We’re now reaching a point where technology is almost advanced enough to be able to detect what consumers are thinking better than they can themselves. That’s one of the things that spurred Tokyo-based Tomonori Kagaya to found Neurowear, a startup that’s preparing for a future where emotion-reading is accurate enough to deliver the right content to consumers at exactly the right time.

Kagaya worked on a number of projects ranging from an interactive augmented reality game that encouraged residents of Japan to travel around to find and catch digital butterflies, to music based on local wind data before creating Neurowear in 2010. The startup’s first product was Necomimi, novelty cat’s ears that wiggle based on wearer’s emotions, which was picked as one of Time’s 50 Best Inventions of 2011. Kagaya recently expanded on the idea to create Mico, a pair of headphones that play music that matches the mood of the person wearing them. We asked Tomonori to explain what drives him and his ideas.

1.Where did the idea for Mico come from?

We can listen to over 16 million songs if we use music subscription services like Spotify, Pandora or Rdio, etc. but there is a big problem. How do we “encounter” new music? Search is practical only when you can describe what you want verbally.
It’s often like this when someone describes music they like: “Its speedy, dark, heavy, its a little bit different from rock, its like… like… uh… wolves are running, and sometimes gorillas run… you know…” You cannot search for something that you can’t put into words. If we don’t know the title, artist name, genre, then how can we find the song? We need another approach. Don’t go searching for music, let music find you – that must be a new experience. So we made Mico.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

Come to the office, think about the future, communications, technology. Meet people, creators, entrepreneurs, writers. Write down some of the new ideas that appear from those discussions. Then, talk about ideas with team members and start building the concept.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Mico?

Visit new cities, walk around. Find a new restaurant, drink with friends.

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Create a new concept.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

Having to keep on schedule makes me irritated.

6. What motivates you to keep going?

Encounters with new experiences. I’m always looking for a new experience – that makes me excited.

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Collect more user data, at least 1000 times larger than we have done.

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

We’ll continue developing our listening experience and we want to see more than a million people using our service. To make it, we’ll continue to create new headphones and build our neuro-music database.

9. If you weren’t working on Mico, what would you be doing?

I would make another new prototype that enables people to have novel encounters with media.

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

All new ideas comes from dreams.

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Good luck!

Technology innovations can sometimes defy belief, and the MJ v1.0 jacket was no exception when it was first brought to our attention last month. Designed with style in mind as well as tech capabilities, the MJ v1.0 jacket enables the wearer to make musical sounds through gestures. The company behind the tech, Machina, is in its infancy and the jacket is its first creation. The business focuses on a co-operative approach and has a clear and ambitious vision for the future, where fashion will merge with technology to create new capabilities for humans, for example increasing strength through wearable tech that helps the wearer to lift heavy items.

Co-founder Linda Franco has a background in design, and she started out studying marketing and strategic design at Centro University in Mexico City. Shorty after she co-founded The Gyzu Experiement – a web design and development firm and alongside this she set up the Plan de Escape prison project which taught male inmates the ins and outs of fashion and trends with the end goal of creating their own fashion label. We caught up with Linda to find out how the first year of business has been so far.

1. Where did the idea for Machina come from?

One random day in the past, I was talking with Antonio about the future of his tech idol Ray Kurzweil; Kurzweil predicted that wearable computing would be embedded in every accessory that surrounds us like furniture, walls, clothing and more. Kurzweil mentions in one of his books that the boom of wearable technology would be in 2019. Machina was formed in November 2011. Antonio Machina, Co-Founder and creative director, wanted to make and wear more mechanical clothing. It was this desire for clothing that was more practical, more personal and more unique that led Machina to our philosophy of the wearable machine.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

Something that we have learned is that even if we have a timeline of our activities something always comes up. We usually have our plans defined but then we get invited to a lot of events or to work on new projects so this makes our lives shift constantly. I regularly wake up at 5:30 am to do exercise and by 8:00 am I am already at our co-working space ready to work. Most days in Machina, we have meetings. I am in charge of trends, social media, press, administration, international deals so usually I am on the phone or answering e-mails.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Machina?

As an entrepreneur you are on a constant high of work so I suffer from extreme migraines and anxiety attacks. For this I generally run in the mornings or do extreme crossfit because exercise in some way keeps me sane. I love the movies, I usually love to visit different tea houses and just have an hour of peace.

