Mikimoto Kōkichi (御木本 幸吉), founder of Mikimoto
10 March 1858 – 21 September 1954
"My dream is to adorn the necks of all women around the world with pearls."
Kokichi Mikimoto – also known as the ‘Pearl King’ – is the inventor of the cultured pearl and the founding father of the modern day pearl industry as we know it.
In 1893 after many years of toiling along the coastline of Toba, and countless failed experiments, Mikimoto finally unlocked the secret to cultivating pearls of such lustre and quality that they rivaled those found in nature.
He discovered that by implanting a small spherical object (“the core”) wrapped in oyster mantle into an Akoya oyster, the object would be completely covered in layers of mother of pearl over time. This amazing discovery ignited the Japanese cultured pearl industry and Mikimoto himself helped to build the country’s significant global trade.
However as a true alchemist of the sea, Mikimoto’s discoveries did not stop there. Amongst other things, Mikimoto went on to cultivate the first stunning South Sea black-lip pearls in Okinawa (so rare they were considered to be figments of the imagination) and silver-lip pearls in Palau.
With these discoveries, Mikimoto changed the pearl trade forever.
Ray Alexander has been featured in FinanceStrategists.com. Finance Strategists is an organization that creates informational videos and content to help people take control of their finances. Ray has been featured in the "Founder Spotlight" section; introduction to himself, how CyberCash Worldwide was founded, how it can help others, and what he's learned from this experience so far. The interview also appears on the press release by MarketWatch.com.
We know you're all anxiously awaiting the July 4th holiday and it feels as though Thursday can't come soon enough. Well, to ease your pain, we have a great spotlight featuring Ted Mann, founder of SnipSnap, a mobile couponing app that will help you save money as you plan and shop for your BBQs and Independence Day festivities. We hope you enjoy it and definitely download it today!
SnipSnap is first mobile application to let you scan, save, and redeem printed coupons on your smartphone. All a user needs to do is simply snap a picture of the offer (be it from a direct-mail piece, newspaper, or otherwise) and the app works its magic to scan all of the printed text and images. Once scanned, you can easily search and retrieve the coupon, and the app also provides in-store notifications and expiration-date reminders. Perhaps best of all, you can search the database of hundreds of thousands of shared coupons to find a deal for most anything. Our iPhone and Android apps have been featured on the Apple App Store and Google Play stores, as well as on the Today Show, Katie Couric, and Dave Ramsey. More at http://snipsnap.it
Ted is the Founder and CEO SnipSnap, which launched in May 2012 and was incubated at the DreamIt Ventures accelerator in Philadelphia. It quickly grew to become one of the top mobile coupon apps, with more than 1 million users and 20 million coupons snipped in its first year.
Prior to starting SnipSnap, Ted was Digital Development Director at Gannett, where he led development of the company's first hyperlocal network, daily deal websites, and blog operations, in addition to managing the core news websites. Ted began his time in the news industry as a writer and editor, having worked for publications including The Atlantic Monthly, The Journal News, and InTown Magazine.
I’m a terrible couponer. Always have been. However, I’m now married with two young children – prime couponing age – and to forget a 20%-off coupon for a stroller means getting yelled at by my wife. Eventually, I got tired of always leaving the slips of paper in the dining room bowl, so I started taking photographs of the coupons with my iPhone. When I’d check out at the store, I’d double-check my camera roll to see if I had one, and then show it to the cashier. Most of the time, they would just hold up the scanner and it worked like a charm. Pretty soon I was doing this at every store in our local shopping mall, and having near universal success (the only exception was with manufacturer coupons at the grocery store). After saving coupons this way for months – and for the first time in my life, becoming a half-decent couponer — I began to think there might be an app in the idea. That’s what led me to prototype SnipSnap and, eventually, apply to DreamIt and begin working on the idea full time.
What a great story! How do you feel technology has changed the retail shopping experience?
When it comes to in-store retail shopping, mobile is probably one of the most disruptive technologies. Mobile payments and companies like Square and LevelUp will no doubt fundamentally change the face of retail commerce. Wallet approaches like Passbook and Google Wallet have just as much disruptive potential, though there doesn’t appear to be widespread adoption of them yet. I’m also fascinated by the whole class of startups looking to measure in-store foot traffic and provide analytics on shopper behavior this way, and most of these leverage the location reporting and low-frequency Bluetooth on the mobile phones. And of course, apps like SnipSnap are changing the way coupons work, helping to make mobile couponing a reality for consumers, and helping pave the way for performance-based marketing to finally take root in in-store commerce.
Who was your most inspiring “teacher” (Mentor) in the startup space?
