Idea factory

2023-02-22 10:02:06 Top Books on Business Management

Rich Dad’s Before You Quit Your Job: 10 Real-life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Million-Dollar Business — Robert Kiyosaki

Sick of running someone’s errands? Tired of tolerating your boss’s short temper? This book teaches you to take risks, start a business, and become an independent entrepreneur.

Kiosaki walks you through the experiences of successful entrepreneurs and answers the main questions of those who are afraid to float freely. You will learn the way businesses people think and receive action-oriented recommendations on developing entrepreneur skills.

The Effective Executive — Peter Drucker

Your team is the crucial component of success. How to build up a great team, manage people efficiently, and be a responsible leader? In his book, Drucker tells us in details what qualities and abilities a good executive should possess.

The author teaches you to motivate employees and allocate tasks in the team. These proven strategies will help you hire high-class talents, establish an enabling environment, and keep staff motivated.

Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy — Phil Barden

Do you want to know why people make purchases? For founders, it’s essential to understand the needs and wants of their target customers, as well as their fears.

The book views consumer behavior from the decision-making science — neuro-economics. You can learn how to make people buy your product, boost sales, and set up a lucrative business with the help of marketing solutions.

The Deadline: a Novel about Project Management — Tom DeMarco

Before, the business was simpler: you set a task, assigned an executive, accept work, and correct mistakes. The modern approach to business requires more efforts and control over each stage.

The book teaches you to work at tight deadlines, hire, and fire staff. You will be able to calculate efficiency indicators, allocate time, and assign tasks wisely. On top of that, you will learn how to resolve conflicts and minimize the consequences of your mistakes. Open / Comment

2023-02-21 12:34:30 ​#StartupStories
Lingumi: Smart Language Teaching for Kids

It's no secret that knowledge of foreign languages contributes to one’s career success. Therefore, many caring parents strive to teach their child a foreign language from an early age.

Idea

Lingumi is an application from the UK for learning languages for preschool children. Its main feature is that the whole learning process is gamification-based and specially designed for children from two to six years old.

Lingumi's curriculum is based on research from the Oxford’s University and aimed at memorizing vocabulary and grammar.

Background

Before founding Lingumi, Toby Mather studied languages at Oxford and spent a year teaching English to children in Russia and Italy. Back then, he met his future partner Adit Trivedi who was a computer scientist from the University of California. None of his family spoke English, and he well understood the issue of learning languages.

While teaching, Mather noticed how difficult it was for children after 6-7 years to acquire new languages. Scientific supervisors explained this by the fact that language skills are better developed in preschool children. To learn foreign languages, a person needs to have many synapses — neural connections in the brain.

Up to 6 years old, the baby's brain is like a sponge — it quickly absorbs information. But, when a person turns 6 years old, their brain literally begins to cut off synaptic pathways that are not used.

In 2016, Mather and Tricedi managed to launch a program of a fun and playful learning for children from two to six years old.

The first prototypes were made of paper and tape and tested in kindergartens all over London. The founders created a set of "learning cubes" that interacted with a tablet or smartphone to teach sounds, words, and even phrases.

Surprisingly, the children had fun: they began to confidently repeat and memorize words in new languages, for example, in Chinese, which they had not previously used in teaching. Parents were happy to buy a toy for their child.

In two months, the company succeeded to release 35 new versions of the beta application. The educational toy was constantly improved and supplemented.

Achievements

Lingumi's mission is to make learning English effective, accessible and fun for 500 million children. Over the years, the company gathered a professional team of 14 people and invested over 1 million pounds in research and development.

Now it continues to keep prices at an affordable level for most parents and has
more than a hundred fun games in its arsenal.

In addition to the application, Lingumi sells physical training products such as game cubes (interactive foam cubes) and huge word cards (large colorful training cards containing more than 70 verbs and nouns).

In recent years, the number of families who used Lingumi with their children has grown from 5 test families in Germany to 50,000 worldwide. Currently, the startup is going to scale its platform to new global markets. Open / Comment

2023-02-20 08:29:02 The time-sharing platform Listva, has launched its MVP version

The startup's target audience consists of over 800, 000 tech companies, as well as 100,000 000+ qualified employees in IT, retail, education, travel, banking and manufacturing. It has an international team located in Europe, the USA, India and African countries.

In 2025, the platform may take 2% of the team collaboration software market and exceed revenue of €472 million.

The MVP version of Listva provides a database of experts in the most popular sectors of the innovative economy, as well as a communication platform on Telegram. There, the participants can team up, propose their projects, and discuss trends in FinTech, Legaltech, BioTech, GreenTech, etc.