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Three key points for success:
- Failure – We see success related to failure. I am of the idea that the people who fail first are the ones to understand how to succeed in the course of time because if you rise from a fall at an early stage you are most likely to survive anything in the future.
- The team – A company, a project, homework, a sport, a relationship (any kind of relationship) can’t happen if you don’t stick by it and work on it as a team. It is proved that society united as one can achieve great accomplishments. If you have a great team, you can make ANYTHING happen! Team members are essential to any kind of startup.
- Perserverance – Things don’t just happen because they should, you have to make them happen. I once read a book that said just because you’re an entrepreneur it doesn’t mean you get to go on vacations whenever you want to. It doesn’t mean you get to sleep in. “Time is money”. Time slips through your fingers like water for the entrepreneur. The discipline to work hard, fulfill deadlines and grow must come from you! If you fear failure you will never know if you made it, you have to try! And if you fail it’s OK to fail! You shall do better the next time and will never live a life going around saying “What if….”

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

The fact that times are changing, we believe that we are at the beginning of a new era in the fashion industry where clothing is beginning to merge with technology and from this a new future will emerge. Integration will become ubiquitous, in every device we own, we have forgotten the role fashion can play in this cutting edge technology. That is only the beginning. We are working in parallel in many of these fields to achieve that vision. We want to provide every digital athlete the best wearable gadget. For his respected discipline to help him have an interactive and unique experience.

6. What motivates you to keep going?

My future. I truly believe in my company, my team and myself. There is so much I still want to do and experience so I am looking forward to the people I am going to meet and things that we are going to do. Mostly because we have met people that have told us “This is impossible, that is too futuristic, I don’t know if you are going to make it” the end result of making it happen is inspiring.

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

This is an interesting question because I am the kind of person that never regrets a decision or a mistake. And this is because I am of the idea that you learn from every action you make even if it’s bad. But if I was to start again and do something differently it would only be one thing and that would be never to have invited friends to work with us. Why? Because most people don’t have the maturity to separate one relationship from another. It was heartbreaking for me at times to know I had lost a friend because he or she didn’t agree when I mentioned a mistake or change or whatever. But though it’s hard it is possible. One of Machina’s Co-Founders has been my life partner and business partner so I know it is possible.

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

We see Machina like a brand of a new generation. This new generation has new aspirations which aren’t to become the next Michael Jordan, these great people are the ones that are growing up to be part of the four pillar of the digital era – technology, gaming, music, communication and interaction. We like to call them digital athletes. This is where Machina comes in because as young designers we understand the needs of the youth. By that time we will already have our Machina Pop-Up store (it will be a trailer) traveling the world popping up in your favourite cities. We will be positioned and selling in Japan, Europe and USA. We will get there by slowly expanding starting with the US. We will keep traveling as speakers to big events like Wired. We are beginning to build a community around the brand extending the life of our products. More than a brand, we see Machina represents a community of great minds interacting and working with each other to the design the next big thing.

9. If you weren’t working on Machina, what would you be doing?

Before Machina I had another startup called The Gyzu Experiment – it was a web design and development firm. I would probably keep doing that because it was going pretty well.

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

In the outside world nobody really knows what our true names really are.

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Troubles will always be around the corner and trust me, this applies to happy moments too. Don’t get chaotic over tomorrow or about what happened yesterday. The moment is right here, right now. Cross the bridge when you get to it, not when you’re a thousand miles away.

Thanks Linda!

You can read more about Machina here, or visit the Machina site here.

The world of car rentals can provide a frustrating experience. The choice of vehicles on offer can be varied in quality, and the rental process can be time-consuming. Often potential customers want to rent a car at short notice, if they are flying into a particular location and need to get to a particular venue at a certain time, for example.

Co-founder of Silvercar, Bill Diffenderfer, was keen to simplify this process. Silvercar customers only have one model of car they can rent – the silver 2013 Audi A4, and can book their vehicle through mobile with cloud–based profiles for each customer allowing a quick verification process. The intention is that the customer can jump into their rented vehicle and get on their way as quickly as possible. We put our questions Bill to find out how his team’s take on the rental sector is coming along.

1. Where did the idea for Silvercar come from?

Silvercar is a collection of ideas, but at its core is the idea of just offering one car type. That idea was our co-founder’s, Todd Belveal. As he says, that idea came from too many bad car rental experiences.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

One of the great things about working at startups is that there is no typical working day.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Silvercar?

When it’s your start-up, you never really get away from it and relax. In the early stages, start-ups are so fragile that you worry about them and hover over them continuously. Still, I play golf to take my mind off Silvercar – just a different obsession!

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

The secret ingredient is an inexhaustible determination to do it. No quitters allowed.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

You always have a love/hate relationship with the technology. In theory everything works and goes smoothly – that’s what you plan for, but there are always little kinks, and things that have to be reworked just slightly for everything to fall in place. That can slow things down, but it’s also just part of building a tech start up.

6. What motivates you to keep going?

The desire to build a great new company from nothing. It’s a work of creation. Done well, it makes customers happy, employs people and rewards investors. And it is FUN!

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I learned long ago not to second guess. I love where we are, so I’m happy with the path that got us to this point.

