World Community Grid (https://secure.worldcommunitygrid.org/) is a crowdsourcing initiative to advance research, in themes like health care, poverty and sustainability. Basically, everyone can contribute to cutting-edge research by providing separe computing power from both computer, smartphone or tablet - "computing grid".
So far, according to the website, 22 research projects have been supported by these donations of more than 650,000 individuals and 460 organizations! You can make the difference with only one click! Check some of the projects below:
So far, according to the website, 22 research projects have been supported by these donations of more than 650,000 individuals and 460 organizations! You can make the difference with only one click! Check some of the projects below:
KICKSTARTER
Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/) is a Crowdfunding platform from the US - You don't need to have a company, you just need an idea to log into Kickstarter and start getting feedback right now - who knows, if the crowd believes in your idea, funding.
According to the website's statistics, more than $1 billion has been pledged to Kickstarter projects with 61,697 projects having been successfully funded! (https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats). Please notice how a collection of Kickstarter-funded design products are now available in a store as important and relevant as MoMA Desgin Store. Why is this a clever move from MoMA? Taking into account the data from Kickstarter, they already know the demand exists - risk is significantly lowered
Two things are important to mention:
1. The platform is not about going there, upload a 3min nice video and wait for funding. No, you need to engage the crowd! You need to listen to their feedback, really connect and constantly evolve - this is a very exhaustive work (the social media do not sleep). There is a clear relation between this engagement and higher levels of funding.
2. Policy is still to be developed for this kind of platforms, so, how do you guarantee that the project you intend to fund is not just a fraud, against which, you are not protected at all? The answer is: social trust and pressure - people judge, and if you cheat, you will be burned forever in this world! Therefore, the default rate is surprisingly low.
What do you think? Should we use this platform to test our Business Model? Would we get funded?
According to the website's statistics, more than $1 billion has been pledged to Kickstarter projects with 61,697 projects having been successfully funded! (https://www.kickstarter.com/help/stats). Please notice how a collection of Kickstarter-funded design products are now available in a store as important and relevant as MoMA Desgin Store. Why is this a clever move from MoMA? Taking into account the data from Kickstarter, they already know the demand exists - risk is significantly lowered
Two things are important to mention:
1. The platform is not about going there, upload a 3min nice video and wait for funding. No, you need to engage the crowd! You need to listen to their feedback, really connect and constantly evolve - this is a very exhaustive work (the social media do not sleep). There is a clear relation between this engagement and higher levels of funding.
2. Policy is still to be developed for this kind of platforms, so, how do you guarantee that the project you intend to fund is not just a fraud, against which, you are not protected at all? The answer is: social trust and pressure - people judge, and if you cheat, you will be burned forever in this world! Therefore, the default rate is surprisingly low.
What do you think? Should we use this platform to test our Business Model? Would we get funded?
Lost Interview with Steve Jobs
This Interview speaks for itself on how an inspiring leader Steve Job was.
Interesting the constant concern about people's needs and doing a product so simple that anyone could use it! Notice how this reasoning was translated into the Iphone many years later, which was really simple - not even had copy and paste. Still, the basic things the customers needed were there, working perfectly and easily - focus on what people really want and make their lives easier.
Interesting the constant concern about people's needs and doing a product so simple that anyone could use it! Notice how this reasoning was translated into the Iphone many years later, which was really simple - not even had copy and paste. Still, the basic things the customers needed were there, working perfectly and easily - focus on what people really want and make their lives easier.
Feedzai - Preventing Fraud
Online fraud is a real concern, and Feedzai (https://www.feedzai.com/), one of the top ten “Big Data startups to watch in 2014” (http://bigdataanalyticsnews.com/10-big-data-startups-watch-2014/) proposes to prevent it!
Basically (really simplified), by combining historical data (up to three years from each customer) with real-time transaction information (constantly updating the previous baseline profiles), their learning machine model can anticipate threats, detecting fraud “up to 30%earlier than traditional methods”. Check how it really works in the picture and website.
This not only allows millions on savings due to prevented fraud but it also reduces costs related to false alarms, enhancing customers’ trust and loyalty!
Let's wait and see in what areas will they apply their technology!