The database stores parameters of participants such as name, time zone, profession, competencies, experience, fields of interest, learning needs, teaching abilities, and expert's contacts for the public.

Sounds interesting?

Get free unlimited access to the full list of parameters of registered experts until 30.09.2022!

The five members of Listva team have been developing this project since May 2022:

CEO Sergey Arlov (6+ years in media and product management);

CTO Nikita Derevyannykh (14+ years in IT-development);

Head of Design Alexander Savchenko (10+ years in UX/UI design);

CISO and Head of Legal Kirill Baranov (6+ years in legal);

Head of PR and Marketing Olga Korovina (5+ years in PR).

The team's plans for 2022 are to attract the first users, take part in the NURIS startup accelerator in Kazakhstan, and raise the first external funds. On top of that, the guys are intended to start working on the main version of the product for the B2B sector.

We are very proud of the Listva’s team and wish them keep working on their outstanding project! Open / Comment

2023-02-18 16:11:56 Top Movies on Innovations

Throughout centuries, people have been creating new things, from a wheel to artificial intelligence. But what makes them reimagine reality and bring innovations to surface? The following films reveal the background of creatively gifted people and their mindset. Grab some popcorn and get some doze of inspiration!

We Live in Public (2009)
Genre: Documentary
Country: the USA

The genius director Ondi Timoner exposes the essence of innovation in his own way, showing how a person can predict the future. The plot is centered around the Internet pioneer Josh Harris and his project "Quiet: We live in full view of everyone."

After establishing the first TV network and gaining fame, the entrepreneur decides to experiment on his own life. Josh's life started to be recorded on camera, broadcasted and discussed on the Internet, which brings him a huge profit.

However, the violation of privacy ultimately leads to the destruction of his relationship and even loss of sanity. However, Josh predicts that every minute of our lives could be tracked online, long before it becomes a reality.

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Country: the USA

This is a from-rags-to-riches story of a naive young man Tom Robbins. Experiencing ups and downs in his career, he shifts from the mailroom to the executive suite. How? Suddenly, Robbins invents and puts into production a hoop "Hula Hoop", which becomes incredibly popular in no time and brings in unprecedented profits.

Once the entrepreneur becomes the subject of an investigation by a young journalist Jennifer Jason Leigh, who starts to work as his secretary. They get closer, but the contradictory actions of the girl and the machinations of the director board result in Robbison’s despair. His career crumbles and he even makes a suicide attempt. But, suddenly, a miracle happens.

The Internship (2013)
Genre: Comedy
Country: the USA

The movie reflects many shades of the innovation, including Google's corporate culture and values. It also teaches you important lessons about aspiration, desire, the role of outsiders, and teamwork.

Two best friends and experienced salesmen, Billy and Nick, are fired because of the global computerization. Then, the guys decide to enter the digital age and look for a new job. Surprisingly, they find a vacancy in Google. But to get this job, Billy and Nick have to bypass a handful of IT geniuses. How are they going to make it?

The Call of the Entrepreneur (2007)
Genre: Documentary
Country: the USA

This film walks us through the stories about a banker, farmer and refugee from communist China. These hardworking entrepreneurs overcome all adversities in innovative and creative activities. Sometimes every modern businessman needs a little jolt of inspiration, even when failure may be right around the corner.

The documentary traces Brad Morgan's path to farming, describes the struggle with the owners of a multimillion-dollar dairy company and a fertilizer enterprise. It also shows the way a businesswoman comes up with an idea of a financial engineering system and implements it.

Finally, we see Jimmy Lai’s career path, from his Chinese childhood to the establishment of a retail chain. Throughout the plot, the character explains what entrepreneurial risk is and how it can help you grow. Open / Comment

2023-02-17 11:43:36 5 Tips from Successful Entrepreneurs: How to Be on a Roll?

Jordan Silbert, the founder and CEO of Q Mixers, the premium brand of cocktail mixers:

"The start of a real business is always a long and difficult path, so it’s better to learn to enjoy it right away.

In fact, you should be able to have a good time and make it a priority for yourself and your team. I realized that the most serious risk faced by businesspeople is the desire to give up when the game is not worth the candle.

Over time, things only get more complicated and take more time than it seemed at the very beginning. However, if you are willing to move forward for a long time, you will inevitably win. So think about how to make this journey exciting."

Casey Gerald, the founder of MBAs Across America for helping entrepreneurs:

"The first Christian borrowed half of the book from Judaism. The founding Fathers stole ideas from the British, Romans and Enlightenment philosophers. Even The Beatles stole ideas! If it was natural for Jesus, George Washington and Paul McCartney, then why can’t you do the same?

