Archive for Technology

Fraser Doherty- Creator of SuperJam

At fifteen-years-old Fraser Doherty loved to cook jam from one of his grandmother’s old recipes. He began to sell local to neighbors and such. His infant company soon began to grow too large for neighbors, and Fraser set his sights on bigger objectives. He borrowed his father’s suit, and he set his mission to pitching his idea to a well-known supermarket in his local area. They rejected Fraser, but that did not kill his spirit. He took improved upon their critiques, and searched his country for a factory that would take a chance on him. All but one said no. Fraser came back the next year with all of his improvements, and he got the deal to distribute his product across all the supermarket’s stores. His company blew up from there. He quickly increased his production to over 20,000 units of jelly. Everyone can take note of his dedication and persistence to never give up on his entrepreneurial goals. The Story of SuperJam: How Fraser Doherty Built a Multimillion-Dollar Jelly Empire (web.com)

Smashing the Standard

 

The prosthetic limb market has seen very little innovation since almost its inception. Prosthetics provide necessary balance and stability to those without the corresponding limb, but they are brutally stationary. When we think of pirates with their wooden peg-legs, or Olympic athletes sporting their curved “blade runners”, and any other replacement limb, we basically think of dead weight. The prosthetic is immensely helpful, but it can’t move and, compared to the original, fully-functional limb, it is quite sad. But this market is finally changing with the Esper Hand. In an article in Time Magazine, Leslie Dickstein says, “Esper Bionic’s prosthetic hand is the first AI powered, cloud-based, robotic prosthetic that gets smarter over time. I love the next sentence: “Esper Bionics CEO and co-founder Dima Gazda, a medical doctor and engineer, sees the prosthetic market as ripe for disruption—and setting the stage for a bionic future.” Using AI and the vast amount of technological resources available, Esper Bionics have built a hand that moves like a human hand and evolves to better help the user the more he or she uses it. When I went to their site, the first thing Esper says about the company is fascinating. They state that “Human augmentation is set to transform the way we live, enhancing our physical abilities and unlocking longer lifespans. We are building the first bionic ecosystem of connected devices to push the boundaries of human potential.” I think this market is begging for innovation and I believe Esper Bionics is the company to provide it. What do you think?

Blog Post #4 Logitech

Logitech began with two Stanford alumni, Daniel Borel and Pierluigi Zappacosta, along with Giacomo Marini. Together, they shared a vision of creating high-quality, innovative computer accessories. They wanted to take technology a step further, making it more accessible and user-friendly. The company’s name, “Logitech,” is a combination of the words “logic” and “technology,” representing their commitment to bridging the gap between humans and technology. I think this a very creative name that sticks and a smart one to brand. 

Their first product, the P4, was a game-changer in the world of computing. It was a groundbreaking device that simplified the process of programming and debugging microcode. This innovation laid the foundation for Logitech’s future success in producing cutting-edge computer peripherals.

However, it was in the early 1990s that Logitech indeed came into its own. The company introduced the “MouseMan,” which was a revolutionary optical mouse. This technology eliminated the need for mouse pads and offered more precise tracking. Logitech’s relentless pursuit of precision and innovation was evident in its products, which quickly became an integral part of the growing computer industry.

Over the years, Logitech expanded its product line to include various accessories, from keyboards and webcams to gaming controllers and smart home devices. The company’s dedication to quality and innovation earned it a reputation for producing reliable and user-friendly products. They have built a name and, more importantly, a reputation behind that name. 

Today, Logitech continues to push the boundaries of technology. Their commitment to excellence has not waned, and they consistently deliver products that enhance the digital experience for millions of users worldwide. They constantly show excellent entrepreneurship traits and always present what makes their products worthwhile. From office professionals to gamers, Logitech remains a trusted name, and its legacy is a testament to the power of innovation and precision in the world of technology.

Persevering to Sucess: Life360

Some people might be familiar with the location app Life360. To many teenagers, it is the bane of their existence. Parents use the app to track their kid’s exact location. They can thank Chris Hulls for creating the app.

Chris Hulls: Creator of Life360

Originally, Hull started in the United States Air Force. During his service, the government established a website to help locate missing family members in disasters after Hurricane Katrina. The site was ineffective.