I met Ron Braunfeld, one of the leaders of a startup called WHERE, which was acquired by PayPal, the day before SnipSnap launched. We hit it off immediately and he became an advisor to my company. He realized on day one what it took me many months to awaken to: While SnipSnap had the potential to become a groundbreaking, popular coupon app, we needed to think bigger. In order to truly change the face of couponing and achieve scale, we would need to build out a more distributed model — syndicating and targeting our paid coupon content through other 3rd party mobile-ad exchanges. That is the network we are building out now.
Sounds like a great solution, particularly for brands! We all know summertime is filled with parties, BBQs, weddings, etc. How can SnipSnap help consumers and save the most money when planning their events?
Certainly if you get a coupon for a store like Bed Bath & Beyond, be sure to save it to your phone with SnipSnap the moment you get it. And if you’re planning a trip to pick up supplies at a party store or just about any retailer, check to see if there are any valid, shared coupons in the app. Of course, not all coupons can be shared, but we have a tremendously large database of printed offers, and you can find a coupon for most retailers.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve given, or received about the startup world?
The best employees are the ones who are willing to work for free — for at least a short period.
Who/what is your dream Brand Soulmate you’d like to work with?
Babies “R” Us as a retail brand. SnipSnap was essentially born at a Babies “R” Us. And we’re now starting to work with them!
In terms of products, we’d love to work with any of the P&G brands. P&G is a pioneer in the coupon space, and we’d love to help them make the leap into mobile couponing.
Getting a bit deep here – tell us what keeps you up at night.
Honestly, a lot of things: I worry about work/life balance. I worry, like most entrepreneurs, that our burn is too high and that we will run out of cash before raising money (or becoming profitable). We have a ton in our pipeline, and I worry that we’re not developing fast enough. Luckily, I’m so tired that I still manage to fall asleep before too long, and I sleep like a log.
Haha sounds like most worries for many of us! What other apps do you use to enhance your online or offline shopping?
For starters, you’ve got barcode scanning apps like RedLaser that all of a sudden make comparison shopping (and showrooming) not only easy and practical – but kind of fun. There are apps like Consumr that allow you to instantly search for reviews and product feedback in store. Gyft is a nifty app for saving your gift cards to your phone — like SnipSnap for gift cards! Apps like Shopkick and Belly are trying to create universal retail loyalty program, which is ambitious and interesting. In the end, the ones I use on a very routine basis are Amazon (for impulse Prime purchases), LevelUp (accepted at most food trucks in Philly), and of course SnipSnap.
Thanks so much for chatting with us Ted. The entire Evol8tion team highly recommends SnipSnap - it's been saving us tons of hassle and money! You can't go wrong. Best of luck and be sure to follow them @snipsnapapp.
Selection Sunday is over and we thought it’d be a great time to share a startup that’s helping to transform the sports-watching experience in honor of March Madness. We’re pleased to bring you Evan Owens and Abel Cuskelly, founders of Pogoseat, an app that gives fans the freedom to upgrade their seats during a game or concert right from their smartphones. We hope you enjoy this one and if you’d like the spotlight on your team, please tweet us @evol8tion.
Pogoseat gives fans the freedom to upgrade their seats during a game or concert right from their smartphone. The Pogoseat app you see a map of the stadium or venue you’re in, recommends the empty seats that are best for you, and lets you instantly purchase an upgraded seat right from your smartphone at any point during the game, concert or event. We give sports teams and venues a control and analytics reporting dashboard that provides real-time inventory control and displays Data collection on fan behavior & info that team's and providers can take advantage of to maximize revenue-per-fan on gameday, improve customer service and security, optimize seat pricing, target advertising and generate season ticket sales leads.
Evan is a serial entrepreneur whose past ventures include sailboat captain, working on the floor of the NYSE and owning an insurance agency. Prior to cofounding Pogoseat, Abel was founder & CEO of 2 angel-funded startups following a stint at Merrill Lynch.
Pogoseat means seat upgrade, both as a verb and a noun. The vision is to be in every venue across the world packing fans down closer to the action to create a more exciting environment for fans live at the event and watching from home. We are interested in creating a more engaging live entertainment environment at events by connecting fans with each other through features we are working on like social seat upgrade which enables fans to sit next to other fans with the same interests as them. Hopefully that allows more fans to strike up a conversation across multiple topics in common and meet new friends.
Wow, that’s so great! Do you feel technology has changed the sports industry?
Not nearly enough. With wireless connectivity improving now at venues, especially in the US, we’re starting to see more innovation although the sports industry in general has been slow adopters of technological change and definitely lags behind other industries.
There are so many ways startups are trying to help individuals interact with sports in new ways from predictive gaming platforms, to analytics and to live streaming games - where do you feel there’s the most opportunity for startups to break out in the sporting space?
