For those of us new to NFTs, here is an explanation I found helpful:

“NFT means non-fungible token, and non-fungible means that this token is unique and can’t be replaced. Let’s take Bitcoin, for example. Bitcoin is fungible since you can trade your Bitcoin for another Bitcoin. You will end up with Bitcoin in both cases. However, NFTs are more like Yu Gi Oh cards- one-of-a-kind trading tokens that if you trade one for another, you will receive a token different from the one you gave away. NFTs can be everything. They can be a jpg image, music, or digital art. You can be an artist, create a 3 minute short YouTube video by adding your images and music. BOOM. You can now sell this video as an NFT at an excellent price if it brings value to the rest of the community. It’s just like getting paintings at an art gallery but cooler.”  Tech Innovations

I like this innovation because it promises to open new revenue streams for all sorts of creators, enabling them to sell digital objects online and capture value over time when they are resold.

I wanted to see how difficult it might be to create and sell an NFT.  Turns out I was able to do this in under 20 minutes on Voice, one of the several marketplaces I found.  You’ll want to figure out which is best for you.

The process was very simple.

Upload my image.  In this case it was a photograph I’d taken of elephants at a watering hole in Africa.

Verify my identity.  This required photographing my drivers license, scanning my face biometrically for comparison, and securely sharing my social security number.  That weirded me out a little, honestly, but I figure all of this is on the web anyhow.

List my NFT for sale.  I opted to auction mine.  And now we have a history of my activity at the bottom.

Promote.

If you want to experiment with this new innovation, the advice I was given was DYOR:  do your own research.  And if you decide to go forward, just know it’s easy to get started.

I’m talking to entrepreneurs about how they navigated the transition to corporate life after selling their companies.  What happened.  What worked well or poorly.  What turned out to be most important for success, however they defined it.  What they wish they had known going in.  And most importantly, what advice they’d give fellow entrepreneurs in similar situations.

My plan is to publish the findings in a series of blogs, and eventually package them to share with entrepreneur communities.  Early results have been fascinating, and there is high interest in the subject.

I’m looking to expand the number of interviews to get a broader representation of entrepreneurs.  If you are a CEO or founder who sold your business and joined the acquiring company I’d love to hear your story.

I’d also love to hear from others who might have visibility into this subject.  You might be an investor, advisor, or part of the acquiring company assigned to integrating new businesses.

Know anyone?  If you’re interested in participating please contact me directly!

Reading Progress is an app in Microsoft Teams that enables students to independently read aloud, record themselves, and grow their reading skills while allowing educators to better support students’ progression. Students share the audio or video recordings of themselves with their teachers who can then track progress, provide feedback, and discover trends and opportunities for student growth.  As of March 2022 Reading Progress is available in over 90 languages.

Both students and educators benefit:

“In front of the camera, I don’t feel that stressed out.  I feel like I’m less distracted, and I’m reading better – more clearly and not that slow – and I feel much more confident.”  Andres, student

This is something teachers really, really needed for management, time, efficiency and effectiveness … I’ll be using this forever and always.”  Jennifer Saikaly Moreno, teacher  Source:  https://news.microsoft.com/features/reading-progress/

A recent 2021 Stanford study showed the pandemic caused a 30% drop in reading fluency in early grades. So Microsoft’s introduction of Reading Progress could not have come at a better time.

How the Microsoft Education Team Developed and Launched Reading Progress

I interviewed one of the Microsoft Education team members, Senior Product Marketing Manager Eric Shuai, who kindly gave me some background on how Microsoft approached the development and launch of Reading Progress, and pointed me to further resources.  The first thing he did was to credit the Engineering team, led by Product Manager Mike Tholfsen:

“The engineering team did an amazing job in the development of Reading Progress with deep empathy for both educators and students. They leveraged academic research, consulted with literacy experts, and solicited feedback from educators and students often, resulting in a barrage of positive feedback from our customers.”  Senior Product Marketing Manager Eric Shuai

Three points stood out for me:

Senior Management supported starting with the problem.

CEO Satya Nadella encourages teams to find underserved, very important problems Microsoft technology can solve – to apply technology to a problem, not to build something just because they can.

Engineering studied the problem deeply before developing a solution.

Source: Microsoft

The Engineering team dug into the pain point, asking why, why, why, and developed deep empathy for what teachers and students are going through.

