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.
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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.
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Though it was more than a decade ago, I still have very strong memories of the college application process. I knew where I wanted to go, so I didn’t do a lot of research on other options. Back then research meant requesting brochures from any college that you were interested in. There was some information available on the web, but you had to go to each individual school’s site. A lot has changed in how people seek out educational opportunities (and it’s not just about undergraduate admissions anymore). Noodle is a company at the forefront of that change. They’re based in New York, NY, and they are “the first and only life-long education related search company in the world.” What does that mean? They offer “extensive data on over 150,000 schools and hundreds of thousands of education providers.” In other words, they’re taking a much broader view of what an education search is about.
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Local marketing has been all the rage for the past few years. All kinds of startups have popped up to help small business owners use technology to reach more customers. It’s easy to forget that local marketing doesn’t only happen online. Radio and live events are two marketing channels that have been complemented instead of replaced by technology. That’s good news for Townsquare Media, since they’re a Greenwich, CT based “local media and entertainment company that owns and operates radio, digital and live event properties in 66 small to mid-sized markets across the country.” The last part of that sentence is important because it means that they have jobs all across the country. Townsquare Media owns more than 300 radio stations, and that makes them the third largest owner of radio stations in the U.S.
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Yesterday there were terrible storms across the Midwest. In the immediate Chicago area (where I was), it mostly amounted to torrential downpours, wind, and lightning, but in other parts of the state tornadoes leveled entire communities and killed six people. One of the few positives coming out of the situation is that there has been an outpouring of people who want to volunteer as part of the recovery effort. The problem is that right now only trained professionals should be working in the disaster area. A bunch of random volunteers would get in the way and actually hinder relief efforts. So how do we take the positive energy and direct it to the right places? GiveGab might be the answer. They’re an Ithaca, NY based company that has built a “social network for volunteers and volunteer managers.”
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I went to a pre-Thanksgiving party last night. I didn’t eat a crazy amount, but I definitely had my fill of turkey, stuffing, and plenty of other delicious dishes. Over the next month and a half many of us will fight to not overeat, which makes it easy to forget how many people go hungry this time of year (and all times of year for that matter). The numbers are mind-boggling. In the Delaware River valley alone, there are nearly a million people facing hunger on a daily basis. Philabundance is a Philadelphia, PA based organization that holds the “simple belief that no man, woman or child should go hungry.” They do this by providing emergency food and services to people in 9 counties across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
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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.”
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Have you ever caught someone talking about you behind your back? Whether they’re saying something nice or something mean, it can be pretty awkward. Still, it’s nice to know where you stand with people. For brands it’s a bit different. The awkwardness isn’t as much of a worry, and the information gained from hearing what people have to say can have tremendous business value. The problem is that overhearing a conversation isn’t a reasonable way to compile actionable information. That’s why newBrandAnalytics has developed “a social media monitoring and online reputation management tool that transforms online reviews into operational social intelligence.” The company is based in Washington, DC, and it helps companies pinpoint ways that they “can excel in customer experience management.”
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Today few businesses can afford to ignore online marketing. The baseline has changed, and customers expect to find an online presence. Whether you’re a local restaurant, a consulting firm, or a toy manufacturer, people want to learn about you and interact with you on the web. The problem is that most small and local businesses don’t have the expertise or the resources to make wise investments in social media, SEO, SEM, and other online marketing options. They need affordable automation, and that’s exactly what Signpost offers. They are a New York, NY based company that has moved out of the deals space (just like yesterday’s company) and into offering a “cloud-based platform that makes digital and mobile marketing simple and effective for SMBs.” Without options like Signpost, small businesses would have to hire a full-time person just to run online marketing (I know that you’d prefer that they do that).
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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.
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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 I’m talking to a potential advertiser for One Day One Job, I tell them how special our audience is. I’ll spare you the details since you certainly know how special you are, but the point is to convince them that they should pay more to reach you. Nearly every publisher does this, but most publishers don’t have special audiences. How do the ones that do prove it? That’s a problem that Umbel is working to solve. They are an Austin, TX based company that helps publishers “leverage social and big data to prove your premium audience story to advertisers and sponsors.” What I think is really cool about Umbel is that they can even help publishers whose audiences aren’t that special on average by segmenting out the groups that are most valuable to advertise to.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.”
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About a year ago I woke up to a loud chirp. It wasn’t a bird (though we did have two birds fly down our chimney in two days around the same time). It was the smoke alarm. This wasn’t the “OH MY GOD THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE” alarm. It was the “let’s wake you up in the middle of the night so that you can change the battery” alarm. I ignored it… until it went off again five minutes later… and again… and again. So I’m in my underwear standing on a chair trying to disable this thing. It’s 3 AM and the smoke alarm is just out of my reach. I am at the point where I’ll do anything to go back to sleep, and there’s a baseball bat in the nearby closet…. and then I’m finally able to disable the alarm. I understand that smoke alarms with dead batteries can’t save lives, but there has to be a better way (especially considering that climbing on a chair when you’re sleep-deprived is pretty dangerous). Nest agrees. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that “takes the unloved products in your home and makes simple, beautiful, thoughtful things.” Their first product was a thermostat, and now they’ve just announced a smoke and carbon monoxide alarm.
