Right after I graduated college, I started investing in the stock market. I’ve more than doubled my money since then, which means that I made some pretty good decisions. One stock that I was considering at the time was CWTR. It was around $45 back then, and I thought that I had a few good reasons to believe that the stock would go up from there. Luckily, I didn’t buy. The stock is now at less than $4 per share–and that’s after a 4 for 1 reverse stock split. I’m glad that I avoided that -98% return on investment. While Coldwater Creek, which is based in Sandpoint, ID (with a design center New York, NY), has certainly struggled over the past 6 years, that doesn’t mean that you should overlook the potential opportunity. The multi-channel “specialty retailer of women’s apparel, jewelry and accessories” started as a one-room mail order business. They obviously had an amazing growth period that took them to going public, and now it’s time for them to get back on track.
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I made a big mistake in sixth grade. I decided to take French instead of Spanish. In the time since, the Spanish speaking population in the United States has skyrocketed, while whether the French speaking population has grown or shrunk is pretty much irrelevant. Here’s a stat that tells you all that you need to know: almost 10% of all U.S. based Google searches are done in Spanish. Bilingual marketing is becoming a huge business, and we all know that local marketing is already huge. YaSabe is a Herndon, VA based company that is brining the two together. They are “committed to connecting businesses, Latino culture, and community allowing users to be ‘in the know’ and confidently make choices about how and where to spend their time and money.”
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When I was growing up, if we wanted food delivered, it pretty much had to be pizza. For a couple of years, there was a service called “Bring Me My Dinner” where a guy in a tuxedo would bring you a meal from a higher end restaurant, but it didn’t last very long. Then I went to college and the delivery options got more diverse (I could even get cookies delivered after midnight!). Now I live in a big city, and I can get nearly any type of food delivered to my door. But there’s more to delivery that just food. What if I want flowers, groceries, or something from the hardware store? Delivery.com is a New York, NY based company that has been “connecting people like you with merchants in their neighborhoods” since 2004.
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It’s extremely important to surround yourself with ambitious people. Unfortunately, that much easier said than done. Where do you find people who can challenge you? Even if you go to a great college or have impressive parents, it can be hard to find the right kind of people to push you. It gets even harder if you come from a low-income community. That’s why iMentor “builds mentoring relationships that empower students in low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions.” They’re a New York, NY based non-profit that was founded in 1999 and has connected well over 10,000 students with mentors.
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There used to be three places that you could buy video advertisements: ABC, NBC, and CBS. Now there are millions. Nearly every website has the capability to sell video advertising, though very few have a team to sell the ads the way a tv station would (and that’s not even the best way to do it necessarily). SpotXchange is a Westminster, CO based company that makes buying and selling video advertising easy. In fact, they claim to have “the largest global marketplace of video ad inventory, reaching 110 million unique visitors each month in more than 35 countries.” It allows publishers and brands to link up that might never have connected without SpotXchange.
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It seems that geek culture has finally become mainstream. Maybe it’s the fact that engineers are in high demand at companies like Facebook, Apple, and Google. Or maybe it’s the upsurge in popularity of sites like Reddit. Or maybe it’s shows like The Big Bang Theory. I don’t really know, but for the first time in my lifetime, it’s good to be a geek. So good, in fact, that many of the “popular” kids are now claiming geek status. Whether you’re a true geek or a poser geek, you need geek gear, and ThinkGeek is the place to go for that. They’re a Fairfax, VA based company that started with the “simple idea to create and sell stuff that would appeal to the thousands of people out there who were on the front line and in the trenches as the Internet was forged.”
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Some of you (though probably not most of you) should quit your internship search and start a business. It’s what I did, and I can’t imagine having done anything else. That’s why I’ve spent hundreds of hours talking with and helping aspiring entrepreneurs. Yesterday I came across a Quora answer by Noah Kagan that I wish they had all read before I talked to them. It explains why most people who hold off on pursuing their dream of starting a business are doing so for the wrong reasons. There’s a movement called The Lean Startup that preaches a similar philosophy–starting a company doesn’t need to be expensive and you don’t even need a brilliant idea. Lean Startup Machine is a New York, NY based company that is spreading the philosophy not only to new entrepreneurs but also to people working in more corporate positions.
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In my day… Macs and PCs used completely different file formats. Writing a paper on my Mac (I was one of the few back then) and printing it on one of my school’s PCs was always a risky proposition. If I didn’t convert the file properly, I might end up with no homework and a really lame excuse for my teacher. We’re well past those days, yet many people still struggle with PDFs and other files. A simple request to sign a form and send it back can lead me down a half hour process of trying to find any way possible to avoid buying a new ink cartridge for my printer. Next time I’m going to try Nitro. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that builds “easy-to-use products that help people work smarter with digital documents.” Whether it’s for personal use or for a corporation with thousands of employees, Nitro offers a simple, affordable solution.
