Uber Reduces Drunk Driver Deaths

The government, non-profits, and even insurance companies have been trying to do this for years: reduce the number of drunk driver deaths. Leave it to a startup, albeit a big one which has been around for a few years, to solve the problem. And that startup is Uber (although Lyft may solve the same problem, but I haven't seen any studies on it.

A recent independent study done by researchers at Temple University Fox School of Business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, discovered that with the entry of Uber into markets in California between 2009 and 2013, findings suggest a significant drop in the rate of alcohol related motor vehicle homicides during that time. Drunk driving deaths dropped 3.6% to 5.6% in 14 counties in California.

There was actually a previous study conducted by Uber and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, also known as MADD, which showed similar findings, but the one from Temple University was an independent study.

It goes to show you that sometimes creating a successful startup has unintended but very positive consequences.

DeLorean "time machine" provided by Uber

Picture created by Ed g2s via Wikipedia

Checkout SMARTCAMP 2015 for Startups and Win $25,000

Have you heard of SMARTCAMP 2015? If not, you should check it out. You could win $25,000 plus acceptance into the 12-week, LAUNCH Incubator.

This is a startup competition taking place in 30 cities, with IBM and LAUNCH as the hosts. The cities include:

Auckland

Austin

Bangalore

Boston

Cairo

Casablanca

Chicago

Istanbul

Johannesburg

London

Los Angeles

Melbourne

Mexico City

Montevideo

Mumbai

Nairobi

New Delhi

New York

Raleigh

Sao Paulo

San Francisco

Silicon Valley

Singapore

Tokyo

Toronto

The finalists will get to meet top Silicon Valley investors in San Francisco at the SCALE Conference which will be held on October 13th and 14th. They will return to the LAUNCH festival held March 2nd through the 4th, next year.

Need an application? Go to the following link:

smartcamp2015.com

GoPro versus Soloshot: Competition or Complimentary?

Many people are familiar with GoPro, maker of the high def extreme action video recorders, that can be attached to a helmet, bike, skateboard, or just about anything, and can capture the viewpoint of the action sports participant.

The company has had a volatile stock since it went public last year, trading for less that 40 and above 90 over the last 12 months.

GoPro is even becoming a media company. It has its own television channel on Virgin America Airlines.

But there is another company in the action sports camera business, Soloshot.



Soloshot's camera's will track you as you are moving (surfing, biking, skateboarding, skiing, water skiing, etc.) by following a tag device that you have attached to you, such as on an armband. The cameras are referred to as a robot cameraman.

Soloshot was founded about ten years ago by Chris Boyle, who developed the idea as a way for surfers to film themselves.

So are Soloshot and GoPro competitors? Do you think they compliment each other? What do you think?

Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed

When I first started looking through the Table of Contents of Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed: Leverage Resources, Establish Online Credibility and Crush Your Competition by Patrick Schwerdtfeger, the first words out of my mouth were "Wow." I could see right away how complete the book was and how it covered all possible areas, as it has 80 chapters!

This is the kind of book you wished you had before you even started your business. The chapters are short and concise, and leave out the time-wasting fluff often found in other books. The author provides specific resources and web sites to go to, which is extremely helpful.

One of the things that I found interesting is that some of the recommendations could be applied to other areas of the business. For example, Chapter 6 - The Elevator Pitch describes the structure of creating such a pitch. But the same structure could also be used to create a blog post.

Chapter 9 on Google Codes and Alerts was great. I thought I knew all of them, but I learned a couple new ones, and it also reminded me to start using the ones that I already knew about.

The keyword research trick in Chapter 13 alone is worth more than the price of the book. Easy to do and very useful.

I could go on and on, as the book covers everything from analytics to sales copy to outsourcing. If you are just getting started in your business or you are already into your first, second, or third year of of your startup, I highly recommend that you read Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed.

Another Boring Derivative Piece of Crap Business Book

Do you want more promotion for your business? Do you want your company to get free publicity? Do you want to get attention-getting headlines for your product or service? Then you need to read Another Boring, Derivative, Piece of Crap Business Book: Make The First Basic Leap In Work in 100 Years, Laughing All The Way by Mike Veeck and Allen Fahden.

The book makes it very clear that the best way to get the publicity you want is to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing, and not only that, but do something stupid.

One of the interesting chapters in the book is about how author Allen Fahden wanted to come up with an idea to promote his book. He realized that he should take the advice of his own book, and did something stupid. So he set up a one book bookstore.

He rented 1,000 square feet of retail space, set up various bookshelves with different sections, such as travel, philosophy, and history, with just his books in all those sections. The sign over his shop said One Book Bookstore. He also posted a little sign that said Shoplifters Welcome.

A woman walked by and asked what he was selling. He invited her in, showed her around, told her about his top ten best selling books list (his book was in all 10 places of course), and she was very impressed. She told him that she writes a small column in the local newspaper and would write about his store.

Within a month, the One Book Bookstore was written about in major magazines and newspapers all across the country, and was covered by ABC and the BBC.

The book has numerous and hilarious ideas and true stories. Here is just a small sample of some of the chapter titles:

Think One Person Can't Make a Difference? - I Killed Disco
We're Number Three and We Don't Try at All
If You're Worried About Covering Your Ass, Learn to Walk Backward
The Joys of Wine Slobbery
English for Me is a Second Language - I Don't Have a First
Bat Night with Tonya Harding

The book is only available in hardback, but it is a small size book, about the hight and width of a regular paperback, so it fits easily inside a briefcase, purse, or carry-on. The book even has a flip page video inside.