“… reading fluency is important, but it’s incredibly painful for teachers to do … they hate doing it, it takes them forever, they have to pull the kids out into a hallway where it’s loud, and the rest of the class is going crazy while they’re listening and marking (evaluations) in the hallway.  The kids don’t like reading out loud, and for many it’s stigmatizing.”  Product Manager Mike Tholfsen

A description of the process they followed can be found on Microsoft’s blog.

Once the team had a good handle on the problem, they leveraged their deep experience in AI technology to build a solution that solved the users’ problems, seeking out experts from all reading science methodologies and using Human Centered Design principles to iterate prototypes with teachers and students.

Marketing used storytelling to help convey the benefits.

The Marketing team got such positive, rich feedback from educators that they decided to center marketing communications on their stories (more on this below).  Case studies will be an important focus.

What makes Microsoft’s Reading Progress Such a Powerful Innovation

The innovation itself:

Everett M. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory identifies 5 qualities of a successful innovation, as seen from the users’ perspective.  Microsoft appears to be tapping into several.  This is my take – the real proof will come over time through user feedback on the full end-to-end experience.

The decision to use story telling:

As humans we are hard wired to be receptive to stories.  Stories work with all types of learners.  Stories are more memorable.  Storytelling forges connections between people, and between people and ideas.

Diffusion of Innovation theory also speaks to the importance of peer to peer conversations and peer networks in the successful adoption of innovations, particularly after the early adopter stage.  This is because people are more likely to trust innovations that come from people like themselves.

Yes, data will be important to prove the value proposition to customers.  But viewing video of students and educators allows us to vicariously feel the same joy and pride students and teachers are experiencing, which brings Reading Progress’ benefits to life more powerfully than data alone. Video is an excellent media to showcase – versus simply talk about – the full range of functional, emotional and social benefits.

Reading Coach, announced in March, is a reading practice tool for students that builds on Reading Progress and automatically generates individualized exercises based on each student’s specific needs.  The following video makes full use of story telling as it showcases this new tool and shows how it works with Reading Progress.

Source: Microsoft

We believe in making the customer the hero, which in this case was a teacher in Chino, CA as well as a student.  We tried to show how Reading Progress and Reading Coach supports her effort to drive progress and get students excited about reading with real-time coaching and positive feedback loops.  Eric Shuai

The Microsoft Education team is continuing to build on their mission to create a portfolio of literacy tools to reach every learner.

I am eager to hear what comes next, and to see the impact on this generation of readers.  And I will be fascinated to see how other audiences might use this innovation – immigrants learning new languages, for example.

Questions to Consider as You Develop and Launch New Product Innovations:

1. As a senior leader, how can you give your teams permission to seek out and address the most important problems?
2. How can you put users at the center of your product development efforts, and continue to integrate their feedback longer term?
3. What can you do to tap into all 5 qualities of a successful innovation?
4. How can you use storytelling as well as data to better demonstrate the value of your innovation?
5. What can you do to leverage the power of peers to accelerate adoption?

I look forward to your thoughts, as always.

BroadbandUSA’s Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program makes $980 million available for grants to eligible Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian entities for broadband deployment, digital inclusion, workforce development, telehealth, and distance learning.

I’m heartened to see broadband inequity addressed in our country.  The challenges are complex, and the proposed solutions showed a high degree of resourcefulness.  But what really impressed me is how the BroadbandUSA grants team leveraged the expertise of private sector professionals to bring greater diversity, rigor, and efficiency to the review process.  And they got this expertise for free.

Yes, we all volunteered.

300 applications, 900 merit reviews, ~ 90 days

The grants team followed a three step process:

• They conducted an initial review of all grant proposals to ensure that the proposals met their qualifying criteria
• They recruited and vetted subject matter experts from telecom, cable and related fields. They trained us on how to evaluate and score the proposals, which required detailed comments to justify the ratings. Then they matched us with grants fitting our areas of expertise.  Each proposal received at least two independent merit reviews. The grants team provided excellent guidance and technical support along the way.
• They then gave an in-depth evaluation of the proposals that passed the merit review process

The first grants were announced November 15 and went to the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe in Virginia, and the Sokaogon Chippewa Community in Wisconsin. Two of the grants will support the provision of broadband services, computers, and digital skills training to tribal members and one will fund a tribal broadband planning project.

Crowdsourcing is not new.  But this is the first time I have seen it used by our government.  I hope this trend continues.

