A few decades ago chicken wings were essentially a throw away. This year Americans will eat 1.25 billion chicken wings… for the Super Bowl. The prices are actually down significantly from last year, but the longterm trend is up and to the right. Chicken wing popularity really seemed to take off when the Buffalo Bills went to four straight Super Bowls and shined a spotlight on the city’s culinary speciality. It continued with the growth of a national restaurant chain centered around the wing. Buffalo Wild Wings was actually founded in 1982 (by a guy who moved away from Buffalo, NY and couldn’t find buffalo wings), but it took a while for the Minneapolis, MN based company to go public and grow to 925 locations. In fact, the company’s growth seems to mirror the growth in popularity of the buffalo wing.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
design,
information technology,
interior design,
international,
Internships,
marketing,
project management,
training
Last week we talked about brand experiences. They can happen at any scale, but typically bigger brands want to create bigger experiences. The battle for mindshare is only getting fiercer, and that means companies are going all out to get people to pay attention to them. TV, radio, and online are great channels, but it’s hard to beat in person. That’s exactly what Sparks specializes in. They are a Philadelphia, PA based agency that “creates dyanmic brand experiences anywhere in the world a customer engages with your brand.” They’re operating at the highest level and working with the biggest brands–names like Google, LG, the New York Times, Motorola, Dropbox, and HP.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
Connecticut,
design,
events,
experiential marketing,
graphic design,
Internships,
marketing,
paid,
Pennsylvania,
retail
One of the best things about the Internet is that it allows creative people to find a market for their work. What used to be a hobby for someone can now be a living. The problem is that creating isn’t enough–you have to learn how to run a business too. Gumroad is a company that makes that part easier. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they “help millions of creators earn their livings in an interesting, authentic way.” Gumroad’s platform takes all of the complications out of selling digital goods online. Whether it’s a book, music, a video, or something else, Gumroad will help you with marketing, accepting payments, and offering secured downloads.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
California,
customer service,
data,
design,
e-commerce,
engineering,
paid,
product development,
software development,
web development
Job searching comes with a lot of repetitive tasks. Imagine if you had the technical skills to automate the most annoying ones. You could focus on doing stuff that makes you more employable instead of wasting hours on mindless repetition. There are certainly some smart engineering types who build their own systems to automate their lives, but what about the rest of us? We can use IFTTT (If This Then That). They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that lets you “put the Internet to work for you.” The service plugs in to all of your favorite sites, so it’s not like you’re starting a new workflow from scratch.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
design,
engineering,
Internships,
paid,
software development,
user experience,
web development
When I think about my personal impact on the environment, I think about driving, flying, heating my home, what I eat, and other similar things. Clothing doesn’t typically come to mind, but the production and transportation of clothing can have significant negative impacts on the environment. Reformation is trying to reduce the impact. They’re a Los Angeles, CA based “environmentally sustainable fashion brand that repurposes vintage and surplus
materials to create a chic, limited edition collection.” The way that they operate is completely different from most other fashion brands, but it’s working.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
apparel,
blogging,
buyer,
California,
design,
editorial,
fashion,
green,
Internships,
paid,
photography,
quality assurance,
strategy,
style,
supply chain,
sustainability,
writing
At this time last year, Amy and I were in the thick of wedding planning. Part of me is relieved that it’s in the past (because the wedding was awesome), but I also kind of miss it. We were lucky to have an amazing wedding planner who proposed great ideas and narrowed down the early decisions for us to make them manageable. Before we got to that point, though, we had to do our “homework.” That meant looking through all kinds of books and magazines to mark what we liked and what we didn’t like. It was a bit old fashioned, but it worked. Loverly is a New York, NY based company that brings that process online. It’s “a one-stop-shop for wedding planning where brides and grooms find ideas, people to hire and things to buy.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
advertising,
analyst,
data,
design,
e-commerce,
editorial,
engineering,
events,
fashion,
Internships,
New York,
paid,
product management,
public relations,
sales,
social media,
software development,
style,
web development,
writing
I pretty much shut down if I have to deal with paper documents. Luckily, in my line of business, almost everything happens online. While at one time I thought it might be a good idea for me to pursue law as a career option, I’m really glad I didn’t. Dealing with all of those documents–even if they were digitized–would drive me nuts. The good news for lawyers that kCura makes things a little more manageable. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that “develops web-based e-discovery applications for managing large volumes of electronic evidence during litigation or investigations.” The software is called Relativity, and it’s a web-based app that makes managing evidence way easier.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
communications,
data,
design,
engineering,
graphic design,
Illinois,
Internships,
law,
marketing,
public relations,
software development,
web development
