For you on-demand ice cream lovers out there, an on-line video of Moobella's Ice Creamery machine….
A VC in Vacationland
Seeking the next gen supply chain technology breakthroughs
recent posts
- PE Buyout Outlook for 2026–Same Old, Same Old?
- The Role of Generative AI in Supply Chain Investment Strategies
- AI’s Impact on Supply Chain Investment Strategies
- The ‘New Normal’ is now the ‘No Normal’ in Supply Chains
- SRR—Sustainability, Resilience, Risk Management: The Latest Supply Chain Buzzwords & Investment Opportunities
about
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Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path and Blogger at Only Once, wrote an excellent post of how to make the transition from a founder to running a medium-sized business. Check it out here: Only Once permalink.
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Image via CrunchBaseWaze offers driving directions based on crowd-sourced data. Unlike expensive alternatives, Waze is free and likely more reliable for many regions. I have traffic reports integrated with GPS-driven maps in my new car and it is far from correct, based on a number of recent trips to New York City. Trust me, you do not feel "really good" sitting in a big traffic jam that you supposedly paid $25/month to avoid. With Waze, users immediately update the database if they become stuck in traffic and you get instant alerts if you are in the vicinity.
According to the CEO, Noam Bardin, the company (based in Israel and Palo Alto) first launched its mobile application in Israel, then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond last year. Waze currently has over 500,000 users, who contribute to Waze’s database by leaving the application open on their GPS-enabled phones as they drive, feeding map and traffic information back to the application. Another 5,000 users are more active, making edits to the various maps, and 550 users even more active, working as area managers who oversee the editing.
Waze now has maps in 85 countries. Over 70 percent of the application’s traffic is coming from the United States, while 19 percent comes from Italy — no surprise for anyone who has ever tried to drive in Rome.
The application is free, but in the past Waze has said it wants to make money through data-sharing deals with map companies. It just announced its first deal, with South American company Location World. Both companies benefit — Waze gets maps to use as the foundation for its application, and Location World gets to update its map based on Waze’s user data.
Waze should also be a boon for long haul and local delivery drivers trying to find their way around urban or suburban traffic jams. Although many have in-cab traffic sensing capabilities now, these technologies tend to not have the real time data available from crowd-sourcing solutions. Further, these technologies do not do a good job covering non-urban areas due to a lack of available traffic data outside urban areas.
Since the data is 100% user generated, users might be disappointed to find that minimal data is available in their location. With time and a few million more users, we may have a nice, real time solution to beating traffic jams.
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Image via WikipediaMany of you have seen the movie or read the book, The Perfect Storm (featuring, BTW, a Maine lobster woman, Linda Greenlaw). An economic "perfect storm" is what has been happening to the lobstering industry in Maine over the last decade. Loss of working waterfront (only 20 miles exist among the thousands of miles of Maine seacoast), single-boat business models, allegations of price fixing among lobster buyers/distributors, competition from Canadian lobster men (along with serious boundary disputes), sabotage of lobster men 'from away', inability to land side catch products in Maine, plus the global recession depressing luxury good demand, among other factors have turned lobstering into a money-losing business for many boat owners.
Linda Bean, an heir to the LL Bean fortune and fervent supporter of making Maine a better place to work and live, has set out to change the business model of the lobstering industry by putting more control over selling and marketing lobster in the hands of the small lobster man (or woman). Linda Bean's PerfectMaine, in her own words:
"PORT CLYDE LOBSTER COMPANYbuys live lobsters at Maine wharves to supply the best Maine has to offer for quality lobster, wild Maine shrimp, and crab. I originated it in the beautiful village of Port Clyde where I live (mid-coast, nearest Rockland & Thomaston) where I purchase the highest quality lobsters direct from fishermen to supply a growing number of grocery store chains and restaurants across America. This company has initiated the first national branding program for Maine lobster, somewhat akin to when Frank Purdue put his name on chicken — to signify it has passed the test for the highest level of quality, texture and taste. Purdue grabbed America's attention when he proclaimed, "I hate skinny chickens." Well, I dislike lobsters being called Maine lobsters when they aren't! My brand lobsters carry a bracelet tag which says they are authentic Maine lobster, wild caught by Maine fishermen using sustainable practices. Moreover, they tell you exactly where in Maine they came from: a first achieved by Port Clyde Lobster Company. Not only have we spring boarded an easily grasped concept, combining the three words Bean-Maine-Lobster to establish a national brand that can be trusted, but we're also the first in the nation with a tag of traceability to the exact Maine source. We care about our buyers who want to know where their seafood comes from and that it is safe and from a sustainable fishery."
Like any good entrepreneur, Linda Bean is controversial. Many lobster men, suppliers and distributors resent the rich folks coming in and telling them what to do. Others praise her for being an innovator and saving a way of life in Maine. Clearly, the business model for lobstering is broken and Linda represents an new way forward–branding Maine lobster, buying highest quality product, combining purchasing power to reduce operating costs, reducing middleman involvement in the supply chain and establishing a stable market demand–all good practices when it comes to innovating a broken supply chain.