For light amusing reading with great, inspirational, funny promotional ideas, I recommend Another Boring, Derivative, Piece of Crap Business Book.

An Interesting New App That Can Tell You How Old You Look

I remember years ago, if you went to a carnival, there would be  guy standing by a scale who, for a dollar, would guess your age within two pounds or your weight within three pounds. If he missed, you would win a stuffed animal. He would almost always be right. But if he was wrong, he only had to give out the toy, which probably cost him less than a dollar in quantity.

Now, I haven't seen an app or web site that guesses your weight (hey, there's an idea for a startup), but there is a site that guesses your age. It is called HOW OLD DO I LOOK? and the web address is How-Old.net.

What you do is type in the name of a person who's picture you want to find on the Internet (like maybe yourself), and it comes up with a group of pictures. Click on the picture you want to check, click on the Use This Photo link, and a page appears showing the estimated person's age.

If you can't find the picture you want on the Internet, you can upload your own photo from your computer.

It seems to err on the side of younger for older people and older for younger people.

An interesting idea, which should trigger other similar startup ideas for you.

Beyond James Altucher: More Mega Trends for the 21st Century

If you haven't heard of James Altucher, you probably haven't been on the Internet for very long. He has published over a dozen books, been interviewed many times by the press and blogs, and has written numerous articles on widely varying topics including investing, personal growth, running a business, publishing books, interpersonal relationships, yoga, entrepreneurship, and many, many more.

In his latest book, The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth, he talks about the seven mega trends for the 21st Century, and how the knowledge of these trends can make you money. For the entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and investors, being aware of these trends can help you determine what kind of company to start or invest in, or if you already have a business, what areas to expand into.

The seven mega trends that Altucher came up with are...



all spelled out in his book and are covered in great detail. I don't want to give them away, since the book does a great job of explaining them, plus I highly recommend the book anyway.

Also, what I would rather do is mention some additional mega trends that startupers and VCs should look into. My trends may not be as 'mega' as the ones that Altucher has come up with but even though they are more narrow, their impact is great. Here they are.

Asset Rental

Why did Airbnb, Uber, and Lyft come about? People needed money, they owned assets (houses, cars), and rented out those assets to generate income. I believe this need for income will be covered by other personal asset rentals.

For example, do you own a Porsche Driver's Select RX Bike, or a Callaway Big Bertha Iron Set or even a Stellar S14S Excel Surf Ski Kayak? If you don't use them every weekend, why not rent them out? Anyone who is considering buying an item like this might want to try it out first before making a major expenditure. Or someone who skis but doesn't own a pair, might just want to rent some nice ones for a weekend. A deposit would need to be collected of course.

Even better yet, why not create a website/app that would put the owners and renters together. The service could cover the payments and deposits.

Drought and Water

Maybe this is more of a California thing but the drought in California is a major issue and keeps getting worse. In addition to affecting individuals with their water consumption, it will affect the price of produce which will eventually affect the rest of the country. Any business connected with recycling water, desalinizing water, or just getting water from somewhere and providing it to consumers and businesses should be drowning in money.

In regards to some water startup ideas, how about an app to track your water usage? Devices for capturing rainwater and purifying it? A way to convert grey water to usable water, at least for plants? Fake but realistic looking lawns (this is starting to become a big business in California)? Transporting water from heavily rained on east coast and midwest states to the west? The ideas are almost limitless.

Spanish

Maybe this is another California thing but I don't think so. I was driving from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles, and as I reached the LA basin, I searched for a radio station that played classical music. After scanning the entire FM spectrum, I discovered that more than 50% of the stations were Spanish speaking stations. Spanish is very common in California and many other states.

If you are English/Spanish bilingual, you have a big advantage. The possibilities are unlimited. Providing Spanish versions of websites and apps has big potential (those automatic translators are not perfect), and can help businesses reach significant new markets. Translation services in both directions, tutoring services, teaching, subtitling, and so on. Bilingual TV programs will become more popular.

Cannabis

It is inevitable that marijuana will be legalized, it's just a matter of when. Initially for medical purposes and eventually for recreational purposes, as you can see more and more states moving in that direction.

I heard recently from a friend that the tax revenues from legalized pot in Colorado is so great that the state is considering either building brand new schools throughout the state and tearing down the old ones, or sending out a check to every resident of the state, similar to what the Alaska residents receive from the oil royalty fund.

I haven't had a chance to verity this or not but if it is even close to being true, it shows that legalization can be a big source of income for state governments, and even the Federal government, not to mention the jobs potential.

What amazes me is not the number of people that use marijuana (the number of senior citizens that use medical marijuana is enormous), but the number of people that don't use but support marijuana legalization.

The trend is there. It is just a matter of choosing the right business idea. In terms of ideas around the legal weed industry, they should be fairly obvious. Just make sure that whatever you do is currently legal.

Mega Trends

Hopefully, these mega-trends will give you some ideas about where to put your money and your energy, whether you just want to be an armchair investor, take an ownership and management position in an existing company, or startup your own company. May the trends be with you.