When you're trying to squeeze something out of an idea or your team, don't waste time reinventing the wheel. Use time-proven mechanisms to come up with something brand-new."

Justin Borgman, the CEO of Starbust and founder of Hadapt, a cloud-computing startup:

"As an aspiring entrepreneur, you will have to realize from the very beginning that there will never be answers to all questions. In fact, most often you will not even understand what questions you should ask.

But that's okay, because that's how you learn everything. If you approach the creation of a company from this perspective, you will always be able to admit mistakes and take them as valuable lessons, not losses. Believe me, there are hundreds more such lessons waiting for you on the way."

Sander Daniels, a co-founder of Thumbtack, a startup for job-seekers:

"I never wanted to be an entrepreneur. But when my friends were setting a company they asked me to join. I almost missed this chance. At the last minute, I made a decision that opened up a whole world of professional self-realization to me, and I didn't even know about it.

I regret being so conservative at the beginning of my career. Otherwise, I would have taken advantage of these opportunities long ago. I was unaware of the secret benefits of risks. But it was a reckless decision that radically changed my whole life — both personally and professionally — for the better. Taking the chance and founding the company was the best choice in my life."

Rand Fishkin, the CEO of SEOmoz and a leader in engine optimization tools:

"It's very simple: make a list of several people you want to meet, send them a sincere email asking for advice. Repeat this ad infinitum. Some people may ignore your letter, but you will be surprised how many celebrities will respond to it and be ready to give a hand.

Persistently send thanks to everyone, stay tuned and contact people at the right time. Be honest and offer help if possible. Some conversations may lead to nothing, but most will be fruitful. Others will not be helpful immediately, but after a few months or years they might bring some benefit." Open / Comment

2023-02-16 09:51:29 ​#BusinessEducation
How to Choose a Color for Your Brand?

Some mistakenly underestimate the importance of a startup’s logo. But, in fact, this is a crucial element of your business that can influence people’s minds. It may either persuade them to make a purchase or, oppositely, alienate.

One of the key logo’s components is a color. Its function is to induce needed association with the brand, whether it’s care, speed, or durability.

Logo designers are certain that the correct understanding of the psychology of your brand’s color is the dominant factor in its viability.

Surveys show that the key criterion for 60-90% of potential consumers is color. Therefore, it has been scientifically proven that people choose products based on color. But how to choose the right one?

It all depends on your brand’s positioning. If you want to reflect experience and traditions, give a preference to classic colors. In case you like to keep your brand strict and yet modern, use more lively shades. When it comes to young, innovative projects, pay attention to multicoloring or a combination of different shades.

The color of the corporate identity is very important, which means that before you launch an online logo designer, you need to master the language of colors. Let’s have a look at the most popular options:

The red color means a tandem of strength and passion, delight and love, but can signal danger as well.

Orange is a real godsend for those who design a logo online. The color is happy and sunny, awakening the appetite, appropriate in retail, encouraging action. On the other hand, it might look cautionary since this is a shade of red.

The yellow color in the logo is a symbol of optimism and creative orientation of the company. However, it may look too pale, so be careful with it.

Green is the color of freshness, tranquility, life, eco-friendliness, hospitality, kindness, and good quality. This is why so many eco-startups pick this color.

Blue symbolizes honesty and reliability, but it can be also associated with
coldness.

The purple color combines grandeur with pomposity in an amazing way. Do you need them in your trademark?

Black has a special meaning — it is the flagship of authority, luxury, classics, high style, but at the same time, resonates gloom and even mourning.

Choosing the color that best reflects the essence of the product or service you provide is a meditative process. So consider the following:

The tastes of customers. Suppose you open a beauty salon. Its logo may be dominated by female colors. The provision of medical services, on the contrary, involves a complete rejection of flashy shades.

The presence of a background. In real life, the logo will necessarily be placed on some background. It can be a wall, a door – their "color factor" in no case can be discounted. You also need to take into account the color combinations of the environment in which the logo will "live".

Monochrome and multicolored. Do not rely too much on the color scheme. When choosing colors, make sure that the logo looks good in a single-color version. That is why it is better to make it in vector format. Open / Comment

2023-02-15 10:37:38 ​#Books
Top Spirit Raising Biographies of Businesspeople

Being full of ups and downs, entrepreneur’s life is akin to a roller-coaster. You never know where it will get you tomorrow and this might intimidating. But those who pull off this journey, reap great benefits like money and fame. Here are 4 inspiring stories of success that will definitely motivate you.