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

Silvercar is currently offered at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and at Austin Bergstrom International Airport as a rental option. But we’re not stopping there. We plan to expand to at least two other airports by the end of 2013. Our future locations will be disclosed as plans and contracts are finalized. As for the next five years, it would be wonderful to have a presence at every major domestic airport – we’ll have to see how things go. And of course we’ll be listening to the market and our customers. There could be something different that’s needed. We plan to evolve with market and technology needs.

9. If you weren’t working on Silvercar, what would you be doing?

Writing another book.

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

Startups all begin with a single leap of faith – believe in yourself.

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

See the answer to question 10. Take babysteps and be picky about the ventures you start. If you have several ideas for a good business, start with the most manageable and work from there. You may have a fantastic idea that could really take off, but if you start with that one, you may have to endure learning curves that you could have learned on something less daunting.

Thanks Bill!

You can read more about Silvercar here, or visit the Silvercar site here.

International relocation can be an exciting, yet daunting, prospect. Whether moving as an individual, or with a company, there are myriad factors to keep in mind when looking for a new home, office or job, as well as sorting out official documentation to make citizenship valid. This was a frustration that MOVE Guides founder Brynne Herbert experienced on several occasions as she moved around the world. Each move was time-consuming and left her stressed before she’d even arrived at her new home, prompting her to found MOVE Guides, which aims to make international relocation easier for individuals and businesses.

Brynne’s background lies in finance, having previously worked for Standard Chartered Bank and Lehman Brothers, first as an Analyst in Hong Kong and then as an Associate in Singapore. She set up MOVE Guides while she was studying for her MBA at London Business School in 2011, taking her experience of having to regularly relocate for work as a motivation. We caught up with Brynne to find out how her startup is faring since we last covered it.

1. Where did the idea for MOVE Guides come from?

I founded MOVE Guides because of the immense challenge I always found when moving around the world. MOVE Guides was born out of the personal pain that I always felt when moving to new cities – a similar challenge that I saw friends, colleagues and fellow expats experience! When I moved to London, I first lived in a sublet apartment with no hot water or internet, and at the same time had no bank account or mobile phone! In a moment of frustration one day, I asked my husband why it was so hard to plan an international move and so easy to plan international travel. He said I should change it…so I did! When I started looking at the market, I realized that the relocation industry was still very traditional and lacked modern enterprise software for HR. I decided there needed to be a way to introduce innovative technology and a strong customer focus to global mobility and employee relocation.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

The term “typical” doesn’t exist in a start-up founder’s vocabulary. I spend a lot of time on the phone or travelling to the US and throughout Europe speaking to suppliers, corporate partners, investors and potential new hires. Things are moving quickly and our expansion into international cities is growing rapidly! Most of my evenings are spent on the phone in the US (due to the time difference), which means Asia takes priority for my morning phone calls.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on MOVE Guides?

I work A LOT. However, I make it a point to squeeze in morning runs whenever I can and yoga on weekends. I’m an avid marathon runner and often find my best ideas come to me on runs. I also read the Financial Times and The Economist religiously. But the most important way I relax outside of the office is just by spending time with my husband!

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

I don’t believe there is one single ingredient to becoming a successful entrepreneur. It takes a combination of many characteristics to be successful. What I can advise is that you need to be relentless and resilient…and absolutely focused on your vision. One of the best quotes I’ve ever heard is that “Great things happen when ordinary people become obsessed with something”. I think that pretty much sums up being an entrepreneur.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

Constantly being asked how it feels to be a woman entrepreneur! At MOVE Guides, we are focused on transforming international relocation. We work exceptionally hard to create the best product and experience for our customers (be they HR professionals, suppliers or individuals moving), and that’s our sole focus….male or female!

6. What motivates you to keep going?

I believe that the world needs people with global capabilities to solve global problems. We live in an uniquely interdependent world, and we need people with the cross-cultural capabilities necessary to work together to improve society. Moving abroad and acquiring these networks and capabilities should be far easier than it is today…for both individuals and organizations. I always found it exciting and rewarding to move to new cities, but exceptionally difficult and inefficient. Our team is full of people who have moved and lived around the world, and experienced this pain. Every day, we get throngs of emails from others who have experienced the same challenges and are grateful for what we are doing at MOVE Guides. The mission to make moving as easy as traveling, and help ease the flow of capital and labour keeps me going.

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Without a doubt I would have started recruiting for any position we had earlier. It’s very difficult to recruit great talent in today’s market and I think we underestimated that at points. We have an amazing team right now and I look forward to watching it grow!

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

MOVE Guides will help labor and capital flow more easily around the world. We will help organizations build global talent pools and benefit from the data about their talent pools to optimize staffing, career development and performance. We plan to be the leading HR technology software for global mobility departments in five years.

9. If you weren’t working on MOVE Guides, what would you be doing?

This is actually a common question at team drinks! I used to say that I’d love to be a writer, but I recently decided I’d actually prefer to work in space exploration!