After Hulls pulled out of the military, he went to college and was accepted into Harvard Business School. He, however, decided not to go after a health issue. While undergoing treatment, Hulls remembered the ineffective government website and started thinking. He developed the idea for Life360 and bounced the idea off a few friends.

Hulls began by outsourcing the technological development in India. It ended up as a failure. He tried again after winning “Google’s Android Challenge”. From the competition, he won $300,000 which helped him make Life360.

Despite the app being created, Hulls almost failed again. He was dead broke: he lived in his mom’s house and was making $700 a month. The app had very few users. In the beginning, the smartphone had just been created. People did not know how to effectively use apps. He and his team managed to limp by for 2 years. After some improvements and a few years for the world to adapt to smartphones, business began to pick up. Now, Life360 has about 30 million active users according to a 2022 article.

Life360 still faces plenty of challenges. The app has caused lots of controversy. The Washington Post wrote an article on how parents use the app to track their children. Life360 also received backlash after Markup exposed the company for selling information to data brokers. This caused the company to adjust its policies, but Life360 continues to have 50 million users.

While Chris Hulls barely qualifies as a millennial since he was born in 1985, he is certainly an entrepreneur. He conceived an idea years ago and stored it in his memory. When he faced health issues, he used the time to think about his idea.

“What felt like a set back in my life was actually time to incubate an idea that inspired my career.”

He changed his life plan and developed the idea. Although he struggled in the beginning, Hulls persevered for years. Even after his success, Hulls continues to adapt and change Life360 to make it better.

What is Life360? | About Our Company & Our Mission

https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/chris-hulls-of-life360-you-will-never-regret-trying/

Founder lessons (and silver linings) from Life360’s Chris Hulls – Bessemer Venture Partners (bvp.com)

Life360 is getting out of the business of selling precise user location data – The Verge

Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable

Pete founded Mashable in 2005 when he was 19 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Mashable is a popular online blog. It started as a simple blog with Pete as the sole author, and quickly rose to fame. In 2009, TIME Magazine considered it one of the best business and tech blogs. Now, it is worth around $50 million and it’s still going.

Mashable began as a blog, but now has sections of the site for different topics, with blogs/articles about all sorts of things; tech, science, entertainment, and more. It was truly innovative for its time because Pete made a blog specifically for certain things he was interested in, and he did it really well. It’s not normal news or articles. It’s different.

Pete showed his entrepreneurial spirit when he was developing Mashable– he would work for hours into the morning on his computer in the early stages of developing. His parents didn’t even know what he was up to. Now, his work has millions of visitors a month.

Jason Wersland- Theragun

Dr. Jason Wersland on Therabody's Growth and InnovationDr. Jason Wersland is a Los Angeles- based chiropractor and founder of the brand Therabody (formerly Theragun). Dr. Jason was in a bad motorcycle accident in 2007 and that was where the birth of his idea took place. He needed something to help with his pain and a percussion gun would be able to ease the pain. His idea for the theragun was based on the needs and necessity for a product to help people with their injuries. It took almost 10 years to perfect the design and function of the theragun and upon its release in 2016, the theragun was an instant success. Since then, three different generations of the percussion gun and vast amounts of partnerships have been a part of the brand. In 2020, Wersland collected data and did research and ultimately decided to rebrand to Therabody. With the rebrand, the company sold more kinds of muscle treatments for athletes and regular folk alike. Dr. Jason uses his entrepreneurship skills to figure out what people need and how to answer their needs. And with his own personal experience with injury, and being a chiropractor, helped him create a multi-million dollar company that is able to help all kinds of people with muscle injuries and recovery.

Catherine Cook

The concept that Catherine Cook and her brother came up with is very neat. For a better way to get to know her classmates they developed myYearbook.com. At the age of 15 and 16 the siblings got their older brother, Geoff, to develop the site for them. It was said to have been like “Facebook for high school.” What really drove her innovative thinking was seeing her older brother develop his own business out of his dorm room. By seeing him excel and succeed she knew it was possible for her too. She knew that even the smallest of ideas could make a big difference. The site now has over 32 million members. Since Facebook at the time was becoming bigger and seemed very similar to it, Catherine and Geoff came up with their websites message. myYearbook.com was about making new friends whereas Facebook was about the friends you already had. This helped shape their basis of their website. They started developing different features and apps to define their message. Users now had the ability to find people they would want to get to know based on the apps and features provided. myYearbook later became sold to QuePasa since yearbooks became less popular. Now came the new development of MeetMe in 2011, it was time for it to become global. Now people had the opportunity to meet people all over the world.

