo”.
Reproductions or imitations are expressly forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the publisher, who cannot accept responsibility for any errors or ommissions. Editor in Chief Martin Martinez Contributing Editors Jordan Brown Rebecca Maxwell Prateek Panchal Peter Main Shelley Sween Christina Auck Calvin Dorman Ashlee Cizik Damian Young Michael Levanduski Designer Nebojsa Dolovacki Transcriber Prexie Abainza Subscriptions Click ‘Subscribe’ inside the magazine or app Publisher Paperless Mags Pty Ltd Lvl 31, 88 Phillip Street Sydney, NSW, 2000 Australia Become a Contributor Ventures Magazine is always looking for interesting content, articles, audio or video for our readers to enjoy and welcome your interest in contributing to our publication. If you
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From the Editor Welcome to the first issue of Ventures Magazine and thanks for trying us out.
A
s successful entrepreneurs we share many special personal characteristics such as vision, drive, passion and more, but most importantly we don’t see problems, just solutions.
We also appreciate that we don’t always have the answers and therefore are open to listen to others and learn from their experience, which can help us reach our own objectives. With this in mind, Ventures Magazine aims to showcase amazing entrepreneurs as well as their unique, innovative and sometimes disruptive business concepts to inspire and teach us what can be done when we put our minds to it. Since this magazine is for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs, we ask that you join the conversation and tell us what you like and dislike about it, as well as what you would like to see in future issues. My door is always open, so if you have something exciting to share with the community, don’t hesitate to contact me. Who knows...You could be featured next. Keep innovating and enjoy this issue! Martin Martinez Editor in Chief About.me/MartinMartinez
Appreneur CONTRIBUTOR: Jordan Brown
Business Travel Apps It’s so easy these days to clutter your smartphone with useless apps, that we’ve decided to highlight some with the business traveler in mind.
Stuck waiting? Thanks to smartphones and great apps, we no longer need to feel frustrated or unproductive.
T
here are so many options to help you plan and optimize your business trip, that finding the right toolkit to make it a little less painless can be a hassle in itself. So what’s a tech-savvy entrepreneur to do? You may have never heard of the following three apps, but they have the potential to be invaluable additions to your traveling arsenal.
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Maximizing your trip for business efficiency is one thing, but these apps take care of the little things that can knock your experience out of the park. Take a look at this roundup and check out some apps that deserve a spot on your smartphone right now.
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Appreneur Overall Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars Website: www.uber.com Developer: Uber Inc. Price: FREE!
Uber When traveling it is always a challenge to find reliable transportation. Renting a car can be extremely expensive but Uber makes finding a ride an easy task that can happen with the push of a button.
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imply download and use the Uber application on your mobile device and a car will be instantly dispatched to your exact location. The professional driver will arrive in a sleek black limo and will let you
know exactly what time he or she will arrive so there is no time wasted. The charge for the ride will be automatically deducted from your card on file and the best part is there is no need to tip your driver.
Overall Review: ON BUSINESS TRIPS numerous hours and funds can be wasted trying to find reliable transportation
Ever since the Uber app launched on the App Store, this has never been a problem again for thousands of entrepreneurs.
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Available in several different cities in the US and around the world, finding a quick ride at a good price is now effortless.
App Store Link: https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/uber/ id368677368?mt=8
The service and drivers are very professional and paying for the ride is a breeze.
Requirements: Available for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Android compatible devices. Requires iOS 4.3 or Android 1.6 and up. Uber is optimized for the iPhone 5.
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Appreneur Overall Rating: 4.9 / 5 Stars Website: www.stowapp.com Developer: Apptifica LLC Price: $1.99
Stow Forgetting something? Make sure you don’t forget to pack anything on your next trip with the Stow application for iOS.
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t’s very likely that you’ve previously forgotten to pack an important item on a trip, either because of being tired from lack of sleep the night before or simply overlooked the need to include it. Don’t let this happen again and download the Stow app on your iOS device.
The beauty of this app is that it comes pre-packed with multiple packing lists for common trips including a beach trip, business trip, golf trip, and several others. Users can also create custom packing lists of their own or sort lists by different types of weather including rain, sun or snow.
Overall Review: FREQUENT business travelers will benefit greatly from the Stow app avoiding embarrasing or frantic moments when you realize you have forgotten to bring an important item along on a trip.
App Store Link: https:// itunes.apple.com/us/app/ id591697360 Requirements: Available for iPhone, iPad and iPod. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. The Stow travel app is also optimized for the iPhone 5.
With a price tag of only $1.99, the Stow app is well worth it as it is easy to use and and navigate, making this app a no-brainer download for any traveler.
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Appreneur
OneReceipt
Overall Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars Website: www.onereceipt.com Developer: OneReceipt Price: FREE!
When traveling for business or pleasure keeping track of receipts and purchases can often be a frustrating and daunting task.
H
ave you ever asked yourself when traveling “There must be an app for this?� well sure enough there is. The OneReceipt app is a free, easy way to capture and store all your receipts on your mobile device. This valuable app allows users to keep track of
and store all your travel related expenses, as well as provide you with a FREE @OneReceipt email address, get a monthly spending recap, sort their expenses by custom categories and even the ability to check the shipping status on packages on route.