Netflix Prize - Example of power of the crowds
Netflix (www.netflix.com) launched a competition: who could improve their Cinematch System by 10%? The prize was set at $1M. Against all expectations, several solutions were presented! What was concluded?
(1) The crowd proved they were able to improve the considered one of the best (if not the best) in the world!
(2) Participants could either present their algorithm or build on each other’s (the ones that were allowed). In fact, the winning one fitted the second case! The winner’s initial algorithm was not the best – if he couldn’t have built on another one, he would probably have given up, and the final one wouldn’t be so good!
So “together we create more!” :)
(1) The crowd proved they were able to improve the considered one of the best (if not the best) in the world!
(2) Participants could either present their algorithm or build on each other’s (the ones that were allowed). In fact, the winning one fitted the second case! The winner’s initial algorithm was not the best – if he couldn’t have built on another one, he would probably have given up, and the final one wouldn’t be so good!
So “together we create more!” :)
Startup Campus Inauguration
Fábrica de Startups (http://fabricadestartups.com/ - our teacher is the founder) is inaugurating one of the biggest space for startups in Europe! Don't miss the opportunity to attend this event on Monday at 3 p.m!
You will have the chance to participate in a debate regarding the role of entrepreneurship in the economy and take a look to the last trends in startups (In fact, many of our colleagues will be there testing their MVP!)
Buy your tickets now (free) at https://www.eventbrite.pt/e/registo-inauguracao-do-startup-campus-o-maior-espaco-para-startups-na-europa-11316013501
Y-Combinator
“The overall goal of YC is to help startups really take off… For most startups, better shape translates into two things: to have a better product with more users, and to have more options for raising money.”[1]
After selling ViaWeb (first SaaS company) to Yahoo in 1998, Paul Graham joined Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell to create a new concept: accelerators[2]. Y-Combinator (or YC) emerged in 2005 accepting eight start-ups to participate in the first batch[3]. Although it used to vary between Boston and Silicon Valley, in 2009 it was definitely based in Silicon Valley[4].
Today, Y-Combinator is considered the top accelerator/incubator by Forbes (2012)[5]. According to the official site[6] TechCrunch[7] and Sedd-DB[8], YC has funded up to 630 start-ups in 374 rounds. Of these, 306 were evaluated at $13.7 billion, being 74% of total valuation accountable to the top 10 (in middle 2013). Total amount raised reaches the $1,786,533,099 while we assisted to 74 exits with a total of $1,276,008,100.
Moreover, according to New York Times article[9], 72% of the companies were able to raise money after the Demo Day. In this last 2013 batch, 2,633 applications were received while only 47 accepted (nearly 1,8%).
In fact, YC has a significant number of well-known successful graduates:
OMGPOP (http://zynga.com/) mobile-game developer was acquired by $180 million by Zynga Inc. in 2012[10].
File-sharing Dropbox Inc. (www.dropbox.com) is now valued higher than $4 billion[11].
The vacation-rental platform Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.pt/) was recently valued at $2.5 billion[12].
Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/) was one of the first batch graduates and is currently valued at $400 million[13].
Scribd (http://pt.scribd.com/) document-share platform is valued at $84.5 million[14].
As of January 2014
[1] http://ycombinator.com/atyc.html
[2] http://paulgraham.com/bio.html
[3] http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/08/05/y-combinators-first-batch-where-are-they-now/#!stR4e
[4] http://ycombinator.com/ycca.html
[5]http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/04/30/top-tech-incubators-as-ranked-by-forbes-y-combinator-tops-with-7-billion-in-value/
[6] http://ycombinator.com/
[7] http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/25/y-combinator-13-7b-valuation/
[8] http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/view?acceleratorid=1011
[9]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-silicon-valleys-start-up-machine.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3&
[10]http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304065704577422131523831456
[11]http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/02/07/why-is-dropbox-worth-more-than-4-billion/
[12] http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-deals/2013-03-10-the-missed-airbnb-investment-now-worth-250-million/
[13] http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/06/reddit-rumored-to-be-raising-money-at-a-400-million-valuation/
[14]http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/10/28/10-startups-that-helped-fuel-y.html
After selling ViaWeb (first SaaS company) to Yahoo in 1998, Paul Graham joined Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell to create a new concept: accelerators[2]. Y-Combinator (or YC) emerged in 2005 accepting eight start-ups to participate in the first batch[3]. Although it used to vary between Boston and Silicon Valley, in 2009 it was definitely based in Silicon Valley[4].
