Time estimates that about 400,000 small businesses start up annually, creating about 40-60% of all new jobs in the US alone. The New Year is a time to reflect on the biggest trends shaping the corporate world.
Showing posts with label Crowd funding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crowd funding. Show all posts
Monday, December 18, 2017
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
The process of starting a new business can be exhilarating. But there are mundane requirements that you will have to fulfill before you can venture into the world of business. One such important facet is getting the requisite funding to get your startup off the ground.
There are a lot of financing options available today, but not all of them will fit into your overall goal or plan. It is imperative that you understand your business needs first.
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Before making the big decision
You need to ask yourself fundamental questions. How much money do you require to start? Do you have any assets already? How much of your own money can you invest? Answering these important questions and more will ensure that you make the right choice when the moment comes. Let’s explore some of the financial options at your disposal.Five financing options
1. Commercial loans
Commercial loans are usually the first choice that comes to the minds of most borrowers. Bank loans have their upsides and downsides, but banking regulations have made this a safer option for most people. We can categorize commercial loans into long-term loans, which cater for large expenses such as acquiring fixed assets, and short-term loans that you can use for day-to-day expenses. However, most banks are wary of financing small businesses, and commercial loans may not be a practical option.
2. Equity investment
If debt is not your cup of tea, you should consider equity financing as an option for financing your business. The option allows your business to get funding from an investor, but there’s a catch: You have to relinquish part of your ownership to the investor. Investors usually bring their business acumen and experience to the table. How much you are willing to give and at what price should be the deciding factor.
3. Self-financing
There are benefits to using your savings to fund your business. Granted, you might not be able to finance your startup 100% using your own money, but you should endeavor to fund 25 to 50% of it from your pocket. It will not only guarantee your equity in the business but will also show potential investors that you are willing to take the risk and are committed to the cause.
4. Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding has increasingly become popular in recent years. This option may not have seemed realistic a couple of years back, but it has become a viable financing option for many businesses today. The advantage with crowdfunding is that you don’t need to give up equity or pay back the money. However, most people struggle in gaining traction. This option may only work if your products and services appeal to millennials.
5. Friends and family
Think about it. The people who will most likely buy into your vision and support it are those closest to you. There is a significant downside to taking this route, of course. You run the risk of ruining personal relationships that you hold dear. To avoid unnecessary fights and disagreements, ensure that you have a structured agreement beforehand.How to ensure you secure that loan
Lenders care about their money, and they are not just going to lend it to anyone who comes knocking. If you are serious about financing your business venture, you need to position yourself as a creditworthy borrower. There are four crucial things that lenders look for when evaluating a loan application.- Cash flow
It will be measured using your cash flow forecast in the business plan.
- Collateral
- Commitment
- Character
The first step you should take in your business is to have a solid business plan. It will make it easier for the lender to trust you. Choosing the right financial option will have a long-lasting impact on the success of your business. You should do thorough research and deliberate over the issue before arriving at a decision.
By  Robert Cordray | Embed |
Bio Rob is a writer from Albany, New York. He specializes in business, adventure, and self-help articles. | |
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Digital Assitants
The developers of Cubic are promising a personal AI with a personality. Control your devices, apps, and services from anywhere, by simply speaking to your digital friend. |
Cubic is another soon-to-be released player in the growing field of digital assistants.
The system won't just be an app for your smartphone, or a device stationed in your kitchen. Two hardware platforms are being developed: the "home cube" and the "power badge." This means unlike Amazon's Echo, Cubic will be able to work both at home and on the go.
The app won't just give you canned answers to trivia questions or directions either. Cubic can connect with and operate all the devices, apps and services in your life: your car, your smartphone, your smartwatch.
Cubic can remember your patterns and connect faraway. Forget to turn off the lights in your house when you left for work this morning? Cubic will turn them off remotely. Want the temperature to be automatically lowered each night before you turn in for bed?
Cubic promises a seamless user experience too. Start a conversation on one device, and continue to another without missing a beat.
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The unique features of the device include patented long-range voice recognition system with a range of 25 feet, patented multi-topic conversation support system, patented Cubic intelligence core that has the ability to learn favorite topics, interests and others. The Smart Badge feature allows control from anywhere along with integration with more than 50 apps.
Cubic can connect to, keeping track of such details as how many calories you burned in the day; even all of your social networking sites are Cubic-friendly, as Cubic will tweet a funny joke you made, or email a friend.
Sounds a lot like a character from a science fiction film, doesn't it?
"We saw J.A.R.V.I.S. – with his quick remarks, omnipresence, and cross-device capability – and we thought, “That’s it! That’s what we’re shooting for.” And so we set out to make it happen," claim the developers.
Perhaps you have a vision of a different AI character?
"We look forward to working with this brilliant community to make Cubic even smarter, faster, and more capable over time." |
Cubic’s open API will allow developers, coders, and even fans to add to Cubic’s capability in the future.
"We look forward to working with this brilliant community to make Cubic even smarter, faster, and more capable over time," state the developers. "We know that virtually nothing is beyond our collective reach - incredible new devices created specifically for Cubic, new apps and skills that will make Cubic more powerful than before, and so much more."
Cubic is set for release early next year. Currently, initial crowd funders on IndieGoGo are grabbing some of the first Cubic units to be shipped.