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

My desk is the messiest in the office!

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Be exceptionally passionate about your business and goal. Focus relentlessly on it and
expect to work, hard! London’s start-up scene is booming and there are events, advisors and drinks a-plenty. Do not allow yourself to lose focus!

Thanks Brynne!

You can read more about MOVE Guides here, or visit the MOVE Guides site here.

Recently, there has been an increased interest in grow-your-own options as food prices rise globally. Two men who are well familiar with this self-sustaining model are Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora, who founded Back to the Roots in 2009 after successfully growing a bucket of oyster mushrooms in their college kitchen. Their grow-your-own kits are sent out by mail order, and can flourish with only the use of recycled coffee grounds. This low maintenance approach means that their kits can be used by anyone, regardless of how limited the space available.

Both founders graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. When they began their studies they aimed to enter the finance sector, specifically investment banking. However, by the time they reached their final semester their ambitions had shifted and after successfully growing one bucket of mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds they decided to become full-time urban farmers. With the help of a USD 5000 grant from their university’s chancellor and initial interest from eco-friendly chain, Whole Foods, Nikhil and Alejandro set up Back to the Roots. We first covered the urban farming intiative back in 2010, and we recently caught up with the two founders to find out how they’ve progressed.

1. Where did the idea for Back to the Roots come from?

We heard in a lecture that it was possible to grow mushrooms on used coffee grounds. We started experimenting, selling fresh mushrooms to local groceries, and when people started asking us how they could do this too, the idea took off. We made a “Grow Your Own” Mushroom Garden, and started laying out the values we wanted in a company, including hustle and passion. We wanted to create something good in the world, something positive.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

A lot of emails, a lot of chatting, a lot of brainstorming. There are also usually non-stop phone calls and meetings as well! The day starts as soon as our eyes open – we’re on our phones right away with email, etc. Since we’re on the West Coast, even if we wake up at 5:30 or 6, the day is already well started on the East Coast.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Back to the Roots?

It’s all about the music – Pandora and Rdio are my constant companions!!

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Hustle. You have to always keep moving, thinking, and being excited about what you’re doing. If you work as hard as possible, you can make what you want happen.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

Lack of passion – we quickly aligned with people who shared the same sense of passion and urgency towards doing good through business and leaving a positive mark on this world. It’s infinitely more rewarding to work with people who have a passion and zest for life and for whatever they do!

6. What motivates you to keep going?

Knowing we can make a positive difference with our business and that we can help kids learn about food. Not to mention working with people who are just as excited about education, food, and sustainability as we are!

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Invest in design and our branding from Day 1 – we’ve since learned how absolutely critical design is to our success! I still laugh when I look at our first mushroom kit box and initial POP signage!

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

Back to the Roots wants to spend time on product development, and hopefully in five years will have a fuller product line with more options for people to learn about growing their own healthy food. We’re focusing more attention on what we do best – brainstorm new products and develop them – and making the BTTR brand a well-known name in the food industry so that people know we’re a resource in sustainable food.

9. If you weren’t working on Back to the Roots, what would you be doing?

We’d be in investment banking and consulting – we actually gave up job offers in those fields when we decided to start BTTR.

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

Creating new products and building a company can be daunting, but it’s always fun!

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Hustle!

Thanks Nikhil and Alejandro!

You can read more about Back To The Roots here, or visit the Back To The Roots website here.

The diagnosis of diabetes can be a scary piece of news to receive. However, for many sufferers the only difficulty they will face is remembering to inject themselves with insulin at the correct intervals three times a day. John Sjölund was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of three, and was very aware of how easy it was to lose track of his injections. This memory lapse can be life-threatening and John wanted to invent a simple device that would help people keep track of their daily dosages. He came up with the idea for Timesulin, a replacement cap for an insulin pen that also has a display which shows how much time has passed since the last injection.

Prior to setting up Timesulin John worked for marketing company Acceleration. He project managed a number of high profile campaigns, including one of the largest UK supermarket chains and two of the top five cruise companies. In 2010 he set up Timesulin, and alongside this he works with the International Diabetes Federation to improve awareness of diabetes among young people in Africa. When we first came across Timesulin in 2011 the company was just starting out and the product was not yet on the market. We caught up with John to find out how things have progressed since then.

