Archive for Startups – Page 2

A New Way of Microblogging and Social Networking.

                      As new ways of communicating with other people have been invented, nothing has been like the microblogging and social networking site Tumbler. The story of Tumbler is interesting as well. At the age of 21, David Karp was just like any other entrepreneur who wanted two things in life: success and fortune. Being that David Karp had dropped out of high school when he was younger, all Karp really had was a few items and a dream, but, what differentiated David from any other entrepreneur was his drive and passion for his dream. While going about his daily activities one day, David had a genius idea about microblogging and social networking and as before, David always was very interested in this section of communication and had lots of knowledge in this sector of conveyance. David had the idea of Tumbler which ultimately is a  microblogging and social networking site that lets users express themselves, be themselves, and connect with other people. But what differentiates Tumbler from any other microblogging and social networking site is that Tumbler is very image-focused and ultimately there is no maximum word limit on posts that are created as many other sites have. On top of each image, Tumblr users can post videos, sound files, and many other types of content that other sites don’t allow their users to access. Finally, the biggest pro of Tumbler is the site’s ability to let users customize their life and portray it for all to see. Lots of other sites are very limited in this factor and do not let their users customize/personalize aspects of their profile, but Tumbler ultimately lets users customize every aspect of their profile. 

                      What is exemplary about David is that he didn’t let anything stand in this way. As a high school dropout, many people don’t do anything or have ideas that can change the future, but David ultimately dropped out of high school to follow his passion and pursue his dreams. What drives David Karp as an entrepreneur is his willingness to never settle for less. Although Tumbler was created in 2007, it has never stopped updating and inventing new aspects of the app to be more user friendly. What makes Tumbler an interesting idea is that David Karp created this successful app when he was 20. Although various apps were created by young entrepreneurs, David didn’t even have a high school diploma when thinking about Tumbler. He took his dream and passion and poured it all into His app. Entrepreneurial traits that David demonstrates are passion, persistence, and hard-working. David Karp is innovating day in and day out by teaching anyone that age doesn’t play a role in how successful you can be. Finally, David specifically inspires me to chase after my dreams even if they don’t make sense. When David Karp created Tumbler, in the beginning, nothing made sense. It seemed like an overall similar app to the competition, but with research and hard work, Karp ultimately made this dream become a reality. 

Are You Kidding- Martinez Brothers

In 2014, two brothers, Brandon and Sebastian Martinez, started their family business called Are You Kidding. Brandon was 14 at the time and has been the director of sales. Sebastian was 12 and is the CEO of the company, and their mom is the president. They turned their passion of socks into a company. Sebastian loved socks and was asked by their mom if they wanted to start a business. The two brothers started unique and creative socks to sell. They wanted to stand out from other sock companies and did so by giving back and making a difference. Their socks raise awareness for charities such as Autism Speak, Stand Up To Cancer, JDRF, Make-a-Wish, and more. They also partnered with schools to help other charities. The two brothers have designed socks for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Be a Hero and Save Lives, American Cancer Society, and many more. They have donated over $300,000 to charities and incorporated a new way for their customers to learn more about the charities they donate to. On each tag, the customer can scan the tag and a video will play, giving information about the charity.

They have appeared on Good Morning America’s Shark Tank Your Life: Kid-Preneurs Edition and pitch their company to Daymond John, an inventor on Shark Tank. Since starting their company and making appearances on GMA and podcasts, they have expanded their business. At first, they focused only on socks because that was their passion but they wanted to expand and build their family business. Currently, they sell long sleeves, t-shirts and socks. On their website, they have a charity collection tab with a pair of socks that are hand drawn for each specific charity. They also have fundraisers to sign up for or by socks for. Their plans for the future include finding retail partners and making hats, shoes, and more apparel.

Building a business is a good lesson for kids. It teaches them how to start, run, and grow a business. Running a business is not easy and it takes lots of time and effort to make it run successfully. Businesses should also be about following your passion. Sebastian said it best. “If you don’t start with your passion, you’re never going to continue the business.”

https://areyoukiddingsocks.com/pages/our-story

https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/337852

 

The Bagel Rebellion

Milena Pagan is a self-proclaimed “corporate-retail-strategist-turned-bagel-maker.” Pagan was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Massachusetts to get her degree at MIT. Milena Pagan graduated from MIT with a degree in chemical engineering, followed by a job with CVS Health as an Omnichannel Strategist, but after several years she needed to share her passion for homemade bagels after finding it hard to get New York style  bagels that she really enjoyed. Pagan experimented for several months to create the perfect recipe, then quit her job at CVS and launched Rebelle Artisan Bagels.

Milena Pagan is an incredibly determined person. She identified a problem, and found a way to profit and satisfy that need. Pagan held pop-up shops and promoted her bagels to everyone she could. She has found a way to put a twist on handmade, New York style bagels that differentiates herself from the rest of bagel makers in Providence, Rhode Island. Her success with a Kickstarter campaign granted Rebelle Bagels to pursue a storefront in Providence and they were able to open  their doors in the summer of 2017.

Milena Pagan earned a Entrepreneur of the Year Award New England recently and she deserved it. She has done an amazing job pursing a goal and has achieved great success.  Melina has shown her perseverance and resilience in times of challenge. During COVID she and Rebelle had to be incredibly flexible in order to continue pr0viding customers with the value and quality they were accustomed to.

Customers rave about the fun and interesting flavors that Rebelle Bagels creates on a daily basis. These unexpected flavors are not limited to just bagels, they extend to their very own line of cream cheese, lox, and lunch items.

Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Rebelle Bagels hand make their bagels, cream cheese and lox daily. They experiment with flavors and offer lots of vegan options.

 

Hack+ Turning Problems into Solutions

Sanil Chawla was a sophmore in high school when he started to seriously pursue his dream of launching a web development startup. It didn’t take long though, before he realized that, as he puts it, “there’s just so much red tape for young founders.” He had to get a parental signature on all of the many forms, and was unable to open a separate bank account for his business as a minor. On top of those barriers, he found out that startups in his state of California require about $1,000 in legal fines to initiate. In the midst of this struggle, he realized that young entrepreneurs are at a huge disadvantage, and began to contemplate if there could be a better way to help young people pursue their ideas to create great impact. That’s when Hack+ was born.

To solve the problem, Sanil did extensive research. In this process, he discovered the key: fiscal sponsorship. Fiscal sponsorship is “a common practice in which nonprofits extend their legal status and back-end support to small projects with a similar mission.” Part of his success came from his own strength and creativity with technology. He says he “developed software to automate all the paperwork and basically made a really scalable version of fiscal sponsorship.” As a result, his non-profit startup has now helped over 700 student founders to launch their own ventures to create positive impact based on their strengths. According to Hack+’s highly professional website, their influence is so far reaching that they impact over 60,000 people annually through this work.

Sanil’s story and work inspires me in multiple ways. For one, I commend him for having the selflessness to set aside his original dream to solve a problem to help and empower other young people he didn’t even know. Secondly, I admire his bravery in taking on such an ambitious task in somewhat uncharted territory, involving financial and legal issues, among complexities that I don’t even know exist. In response to this, I hope the next time I come across a situation that puts a group of people at a disadvantage, I will have the selflessness and bravery to stop what I am doing to make it better for others.