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Another week, another fine variety of new business ideas from around the world: YouTube for elevator pitches, bicycle and boat sharing in Canada and the Netherlands, books from Britain disguised as cigarette packs, seasonal gelato in New York, and more. Our next edition is due on 1 August 2007. In the meantime, check out our daily postings on www.springwise.com, send us your tips, and please don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us. Much appreciated! |
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As people are stockpiling online friends and contacts through social networks, it makes sense to let them be as giving to their online friends as to their offline buddies. Online flower store Social Flowers spotted a business opportunity, and has created a way for consumers to send flowers to their Facebook friends without having to ask for their personal details. How it works? Users install the Social Flowers Facebook application, select a recipient from their friends list, pick a floral gift and pay. Social Flowers then sends the recipient an email and a Facebook notification requesting their address, and the flowers are delivered by one of 30,000 local florists in the US and Canada. Social Flowers aims to extend its service to other social networks as soon as possible. Meanwhile, other retailers should jump on the potential for integrating all kinds of gift giving. A notification of a friend's birthday on Facebook could be accompanied by a retailer's special offer for sending chocolates, for example. Or Match.com suitors might want to send a bouquet to a virtual paramour. Books for contacts on LinkedIn, photo prints for Flickr friends, etc. One to pursue if you're in online retail! Key points to keep in mind: ensure both parties' personal information is safe and secure, and respect the community—don't peddle your wares aggressively, just make it easy for consumers to show the same kind of appreciation for their online friends as they already do for people they know offline. Website: www.socialflowers.com Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz
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Pitching the next great idea to prospective business partners, investors, service providers and fellow entrepreneurs just got easier with Vator.tv—a new venture that combines online video and networking. Based on the proverbial elevator pitch—the notion that you should be able to sum up a new business venture in the few minutes it takes to ride an elevator—Vator.tv is an online marketplace for new ideas. “Anyone, across all industries, at any stage, can share ideas, products, services and businesses with the rest of the world, mainly through video.” Here's how it works: users sign up for a free account. They then create pitches for their ideas, projects or businesses in a rich media environment by uploading video, images, PPT or PDF files. They can choose to share their pitches with a personal network or with the entire Vator.tv community. Users build their networks by inviting friends to join or browsing through other ideas and connecting with like-minded people on the site. The website includes tips on creating compelling pitches, such as how to pack the most punch into a three-minute video clip. Vator.tv’s revenue will likely stem from advertising and sponsorships. Launched in June 2007, Vator.tv has some big names behind it, including angel investors Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, Richard Rosenblatt, former Chairman of MySpace, and Georges Harik, a former Google executive who helped build Google's AdSense technology. What's more, the company is already putting its money where it's mouth is by hiring a Pakistani group of web developers who won the business through their very own video pitch. Another promising application of video technology in a Web 2.0 environment, Vator.tv is one for entrepreneurs and investors to keep their eyes on. Website: www.vator.tv Spotted by: Bill McMahon
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One more bike sharing initiative, this time with a corporate twist. An experiment in alternative transportation, exercise and community connections, Vancity—Canada's largest credit union—kicked off their Bike Share program on June 27th by “releasing” 45 shiny red bicycles into the community. Recipients, who were also treated to an organic pancake breakfast, were requested to keep the bikes for no longer than three weeks before passing them on to someone else. People who want to take part can post a blog entry at www.changeeverything.ca/vancity_bike_share requesting the use of a bike when another participant finishes their turn. If a bike needs repairs, it can be taken to any Vancity branch for a tune-up. On September 7, anyone in possession of one of the bikes is to return it to the Vancity Centre, where hopefully all will be accounted for. The bikes will be donated to PEDAL (Pedal Energy Development Alternatives), a local non-profit that will pass them on to individuals in low-income communities. Great PR for Vancity—giving back to the community and the environment make for positive brand recognition, especially if embedded in a ongoing conversation like Vancity's Change Everything program. Business owners looking to boost their public persona may want to replicate this one in other cities. Website: www.changeeverything.ca/vancity_bike_share Spotted by: Tuija Seipell
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Now that car and bike sharing ventures are spreading across the globe, what's next? In Amsterdam, a boat sharing concept just launched—Sloepdelen, which lets members share aluminium jolly boats/dinghies powered by electric motors. So—how does sharing work when it comes to boats? It's not that different from car or bike sharing. After signing up for EUR 25 per month or EUR 200 per season, members can reserve a boat online for a minimum of two hours between 10 am and 10 pm. Reservations are confirmed by SMS and email, with a unique code to open a key locker at the dock. Members grab their key, find their boat and off they go. If they'd like to extend their rental period, they can do so by SMS or phone, as long as the vessel hasn't been reserved by another member. Rental fees are EUR 30-35 per hour, on top of monthly or seasonal membership fees, and are billed monthly. Fun example of a startup catering to transumers—consumers who are more interested in using an object than owning it. Convenience is an important factor: Sloepdelen members don’t have to worry about insurance, winter storage or maintenance. The open-topped vessels are cleaned daily and use their nightly rest to recharge for the next day—a fully charged battery will run for 12 hours. Sloepdelen currently operates two docks in Amsterdam, one in Zeeburg and one in Westerpark. Both docks have room for 10 boats and are fitted for self-service by members, although staff members are present for part of the day. The company is hoping to expand to other cities next year. One to set up as a franchise in other countries? Website: www.sloepdelen.nl