1. Where did the idea for Timesulin come from?

I’ve been living with Type 1 diabetes since I was three. Now, diabetes has never kept me from doing anything other than indulge in too much candy, but it takes a lot of mental capacity – you’re constantly checking in with your body to see why you’re feeling a certain way, wondering if it could be blood glucose related. Add into that mix that the average person with diabetes takes more than 1,500 insulin injections per year (four a day), that these shots don’t hurt and that we are not (typically) traumatized by the experience of injecting, and you quickly have a scenario similar to ‘Did I switch off the coffee machine?’ or ‘Did I lock my car?’. The problem with an accidental double dose of insulin is that it can have very dire consequences, as I found out twice in 2010 when I wasn’t sure whether or not I had taken my shot and administered another. A plummeting blood glucose level can be scary – and even deadly – and there was just no concrete way of knowing whether you really did inject or not before it was too late. That’s when I figured ‘Enough!’ and set about finding a team of engineers to figure out how we could create a super simple solution to making life with diabetes easier for me and the 366 million other people in the world who live with this condition.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

Oh I am not a morning person, so every wakeup is slightly painful. I usually snooze the alarm an average of six times before I check email on my phone (I am a new Android guy, still trying to figure out if it was the right move from my iPhone) and respond to anything I can do immediately. Then it’s breakfast while watching the news and coffee, or straight onto a conference call while I walk down to the office from my apartment. I am lucky! After years of commuting to the office, a recent move has put me within a five-minute walk from home. (This is the beauty of being an entrepreneur – you are able to decide where to put the office!)
Daytime is all about meetings with the team and customers. We have offices in both Stockholm and London, which means that we do all our communications via Skype. I utilize SkypeIn numbers, Skype Video, Skype Chat…the entire kit. Being local for me means having an Internet connection these days.
Come 5pm the emails and meetings tend to slow down and then the real workday starts, giving me the time to focus on the longer term objectives we have – I find I am most productive between 5-9pm.
I typically leave the office at around 7pm and constantly check my phone for updates when I’m not ‘online’. Since we currently sell in over 40 markets – there is never a time where some market that isn’t online and waiting for a response.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Timesulin?

Exercise usually – I try to do compete in least one endurance event per year – this year I am aiming for Stockholm Triathlon and a half-iron man if I can convince my wife that the extra training time required will in fact be helpful to unwind. We will see.
Other than that, I love watching documentaries (I just got the Boxee box and am still figuring out what to do with all the content on there!) and do my best to read the entire Internet every evening. I am a huge fan of the Zite app!

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

I think being able to handle uncertainty well and being a problem solver are the two main ingredients to success. Other than that I was given the following advice, which has rung true: When you start a business it will take more time and more money then expected.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

My biggest frustrations have been related to communications difficulties – particularly when speaking with people in their non-native languages. I quickly learnt the value of having a native-speaker on your side to help in the negotiations! My business runs at an enormous pace – we have gone from an idea on the back of a napkin to having a Class 1 medical device available in 40 countries around the world in around 18 months! When starting off I could go crazy with impatience and it has taken some time to gather a team that runs at the same pace as me. I have learned that I can be pretty demanding of those I work with…

6. What motivates you to keep going?

We are building a solid business, which is great, but at the same time we are truly making a difference to peoples lives! I get the pleasure of being an entrepreneur with the humanitarian benefit of being able to help people who got struck with a chronic condition. And we get daily feedback from Timesulin users who send in handwritten thank you notes to us for making life easier for them – it doesn’t get much better, I tell you!

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I was very naïve when we started this business. I assumed that everyone would be willing to bootstrap it and work with passion to reach the dream of being a profitable business together. Not true. If I were to start again I would be more selective in who I surround myself with. And I would have very good contracts in place from the word go!

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

Timesulin is a brand of Patients Pending Ltd and I hope that in five years we will still be using simple technologies to make the daily life of people living with chronic conditions a little easier. I think we will be forming global commercial partnerships to help with distribution so we can widen our reach.

9. If you weren’t working on Timesulin, what would you be doing?

My background is in digital marketing, so I assume I’d be helping companies with conversion optimization on their websites.

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

After a recent sun-seeking trip to Egypt I just learned that I love cheesy, all-inclusive charter trips! When you, as I do, spend at least 100 days a year traveling for work, the pleasure of simply following somebody with a yellow sign telling you which bus to get on and what time to show up for cocktail hour is completely underrated.

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Get your hands on data and bring that into your strategy process early on to help you make informed decisions. We’ve done a lot based on gut feel, but nothing speaks louder than simple, clear data. We use Salesforce.com for CRM and Desk.com for Customer support, creating simple scenario models. With that said – plan less and do more. Connect with me on Twitter if anybody is interested to learn more @johnsjolund and @timesulin.

Thanks John!

You can read more about Timesulin here, or visit the Timesulin website here.

When we covered Handpresso back in April of last year it proved to be an immensely popular innovation. After all, the prospect of fresh coffee while braving the morning traffic is an appealing one and this was a modern convenience that the founders recognized had value. Handpresso is a mini espresso machine exclusively for use in a car.