Overall Review: WHEN TRAVELING either locally or internationally receipts can easily get lost or misplaced. Often times you find receipts cluttered in a wad or difficult to read.
If you have experienced these problems before, there is simply no better way to keep track of your receipts and purchases than with the OneReceipt app. And the best part is, the app is completely free! Try this valuable app on your next trip, you will be glad you did.
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App Store Download Link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/ onereceipt/id512999447 Requirements: Available for iPhone, iPad and iPod. Requires iOS 5.0 or later. The OneReceipt travel app is optimized for the iPhone 5.
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Move over Wii, PlayStation, and Xbox. There is a new gaming system coming to town, and it’s called Ouya.
Is Ouya the Next Big Thing in Gaming? Pronounced ooyah, this console could revolutionize the industry because it is an Android-powered open gaming system that allows any developer to share his or her games on the platform easily. 10
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Innovator COMPANY: Ouya!
CONTRIBUTOR: Rebecca Maxwell
Though it is still only a prototype, Ouya has captured the hearts and wallets of gamers
O
uya will also be less expensive than its competitors with a retail price of $99, and has the potential to dramatically change the gaming industry while opening up the market to a variety of game developers who do not have to go through the major consoles anymore. Unlike the three kings of the gaming industry – Xbox, Wii, and PlayStation, Ouya’s creators say that it will allow any and all developers to make games for the system without unbearable licensing, publishing, or retail fees. Right now, if game developers want to make a game for the existing platforms, they are restricted by having to get permission from those companies and are required to pay for an expensive development kit to
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WEBSITE: www.ouya.tv
April 2013
create games for them. Ouya will be different because developers won’t be required to buy licenses or software development kits and can share them more freely with consumers.
Ouya will be different because developers won’t be required to buy licenses or software development kits
Ouya’s creators believe that the current console market is pushing developers away because of their requirements and that developers are turning instead to social and mobile games because those platforms are
easier for developers to work with. The company behind Ouya wants to bring these games to televisions across the globe instead of just on computers and smartphones. The company, based in San Francisco, hopes that developers will also bring their enthusiasm for developing games to the Ouya console. They also want Ouya to be open to hackers and hobbyists as well as game developers.
Ouya controller
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Innovator The console has already sparked a considerable amount of appeal among gamers and developers alike. Ouya’s secured over $8.5 million from 63,000 backers to manufacture the consolte using crowdfunding website Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a way for people to fund their creative projects through donations. Ouya even broke the record for being the fastest Kickstarter project to reach a million dollars when it passed that mark after only eight hours. Ouya’s original goal was to reach $950,000 in thirty days, but the overwhelming response blew that out of the water. Julie Uhrman, founder of Ouya, told Venture Beat that they never could have guessed it would receive such a reaction. Ouya’s creators have high hopes for this newest gaming console to be released on June 4, 2013. One of their creators is Yves Behar, the industrial designer and philanthropist who designed the One Laptop Per Child computers. As part of getting their games onto the Ouya platform, developers have to offer at least part of their game play for free building on the models of several free to play
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Ouya’s creators secured over $8.5 million from 63,000 backers to manufacture the consolte using crowdfunding website Kickstarter.
$99 gaming console to compete with the giants Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation and Microsoft Xbox
games like Triple Town, Team Fortress 2, and League of Legends. To meet this condition, developers can offer in-game items, ask you to subscribe, or provide a free demo with the option of a full upgrade. Ouya already has many prominent individual
developers supporting this system that will hopefully bring a much needed change to the gaming industry. Marek Rabas of Madfinger Games stated that, “Our games will work so well on TV, we just need an easy way to get them there. Ouya could be it.” Jenova Chen,
the developer behind PlayStation Network’s flOw, Flower, and Journey believes that Ouya could challenge the status quo of the established gaming consoles while saying, “I’m excited for Ouya!” On the other hand, Ouya has some www.ventures-magazine.com
Innovator
potential pitfalls. The gaming system will have considerably less power than the Xbox and PlayStation 3. Plus, Ouya’s interface looks incredibly similar to the one for Xbox Live. Writer Alex Rubens with PC World believes that the open system could make
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piracy a large problem. Also, reporter Ian Fisch of the blog Gamasutra says there are potential problems with a dull Android game library, out-of-date Android specs, and the fact that fewer people want to play games on their TVs anymore.
Ouya’s interface looks incredibly similar to the Xbox Live
Ouya controller at concept design phase
With the awe-inspiring response Ouya received for its funding, those issues might not even matter to gamers and developers. Ouya will be an open platform where any developer can share a game without having to jump through the expensive hoops from Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii. Gamers can also benefit by being able to play games normally found on computers or mobile phones on their TVs. Since this open gaming platform also has the capacity to carry games from the big publishers, all at a reasonable price, Ouya just might turn the gaming industry on its head.
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Cover Story: Jason HeadsetsDotCom
Why this man
sold his last name
Meet Jason HeadsetsDotCom (formally Sadler) In our first cover story interview, Ventures Magazine talks to a man that was crazy enough to think he could build a business out of wearing t-shirts, and now has sold his last name to the highest bidder.
O
nce it became clear to that social media would be more than a fad and here to stay, this entrepreneur set out to use these tools to bring personality and fun back to marketing launching IWearYourShirt.com and becoming the ‘human billboard’. Ventures: In 25 words or less, describe what IWearYourShirt.com is all about?
