For this week’s blog, I looked into an interesting post on Business Insider called “16 Great Startups College Students Are Working On Right Now,” this is an article about 16 students that have started working on a business in school. In this blog, I will discuss why two of the 16 seem like good ideas and why two of the 16 seem likely to fail.
Going camping on a wheel chair.
While he was studying at Arizona State University, Jorjan Tang decided to create a wheel chair that would be practical when going camping. He decided to come up with the idea because the father of one of his classmates is in a wheel chair and could not enjoy going camping. I think that this is a FANTASTIC idea, there should be more people like Tang in this world. Every time that I see someone in a wheel chair, it saddens me because they cannot do everything that other people can. So, reading about his idea warms my heart. I think that the idea has a good value proposition; it gives individuals in wheel chairs the opportunity to go camping if they want to. I also believe that the idea has an original secret sauce; I have never heard of something like this before and the idea is excellent. A+
Label maker for the blind
Karina Pikhart of Massachusetts Institute of Technology created a Braille keyboard and a labeling kit, so it is easier for blind people to find everything. I liked this idea because my grandmother’s sister in law is blind. It has been amazing seeing how she does everything around her house; she knows how to manage herself well. However, there were times that she did not know what some things were so these artifacts would be perfect for her. Pikhart ideas eventually grew into a successful business so I would say that it has a good value proposition. It is clear that she knows her customer since she makes things that work efficiently with them. It is evident that there is an original secret sauce; the idea is unique, and the success shows it.
Facebook 2.0
Wesley Zhao decided to leave the University of Pennsylvania to create a social media site that is “family friendly.” In this social media platform, families can share photos and stories with their family friends. *cough* I do not think this idea will ever succeed because why would someone stop using, um, let’s say, FACEBOOK, to use this? I believe that he made the biggest mistake of his life by dropping out of uni to make this (Update: I tried linking his “family friendly” site but apparently it does not exist anymore).
Flake proof events
Fei Xiao and Anna Sergeeva from the University of Southern California decided to create “trueRSVP,” a company in which an algorithm determines how many people RSVP to an event and how many of them show up. However, when they graduated they created a spinoff of “trueRSVP” called “Planana.” I did not like this idea (trueRSVP) because it is a waste of time. As a lazy human being, I do not want to waste my time and worry about how many people said that they were going to an event but decided not to show. I also decided to check the “Planana” website to see what it is about, and it is a blog. There is nothing eye-catching about that site; it is just your average “need help with this?” kind of blog.
After reading about all the ideas that the 16 students had, I am pleased with the idea that my group has. It is tough to come up with a business, and it is even harder developing it. Sometimes we may think that our ideas are good, but this is not always the case. We have to think about the market, the cause and what makes a company stand out. I cannot wait to see what others have come up with.
Thank you for reading!
Virginia Rodriguez 