Let me know what examples you are finding!

As I noted in my previous customer experience report on Amazon Go, removing friction from the shopping process is a strategy that has driven much of Amazon’s online innovation (1-Click ordering, etc.).  And lately they have been innovating around making in-store shopping more convenient.

In February, they expanded to eight locations in Seattle, in preparation to expand more broadly in the months ahead.

According to their announcement,

“Amazon One is a fast, convenient, contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store, presenting a loyalty card, entering a location like a stadium, or badging into work more effortless. The service is designed to be highly secure and uses custom-built algorithms and hardware to create a person’s unique palm signature.”

I happened to be shopping at Whole Foods, and saw the Amazon One sign on the way out (yes, wrong place!).  But I was sufficiently intrigued to interrupt my journey to the car and investigate.

Amazon One at Whole Foods

I like conducting experiential research.  It helps me understand the customer journey more holistically.  And it uncovers opportunities for improvement across the end-to-end experience.  What follows is my experience, complete with inner monologue.

Setting up Amazon One is as Easy as One-Two — Oh, We’re Done

Unlike Amazon Go, where you first had to download Amazon Go to your smartphone and learn the app, Amazon One signup was as simple as it gets.

Tap the POS to get started.  Follow on-screen sign-up instructions.

The POS asks me to insert my credit card.  I do.  It congratulates me – good use of psychology.  I can go to their website or scan a QR code to see which cards are accepted.  No need.

Scan my right palm.  Scan the left.  I wonder why they might need both.  That minor moment of friction gives me pause.  As a mystery writer who is always scheming how best to commit crimes, I realize they now have the ability to identify me should I ever shoplift at Whole Foods using my non-dominant hand.

Using Amazon One

Of course, now I have to go back into the store to try this new technology out.  I think about what I can get that I didn’t get on my original visit just minutes before.  I consider going for produce but that needs to be weighed. And I decide in advance that Amazon One probably can’t handle that. So I opt for prepackaged goat cheese.

Since I only have one item I go to the self-serve line, which has a sign saying they can only take credit cards – no cash.  I try to use my palm, and a helpful employee tells me I need to go through the full service checkout line.  So my palm is not a credit card.

I go through the regular checkout line where I explain I am a first timer and the helpful cashier shows my how to hover my hand over the checkout sensor.  It takes just a second to get the distance right.

Then, zap.  Money comes out of my hand. I have superpowers.

This is quite exciting.

So what is the benefit of Amazon One?

I guess for in-store shopping this is handy if I am juggling groceries or children and can’t spare two hands to dig through my handbag or pocket to extract my credit card.  Of if I have impulsively wandered in off the street without my wallet or smartphone, and would otherwise have no way to pay.  I don’t know anyone who goes anywhere without their smartphones.

For retailers it will get customers through the line faster, which improves the experience for everyone in line behind them.

But the real benefit of this technology, I believe, is to Amazon.  The name gives it away.  Amazon wants Amazon One to become the one way to identify people everywhere they go.

“… we believe Amazon One has broad applicability beyond our retail stores, so we also plan to offer the service to third parties like retailers, stadiums, and office buildings so that more people can benefit from this ease and convenience in more places.”

Careful, Your Biometric Data is Showing

When I think about all the ways Amazon “sees” what we are doing, they already have a really good idea of what we are up to.  They:

• Can hear what we say at home (Alexa allegedly recorded a murder in Florida)
• Can see who comes and goes from our homes (Ring)
• Know our entertainment habits and preferences (Prime Video)
• Know our spending patterns on their site
• And, for those with an Amazon card they have visibility into what we spend everywhere else

I know I traded away my privacy for convenience a long time ago.  My smartphone knows where I am at all times.  And closed circuit cameras monitor my behavior on the streets.

But I have now just given away my biometric data, That feels more personal.  If Amazon One does become a ubiquitous form of identification, with the rise in cybercrime it feels like I am just one hacker away from having my biometric data stolen.

Searching for the Elusive “Unenroll”

Fortunately, Amazon offers me the option to delete my data if I choose.  Let’s see how that goes. 

I Google Amazon One and look for their Q&A, which addresses privacy concerns and explains there are two ways to “unenroll” – in store at the device itself (which requires me to return to the store), or via the online customer portal at one.amazon.com (no link supplied).  After typing in the URL I am taken to a page that introduces the product.  I navigate to the Help section, select Managing My Amazon One ID and scroll down to the last option, How Do I Cancel my Amazon One ID. There, I find a very unhelpful message which directs, but does not take, me to another site.

