Author Archive for Emily Krofcheck

Dropbox- A Coder Turned Entrepreneur

Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox, has all the symptoms of being an entrepreneur! The creation story of his company, Houston claims, came from an idea that came to him after constantly forgetting his USB flash drive during his studies at MIT.  During his time as a student he found a multitude of problems with storage services and decided to set out to solve this problem for himself.  Little did he know that his solution would end up benefiting millions of others as well.

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In 2007, he and his co-founder Arash Ferdowsi were able to secure enough funding to begin the development of the program were soon launched Dropbox. Within 24-hours of its launch, Dropbox “had 75,000 people signup for the wait-list.”  When they were only expecting 15,000, tops.  Dropbox had an enormous success rate, and, by the end of 2013 Dropbox had gained over 200 million users.

So what sets this company apart from others? Well Dropbox is a technology company that claims to build simple, powerful products for people and businesses.  Unlike many other companies, Dropbox is innovative in that they value the creation of products that are easy to use and are built on trust. When people put their files in Dropbox, they can trust they’re secure and their data is their own. The users’ privacy has always been their first priority, and it always will be.  Image result for dropbox images

Houston believed that technology should get out of the way, so there’s no limit to what people can do. And his tightly-knit team seems very committed to realizing ambitious ideas and making technology work for the world, and I’m sure that the best from them is still to come.

“Sometimes you just get this feeling — it’s a compulsion or an obsession. You can’t stop thinking about it. You just have to work on this thing,” words from the entrepreneur himself, Drew Houston.

Tumbl(r) Into Success- David Karp

David Karp, inventor of Tumblr, discovered his passion for entrepreneurship at a young age.  He was only 14 when he got his first internship with an animation producer.  Karp was fascinated with the whole industry and started digging into it further.  He started learning more and more programming languages and eventually became very skilled in programming and coding.  This drive would soon take him far and give him the platform that he needed to excel.

In 2007, at the young age of 20, Karp launched the opening of the successful platform called Tumblr.  Tumblr was an idea that Karp came up with.  It is a mix of twitter, Youtube and WordPress.  It gives each user the ability to have their own blog where they can post blogs, pictures and video.  After the first 24 hours of the launch, Tumblr had 75,000 users.  And it soon grew to be a huge and time consuming platform.   His intention with Tumblr was to give the consulting business he owned the attention that he needed for it.  He soon realized that he was incapable of balancing both of these businesses, and shut down his consulting business to run with Tumblr full time.

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Tumblr continued to grow and had proved itself as an extremely successful startup.  As of December 1, 2016, Tumblr hosts over 324.7 million blogs.  Although it hasn’t come close to reaching the 100 billion value of Zuckerberg’s Facebook , Tumblr’s 800 million dollar value is nothing to pass up.  Karp was included in Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2013.  He used his entrepreneurial mind to design his company in such a way that it was innovative in an age of blogging and networking.  Where others looked at the revolutions of blogging and social networking and saw new tools for communication, Karp saw possibilities for making them easier and more intuitive. Tumblr lowered the bar to creating a beautiful, dynamic website and raised the payoff in the form of positive social reinforcement.

LearnVest- Alexa Von Tobel

Alexa Von Tobel, who received an A.B. in Psychology at Harvard College, is a prime example of a young entrepreneur.  She came up with the idea for LearnVest while working at Morgan Stanley when she realized she and most other people had never had any formal education about how to manage their personal finances. From this stemmed an innovative company.  Alexa von Tobel entered Harvard Business School, but ended up taking a leave of absence too launched LearnVest.  Related image

LearnVest is a financial planning company, which Von Tobel founded. It sells personal finance software to those who don’t know how to handle their personal finances.  What sets this company and idea apart from others is that with LearnVest, financial planning is geared to be affordable, accessible, and even delightful for everyone who uses their services.  Whether you need help to budget better, save for big trips, maximize your investments, or something in between, the company goes above and beyond to let you know that they are there to help you make progress on your money.  LearnVest, unlike other finance companies focuses on not only keeping track of your finances, but educating you on how they are handled and how they can be improved.

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Alexa Von Tobel has been included in many prestigious list such as Business Insider’s 2010 “Silicon Alley 100,” Inc. Magazine’s “30 under 30: The Top Young Entrepreneurs of 2010,” “Women to Watch” by Forbes, “18 Women Changing the World” in Marie Claire, and BusinessWeek’s annual list of “Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs.”  In 2012, she was selected as a Fortune “Most Powerful Women Entrepreneur”.  Von Tobel demonstrated traits such as a knowledge of a lack of fulfillment of a need/want, ambition, and passion.  Traits and principles which I believe all entrepreneurs should possess.  For these reasons, Von Tobel eventually went on to be selected as an inaugural member of the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship.

