Recently I had the pleasure of creating some training content for a particular agency of the DoD.  My solution for them involved an overhaul of not just the material, but the mentality behind it.  I wanted to provide the members/students with something they could put in their pocket and have with them when they faced whatever issue we were teaching them about.  Building “an app for that” would be the ideal, but they had reflected that they were having issues putting certain material on the app store for all to see.  On the other side of the app coin, if they released the app outside of the app store, then rollout would be more difficult and there could be some liability around the security of their member’s phone.

So, how could I put some guidelines, links, numbers, and gps pins into a person’s pocket?

Monsanto is in the ultimate position to make money. They own the most seed patents for plants that resist herbicide, and they simultaneously produce the number one herbicide, Roundup. I’m not going to get into specifics or opinions other than to say that to me, they are a global cancer and by the time the mainstream realizes their consequence, it will be too late to reverse.

The solution hit me today on my way to NYC. Weeds. This will bother some people as it will be hugely disruptive in the short term, but looking long term, I think it’s more important that we are not spreading over 100,000 tons of herbicide across the US every year. The solution is simple. Hire a team to engineer a Roundup resistant version of the most troublesome weed affecting farmers today.  The weeds are getting a natural resistance on their own already.  With a little bit of help, they could be completely immune.

Go on, think about it. You can’t beat Monsanto without coloring outside the lines. We as a society are so concerned with saving a buck in the present that we are painting ourselves into the corner. This solution will neutralize their product.  My apologies to any farmers offended with my idea.  These would be the majority of farmers, forced into using the existing system of herbicide and resistant crops.  In the long run, they will still be there, just putting out a product with less chemicals in it, and there wouldn’t be a requirement to spill the hundreds of thousands of tons of herbicide into the our environment every year.  Any haters with money out there?

Execution is the theme of today’s idea.

hangmen.com  “Give us an idea – and in a matter of days we give you a company”

This comes from my looking at the future of startups (incidentally, a word I grow tired of saying).  Currently the unknown is the execution.  Great ideas drop dead, and mediocre ideas are launched to some manner of success.  As we work out the kinks in the process, (as a community) I see a conversion occurring.  In the future it will not be a big deal to launch a company.  The mind-blowing result to this as I see it, is the fact that the person with the idea, the one who wants to own the company, will not need to be the one launching it.

Lately the creation process is getting easier than ever.  For example, you can write on 3 app platforms simultaneously.  For a second example, I will use my financial plan.  It took days for me to make, with research of not just what the numbers are, but how they are derived.  Now it is now all ready to go, so when I start on a new idea, I just change some of the factors and voila!  I’m done in a fraction of the time.  Looking at the future I see this only accelerating.  There will be execution firms.  I mean, there are now, but I’m talking about streamlined, madness level execution.  Literally, a project manager will get an idea, and his team will have an internet based product, in public release in a matter of days.

The most disruptive part of this process is the disconnection that will grow into the process.  It was honest self-assessment that brought me to the realization that doing various tasks myself would be a waste of my time.  This thinking brought me to my previous idea “startup zoom,” a comparison to Legal Zoom, but I now have a further reaching vision.  This one is more like a comparison to CDBaby.  CDBaby is a site that allows musicians to simply upload their songs, pay a small fee, and have their music sold in many markets all over the world, physically and digitally.  You will literally submit an idea, fill out a few forms or do a phone Q&A, and pay a fee.  Days later, you will own a functioning web based company.

There will be some who say this is nonsense.  I’m happy to go on record that it’s coming, and I would say in less than 2 years, we will have turn-key startups, able to be produced completely by outsiders to the original idea.  There will be complainers, those currently successful in this multi-billion dollar racket.  Sorry folks, the music and news industry had to do some thinning.  Your day of reckoning approaches.  Another big complaint will be that as the playing field is leveled, there will naturally be a lot of chaff entered into the market.  Big deal!  That will just elevate the idea and the filter for the public to be exposed to what is available.  Look to the music industry as an example of this struggle, currently in effect.

On a positive note, think of all the poor fools who gave thousands to invention submission firms.  Those folks will actually have a real viable option.  That is very exciting.

I was always impressed to be on a particular forum thread, and be reading a back and forth about a particular company, and have a representative from that company chime in and defend themselves.  The reality is, you just couldn’t keep up with it.  The burden is on the company to constantly be trolling around with an ear bent, listening for the complaints out there.  I would like to see a shift in the responsibility.  A way for a fan of a particular company to assist in the process.

