Archive for App – Page 11

Garrett Gee – Scan

Posted by warricknj18

· Monday, September 17th, 2018

· 3 Comments

In 2011, Garrett Gee saw a need for a simple QR code scanning app. Many of the ones available at the time were clunky and hard to use. The iPad 2 was being introduced in February, and he thought there might be a blog that showed the top ten apps for the new tablet. He wanted to be the first one with an easy-to-use QR code scanner for the iPad 2. A few days after the release of the device, Garrett launched Scan. It found a place in the blog like he was hoping, and gained a large amount of traction. Three months later, there had been over one million downloads of the app, and 25 million downloads by the end of 2012. The app and website were updated often with new features, including the ability to scan different types of codes and make QR codes to link to your Instagram account.

Scan was able to acquire $1.7 million in investments by 2013, including money from Google Ventures. Garrett also presented on Shark Tank in 2013, but did not secure any investments. Their revenue came mostly from advertisements on the app and website, and in May, 2012, their advertising revenue had risen to over $1,000 each day.

Scan was sold to Snapchat in the fall of 2014 for $54 million. Once this happened, Garrett and his wife Jessica decided to take their (at the time) two kids and travel the world, but they also said that they would not spend any of the money made from the Scan transaction. They put the money away, and pretty much started from scratch again. In the fall of 2015, they sold almost all of their belongings, which totaled to $51,500. They were going to live off of that money from August to December, then figure out what to do from there.

At the end of the time period, they decided to keep traveling, but only if they could find a way to have it be self-sustaining or profitable. From the beginning, Garrett had been working on creating a brand for the family (The Bucket List Family) with things like their blog, YouTube videos, and Instagram. They worked hard to find companies to work with who would support them in exchange for promotion. At the beginning, they had trouble breaking even since they were small, but eventually they started making a good amount of money. Now they get paid anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 for a sponsored YouTube video, and $5,000 to $8,000 for an Instagram post. Companies they have worked with include hotels, clothing brands, Airbnb, and GoPro. They have been able to have some amazing experiences on their travels.

The Gee family, specifically Garrett, put in lots of time and effort to become successful. He did it with Scan, then started all over with a new idea to support their family passion for traveling. There is much that can be learned from him and his family.

3 Comments

Categories : App, Business, Online Companies, Shark Tank, Social Media, Travel

Music To Your Ears

Posted by woullardcc1

· Tuesday, December 12th, 2017

· 3 Comments

Daniel Ek is one of the founders of Spotify, which is the leading music service and also features access to podcasts, and videos. It allows users to access songs, videos and more from all over the world. Using the basic functions, like streaming music, is free. There is an option to upgrade to Spotify Premium which costs $9.99 per month and includes personalized features where users can create their own radio stations, collections of music, and playlists. It is also available for use across different devices like phones, tablets, cars, and even TVs. It even has the ability to be integrated into social media and matchmaking apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Tinder so people can find friends and potential dates with similar music interests. They use the idea of “freemium,” where basic streaming services are free to the user with advertisements to offset the cost for Spotify. This way, users can listen to new songs without having to pay for each song. It saves the users money, and also saves space on devices because the music isn’t downloaded onto the device, it’s just streamed. It has big competitors, particularly Apple, but it still has over 100 million users and is continuing to grow. It uses many data collection techniques in order to release new products and keep users interested. Spotify has helped the world by creating a new way for people to access new music. In the past, music piracy was a pretty big issue. Spotify has helped decrease music piracy because it’s free and gives users access to top hits. It is a completely legal way for people to access music, and it in turn doesn’t hurt the music producers and singers who lose out on money when their music is pirated. With Spotify, they still get paid because of the occasional ads that play while the user is listening. Daniel Ek definitely was innovative when he created Spotify. He transformed the music streaming industry by benefiting both the users and producers.

3 Comments

Categories : App, Music, Online Companies

Evan Williams- Twitter CEO

Posted by shrivercw17

· Sunday, December 10th, 2017

· 2 Comments

Essentially, Evan Williams’ contribution to the world of entrepreneurs is how he basically turned the social network history as we know it.

His drive was to revolutionize the business of Twitter and turn it into something new. After assisting in the decision for the Library of Congress to digitally archive all tweets ever sent out, Williams realized the potential business potential here.

He announced a “Points of Interest” feature that allows user to check in to their Twitter accounts to see what they want to see, making Twitter have the user-friendly interface it has today. This led to Twitter growing over 1,500% in 3 years.

300,000 new users are registered a day. Even though Williams has not tapped into the market of geo-locating like its competitors, Williams made the decision to allow for the monetization of Twitter.