I go to the main Amazon.com site, search for my Amazon One ID and get a message that there isn’t one associated with me.  That can’t be true.

So I click on Help and am returned to the same menu I started with. I next go to the troubleshooting section, where it is #1 on the list.  Ah-ha.  First I have to link my data to Amazon One, then cancel.

Troubleshooting Amazon One

So I search on my phone for the Welcome text, where I find a link to view my history and manage my Amazon One ID.  I click to see a landing page that asks me to sign in with my Amazon account, which I have long forgotten.  After signing in, I see the notice “the link is no longer active.”  Grrrr.  Amazon wants me to have them resend the welcome message.  To do this I must use the help menu on, wait for it, the Amazon One device to get a new link.

Funny how Amazon wants to make the buying experience seamless but has built in an incredible amount of friction into the cancellation process.  Not so consumer-centric after all.  And even though I used the same credit card for Amazon One as I do for my regular Amazon purchases, they can’t seem to find me in their system.

At this point I decide I might as well go to Whole Foods.  It’s a good thing I love grocery stores.

Back to the Scene of the Crime

On entering the store I go to the Amazon One device.  It takes me a little time to find the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the screen.  Selecting the option to unsubscribe, I get a cute little pouting emoji saying “We’re sad to see you go.”  I also feel a little sad that I have cut myself off from the opportunity to use my palm for powerful purposes (and I am right in the store where the temptation to use my superpower is high).

But then, as I leave Whole Foods, I get an email from my credit card company notifying me “your card has been removed from Amazon One.”  And I realize I have seen nothing from Amazon to confirm my successful unsubscribe and reassure me that my palm prints have been deleted.  This is a miss on Amazon’s part, because now I am wondering what has happened to my biometric data.

So, for me, the jury is out.  I am not sure the thrill of using my palm as a superpower will be worth the increased risk of my palm print data getting into the wrong hands (pun intended).

Be interested to hear what you think!

Black Dot creates and nurtures black entrepreneurs by providing space and access to resources uniquely geared to African Americans.  And they address the unique problems that black entrepreneurs face when starting a business.

K. Wyking Garrett, Aramis Hamer, Monica Washington, and Mujale Chisebuka started Black Dot in 2015 after their participation in a startup event, Hack the Central District.  (clockwise from upper left: Mjuale Chisebuka, Monica Washington, K. Wyking Garrett and Aramis Hamer. Photo:  Geekwire  Photo credit:  Ken Lapworth.)

Black Dot offers membership to an amazing community of likeminded entrepreneurs. This membership includes affordable shared and private workspaces for rent, events and workshops, support and mentorship, and a place to hang out.

Curtiss Calhoun is the Community Manager at Black Dot and Lead Program Director. He shared his thoughts on what makes Black Dot special and where this organization is headed. Quotations are his unless otherwise noted.

Black Dot Serves a (Very) Wide Variety of Entrepreneurs

There is no “typical” black entrepreneur.  Community members range from accountants to real estate brokers, restaurant owners, and high tech CEOs.

“It’s an amazing community. I along with Jenefeness Tucker have facilitated weekly Mastermind sessions since Oct 2018.  Some just have an idea or concept they are thinking about.  And then we’ve had people like a telecom guy who was just awarded $10 million to start his own phone network in Africa.”

Mastermind Mondays is a program where black entrepreneurs can connect, get inspired and solve problems.  Anyone can attend.  People join in from around the US.  Even other countries, including a group of exchange students from Spain who stayed connected with the group when they returned home.

Mastermind offers a sense of family that people look forward to every week and can count on as a source of support.

Curtiss Calhoun leading a Mastermind Mondays session.  Photo:  Black Dot

When I asked Curtiss to talk about the unique hurdles black entrepreneurs face when starting a business, his answer was powerful:

“The #1 hurdle is being Black.  Walking into a bank, being black, asking for money is just a different experience.  Not so much the process.  But the way the system is set up to make it more difficult to gain access to resources to start, build, and scale.”

He focused on three areas:  lack of access to capital, business acumen (systems and structures), and affordable commercial space.

Capital

“A lot of people are good at something and they start a business.  And it grows by word of mouth.  But they don’t have enough capital and available liquid resources to weather the storms new businesses face.”