When we got in touch with the Handpresso team we were saddened to hear that the founder, Henrik Jul Nielsen, had passed away. Henrik’s wife, Catherine, was determined to keep her husband’s project thriving and she now heads up the company. It has obviously been a difficult time for Henrik’s colleagues and family, but Catherine now has a whole host of plans for the future to honor her husband’s memory.

Catherine started out her career as a translator for big business, and worked on major projects including the Channel Tunnel opening. She joined Handpresso as Communications Manager and soon became so engrossed that she decided to leave her translation career and dedicate herself to the startup. We got in touch with her to find out how Handpresso has been coming along under her leadership.

1. Where did the idea for Handpresso come from?

Henrik Nielsen, Handpresso’s creator, was an espresso-addict and travelled a lot. Fed up with bad espressos, even in exclusive hotels abroad, he started thinking of a portable espresso machine he could bring anywhere – slightly larger than a Swiss army knife. As he had worked in the small appliance area, he had noticed that espresso machines were increasingly sophisticated and expensive. He chose the opposite way and looked for simplicity. The company’s motto has always been Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’. This was applied to the Handpresso Wild to make the simplest espresso machine ever.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

I work very closely with my CEO. We have daily meetings, either to discuss major issues or to update each other briefly. Besides being the President of the company, I work on communications, call journalists, check what has been published, post on Facebook and our website and make new product descriptions or press releases if needed…

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Handpresso?

Family, friends, ballet classes, reading, cycling in the forest or going to Paris.

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Passion combined with determination.

5. What difficulties have you faced in building your business?

Launching breakthrough innovations is not an easy task. You need to convince people that the machines really work, that they are designed by genuine high-end engineers, that the espresso is as good as with a traditional expensive espresso machine and that using them saves the planet… You have to communicate a lot to make people confident about such a new brand and product.

6. What motivates you to keep going?

I had joined Henrik and his Hanpresso team in 2007 to help them with communications. I started on a part-time basis but got so engrossed with it that I ended up totally dropping my own translation activity. As of 2008, I only worked for Handpresso. Henrik and I were both very excited about the product and the company, and in late 2011 two new products were ready for launch when Henrik died. I decided to keep going for his memory, but also for us all – his family and team. The whole team decided to back me up and we’ve done a very good job.

7. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

Last year, we signed a crucial agreement with Lavazza entailing the design of a machine for them, another for FIAT and a third one for an IVECO truck model. All of them work with LavazzaAModoMio capsules, compared to our Handpresso Auto which uses ESE pods. But the technology is the same. We are working on other partnerships with big international companies and hope to sign around two new ones per year. This is our objective for the present and future. Besides this, we are already sold in 40 countries but open up new countries regularly and would like to be represented even more, even in the countries where we are already. I’ll try to work on that communications-wise.

8. How have you found the transition period since taking over the business?

The transition period has been hard personally, but it helped me a lot to work with such a dynamic and enthusiastic team.

9. What does the future hold for Handpresso and the team?

An exciting future!

10. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Go ahead, running a business is a challenge but it’s very, very exciting too!

Thanks Catherine!

You can read more about Handpresso here, or visit the Handpresso site here.

We’ve covered a number of urban farming projects over recent years, and as demand for space grows near cities across the world such schemes have become increasingly crucial. Sky Greens is a low-water and low-energy vertical farm that is intended for urban areas.

Managing Director, Jack Ng, has over 27 years of experience in construction and engineering industry. He has developed building facades, glass curtain walls, aluminum cladding systems, skylight canopies and automated mechanical systems for the building industry. Jack invented and patented Singapore’s first vertical soil-based rotating planting system using a water pulley system, and established Sky Greens with the aim of being Singapore’s first commercially viable vertical farm. We put our questions to Jack to find out how his urban farming project is coming along.

1. Where did the idea for Sky Greens come from?

The idea for Sky Greens was born as Singapore become more and more urbanised. In land scarce Singapore, competition for land from industrialisation, housing, recreations will reduce the availability of farm land even further in the future, thereby increasing Singapore’s dependence on imported food. I feel the need to employ the knowledge and experience that I have gathered during my 28 years of engineering life to invent a farming method that minimise use of resources (land, energy, water) and have low carbon foot print, have very high yield to create a solution for sustainable urban living.
Although the idea of vertical farming has been around for the past 50 years, it has largely remained as a concept with no commercialization until Sky Greens. I took the risk to take the first step to build this vertical farming concept, using low energy and low water usage. In 4 years Sky Greens go commercial.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

Every day gives rise to different challenges. My day starts with a cup of Tea-O (black tea) and I will reflect on what are the challenges and prioritise the tasks to be done for the day and set my heart to find answers to the challenges.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Sky Greens?

I relax when I learn through keen observation. Paying attention to all the small details of life and the environment. Drawing parallels from these observations to our life, for example, by looking at how ants work together to collect food, build their nest and work together with other insects. I learn more about working together, effective communication and the importance of symbiotic relationships.
I feel happy when these observations trigger my enquiring mind and link them to overcome any challenges I may face.