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Jason: I Wear Your Shirt is a social media marketing company. We promote brands, businesses and people via the Internet through content whether it is video, or photo or whatever.
the second phase of what came out of that was an affordable way to create content for the web and breathe some fresh air into marketing with some fun, interest and humor.
Ventures: What business problem do you aim to solve with your company?
To be completely honest, there are a lot of businesses out there that are boring and we try to spice it up a little bit for them, trying to have some fun and introduce them to a community that we have grown over time.
Jason: I think the first problem is really an affordable way to advertise. That was the initial idea and kind of
Ventures: What are some successful campaigns that you’ve ran and what have the clients achieved using your services? Jason: The funny thing is that we’ve worked with over like 1600 clients now. So it’s always hard to find just one, but there’s one that I go to a lot and that is – because it’s a big brand. We worked with Nissan in 2010, the automotive company and they
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Jason is the guy that was crazy enough to think he could build a business out of wearing t-shirts, and now he’s selling his last name.
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Cover Story: Jason HeadsetsDotCom Ventures: What makes T-shirts such a good way to promote or advertise a business? Why did you come up with the T-shirt? Jason: At first it was really just a thought of something that’s easily accessible to all companies and as I started doing this – I noticed that everyone always looks at the T-shirt you’re wearing even people who don’t know who you are.
came over to us and they said, “Hey, we’ve seen you guys in the press and we’ve heard about you,” and this was when I Wear Your Shirt was two people in the second year and they said, “We want to send you a Nissan Juke, this new, little kind of small SUV. You will be the first people that have this car. The dealerships don’t even have this car yet. They’re literally coming from international car shows, so please don’t break them. We want you to drive around for a week, have fun with them and just include them in your daily life.” So we did that. I mean the cost to them at
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Everyone wears T-shirts so I think it’s a medium for advertising that’s very interesting.
the time was like $800. It’s even a joke of how cheap it was and basically we filmed whole videos with the Juke. We drove around. We sat on them during our live video shows, really just included them in our daily shirt-wearing lives and to this day, I still have a video on YouTube with over 50,000 views and lots of comments. To me that’s an amazing success because Nissan paid 800 bucks. They took the Juke from us and even years after that video was made, it’s still helping them sell cars because their content hasn’t gone away. It’s still good content that’s still out there.
I will meet for the first time and they will look at the T-shirt and they make comments on it. They may ask you a question about it especially if it’s interesting. It’s just one of those things that it’s right there for everyone to see. People look at this stuff. It’s eye-catching. Everyone wears T-shirts so I think it’s a medium for advertising that’s very interesting. Ventures: What would be your words of advice on building a brand inexpensively and using social media to grow? Jason: Well, if you think about social media, it’s very interesting. It’s absolutely free to use these platforms. But I think people get the notion that you don’t have to spend any money anymore
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Cover Story: Jason HeadsetsDotCom because social media is free, right?
believe in it, you give it time to be successful and have a plan of attack for that.
Before social media, people spent money all the time on setting up tents at local events or buying ads in the Yellow Pages or billboard ads or radio ads or what have you. I think social media is great but I still think you have to put money behind it, in that you’re creating content that you can share via social media and you can tell your story. Social media is really set up well for brands to tell their story and for brands to do customer service. I also think the biggest key for any brand starting to use social media is to have a plan of attack.
I think social media is great but I still think you have to put money behind it...
Ventures: Have you always operated the same way since you started or have you made any changes?
be crowding the space with their marketing messages and well I thought ours was very authentic. But it kind of gets lost in the mix with everybody getting inundated with deals and discounts and all this stuff.
Jason: It’s funny. When I first thought of I Wear Your Shirt, I dreamed of growing by many people each year. By the end of the fourth year, I had dreams of over a hundred people wearing shirts and what I didn’t realize is how crowded the market got – social media was growing very quickly and so many other brands and people were going to
So really I needed to change from hiring more people each year to trying to stick with a certain amount of people, trying to really create some quality content and especially as our sponsors started paying more money. I knew that they didn’t just want a video of me jumping around in my yard with a T-shirt but they wanted something
I mean if you’re just buying Facebook ads or banner ads or whatever, you have no clue if people are actually going to show up. But if you work with people who have established communities, you can hedge your bets and know that there are people who are following these people. So create that content strategy. Partner up or work with people who have existing communities and really just stand behind your product. If you really create something awesome and you
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like that Nissan video where people will watch it years down the road and still find it interesting. So yeah, that’s kind of how we’ve changed. Ventures: Have you had any missteps, errors or failures while you were growing the company and what you’ve learned from it? Jason: Yeah, I think a couple of times I’ve ignored the feeling in my gut that I should have done something differently. If I could go back now, I would love to – in 2012 obviously we shifted from a daily model to a weekly model mid last year and that has worked really well. But I would never have known to go to that model had I not kept going the way we were going and to see that it wasn’t going to work. So I think failure is a great thing especially when it doesn’t completely take you under.
I mean even from when I started is that the harder I work, the more successful I can be.
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I did have to cut some of our staff which was incredibly unfortunate and I wish I didn’t have to do that. But hey, I employed them for as long as I could and I think I gave them a great opportunity and I thank them for all their hard work but I need to keep going with this idea.
