Business Insider Idea Reviews

Now in the entrepreneurial business more than ever, there is a need to create and come up with new ideas that could potentially be a break that could put their product over the top. Today I am going to be looking at two products that other college students have been coming up with that I feel are going to be successful as well as a product that I do not think will do as well. When trying to figure out if a product is going to be successful there are a few things to take into account, such as value proposition, the type of market that the product is in, and how original and creative is the development.

The first start up that I think will be successful is Todd Medema is making it easier to buy a car without having to visit the lot. Medema was a student at Carnegie University where he graduated in 2014. The company that Medema is part of is a business that is aimed at making it easy for people to go and look at buying a car without going to a car dealership and having to deal with car salesmen among other things when trying to find the right car for you. I think this is going to be a success because now more than ever people are starting to rely on apps to give them information about certain things they are looking for and what may be available, without having to go all the way to the place and ask the people themselves. It would also work better than calling the company and inquiring because it being on a an app gives it a visual appeal as well. 

The second start up that I think is going to be successful is Eric Muli turning college kids into brand ambassadors with free merchandise. Muli’s company has a goal of giving people a voice to promote their own brands without having to rely on advertisement companies and other people to promote their brand. In doing this Muli is giving free merchandise to the customers so they can wear the shirts and such and promote the company in that way. I feel this would be a success because it allows the brand to travel anywhere in the world at that point via the people wearing the clothes and traveling with them. 

One product that I did not think was going to be as successful is Daniel Mishin founding a chain of hostels in Russia that look like college dorms. My reason for thinking that this start up is going to fail is because of concept of rooms being like college dorms. When people are traveling and looking for hotels to stay in they are looking for something relaxing and luxury. I think this is where the competing market would come into play because most other hotels are trying to cater to that need. I feel like Mishin could take this same concept and flip it to something really unique though. 

 

Waterfall vs. Agile start up reviews

 

It seems as though there is a new way to develop a idea emerging. Most people know of the waterfall method of developing an idea as the traditional method. The waterfall method is called the traditional method because of how it is designed, you simply put your main idea up top, and then other ideas and way to make these things happen simply trickle down after that. Wiki further describes the waterfall method. “The waterfall model is a sequential (non-iterative) design process, used in software development processes, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of conception, initiation, analysis, design, construction, testing, production/implementation and maintenance.” So from what we can get from these explanations is that the waterfall method is mostly a linear process that many people that have been in the development industry are familiar with. 

The Counter part to the Waterfall method is the Agile start up method. Many people have said that the new method is a revolution to the start up business. Steve Blank from the Harvard Business review wrote a article on how the Lean start up method changes everything. First we need to understand what the Agile/Lean start up method is. One thing that resonated with me when reading the article about the method is the differences that the Agile method has to its counter part. the Top 3 differences in the two were listed as,

1. The high cost of getting the first customer and the even higher cost of getting the product wrong.

2. Long technology development cycles.

3. The limited number of people with an appetite for the risks inherent in founding or working at a start-up.

4. The structure of the venture capital industry, in which a small number of firms each needed to invest big sums in a handful of start-ups to have a chance at significant returns.

male student hand with a black pen writing on a white notebook

When looking at these two methods I did not notice these differences between the two so seeing Blank point them out when explaining the Agile method helped out a lot.

All in all I feel as though understanding both methods would be of great benefit as both have positives that could help in any idea start up. Knowledge of both would be able to help because one could decide which method they think would work best for their personal start up weather it be the more traditional way or the new Agile method.

 

Journalism Entrepreneurship Reflection

When Thinking about Journalism Entrepreneurship and how the trends of how modern day media and information consumption are changing, it seems like now would be a good time to take part. When reading Carlos De Marchis’ advertising piece he made it clear that the ways people are consuming their information these days are more versatile than ever. In one part of his piece advertising writes, “In few years we have gone from a TV centric landscape to a multi-dimensional, multi-platform, multi-channel and much more fragmented scenario in which users  have an incredible array of possibilities to discover and consume content.

The main driver has been the advent of mobile devices in the form of smartphones, tablets, phablets, wearables etc… as well as the fragmentation of media outlets, more than the standard broadcasters and news properties we were used to.” It was at this point in reading his piece that it was clear to me just how many opportunities to produce something and there be countless ways to opportunities it via media and mobile devices, I feel as though this would be something that could change the game. Later on in his piece, opportunities gives a vivid digraph showing how the emergence of many new platforms is creating avenues for many companies to reach larger audiences through their media use. In another post I read about how companies were correctly using social media correctly and one thing that all of the companies using the social media had in common was the fact that their content was multi-viewable, on many companies devices.

 

Aside from the media aspect of things, companies now have large platforms other than media to convey messages and reach audiences. One part that companies talked about was how many companies are starting to companies sports teams and sports target to advertise their product and reach their audience. I think this is a good advertising technique because it allows companies to put their name right in front of the people they know are going to be watching, A) what ever team it is and B) what ever sport it is plays a part in choosing which organizations to approach as well.

Advertising in the World of Digital

As we probably know by now, technology is one of the biggest focal points in the world and in society today. Everywhere we look there is some type of technology or some type of way to find and use technology. I think it is safe to say that we live in a fully digital era. With this being said, this means there are a lot of things in the world that require the use of technology and an understanding of how people work around and with technology. When asked the question, “what kinds of skills and knowledge do you need to have to be successful in the world of public relations today?” I would say one skill is knowing the basics of whatever technology it is you are trying to use. I think that would be the first step, because there might be a few advanced steps in using the technology that you might know but if it is something as simple as communicating with other people around you about your product, or other things as such, and you don’t know how to do it, it goes without saying that would bring on a whole other set of problems when trying to navigate through the business.

I can admit that this is different than how I thought public relations was. Going in, I thought it was just about planning events and getting to know companies employees and clients, and other small things like that. While that is somewhat true, there is still a whole other world of work to be done when it comes to public relations and advertising. I’m not sure of everything public relations people are responsible for but reading the talk by Richard Edelman definitely gave me other insight to what is going on in the world of public relations.

PR event planning

 

When I was explained that the world of advertising is changing, I understand why because of all of the blockades that can be used and people can just ignore advertisements when they are going about what they are doing. One thing that caught my eye when reading about a few of the new ways advertising can be reintroduced into the world would be digital banner ads. When explaining the idea of banner ads, the article said that it would be important to get a new, fresh design that can catch peoples limited attention and keep it for a long enough to get the point across. But at the same time they say that they have to keep it clean, quick, and a sharp design, which I definitely agree with.