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Persevere in your tasks. Always employ a multi-angled approached in problem solving. And remember that there is always more than one choice, never be overcome by greed and continuously collaborating to achieve a win-win situation.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

Difficulty in changing people’s mind-set. A large amount of time and energy is needed to prove to others before any mindset change can take place. However once this is achieved, we will be able to move faster, as alignment of mind-set has taken place.

6. What motivates you to keep going?

Passionate belief in my vision.

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

No, I would not do anything differently if I were to start again, because if you don’t take that first step, you will never know how you can progress. What is important is we pick up ourself from our failures, accumulating valuable lesson, learnt along the way. Though we have learnt many things, there are more lessons to be learnt.

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

I think Sky Greens will be a global company in five years’ time. We intend to work with the right partners, with similar values and vision. I welcome all potential partners or companies who will be able to value-add to this vision of sustainable urban living.

9. If you weren’t working on Sky Greens, what would you be doing?

I will probably be retired and employing the knowledge and experience that I have accumulated in my 28 years of engineering life to create new solutions for a sustainable living, for the good of the environment and our earth.

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

There is no secret. Every day brings about new learning. What you have learnt cannot be taken away from you. It will only serve to enrich your life.

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Keep it simple. Just do it! And enjoy whatever you do.

Thanks Jack!

You can read more about Sky Greens here, or visit the Sky Greens website here.

Marblar takes a crowdsourcing approach to scientific research, with the aim of developing concepts into real-world applications. Mehmet and his co-founders noticed that the majority of science projects were kept within a tight-knit team, which often meant that lots of exciting ideas were left to gather dust if the required skills for development weren’t present. He decided that the best way to make these ideas a reality was to source help from far and wide, and created Marblar to encourage this. Marblar is a crowdsourcing site that financially rewards users for contributing ideas or suggestions to help further a project’s progress.
Mehmet is a neuropharmacologist, musician, graphic designer, and the EQ of Marblar’s co-founding team. Having spent some time as a bench scientist in big pharma, and then a PhD researcher, Mehmet had been working towards building a career as a research scientist. But throughout this time, and from a young age, Mehmet had an interest in the entrepreneurial side of things. He finally satisfied this interest by securing seed investment for Marblar with CEO and co-founder Dan Perez in April 2012.

1. Where did the idea for Marblar come from?

The founding team for Marblar came together in their roles building and running the Oxbridge Biotech Roundtable – a student-run entrepreneurs organisation serving over 5000 professionals and students in the Life Sciences sector worldwide. It was here that we cut our teeth in running an organisation and pitching clients. In running OBR we learned that the process of commercialising university research (Technology Transfer) hadn’t changed much for over 50 years, and that young scientists throughout the world were craving a creative outlet where they could demonstrate their technical savvy and have a tangible impact to science. Why not combine the two and re-imagine Technology Transfer as an inclusive and fun playground for scientists that is more in line with the 21st Century?

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

For the past 10 months I’ve basically been on Terminator mode, stopping for nothing. Being a student entrepreneur isn’t a walk in the park. I can be running my experiments in the lab one second, and then nipping out to find a quiet room to speak with my developers the next, before running to the other side of London to a creative meeting with the rest of the team and our branding advisor. Thankfully now, my lab work has simmered down, and I have the daunting task of writing up a 400 page thesis, but that does give me a little more flexibility in terms of time. The relentless pace continues though. I will be working on Marblar full-time once I defend my thesis in January 2013.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Marblar?

When I’m not working on Marblar I’m working on my PhD, so I don’t really get any time to relax. Back when I had some spare time, I used to unwind at the end of the day by sitting at my piano. It’s digital, so I can plugin my headphones and play some jazz, or whatever I feel like without bothering anyone. With the light at the end of the end of the PhD tunnel very close I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get back to playing.

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Secret ingredient? I don’t think there’s just one single attribute. I think it’s a combination of being hungry and not waiting for opportunities to present themselves to you. You have to go and make all your opportunities yourself, and take them.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

Finding good developers. Every man and his dog is able to call themselves a web developer in this day and age, and it’s virtually impossible to separate the signal from the noise.

6. What motivates you to keep going?

The same motivation that got us started in the first place – far too much scientific research doesn’t fulfill its potential and make our lives better. Marblar wants to realise the promise of science. By building an arena for creative scientists to come together and brainstorm around how bleeding edge science could be put to good use we hope to disrupt the Technology Transfer process and move science forward more deliberately and efficiently than ever before.

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I’d learn more about coding so I could do more of it myself, but also show more restraint in anticipating problems and throwing everything but the kitchen sink to solve them before being sure that they actually exist.