I wish I could have done it earlier but again I would never learn from it and for me the other thing too is I don’t fear failure. So I kind of do things as I feel that I should do them. If they work, great. If they don’t work, I try and figure out why they didn’t work and I’m moving on to the next thing and learn my lesson from it. So I can keep going forward. Ventures: What is the best thing about owning your own business and what you’ve built? Jason: I think no matter what, the harder I work, the more successful I can be. I don’t see any instance where if I keep working 80-hour workweeks or whatever, my business is going to fail because in those 80 hours, I’m going to be able to figure out something that isn’t working and how to make it work; whereas if I was only working half that time or even less, I wouldn’t be able to find these things. I wouldn’t be able to figure them out. Really for me I don’t necessarily think of it as work. I think of it as this is my life. This is what I love to do and I think every entrepreneur should have that opportunity and create that opportunity for themselves.
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Cover Story: Jason HeadsetsDotCom Ventures: When a client approaches you and wants to work with your company. What is your elevator pitch? Jason: It’s funny. We’ve been so lucky to not have to do a lot of outbound sales. I mean I’m terrible at pitching people. So we get people that would email me and say, “Hey, we want to work with you guys. What can you tell us about what you do?” What I always tell people is first and foremost, we create content that follows a search engine optimization strategy that hopefully you already have in place so that we can help build your Google ranking and that content lives on forever. The campaign will be customized for your company and the other thing is that we’re fun. We’re really interesting. We’re really unique. We’re really a weird group of people and we think that’s great because you can’t get that really in advertising. You know what I mean? You don’t get that opportunity very often. So I love that about us and that’s typically what I tell people. And also I think one thing that we’ve heard from big companies is that we’re very agile. If it works, we can do it really quickly. We don’t
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have to go through any approvals or any of the processes. We just make stuff happen and we deliver on it as quickly as we can. Ventures: On another note, What is it about you selling your last name to Headsets. com? What happened there? What’s going on? Jason: Early last year, my mom actually gave me a call and unfortunately, she was going through a third divorce, so I jokingly said, “Hey, well I guess I have to sell my last name now”, we kind of laughed and then I didn’t even think about it for a couple of months. One day I was sitting in a meeting with my team and we were trying to think of something fun and trying to get I Wear Your Shirt on the faces of new companies. I said, “Well hey, what about this idea of selling my last name?”
they’ve received out of this campaign? Jason: Well they’re extremely happy. I’m in touch with their CEO Mike Faith fairly often via email and he worked with his PR team to create this kind of recap of what happened. So far it has been $6 million in PR impressions they received from it and there’s also additional sales of $250,000. He’s obviously ecstatic and even from the beginning, just the first couple of days of me being on Fox and other stations doing a bunch of interviews he was like, “That alone was worth it. We would never have been on the homepage of CNN or the homepage of USA Today or whatever.”
Ventures: So what is next for Jason? What are the wacky ideas that you’re working on right now that you can share with us? Jason: I’m really excited for the future of I Wear Your Shirt. We are actually shutting down our current operations as of May 3rd and we have a big kind of set-up planned for something new, different, completely exciting that we’ve never done before. Still using the I Wear Your Shirt brand but I will officially be resigning or retiring I guess as a professional t-shirt wearer and we’re working on some stuff that will hopefully, knock on wood, launch in the fall to the next phase of what we do.
So he has been very happy and we’ve been talking about potentially doing some other stuff throughout this year.
We put it to paper and had a website made, built an auction and November 1st of 2012, it started at zero dollars and within 24 hours, the bidding was up to $30,000 and it ended at $45,500 selling to Headsets.com. Ventures: How is that relationship going? And what do you think is the overall PR marketing value that
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Wheels for your iPad Double is the simplest, most elegant way to be somewhere else in the world without flying there.
The New Teleconferencing Device For Your Business When it comes to businesses, capitalists never compromise with technology used to enhance their marksmanship 20
April 2013
W
ith technology improving at such tremendous speed, companies have a lot of options to grow their business in very cost effective ways. One such way is teleconferencing. It has changed the way the business runs nowadays. Teleconferencing is used to save money, especially when staff or clients are in another city, state or even country. From small to big business, many companies use teleconferencing for conducting meetings that cannot be held www.ventures-magazine.com
Gadgetry COMPANY: Double Robotics
personally or keep a tab on off-site workers. With advances in technology, even the teleconference industry has been disrupted and the new Double Robotics company proves it. Double is an Apple iPad stand that acts like a robot, which is mainly built for the enterprise. The best part of this robotic stand is its price. On sale at just under $2,000, it is quite inexpensive compared to the complicated and expensive Anybots costing around $10,000. Are you wondering how did the manufacturer of Double managed to make such inexpensive
teleconferencing device? While making this robotic stand, the company used the same method of developing software while developing hardware – they did not outsource any part of the project.
April 2013
CONTRIBUTOR: Prateek Panchal
Double is an Apple iPad stand that acts like a robot, which is mainly built for the enterprise.
They bought their own kit to make and test the hardware, making it quite fast to iterate than the outsourced hardware developer. The most interesting part while making Double was that it was not a focused product. Its founders were actually working on a product that needed partnerships with some Chinese manufacturers.