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I used to be perfectly happy to shop at a regular grocery store–I even got annoyed by the fancier stores. As I’ve gotten more yuppified, that has completely changed (it’s actually because I’ve learned to cook). Now I go to Whole Foods for produce and local specialty stores for meat and fish, but most people still do all of their shopping at a single grocery store. These are the kinds of people that big brands want to reach with marketing messages. MyWebGrocer is a Winooski, VT based company that makes that happen. They provide “leading-edge eCommerce and eMarketing solutions to the grocery and consumer packaged goods industries” including solutions like “website design, specialty modules for websites, hosting, sophisticated email strategies and consulting services.”
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Over the weekend I wrote about how important parental involvement is for our education system. I might have been wrong. Today I learned that parents are completely replaceable–and by robots nonetheless. When I first came across 4moms, I thought it might be a later April Fool’s joke, but they’re a totally for real Pittsburgh, PA based company that is “dedicated to finding innovative solutions that make parenting tasks easier and more enjoyable for families all over the globe.” That’s a nice way of saying that they’re building a future in which parents are obsolete. Ok, I’ve completely overplayed the robots thing, but it’s really cool to see how 4moms has used to technology to overcome some of the more frustrating parts of parenting young children.
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When I played baseball in high school, my teammates and I all hated having to “keep the book.” Not only did it mean that you probably weren’t playing, but it also meant that you had to pay 100% attention while you were sitting on the bench. I have to think that keeping the book it a little more fun now that it’s done on tablets and smartphones. GameChanger Media is a New York, NY based company that is bringing high end scorekeeping and stat keeping technology to amateur sports. Not only do they make it ridiculously easy to record everything that happens in a game, but they also allow you to livestream those stats to any fan with an Internet connection (parents must love this!). When the action is over, GameChanger automatically tabulate and displays all kinds of important stats.
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In the world of marketing, it’s easy to get distracted from the end goal. Increasing sales. There are a number of commercials that repeatedly make me laugh, but I can’t name the brand of the advertiser even 5 seconds after the commercial airs. It’s easy to get caught up in the vanity of marketing, but the only thing that really matters is results. G2 is “a marketing communications agency created with one purpose: to help [its] clients sell more.” They have offices in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, Chicago, IL, and Philadelphia, PA, and they “have serious experts in every communications channel delivering fresh, compelling work that creates greater awareness, consideration, sales and loyalty for our clients’ brands.” G2 is yet another company that has consolidated its entire website to a single page. It’s definitely a recent trend, and I kind of like it. It makes it easy to get a quick overview of the company.
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One of my favorite tools for company research is CrunchBase. While it isn’t typically all that detailed, it’s a great way to get a quick overview of many privately held companies–especially startups. Just the information on investment rounds is insanely valuable to me, but it’s far more valuable to entrepreneurs seeking capital and venture investors. They need to know what’s going on in their industry, and CrunchBase doesn’t go deep enough. There’s a site called ChubbyBrain that tried to build a similar, but deeper database, but it doesn’t seem to have worked out. However, that team is now behind a company called CB Insights, which is based in New York, NY and “helps you track the world’s most promising private companies, their investors, their acquirers and the industries they compete in.”
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I went to a funeral for a friend’s relative yesterday. It was lovely service in memory of a long, full life; however, the only thing that identified the service as being in 2013 and not 1995 (or 1972 even) was that the minister did all of his readings from an iPad. There isn’t a lot of innovation in the funeral industry. I thought online obituaries and guest books were the state of art, but I learned today that Platinum Innovation Group is a Detroit, MI based company that is bringing new ideas to the industry. They’re also working in “the areas of telehealth, telemedicine, health and beauty, film industry, real estate, and genealogy.” They do this by operating “a diverse set of businesses that are powered by innovation and change.” I also found the company using the brand Hello Innovation, so I’m not sure what that’s about. Maybe they’re in the process of rebranding or something.
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My wedding invitations were mailed yesterday. If I had my way, they would have been delivered digitally, but that’s a battle that I quickly lost. I guess most people like the fanciness of a paper invitation. We’ll never be able to recreate the experience of opening an envelope online, but we’re getting closer. Paperless Post is a company that is leading the charge. They’re based in New York, NY, and they’ve built a platform that “modernizes the tradition of correspondence and helps you create cards and invitations that reflect an individual aesthetic.” They realized that most online invitations chose convenience at the cost of design. Paperless Post wants to allow you to put as much thought and effort into your online invitation or card as my fiancée and her mom put into our wedding invitations (multiple hour long meetings–I wish I was kidding).