Today, Y-Combinator is considered the top accelerator/incubator by Forbes (2012)[5]. According to the official site[6] TechCrunch[7] and Sedd-DB[8], YC has funded up to 630 start-ups in 374 rounds. Of these, 306 were evaluated at $13.7 billion, being 74% of total valuation accountable to the top 10 (in middle 2013). Total amount raised reaches the $1,786,533,099 while we assisted to 74 exits with a total of $1,276,008,100.
Moreover, according to New York Times article[9], 72% of the companies were able to raise money after the Demo Day. In this last 2013 batch, 2,633 applications were received while only 47 accepted (nearly 1,8%).
In fact, YC has a significant number of well-known successful graduates:
OMGPOP (http://zynga.com/) mobile-game developer was acquired by $180 million by Zynga Inc. in 2012[10].
File-sharing Dropbox Inc. (www.dropbox.com) is now valued higher than $4 billion[11].
The vacation-rental platform Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.pt/) was recently valued at $2.5 billion[12].
Reddit (http://www.reddit.com/) was one of the first batch graduates and is currently valued at $400 million[13].
Scribd (http://pt.scribd.com/) document-share platform is valued at $84.5 million[14].
As of January 2014
[1] http://ycombinator.com/atyc.html
[2] http://paulgraham.com/bio.html
[3] http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/08/05/y-combinators-first-batch-where-are-they-now/#!stR4e
[4] http://ycombinator.com/ycca.html
[5]http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/04/30/top-tech-incubators-as-ranked-by-forbes-y-combinator-tops-with-7-billion-in-value/
[6] http://ycombinator.com/
[7] http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/25/y-combinator-13-7b-valuation/
[8] http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/view?acceleratorid=1011
[9]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-silicon-valleys-start-up-machine.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3&
[10]http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304065704577422131523831456
[11]http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/02/07/why-is-dropbox-worth-more-than-4-billion/
[12] http://go.bloomberg.com/tech-deals/2013-03-10-the-missed-airbnb-investment-now-worth-250-million/
[13] http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/06/reddit-rumored-to-be-raising-money-at-a-400-million-valuation/
[14]http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/10/28/10-startups-that-helped-fuel-y.html
Zillow - Redifining Real Estate industry
The real estate industry is a people's industry! If you want to sell a house, you hire an agent - he sets a price (he is an expert!) - contacts some people - SOLD (worst or better depending on his contacts).
But... what if you weren't limited to the agent's contact list and bounded to its price?
Zillow (http://www.zillow.com/) is yet another successful crowdsourcing platform, which had 76 million visitors during March this year! It connects houses to people and people to house and even provides a starting point to evaluate your property through their Zestimate®. Check more on their website!
But... what if you weren't limited to the agent's contact list and bounded to its price?
Zillow (http://www.zillow.com/) is yet another successful crowdsourcing platform, which had 76 million visitors during March this year! It connects houses to people and people to house and even provides a starting point to evaluate your property through their Zestimate®. Check more on their website!
Odesk - "Get the job done - on demand"
Odesk (https://www.odesk.com/?new) is a virtual Labor platform - basically, as a business, you can get the job done, on demand, reaching employees from all over the world. This crowdsourcing platform can change the concept of "work" as we know today! For instance, maybe companies don't have to be closed during the night-time! It can work 24/7!
Employees, instead of being evaluated by education level and other factors (like where they studied, grades...), are ranked by the quality of output - gaining points through feedback. In the image you can see the different wages' distribution by "years of education". One can conclude that the difference in wages is not as big as expected!
Feel like procrastinating and learning at the same time?
Here are some very interesting websites you can look into!
Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com/) is a news-sharing platform focused on hackers and developed by Y-Combinator. According to Paul Graham, content is expected to include “anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity”[1]. It includes “new”, “comments”, “ask” and “jobs”. The latter includes jobs’ announcements from Y-Combinator’s graduates. According to 2011 traffic update, Hacker News had “over 120k unique IP’s on a weekday, and serves over 1.3 million page views”[2]. Hacker News is, therefore, used by many start-ups to build brand awareness and generate sales. Namely, being on the front page may attract 5,582 unique visitors to your start-up site[3].