Retractable kickstands will automatically deploy to conserve power when you are not moving around.
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WEBSITE: www.doublerobotics.com
Manufacturing facilities offer Double as a service to clients and partners to improve communication and streamline production.
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Gadgetry
Museums and galleries can offer remote tours on Double, so patrons can experience worldrenown exhibits from anywhere in the world.
Controlling this robotic stand is as easy as playing with a remote controlled car. Eventually, they got frustrated to the point that they were not able to focus on the project. They learned more about mobile robots and realized that they could visit the factory regularly and handle the progress by themselves. Double backed with Y Combinator can be extended till 5 inches and back down to 3.6
inches. This length is quite adequate to telecommunicate with people sitting or standing in a room. The product uses Opentok to video chat with people anywhere around the world. The robotic stand comes with a dualwheel at its base that allows navigating from sharp corners and a tour around the office
premises all from the ease of your own place. Controlling this robotic stand is as easy as playing with a remote controlled car. With the help of any other iOS devices or web interference, you can direct the way of Double, decide the appropriate height and have a video conference with people present in the room.
Apart from delivering such top-notch product to business people, Double is also beneficial for hospitals, academic institutions, retail stores, galleries, museums, and even at homes. This mobile robot is in very high demand among many users, especially for business people.
Why Buy Double For Business: Saves a lot of money in travelling and other means of communication. Its mobile wheels allow users to navigate to the desired location and adjust the height according to the height of front user. It is relatively inexpensive than its competitors. It can be remotely controlled from any iOS device or web interference. Currently, Double is put on pre-order with an introductory price of $1,999 and when its hits retailers it will cost at $2,499.
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Entrepreneurialism CONTRIBUTOR: Peter Main
Are you an entrepreneur? Many people have a real desire and inclination to start up and run their own business either as a sole trader, or as a small or potentially large company.
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ften they are put off even before they start by a number of sometimes well-meaning and sometimes not so well-meaning people who advise them that you need to be a special type of person to be an
An entrepreneur needs to be able to negotiate with people.
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Entrepreneurialism entrepreneur or to run the risk of setting up and running your own business. Sometimes this advice is touted by people who like to see themselves as somewhat of an icon in the business community, rather than anything that is actually based in fact. The United States small business Administration gives some very useful guidance on the qualities needed in order to be an entrepreneur or to set up your own business. These tend to be focused on an individual’s personality or characteristics of their identity. But the real value of this is that most of these characteristics can be learnt or changed within an individual’s own frame of reference. It is important for the individual to be comfortable with taking risks. This does not mean taking unnecessary risks it means being able to look at a situation relatively objectively, decide on what the risks are and are not, and feel comfortable with taking a risk that they know is a risk in the first place. Often people think that in order to be an entrepreneur you have to take a lot of unnecessary risks. This is far from true - it is the ability to evaluate risk and decide which ones are worth taking and which ones are not
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Often people think that in order to be an entrepreneur you have to take a lot of unnecessary risks.
Support is important for entrepreneurship.
this is the key to understanding this process An entrepreneur needs to be relatively independent. Perhaps the best example of this is that an entrepreneur shouldn’t be someone who seems really unsure as a person. They need
to be able to think on their own, make judgements on their own and be comfortable to a large extent with their own judgement. This does not mean that they do not seek advice or help from other people when they need it. It does mean however that
It is important for the individual to be comfortable with taking risks.
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Entrepreneurialism they have enough faith in their own judgement to evaluate other people’s advice and opinions before deciding whether they valid or not. An entrepreneur needs to be able to negotiate with people. This is key whether they are negotiating in a formal sense around a legal contract of some sort, funding either from a bank or a business start-up advice centre or an angel, in any event they need to be able to negotiate well. This is a skill that can be learnt, in fact it is very important to learn how
There is a real need for entrepreneur to be creative
to negotiate well otherwise instinctively it can be done quite badly by virtually anyone. There is a real need for someone who wants to be an entrepreneur or start up their own business to be relatively creative. This again is a skill that people think they either have or they haven’t. This tends to be a misunderstanding of what creativity really is. Everyone is creative in some way or another and everyone has creative skills. Often these are blocked internally by peoples own self-doubt
Everyone is creative in some way or another and everyone has creative skills.
or self judgement or labels that have been given to them by other people in their life. It is important to recognise that creative thinking in this context refers to the ability to think in terms of process about a situation rather than black-and-white thinking or the need for certainty in a given situation. There is also a real need to have some sort of support network in place for an entrepreneur or anyone running their own business. This is largely because of the pressures involved however much a person trusts their own instincts or judgement, they still a large degree of pressure emanating from the very nature of being our entrepreneur or starting your own business. Having a support network can be invaluable in terms of encouragement and in terms of being an outlet for pent-up emotions, or simply as a form of escapism from the reality of what running a business involves. A support network can be a formal or informal process, simply family, friends, work colleagues possibly. It may be a more formal process by way of some type of trade association or professional gathering where common problems can be resolved.
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Dotcom COMPANY: Fiverr
WEBSITE: www.fiverr.com
CONTRIBUTOR: Shelley Sween
How Fiverr.com is changing freelancing With the value of the dollar still in decline, $5 doesn’t go as far as it used to. Or does it?