SOURCE Cubic Robotics on Indiegogo
| By 33rd Square | Embed |
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Film
| Orb tells the story of a mother who just lost her child however she is given the chance to bring him back to life and make him immortal through a technology that enhances human life span. |
Orb is a short science fiction film by director Darine Hotait that questions our understanding of the repulsion between mortality and immortality— two extremities of thought in our nature. Orb tells the story of a mother who just lost her child however she is given the chance to bring him back to life and make him immortal through a technology that enhances human life span.
"We think we die. We fear to let go. We think to ourselves, 'Can we become immortal?' Have you ever wished to be immortal?" |
The director is looking to crowd fund the project through Zoomaal.
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The New York-based award winning screenwriter, film director and short story writer Hotait received her MFA in Film directing from Art Center College of Design in California and is the founder of Cinephilia Productions, an independent film production company.
| By 33rd Square | Embed |
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Artificial Intelligence
| MAKO is an artificial intelligence system created by 18 year old high school student, Michael Ghandhour. The system, now being crowd funded, is said to be faster and more accurate than Apple's Siri. |
Developed by an 18 year old high school student, MAKO is an artificial intelligence system that looks to be the big brother to Siri for your PC.
Michael Ghandour, who programmed MAKO is still a student at Don Antonio Lugo Highschool in California. His passion since he was 10 years old has been programming. When he was just 11 years old he developed his own video game strictly by java programming language, and raised enough money selling virtual goods on his game that he got his car when he was 14 years old.
“I was thinking, ‘Why wasn’t something like this in the market?’ I thought this would be a great technology for people to have,” he told the Daily Bulletin.
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"I developed MAKO to revolutionize the way we interact with technology," states Ghandour. His vision for MAKO is to see that it is implemented on every PC in the nation. He especially wants it to be implemented to people who have disabilities so they may benefit from it's features.
The startup was well on it's way to getting crowd funding through Kickstarter, but due to a mix-up with the Ghandour family accounts, the funding project has been restarted at Indieogogo.
One of the main questions regarding the application is how is MAKO different from Siri and other speech recognition programs?
"This question has been brought to our attention many times, and we wanted to clarify. MAKO is an artificial intelligence program, and so is Siri and Svoice, but MAKO is much smarter," say the developers on their Indigogo website. "It has a biometrics system in which it is capable of learning thousands of names and voices, which MAKO analyzes and uses to grow its knowledge. It can recognize and speak to five or more different people at once and not get confused."
Monday, July 15, 2013
Gadgets
| What if your pen told you you were making a spelling mistake like your word processor does now? A new Kickstarter crowd funding project called 'Lernstift' wants to develop a pen that does just that. |
When you were learning to write, what if your pen told you you were making a spelling mistake like your word processor does now? A new Kickstarter crowd funding project called 'Lernstift' wants to develop a pen that does it.
Where current digital pens use optical sensors to pick up the writing movements and digitize the words or sketches for computer use. Some of them require external devices. Others only work with specialty paper.
Lernstift is different. It requires none of those. According to the developers, it's the first truly intelligent pen because all the tech and software is built-in. It can be used with apps but it doesn't depend on them.
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There are three different methods to process the sensor data for the handwriting recognition engine. Lernstift's solution is a math calculation that generates a 2D path (the usual shape of handwritten letters). Getting that clear and precise 2D path is tricky because of sensor noise and a few mathematical "problems".
The start up isn't developing the handwriting recognition itself, but is working with partners to develop the software for the pen. The engine is tried and tested on millions of tablets and smartphones around the world, but the application in the pen has its own requirements.
The team looks to have the pen released for mass production by Q1 of 2014.
Monday, June 24, 2013
| Seeking to dramatically lower the cost of 3D printing and expand 3D printing use, Pirate3D from Singapore has blown away its Kickstarter goals and looks to release the Buccaneer 3D printer later this year for under $350 USD. |
C rowd funding has propelled 3D printer startup Pirate3D to over $1 million dollars of funding on Kickstarter — more than ten times their goals.
The Singapore-based company, Pirate3D promises that its 3D printer, The Buccaneer, will now support ABS material.
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We at Pirate3D are creating a full 3D printing solution for home consumers. We want this technology to be freely available to everyone (at great and affordable prices!) and also easy to use (great user experience!). Our long term mission is to be innovative at every level of 3D printing, from object design all the way to printing.To this end, Pirate3D has even presented a spec sheet that puts the price of the Buccaneer way below that of another well known (and recently acquired) low-cost 3D printer platform, the Makerbot Replicator 2:
SOURCE Kickstarter
| By 33rd Square | Subscribe to 33rd Square |
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Main Label
| ReasonTV's Tracy Oppenheimer caught up with Salim at the 2013 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, CA to discuss crowd funding, the next steps in technological expansion, and how we've entered the age of an information-based environment. |
ReasonTV's Tracy Oppenheimer caught up with Salim at the 2013 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, CA to discuss crowd funding, the next steps in technological expansion, and how we've entered the age of an information-based environment.
"All of the structures that we use to run the world today— our civics, our politics, our legal systems, healthcare, education— are all structured for a world 100 or 200 years ago, not for the world of today. So we think we're in for a lot of disruption," says Salim Ismail, founding director of Singularity University.
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Singularity University's academic programs strive to "educate, inspire and empower leaders to apply exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges."
SOURCE Reason.com
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