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I’ve only purchased one car in my life. I barely used the Internet (mostly because it wasn’t all that helpful for buying cars in 2001), and I got an ok deal. I know a lot has changed in terms of buying cars over the past decade (just look at what TrueCar is doing), but Edmunds has been along for the ride since well before the Internet was invented. The Santa Monica, CA based company was started in 1966 “for the purpose of publishing new and used automotive pricing guides to assist automobile buyers” and they’ve continued to become “one of the most beloved and well-known automotive resources of the 21st century.” If you’re looking to do some research before buying a car, Edmunds is the place to go.
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One Day One Job is hiring! Learn more here.
Personal finance and the job search go hand in hand. There’s plenty that you can do to get your financial life in order before you start working, but you can’t really start taking control until the paychecks start hitting your bank account (even though that’s probably the most tempting time to lose control). As I’ve learned from Ramit Sethi of I Will Teach You To Be Rich, personal financial success is about behavioral change, and changing your behavior is hard. That’s why I was intrigued to learn about a “financial wellness” tool that was designed with the help of behavioral economists. The company behind it is called HelloWallet, and they’re based in Washington, DC. Their goal is to “boost the wealth of workers by democratizing access to honest financial guidance – something only 20 percent of Americans have access to today.”
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I was way ahead on the flash sales and members only shopping thing. I did a writeup on Gilt Groupe almost five years ago just as the business model was catching on. While there isn’t nearly as much excitement about the space as there used to be, it’s still a great way to sell stuff (time constraints and sales both have amazing psychological effects on people). And that’s why I think it’s worth taking a look at Rue La La. They’re a Boston, MA and New York, NY based company that curates “Boutiques filled with the best of the best in women’s and men’s fashion, home, travel, kids, and more.” Each sale lasts 48 hours and is limited to members only (though becoming a member is about as easy as signing up).
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Marketing is all about attention. It used to be that marketers would try to interrupt you while you were paying attention to something else (like a tv show or baseball game), but that’s changing as most of us get better at ignoring distractions. Brands are realizing that if they want attention, they have to earn it, and that’s why they’re turning to social. And if they need help with that, they may want to turn to an appropriately named full-service media agency called Attention. Attention is based in New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA that “drives measurable business results by integrating social behavior across the customer journey.” Even they’re willing to admit that it’s not just about the attention.
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I made it from seventh grade through college with a single TI-83, who wants to touch me? Maybe it’s because I went to a private school where people were careless with $80 devices (they’re about $95 on Amazon now), but I swear everybody I knew either lost, broke, or had theirs stolen at least twice. While the need for students to have a graphing calculator hasn’t changed, the need for a standalone device has. That’s why we’re going to celebrate Pi Day by looking at Desmos (on past Pi Days we’ve looked at Pi Media, The Mathematical Association of America, and Orbotix–one of my favorites). They’re a San Francisco, CA based startup that offers a free online graphing calculator for students, teachers, and anyone interested in math.
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About 10 years ago I walked into a random McDonald’s in upstate New York and was shocked to see that the menus were on flat screen TVs. I’d never seen that before, and this was the last place I would have expected to see it (I’m pretty sure this was a test McDonald’s or something). Today digital displays are cheap and everywhere, as they provide an easy way to communicate messages that might change over time or require interactivity. At least it’s supposed to be easy, but technology often gets in the way of itself. Industry Weapon is a Pittsburgh, PA based company that offers a platform called CommandCenterHD that makes controlling digital media simple by centralizing and organizing it.
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This morning I was about to buy something but changed my mind because the checkout process was too annoying. While I probably shouldn’t be so lazy, that should never happen. E-commerce software is a solved problem. Why would a retailer invest in building their own proprietary site when they can license it from a provider like Demandware? They’re a Burlington, MA based company that offers an “enterprise-class cloud commerce platform” that powers “more than 150 retail brands across more than 575 sites around the globe.” If you regularly buy stuff online, you’ve almost certainly come into contact with Demandware’s platform. You probably had no idea, and that’s just how Demandware wants it.
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I have a favorite Yankees blog, and I occasionally participate in a Cornell Hockey forum. I follow a few athletes on Twitter, and sometimes get into sports debates on Facebook. I’d imagine that I’m a pretty typical sports fan in terms of my social media and web use–my attention is fragmented across a lot of different sites. LockerDome is a St. Louis, MO based startup that offers a social media platform to help “professional athletes, brands, media personalities, and other sports properties” reach their fans wherever they’re consuming content online. The idea is that LockerDome acts “as a social hub [for athletes and brands] to amplify their overall social media strategy.”
