Thursday, March 22, 2012

Bucky Box: Feeding the World Locally-Grown Food

If you’re an independent farmer selling directly to consumers, you probably spent a lot of your workweek consumed by administrative work. In an era when more and more people are buying local, admin work can overwhelm day-to-day farming operations, which is where Bucky Box comes in.

Founded by Will Lau in late 2011, Bucky Box’s goal is to make organic, local farming a more viable and economically sensible option than industrial farming. What began as a separate project, Ooooby Box, needed something to coordinate the many, many different subscribers; Bucky Box was designed to handle any number of subscribers quickly and easily. Not only can the service take care of local business, it is scalable to a worldwide level. It saves, on average, a fully day of administrative work a week. And much of Bucky Box’s profits are reinvested into organic farming projects and research, food awareness and education.

Bucky Box makes billing and delivery logistics a snap. Using the program, farmers can even forecast changes for its customers and billing to help to avoid cash crunches. It charges per delivery only, and although the service is still in its beta phase its users are already singing its praises. In creating Bucky Box, Lau wanted to level the playing field between local, independent farmers and their industrial cousins, as well as decrease the harmful effect widespread industrial farming and fertilizing can have.

The current food systems too often shut out smaller farms since it is simpler for merchants to deal with a single farm, industrial farming can flourish. Bucky Box gives smaller farmers the tools industrial farmers already use; that way they can create new, local food systems. Thanks to Lau and his small team at Bucky Box, local farmers are empowered to broaden their reach, increase their profits, and change the world.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Making Fashion Work for You: StyleOwner

What do you get when you mix social networking with department store shopping? The new startup, StyleOwner. The site allows its users to make their own stores through which they can sell items for a ten percent commission; the stores can be customized from their layout to whether or not music plays when someone visits. With more than two thousand brands to choose from, StyleOwner makes it easy to share your fashion and style with everyone around you.

Since its founding in 2010, StyleOwner has accumulated more than $2 million in funding. Its founder, Joel Weingarten, previously worked for the Department of Defense and learned direct selling in high school.

StyleOwner encourages its users to engage with their entrepreneurial spirits. It takes social networking and advertising to the next level, making online shopping more tailored to an individual’s likes; not much different from having a personal shopper. The site also allows store owners to give back: with a click, they can give all of their proceeds to charities.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Steven Pinkert of Pinkert & Marsh, P.A.


A boutique law firm located in Coral Gables, Florida, Pinkert & Marsh, P.A. maintains a reputation as one of the region’s leading legal practices, providing general counsel and litigation support with a focus on comprehensive accountability, detailed accuracy, and professional integrity. Overseen by Managing Partners Steven Pinkert and Calrie Marsh, the firm employs an extremely capable staff of attorneys with extensive backgrounds in business and administrative law, commercial litigation, patents and trademarks, products liability, medical malpractice, and criminal defense, among other areas.

Steven Pinkert entered into the legal profession as a mid-life career transition, an endeavor he chose to undertake after acquiring an extensive resume as a behavioral psychiatrist. Prior to establishing Pinkert & Marsh, he served as an Associate at Kaye, Rose & Partners, LLP, a practice well known for its work on cases that deal with complex medical and psychiatric issues. Steven Pinkert holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Miami, a degree he received in 2001 in addition to a Juris Doctor that he earned in 1998. In addition to the large roster of clients he represents at Pinkert & Marsh, Mr. Pinkert acts as a consultant for U.S. companies seeking entry into China’s quickly growing consumer markets. He also facilitates key acquisition projects for Signum U.S. Healthcare, Inc., a recognized leader in the medical technology sector.

Calrie Marsh completed her Juris Doctor and Certificate in International Law at Nova Southeastern University, an academic institution located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Like Steven Pinkert, Ms. Marsh is a highly qualified Patent Attorney with a solid foundation in general civil litigation, bar admissions, and bar grievances. A Title Agent affiliated with the Attorney’s Title Insurance Fund, Ms. Marsh also specializes in intellectual property law and transactional law.

Kiva: Financing Dreams

How much money does it take to change someone’s life? If the first number that came to mind was in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, you may be surprised to find that the number is much, much lower. Thanks to Kiva Microfinace, you can change someone’s life for as little as $25. Since its founding in 2005, the San Francisco-based company has facilitated $292 million in loans in more than sixty countries worldwide and can boast a higher than ninety-eight percent repayment rate. Kiva wants to create a world where everyone has the ability to create opportunity for themselves and for others.