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

We want to become the default name for accelerating science innovation, providing end-to-end servicing for scientists to move their research out of the lab and into the real world. How are we going to do this? You’ll have to wait and see!

9. If you weren’t working on Marblar, what would you be doing?

Tough to say – I would have finished my PhD a good few months ago, that’s for sure!

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

I was really bad at art and design classes at school. Oh, and I used to get sent out of Biology class for messing around a lot too. At a school reunion a couple of years ago my old Biology teacher refused to believe I was doing a PhD in medical research.

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Don’t aspire to be an entrepreneur. Don’t sit on the sidelines thinking about it. Get out there and live it.

Thanks Mehmet

You can read more about Marblar here, or visit the Marblar website here.

Air miles have acted as a welcome incentive for many a traveler over the past few years. However, while business travelers can often find they have a huge number of miles accrued, those who travel less often may find the cost of a one-off important trip is too high. This is a situation Matt Dimmer was keen to avoid when he set up The Extra Mile. Matt spent a significant part of last year traveling back and forth between his home in Los Angeles and Michigan to visit his father who was dying of cancer. This regular travel pattern was costly but also very important for Matt, as he had the chance to spend time with his father before he passed away. He realized though that not everyone would be able to afford the regular flights involved to visit relatives living far away and that’s when the idea for The Extra Mile came to him – a startup that encourages those with unwanted air miles to donate them to people who wish to visit relatives suffering from cancer.

Matt runs The Extra Mile as a side-project and in the day time works as a Creative Director at an advertising agency in Los Angeles. He is now looking to partner with like-minded organizations, and is determined to grow The Extra Mile into an nationally/internationally recognized NPO, with a long list of corporate partners. We caught up with Matt to find out how this ambition is coming along.

1. Where did the idea for The Extra Mile come from?

Traveling back and forth from Los Angeles to Michigan to see my dad who had just been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, I had a lot of time to myself on planes, in airports and driving. Sitting in the airports and on planes I started to look at people and ask myself what was their story? Were they in similar situations? Were they flying back for a funeral? Then it dawned on me, what if there were people like me, that were unable to fly to see their dads/moms/partners because they couldn’t afford it. How would they be able to have these conversations that I was having, the ones where you get a chance to say everything you never did, or let your dad know what you thought of him as a dad and more importantly as a person? They may not get to, and if I can give at least one person that chance, I will.

2. Can you describe a typical working day?

Well, at this stage with The Extra Mile, a typical day consists of me working at my day job (where I’m a Creative Director at an advertising agency in Los Angeles) and coming home to tend to emails, tweets and any other phone calls or connections that need to be taken care of for the non-profit.

3. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on The Extra Mile?

When I’m not working on The Extra Mile (or my day job), I enjoy running, cooking with my wife, browsing the flea markets of Los Angeles to add to our collection of mid-century modern furniture, traveling, and being outdoors.

4. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Passion. This is my first real go of it in this space, so I’m learning a lot every single day. But my personal experience would lead me to say that if your drive and vision for what you are doing is unwavering, you’ll succeed.

5. What drove you crazy when building your business?

Well, I’m still building but there are a lot of things that drive me crazy. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so anytime I can’t figure out how to do something correctly, it’s an issue. I want to learn all aspects of the business, but I know that it takes time to master them. And the one thing that is on top of my “crazy” list currently, is how tough it’s been to connect with an airline, and have them work with us as a partner.

6. What motivates you to keep going?

My motivation truly comes from the thought of ‘What if I wasn’t able to have the conversations that I did with my dad?’ There are things you want to tell that sick loved one, and things they want to tell you. Sometimes it takes a little while to get them out, because for the most part, neither of you have been in that situation before, and you both have a lot of trepidation.

7. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I truly don’t think I’d start much differently. We’ve only really been a 501 (c)3 since the end of August, so we’re pretty new on the map. I made a lot of calculated steps (especially in the branding arena) out of the gate, that I believe have led to some early successes. Also I’ve always been really into networking and relationships, and reaching out to the thousands of individuals I’ve connected with throughout my career has proven to be even more valuable than I had imagined.

8. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

Five years is an eternity. Things are really just beginning to heat up at TEM, and I’m laser focused on the next six months. I’d love to have a few thousand flights in the books, and be operating on a national or even international level, as well as some product extensions that I’ll be seeking partners for.

9. If you weren’t working on The Extra Mile, what would you be doing?

If I wasn’t working at The Extra Mile (and I wasn’t working at my day job) I’d be either fly fishing, doing something related to furniture and interior design as well as traveling more.

10. Tell Springwise a secret…

I never wear socks that match.

11. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

You’ll probably either seek to create something you’ve always wanted to, or have an experience that sparks an idea for a solution. Either way, follow your heart, and you’ll make it happen.
You can read more about The Extra Mile here, or visit The Extra Mile website here.