With “Promoted Tweets” by interested companies, Twitter grew to the social media super power it is today. Image result for evan williams twitter

2 Comments

Categories : App, Uncategorized

PGH Startup Weekend: Amelia App for Women

Posted by cameronsuorsa

· Friday, November 17th, 2017

· 1 Comment

Do you ever wonder what could be acheived in 54 hours? In 2016, Pittsburgh Startup Weekend Women’s Edition was hosted for the first time ever… and as a result, the winning team Go Jane Go’s Amelia App is now in the beta testing phase. Kate’s idea to create an app to connect women with other professionals in cities away from home was given a chance to develop when she and her sister Ellen attended Startup Weekend and met UX Designer Sanjana. Together they were able to create a solid foundation for their venture while not only winning the competion, but receiving resources to help them in their quest to develop it. These three individuals skills paired with the proper resources and enviroment accelorated the creation of a community womens app.

This year at Pittsburgh Startup Weekend, three of the top winning teams were comprised of some your own fellow GROVERS, with business ideas for Active Home, Chute and The Good Find… so be on the lookout for these potential businesses in the future!

Learn more about…

Go Jane Go www.amelia-app.com
Startup Weekend PGH www.techstars.com
Active Home www.activehomepgh.com
Chute www.chutestartup.co
The Good Find www.thegoodfind.co

1 Comment

Categories : App, Communication, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Women Entrepreneurs

Tags : active home pgh, amelia, chute startup, Go Jane Go, pittsburgh, Startup Weekend PGH, techstars, the good find

From Pic to Snap

Posted by woullardcc1

· Friday, November 17th, 2017

· 1 Comment

Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy are the two founders of one of the biggest social media networks, called Snapchat. Snapchat is used by one hundred fifty million users per day. Snapchat has a wide age demographic because it is popular among people who are school age, college age, and even young adults. Users make a username, which is how others see them, and add them. A relatively new feature Snapchat has added is the ‘Snapcode,’ which is a quicker way to add friends, rather than by username. Users can either screenshot their friend’s Snapcode and upload it into snapchat from their device’s camera roll, or they can take a picture of their friend’s Snapcode right on Snapchat, and their friend will be added. Once people add their friends, they’re all kept in a ‘friends list.’ Then, users take pictures of themselves (called selfies), scenery, or anything else they want, and send it to people on their friends list while adding a caption. The picture can be set to be shown for a certain amount of time, or until the receiver taps it off the screen. It is like texting, only with pictures each time, and there’s a catch; the pictures disappear forever either after it is clicked off the screen or the time runs out. This was a completely new and innovative way for communication. The ability to send pictures and videos, while still chatting with a person, was easier and more fun. Also, because the pictures disappear, it added more fun because people can send embarrassing “selfies” and not have to worry about them being seen by everyone. Snapchat also made connecting with people easier because it only requires an internet connection to be able to send pictures. There was a time when sending pictures through texts costed extra. With Snapchat, people could send pictures and messages as long as there was internet connection, and there’d be no extra charge. Spiegel and Murphy were very successful and innovative with their invention of Snapchat. It added a twist to texting and made communicating with friends easier and more fun. Even today, they are constantly adding new features to the network, such as the ability to add filters to the pictures, the ability to use the ‘discover’ page to read magazines and catch up on current events in the world, and make Snapchat Stories. Snapchat Stories are pictures or videos that people put on to their Snapchat and everybody the person is friends with can see it continuously for 24 hours before it disappears. Their new ideas and changes to Snapchat continue to make the network better, more exciting, and more appealing to users, all while still making communication easy.

1 Comment

Categories : App, Online Companies, Social Media

From College Thoughts, To a Whole New World.

