Hot Startups - VaultBox

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.


http://vaultbox.me/

If losing your belongings because of a hurricane, burglary, fire or other casualty is difficult enough, filing a claim with insurance companies who say you don't have something they need to be reimbursed for the loss can be totally infuriating, if not heartbreaking.

To address this problem, Jacob Israel and Mauricio Jimenez founded Miramar-based VaultBox.me, a cloud-based inventory application that stores pertinent information about items in a client's home or business. Information stored in VaultBox.me include the make of an item, model, photos, serial number, etc. These can be input into the system via your personal computer, an iPhone or iPad.

Having been broken into several times in a span of a year, Israel founded VaultBox.me after going through the frustrating process of trying to make a claim and sent home empty-handed because he didn't have what was needed for the reimbursement.

Now that VaultBox.me has finally launched its iPhone app and service early this year, in the event of a disaster, you can always log on to VaultBox.me via your phone or computer to pull a complete report of your assets for filing with the authorities and your insurance broker. Being a South Florida resident, Israel fully understands the damaging effects even a tiny hurricane can inflict.

Subscription, which is dependent on the number of items you plan to inventory, ranges from free to $5 monthly. Currently, VaultBox.me has over 2,000 customers – individuals with a few items to business entities owning hundreds of computers. Also, VaultBox.me just recently filed affiliate partnerships with eight different insurance companies and brokers who will be offering the service to their own clients.

[Via - PickyDomains.com]

Cool Startups - Pitch Phone Review

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Cool Startups - PitchPhone.Com Review

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.



https://www.pitchphone.com/

If you're not bootstrapping a startup, chances are you'll have to secure funding for it. Securing funding can equate to two-minute elevator pitches that can either make or break your chances of clinching that much-needed capital.

Imagine yourself working day in and day out for months on end, maybe even years, to perfect your product. You know everything about it, the inside, the outside. Even in your half-awake state, you know how it looks like, what it's all about, what good it brings to your target consumer. You know darn well that when somebody asks you questions, you'll be able to beautifully satisfy everything this person needs to know about your product. You apply for VC funding, and then the big day comes. But for some reason beyond eloquence, you stammer and falter while delivering your pitch. The person you're speaking with at the other end of the line hangs up on you. With sagging shoulders, you admit defeat, wondering to yourself what the heck went wrong.

If this scenario sounds familiar, maybe what you need is practice.

PitchPhone is the brainchild of the same guy behind DidThis and Addy, Francis Dierick. Last year, Dierick quit his job to focus his attention on startups. PitchPhone is a service that allows you to practice your pitches over the phone in one of two ways: call PitchPhone and answer the question it throws at you or have PitchPhone call you randomly throughout the day to inquire about your startup. Each time, you're given 30 seconds to answer.

According to Dierick, while planning to apply with Y Combinator for DidThis, the idea for PitchPhone came to being. He needed a tool to help him practice with his pitches. Initially, he created an iPhone app containing 100 startup questions. Soon, he realized that an app alone couldn't help him develop pitching practice into a habit. As a result, he created the PitchPhone hotline, which has been programmed with 100 tough questions about your startup. PitchPhone currently works within the U.S. only.

At the moment, the service is free for the first 1,000 inbound calls. And for $4.99 per month, PitchPhone is available to those who want to automatically receive calls throughout the day. Dierick is working on adding toll-free numbers, international support and improved overall support and voice quality for call recording.

If you're ready to practice that pitch, the PitchPhone hotline can be reached at +1 (209) 215-2160.

[Via - Bitrix24.de]

Wacky Startups - StarToiletPaper.Com

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Wacky Business - Toilet Paper Ads

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.


http://www.startoiletpaper.com/

Duke sophomore Bryan Silverman, a finalist to become Entrepreneur Magazine's "College Entrepreneur of 2012," can tell you the many jokes he's heard about his newly launched business.

"People say 'what a crappy idea' and things like that" when he offers to advertise their businesses on rolls of toilet paper. "But once they get through cracking jokes, they usually love it."

Yes, that's correct: Advertising on toilet paper. Silverman and his brother Jordan have convinced restaurants, a bowling alley, a car wash and others to do just that on rolls of bathroom tissue, which they are offering for free to venues that would otherwise have to pay to supply their restroom stalls. The brothers hire a manufacturer to print the ads with a soybean-based ink, which they've tested for safety.

No, the ink doesn't smear when the paper is used.

Jordan dreamed up the idea when sitting, appropriately enough, on a toilet seat wishing he had something to read. When he told his younger brother about it, "at first, I pooh-poohed it," Bryan jokes in a video where he describes why his idea should be honored as the year’s best among entrepreneurial U.S. college students.