Kyle Giersdorf: Gamer entrepreneur

Kyle Giersdorf others know him as Bugha which is his in-game user name. Kyle was born on December 30, 2002, and grew up in Pottsgrove Pennsylvania. Bugha’s entrepreneurial venture started when his father mentioned an up-and-coming game called Fortnite. Bugha fell in love with this game and later started to stream on Twitch. Twitch is a gaming live stream platform that allows watchers to donate and subscribe. Bugha was so good at the game that slowly more and more viewers started to join his stream and he started to make a ton off the money of the subscriptions. Bugha also started to win many tournaments and even qualified for and won the Fortnite world cup in 2019. After this, he blew up and created a youtube that now has 4.28 million subscribers.

Bugha, after he had a very big following on all platforms, started to create affordable PC accessories like keyboards mouses and even some PCs. He created these products because when he was young keyboard was so expensive and he could never buy them so now with his products he changed that for many young kids that want to games. Bugha taught me many things throughout his entrepreneurial venture. The first thing I learned is to find something you love instead of trying to do what other people want you to do because then you won’t put your all into your venture. Bugha’s family was very hesitant about his idea of trying to pursue gaming as a job but with some good persuasion, he finally got their approval to chase his dream. Bugha’s story really encourages me to go out and do what I love and hopefully make as much money as he did.

Matthew Mullenweg: Founder of the WordPress

Matt Mullenweg was born in Houston, Texas. Matt went to a performing arts highschool where he studied Jazz saxophone. He later went on to attended Houston University majoring in political scientce. He later dropped out to pursue a job at  CNET. In 2003 Matt and his friend Mike started the beggining of wordpress. At the time matt was just 19 years old. After Matt took the CNET job he designed a brand called automattic. Now Automattic has around 1,100 employees working from more then 67 countries. Automattic is a company that works with the web so it can be done from all around the world. This company was the bases of many brand sincluding wordpress.

Word press  is now used by over 40% of the web. WordPress is a company that created a way for people to build their own blog websites with little to no experience. This was a big deal because back in the day creating a website would take a ton of time and skills like coding and designing. Now with WordPress many more people can blog on their own website. Matt’s story teaches us alot about following your dreams and pursuing them. Matt was so into Blogs and websites that he dropped out of school to pursue his job. And in doing that he created a massive company from his own hands. To think that only 19 years old Matt thought of an idea this complex is truly increadible.

Marques Brownlee – Growth With Technology

Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) is a technology YouTuber that started posting videos in high school reviewing pieces of tech. However, his channel did not see significant growth until college. There, he made videos in his dorm room between school work and found money to purchase products to review. He has always heavily emphasized quality in his videos from the sets to videography to audio. His biggest breakthrough was having the opportunity to interview Kobe Bryant.

Today, Marques has multiple channels and over ten people on his team. He has divided everything involved in creating content to different people to ensure the highest quality work. Currently, he has his main channel, the Studio channel, a YT Shorts channel, a podcast channel, and an Auto Focus channel. The Studio channel focuses on behind the scenes and activity in the studio, and Auto Focus is a car review channel that he started recently.

On top of these, Marques plays ultimate frisbee professionally. Not only is he one of the best on his team, but they recently won the championship. Somehow, he finds time to be a great athlete while making lots of content weekly.

Marques has a big influence on so many people with his entrepreneurial mind. His drive and determination to do what he loves is present and impactful. Seeing the level of success he has seen on YouTube while playing ultimate professionally is not seen anywhere else. While his channels have grown, he has began to outsource the work to more employees. It is crazy to see that YouTube, along with sponsorships and others, have been able to pay him and allow him to have a big studio with over ten full time employees. His work is noticed and inspires me to do what I love.