Category Archives: Entrepreneurism

Launch of MyElectionChoices.com

Posted by Andy Boyer in Entrepreneurism, Marketing, Media, Personal, Politics

MyElectionChoices.com%20logo.gifAfter a few weeks of tinkering, we’ve launched the 1.0 version of MyElectionChoices.com.  The site will continue to evolve, but in its current form, visitors get to choose topics they care about in regards to the 2008 Presidential Election, then select positions they agree with from various candidates. 

At the end of answering a few topics, visitors then find out which Presidential Candidates they share political views with.  Since we have statements from 17 candidates, there’s bound to be a couple people that you’ve never heard of.

There are still plenty of improvements to be made, but give it a whirl and let me know what you think.  There’s a Groups option at the end to make it easy to invite others and compare how certain groups compare aggregately to National Averages.  And there’s a survey at the end as well that will help us shape the constant revisions.

Inspiration from an Unlikely Millionaire

Posted by Andy Boyer in Achievement, Entrepreneurism, Marketing, Media, Personal

If you had an Internet connection at work in 2000 or 2001, one of your colleagues forwarded you a link to HotorNot.com.  You played with it for somewhere between 5 minutes and 8 hours, helplessly clicking on the neverending stream of pictures of people who wanted you to judge how good looking they were.

About 1% of this crowd probably wondered if the founders were making any money, or if they simply launched the site for fun.  Well it turns out they were making GOBS of money.  Giant trucks were backing up and dumping bars of platinum into their backyard.  In a nutshell, it proved that a simple idea, at the right time, with the right people, was infinitely more powerful, satisfying and worthwile than simply attending weekly staff meetings.

Well, if you read techCrunch you probably already wandered over to this blog post from the CEO of HotorNot. If you have ever considered running off and starting your own idea, here are some wise words to help get you moving in that direction.

TixMob Launches in UK – New Way to Buy Tickets for Events

Posted by Andy Boyer in Entrepreneurism, Marketing, Media, Sports

An old friend from Manchester sent me news about his company, Tixmob, this morning. Here’s a synopsis:

http://www.tixmob.com/ Is a new concert ticket agent, just like Ticketmaster and Seetickets we work directly with concert promoters and event organizers to sell tickets on their behalf.   Unlike Ticketmaster, Seetickets etc.. A Tixmob ticket is paperless. Upon purchase it is sent to your mobile phone in the form of an sms message with a bar code. When you get to the event the ticket taker will scan the ticket with our scanner to prove it’s valid and it hasn’t already been used. So ticket touting/scalping is more difficult, you’ll probably get in faster since, for a while at least, we’ll usually have our own que.   A big complaint people have about ticket agents like Ticketmaster is all the crazy fees they stick on top of the ticket price. Generally Tixmob will have a booking of 10% of the tickets face value. As some extra incentive for people to try the product, we’ve reduced booking fees on our first few events to as low as 2%.

While it appers to be UK based for now, the US possibilities seem far reaching as well.  I would assume sports teams would love the anti-scalping features.  Anyway, something to keep an eye on.

Lumosity – Something to Play With

Posted by Andy Boyer in Entrepreneurism, Marketing, Media, Personal

I will take the leap and say that a small company called Lumosity falls into the world of Marketing.  For, positioned one way, Lumosity would simply be entry #3.2 billion in the category of "Ways to kill time online when you should be productive."

But instead, starting with the tagline of "Reclaim Your Brain" and extending through the core messaging, Lumosity is much more than a nice looking version of any casual games portal.  According to their literature, I will actually get SMARTER by spending time on their site. The multi-layered exercises and puzzles are designed to actively stimulate regions of my brain that have gone neglected, enriching my overall intellectual capabilities. 

So far, I don’t feel smarter, but it has kicked my paranoia level to an all-time high, as I wonder if I am simply a pawn in someone’s giant marketing copywriting experiment.  But, I have succumbed to sucker status, and the exercises are fun, so we’ll see where this gets me. 