According to FIX, a systems design company founded in 2008 to solve complex urban challenges with place-based solutions:

• 28 MM US small businesses generate 64% of all new private sector jobs
• African Americans own just 7% of small businesses but represent nearly twice that as a percent of the total population
• Most small businesses start and expand using personal savings. But African Americans have 12x less median family wealth than whites and are 50% less likely to own their homes. So they don’t have these sources of capital to get started
• African American are 22% more likely to use personal credit cards to start a business

Business Acumen

Many aspiring black entrepreneurs don’t come from traditional business backgrounds.  In addition to hosting Mastermind Mondays, Black Dot provides a number of different educational opportunities to address this, including hosting guest speakers and cross-industry professional networking events.

Black Dot is planning to add a formal startup curriculum, so black entrepreneurs can become certified and have the skills to be successful at whatever business they decide to start.

William Grose Center. Photo Black Dot

Affordable Commercial Space

Many black entrepreneurs have businesses that require physical space.  But if you are a retailer or restaurant owner, the initial costs can be prohibitive.

One of the spaces Black Dot will have a presence in will be the William Grose Center for Cultural Innovation, a decommissioned firehouse which the Africatown Community Land Trust has taken ownership of and is currently renovating.  It will primarily serve as an innovation hub and resource center for micropreneurs, solopreneurs and small business owners.  They are planning to open in August 2021 and continue to build out additional space / capability.

How to Get Involved

I wanted to draw your attention to Black Dot because I suspect there are many similar black entrepreneur communities operating all over the country.  And if each of us in the business world can find a way to support them, in whatever way we can, it will raise us all up.

So, my question to you is … what can you do?

Donate your money (always useful) to help underwrite similar programs in your community

Share your skills, whether it’s to lead a seminar or speak on an emerging technology

Open your networks, and introduce black entrepreneurs and community leaders to other organizations they might do business with

Pass the word on, and invite others to get involved

Volunteer

Let me know what happens!

Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-A-Lot Rocks Benaroya Hall

I recently got an email from GeekWire in which their managing editor, Taylor Soper, shared a hilarious video showing how the Seattle Symphony teamed up a few years back with Seattle’s own legendary rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot.  As part of their critically acclaimed Sonic Evolution project, the Symphony commissioned composer Gabriel Prokofiev to write a new composition inspired by Sir Mix-A-Lot, and orchestrated two of the rapper’s most famous hits, including “Baby Got Back.”

I’m sharing the video of their performance because it’s so full of joy.  And we can all use a little levity in our lives right now.  But I also want to make a point about how we as marketers can approach brand collaborations in a more innovative and powerful way.

The Symphony’s stated goal for the Sonic Evolution project is, in their words,

“To create a bridge between the Symphony and Seattle’s reputation as a launchpad for some of the most creative musicians on the popular music scene.”

This project is central to their strategy of bringing in new, younger audiences.

Compare the Symphony’s approach with a more classical (ahem) approach to brand collaborations.

U Can’t Touch This – PepsiCo’s Brand Partnership With Rapper M.C. Hammer

PepsiCo has always been an expert at brand collaborations.  When I was at Pepsi Cola International in the 90’s, Pepsi launched a hugely successful music sponsorship with M.C. Hammer.  It featured the rapper singing his mega-hit “U Can’t Touch This” in a new execution of their Pepsi: The Choice of a New Generation advertising campaign.

Pepsi Sponsors M.C. Hammer

PepsiCo brought M.C. Hammer back this year to introduce Cheetos Popcorn during Super Bowl 2020, reprising his signature hit.  Because everyone knows that if you eat Cheetos U Can’t  …

M.C. Hammer reprises his hit “U Can’t Touch This” for Cheetos Popcorn

Which Brand Collaboration Approach is Right for You?

Both collaborations involved a well established brand joining forces with a super-hot rap star to demonstrate relevance to a new, younger generation.  Both approaches were highly successful.  But they differ in how innovative the collaborations were.

At PepsiCo we used what we called “borrowed equity” to associate brand Pepsi with the most popular artists in the music scene, to appeal to younger soft drink consumers.  This strategy has served the brand well over the years. But everyone understands these are commercial tie-ins for money.

IMO, the Seattle Symphony achieved something more profound. They could have just presented rap music artists “in concert with … “ and left it at that.  But their relationship with Sir Mix-A-Lot was an authentic collaboration.  Both parties participated in creating something genuinely new, leaving both parties changed, and energizing their audience. That’s alchemy.