Posted by woullardcc1

· Tuesday, November 14th, 2017

· 1 Comment

Mark Zuckerberg is the inventor of Facebook. Facebook is a social media platform used by over a billion people each day. People use the site to post statuses, pictures, links, and anything else they want. It can also be used for instant messaging other users, playing different games that are on the site, and for shopping. People make group pages where others can post items they want to sell, and now there is even a tab called “The Marketplace” where people post items for sale. Users shop the Marketplace, and the items that are shown are based on a certain mile radius from the shopper’s location. It makes buying and selling easier than sites like eBay because the items are close and easier to access. Mark Zuckerberg never dreamed Facebook would turn into what it has today. He originally started the idea for the website at Harvard University with his college roommates. It was intended to be a site for the university so people could search others who go to their school, find out who are in their major or classes, and, of course, make friends. After it took off at Harvard, it was opened up for use at other Ivy League schools. It continued to flourish until it expanded throughout the country and, eventually, the world. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, and all of its ability has made a huge impact on the world. It gave people an entirely new way to communicate. People can communicate with people across the world, which was hard to do before because international calling and texting was difficult and expensive. It is available in about one hundred languages, which also helped to connect the world. People can connect and share pictures with all of their friends and family at once rather than having to send it to each individual person. It makes disclosing news faster and easier. Facebook definitely impacted the world and makes it feel a lot smaller since it is so easy to connect with others. Another trait that makes Facebook so influential is that it is constantly changing and being made better. The Facebook massages now have the capability to make phone and video calls to others on the site. Everything the user needs is accessible all within one site rather than having to use multiple apps and websites to send texts, make phone calls, and make video calls. Mark Zuckerberg is still heavily involved in his company and continues to strive to make it better. He is a true entrepreneur who is invested in, and is passionate about what he created and intended it to be.

1 Comment

Categories : App, College

Spotify – Daniel Ek

Posted by plaggekj17

· Sunday, November 12th, 2017

· 1 Comment

Spotify or Apple Music?

Answer: Spotify

Spotify has been around for many years, but it especially rose to dominance in the last few years. However, it hasn’t always been success and diamonds for the two Swedish founders and entrepreneurs, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.

Once upon a time (back in 2005), they were two guys fiddling and working on the development of Spotify from Ek’s apartment. It was so hot inside because of all the servers running– and the two founders were said that they were forced to sit around half-naked to avoid sweating to their death.

But let’s back up.

Daniel Ek has always had an unparalleled love for music… and technology. The young Swedish boy was without a biological father in his life and was given the chance to combine music and technology in his studies at secondary school. After completing IT college where he graduated with top grades, he landed a job at Europe’s largest advertisement company and rapidly became successful. At that age, 23, he was financially independent, owned a red Ferrari Modena, and owned a VIP card to the hottest clubs in Stockholm, Sweden. Source

1 Comment

Categories : App, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Music, Technology, Uncategorized

Garrett Gee: Lucky Hunch

Posted by hodilrh17

· Sunday, November 5th, 2017

· 1 Comment

Just before the Ipad 2 came out, a young university student named Garrett Gee had the hunch that there would be blog posts all over the web listing the top 10 apps for the new device. Garrett then came up with the idea that there should be much easier QR code software and apps to use with the new device. Because Garrett felt that he was on to something, he go to work immediately.Had to act quickly to be the first to implement his idea. After quickly getting an Ipad 2 into the hands of his ios developer, Garrett spent two sleepless nights developing his service before it was completed. He named his app Scan and recruited two fellow classmates to help develop the service further and it was finally launched in February of 2011. In the first year, Scan earned over 10 million downloads and made over 1.5 million dollars from venture capitalists such as Google Ventures.

In class we have talked about how many ideas originally stem from a lucky hunch like Garrett’s. When a hunch is taken seriously, it can lead to big ideas and successful accomplishments like the scan application. Hunches are able to develop by clashing with other people’s ideas and hunches. After getting the input of his two fellow classmates, Garrett’s hunch was improved and transformed into the extremely successful idea of Scan.

1 Comment

Categories : App, College, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Smartphone

Diego De La Hoz: Wahi Ride

Posted by wichtermanjw17@gcc.edu

· Thursday, November 2nd, 2017

· 2 Comments

Diego De La Hoz is a young entrepreneur who thought of a more efficient way to travel from city to city especially for college students. As a college student, Diego was aware of the high cost of gas required to ride home. However, once he noticed that he was not the only one who faced this problem, he decided to come up with a solution.

Diego discovered the answer to this problem when he learned a key fact about many college students. He realized that students with cars tend to travel with empty seats while students without cars tend to use the bus which is expensive and time consuming.

In order to coordinate these two different groups of students to communicate, Diego created Wahi Ride. Wahi Ride is a social mobile app where college students can connect with each other, rideshare, and share the transportation cost.

Wahi Ride saves people money, helps students build relationships, and aids the environment. By splitting the cost of gas between multiple people, the app can greatly reduce the cost of gas for students. And while the app takes people to where they need to go, it also helps build relationships by providing a time for people to connect with each other. Also, the app greatly reduces gas emissions by encouraging students to use fewer cars when traveling from location to destination.

This app caught my attention because at my college, I do not have the luxury of driving to and from my house because I am currently not allowed to have a car on my campus. And even if my car was on campus, the price of gas required in order to journey home is incredibly expensive. And because finding a ride home from other people is often extremely hard, I would benefit greatly from this app which makes ride sharing convenient, efficient, and fun.

2 Comments

Categories : App