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I have a favorite shirt. It doesn’t quite fit anymore, and I’m sad about it. When I first bought it, it was just barely long enough. With each wash it seems to shrink a tiny bit, and now it’s at the point where any upward arm movement temporarily turns it into a belly shirt. Nobody needs to see that. The shirt is a purple (I’d call it pink) Cotton Reverse Seam Shirt by Steven Alan, and I bought it on Gilt. The best thing about it is that people always tell me that I have my shirt inside out, and I get to exclaim, “Haven’t you ever heard of reverse seams?” It’s the small things in life. The Reverse Seam Shirt is Steven Alan’s signature, and it’s part of the reason why the New York, NY based designer and retailer has been able to grow “a loyal following for [its] unique brand of casual, smart, self-assured essentials for both men and women.”
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Right now I’m in the process of getting some of my friends together to coordinate my bachelor party. I have less than zero interest in the traditional approach, so I’m looking for some good outdoor activities for a bunch of dudes. We haven’t decided where we’re going yet, but ideally we’ll rent a house instead of staying in a hotel. One of the best places to find vacation rentals is HomeAway. They’re an Austin, TX based company that offers “the world’s leading online marketplace of vacation rentals, with sites representing over 711,000 paid listings of vacation rental homes in 171 countries.” I figured that VRBO.com was their biggest/most similar competitor, but it turns out that they own them. I guess maybe the biggest competitor is Airbnb then, though they serve a slightly different market (more apartments fewer houses).
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We live in a strange time. The stats tell us that investing in higher education is one of the best investments that an individual can make, yet so many young people are saddled by student loans and under or unemployment. Something is going to have to change, and I’m not sure what it will be. American Student Assistance is an organization that will likely play a role in the change. They’re a Boston, MA based “private nonprofit whose public purpose mission is to empower students and alumni to successfully manage and repay their college loan debt.” ASA was founded in 1956 as the Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation and has served as a loan guarantor for much of its history. That ended in 2008 with a change in Federal law, but it hasn’t stopped American Student Assistance from offering SALT, its “innovative financial literacy and default prevention program.”
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I’m looking for one or two paid interns/part-timers to help me grow the ODOJ/ODOI audience. If you’re interested, e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com outlining one idea for growing the site and how you can help (a résumé won’t hurt). For more background see here (but note this is from a year and a half ago).
While I’m sure Macklemore’s Thrift Shop has made it more fashionable to buy secondhand clothing, the fact remains that most of us buy clothing that has been marked up every time it moves through the supply chain. For a designer shirt that can be up to eight times. We all know that clothes don’t have to be expensive, but we keep coming back to the designers and brands that we like. Everlane is a Los Angeles, CA and San Francisco, CA based “luxury clothing design and manufacturing company” that “aims to provide low-cost, high-quality goods by cutting out middlemen.” They offer simple lines for both men and women that focus on essentials that almost everybody needs.
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It’s amazing how much weight a college degree holds in the job market considering that most employers have no idea what classes you took, what you learned, or how you did (unless you include your GPA). With that said, we all know that a college degree isn’t enough to land a job these days–employers want education and experience that is directly applicable to their jobs. College is only a small slice of the education that you’ll need to succeed, but it’s so nicely packaged. As we start to see education as more of a lifelong experience, we’re going to need better credentials. That’s what Degreed offers. They’re a San Francisco, CA and Salt Lake City, UT based startup that “jailbreaks degrees” by offering “a free service that scores and validates your lifelong education from both accredited (i.e. Harvard) and non-accredited (i.e. iTunesU, Lynda.com, Khan Academy, etc.) sources.”
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I didn’t watch the Oscars last night. (I can’t stand award shows, and I rarely go to see movies in the theaters.) But I hear that advertisers are treating the event like the Super Bowl for women. Entertainment is a massive industry that only keeps growing, and what I find most interesting about it is how much attention begets attention. Argo probably wouldn’t have won Best Picture without Ben Affleck’s name attached to it, and nobody would read stories about a drug addicted mess if her name wasn’t Lindsay Lohan. That’s how Hollywood works, and that’s why marketing and advertising are so important. Trailer Park is a Hollywood, CA based “entertainment marketing agency” that serves “a broad spectrum of clients, including theatrical, television, home entertainment, videogames, publishing, music, brands and more.” They work with huge names and know how to keep the attention flowing.
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If there’s anything that the Internet is perfect for, it’s finding hotels. Whether you’re looking for a place off the highway to stop for the night or a luxury vacation, you’re going to be better off if you use the web. Since so many people go online to find hotels, the competition for attention is getting really tough (especially now that Google has entered the market and inserted their product at the top of search results). Most hotel owners aren’t Internet marketing experts, so how do they make sure that people find them? They use buuteeq, a Seattle, WA based company and “easy-to-use web application that improves your hotel’s online marketing on the web, on mobile devices, and on Facebook.” It gives hotel owners everything they need to compete with the major chains who have huge teams dedicated to online marketing.
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