Making a loan through Kiva is simple: one hundred percent of your loan amount is passed on to one of 147 microfinance institutions, called Field Partners, across the world; the money is then administered to people in need who either do not have access to traditional banking systems or who cannot get loans through traditional banking systems. All of loans made through Kiva use PayPal, which does not deduct fees as it normally does.

Kiva, which means “unity” in Swahili, was founded by Matt Flannery, who now works as its Chief Executive Officer, and Jessica Jackley, who spent time in East Africa helping local entrepreneurs start small businesses. During their time there, they found out just how difficult it is for people to start business ventures due to a lack of startup capital. Inspired, they founded Kiva soon after.

Today, most of Kiva’s loans are made to struggling international entrepreneurs. It has made the process of person-to-person lending easier for both the investor and the entrepreneur, who now has access to financing means which would otherwise be unavailable. And although Kiva has made great strides toward achieving its goal of worldwide opportunity, they plan to continually expand their reach and to make the lending process more secure than ever before.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

crowdSPRING: Changing the Design World

Whether a business is large and established or small and just starting out -- or anywhere in between -- chances are good that its logo or web design could use a facelift. Design services can cost a lot of money, money that the business may not have.  But the business doesn’t need to give up just because its pockets are a little on the empty side; simply log onto crowdSPRING, describe your project, business, audience, and price quote, and designers all over the world will respond.

For nonprofits, the benefits of using crowdSPRING go beyond a low-cost logo: registered nonprofits get their work done pro bono. Ross Kimbarovsky, the site’s co-founder, emphasizes that the money the nonprofit would have spent on logo or web design can now be used for charitable work, making it a good deal for every one.

Although not everyone sees crowdSPRING’s work in a positive light -- the major argument against the site’s services is that it devalues the work done by trained, professional designers with traditional contracts -- with almost seventy thousand people competing for projects, it’s hard to argue with its success.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Project Frog Leaps Ahead with Green Building

Project Frog is on a mission to make the world a better place with their technologically-advanced prefab homes. Not only can the flat-shipped pieces be assembled into a livable home in less than a month, every component is designed and selected to be the most suitable to each location and living condition. Since the selection of Ann Hand as Chief Executive Officer in 2009, Project Frog has expanded its scope to include buildings like schools, workplace environments, and retail spaces, in addition to its roster of adaptable homes.
Most recently, Project Frog was the recipient of $22 million of funding from General Electric and its venture capital partners. The green building company -- every structure is eligible for a certified green building rating from day one -- plans to use that to further expand the types of buildings it offers. With its track record and a bright future ahead of it, Project Frog is well poised to revolutionize the building industry.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Edward Wimmer Helps Athletes with Road ID

For athletes in training, accidents are too often a fact of life. Edward Wimmer learned that the hard way when, in 1999, he was run off a road by an oncoming truck while he was training for a marathon. He was not wearing identification, and no one knew where he was. The close call inspired him to create Road ID, a line of athlete-friendly identification. The first design was inspired by military dog tags, but today they offer velcro-strapped and rubberized band designs. In addition to the wrist and ankle options, Road ID also sells shoe pouches and Road ID for dog collars.

Users rave about the benefits of the product: in a post-accident daze, they don’t need to worry about remembering important names and telephone numbers, and emergency responders can quickly and easily learn about relevant allergies. Wimmer worked closely with emergency services educators to ensure that the Road ID was easy for responders to use and designed to fit the most relevant information.

Since 2002, Road ID’s revenue has increased fifty percent each year, a trend Wimmer expects to continue for the next three to five years. Part of Road ID’s success is its aggressive marketing strategy. Not only does Wimmer’s company sponsor as many as eight thousand running and cycling events, but they connect with their customers through Facebook and Twitter. Every customer gets a discount code that they can share with as many people as they want to for up to thirty days; in this way, Road ID turns its customers into advocates.

Customers use the distinctive Road ID for more than emergency identification, it helps them find other like-minded people to train with. Road ID’s success is not only good for the company, but also for the people who use the product; accidents may never go away, but with the Road ID, delayed treatment and identification are less of a problem.