"Our printed toilet paper allows you to reach a targeted audience in a unique way that will certainly catch people's attention," says the website for their new company, Star Toilet Paper. "Ads and coupons on toilet paper provide customers with a convenient and fun way to talk about and learn more about your company."

Several of the first advertisers have included QR codes, or bar codes, that users can scan from inside their stalls to capture a coupon and learn more about the advertiser. Potentially spending minutes instead of seconds with ads that cost about half a cent each, they comprise “an unmatched captive audience,” Bryan says. "We're offering them amazing deals while they're sitting on the toilet. If they don't want to read it, they don't have to."

The brothers have been handling all aspects of their business, "from sales to social media," although they hope to hire at least one employee soon. They've printed 3,000 rolls of toilet paper so far and plan to produce different versions for men and women, thereby helping advertisers target their audiences.

A neuroscience major from Rye Brook, N.Y., Bryan only recently became part of Duke's entrepreneurship scene, in which growing numbers of students have begun joining startups or launching their own businesses. Now, he says, "I'm looking to take business classes, entrepreneurship classes, anything along those lines."

He and Jordan, who graduated in May from the University of Michigan, are "definitely trying to make this more than just an idea and grow it into a business," Bryan says.

They're still testing their concept with both advertisers and users, but have dreams of becoming "major players" in the commercial toilet paper industry. "We're hoping to supply anything from a mall to a stadium," Bryan says.

[Via - Duke Today]

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How To Get Free Kindle Fire

Bitrix24 is giving away Kindle Fire tablet. The rules for the contest are very simple.

1. Register at Bitrix24.com

2. Send the following information to did@bitrix24.com:

- your Bitrix24 ID

- the feature you liked (used) the most

- what you found difficult/disliked the most (could be the existing problem or something lacking). If you liked everything, don't feel forced to come up with the problem.

3. Use 'Bitrix24 Kindle Fire Giveway' as your subject line.

A special second prize Kindle Touch will be given away to a person who've used his or her Bitrix24 account in the most unorthodox way.

Also, if you are a startup who'd like to use one of Bitrix24 paid plans for free, send an e-mail to the same address with 'Bitrix24 Startup Initiative' as the subject line. Include information about your startup and how you plan to use Bitrix24 for your business.

The contest ends on September 1, 2012.

Olympic Entrepreneurs - Nick LaCave/Chocomize

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.



http://www.chocomize.com/

Olympic achievement: Competing in men's rowing, 2012

Making his Olympic debut this year, Nick LaCava is one of three co-founders of Chocomize, a custom chocolate bar company.

With college buddies Eric Heinbockel and Fabian Kaempfer, LaCava launched the company in 2009, when the three couldn't find jobs after graduation. He continued to train for rowing while starting the business, unsure if the Olympics would ever be within reach.

"Sometimes the last thing you want to do after a hard training session is go to work, but I always enjoyed my time at Chocomize, and it gave me a way to take my mind off of rowing," he said.

The Chocomize trio saw opportunity in the candy business, particularly one that was customized to customers' tastes.

The problem? "We didn't know anything about making chocolate--although I have a notorious sweet tooth--but we figured it out pretty quickly and got things up and running in a short period of time," he said.

With Chocomize, customers can add up to five different toppings to their milk, dark or white chocolate. The toppings include marshmallows, cayenne pepper, gummy bears and even crystallized rose petals. And the possible combinations are (almost) endless: More than 300 million, to be exact.

But last year, LaCava made a tough decision to leave Chocomize in order to focus on training for the games. "It was a hard choice because making the Olympics was never a guarantee and things were going really well at Chocomize," he said. "Making the Olympics was something that I had been dreaming [about] and working [toward] for many years and I felt that if I didn't give it 100% of my focus I would regret it the rest of my life."

LaCava's team of four didn't medal in London, but they placed 8th overall and he was able to live out his Olympic dream.

Meanwhile, Chocomize continues on its path of success. The business increased its sales by almost 100% between 2010 and 2011, Kaempfer said.

[Via - CNNMoney.Com]

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Cool Apps - SeeMail Review

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.



http://seemail.com/

“Work on designing a life you try not to escape from rather than finding your next vacation,” so says Ward Chandler, Calgary startup SeeMail founder, a man who seems to be having the time of his life with his new tech innovation. “It makes life indistinguishable between work and play.” To that, we can wholeheartedly agree.

With the slogan “the story behind the photo,” SeeMail is an Apple app that allows you to add voice to your photos and share them on social media and with your app friends. What makes SeeMail differentiated from other apps is that it seizes the intimacy of the moment when the photograph was taken.

Ward was one day going through old family photos when he found one with his father from when he was 12 years old. At the back of the photograph were the words, “Jasper, Alberta, 1973.” Ward’s father had died the year before, and at that moment in time, he wished his father’s voice were embedded in those photos so the experience could be likened to listening to a story while flipping through the pages of the album. That had been the same instant SeeMail was born.