So when you are considering a brand collaboration, ask yourself, how can you go for alchemy?

Of course there are other ways to collaborate!  If you want to read about collaborating with customers, here you go …

There’s a Run on Flour

The first episode of King Arthur Flour’s new video series, The Isolation Baking Show, features superstar bakers Gesine Bullock-Prodo and Jeffrey Hamelman tackling biscuits and French bread.  I loved Hamelman’s comment:

“The more you bake, the more you’ll learn the language of the bread.  The bread is always talking to you.”

Imagine my distress when my sisters, who both love to bake, alerted me that their beloved King Arthur Flour Company had temporarily run out of flour. And when I tried to order flour online from my supermarket, same problem with out of stocks.  It seems a large number of people have started baking bread.  Not just the quick rise kind.  Sourdough bread, using starters that take careful feeding.  It seems that some bakers actually name their starters.

The Seattle Times confirmed this trend is real.  Nationally, “sourdough” was the #1 recipe search term March 15 – April 30.

Meanwhile More People are Gardening with Worms

A few days ago I got to catch up with my client Steve Churchill, Founder of Urban Worm Company.  His company sells everything you need to start your own worm composting system at home.  Including the worms.

Urban Worm Company’s Vermicomposting Bin

Vermicomposting has become a popular means of turning food scraps into fertile soil for sustainable gardening. Aside from the benefits of growing your own food, his customers often talk about their worms as if they were pets.  So I understand there is inherent fun involved. But Steve’s business has exploded since COVID-19 hit.

What’s going on?

“Sales this spring have been incredible, beyond the normal seasonal surge. I think people are going back to the earth, and back to the USA,” Churchill says. “I’m repatriating manufacturing to the U.S.”

And COVID-19 has shown people how fragile our food system is.

“I’m hearing from some of my customers that food is harder to come by, and reliance on others is hard to come by.”

This week Steve is presenting at Marjorie Wildcraft’s Homegrown Food Summit where virtual attendees will be able to hear experts talking about how to become free of supermarkets and sustainably grow your own food and medicine.

Both bread baking and gardening require careful nurturing.  Both bring us back to nature.  We engage in actual communication with these living entities, whether it is feeling bread dough to tell whether it’s ready to go into the oven, or watching a bin full of red wigglers to see if they are hungry.

And with COVID-19 forcing us to stay home and fend for ourselves, we are becoming a little like – dare I say it – pioneers.

Sustainability:  Will All This Baking and Digging Last?

FMI, the food industry association, and The Hartman Group are tracking consumer changes as a result of COVID-19.  The most recent wave of research reveals that a whopping 76% of consumers have changed how they eat due to COVID-19.  41% report cooking more of their meals.  And 36% say they are following healthier eating habits.*

Meanwhile, sustainability has been a long term macro trend.  The Hartman Group’s syndicated research and long-standing datasets show how consumers views of sustainability have changed over time.  In 2007 the term “sustainability” was little used by consumers.  By 2019 it’s a cultural value and defining concern:

“Sustainability … touches on powerful ideals around honoring our connections with nature and one another.  It speaks to the hopes – and fears – we have for the world we leave to generations that follow us.”

So I am wondering what will happen after COVID-19 is contained and people go back to work.  Will we take our rediscovered gardening and baking habits with us?  Will what we have learned during lock-down help us better understand what it means to follow a sustainable path?

For those who got a taste for communing with nature, I suspect the answer is yes.

*Source:  FMI’s special U.S. Grocery trends COVID-19 Tracker conducted by FMI and The Hartman Group, April 15-25, 2020.

Calling All Food and Agriculture Entrepreneurs!

Grow-NY is a competition for startups with growth potential in food and agriculture. This includes:  physical products, hardware or software technologies, food, fuels, fibers, raw materials, and processes or systems. The startup must operate in the Grow-NY region for at least 12 months.

Deadline for submissions is July 15.  Finalists will get help in the form of mentorship, pitch training and a 3-day business development trip to the region to network with potential partners.

