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Entrepreneurs Find Gold in Gadget Startups Print E-mail
Startup / Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs Find Gold in Gadget Startups

By Priya Ganapati / Wired
March 25, 2009

Fitbit founders Eric Friedman and James Park are betting that hardware, not software, is the way to build a successful startup.
Photo: Jon Snyder / Wired.com

James Park and his partner Eric Friedman stood out like a couple of sore thumbs.

They were in the middle of a crowd of other entrepreneurs at TechCrunch50, a small conference for startups, held in San Francisco last September.

But unlike most of their peers, the duo weren’t touting a web-based mashup, a new advertising platform or a collection of 3-D avatars for customer service. They sought attention for their hardware company, which was building a fitness gadget called Fitbit that would be part pedometer, part wellness tracker.

"We have three full-time employees and everything else is outsourced," says Park. "But we have a great idea and we have a flexible work force, and we want to build the next big thing in the gadgets business."

 
Startup lessons from Bill Me Later's success Print E-mail
Startup / Entrepreneurship

Startup lessons from Bill Me Later's success

Posted by Gus Sentementes / baltimoresun.com at 3:27 PM

(December 4, 2009) Today I attended a talk given by Mark Lavelle, one of the four co-founders of Bill Me Later -- a Baltimore area online payments company that was snapped up by eBay/Paypal for $945 million last year. (Yes, that would be almost one billion dollars.)

He was speaking to a group of ambitious entrepreneurs at the Emerging Technology Center in Canton, sharing some nuggets of wisdom about his company's startup experience, growth and eventual big payoff-sale. He and the three cofounders were in the banking business but left it to start their own company in the 1990s. They each had different skill sets, but knew they wanted to do something that involved online transactions, because of a lucrative potential market. Launching in 2000, their first office space was in the Renaissance Harborplace hotel in downtown Baltimore.

Here are some of the "lessons learned" by Bill Me Later, according to Lavelle, who is VP of business development:

 
Homeless-to-millionaire entrepreneur shares story Print E-mail
Startup / Entrepreneurship

Homeless-to-millionaire entrepreneur shares story

By TOM JOHNSON

Rags-to-riches entrepreneur Lucinda Yates spoke to an attentive crowd Wednesday at the Budweiser Events Center.

Yates spoke as part of bixpo, a business exposition presented by the Northern Colorado Business Report. Bixpo is a two-day exposition Wednesday and today at The Ranch, Larimer County's fairgrounds and events complex.

Yates' inspirational story has captivated audiences across the country. In the early 1980s, after a divorce and a financial setback, she and her young daughter were left homeless and impoverished. Through hard work and creativity, she was able to get her life back on track.

While homeless in Portland, Maine, Yates taught herself how to make jewelry. With the help of friends and family, she found a home and started over.

 
Facebook-driven $93 campaign hoping to grow to $93,000 Print E-mail
Startup / Entrepreneurship

Facebook-driven $93 campaign hoping to grow to $93,000


By Lisa Fernandez / mercurynews.com
Posted: 11/29/2009 12:01:00 AM PST

Ninety three dollars isn't enough.

Carolee Hazard's once-modest goals have ballooned into something much bigger since a random act of kindness over a lost wallet in a Peninsula grocery store.

The 43-year-old Menlo Park woman wants to ramp up the initial $93 donation she sent to Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties this summer and enlist others to help her raise $93,000 by Dec. 31.

The volunteer effort has become almost a part-time job, and Hazard's been making use of social media as well as traditional news coverage to get the word out.

"This is more than a fundraising thing," Hazard said. "If people choose the food bank, then fantastic. But the heart of this is about setting a wonderful, inspirational example for people who just want to be part of something good.''

Hazard's life has taken a dramatic turn since she unwittingly sparked an Internet-spurred pay-it-forward movement.
 
The Latest Entrepreneurial Fantasy Is Selling Cupcakes Print E-mail
Startup / Entrepreneurship

The Latest Entrepreneurial Fantasy Is Selling Cupcakes

By ELIZABETH OLSON   NYTimes
November 25, 2009


Lovely Confections Bakery in Denver has to sell 2,800 cupcakes a month to cover expenses

 

Move over restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts. A new fantasy seems to have taken hold for people who long to own their own business: the cupcakery.

There is no Cupcake Manufacturers Association keeping count, but anecdotal evidence indicates that stand-alone cupcake shops have been spreading not just in the acknowledged cupcake meccas of New York and Los Angeles but also in Boston, Denver, Austin, Tex., and lots of smaller places. Nationwide, cupcake sales, according to the market research firm, Mintel, are projected to rise another 20 percent over the next five years at a time when other baked goods are expected to grow in the single digits.

 
You Know You Want it Print E-mail
Marketing

YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT (BUT DO YOU KNOW WHY?)

WALK INTO A BIG-BOX TECH RETAILER AND YOUR BRAIN BECOMES THE ENEMY. IT WORKS IN A PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE STATE, MAKING YOU IMPULSIVE, EMOTIONAL, AND JUDGMENTAL. HERE'S HOW TO TAME YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND SO YOU'RE ALWAYS BUYING TECH ON YOUR TERMS

Most of us think we know why we prefer one brand over another. But the truth is, we don't. The majority of the time, our brains are on autopilot, flooded with subconscious cultural biases rooted in our tradition and upbringing. While we shop, our brains assert a powerful but hidden influence over the choices we make and the products we ultimately buy. It turns out most of the time, we're just along for the ride.

 
Friends go online at Foursquare to meet offline Print E-mail
Startup / Entrepreneurship

Friends go online at Foursquare to meet offline


By Rachel Metz / Associated Press
Posted: 11/23/2009 12:54:48 PM PST


SAN FRANCISCO — Laura Fitton's ascent has been staggering: In less than a year, she's become mayor of nine different places in several different states, all without giving any speeches or kissing any babies.

Instead, Fitton has gone out. A lot. And that's allowed her to build an empire in the world of a rapidly growing Internet startup called Foursquare, which rewards users with points and virtual "mayorships" for checking in on their cell phones when they're out and about.

Foursquare is the brainchild of Dennis Crowley, 33, and Naveen Selvadurai, 27. The two friends decided to roll out their service after learning in January that Google was shutting down Dodgeball — a similar tool for connecting with friends through text messages. Crowley had started Dodgeball in 2000 and sold it to Google in 2005 for an undisclosed amount.

 
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