Insurance Incident App

NEED
If you have ever been in an accident you know what a hassle is to deal with all the insurance process.

DESCRIPTION
An app that can streamline the insurance claim process from the starting point of the crash or incident to the end.

POTENTIAL
More than 2M car crashes a year in the United State.

Parenting Platform

NEED:
I have been thinking lately that I would love to read books on parenting from the perspective of the parent and the son/daughter. Obviously this will require for the son/daughter to be of certain age to be able to bring a clear perspective. I am starting to think that even though each child is different there should be a book that could serve as a guide to how to motivate our children depending on personalities. I know that no child is equal and everybody have different personality. Nevertheless I feel that someone could try to summarize them in 2, 5, 10 personalities and write a book about how to motivate kids with similar personalities.

DESCRIPTION
This is probably a crowdsource platform. A platform that can guide parents in this difficult path of parenting. The platform basically uses the information from thousands of learning lessons from parent-child pairs. 

POTENTIAL
Difficult to assess but how many parents are they in the world?

Sharing Music Live

NEED
The idea of listening music at the same time through a smartphone without being in the same place. Like doing FaceTime but instead with music.

DESCRIPTION
It will probably be an app on your phone that can synchronize what everyone is listening in a specific channel. It is like becoming your own radio station.

POTENTIAL
"Spotify launched just over a year ago in the United States (July 14, 2011) and during that time has garnered more than three million U.S. users, with roughly 20% of them paying subscribers." by Hisham Dahud 

LinkedU for University Alumni

NEED:
Am I the only one that is tired of the alumni pages in our universities sites? Why can´t I have this information on my smartphone?

DESCRIPTION
An app the connects to all universities and gives access to the alumni data base on the credentials from the users (aka you have to be an alum of the specific university) in an easy and secure way. Think Linkedin but with your alumni network. 

POTENTIAL
Hm! difficult to assess but I need it. Hehe.

Music Launchpad

NEED
In general most songs are not communicating the right message. We are wasting a mass communication channel. Imagine if we could have a platform that could help artist co-create songs with its users or fans. Similar to the ideas behind crowd sourcing but with the artist being the mastermind behind the creation.

DESCRIPTION
It will need to be a platform similar to a kickstarter but for artistic creation where the users will have to release all rights to the artist that is managing the process. I imagine having different groups of users trying to push certain messages through music.

POTENTIAL
In 2012 the global music market represented US$16B in retail sales.

Audiobook to Text App

NEED
Everytime I am listening to a good audiobook I have a great need to be able to save parts of the text in a format that I can revisit easily.

DESCRIPTION
An app that can connects to the audiobook apps (e.g. Audible) and can get transform part of the audio clip to text format.

POTENTIAL
Probably little. [Updated] "Audiobooks are the fastest growing segment in publishing and everyone within the industry is very bullish about the future of the format.  There are a number of new start-ups that are making waves and retailers are beginning to release that audiobooks are worth investing in. The global audiobook industry is currently evaluated at 2.8 billion dollars and this is primarily due to the sheer amount of new titles that were produced in 2015. 43,000 new audiobooks were released this year, which is a slight increase from the 36,000 that came out in 2014 and a far cry from the 20,000 that were issued in 2013." by Michael Kozlowski 

Men Shirts in Volume

NEED
Everyone has a guy friend that loves to purchase two or three shirts of the exact same type and color. Others will like so much certain shoes that will buy two pairs and store one until the first pair gets ruined.

DESCRIPTION
A clothing company that targets men that purchase in bulk. So if a customer purchases one shirt it costs exactly as in other places but if he purchases more than one it gets volume discounts. Shirts that count for the volume discount have to be of the same type maybe even of the same color.  As I think about this it may not even need to be a clothing company but an aggregator that purchases in bulk to different brands.

POTENTIAL
Menswear Will Contribute US$40 Billion Sales in the Global Apparel Market by 2019 [Updated]

TV Streaming Device

[UPDATE: Chromecast was release days after this post. Probably this is exactly what I meant with my post]

NEED
I keep wondering when are we getting a small device that can help me project things from my phone to the TV. It could get connected to some input plug in my TV. Probably the HDMI or even the VGA. I would love to be able to stream videos or even movies from my laptop too. I know I have AppleTV and other but I want something more simple that I can take on my trips.