This Company has a Marketing Budget

Posted by Andy Boyer in Entrepreneurism, Marketing

Because the blog entries here revolve around marketing, with a little start-up stuff thrown in, I’m pleased to find what could be the stupidest product of all time.  But these guys not only have a marketing budget – enough to advertise in Google Mail – but a Google Page Rank of 4, making their dumb product’s web site 100 times more important than this blog.

Here’s the tagline:

"The Safe Banana Guard will fit most bananas & give protection during your journey."

Yes, apparently there is a market for a product that’s specific job is to protect a banana.  And, the company is funded.

Not only does this product exist, it comes in 9 colors.  Because this is a family blog, you will notice that I am refraining from any jokes that could easily float their way to the surface from viewing the order page.  It’s not for a lack of material or imagination, I promise.  Just sometimes the fruit is so low hanging, you want to let someone else pick the tree.

I think possibly my favorite part is that they have a section called, "Testimonials."   Come on… Seriously?  Testimonials?  Doesn’t something called ‘SafeBanana" speak for itself at this point?  Do you really need to read a quote like, "Dude, this thing like totally protected my banana.  I know it’s called SafeBanana, but I didn’t see how it could be possible.  Now, I’m a believer."

Anyway, as a public service to all you people who have suffered and survived banana trauma, I bring you SafeBanana.  Please use responsibly.

Overachiever….

Posted by Andy Boyer in Achievement, Entrepreneurism, Sports

Not sure how I missed this last week.  And I’m not sure if this makes me feel inadeqaute or just dumbfounded.  According to sources, including FoxSports, Lil Romeo, the youth rapper and son of Hip-hop mogul Master P, is now going to play basketball for USC. 

The kid is 17.  His life to date includes the following accomplishments:
– The son of a record mogul worth $225 million
– A young hip-hop artist with several CD’s and concert tours
– And now, he’ll be a guard on a top 25 college basketball team.

Hello perfect life. 

Plus, I give him a huge amount of credit because you never see his name listed next to Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie. 

Can we look 30 years ahead and predict that this kid is going to either be the President of the U.S. or the guy backing the President?  Legacy, music, sports – with what is sure to be a future in film, TV and more.  This kid is obviously no dummy, and his father has certainly proved himself to be highly intelligent. 

What an exciting future this guy has in front of him.

Bubble Watch

Posted by Andy Boyer in Entrepreneurism

Everyone is looking for signs so they’ll recognize when the tech resurgence as become tech over-enthusiasm.  Well, here may be one company we look back on as an example of a technology searching – no trying to create – a need.

The Seattle Times brings us the story of SpotScout, Inc.  Users in the SpotScout network will never have to search for parking spot again.  The company envisions a world where before you leave your house, you enter information offering your driveway or parking spot for sale or rent.  Then you look for users near where you are travelling to, and see who has a place to sell or rent you.  "In the 21st century, you shouldn’t have to look for a parking space anymore," said SpotScout Chief Executive Andrew Rollert, a 32-year-old software engineer.

The company claims 12 employees on zero revenue so far, and with no VC backers.

My bubble barometer managed to stay in control solely because no VC firms have funded them.  But when you have 12 guys working around the clock to make sure people don’t have to drive 30 extra seconds to find a parking spot, you have a neat hobby that you and 11 friends would use, not a viable business offering a service people need.   I hope the technology turns into something very useful that can be embedded into cars in the future.

Guy Kawasaki’s Tips for Hindering Market Adoption

Posted by Andy Boyer in Entrepreneurism, Marketing

Guy Kawasaki published 14 ways that companies hinder their own marketing efforts.  The article offers some informative insights, and some just plain laughable things that "smart start-ups" do when they fail to see the forest for the trees.

It’s funny to think about how wrapped up some companies get in their own importance, that they fail to remember the one giant rule – No one needs you and no one knows you.  Make it easy for them to find, try and remember you.