Non-profits typically exist to make the world a better place. What that means varies by organization, but our government recognizes that a wide variety of causes should be supported with tax-exempt status. By definition a non-profit’s goals are non-financial, but that doesn’t mean that finances don’t matter. GuideStar is a Williamsburg, VA and Washington, DC based organization that aims to “revolutionize philanthropy by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving.” Unlike Charity Navigator, they don’t rate or rank non-profits. Instead, GuideStar “collects, organizes, and presents the information you want in an easy-to-understand format while remaining neutral.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analytics,
communications,
customer service,
data,
design,
Internships,
non-profit,
operations,
public relations,
user experience,
Virginia,
Washington DC
On my last day of vacation I got blasted in the face with a volleyball. It didn’t break my sunglasses, but it really hurt. My nose is still sore, but it only left a tiny red mark across the bridge of my nose. I wouldn’t have minded a black eye, but I know some people care a bit more about how their faces look. They’re more likely than I am to purchase products from Benefit Cosmetics, a company that got its start when twin sisters moved to San Francisco, CA and opened a beauty boutique. One of their first products, Benetint, was developed to help an exotic dancer “enhance her nipples.” That’s certainly one of the more interesting stories I’ve heard about how a company got its start.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
beauty,
California,
design,
industrial design,
Internships,
merchandising,
paid,
planner,
retail,
supply chain
I ran into a few issues in pre-school. The first was when a kid bit me, and then I started biting other kids. They almost kicked me out. Then I got into an argument with a teacher because I insisted that a square was rectangle, my parents got called in… and they had to correct the teacher on her geometry. I don’t remember learning much in those years, but I’m sure it was an important time for my educational development. Parents seem to take early childhood education much more seriously these days. That probably explains the growth of The Learning Experience. They are a Boca Raton, FL based company that aims “to provide the tools and the environment that will give every child the opportunity to develop to their greatest potential.” They don’t use the term “day care” much on the corporate site, but I that’s what their local centers (locations in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio, Colorado, and Virginia) seem to call it.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
design,
editing,
film,
graphic design,
Internships,
marketing,
paid,
production,
unpaid,
video
I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the coldest weather of my life last night, but it’s pretty good to be “stranded” on a tropical island. Since I work from home, I used to get through cold snaps by not leaving the house for extended periods of time. Now that I have a dog and no yard, that would be… messy. Shockingly, if you were more and better clothing, you can stay pretty warm in even the coldest temperatures. Less shockingly, quite a few of the companies that make awesome cold weather gear are based in Canada. We don’t usually cover opportunities outside the U.S., but we’re making an exception for Arc’teryx. They are based in Vancouver, BC, and they merge their “unrivaled designs with the best quality, highest performing materials and assemble them in the most innovative and most durable manner for the intended use.” In other words, they make high performance for extreme situations–whether it’s climbing a mountain or walking your dog on the coldest day of your life.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
apparel,
buyer,
Canada,
customer service,
data,
design,
fashion,
international,
Internships,
purchasing,
sales,
software development,
unpaid,
web development
I got my wife an Airport Express for Christmas. I’m not the typical male idiot portrayed on many American sitcoms–it was a good gift idea. The whole point was that I could hook up our wireless network to the fifteen-year-old wired speaker system that came with our apartment. The speakers were working when I started (I had the radio playing in all of the rooms), but after three hours of frustration, I ended up with the music from my iPhone playing in one room, and no music whatsoever in any of the other rooms. I’m going to have to find a way to fix this, and I think Sonos might be the answer. They are a Santa Barbara, CA and Cambridge, MA based company that set out in 2002 “to reinvent home audio for the digital age.” Their products certainly look a lot better than the circa 1997 sound system that my landlord left behind.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
audio engineering,
California,
design,
engineering,
finance,
Internships,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
merchandising,
music,
project management,
retail,
software development,
user experience
Despite moving in 5 months ago, I still haven’t put up most of the framed pictures and art that we have in our apartment. It’s a ridiculously easy task, but for some reason it’s always the last thing that I want to do. In other words, don’t give us art for Christmas! However, if you have friends or family who know exactly where to put every new piece on their walls, then you may want to buy them a gift from Art.com. The company is based in Emeryville, CA, and it “is a leading authority in wall décor and the world’s largest online retailer of posters, prints, and framed art.” Every single person has his or her own taste in art, and Art.com allows each of them to find the kinds of pieces that appeal to them.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
arts,
bilingual,
buyer,
California,
design,
interior design,
international,
Internships,
marketing,
photography,
retail,
sem,
seo,
software development,
web development
If you want to see me act like a child, take me furniture shopping on an empty stomach. It’s weird. I really appreciate what good furniture does for a space–whether it’s home or office–I think I just get freaked out by all the fake setups in a furniture store or something. I much prefer looking in a catalog and seeing a really cool office setup or a cozy living room. Even though they’re still staged, it feels more authentic. Haworth is a Holland, MI based company that “can make your environments work harder for you.” In other words, they make and sell furniture that is stylish yet functional (and they sell a lot of it–more than $1 billion a year).