 

Hart Main- ManCans

You don’t have to have made huge strides to be considered an entrepreneur.  This is why I find Hart Main’s story not only amusingly adorable, but also inspirational for all young kids (and adults) with creative minds. Hart is a 14-year old that came up with the idea of manly scented candles, which he has wittingly branded as ManCans.

He came up with this idea when he was teasing his sister about the “girly scented” candles she was selling for a school fundraiser. Hart wanted to take a spin on the average candle and direct it at a different than normal audience, men.  Although his family didn’t expect him to pursue the manly scented candles idea himself, he did. Hart’s idea has since turned into a nationwide success.

He put in an initial investment of $100, his parents put in $200, and together they all worked on developing the candles. Some of the available scents include: Campfire, Bacon, Sawdust, Fresh Cut Grass, Grandpa’s Pipe and more. Currently, ManCans’ candles are in over 60 stores across the country and have sold about 9,000 units. Hart plans to stick with selling ManCans’ inventory until he has to shift his focus back into school, he is only 14 after all.

Hart Main specifically inspires me in the way that he views entrepreneurship and innovation.  He saw the smallest gap in a market and jumped at the opportunity to fill it.  This is a view that I believe more entrepreneurs should put into use: whatever our dreams, ideas or projects, if we plant a seed, from that small thing comes fruit greater than we could imagine.

Jessica Rey- Rey Swimwear

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Jessica Rey is the founder of Rey Swimwear. Jessica was born in 1982 and grew up in California, where she later went to college and graduated with her BA in Business. After graduation, she then moved to LA to pursue her MBA at Loyola Marymount University. While finishing her MBA, Rey auditioned for and got roles in television shows and series such as Power Rangers: Wild Force.  She also made smaller guest appearances on other television shows.  As Rey shared with many,  her daily “uniform” was a bikini because all she had to do was hanging out at the pool between auditions and jobs at that point in her career. One day, after much contemplation over her exposure, Rey decided that she was done bikinis.  After doing much research by shopping for an alternative to a bikini (one-pieces and or modest two-pieces), she found that there were no bathing suits that “didn’t make me look three times my age”.  She saw the lack of options that so many women had for modest swimwear.

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So Rey decided to make her own suites her own way. Many of her friends expressed interest in wanting a one-piece that was also stylish.  Rey put her degree to good use and started Rey Swimwear.  Rey Swimwear draws it’s inspiration from icons such as Audrey Hepburn- whom they view as timeless and feminine.  The company is committed to ethical sourcing and production and will only work with manufacturers who share these same values.  As Rey herself said, “I believe in the dignity of all people- those who make my clothing and those who wear it”. These strong unique core values have really excelled the company into what it is today.

 

Woodchuck-Ben Vanden Wymelenberg

Ben Vanden Wymelenberg’s, at the young age of 22, generated a business idea while he was supposed to be studying at school.  Little did he know that this business idea would rocket into a very successful venture.  I have to say, this is a dream for many of us students, especially within the entrepreneurship department.

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One night, while building a project for one of his college classes, Ben placed a small section of wood on top of his iPhone while testing out his project.  The wood was shaped slightly like a case, and ended up fitting his phone like a glove.  Not only this but he loved the way it looked!  This minuscule experimentation ignited an idea that would take Ben and his life to new heights.  Along with his college friend Kevin Groenjes, Ben launched Woodchuck.

 

Woodchuck is a company that manufactures real wood cases for phones, tablets, laptops and headphones.  They were unique in that each piece of wood is handpicked and can be customized to the customer’s specifications.  As the company’s website says, “Using the finest woods, Woodchuck offers decor and storage to bring nature back into your life”.  The company’s passion for the product led to a deals with numerous businesses.  These include the Mall of America, Best Buy, Target, and more. In fact, Ben and Kevin just signed a national distribution deal and are planning the launch of Woodchuck stores across the US.woodchuck

Ben’s idea for the company not only came from a little experiment, but also from past personal experiences that shaped his views.  The 2008 financial crisis personally effected his hometown.  Having seen the tolls of this, Ben decided to manufacture, print, and assemble Woodchuck cases in within the US. These men remained committed to keeping Woodchuck products American-made, creating jobs within the US.

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The company’s mission is “Putting nature back into people’s lives”.  The company has recently partnered with a non-profit called Outdoor Nation.  Together their hope is to re-kindling the bond that man had with nature.  With the determination of the Woodchuck team, its commitment to “Made in the USA”, and its mission, the company has caught the eye of many!  This specific case has made me realize that having a product/business idea doesn’t have to be completely new and un-thought of, it just has to have the right and unique mission and team driving it in the right direction!