Fiverr.com is a freelance website showcasing a wide variety of talents.
F
or those that haven’t been introduced to the freelance microgig site, Fiverr.com, you may be surprised by what $5 will get you. Fiverr.com is a freelance website showcasing a wide variety of talents. Each service is offered in the form of a “gig.” The products and services provided as gigs reach far and wide in assortment. Online
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Marketing, Programming & Tech, Fun & Bizarre and Gifts are just a few of the categories offered. There is a professional element to many gigs and a fun and crazy element to them as well.
All services, called ‘gigs’ are sold for $5
It’s simple to sign up and learn the ropes of Fiverr. Whether you are looking to showcase your talents and services or are looking to hire talent, it’s fun and worthwhile. Having a job in Microsoft
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Dotcom
Excel executed for $5 is more than worth the money. Or having an awesome company logo designed in one day, is a deal that is hard to pass up. Many may speculate “you get what you pay for and $5 isn’t much!?” Fiverr is looking out for you and, therefore, offers rising levels for seasoned, competent freelancers to advance to. This makes choosing someone reliable easier for the buyer. In addition, comments are made on Seller’s profiles in the form of “reviews”. These comments also help the buyer in choosing the best seller for what they are looking for. Fiverr offers Level One, Level Two and Featured
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Seller to their clients. Descriptions are as follows: Top rated sellers on Fiverr offer services that they are serious about delivering in a quality manner. At this level, the services begin at $5. You can upgrade services with “add-ons” if you’d like to. As a seller, if you are willing to work hard and provide a quality, reliable product or service, you will build a repeat client base. This, of course, means revenue for you! In this day and age, don’t under estimate the value of a $5[er]. Whether you are a buyer or a seller, Fiverr.com has something to offer you for $5. Thumbs up!
The site offers hundreds of different catergories to choose from.
Top rated sellers on Fiverr offer services that they are serious about delivering in a quality manner.
Categories available on Fiverr 1. Gift 2. Graphics & Design 3. Video & Animation 4. Online Marketing 5. Writing & Translation 6. Advertising 7. Business 8. Programming & Tech 9. Music and Audio 10. Fun & Bizarre 11. Lifestyle 12. Other Additionally, you can post your own projects or jobs you would like to have completed, and members of the Fiverr community will pitch for the work instead of you having to seek them out yourself. Either way you use this service, there is a lot to be gained from $5.
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TastingRoom.com Simple Concept, Complex Flavors
For most people, the term wine tasting conjures up images of a trip to a rural, remote location and spending lots of time, and money, at a winery. 28
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Subscribed COMPANY: Tasting Room
W
hile many find this activity enjoyable, it’s certainly not convenient nor cost-effective. Even something as steeped in tradition as wine tasting has been improved by the digital age.
expand their horizons or tantalize their tastebuds with something new, it’s an expensive endeavor. Nobody likes to pour their money down the drain when excitement over a new bottle turns to wrinkled-nose disappointment.
While the internet era has offered access to myriad of wines from across the globe, we’ve still had to trust a description, invest in a bottle and hope for the best. For those of us just developing our love affair with wine and trying to discover where are preferences lie, this can be a costly venture. Indeed, even for connoisseurs looking to
TastingRoom.com offers a delightfully simple alternative – an affordable tasting flight, sent to your door. It leaves us asking, “Why hasn’t this been done before?” Their ‘try-before-youbuy’ option is as easy as 1, 2, 3:
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WEBSITE: www.tastingroom.com
CONTRIBUTOR: Christina Auck
TastingRoom.com is able to offer sample bottles
It comes gift-boxed in quality, elegant materials
1. Choose a winery, region, theme or varietal 2. Receive your box of samples and taste
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Subscribed
As with the wine, Tasting Room offers variety in it’s packages.
3. If you liked any, get the full bottles TastingRoom.com is able to offer sample bottles through partnerships with wineries and accomplished using their patented T.A.S.T.E. technology. This technology, conducted in a zero-oxygen environment, ensures no quality is lost in offering smaller bottles. Six small bottles are shipped to you (50ml, which is plenty for two people to taste or one to
have a real go of ) in an insulated box. And the packaging is really impressive as well. It comes gift-boxed in quality, elegant materials, definitely giving the feel of a high-end boutique. Also included are gorgeous cards with instructions, tips and food pairing suggestions. These surprisingly impressive bonuses, together with quality samples, make a flight box an excellent gift option.
TastingRoom.com is able to offer sample bottles
As with the wine, Tasting Room offers variety in
It comes gift-boxed in quality, elegant materials
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it’s packages. The Super Flight options begin at $48.99 and, in addition to the six tasting bottles, includes a card for redemption of two full-size bottles of your choice once you’ve tasted them. There are many other sampling options, starting as low as $19.99. If you prefer, there is also ‘Wine Your Way’, offering wines by the glass in 100ml bottles. We were impressed with everything about TastingRoom.com – from it’s website to the packaging and, of course, the wines. One of the highlights were the information cards which addressed us as intelligent people that wanted to learn about the wines, but not in a way that confused a beginner nor bored a seasoned enthusiast. As a gift or a tasting in your own home, TastingRoom.com delivers.
