Wednesday, January 20, 2016

TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION




Technology and Innovation are powerful tools for revolution, in both positive and negative ways. As we commence to face up to the multiple economic, environmental and social challenges of our time. The innovation of online shopping has made it easier to buy goods quickly and often much cheaper. Technology has become a positive effect on the economy because consumers tend to make more informative decisions on products with the use of technology. When people make confident buying decisions, the economy typically does better. 

New kinds of technology increase the productivity and thus lower the cost of production. Consumer spending has increased because of technology, which leads to a healthier economy.

How can the Innovative Ideas bring a positive social change?

Coming up with an innovative idea will require some procedures of creating ideas from brainstorming to mind mapping that can help educate up to useful ideas. During this process one must make sure to keep focused on a goal.

If you have no goal, how will you know when you have reached the finish line and are ready for refinement?

·      Start out with an innovative ideas and see what you can come up with
·      Don’t get stuck on trying to come up with different alternatives of the same idea as you will want to develop ideas further later

While there is no exact trail in creativity techniques from start to finish, creating an idea you are happy with and feel has innovative potential is the key. Believing in your ideas innovative ability which will give the confidence you will need later on during pitch time.

It is easy to come up with new innovative idea but if that is the case, then why didn’t we do it? The trick is to come up with them beforehand. That’s the challenge. Once you discover that exceptional innovative idea, try to avoid crucial mistakes that will stop your idea from ever seeing the light. To truly be innovative, you should take challenging opinions and combine them, which spreads the innovative potential of your idea. Innovative ideas can sometimes be volatile but many hypothetical hurdles will arise and just having an innovative idea is not always enough.

In order to take an innovative idea from the start to market, you need to have the determination to push through failure. As motivating as some ideas may be, that is not always enough for users. Receiving the message out that your new innovative idea is essential would gain more consumer attention, especially in more difficult economic times. Always having a short and clear value proposal with an inevitable feeling of necessity can help gain capital, experience and users.

Do not wait until everything is “perfect” as they may never be and this will only further delay your ideas release. Don’t be intimidated by the observed skill of innovative designs, because you are typically seeing the ultimate repetition that has changed compared to its original idea.

 ACT SMART -  DO NOT REST POINTLESS!



Monday, January 18, 2016

Thought of CEO of Uber Company on Indian Startup Ecosystem.

Competition and the drive to serve customers better gives sleepless nights to Travis Kalanick, co-founder and chief executive of one of the world's most valuable start-ups, Uber.

The young billionaire is also impressed by the innovation and creativity coming from the Indian startup ecosystem.

"I lose sleep because of competition but that sleep I lose is similar to how to serve people and cities better. So I like that it is hard, I like the challenge and we feel pretty good about how we are doing so far," Kalanick said on the sidelines of the 'Start Up India' event here.

India is one of the largest markets for Uber globally.

On his advice to start-ups, Kalanick said one has to have a "champion's mindset".

"Put everything that you have on the field, every ounce of energy, every ounce of passion that you have. And when you get knocked down, because inevitably you will, get back up. And if you put everything in and keep getting back up, it's very hard to fail," he added.


Innovation And Creation Are Impressive, Depends On Ideas

Last year, the US-based firm had announced that it will invest $1 billion in the country to improve operations, expand into newer cities and develop new products.

It has also announced the setting up of a facility in Hyderabad, its largest centre outside of the US, with an investment of $50 million over the next few years.

However, its local competitor Ola too has announced huge investments to tap into the under-penetrated market.

Interestingly, Ola has joined forces with global peers Didi, Lyft and GrabTaxi to jointly compete with Uber that has a presence across 67 countries.

Asked about the challenges in the Indian market, Kalanick said these were similar to those in other international cities.

"Challenges for Uber here in India are similar to the challenges in most other cities. You have rules that were adopted in another time and you know what, the old rules that exist today, way back they were new and controversial rules and then they became old," he said.

Kalanick added that these rules are replaced by newer rules that embrace progress, jobs, lowering congestion and reducing pollution.

"Of course, we are working and partnering with cities, states and central government generally to embrace the kind of progress that Uber represents," he said.

On startups in India, the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) drop-out said the country has a strong culture of innovation, creation and progress.

"Uber can be a part of that... look, we were a small startup at some point in time. If we can help other startups in India, if we can be a part of the ecosystem here and help mentor them, that's part of giving back to the communities and that's what Uber stands for," he said.

He lauded the action plan announced by the government to promote startups in the country and said the move is "putting fuel on the fire".

"India is going to be a startup and innovation hub that's bigger and its going to get there faster because of the startup action plan that was presented," he said.

Disclaimer: Following article come from DNA

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

E-Commerce Startup Hubba On Track to Raise $45 Million.