As a big consumer of lobster and a lover of Maine, I wish her luck.
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Image by renaissancechambaravia FlickrAt Accenture, we did significant research on a company to ensure we understood how our proposed solutions could help improve their competitiveness in their industry. Teams of researchers were put to work for weeks to uncover all relevant facts from diverse data bases and analyst sources. As a result, our presentation teams were well prepared and always competitive when we bid on complex transformation projects. This cost us a lot of money for the researchers as well as access to numerous expensive data sources. But it clearly helped us win multi-million dollar consulting assignments with numerous global companies.
Committing this level of resources was no big deal for a large, successful company such as Accenture. But this is impossible for a smaller company or technology start up. Perhaps the sales guy spends a few hours on an on-line search in Hoover's, Googles the latest company news and reads a few free analyst reports on the company to prepare for a sales meeting and presentation.
Decsionlinkaims to change all that. By bringing world-class research sources and analysis capabilities on companies and industries to help smaller company gain a selling edge in a cost effective manner, Decsionlink allows you to quickly assemble competitive and strategic information on a company and industry in a few hours. Check them out…it may be a great way for your start up to gain marketing advantages without breaking the proverbial bank.
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A business plan pitch in 140 characters? It had to happen, and the MIT $100K Entrepreneur Competition is sponsoring Twich. Details here: http://www.mit100k.org/home/mit-100k-celebrates-20th-anniversary-with-twitch/
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Image by Adventures in Librarianshipvia FlickrAnyone interested in a fascinating account of the (fictionalized, but real in many ways) lives of entrepreneurs should pick up a copy of the Pulitzer Prize winner, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon.
Set in the 1930's, Kavalier and Clay are two cousins, one with a talent for drawing and one with writing skills, combine their talents to produce superhero comic books. I know, the story line sounds corny, but trust me it is not. The are signed to a "lifetime" contract of servitude by a trashy publisher, who owns all their good ideas for years before they break out of the deal. The trashy publisher makes millions on them, but pays them only thousands, in spite of their many attempts to get out of the deal. Throw in the Jewish diaspora from Europe, crazed Nazi supporters in the US trying to do them in, attempts to rescue family from certain death in Europe, expeditions to Antarctica, sprinkled throughout with the pursuit of magic and you have a fascinating, extremely well written, hard to put down story.
There are numerous lessons for entrepreneurs scattered throughout the book–such as make sure your lawyers read all contracts you sign, the "right" kind of personal sacrifices to make in pursuing your entrepreneurial dreams, how real life can easily get in the way of success, how and why rewards may need to be put off for many years, etc., etc.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a highly recommended book for budding entrepreneurs who want a taste of "living the entrepreneurial dream" before actually doing it.
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Image via WikipediaI rarely hear a bad idea when an entrepreneur presents their new, new thing to me. All sound very plausible, and make me interested in hearing more. But where the rubber hits the proverbial road–detailing their business model, or how are you going to monetize the idea–I am often disappointed.
Please, budding entrepreneurs, just because you have a "good idea", don't show up on my (virtual) doorstep and expect me to draft your business model. Don't be insulted when I say that I cannot understand how the idea will make money. I am not necessarily calling your baby ugly. I just do know know how you are going to pay for all the food, toys and diapers needed to keep the baby happy over the coming years.
Do some homework on successful business models. See how others have monetized their ideas. Draft a preliminary model of your own–how you are going to attract customers, what are you going to charge them, what will they get in return, why will they choose you over rivals, how you will keep them as customers long term–to name a few questions the business model must answer.
I am more than happy to comment on your business model and tell you where I think improvements are needed. But please, don't just show up with a good idea….
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Image via WikipediaI have been reviewing a lot of start up supply chain oriented business models in recent months that require major shifts in industry behavior to be successful. I don't mean business models like Amazon, which, for example, cut out the retailers and sell directly to consumers. One can easily see the potential for Amazon's value creation by focusing on getting the consumer hooked on a new and easy way to buy most any product. The "industry changing" business models I have been seeing, on the other hand, require major shifts in the ways of doing business across an entire supply chain–suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumer all have to modify their behavior for the new entity to make money. It's just not going to happen…or at least not in a year or two, which the business models predict.
There are certainly a bunch of hard, somewhat intractable supply chain problems out there, such as product tracking across supply chain partners, supply chain security to reduce theft, integration of improved real time product demand data to improve supply chain efficiencies, to name a very few. And I wish they were as easy to solve as my diagram to the right portrays a decision process.
Here's a suggestion for supply chain start ups: try and solve one part of the tough problem for a key player in the supply chain rather than devise a revolutionary process requiring numerous supply chain partners to agree on standards, technology compatibility, who will pay for it, how will the revenue be shared, etc. etc.
The Wal-Mart/RFID story, detailed many times in the popular press, is a great example that even the biggest retailer in the world cannot easily change supply chain behavior. Critics can argue that RFID is still going to be a big success, but GPSS and/or wiFi platforms may supersede it. The point is that we do not know if everyone in all supply chains will march to the same drummer in the future. Highly unlikely.
A VC in Vacationland 