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
design,
engineering,
furniture,
human resources,
information technology,
interior design,
Internships,
leadership development,
marketing,
Michigan,
online marketing,
paid,
quality assurance,
quality engineer,
rotation program,
sales,
supply chain
So far Amy and I have yet to receive a single Christmas/Holiday card. I’d like to blame it on the fact that we moved a few months ago, but I fear that we may not be as popular as I had previously thought. The reason that I can’t blame the move is that we made sure to update our address with the USPS. The most shocking thing about forwarding your mail is how easy it is to do. That’s why it’s interesting that Updater uses USPS change of address as the free part of their freemium model. It’s smart. The New York, NY based company offers a slightly slicker way to do something that you can do quite easily on your own, and then they use that as an opportunity to sell you a product that helps you will all kinds of other change of address issues.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
business development,
data,
design,
Internships,
marketing,
New York,
operations,
quality assurance,
research,
social media,
software development,
web development
Much of what we do on social media sites is completely frivolous, but we all know how powerful they can be when directed in the right way. Whether it’s raising money, awareness, or a volunteer force, there’s no better medium than the Internet for pushing a specific cause. Causes is a San Francisco, CA based company that wants to be the place that people go to when they want to “discover, support and organize campaigns, fundraisers, and petitions around the issues” that matter to them and their communities.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
advocacy,
animals,
California,
community management,
customer service,
design,
engineering,
human resources,
Internships,
organizing,
paid,
product development,
recruiting,
social media,
social networking,
software development,
web development
I ate a lot on Thanksgiving, and I kept it up through the weekend. I used to be able to do that without feeling any ill effects, but those days are over. I guess it’s time to get back to a healthier lifestyle. Maybe I need to head to the store and buy some natural products. Though I’ll probably just do my typical meat cleanse instead, if I went the natural route, I’d probably be buying from clients of Pure Branding. They are a Northampton, MA based consultancy that “builds leading brands for values-based companies in the natural products industry.” They’re selective about the clients that they take, as they want to ensure that they’re working world changers.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
branding,
consulting,
design,
graphic design,
Internships,
market research,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
organic,
research,
social media,
strategy,
unpaid,
web development
I’m not sure how we ended up here, but Black Friday shopping seems to be the latest extreme sports craze. I’ll spend a little time looking for deals online, but you won’t find me within a few miles of any major retail store. If I somehow got duped into going shopping, I’d totally wear a helmet. It’s better safe than sorry. Easton-Bell Sports, which is based in Van Nuys, CA, is one of the biggest sports helmet companies in the world. Their brands include Giro, Bell, Riddell, Easton, Easton Cycling, and Blackburn. They all come together to help Easton-Bell Sports pursue their goal of being “a leading designer, developer and marketer of sports equipment and accessories that enhance athletic performance and protection.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
apparel,
arts,
baseball,
California,
design,
finance,
football,
hockey,
holiday,
Internships,
marketing,
product management,
safety,
sports
I went grocery shopping yesterday at Whole Foods. Usually at 2 PM on a weekday, it’s a ghost town, but not during Thanksgiving week. I actually like grocery shopping, so it was fun to be a part of the madness, but I know a lot of people who hate it. Some use services like Fresh Direct or Peapod. I tried the latter once, but it feels like your groceries were picked out by a robot. That won’t cut it if you’re buying meat or produce. Instacart offers a different kind of grocery delivery service. They are a San Francisco, CA based startup that offers personal grocery shopping in a growing number of markets (Chicago and Bay Area right now), and sometimes they can get you your groceries within an hour.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
customer service,
design,
engineering,
food,
grocery,
Illinois,
Internships,
marketing,
operations,
software development,
user experience,
web development