[1] http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
[2] http://ycombinator.com/newsnews.html
[3] http://www.prlambert.com/2013/01/29/tc-vs-hn/
[1] http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
[2] http://ycombinator.com/newsnews.html
[3] http://www.prlambert.com/2013/01/29/tc-vs-hn/
TechCrunch (http://techcrunch.com/) is an amazing, always with the last news, website about information technology companies! Also, they have developed a database (http://www.crunchbase.com/) of start-ups.
Kind of a cliché, but Paul Graham's blog (http://paulgraham.com/index.html) is an incredible reading! If you want to know more about entrepreneurship and start-ups, this is the right place for you! Particularly, you can start by the article "Startup=Growth" http://paulgraham.com/growth.html
BigData-Startups (http://www.bigdata-startups.com/) is a very interesting webiste about all the latest news on, as the names says, Big Data-related startups! This is a hot topic, changing our society and whole industries! So check it out :)
Namely "Use Cases" have examples on how companies are using Big Data to become the success they are today! For example, Airbnb Y-Combinator's graduate at: http://www.bigdata-startups.com/BigData-startup/airbnb-matches-apartments-castles-igloos-guests-big-data/
Steve Blank's blog (http://steveblank.com/) is our teacher's recommended blog! You will have a lot of information about some concepts we are applying in our project, such as Customer Development and Business Model vs. Business Plan!
IDEO - Product Development
IDEO (http://www.ideo.com/) is a product development consultant which today holds more awards than any firm of its kind.
They have this unique process for innovating which is built on top of their company culture!
Inherent and central to their process is the “enlightened trial and error” always prototyping and brainstorming trying to get that idea from the Normal’s distribution right tail! If you don’t come up with ideas that in the beginning sound crazy, then, you will just get normal, regular ones.
The prototype doesn’t have to be perfect nor the last version of the product. No, the point is to make sure everyone is thinking about the same thing, is to show the customer and test, test, test – iterate fast. Notice the difference between the two products on the picture!
On the other hand, Brainstorming will emphasize the concept “together we create more!” by not relying on one expert in each field to “create” ideas, but rather on groups constantly trying, pushing the boundaries, without afraid of failing. These ideas will not only attract mainstream consumers, but also create value for the long tail, where 2/3 of the market stands.
Know more about their process and company culture at: https://noppa.aalto.fi/noppa/kurssi/tu-91.2045/lisatty9442/TU-91_2045_art_of_innovation_summary.pdf
Check this short version video to see how, in just a few days, IDEO completely reengineered the shopping cart (something we just normally take for granted, right?)
They have this unique process for innovating which is built on top of their company culture!
Inherent and central to their process is the “enlightened trial and error” always prototyping and brainstorming trying to get that idea from the Normal’s distribution right tail! If you don’t come up with ideas that in the beginning sound crazy, then, you will just get normal, regular ones.
The prototype doesn’t have to be perfect nor the last version of the product. No, the point is to make sure everyone is thinking about the same thing, is to show the customer and test, test, test – iterate fast. Notice the difference between the two products on the picture!
On the other hand, Brainstorming will emphasize the concept “together we create more!” by not relying on one expert in each field to “create” ideas, but rather on groups constantly trying, pushing the boundaries, without afraid of failing. These ideas will not only attract mainstream consumers, but also create value for the long tail, where 2/3 of the market stands.
Know more about their process and company culture at: https://noppa.aalto.fi/noppa/kurssi/tu-91.2045/lisatty9442/TU-91_2045_art_of_innovation_summary.pdf
Check this short version video to see how, in just a few days, IDEO completely reengineered the shopping cart (something we just normally take for granted, right?)
Do you like video games and want to learn code? We have just the thing
Gamification (“the use of gameplay mechanics for non-game applications”[i]) is a well known growing trend and is being applied for several purposes: from customer retention to education! The latter is the case of CodeCombat - an Y-Combinator backed start-up, which wants to teach coding through a RPG (Role-playing game)!