My Life in Advertising — Claude C. Hopkins

The author is a copywriter, sales expert, and pioneer in the field of advertising. He created hundreds of memorable commercials and released a bulk of trademarks that are still thriving today. Moreover, Hopkins has developed effective methods of selling advertising and testing it.

His business memoirs were published in 1920, have been reprinted several times since then and have taught several generations of marketers to be smart. Hopkins did his best to include the maximum of practical lessons to help colleagues. As a result, the book became a real best-seller telling about the vast experience of the genius marketer.

Jack Welch and the G.E. Way: Management Insights and Leadership Secrets of the Legendary CEO — Robert Slater

"I was lucky to have worked at GE for more than 40 years. And every day my mind, heart and intuition served one purpose — to move the company along the path set out that day," writes General Electric CEO Jack Welch.

How the legendary manager was able to create an immaculate system of working with people and managing the company? To answer this question, Welch released this autobiography after leaving GE in 2001.

The book walks us through the manager’s career milestones while surprising with its frankness. The secret of achieving the success is to constantly strive for the best, to believe in employees no matter what, giving them the opportunity to prove themselves again and again. In turn, you need to be the most strict and demanding boss, first of all to yourself.

Soros: The Life, Ideas, and Impact of the World's Most Influential Investor — Robert Slater

The author is a journalist, writer, and political scientist who has written 16 biographies of prominent public figures, politicians and businessmen. However, it was the preparation of a book about George Soros that resembles the adventure spy detective.

Slater did thorough research, relying on interviews and opinions of numerous friends, employees, like-minded people and opponents of the great financial strategist. As a result, he came to his own understanding of why Soros' middle name is money. Here is a vivid and fascinating explanation of this phenomenon, presented in a lively manner.

Think Big and Kick Ass: In Business and in Life — Bill Zanker and Donald Trump

It will be safe to say that Donald Trump is an entrepreneur with the biggest charge of energy in the world. He runs a lot of money. He's tough and demanding. He is positive and friendly. Starred in movies, TV shows and cartoons. Ruled the USA. And all this fits into one person!

This autobiography is based on the real–life stories of a mega-magnate, financier and the president of the United States. Each of them teaches you to think globally and never give up. The authors guarantee that this book will change your life forever. Give it a read to see if it’s so. Open / Comment

2023-02-14 17:46:10 Blockchain Investors Begin Looking to Web3

Blockchain breaks down into five main sectors:

- Centralized finance (CeFi)
- Decentralized finance (DeFi)
- Infrastructure
- Web3
- Non Fungible Tokens (NFT)

In the first half of 2022, total funding for all of the above sectors was around $30 billion, almost as much as the entire year of 2021.

But the crypto winter and the collapse of many crypto-oriented businesses made VCs less keen to invest.

As a result, the total amount raised in the second half of 2022 was only around $7 billion, and dropped as each month passed.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the number of transactions fell to 182, and only five exceeded $100 million in value.

Within this group, investments in the Web3 sector, which includes Metaverse and GameFi, proved to be the most popular. Throughout 2022, the Web3 sector accounted for 616 deals, while CeFi accounted for only 201.

Interestingly, the value of funding was the same at $9.2 billion for both, indicating that the threshold investment cost for Web3 projects is, on average, significantly lower. In fact, the average transaction for Web3 was around $15 million, whereas for CeFi, it was around 46 million.

Overall, funding for Web3 startups fell by almost $7 billion in Q4 2022, from $9.3 billion to $2.4 billion.

DeFi attracted $3.1 billion across 299 deals and NFTs $3 billion in 243 sales.

The infrastructure sector was also popular. Of the 295 financing deals completed, companies managed to raise almost $12 billion in capital, an average of $40.1 million per deal.

In contrast, the least popular were investments in NFTs and CeFi. Open / Comment

2023-02-13 07:12:17 #PitchYourIdea #WeeklyContest

Myrtlei

Vote/Review - @IF_vote_bot Open / Comment

2023-02-10 12:09:18 #PitchYourIdea #WeeklyContest #ElevatorPitch

IoT

Idea:

A high-tech Internet of Things (Io T) based SMART vanilla storage at post-harvest.

Problems:

As a result of using traditional storages, the vanilla farmers/curers face a problem of the beans molding during the final storage stage that is meant to last for 6 to 9 weeks. The traditional ways being deployed currently do not provide the required conditions (e.g. temperature and relative humidity) at storage hence leading to spoilage.

Inqoob allows ideas to scale!
Sent your ideas here! Open / Comment