DESCRIPTION
Small device that hopefully does not need any electrical connection (i.e. it has a small battery included like the remote control of the AppleTV) and that serves as a bridge between computers/laptops/phones and TVs.

POTENTIAL
Apple TV sales surpass 13 million, 'about half' sold this year

Sports Video Content Aggregator

NEED
I have always had some difficult time finding quality videos of the highlights of the key soccer matches around the world. The best solution is to search on youtube. I am sure there are several hundred thousand (or even million) fans that would love to have a site that aggregates quality sports video clips.

DESCRIPTION
Probably something like VIMEO but for sports. It should be multi-platform with key features like easy to search. Revenue would come from advertising and a freemium model.  Probably start with one sport in specific that is relatively global: Soccer (aka Football).

POTENTIAL
2014 FIFA World Cup™ reached 3.2 billion viewers, one billion watched final. [Updated]

ZipCar Systems to Open Your Home

Need

Ok, if you have not seen my previous post, please check it out before reading this one because this idea is just a "sub-idea" to my previous post: http://www.marceloburbano.com/2013/08/zipcar-system-for-individuals.html

The need is similar to my previous post. I am tired of looking for my keys to open my home. Can we put the opening system in my wallet or anything that I am wearing (e.g. my watch)? Given that I only really know about the ZipCar system to open car doors I am going to follow my instinct that the first global/massive way to open home doors would look like a cardkey.

Description

Bla, bla, bla... you know how it is going to look like if you read my previous post. The only piece that is different is the third party installer. In this case I am thinking of two types: the security companies that install the alarms in every developing country (and some developed countries now that inequality is rising) or the companies that offer security doors (those doors that are not your regular "Joe Door" but made of steal and very very difficult to open if you do not have the key).

Potential

Again... bla, bla, bla... if this worked for cars... hmm let me think, is there more homes that cars?... yeap! ok so you see my point on "potential".

ZipCar System for Individuals

Need

Why do we keep using keys to enter cars? Isn´t there a better way? Wait! How long have ZipCar existed? Why haven´t we adopted ZipCar way of opening cars? Imagine having 2,3,4 cards to open the same car. In a family of 3+ this is a constant battle. In countries that have a lot of traffic and laws to limit the cars on the road (e.g. Mexico, Colombia, Chile, etc.), people have the additional problem that need to switch cars every other day, this is a very tedious task when you only have one key for each car.

Description

Get the ZipCar system of opening car doors. Create an "Initiating Kit" that local repair/garage shop can install pretty easily with some instructions. Probably consider signing up some local repair/garage shop at the beginning to guarantee the quality of the installation. 

Potential

Charge for the "Initiating Kit", for extra cards and configuration. I am thinking we can probably charge US$20 per "Initiating Kit" without the installation and US$5 per new keycard. Only in Bogota, Colombia, we have a million cars on the road. Assuming you can expand to 100 cities like Bogota in the world this is a US$2.5B market. At some point, we can make this system pretty competitive and good so we can sell it to car manufacturers directly.

UrGift Demo Day Video

I wanted to share with you the video of the presentation of UrGift at Wayra´s Demo Day (in Spanish):

Published on YouTube.com on Feb 27, 2013

UrGift.in es una aplicación móvil en la industria de "social gifting", que le permite a los usuarios compartir su Wish List, para que los amigos puedan escoger y enviar regalos deseados y útiles, de una forma muy sencilla y desde su Iphone. Los usuarios pueden regalar de formar individual o invitar a otros amigos a contribuir para un regalo de grupo. Inicialmente UrGift.In compartirá el Amazon Wish List pero en el futuro UrGift.In se conectará con otros online retailers y otros servicios de wish list. UrGift.In es una de las startups aceleradas por Wayra Colombia para la clase de 2012. También fue ganadora del INNPulsa_MassChallenge Pitch Competition en MassChallenge en Boston en Octubre de 2012, la aceleradora de negocios mas grande del mundo.