The concept is basically teaching JavaScript basics (same level as an introductory computer science course) by making the gamer code throughout the game – you only level-up if you reach a certain level of coding knowledge. The main target are high schoolers who wish to learn the fundamentals of code in a funny different way.
Two interesting things worth highlighting:
Firstly, one of the company’s biggest challenges was the fact that creating content took a lot of time. Hence, the solution came out to be open sourcing the entire product (users can create content themselves!) – today they already have roughly 103 contributors.
Secondly, the platform is completely free. So, how do they make money? The start-up Revenue Streams will be based on passing information to companies. In other words, CodeCombat will have access to the way the user is coding, which can ultimately show his talent as a developer – it will pass this information to potential employees (“because who isn’t looking for developers right now”) and will collect a placement fee.
For more information go to http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/19/yc-backed-codecombat-wants-you-to-learn-to-code-by-playing-games/ and see the explanation video!
[i] http://mashable.com/2011/07/28/gamification/
The concept is basically teaching JavaScript basics (same level as an introductory computer science course) by making the gamer code throughout the game – you only level-up if you reach a certain level of coding knowledge. The main target are high schoolers who wish to learn the fundamentals of code in a funny different way.
Two interesting things worth highlighting:
Firstly, one of the company’s biggest challenges was the fact that creating content took a lot of time. Hence, the solution came out to be open sourcing the entire product (users can create content themselves!) – today they already have roughly 103 contributors.
Secondly, the platform is completely free. So, how do they make money? The start-up Revenue Streams will be based on passing information to companies. In other words, CodeCombat will have access to the way the user is coding, which can ultimately show his talent as a developer – it will pass this information to potential employees (“because who isn’t looking for developers right now”) and will collect a placement fee.
For more information go to http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/19/yc-backed-codecombat-wants-you-to-learn-to-code-by-playing-games/ and see the explanation video!
[i] http://mashable.com/2011/07/28/gamification/
Today we would like to present Gobble!
According to TechCrunch, this start-up currently participating in the 2014 Y-Combinator’s Winter Batch, provides a “personalized meal selections through a subscription delivery service.”.
The objective is to end with the pain of coming home from work and having to cook for the entire family, or choosing a place to go out or order from, that will please everyone – indeed, a serious pain.
How do they do that? According to TechCrunch:
“Customers sign up, tell Gobble how many people are in their household (including how many adults and kids), and selects dates and times that they’d like to have meals delivered. They can also specify initial meal preferences or dietary restrictions.
At the beginning of the week, those customers will receive a calendar with meal options for the week laid out for them. They can add or subtract days, or change their meal selection up to 24 hours before delivery.
But here comes the fun part: Customers can rate and provide feedback on meals, which allows Gobble to create a personalized profile for them based on a “taste algorithm.” Over time, the system is designed to offer up things that are more to your liking. Kind of like Pandora, for food.”
Interesting is the fact that this is an evolution of a previous Business Model, “a marketplace for home-cooked meals”! In fact, Gobble realized that this first idea lacked the component that retained costumers. Based on this customer feedback, they rewrote their entire Business Model! They had the flexibility to listen and adapt until they truly satisfied the customer needs.
Please read more on: http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/21/gobble-subscription-meals/
The objective is to end with the pain of coming home from work and having to cook for the entire family, or choosing a place to go out or order from, that will please everyone – indeed, a serious pain.
How do they do that? According to TechCrunch:
“Customers sign up, tell Gobble how many people are in their household (including how many adults and kids), and selects dates and times that they’d like to have meals delivered. They can also specify initial meal preferences or dietary restrictions.
At the beginning of the week, those customers will receive a calendar with meal options for the week laid out for them. They can add or subtract days, or change their meal selection up to 24 hours before delivery.
But here comes the fun part: Customers can rate and provide feedback on meals, which allows Gobble to create a personalized profile for them based on a “taste algorithm.” Over time, the system is designed to offer up things that are more to your liking. Kind of like Pandora, for food.”
Interesting is the fact that this is an evolution of a previous Business Model, “a marketplace for home-cooked meals”! In fact, Gobble realized that this first idea lacked the component that retained costumers. Based on this customer feedback, they rewrote their entire Business Model! They had the flexibility to listen and adapt until they truly satisfied the customer needs.
Please read more on: http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/21/gobble-subscription-meals/