Health insurance. Need I say more? You already have your own associations with those words, and they’re probably negative. We all want to be healthy, and when we’re not, we want to know that doing whatever we can to get healthy won’t send us into financial ruin. That was the whole point of health insurance, but it seems that the opposite has happened. There’s a lot that needs to change, but where do we start? How about with insurers themselves. Take New York state for instance. They haven’t had a new commercial health insurer in a decade and a half–or at least they didn’t until Oscar came around. They are a New York, NY based startup that dubs itself “a new kind of health insurance company that is using technology to make insurance simple, intuitive, and human.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
business development,
customer service,
data,
design,
health care,
insurance,
Internships,
marketing,
New York,
product management,
software development,
user experience,
web development
I grew up in Fairfield County, Connecticut. If it’s not the preppiest place on earth, it’s pretty close. And in case that wasn’t enough, I went to a private school where wearing a blazer was required. I thought that wearing pink pants and pants with little animals on them was totally normal. Working for Orvis in Vermont for a few summers only reinforced that feeling (and gave me a sweet discount on buying more of said merchandise). It wasn’t until I moved to Chicago that I started to tone it down a bit (I still don’t own a pair of jeans though). But what if you wanted to go the opposite direction? What if you moved from Chicago to Connecticut and wanted to fit in? You’d have to shop at Lilly Pulitzer. They are a King of Prussia, PA based fashion brand and retailer (with dozens of locations across the country) that is known for its over the top, colorful prints.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
customer service,
design,
fashion,
Internships,
New York,
Pennsylvania,
public relations,
retail
In the world of advertising and marketing, creative seems to get all of the credit. We idolize the people who came up with the idea for a memorable campaign, but we don’t think of all the work that led to that idea. Whether you’re developing products, communications, strategy, or anything else that relates to your customers, you have to start with research. That’s where Kelton comes in. They are a New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA based consulting firm that is “passionate about listening to your customers and translating their stories into innovative solutions.” They start with research, then build a strategy, and use that to create design.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
consulting,
design,
innovation,
Internships,
market research,
New York,
research,
strategy
Tonight is Mischief Night (also known as Devil’s Night). As a kid I was always a little afraid on October 30th, but I had a dream of becoming a vigilante and catching all of the mischief makers. Luckily, there weren’t many mischief makers in my neighborhood. At worst they would TP some trees and shaving cream some windows. I don’t know from personal experience, but as I understand it, lower quality shaving cream is better for mischief. You want that airy, foamy stuff if you’re spraying it on someone’s windows, but you want almost the exact opposite if you’re shaving your face (or so I’m told, I haven’t shaved with a razor in many years). Lately there has been a movement towards higher quality shaving products… and towards subscription models. We already took a look at Harry’s, and today we’re going to check out Dollar Shave Club. They’re based in Venice, CA, and they are “a rocketing men’s lifestyle brand and e-commerce company on a mission to change the way men address their shaving and grooming needs.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
California,
consumer products,
customer service,
design,
e-commerce,
Internships,
sales,
web development
Early in the wedding planning process I proposed that we try to do as much online as possible. I quickly lost that battle, and I must say that our custom designed paper goods turned out amazingly well. I’m just glad that I wasn’t paying for them. If only there was a way to get beautiful, custom designed paper goods for a reasonable price. That’s exactly what Minted offers. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that aims “to find exceptional artists and designers all over the world and bring their work to consumers who appreciate great design.” They were early to the crowdsourcing model in 2008, and since then they’ve grown into a place where consumers can find great designers and great designers can get exposure that will help them build their careers.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
arts,
California,
design,
engineering,
graphic design,
human resources,
Internships,
marketing,
merchandising,
online marketing,
printing,
production,
recruiting,
seo,
software development,
technical support,
user experience,
web development
InvestmentNews is our sponsor this week, and they would like to tell you about their NextGen Virtual Career Fair on November 8th. It’s an awesome opportunity for students and interns to network and find finance jobs on the spot.