The Crunchbase for Colombia Startups and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Need

I have been talking with @vickyricaurte, InnPulsa, MinTic and Wayra Colombia about the critical need of understanding our tech-based entrepreneurial ecosystem in Colombia. We do not have a clear map of the entire system. We do not know:

1. Which are the STARTUPS in this space in Colombia
2. What are the ACCELERATOR programs that could potentially support these startups
3. Who are the INVESTORS interested in this space

Description

Basically we need a platform that is crowdsourced similar to a CrunchBase (CrunchBase is the free database of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit.). Of course we need a platform in Spanish with certain traction at the beginning. 

I was hoping someone reading this blog will love to start this project with Vicky and I. We promise it won´t take too much time. It is probably something that we can start in our spare time. If you are interested please write a comment below.

Potential

Hmm... this one is probably for the good of humanity, unless we can build something like TechCrunch around it. We can use TechCrunch as a proxy adjusting for the fact that TechCrunch´s market is the US and our platform´s market would be Colombia. AOL purchased TechCrunch for US$30M and Colombia´s GDP is around 2% of the USA´s GDP, then our platform if it has a successful blog attached to it can be worth US$600K (Wow!). In conclusion, this one is probably for the good of Colombia. Uhh! maybe we can get some seed money from the government (¿?)...

Unified Seed Accelerator Application form

Finally a Consolidated Form

Accelerato.rs has created a Unified Seed Accelerator Application form that is accepted in several startup accelerators including TechStars. Check it out.

Hopefully Wayra.org will join this Unified Seed Accelerator Application form.

UrGift.In is a reality!

An Update for UrGift.In (www.UrGift.In)

Since its foundation -soon after my first post, @vickyricaurte and I (@marceloburbano) have dedicated part of our lives to our Start-up. In May, we won a spot on the 2012 Wayra class. Wayra is an accelerator created by Telefonica.

In December 2012, We launched our iOS app and closed our seed-capital round. 2013 is going to be our year. Wish us luck! @urgiftin

Crowd-Reviews for Services that Need to Be Reviewed Almost Daily

Need

I have been suffering from very poor cellphone service in Colombia. It appears that there is no good cellphone provider in Latin America, all providers are regionals and every provider has some type of problem with its infrastructure. When I am in Bogota it is very common to hear people complaining about their mobile providers but despite complaints there is NO other choice. The biggest problem is that you actually do not know which provider is better. This is a huge problem because you end up choosing a provider because of a specific discount or promotion or even worse because of an anecdote by a friend.

There is a clear need to have a platform that can compile reviews for services that are really hard to measure. This is not about a specific product that reviewers can buy and just comment on it pretty quickly. This is about reviewing services that can change on daily basis. Services that need to be reviewed every day of the year.

Description

Imagine if we could have a platform that can compile review for specific services. These reviews will be generated by the same people that are complaining about the service on a very specific format that has to be reviewed by an internal team from the platform. 

Let me explain it better by using an example. I want to know which cellphone provider is the best in terms of quality of calls, quality of data connection and customer service (just to mention three very relevant topics). The platform will be open to collect reviews under a very specific format. In this case I can see how to be able to upload a review you need to have three other friends with a different cellphone provider. The review will be relatively easy to make. It is a video of the three friends trying to call someone from the same location to test quality of calls. Then a video of those three friends trying to use their data plan (e.g. using skype, or sending a large file on whatsapp, etc.). Then a video of those three friends trying to call customer service to claim the same problem. People can upload just a video per topic, do not need to cover all topics. The idea behind the video and the simultaneous reviews is to guarantee the veracity of all reviews.

Potential

The business model is probably similar to TripAdvisor, using the platform to sell services or charging for advertising. In terms of numbers I do not have a clue but it feels that it can be a big market. 

Coordinate the less sophisticated public transportation

Need

I have recently noticed that there is no app to coordinate the bus system in places like Bogota where the system is NOT all centralized. I have to explain how the system works here in Bogota for everybody to understand. There are two bus systems in Bogota, one that is coordinated by a private-public partnership (TransMilenio) and the other that is a collection of private providers with their own buses (Lets call the second one TransOld for easy understanding). For TransMilenio you have a couple of apps that can tell you about how the system works but nothing that actually tracks where the different buses are. For TransOld is even worst because there each provider has their own way to coordinate the buses. That means that you will find a person hired by the provider every X kilometers controlling how the bus drivers are doing in terms of  time-to-the-next bus. As a user you do not have a clue about when is the next bus going to arrive. Keep in mind that buses from the TransOld system stop wherever they want not at your usual BusStop making the entire process even more desorganized.