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Why You Should Build Your
business Around Your Personality
Success does not fall from the sky. It is a result of both hard-thinking and hard-working. I have learnt over the years that success is not so much about being successful in the job market, but more about being successful in being ourselves first. WE HAVE all heard the
saying “Work smarter, not harder�. Here smarter means: business integration with your personality and lifestyle. Most business people today realize the importance of productintegration and crossselling among business divisions, but I would
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say hardly any of them combines their business experience with their personal lifestyle. Most people keep it separate. They still put their lives into little boxes or compartments. This is time for my work and this is time for my hobbies. They consider everything as being separate.
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Business CONTRIBUTOR Calvin Dorman
G
this compartment for friends; this compartment for myself. Instead I integrated them all. My friends become part of my family; my family becomes part of my business and so on. I think you get the picture- they all interlink. There is no fighting for time and attention.
entle reader, your life and your income will be dramatically improved if you realize the concept that being successful in being yourself is more important than the number of working hours you try fitting into your day. Enjoy and put love and passion into everything you do. Stop feeling like you are running on a treadmill trying to keep everybody “happy”. Instead, fit your work around being yourself and you will discover that you have lots of energy and achieve more. Look at all the current great entrepreneurs and here Richard Branson comes to mind. He is totally himself first and foremost. He has integrated his work and his lifestyle. Just reading about his life in books, blogs and newspapers, you will realize that he is not bound by clocking into work from 8 to 5 every day. Whether he is at a lunch or an event, he is always “working” He is never too busy to enjoy life, in fact he has even taken part in our famous annual Cape Argus Pick and Pay Cycle Tour last week. He is a good role model for young entrepreneurs today. He lives the
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slogan which says: Work on your business and notin your business. I repeat this slogan from time to time to affirm to myself that I always need to be aware to work smarter and integrate my business with my lifestyle like Richard Branson does.
Richard Branson
My belief is that one should stop putting one’s life into little compartments. Namely: this compartment for business; this compartment for family;
Being yourself Enjoy and put love and passion into everything you do. Stop feeling like you are running on a treadmill trying to keep everybody “happy”.
Although it is extremely hard to do at first, one has to make an effort. Try and stop constantly living around deadlines and to-do- lists. Once you have accepted who you really are and have found your own true purpose in what you do for a living, you will work with a natural energy flow. No longer will you rush trying to fit all your “compartments” into the limited time you have put aside for each task. Material wealth should not be the reward for working hard and long hours, instead you should integrate those long and hard hours into your daily celebration of life itself, and you will begin to feel that the hours will become more fun. So be yourself first and then integrate your business around your own unique personality.
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Money COMPANY: Wallaby Financial
WEBSITE: www.walla.by
CONTRIBUTOR: Ashley Cizik
Do you find it a hassle to keep track of your credit cards, their interest rates, rewards and fees?
The Wallaby Card As founder and CEO of Wallaby Financial he is looking to make the credit-card system work for you.
B
y connecting all cards into one (for a fee), the company is hoping to revolutionize the credit card industry. Even though new emerging payment technologies are coming onto the scene – think of near-field communications chips for phones and the like. How does this new Wallaby card work?
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Wallaby is provided information on each credit card. They issue you a new piece of plastic, you keep this on you and leave your credit cards home. Whenever you need to make a purchase, simply swipe the Wallaby card. The intelligent software uses algorithms to determine which card to use for each transaction to yield better rewards. This software takes into account factors such
Whenever you need to make a purchase, simply swipe the Wallaby card.
as the cards you have, the rewards for each and the clients personal preferences. It basically is taking the guesswork out trying to decide which card will give you the most rewards for any given transaction. The card is issued by the company’s partnering bank. While this card is not a new line of credit, the user is still responsible for the individual bills and fees
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Money
A Cloud Wallet Adding your credit cards to your Wallaby cloud wallet couldn’t be easier. You’ll see each card’s reward benefits at a glance. No need to look-up the details, we do the work for you.
for each card they have. Wallaby will work with any major card. Though in the beta period (expected to run into the beginning of next year) it will not be accepting any private-label store credit card. The first six months of service is free then after that a service fee of $50 per year will be charged. “We think we’re going to save people several times that,” Goldman assured. Increased rewards and a thinner wallet sounds well worth it. As innovative as the Wallaby card is, there are others competing for consumer wallet space. Take for example, Paypal, Google, Isis and NFC. Smart phone users can make in-store payments with a PIN, use readers or other forms of digital payment all in an effort to reduce the amount
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you have to carry around in your wallet. Other multifunction card companies such as iCache are also on the market. However, with all the competition, many may wonder why the idea has not yet taken off as quickly as one may think. When consumers carry multiple cards around with them it helps control spending. While it may not an efficient system, it seems effective in curbing how much is spent. Trusting in one card is a leap of faith for many. So it may take time for consumers to come around to the idea, even if it is a great one
The Wallaby Card makes your credit cards work harder for you.
Wallaby does the work for you — just look it up on the app!
accept the Wallaby card right away as it works on any reader and anyone can use it. Learning to use other digital payment technologies may take longer for some. It is with this in mind that Goldman explains, “Right now, plastic works. People know how to swipe their credit cards.”
Goldman is confident in his product and its ability to preform the task it was created to do. Businesses can go ahead
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How Do You
Roll?