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I drink a lot of water. Even the best restaurant servers struggle to keep my glass filled. But if I don’t have water in front of me, I don’t drink it. In college I would refill Smartwater bottles with tap water and take them to class (that’s the real smart water), but at some point the good habit ended and I’ve reverted back to drinking very little water on some days and gallons on other days. Maybe a good bottle would get me back on track. That’s exactly what S’well offers. They’re a New York, NY based company that sells bottles “crafted composed of non-leaching and non-toxic 18/8 stainless steel, that keeps your drinks cold for 24 hours and hot for 12.”
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If you use Facebook, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ve seen a friend post a story from Upworthy. The company’s goal is to get their content to go viral, and they’re really good at it. The difference between them and companies like CollegeHumor and Spartz Media is that Upworthy tries to focus on stuff that is both awesome and meaningful. Let’s be honest; most viral content is silly and mindless. Viewing it often makes you feel stupider (especially when you consider the way it’s displayed with ads and slideshows engineered to pillage every bit of attention they can get from you). Upworthy (which isn’t really based in any single location) calls itself “a mission-driven media company.” The goal is “to encourage that debate by curating great pieces of content that represent different sides.”
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A couple months ago I was raving to you about our web host WP Engine. While I’m still generally happy with them, they had a pretty big screw up a couple weeks ago. I worked with their support team, and we were able to find a resolution (though it took much longer than I would have hoped). All of the communications ran through Zendesk, which is “beautifully simple customer service software.” It’s basically a platform for managing all of the back and forth that is typically a part of delivering good customer service. Zendesk is based in San Francisco, CA, though they were originally founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007 (they made the move in 2009).
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Despite the fact that I haven’t shaved in over 7 years, I won’t be winning a facial hair competition any time soon. That’s because I use a beard trimmer to maintain that “I shaved 4 days ago” look. I don’t plan on ever going back to shaving with a razor, but if I do I’ll consider Harry’s. They’re a New York, NY based company that was started “out of respect for quality craftsmanship, simple design, modern convenience and most importantly for guys who know they shouldn’t have to overpay for a great shave.” Back in my shaving days, the choice was to use Gilette’s latest “development” or to use some cheap alternative that would irritate my face even more (like the free razor that I got as a freshman in college). I believed the marketing hype and went with the expensive option, even though it still didn’t give me a great shave.
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One of the worst things about being able to build websites is that people constantly ask you to build them websites. They don’t understand that doing web development for your own projects is very different from doing it for clients. Even the simplest project can become a total headache when you’re trying to meet someone else’s specifications (especially when it’s family). I was never cut out for client work, which is why I stopped doing it when I was 18 even though it was really good money. However, there are many firms that only do client work. One here in Chicago, IL is called Tecture. They design and build “custom web and mobile applications, ecommerce websites, and custom content-managed websites” for all kinds of clients.
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When I was in high school, it was the golden age of free music. High speed Internet connections were becoming commonplace, and file sharers weren’t really being prosecuted yet. You could have (permanently) almost any music you wanted for free. Those days have long passed, but we’re in another period of at least semi-free music access. Thanks to companies like Spotify, you can listen to what you want when you want to… as long as you’re willing to put up with some ads. F# is a New York, NY based company behind many of those ads–they connect “brands to consumers through the power of music in purposeful ads.” Brands know that music is a great way to connect with consumers. And that means ad-supported online music services provide an amazing opportunity.
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I despise administrative tasks that can’t be done online. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I still haven’t registered to vote in Illinois because I have to fill out actual paperwork and mail it in. I’m just happy that I’m in a line of work where nearly everything can be done online. I’m not sure what I’d do if I was in a business like real estate where back and forth paperwork is a necessity. Actually, I’d probably use dotloop. They are a Cincinnati, OH based company that has “completely streamlined the buying and selling process for real estate in a way that works so well, it’s driving a movement tagged by the press as ‘Revolutionomics.'” It’s nice to see a real estate focused startup that isn’t just another marketing/lead generation platform.
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The technology of the 90s and early 2000s was durable. Most devices were built like tanks because a few extra ounces (or pounds) here and there don’t really matter when many of the components are already so heavy. Today size and weight are main selling points for most types of electronics. The only problem is that today’s devices seem far more susceptible to breaking. It’s a tradeoff, but it sucks to be on the losing end when you drop your three-day old $600 phone on the grass and the screen shatters. Manufacturers and third parties have started offering all kinds of repair services, but they’re still expensive. Why can’t you just do it yourself?