Description

The idea is pretty simple. Build an app that can help both private providers of the TransOld system and users of the system. For the providers the app will help them track their own buses and coordinate them via cellphone. For the users the app will show them where the bus is on the map. The app will allow specific searches so you can find out which bus you need to take to go to X location. Then it will tell you where the closest bus is and how much time do you have before it gets there (probably with some connection with Waze for traffic). We can probably do some type of similar app for the Transmilenio, not to help the provider but to help the users in real time. 

Potential

I am actually not sure about the business model here. We can probably charged the provider some amount that can be less than the salary of the people he hires to do the job now. From the users perspective, we can probably charge for the premium app giving them a basic app for free. The business model is limited to the amount of people that have smartphones (I am guessing) and the amount of people that will invest in the premium app. Assuming that the TransOld system transports half of the passenger of the Transmilenio that means 2.5M people in Bogota, the revenue from app sales will be at probably around US$1M. We will probably need to charge US$0.99 every year to give the users the necessary updates. The revenue from the providers is a little bit more difficult to calculate. Assuming (a) that each provider has at least one person controlling the process right now at minimum salary (US$250/month), and (b) that TransOld has at least the same amount of the buses that Transmilenio (~2K), the subscription revenue will be US$6M a year. Now, imagine in how many cities you can introduce this system and multiple our US$7M by that number. It is probably a US$100M business just in Latin America.

Enterprise App for the Masses

Need:

I have been reading lately about the new trend for 2013 in app development will be Enterprise Applications. As the Weopedia describes it: "An enterprise application is the term used to describe applications -- or software -- that a business would use to assist the organization in solving enterprise problems. When the word "enterprise" is combined with "application," it usually refers to a software platform that is too large and too complex for individual or small business use."

There is a big argument about how Enterprise App are going to become the norm in the future given the raise of Digital Natives (Update Nov 2012: Read this for an explanation on Digital Natives). Read this article (Digital natives and enterprise consumerization? It's simple as ABC) by Jonny Evans at CITEWorld about how (and why) the new generation (Digital Natives) are going to require a different type of Enterprise App, if you want more explanation.

I believe there is a big need for a simple plug-and-play Enterprise App that any medium and small business can implement. The need that I am describing is for small or less sophisticated business (i.e. Businesses in the developing world).

Description:

Imagine a tablet enterprise app (probably starting with iOS) that any IT guy can connect to the database of the company to extract few but key metrics from the company´s accounting system. Maybe even something as simple to converting an excel file to a beautiful dashboard in your iPad. Something that the executives, leaders and managers at the company will appreciate to see everyday in their tablets. We do not need to start with something very sophisticated (e.g. do not try to have an app that automatically links to the company´s database). If we make it pretty simple (e.g. linking the app dashboard to an excel that the IT guy can configure himself and linking it the app), the price for this app can be really inexpensive (thus my title: For the Masses).

Potential:

Lets assume that we can charge something like $1 for each "client" app and $25 for each "server" app (Client–server model). The company will need one "server" app that is managed by the IT guy and multiple "client" apps for the managers. Lets assume that in average each company will have one "server" app and five "client" apps. That makes it $30 per company. If we think we can capture a million companies with this app we can generate $30M in revenues.

Now, it may make more business sense to sell it as a SaaS instead of a one-time sale but I am not sure how use to buying SaaS are small and medium business in developing countries. This business model will probably make more money if it ramps up. I am just afraid that it won´t catch fire without a large investment in marketing. The other model (one-time sale) it may more sense to have it catch fire. Maybe after it catches fire we can implement some additional services to the mix.

The Start-up Mentor Network

(Update 08/19/2013)

I just heard about another service that is not that old that provides a very cool service: Clarity ("Make faster & better decisions to grow your business. Clarity is your lifeline that instantly connects you with battle-tested advice from entrepreneurs..."). Here is a link to a TechCrunch article that gives a pretty good explanation about Clarity: http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/03/clarity-mobile-mentorship-app/

(Update: 02/19/2013)

Interesting enough I just run into an initiative that is trying to do exactly what I was suggesting (HighTable). HighTable is not a new company, is actually pretty old (I believe it was founded before 2011) but I did not know about it until know. HighTable is a subsidiary of GLG.