When we featured Duraflame, I thought they’d be the only company that I’d write about with an office on a boat (excluding companies that use boats as parts of their businesses, of course). Today’s company really made a name for itself when they turned a retired ferryboat into a floating workshop on the San Francisco Bay (they now have offices all over the world). That move certainly helped build the Landor brand, which is kind of funny, since that’s what they do for clients–they “help the world’s best brands stand up, stand out, and stand for something.” Many of their clients already have massive brand awareness, so Landor is tasked with making the most of that brand equity.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
accounting,
advertising,
branding,
California,
copywriting,
design,
editing,
finance,
graphic design,
international,
Internships,
New York,
Ohio,
paid
InvestmentNews is our sponsor this week, and they would like to tell you about their NextGen Virtual Career Fair on November 8th. It’s an awesome opportunity for students and interns to network and find finance jobs on the spot.
When you visit most websites, you’re paying for access even though you probably don’t realize it. You’re paying with your attention to advertisements. It’s a terrible model, but it’s pretty much the best idea that we’ve had so far. It’s the reason that Google is one of the most successful companies in the history of the world. Ideally we’d pay the content creators directly on the sites that we like, but managing subscriptions can be a nightmare for both site owners and their visitors. Tinypass has a solution that just might usurp advertising as the preferred way to monetize an audience. They’re based in New York, NY and they enable sites to collect micro payments to access content. They “believe that bloggers, magazines, newspapers, and all creators shouldn’t have so much trouble making money online.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
business development,
design,
engineering,
Internships,
marketing,
paid,
payments,
publishing,
sales,
software development,
user experience,
web development
I wonder if one day the entire world will speak a single language. We’re certainly headed in that direction, but we have a very long way to go (I’m not saying that a monolingual world is a desirable outcome, just that it seems plausible). Until then language barriers will get in the way of business. And that means that translation will continue to be an extremely valuable tool. The best translation services are fast, accurate, cost-effective, and secure. That’s exactly what VerbalizeIt offers. They’re a New York, NY based startup that “enables better universal communication for businesses and individuals.” It may not be a new idea, but they have new technology to do the job better.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
bilingual,
business development,
communications,
design,
language,
New York,
project management,
quality assurance,
translation,
web development
I’m not much of a gamer, but occasionally I get wrapped up in a mindless iPhone game. It starts as a little diversion while waiting for something, and before I know it, I’m staying up past my bedtime playing. The addiction usually lasts a few weeks, and then I forget about it and get my life back… until I discover a new game. I haven’t tried any games from Pocket Gems, and I don’t intend to… I never intend to. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that “develops free-to-play mobile games that are ridiculously fun.” While their games may be pretty simple, Pocket Gems takes them very seriously. That’s why their dual mission is to “build the world’s best mobile engineering team” and “become a global leader in the mobile entertainment industry.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
advertising,
animation,
arts,
California,
design,
engineering,
entertainment,
Internships,
mobile,
operations,
paid,
product management,
software development,
video games,
web development
When my sister and I were kids, our parents would sometimes take us to a toy store and let us pick out something that we wanted (often after doctor and dentist visits–bribery works). I would almost always pick out action figures (G.I. Joes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), while my sister would almost always pick some sort of art kit. Even though I never really liked art, I was always a little jealous that she had some sort of cool project to work on. I don’t remember which specific products she bought, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were from ArtSkills. They are an Easton, PA based company “with a commitment to bringing quality and innovative poster making and art materials to [their] customers.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
administrative,
analyst,
arts,
design,
graphic design,
Internships,
Pennsylvania,
unpaid
When I was in elementary school, Christopher Columbus was a hero. Today people don’t even complain about going to work on a holiday named after him. That tells you just how ugly the true story is. Still, you have to give Columbus credit for sailing across the Atlantic with no idea where he was going (and making it back, and then doing it again three more times). Today we have technology that enables us to always know where we are. Rand McNally is a Skokie, IL based company that played a big part in getting us to this point. They were founded in 1856, and since then they’ve been specializing “in maps, navigation, road travel, and trip planning.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
cartography,
customer service,
design,
geography,
holiday,
Illinois,
Internships,
navigation systems,
software development,
technical support,
user experience,
web development