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Easing the blow of the UK ban on smoking in public spaces that came into effect on July 1st, TankBooks is selling books packaged like cigarettes—right down to the cellophane wrapping on the outside and silver foil on the inside. Despite their diminutive size, the first series of TankBooks aren't the intellectual equivalent of Menthol Lights. Pitched as 'tales to take your breath away', the box-packed reads range from Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King" to Kafka's "Metamorphosis". While perhaps not tempting enough for every smoker to kick the habit and take up reading instead, it's a start. TankBooks are the brain child of Tank, a British think tank, creative agency and publishing unit. Clever way to profit from a current event (the smoking ban), using great design to repackage classic works that are in the public domain, freeing TankBooks from having to pay royalties. To take the concept to the hilt, TankBooks obviously need to be sold from cigarette vending machines. Which reminds us of a venture we covered back in 2003—Art-o-mats, the repurposed vintage vending machines selling small pieces of art. Adding pack-sized books to the mix should be a no-brainer for publishers and vending machine aficionados. Website: www.tankmagazine.com/tankbooks Spotted by: Elizabeth Wu
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By way of a friendly search engine, Buyersvine connects consumers directly with wineries. The startup's mission is to offer consumers lower prices and vineyards higher margins. By dragging and dropping a selection of predefined tags from categories such as colour, type, character, price, food pairing, interaction and recipient, users can look for a wine that's a perfect fit. A red that goes well with baseball, or a USD 40-50 bottle for a first cousin. (Yes, the tagging is that specific.) For ongoing wine searches, like USD 10-20 dry whites from California or Oregon, users can subscribe to an RSS feed to keep track of new wines that fit their request. Buyersvine links directly to vineyards, which handle sales and shipping. Still in beta, Buyersvine isn't currently charging wineries for lead generation or listing. The website is a sister venture to Synapse Wine, which provides web-based applications for managing small to medium size vineyards. Another fledgling player in the wine search market is Snooth, also in beta. Snooth’s database is far more extensive and its search engine more sophisticated. But unlike Buyersvine, Snooth works with large wine retailers like Wine.com and Vinfolio instead of small vineyards. Buyersvine's key selling point is helping consumers find and buy wines directly from boutique vintners that they wouldn't find on their own. Which makes it a very useful marketing tool for small sellers. The Seattle-based company mainly features US vineyards. Makes sense, since international shipping costs would make ordering small lots of wine directly from vineyards in France or Australia prohibitively expensive. Time to set up something similar for wine buyers and sellers on other continents? Keeping it local or regional will definitely add to the cachet. Website: www.buyersvine.com Spotted by: Amy Leung
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Last year, we featured a Belgian company that organizes dinners in the sky, with a table, chairs and guests suspended from a crane. The concept made quite a splash and, over the past year, has travelled across Europe and attained TÜV certification—one of the toughest seals of security. Recently, Dinner in the Sky added a gravity-defying element to the mix: a concert in the air. Suspended from a second crane, a violinist and a pianist—playing a grand piano, no less—performed for 22 guests who were dangling from their own crane several metres away. What’s next: acrobats, dancers, a play? Other suggestions for use of a twin crane include unveiling a new car model, launching an advertising campaign or hosting a fashion show. Anything presented at a height of 50 meters (164 feet) is bound to make a more lasting impression than it would on terra firma. This is the experience economy, after all ;-) Website: www.dinnerinthesky.com
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New Yorkers hankering for a frozen treat can head over to Grom, a new transplant from Italy that serves up old style gelato made of only the freshest organic and seasonal ingredients. True to its tagline—Il gelato come una volta—Grom serves up gelato ‘as it once was,’ eschewing mass production for a slower, more authentic process. Main flavours such as chocolate, hazelnut, coffee and pistachio are available year-round, but some of the more unique offerings vary based on when the ingredients are in season and at their freshest. Ciaculli late winter mandarins from Southern Italy, for instance, are best in March. And the company typically only purchases melons June through September. Rotating menu items based on seasonality harks back to times when shipping or storing perishable ingredients wasn’t feasible—which adds points for authenticity and still made here story elements. More importantly, the novelty doesn’t wear off as quickly, which can keep customers coming back. Grom operates a dozen stores across Italy, with more to come to other areas of the US if the New York location is a hit. Like Park Ave Summer, the seasonal restaurant we covered recently, Grom’s example is one to follow for other types of cuisine where limited availability—as dictated by nature—will appeal to customers looking for an older sense of time. Website: www.grom.it Spotted by: Daniele Bellomo
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