(Original Date: 8/4/2012)

Need

Clearly with the new wave of start-up accelerators there is a need for quality mentors. Some accelerators have their own networks to tap into their quality mentors but as this space grows, getting quality mentors across different fields in different geographies gets more and more complicated.

Description

Similar to the expert network created by Gerson Lehrman Group, there is an opportunity to create a Mentors Network that will follow the same rules.

From the Mentors Perspective

• You sign up to the platform and are evaluated to determine your field and level of expertise
• The platform will share with you the "projects" that require your field and level of expertise
• You negotiate and get pay for your time

From the Accelerator (or any other entity that needs mentors) Perspective

• You pay a small subscription fee to get access to the platform
• You search on the platform for the right mentor
• You negotiate and pay your mentor

The business model is simple. The platform gets the subscription fee. The mentor gets the payment negotiated with the accelerator. The accelerator gets a quality mentor in any field in any geography.

Potential

I am going to forget about the payment for the mentor given that the platform does not get any piece of that (as of right now). If what you read in Wikipedia is true, there were around 200 accelerators around the world in 2011. That is probably without counting the small local accelerators that nobody writes about (another 100). Lets imagine that the accelerator world has double since then (that is what has happened in Latin America at least) that means that there are 600 accelerators with classes of ~10 startups. 

Now there are some established companies that probably need mentors too to innovate, change directions, safe the company, etc (yeah! like a consultant for hire... but lets just bare with me). From the non-sophisticated to the very sophisticated, from the tiny to the huge, from the simple to the complex, companies are always looking for someone that can help with change in a very specific field. 

Lets assume that you can charge each client a fixed annual fee of $10K (probably it makes more sense to have different prices for different type of companies but lets just assume this so we can do the math quickly).

In the worse case scenario you the market is just $6M ($10K x 600). But if this model can capture more than just accelerators it can be a billion dollar market.

Why a ZipCar when you can have a ZipTaxi?

[Update: January 2013]

After the recent announcement of AVIS acquiring ZipCar,  I have to assume that management thought that the best outcome for the company was to sell itself to a bigger company and not to continue to open cities around the world. Why is that?

[Originally Published: July 2012]

Need

Some developing countries are considering implementing the ZipCar model to improve mobility in big cities. I believe that in certain cities like Bogota, implementing a ZipCar model could be too complex and costly for the investor. Nevertheless there is still a need to move around the city for periods of time that can be more than just a ride in a taxi.

Description

What about if we create a subscription model for taxis? Instead of paying for a ride you pay a subscription a months for certain amount of time. There has to be some capabilities that the model needs to provide to be successful in a city like Bogota:

1. Security: the start-up has to provide secure rides for passengers. The model will need a system that provides this features (e.g. like a code or something)

2. Reliability: the start-up needs to make sure that taxis are always available even at peak hours. I believe you can achieve this if the system relies in technology to be more efficient in terms of number of taxis available in a specific zone and trying to match previous historical patterns. I believe that if you take a set of passengers and analyze their taxi usage you are going to find that the majority of their trip were to/from the same locations.

3. Simplicity:  the subscription model has to be pretty simple and you should be able to manage everything from your smartphone. The subscription model will probably have two parts to the equation: One that covers the "taxi base" (i.e. amount of money that you need to pay the taxi driver to have him/her participate in the program and connect to the system) and the other that covers the actual system (i.e. you probably need to develop an app and maintain some type of system or platform, that will cost you money).

Potential:

Let me just calculate the potential only for Bogota (then you can assume that there are X cities like Bogota and just get the overall world number for this idea). In Bogota there are 8M people. Lets assume that the same wealth distribution exist in Bogota than in the country. Following government data 1% of the population in Colombia makes between US$1000 and US$3500 a month. I believe this group will be our core group (plus students) given that they do not have enough money to purchase a second car (to avoid "pico y placa"). That means that there is a potential customer base of 80,000 people.

Lets assume that this people have to taxi every other day (because of the "pico y placa") and that they pay for a round trip. In average cab fares should be around US$5 per trip. That means that this people will spend around US$1,560 a year (52 wks x $30 -assuming that some weeks you have more than 2 days of "pico y placa")

80K x US$1.5K = US$120M a year