$3MM Dollar Ag-Tech Competition – $1MM Top Prize

2019 winners included a wild and wonderful range of ideas:

• Real Eats, a healthy meal delivery service – $1,000,000
• Dropcopter, automated pollination of orchard crops using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) – $500,000
• Tiliter, software that uses AI and machine learning to automatically identify products (this is a Red Delicious apple, not a Pink Lady apple) – $500,000
• Capro-X, a system that turns Greek yogurt whey into bio-oil – $250,000
• Combplex, laser technology that eliminates mites that can devastate honeybee hives – $250,000
• The Perfect Granola, a food company that helps those in need and empowers the underserved – $250,000
• Whole Healthy Food, a natural way to reduce your body’s carbohydrate/calorie intake without changing your diet – $250,000

Continuing to Build on Unique Local Strengths

Source: The History Center

I not only went to Cornell twice, but I was born in Ithaca NY.  So I have many happy memories of visiting my grandparents there as a child.  For most of these halcyon years the Ithaca area was thriving, with companies like Smith Corona, National Cash Register, and Ithaca Gun.  But when these companies left or went out of business in the 70’s and ‘80’s, they took a large chunk of the local economy with them.

So it was extremely heartening to discover how enterprising and resilient this area actually has been over the years.

This fascinating history of Tompkins County’s entrepreneurial roots from the History Center speaks to the full range of companies that started and flourished here over the years.  Flour mills, confectioners, woolen mills, pottery works, iron bridges, iron works, calendar clocks, tobacco and cigar manufacturers, glass works, organs, bicycle chains, guns, typewriters, egg incubators, sauerkraut, silent films, pocketbooks, turbine components, cash registers, Moog synthesizers, high precision measurement tools, beer, and chocolates.

The region has always had wonderful growing conditions (the reward for its terrible winters). It also offers excellent water sources and hardworking people.  And because only Cornell University has both a top 10 agriculture program and a top 10 computer and information science program this university is uniquely able to stimulate research and innovation.  The combination is fertile, shall we say?

Grow-NY funding is provided by Empire State Development through its Upstate Revitalization Initiative. The competition will be administered by Cornell’s Center for Regional Economic Advancement.

With the Grow-NY competition now in its second year, I’m looking forward to seeing what this partnership will accomplish.

This past January I was at WeWork Labs to present to a group of maritime startups.  Just before I stood up to speak, my sponsor Elizabeth Scallon casually mentioned that I would be presenting using a digital whiteboard.  She told me I should just mark up the board with comments, and she’d send everyone the meeting notes with the full discussion.

Now normally I misunderstand or break virtually anything even vaguely mechanical.  So I was not expecting this to go well.  But the overall experience proved incredibly intuitive.  I asked Elizabeth where she found the whiteboard.  Turns out the company, Vibe, is another WeWork Labs startup; they had launched in July and were looking for user feedback.  So I wrote and asked if I could try one out.  They very kindly delivered one portable smartboard to my house for me to play with (break).

I’m sure many of you have been following the news about the spread of the Coronavirus, and the resulting advice being offered businesses.  Avoid travel, avoid in person meetings, work from home.  But the need for collaboration doesn’t stop.

I was planning to play with Vibe more before writing about it.  But given these recent headlines I thought it made more sense to let you know about the company now.  You decide if this is something you might find useful.

Didn’t mean to erase that

Whiteboards have been around since the 90’s and are used to solve problems, visualize ideas, and define workflows.

Vibe board was designed from scratch to fill a gap left behind by Samsung, Microsoft, and Google whose solutions tend to be expensive and/or restrictive. Vibe features a digital whiteboard, video conferencing, wireless screen-casting, and integrates with a wide range of third party applications (e.g. Slack, Google Drive, Office, Dropbox, Zoom) to allow teams to collaborate remotely and seamlessly at a more affordable price (under $3000).  Teams can share Vibe boards easily through a simple code – no Vibe device necessary – and Vibe keeps the content safe in the cloud.

Here’s Vibe’s take on how they compare.

Vibe feels your pain

Source: Vibe

“The problems we set out to solve were the same problems that we faced ourselves. Before Vibe was created, we used a stack of independent apps and software to collaborate across China and U.S. We wanted to create one tool – an immersive virtual environment that could enable effortless communication from anywhere, all with a dash of magic — kind of like our product’s namesake, the “vibes” of the Harry Potter universe.”  Charles Yang, founder and CEO

Vibe is actively working with customers on new feature requests.  So if you have been considering using a digital white board for collaborating during Coronavirus, now might be the time to act.

*This Nobel Prize winner wrote Love in the Time of Cholera which is well worth reading.