As part of a browser, or forum, in the form of a button, or context menu, a user could highlight a section of text and select “alert” or “complaint” or whatever you’d want to call it, and it would send an alert to the predetermined message center at the company’s website, that at the following address, there was a complaint, problem, or abusive comment made and they were notified by user “Johnnybravo835.”  Instead of going out and looking, they would have the information coming directly to them.

This would be in the forum’s interest, as it will always be beneficial to have company reps on the board in such situations.  It adds traffic.  It validates some of the traffic for the given discussion.  It’s just a better discussion.  It’s good for the individual, as it allows for them to demonstrate their loyalty, and obviously good for the company – which of course will want to offer some discount or reward for the loyal fans that use it appropriately.

Lastly, and simply, it just makes for a better web.

Some chess player thoughts here.  As we move forward, our web identity becomes less and less anonymous.  Applying this model to that fact, we have an increased discouragement on loudmouthed complainers.  The worst thing to do on a forum is run your mouth and get called out as a jackass.   It’s a permanent record that you were put in your place.  It keeps folks in line.  This idea will only assist that process further.

OK, I’ll be honest.  I just can’t keep up.  There are at least 10 projects I would like to push forward with right now, but without funds, I’m stuck.  Literally, it is the dream where you try to yell out for help as loud as you can, and a muffled whisper is all that comes out.  Rather than carefully putting all my eggs into one perfected basket, and then investing everything I have in that one direction, I have decided to push out in all directions.  Sure, as the funding and interest have started to come in, I have been more focused, but I still do a solid 50 hours a week for my full time government gig, and until I can go without that income, I’m going to be over here yelling out, and I have more than one thing I’m excited about.

I don’t like blogging about myself, but the above intro really is the motivation behind today’s thought.  There really should be an option to crowdfund a person.  I have searched both “crowdfund a person” and “crowdfund an individual” and there is no match out there to either phrase.  All I can think of is it being a really cool option for investors, as opposed to individual projects where factors may not align, or individual efforts may become out-executed.  Also, there is a personal advantage to such a connection, if it is done properly.  Lastly, this model just makes more sense, logically and financially.

Enter the Startup Zoom model.  See Idea 69.  That post should prove the logical and financial argument to investment in a person in a structured way as opposed to just investing in a project.  An agreement to use this as a starting point, would allow for several things.  Accountability and transparency would be foremost for the investor, with an enabling structure and value for the entrepreneur.   Now without going too far down the hypothetical road, I see a model in the future for personal stock.  Imagine investing in a person and having that investment follow them from company to company.

So how would it work?  Well, in brainstorming this idea today, I wound up coming up with idea 69.  It’s all pretty fresh in my head, but the basic structure is pretty simple.  You agree to invest in a particular person, and in return, they agree to give you a percentage of whatever company that money goes towards, on the basis of a pre-determined rate.  For instance, you invest 10k in a person and that money goes 5k to company A and 5k to company B.  You and the investor agreed on 1% per 5k.  This is contrary to the mythological math used to valuate a company.  You know, on Shart Tank, when the entrepreneur asks for 150k for 25%.  This is when one of the “sharks” gets out a pen and paper to do the Great Oz level calculation of multiplying 150X4 and then keenly say, “so, you’re saying your company is worth 600k?”  No, they are simply saying that they have calculated it will take 150k to get the damn thing going and it’s worth giving up 25% to make it happen.  I always laugh when they bring out that “ironclad valuation” statement.

Anyway, I will work on the idea more as time permits.  Sure would be nice to have some funding and time to make this happen.  “Knock, knock…. Is this thing on?”  🙂

The model of startups is a person comes up with a brilliant idea, forms a small team and pushes out a new product.   Is this person who came up with the brilliant idea the best designer, developer, tech support, business and project manager?  No.  A lot of the success stories you hear are about those who just stumbled forward, learned as they went, and just happened to make it work out.   Some claim to be (and may very well be) the hardest workers on earth.  Many attribute it to luck or good fortune, but the resounding similarity is simply the execution of a vision.   I am a fan of the stumble forward model, simply because it is better than the sit here and wait model, but I think it can be better.  So I put on my chess player hat and this is what I come up with.

Legal Zoom + Startup Weekend = Startup Zoom

The best scenario I see is not one where the entrepreneur takes in funding for their new idea and proceeds to reinvent a new wheel.  The best scenario is where a scalable wheel is available to any startup, where the person with vision can spend as much time as possible steering, and where the funding can be used in the most positive way possible.  Now look.  The visionary should not be ensnared in a bureaucratic process that doesn’t allow for them to be creative or push the envelope.  NO!  That’s not what I’m describing.  I’m simply describing a standardized system of tools that are ready to go, in a protected environment, that allows for the most productivity for the entrepreneur and the most return for the investor.