Franchise Finds its Casual on the Go Niche 35
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Sushi lovers
normally have to choose between fine dining with prices to match or the less expensive prepared rolls ...
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Franchise It COMPANY: WEBSITE: How Do You Roll? www.howdoyouroll.com
S
ushi lovers normally have to choose between fine dining with prices to match or the less expensive prepared rolls that have been sitting in the cooler for the better part of the day. In order to bridge the gap and bring seafood lovers what they love at reasonable prices and on the go, How Do You Roll? is revolutionizing how we do sushi. How does it work and what can you expect to find the next time you enter a How Do You Roll restaurant? The customer is king in this deliciously quick sushi-roll boutique. Rolls are custom made to order. The first choice is between the traditional seaweed wrap and a soy wrap. Next up to three vegetables can be selected and then the protein. These include a variety of fresh meats and seafood.
The customer is king in this deliciously quick sushi-roll boutique.
The fast-casual eatery that lets customers build their own sushi rolls
The finishing touch is your choice of sauces or toppings. From the beginning to the end, the entire process takes only about three minutes to complete. Are you wondering if this is just another fast casual dining restaurant? How Do You Roll? is a bit different. With the use of maki machines employees can create sushi rolls in record time. To start, a rice mixer prepares rice,
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CONTRIBUTOR: Damian Young
then the maki machine presses the rice to create a sushi-roll. Lastly, the third machine makes precision cuts into the roll, leaving ten neat, perfectly formed pieces ready to be dressed and eaten.
The founder of How Do You Roll? is Yuen Yung is a certified public financial planner and has a B.S. in business administration. With little time during his lunch to sit down and wait for high grade sushi, he began
Co-founder and CEO Yuen Yung
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Franchise It clean green tea. The ambiance of How Do You Roll? is bright, modern and carries the lines and curves associated closely with Japanese culture. Its innovative concept and well executed design has been franchised and is realizing great potential in Texas and California.
to develop the idea for How Do You Roll?. It just so happened that his brother Peter, was a sushi chef. Happily, they joined forces and together opened their first restaurant in Austin, TX. To compliment the premium sushi on the menu, How Do You Roll? side items, beverages and desserts complete the meal. Some of the sides include fresh seaweed, calamari and
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cucumber salads and miso or edamame soup. Selections from the drink menu include classics like soft drinks, beer and wine but also include Japanese favorites like ramune soda and sake. Tasty treats are served up for dessert in the form of Mochi ice cream. Flavor options include fruity mango, white chocolate raspberry, mint chocolate and a
Founded in Austin, Texas, by brothers Yuen and Peter Yung
Expansion is inevitable as the restaurant concept is one that appeals to many across the nation. How Do You Roll? has become a popular franchise opportunity for many. With fresh ingredients, appetizing menu options, pleasant, bright atmosphere and cultural appeal, How Do You Roll? has become a happy success.
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Bad Idea COMPANY: Toygaroo
WEBSITE: www.toygaroo.com
CONTRIBUTOR: Michael Levanduski
Product idea Toygaroo is a company that sends toys to your doorstep for a monthly rate
Toygaroo How Not to Pitch a Company If you’ve ever seen the hit TV show, “Shark Tank” on ABC which involves entrepreneurs and inventors pitching their ideas to potential investors you may have heard of the company called, “Toygaroo”.
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N
ikki Pope was on the show attempting to draw in investors for her new subscription service which shipped toys to kids so they could play
with them. When they grew tired of the toy their parents would just ship it back and a new one would be sent. Essentially it is just like Netflix, except with children’s toys rather than DVDs. Not a bad idea when you first think about it, but there are some hurdles which would need to be overcome that seem to be insurmountable. First, to get people to sign up for the service you would have to find a way to get them past the idea that their children would be playing with used toys that have been used in all sorts of ways by other children. This is kind of gross www.ventures-magazine.com
Bad Idea and you can’t run them through most types of sterilization machines without ruining them. Another problem is that children are not careful with their toys. Any parent will tell you that even the toys their kids still have are often broken in one way or another. While that’s fine for someone’s own kids, it wouldn’t be acceptable to send broken toys out for a company. This would then require a strict policy requiring parents to pay for any damage to the toys and that would likely make the service far to expensive for parents to find it worth it. The company also may have had to broad a focus to become successful. Offering virtually every toy on the market requires huge inventory and warehouses. If Toygaroo would have considered starting out by focusing on only a small number of different types of toys they may have eliminated many of the problems which undoubtedly plagued them at first. While it is not clear whether these issues caused their eventual bankruptcy or not, it is easy to imagine how it would have contributed at the very least.
Toygaroo: A Shark Tank Failure
own, Nikki Pope didn’t help her case when presenting it to the investors on Shark Tank. She failed on a number of key points that may have helped her secure the full funding she required in order to become successful. She did not focus enough on what would drive her company to the next
level once she had the investments. She also needed to have a better outlined value that she was providing to her customers. Overall this may have been quite an innovative and interesting idea but the combination of problems related to the business itself and
the poor presentation made it clear that this was not going to be successful. While she did get some funding for the company, it was not enough to keep it open and grow it to the point where it was sustainable and that is why Toygaroo went into bankruptcy in April of 2012.
Another problem is that children are not careful with their toys.
While the idea had enough flaws all on its
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