With the help of iFixit you can. They are a San Luis Obispo, CA based company that wants “to show the world how to fix every thing.” They seem to be having some success with that, as they landed on the Inc. 5000 with 223% three-year growth to $9.8 million in revenue.
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Today is Opening Day of the NFL season! I’m probably less excited about that than the average American male (I’m a baseball guy), but it’s still a really big deal. Sports generate tons of economic activity. I know people who go to ridiculous lengths to get an edge for their fantasy teams, so you can just imagine how far actual teams and players will go (cough… PEDs). Some of the biggest advancements outside of biotechnology have come on the video side. Hudl is a Lincoln, NE based company behind many of those innovations. As they put it, they “help coaches and athletes win with video.” The technology must be working because Hudl just landed at #149 on the Inc. 5000 with 2,535% three-year growth to $14.1 million in revenue.
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On Tuesday we talked about DataXu and how they’re helping advertisers make the most of their advertising budgets by crunching tons of data. Unsurprisingly, publishers want in on the optimization action too. I’ve seen firsthand how a few tweaks to an advertising setup can have momentous impact overnight. While Altitude Digital doesn’t take a big data approach like DataXu, the Denver, CO based company does “empower publishers to effectively monetize and optimize their online display, video and mobile inventory.” Doing that well has landed them at #54 on the Inc. 5000 with 5,162% three-year growth to $11.4 million in annual revenue.
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I’ve mentioned before that I love watching Million Dollar Listing on Bravo. In the latest episode, one of the realtors is working with an extremely “motivated” couple who are itching to burn a few million dollars on a house, yet the agent can’t find anything on the market that meets their specifications. This is the kind of problem that agents want (the agent ends up finding them a house and getting the commission). Non-serious buyers and sellers can cost agents a ton of money, so any way to figure out which clients are ready to act is extremely valuable. That’s exactly what Zurple offers. They’re a Carlsbad, CA based company that builds software focused “on one thing — starting conversations between Realtors and leads that culminate in closed transactions.” They came in at #33 on the Inc. 5000 with 7,112% three-year growth to $7.7 million in annual revenue.
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This is my favorite part of the year when it comes to One Day One Job because all of those annoying kids finally go back to school. Just kidding. I actually love late August for a completely different reason: the Inc. 5000 is released. In case you aren’t familiar with it, it’s a ranking of the 5,000 fastest growing privately held companies in the United States. The metric that they use is three-year revenue growth, and that makes the list an amazing tool for finding up and coming companies with great career opportunities. This year Fuhu came in at #1 on the list with 42,148% three-year growth to $117.9 million in revenue. The El Segundo, CA based company that aims to be “the leading designer, seller and innovator of ‘thoughtful’ consumer products and services for children.” When you make stuff that kids like, parents empty their pockets.
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I’m torn on the topic of Quantified Self (a movement of people who collect as much data on their lives as possible). Part of me loves taking an analytical, data-based approach to self-improvement, but another part of me thinks that it’s easy to waste a lot of time measuring stuff that isn’t all that important. With that said, I dream of one day owning (or even creating) an analytic toilet that gives you all kinds of information on your overall wellbeing. Pixie Scientific has an interesting take on that idea. They realized that some of the people who have the most sensitive health don’t use toilets, they use diapers, and as a result, the New York, NY based startup is developing “smart diapers.” They look and work like regular disposable diapers, except they provide vital health information to parents and doctors.
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I’m fascinated by Japan. I’ve never been there, but my wife and I are planning a trip there for our honeymoon. There’s an intensity to the culture that I absolutely love, but there are also some things I just don’t get. Pepsi flavored Cheetos is one, and anime is another. In case you didn’t know, anime is the Japanese word for animation. But here in the U.S. it’s typically used to describe “a Japanese-disseminated animation style often characterized by colorful graphics, vibrant characters and fantastic themes” (at least that’s what Wikipedia says). While anime isn’t for me, A LOT of people love it–and most of them are adults. Crunchyroll is a San Francisco, CA and Tokyo, Japan based company that caters to this audience by offering “the leading global video service for Japanese Anime and Asian media.”
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People are completely irrational when it comes to travel deals. Sometimes it means wasting an entire day of a five day trip in some random airport (in the opposite direction of where you’re headed) to save a hundred bucks. Other times it means spending hours looking for the best fare only to end up paying more than if you had booked right away. It’s almost become a sport–even really rich people do this–and that’s why travel websites are such a great business. You can get a ton of attention for only saving people a few bucks. Smarter Travel Media is a Boston, MA based company that has developed “a unique group of online travel planning brands” that cater to the massive number of people who gain immense pleasure from getting the best fare or rate. The brands include Airfarewatchdog, BookingBuddy, Tingo, OneTime, Smarter Travel, and SniqueAway.
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