So for example, there are certain things EVERY new company needs to do.  You can go to Legal Zoom and quickly have a simplified and standardized version of various tasks instantly available.  This is tremendously valuable.  This method of standardizing value could be, should be and better yet, WILL be available to startups.  You are starting an internet based company in the state of New York.  You have X number in funding.  You sign up, and agree to pay a small percentage fee for services rendered.  You enter an environment of non-disclosure.  You then answer a series of questions on how your product works, and in moments a scalable model appears.  It is a chart form of the wheel you do not have to reinvent.  A model that is based on the hard learned paths forged before, giving you a series of milestones you need to plan for and required squares needing to be filled.

And the kicker is it’s a crowdsource based entity.  So what you actually get out of it is far more value at each rung of the ladder of accomplishment than anything you can do on your own.

You want to just get this small niche based product up and running with 10k?  We show you how.  You want to run a Google competing search product with 10k?  We illustrate where that won’t be possible based on simply plugging in the description of your product with existing pricing for each item you will need.  You don’t have to learn each and every process in the loop from scratch, as many wind up doing.  You can learn what you want to, and in fact, you can guide the overall percentages as you feel necessary, but the framework is there, ready to go.  For instance, I worked last month with a developer/potential team member, who was very concerned with the legal end of a particular piece of our product.  In that case, you can say, “oh, Startup Zoom has suggested we will need to budget 5k for legal of our 175k budget, but I would like to double that amount, for extra peace of mind.”  Another example of the framework would be a quick determination of the percentage you should expect in development costs of a web based product which will also have an Android and IOS app associated with it.  The numbers and percentages obviously can and will be changed or at least fine-tuned, but at least you have a firm starting point, and a firm idea of what you’re facing.

As an option, project management would be available to you.  This could be task based or larger project based.  Again, the great thing is that within the environment, protections are in place for non-disclosure.

Without a doubt, if executed properly, this would be a win for all involved.  The more standardized the startup model becomes, the greater the value of the thinkers who come up with the better processes and products, and those who can steer through changes as the market reacts to what is being offered.

Now onto idea 70.  Crowdfunding beyond the project or company.  Crowdfunding for the individual.

I play piano, or at least I try anyway.  A full size keyboard is great at imitating a real piano, but what a hassle carting around. Today’s idea, and yes I am filing a provisional on this one, an expandable keyboard.  Putting it simply, you would have up to 4 mini keyboards, and a way to instantly connect them together or take them apart.  They key is, no pun intended, once they were connected, there would be no uneven space between all the keys. 

The central mini keyboard would contain the central processor and underneath would house a collapsible pair of rods that would extend and support the pieces solidly and allow for wide support, as in using a typical keyboard stand.

At the airport, you would have a standard size piece of luggage, and no more obnoxious big long case. With TSA agents looking at you like you were trying to smuggle a dead body.

At the recent StartupWeekend Lancaster, our team got 2nd place with an idea I hatched after recently getting involved with crowdsourcing and being entirely disappointed with the algorithm used on existing sites.  Apparently, they are not accountable to their customers, and they are short sighted in thinking that keeping them within their protected environment and thereby keeping their percentage of the transaction is their most important priority.  It is not.  It is a limiting arrangement.  A model destined for failure, with no possible exception.  I’m going to prove it.  I’ll be chiming back in here to provide a video explanation, since the pitch at startup weekend got the last 15 seconds cut off, and the video quality was poor.

Oh, and yes, within the month, another StartupWeekend, another killer to be unleashed.

This is just ridiculous.  It is 2013, and we have bluetooth and mp3 and thermostats in our vehicles now, but if you’re foot is a little heavy and you aren’t paying attention for a moment on the highway, oops; you can easily wind up over the speed limit and get yourself into some trouble.  Tonight I thought once again of a gripe I’ve had for some time.  Why can’t I just set a max speed in my car when I’m on the highway.  I can engage a cruise control, but why can’t I just dial in a maximum speed and take comfort in knowing that I will never again go over 73, for instance, unless of course I temporarily disengage such a device and just put the pedal down.  🙂 Not to mention the benefit for someone who let’s their kid take the car out.  You could also limit the acceleration.  Yeah, these are no brainers that should already have been in play 10 years ago.  It should be a standard issue item in all cars.  It should be required by a government claiming to care about our safety.  Ridiculous.