This to me is one of those ideas where I sit here and say “why didn’t I think of that…”

NEXTDOOR is a spin off of Facebook but for a neighborhood. It can help with crime watch or just connect a neighborhood in ways they have not been before. Currently, the social media site is venture capital funded and located out of San Francisco, CA (go figure). Over 47,000 neighborhoods are on Nextdoor since launching in 2011.

Nirav Tolia is a 40 year old from Odessa, Texas the Odessa from Friday Night Lights. The inspiration for Nextdoor could have come from the small town he grew up in and the feeling of community he lacked when he left. The social network designed to help neighbors find a babysitter, sell a StairMaster, or simply get to know each other. Members use Nextdoor to share basic information about themselves and send messages. All the conversations are archived so it’s easy to find the name of that sought-after electrician long after someone first recommended him.

It will be very interesting to see where this, heavily invested in, start-up goes in the coming years. It seems to have gotten some traction and it would not surprise me to see it grow into the next big social media site.

Four former Stanford classmates are revolutionizing the shorts industry. Rainer Castillo, Kyle Hency, Tom Montgomery and Preston Rutherford are these classmates who are in charge of running the company Chubbies Shorts.

The four had a tradition of dressing up in wild wear for parties over the July 4th holiday at Lake Tahoe. In 2011, Castillo decided to put together a pair of shorter shorts with American flag inspirations. He made a few for his friends and brought 20 with him looking to sell them to party goers that weekend. He quickly sold all 20 for $5o each and from this birthed his idea for the company. The four put their skill sets together to come up with an online retailer in 2011.

They faced challenges along the way, one of which is one more people probably wished they had. They could never keep the shorts in stock consistently selling out of the shorts. Until 2013, they were unable to meet the demand, however, now they are able to meet the demand due to their superior supply chain process. In one day in March 2013 they sold 10,000 of their popular ‘Mericas for $60 each.

The company started its marketing campaigns with a very heavy “fratboy” focus. The content they produced attracted a massive audience before they started releasing massive amounts of shorts. The content was at first just intended to make their friends laugh and get a quick joke. It has now turned into a marketing phenomenon as people hang on every word that is released in their weekly “WEEKENDER” email that is sent out every Friday.

The shorts are 5.5″ inseams are considered “thigh-liberators,” the “quadfecta” of founders have hit a market they created. They use 125 college ambassadors at larger universities to spread the word of this company, and its mission statement to “end cargo shorts,” and to relieve your legs from the “necessary evil of pants for the work week.” The company looks to continue to grow as it tripled sales between 2012 and 2013. They are revolutionizing the shorts industry and chances are they will continue to do so.

Nick Woodman a 37 year old entrepreneur loved to surf, but wanted to show his friends who did not surf what it looked like to be on the board. He then went on to strap a camera onto his wrist and 9 years later he is one of the youngest billionaires around.

Woodman released the GoPro in 2004 and since its release sales have doubled on a yearly basis. The Chinese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, made a $200 million investment in GoPro in December of 2013. That valued GoPro at $2.25 billion, which means the 45% owner of GoPro is worth about $1.3 billion putting Woodman on Forbes World Billionaires list.

He was a middle of the road student from Silicon Valley and was surrounded by innovations and booming businesses. He attended University of California, San Diego because of its proximity to salt water.  “ I remember my parents not being very supportive of it,” he says. “But if I didn’t follow my passion for surfing … I would have never come up with the concept to make a wrist camera.”

Woodman’s first start-up failed in the 2001 dot-com collapse and sent him on a getaway trip to surf through Australia and Indonesia. He brought with him a Kodak camera, rubber bands, and broken surf leash contraption to take pictures of waves. With this idea in mind he went home to California and told himself he would hold up in his room for 4 years and if it failed he would go into the workforce.

Hitting gold with getting REI’s backing gave the brand validation. Woodman had highs and lows and almost turned over his control of the company in 2007 to low valuation, but when the economy broke in 2008 and GoPro’s sales increased to $8 million Woodman decided to keep control. Finally, in 2010 when BestBuy began carrying GoPro Woodman’s company became mainstream.

I bought a GoPro this summer and have not stopped using it. It is addicting to view everyday life or extreme activities from a new perspective. The story of failure leading to success and desperation leading to a billion dollar idea is one of the more inspiring things you will hear. He had an idea and did not stop until he saw his idea through. It’s a story of perseverance and the unique ability to identify a need no one else could. People will someday look back and be even more amazed than we are today with this innovative product and how it revolutionized the way we literally view life.