Currently, Ward has just released a new version of SeeMail in the App Store that includes photo editing, an improved in-app commenting and social media sharing. Also, you have the option to pick out any photo from an album in your Facebook account and insert a voice caption to it.

When asked what contributed to his success, aside from passion for what he is doing, Ward says, “You need to just start doing something in addition to your current job. It always leads to something – new opportunities, new contacts, etc. – but if you never start, you’ll never get anywhere. You might find yourself in a completely different direction from where you started, but it all works out.”

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Cool Apps - Nexercise

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.


http://www.nexercise.com/

Apps
Nexercise: If you'd rather use your phone to track your activity, check out Nexercise. Keep the app on and earn experience points and level up just for moving around. You can also win free food, apparel and electronics. The social component is collaborative and set up to make people feel like they're in it together.

Tech: By giving users the ability to comment on each other's activities, follow one another's workouts and even train together virtually (you get more points when you're doing an activity with someone else), the company has created an engaged community of more than 100,000, including a bikini world champion.

Verdict: The days of an exercise flash mob are almost upon us. Who's ready?

[Via - Entrepreneur.Com]


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The Business Of Hats.

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.


http://www.facebook.com/hatsofstyle

After Tom Romiski came up empty in his local search for the perfect cap, he opened Hats of Style in Thousand Oaks, where there’s a perfect “cap” for everyone.

“The (local) department stores didn’t carry anything close to what I was looking for,” Romiski said. “I couldn’t find fedoras, I couldn’t find derby hats, I couldn’t find pork-pie hats. . . . The only option was to go to Hollywood and spend a fortune.”

Since his business opened on Thousand Oaks Boulevard in November, the 35-year-old entrepreneur has earned a reputation for stocking his shelves with hard-to-find selections, including cowboy hats, ivy caps, bowlers and top hats.

“I opened the store as a means of getting customers the kind of hats you can’t find around here,” Romiski said. “Our prices vary (but) you can find a great hat for under $25.”

The Newbury Park resident lives by the motto that there is a hat for everyone—even if they don’t know it yet.

“In a few days, anyone can become a hat person,” he said.

Romiski, a Simi Valley native, said his love affair with head wear comes from personal experience.

“When I first put on a fedora, I thought I looked like Freddy Krueger,” he said, referencing the 1980s-era horror villain.

But his peers disagreed.

“All of a sudden I started getting compliments,” Romiski said. “I kept wearing it and it became a part of me.”

Hats are making a comeback, he said.

“Young people and older people are now wearing the same styles. An older man may come in looking for a pork-pie hat, but someone in high school might look at the same hat and say, ‘Wow, that’s really cool. I want that.’”

The Cal State Northridge graduate is no stranger to sales.

He sold doughnuts at age 12, and when he was 13 he worked as a door-to-door salesman.

“First, it was newspapers. Then it was candy.”

But schoolyard sales proved to be an even more lucrative business.

“I sold firecrackers and gum,” he said with a laugh. “I have a lot of experience in sales.”

More than 20 years later, Romiski provides customers with a different type of pop.

“A hat is the last thing you put on and the first thing people notice about you,” he said. “We help them choose hats that complement their clothing style.”

Newbury Park resident Chris Miller called the store a happy place.

“When you’re down and out, going to the hat store just lifts you up,” she said. “You feel much better. . . .

“Tom’s good at putting things together,” Miller added. “I love going in.”

Romiski is proud of the selection his store offers.

“When the store first opened, a girl came in looking for an orange fedora,” Romiski said. “She had lost hers in Malibu the year before and had been searching for a new one.”

The young lady was in luck.

“When I had one, she was really jazzed,” Romiski said. “It made my day.”

Eager to satisfy every customer, the store owner will go out of his way to make sure they find the right fit.

“Some people want their hats customized,” he said. “We accessorize the hats and offer embroidery for decoration. I’ll take a feather and attach it with some glue to give it a different look.”

Hats can also be made to fit.

“We can stretch them or add padding,” Romiski said. “The customer can get hats custom-made to their exact comfort level.”

Making people comfortable is part of the job.

“A lot of (chemo) patients come here,” Romiski said. “They’re very sensitive to what kind of hat they want, and we try and find a hat that fits them well. . . .

“We give those customers special attention. It’s a very sensitive topic, and we try to make them feel (at ease). It’s rewarding to watch them feel satisfied with their hats.”

Whether they’re for fashion or function, hats can be a fun addition to any wardrobe, Romiski said.

“Tommy has hats that can’t be beat,” Miller said. “Everyone should have a hat.”

[Via - ToAcorn.Com]

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