Teams, venues and ticketing companies have an incredible amount of data on their fans- helping them to generate useful and actionable analytics that personalizes a fan’s experience is a big opportunity that we are excited about.
Who was your most inspiring mentor in the startup space?
Some of our heroes are Richard Branson and Peter Thiel
Yep, us too! What’s the best piece of advice you’ve given, or received about the startup world?
“Focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” –Steve Jobs
Who/what is your dream Brand Soulmate you’d like to work with?
A brand that gets startups and that are relevant to our fans- athletic companies such as Nike, beverage brands such as Budweiser, mobile wireless providers like Sprint and Cisco (who we are partnered with), the sports leagues, of course, as well as ticket sellers & promoters like Live Nation and Ticketmaster (who we have partnered with too). We are excited about Evol8tion too as they are helping facilitate mutually beneficial partnerships.
Alright now the inside scoop…. Who are you rooting for in this year’s tournament?
Evan and I are both from the Pacific Northwest so looking forward to seeing Gonzaga go all the way this year!
Haha awesome! We’ll see what happens. Thanks so much for chatting with us and be sure to follow them @pogoseat.
Here with us this week to close out our February Founder Spotlights is Hana Abaza of Wedding Republic, a Kickstarter style gift registry. We hope you enjoy this one and if you'd like the spotlight on your team please tweet us @evol8tion.
Wedding Republic is a Kickstarter style gift registry where couples can register for what they really want and guests can collaborate on big-ticket purchases.
Hana Abaza is an entrepreneur, marketer, tech geek and co-founder & CEO of Republic Inc. a group-gifting platform for major life stage events. First targeting engaged couples through WeddingRepublic.com, the company provides an online gift registry where couples can ask for anything and guests can collaborate on big-ticket gifts.
Prior to launching her own venture, Hana coordinated marketing and operations for a franchise of martial arts studios, significantly growing organization size and scope at a time where social media was just becoming part of our daily lives. After developing an acute knowledge of the social media, digital and tech landscape, she began to work with a variety of companies ranging from small businesses, tech startups and corporate hi-tech focusing on digital strategy, marketing and growth.
In addition to bringing inspired tech solutions to real life events, Hana is also a speaker and blogger contributing regularly to The Huffington Post and other online publications.
What was the vision behind your company?
Wedding Republic is more than a gift registry; it’s a place where couples can design their future together getting what they really need to build the kind of life they want. A wedding gift is unlike any other gift. Its symbolizes the celebration of a union, so it was especially important to consider the complex social dynamic between couples and guests in order to create a truly meaningful experience.
So tell us, how do you feel technology has changed the dating scene??
Technology has drastically changed the dating scene in many ways, and to a degree it has changed the way people interact with each other and the expectations they have when it comes to communication at the beginning of a relationship. For example, communicating primarily through text in the beginning is normal now, and might even allow people to be a little more daring with their communication.
But at the end of the day the human element of it is still the same and using technology to facilitate your dating life is just a tool. Just another channel among others to meet and communicate with people.
There are so many ways startups are trying to help individuals meet new people and find cool spots for dates - where do you feel there’s the most opportunity for startups to break out in the “love&relationship” space?
While many would say the online dating space is incredibly saturated (and it is), I still think there is a ton of opportunity in the space, especially when you factor in the mobile and local components.
We definitely agree. Who was your most inspiring mentor in the startup space?
Chantal Waterbury from Chloe and Isabelle and Harley Finklestein from Shopify,.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received about the startup world?
Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. I think we’ve all heard this in one form or another but it’s so important. It’s impossible for you to go it alone. Ask for help and find people that are better than you are in any given area or field.
Who/what is your dream Brand Soulmate you’d like to work with?
I would love to work with a brand or retailer that really embraces empowering couples to chase their dream life. At Wedding Republic we like to look beyond the wedding. Your gift registry is just a tool to set you up with.
We see couples registering for unconventional things like home renovations, house down payments and really big ticket items like big screen TV’s. At the end of the day, they don’t want another toaster. They want the things that matter. A brand that understands and embraces this will be able to form a lifetime relationship with today’s couples.
That’s all so true. Alright now the inside scoop…. What cool technologies have you used to enhance your love life?
There are so many great apps and resources for couples out there, with more on the horizon! I think its just as important to keep growing and learning in this area of your life as it is in your career, whether you’re looking for a relationship or already in a long-term relationship. Personally, we use a handful of simple apps that help us stay connected and organized like Glympse and Evernote.
Thanks so much for chatting with us Hana! Be sure to follow her @weddingrepublic. That wraps up our Lucky in Love startups for this month. We hope you found some good options to boost your love life. Stay tuned for our new theme launching next week!
