David Akinin's Blog: April 2012

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Innovation engine: a few ideas from E-Bootcamp!

Tina Seelig, Professor at Stanford, gave me the following insights:

How do you come up with ideas? From problems? What kind?

Before the 1400s people didn’t know how to do scientific inquiry. Sir Francis Bacon came up with the Scientific Method, and we adopted since early age a method to discover how things work. But shouldn’t there be a process for invention? Seelig calls this the Innovation Engine

Here are some of the ideas a few friends are working on. Get inspired:

Start notes.

ORCHIVE by Francis Hinson

“At the end of the day, major media corporations are just still corporations”

There’s some bias in mainstream news

POWER to the user

Mission: Create a medium for crowd-sourced reports

Report it first yourself, and let the crowd decide

Follow them at www.orchive.com

@tryorchive on twitter

Myagroworld.com by George, the greek

The price of the raw material is 10 times that of a product made from it.

In Greece 20.2% of spending goes towards agricultural products

My Agro World is a social network that eliminates middle man in agricultural distribution

InGidio.com

Turn pictures into shops

Anything that has pictures, videos or media can have integrated ecommerce stores, camouflaged into their platform.

Imagine you’re playing a game. And there’s a little menu of pictures of products: a pizza, a sofa, a book. You click on it, and keep doing what you’re doing. That click placed an order for you.

Interesting… three tech guys to look after.

Skillhubs.com

Demand centric tutoring site

Video platform

Bid screening

Algorithm

Mobile app that does a microlesson on-the-go

Partners: Open-tok, When2meet

VTShiksha

Audiovisual system for rural communities

Lessons from Coinstar, a conversation with David Veenstra

We met at E-Bootcamp in Stanford University, sponsored by BASES and Business Today.

David Veenstra started the meeting with this phrase "I didn't found Google. I don't have a stash of cash. But I have learned a ton from growth"

There it was, the keyword behind his success: growth.

Redbox, the cheap DVD rental subsidiary of Coinstar, Inc., grew to 1.5 billions in only ten years. Coinstar, the coin machine co. of Coinstar, Inc., grew to 150 million in that same amount of time. Business come and go, Redbox rode the wave that starving Blockbuster left behind, and Coinstar solved a problem noone cared to look into in society...

Veenstra, now managing new ventures for the umbrella company is focused on organic and early stage growth investments. Investments that are focused on "self-service automated retail". If you have an idea, and can turn the concept into a machine, Veenstra wants to talk.

He showed some examples of interesting concepts: hurricane simulators, nail painting and automatic dog washer machines- all hilarious, but businesses nevertheless.

Today, Coinstar, Inc. is investing in innovative approaches to the self-service machine business, such as Seattle's Best Coffee, GIZMO (refurbished consumer electronics), and ECOATM (trade in your phone).

Here is the advice I got from Veenstra:

OBSERVE PAIN. It's important to see, not just hear. Focus on opportunities that solve a real pain point.

LEARN CHEAPLY. Launch the business as a test, focused on learning, tweaking and iterating.. Prototype, holding it together with ducktape is OK.

RECRUIT A "NO BS" BOARD. Find candid and pragmatic advisors. Turned "EyeSite" into "SoloHealth".

AVOID SHINY OBJECTS. Stay the course, there will be many distractions along the way.

You have no idea how many ideas they had for Seattle's Best Coffee. In the end, they just focused on coffee.

Next time you have an idea, follow these truths. It will help you stay the course.

Friday, April 13, 2012

The Ozzie: Just What Miami Marlins Need!

Ozzie Guillen

Family man, manager, friend.

Loyal, skilled, hilarious.

Did big things for the White Sox throughout his tenure in the South Side of Chicago, and now he's back to a team he loves in a city he's always called home, the Marlins in Miami.

Excited, pumped, ready to rock the season and build a new baseball legacy with his new family, Guillen was and continues to be determined to bring the South Florida community over something he loves almost as much as his family, Baseball.

Yet last week's events, misinterpreted as they were, inclusive of a heartfelt apology on his part, seemed to cloud over this beautiful reality; that is: the Marlins fortunate acquisition of The Ozzie.

He's paid the price, a big one since baseball is his life. 5 games without the team will be not only tough for him, but for his players, and us the fans- baseball is not the same without him on the field.

Borrón y cuenta nueva. Ozzie is the glue that will bring this team forth, and the legacy that Miami's been looking for in the recent years.