TORONTO—Hubba Inc., an e-commerce startup, is on track to raise $45 million in new venture-capital financing as it looks to expand the use of its consumer product-information platform beyond North America to the U.K., founder and Chief Executive Ben Zifkin said.

Toronto-based Hubba’s platform offers marketing and other information on a vast array of products—everything from Unilever PLC’s Dove brand soap to Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s Budweiser beer. Clients including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and others use the site to ensure the product information they provide to their customers is complete and accurate. Hubba’s technology also distributes companies’ product information to Amazon.com Inc. and other online shopping sites.

“We are a little bit like LinkedIn for products,” Mr. Zifkin said, in reference to the professional-networking site.

Toronto-based Hubba launched its platform about 18 months ago and has since lined up more than 10,000 companies, mostly U.S.-based, to list their products on its site. The system features close to a million different products, Mr. Zifkin said. Hubba is targeting the U.K. as its next major market, betting it will benefit from the growth in e-commerce activity in that country, which is home to many global brands and retailers. The latest financing will help that effort, Mr. Zifkin said.

Hubba’s fundraising also offers an early sign that the strong growth in venture capital investment in Canada-based startups last year could continue in 2016. That sign comes amid an uncertain outlook for early-stage companies in North America, where some startups have fallen short of expected valuations when they went public or were sold to a strategic buyer.




Department-store operator Hudson’s Bay Co. agreed earlier this month to buy New York-based Gilt Groupe Inc. for $250 million, below the Internet retailer’s private valuation of $1.1 billion in 2011. And in November, BlackBerry Ltd. acquired Good Technology Corp. for $425 million, less than half of Good’s $1 billion valuation in 2013, based on funding Good had raised privately.

Hubba expects its $45 million deal to close by the end of March, Mr. Zifkin said. That would follow year-over-year gains in both the total value and number of deals in Canada for the first nine months of last year, according to the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association. The financing would also rank as the fourth-largest venture-capital financing among publicly disclosed investments over that period, according the industry group. The association hasn’t yet published full-year data for 2015.

Mr. Zifkin said consumers’ growing use of smartphones and other digital devices both to buy products online and to access information about brands is driving interest in Hubba. In 2013, consumers used digital information to help them buy an estimated $1.1 trillion worth of goods while visiting a U.S. retailer, and that trend is growing, according to Deloitte Consulting LLP.

The executive declined to comment on Hubba’s valuation based on the latest financing or to identify investors in Hubba, except to say the group includes venture-capital firms from Silicon Valley, New York and the U.K, as well as some of Hubba’s existing investors. The latter include Canada’s Canso Investment Counsel, Brightspark Ventures, Real Ventures and Kensington Capital Partners.

Disclaimer:- Following article come from TWSJ.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Startup PR Mistakes To Avoid In 2016

January is a time for New Year’s resolutions and so drawing on my experiences of a year spent networking, hearing pitches at events like the HoxTech Angels, Hipster Hackers & Hustlers speed-pitching (everyone should try this event!) and many others, as well as helping companies spread their gospel, I want to air my feelings about what startup companies doing PR for the first time should urgently try to avoid doing. Plus a few things I believe they should be doing.

London’s tech scene is booming with nearly $10 billion of venture capital investment being pumped into the city since 2010, and it’s all thanks to the efforts of entrepreneurs, who make the startup scene so special. So stay bold, make time, keep strong, and read on.


Make sure to get your timings right!


Every new business should have a clear set of internal milestones; and a clear idea of when they will be achieved. First 1,000 users, first paying customer, date of app release, first hire. But because they are internal, these timelines are not set in stone – it may take more or less time than you envisaged, and that is ok – no harm done.

Any timelines that a business communicates externally however – to investors or customers for example – must be achieved before or on deadline. Imagine the brouhaha if Tim Cook announced the launch date of a new iPhone – and then subsequently announced he was moving the date back one month. Questions would be asked, speculation would be rife – what are they playing at – stock value would plunge, and competitors would jump at the opportunity to stick the knife in.

The same goes for a startup launching a new app or product – in fact failure to stick to a public deadline will be received even worse because a startup doesn’t have a track record of success to fall back on. It’s absolutely crucial that your first interaction with the outside world goes smoothly. The world is waiting to see if you as a business can do what you say you will do – trapped in your own world scrapping with a back end teething problem you may not notice the attention you are getting– you may not feel the growing anticipation. It might be clear to you the reasons why you need to delay – so you can release a better, less buggy version of your product – but your audience will not see it like that.

And there’s really no excuses – after all you get to set the deadline – so make it achievable, factor in delays, talk to as many of your staff as you can. Give yourself the leeway you need. You set the expectations – so make them realistic.

Disclaimer :- Following article come from Forbes