Happy New Year all! Per usual, January has begun, as have all the 2013 New Year’s resolutions – and we all know you’re most likely trying to get healthy, lose weight, drink less, and pump up your ability to say “no” to that extra piece of cake. Well, in honor of all the hard work you’re likely enduring at the moment, we are bringing you some new tools to help you achieve your health and fitness goals for the New Year. This week, we have David Matz, founder of Healthbook, a health journal platform with tangible rewards. We hope you enjoy it and if you’d like the spotlight on your team, please tweet us @Evol8tion.
We think health, especially preventative health and wellness, is way too complicated. Our platform creates a user experience that changes behavior through engagement - engagement that motivates with simplicity, fun, and rewards. Each morning, we give our users an ever-changing 2-3 minute journaling experience that covers 30+ health and wellness topics. For actively journaling on Healthbook, we seamlessly grant that user access to a network of discounts at our partner retailers.
In the short term, we’ll have a revenue stream from the merchants to whom we drive business. Over the long term, we’ll be able to monetize the data we collect and our ability to drive outcomes within the health and wellness space.
David grew up in Denver, CO playing every sport under the sun. He ended up going to the University of Pennsylvania and played lacrosse there. While at Penn David became fascinated with behavioral economics and ended up choosing it as his major. He spent 3 years working in debt capital markets before deciding to leave to get his MBA at NYU, which is where he started Healthbook.
It was a confluence of 3 things really. First, I was a behavioral economist in college and realized how easy it is to trick people. One inspiring book on the topic was Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein which advocated using our understanding of psychology, specifically “how to trick people” for their own good. Second was the rise of the “daily deal.” I was impressed how motivating the psychology behind this was. Again, I thought that motivational force could do some good in the world. Last, was a business idea I’d had several years ago to open a string of healthy restaurants that would be partially subsidized by insurance companies.
After spending a long time thinking about how to mold these three ideas into a modern, profitable and socially responsible business, I came up with the basis of Healthbook. The goal was really to be the intersection of commerce and health, using simple psychology to benefit all parties - the retailer, the user and the insurer.
Very interesting…How do you feel technology can help people achieve their fitness goals?
The real keys are engagement and empowerment. When it comes to technology, it has never been easier to give people information and engage a large audience from a distance. I think there are fascinating things out there like the Nike Fuelband and Fitbit, which are really the pinnacles of measurement and tracking. Again, my view is that health is much simpler than we all think: its about eating healthier, exercising a bit more and staying on top of any conditions you may have. Delivering ways for people to do that has never been easier.
We are lovers of the Fuelband as well! There are so many ways startups are trying to help individuals stay on track and get more healthy, from food logging to exercise monitoring to pill trackers and nutrition information- where do you feel there’s the most opportunity for startups to break out in the space?
I actually think just about every niche by itself is pretty filled up. There are great trackers, fun games, beautiful web platforms and neat technologies. I think the challenge is who can do two (or three) things at once. When you think about an individual’s health ecosystem, at a minimum it includes (i) 1-3 doctors, (ii) an insurer, (iii) an employer, (iv) family and dependents (both you on them and them on you), and (v) vendors of health-related products (gyms, grocery stores, health magazines etc…). My point is that the ecosystem is a vast and intertwined web. The opportunity is really in finding ways to connect the web in a manner that benefits everyone.
We definitely agree with that one. Who was your most inspiring mentor in the startup space?
RecycleBank probably. They’ve done something similar to what we do, just in a difference space. It takes incredible smarts, creativity and drive to create a platform that meets so many constituencies’ needs and make it a winner for everyone.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve given, or received about the startup world?
There are two, and they work hand in hand. The first is “If you want something, ask for it.” Whether it’s a partnership, funding or advice, you never know unless you ask. Waiting is rarely the answer. Second, “Say what you have to say, then shut up and listen.” Sometimes we get so close to our ideas and companies, we miss things. As challenging as it is sometimes to take the blinders off, it’s the only way to get better.
Those are two very important pieces of advice that’s for sure! Who/what is your dream Brand Soulmate you’d like to work with?
Retail is our best complement, and there are tons of great companies we can work with. We can also work beautifully with any food, equipment or clothing retailers, so long as they care about health, too. Whole Foods is a perfect example of a perfect soulmate in the grocery segment. We have several segments in which we could find our soulmate which is both lucky and a challenge.
Alright now the inside scoop…. what’s your go to app, or technology tool you’ll be using to stay healthy and get fit for 2013?
I hate to be too self-promoting, but it’s Healthbook. I designed it because it works for an average Joe like me. It really helps me to stay accountable with daily food and exercise journaling and I enjoy all of the reminders and quizzes.
There’s nothing wrong with a little self promotion! Thanks for chatting with us and be sure to join the movement and follow @HBmovement. Stay tuned for next week’s spotlight!
