Zachary McClelland :: millennialentrepreneurs.com

Author Archive for Zachary McClelland

Mate Rimac: Out of Nowhere

Posted by Zachary McClelland

· Thursday, December 5th, 2013

· 5 Comments

Guys, and Cars (Electric Cars)

See this car? Believe it or not, Mate Rimac (pictured) designed it at 21. Yeah, 21. And this slick cherry-red vehicle, the Concept One, goes from zero to sixty in three seconds. But why electric cars?

“It wasn’t about making the cars environmentally friendly, the performance is just much better.” -Mate Rimac

After years of testing a converted 1984 E30 BMW, he hit some spots of success. He began to work with his team on the Concept One, after being approached by a Croatian businessman on behalf of Abu Dhabi’s royal family. They wanted two cars, and so he set to work.

Hobby to Business

Rimac loved working on cars, but the passion quickly turned into something for which people sought him out. Today Rimac Automobili employs 22 workers. The company is small but it has certainly grown through trial and success. Early on, Rimac depended on seed money from his father–a shopping-center developer–and Abu Dhabi’s promise to invest. When the vehicle debuted in Germany, the industry was shocked. All of a sudden Rimac Automobili was offering quality super-cars that made BMW and Tesla scratch their heads and take a breather. Rimac had come out of nowhere, and he wasn’t going to be easy to catch up to in his fancy Concept One.

“It was a learning curve—we made mistakes, but eventually I realized we were doing something right: developing cars for a lot less money than big car manufacturers and managing to beat them in many fields. We have an advantage starting with a blank sheet of paper. There’s no heritage that we have to incorporate into the design.” -Mate Rimac

5 Comments

Categories : Bootstrap Business, Cars, Millennial Entrepreneurs

Tumblr: Blogging at its Best

Posted by Zachary McClelland

· Thursday, December 5th, 2013

· 2 Comments

History

David Karp wanted something different in his blogging experience. Ironically enough, he was tired of sites like WordPress that made blogging difficult and anything but seamless. Bloggers were finding ways to be unconventional with their blogs, but it was difficult; hammering out a good-looking post took about an hour. The process was far too difficult for the average internet user. People were interested in the world of blogging, but the platforms were too complicated. They needed a quick, easy way to share posts–without having to type it all out on WordPress.

Personality

“The blogosphere was really pretty mature. It had matured, though, to a place that was really designed for editorial publishing.” -David Karp

The problem was not only that blogs were difficult, but they were designed more specifically for editorial publishing, as Karp mentions in a video interview with Chris Dixon (co-founder of Hunch). Karp, who doesn’t consider himself much of a writer, still wanted to share things online with his friends and family. He felt that people, whether or not they had the patience to learn how to blog well, wanted to share their personality online–and so he created a way to do that.

Better than Blogs

In February 2007, Tumblr was born. Meshing together all of the things he wanted (and knew that people needed) in a personal site, he created Tumbr as a place to express and share music, videos, and statuses, making it far easier for individuals to express themselves.

Not to Harp on Karp, but . . .

Today the entrepreneur has a net worth over $200 million, and Tumblr has been valued at $800 million. His little idea has become huge–now, there are over 150 million blogs on Tumblr. The site showcases all kinds expression, and personality.

2 Comments

Categories : Blog, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Online Companies

TOMS

Posted by Zachary McClelland

· Monday, November 4th, 2013

· 8 Comments

The Texan

Sure, we might know what TOMS are, but who here knows about Blake Mycoskie?

In 2006 Blake Mycoskie traveled to Argentina and realized an urgent need: children were forced to grow up without shoes. For Blake, Entrepreneurship came naturally. While in college, he started a successful campus laundry service which he later sold. And so, having the passion that he did for problem solving, he came up with a solution: to create a for-profit business that was sustainable and not reliant on donations. This is how the TOMS business was born.

One for One

The TOMS business plan is simple, really. For every pair of shoes you purchase, a pair is given to someone in need. Not only then do people buy the shoes because they look good, but also to help someone. Over the first five years, the business was successful enough, but Blake realized another need–so he developed the idea for TOMS Eyewear. Just as with shoes, for every pair of TOMS Eyewear purchased, eyewear is given to someone in need.

The Revolution

Blake saw the need, and he developed a solution. Now TOMS even has a day on which they raise awareness–they call it One Day Without Shoes. The movement has become a revolution.

8 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Millennial Entrepreneurs

Do Your Part: The Tok Project

Posted by Zachary McClelland

· Thursday, October 17th, 2013

· 6 Comments

So, I know this person . . .

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity of being involved in Grove City College’s Children’s Theatre production of Seussical. The show was a blast, and I met some fantastic people; one of whom was Hannah List. Anyways, to get to the point, one day after the end of the school year–around graduation and May intersession–I saw Hannah sewing something as she was sitting on a bench with a friend, just outside of Beans on Broad. I asked her what she was working on and so she showed me: it was a neat, vintage, hand-made bowtie, and with that she shared a story . . .