Welcome back Ozzie. Now, Play Ball!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Mashud of Venice: From Street Salesman to Hotel Operative

In a recent trip through Italy with two dear friends, Adriana Urdaneta and Pedro Sanchez de Lozada, I was exposed to new feelings, experiences, the practical use of a language I had been learning for years, beautiful sights… and a new perspective on migrant economics.

David Akinin, Adriana Urdaneta and Pedro Sanchez de Lozada

See, I finally put all inhibitions aside and decided to use my “Economist” card in approaching a sect of salesmen that took over Piazza San Marco in Venezia, Italia. This post will aim to summarize our conversation and give you a better idea of who they are, how they live and the numbers behind their operations.

Our trip started in Rome, where diversity and tourism take over much of the local culture. The sights are still there, and Italian is still the official language; but if you speak Arabic, Bangladeshi, Hindi, or English for that matter, you are guaranteed to get by.

In Rome, the streets and corners, plazas and lawns, were populated usually by 6 to 10 salesmen of the same culture selling tchotchkes: posters, funny balls, light-copters… you name it. They would walk up to people and offer their product, and after rejecting the 2nd or 3rd of their men, they would leave you alone. At the time, I kept these insights to myself, though I’m sure those with whom I travelled were as aware as I was of the process.

Ponte Vecchio in Florence

As the trip continued, my interest in their business model grew. Upon our arrival in Florence, I experienced the same phenomenon. All around the Duomo (central Firenze), a group of 20 Arabic-speaking North Africans walked around offering their posters. Each of them carried ~6 in a cardboard folder which they would open when a tourist walked by, repeating phrases like “very cheap posters. How much?” “You like a poster. Good price” and “I give you one for 5 euros”.

View of Salesman from Duomo

Now, that last phrase is the one that triggered my curiosity most and made me wonder how these people made a life. I immediately needed to share my thoughts with my friends to get feedback about the process.

Here are some of my observations:

-These salespeople are all men, and immigrants.

-Their mastering of the Italian language is very basic.

-They charge 5 euros for their product.

-They all sell the same product.

-They all dress very well: top-brand shoes, jeans and jackets.

-They barely sell; I studied the salesmen for an hour and they did not sell.

All of this brought me to a few conclusions that I must admit others did not accept. I thought they made up some sort of organized cartel of illegal immigrants involved in the sale of other products, like drugs. If that was not the case, at least, I was sure they’d need an additional source of capital in order to live in such places and wear such clothes.

Here’s where “Mashud of Venice” comes in to the story.

Adriana left us before departing Florence, so Venice was going to be a trip between “the bros”. The thing is that Venice is a romantic, calm city, and if you’re traveling with a “bro”, you’ll spend a good amount of time drinking, getting to know each other and walking around pondering about life. I must say we even wrote a business plan for a venture we’d been thinking about for almost 6 months, since we had never had the spare time to crack into the details.

@ Piazza San Marco

We found ourselves sitting in Piazza San Marco, surrounded by 10 other couples spread out enjoying a snack or the evening stars. In a quick glimpse, I’d say around 20 Bangladeshi salesmen were playing with their flying helicopters that lite up, as they twirled down back onto their hands. Their strategy was to propel their toys up into the air, and have them fall in front of a passer-by to then conduct their pitch.

Their Italian and English were so-so, and got better the more veteran they were in the business. Regardless, they would be straight to the point; immediately after catching the toy from its latest flight, they would extend their hand towards you offering it, with a big smile, saying something like “very cheap, try it, try it”. One could negotiate, and the prices ranged anywhere between 2 and 5 euros.

I spoke with Mashud. He migrated from Bangladesh like most of his peers, and was excited to tell me about the business. These men, on a great-day-scenario make 30-40 Euro. Every 500 Euro in savings, they make a transfer of that amount home, and surprisingly only pay a 5 Euro fee (which tells me that American remittances market is overcharging). When I said how do you live, do you sell other things? Jokingly, I mentioned drugs, to what Mashud answered “No, No..”, but his peer, who had recently come to Italy (barely 10 days) said “Yes, Yes…”.

It’s tough to migrate. Mashud came on a 1,000 Euro flight, and wasn’t content making 10 or 15 Euro on a day scavenging around for a buyer. He moved up and made relations outside of his circle of salesmen. He secured a job at a hotel, servicing it, making more money than before, and the security to move forth in life.

It is tough to make a living in a new place, but the need of those that depend on you and are left behind in your home-country, propels a new side of our economy, that in the end only stimulates growth outside of the place of commerce. Next time you travel, think of Mashud and his peers. Take a minute to ponder on how they make a living, and impact the local and home economies.