Micah List

She told me she was making it for her brother’s business. Micah, her brother, had spent the fall semester of his junior year in Bangkok, Thailand. Near the end of his time there, Micah went out with some friends for a fun night of Karaoke at a local bar. When they arrived they found that the bar was not offering Karaoke as an entertainment option. Instead they were approached by twelve young Thai women with deadening looks of despair in their eyes. These were trafficked women, and they were selling sex. Micah was horrified, but in this moment of pain he was overcome with hope and resolution.

The word “Tok” in Acholi means “Hat.” Micah’s huge idea was to take his connections and resources to make everything from hats to bowties, and sell them to raise money to help these women. The goal is to help these women get to safe houses, to remove them from the brothels. Micah hopes to also provide these women with jobs making his products. Not only would he pay them fairly, but it would provide the women a way out. A way to make money without selling themselves.

#DYP

Micah’s motto for the business is “Do your part.” He wants people to understand the problem and to contribute to a solution. For each product he sells, 25% is given to help these women. All you have to do is buy a hat, tie, or shirt. For such a new business, their website is surprisingly intuitive and slick. You really should check it out. They also have some of their products for sale on a rack at Beans on Broad. Come by sometime, you may even see Micah hanging out there–he spends a lot of time at Beans these days. Pull him aside, ask him about The Tok Project, and learn how you too can do your part.

6 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Social Entrepreneur, Social Justice

$400M in Two Years

Posted by Zachary McClelland

· Monday, October 7th, 2013

· 6 Comments

Filtering Ideas

On October 6, 2010 Kevin Systrom and
Mike Krieger launched an app. These two had come together after a few years of dabbling: each with his own interests, and new ideas. Krieger had recently worked on user experience design with a company called Meebo. He would bring in groups of high school students to test the company’s interface. However, Krieger had always had a passion for picture-sharing. Meanwhile, Systrom was working with some app ideas. He created an app called Burbn which let users share their location pictures with friends–but what the app lacked was a smooth user interface. So these two came together and began to collaborate–each bringing his own skills, passions, and ideas to the table. It was then that the filtering and refining of ideas began.

Social, Simple, Slick

They decided to trash the Burbn idea, but they held on to the concept. They loved the idea of creating a social, picture-sharing medium, and so they began their research. They wanted to make picture-sharing fun and simple–so that it only took a few clicks. In the end, Systrom’s programming and Krieger’s design experience came together and fashioned Instagram.

In three months, they had one million users. And eventually they had three million. Today the app not only has 150 million active users, but also gives users the opportunity to share videos.

Just recently the company was bought by Facebook, but here’s the catch: they were bought for one million dollars–and Systrom owned 40% of the shares. Yes, that’s right–he now has 400 million dollars. Now is that a profitable idea, or what?

6 Comments

Categories : Millennial Entrepreneurs, Online Companies

Successful, Indie, Pug-lovers

Posted by Zachary McClelland

· Friday, September 20th, 2013

· 2 Comments

ModCloth

Don’t Be Fooled

This isn’t just a picture of a quirky married couple–ignore the pug and the wolf-shirt for a moment. Susan Gregg Koger and Eric Koger are also the co-founders of ModCloth: an online clothing, accessories, and decor retailer that aims to provide a fun, engaging shopping atmosphere for the customer.

The Story

In high school, Susan spent a lot of time thrift store shopping. She searched and searched for vintage styles. So eventually this hobby turned into a website–with the help of her boyfriend Eric. The high school sweethearts went on to Carnegie Mellon University, and in 2006 they turned Susan’s hobby into a dream. Now, with her husband working as the CEO of the company, Susan may focus entirely on the aesthetic, vintage-inspired vision of ModCloth.

The Community

ModCloth makes an effort to reach out to the independent designers. Susan is intent on finding and supporting originality from all over the world. For this, as well as for other reasons ModCloth has plugs in just about every social media site. They have FaceBook, Pinterest, and Instagram profiles–as well as a blog. These sites obviously help in terms of advertisement, but their mission involves much more than the selling of merchandise:

“We want to fundamentally change and democratize the fashion industry by creating a vibrant, social marketplace that empowers indie designers, suppliers, and our community.” —ModCloth.com

The Pug

ModClothWeb The Koger’s vision is inspiring because it’s the story of a realized dream. Together the couple developed a way to share what they love, and promote creativity. Sure they’re a quirky couple, but you know what? Their idea worked, and the pug is adorable. So let the man wear his wolf-shirt, and just trust that Susan gave him a hard time about it later.

2 Comments

Categories : Millennial Entrepreneurs