Visioning 2026 Blog
20 Smart Companies to Start Now -- $100 million in funding to the entrepreneurs
Editors from Business 2.0 Magazine, Michael V. Copeland and Susanna Hamner, asking venture capitalists for great startup ideas.
The result is a list of 20 tantalizing business ideas, ranging from a host of new websites and applications to next-generation power sources and a luxury housing development.
Here are a couple examples that we might consider in our Visioning 2026 Focus Group activities. For example, how could RFID technology become part of a solution to a GPS-guided coupons? Or how could the computer and the multimedia departments at NECC collaborate with local entrapreneurs to develop a solution to Helping Vlogs to Flog project? Another project could envolve partners such as the NECC, drafting, construction and building departments with local builders and the building trades to help create a community of affordable new homes, Luxury Living on a Budget.
GPS-Guided Coupons
The Investor: Jeff Crowe, general partner, Norwest Venture Partners
What he's backed: Jigsaw, Nano-Tex, Telcontar
What he wants now: GPS-enabled ads and coupons piped to your mobile phone at just the right time and place. Location-based marketing is a concept that's been bandied about for years, but only now is the required technology becoming cheap enough to implement. Companies like Yahoo and Google, meanwhile, have proven inept at building quality services for wireless carriers. Though the timing is ideal for a startup to build the technical pieces, persuading customers to sign up for a steady barrage of marketing offers may prove the bigger challenge. "The behavioral piece is the biggest uncertainty, but you've got to make your bets now," Crowe says. A startup needs experience in lightweight applications for cell phones and in location-based services.
What he'll invest: $3 million for a demo application and retail partners ready to test
Send your pitch to: bizplans@nvp.com. -- M.V.C.
Helping Vlogs to Flog
The Investor: Steve Krausz, general partner, U.S. Venture Partners
What he's backed: PodTech Network, Verity, Vontu
What he wants now: A matchmaking site that brings new forms of advertising to one of the Web's fastest-growing new phenomena, the video blog. Popular vlog Rocketboom got the concept off the ground earlier this year by auctioning off 15-second house-produced ads at the end of its Web newscasts; then-host Amanda Congdon also wore T-shirts from startups eager for exposure.
Krausz wants a startup that can offer a clearinghouse of placement opportunities from major advertisers like Apple (Charts) and Nike (Charts) - from 10-second trailers to insertion of products in the creative. Videos would be subject to screening and approval by the advertiser, but Krausz thinks that's a service that could eventually be outsourced. Payment to vloggers could be negotiated any number of ways: They could receive fees based on impressions, click-throughs, or both. The startup, of course, would take a healthy cut. "It would allow this explosion of user-generated content to get an additional revenue stream," Krausz says. "Nothing like this exists yet."
What he'll invest: $2 million for a proof-of-concept site and sign-on from a handful of top advertisers
Send your pitch to: steve.k@usvp.com. -- S.H.
Luxury Living on a Budget
The Investors: Donn Davis, president, and Steve Case, founder, Revolution
What they've backed: Exclusive Resorts, Flexcar, Miraval
What they want now: A design scheme for a community of affordable new homes, packed with luxury amenities and based on green values. This is yet another baby-boomer play, but AOL co-founder Case and partner Davis - who helped bring fractional ownership to the ultraluxury-home market with Exclusive Resorts - don't think builders like KB Home (Charts) and Pulte Homes (Charts) have all the angles covered.
Sustainable living and "wellness" lifestyles are big draws among retiring boomers. But so is price, Davis says, as more and more people worry about shrinking retirement incomes.
That's why he'd like to see a development based on more modest homes inside a community that offers an eclectic mix of perks--a spa, yoga classes, a community garden, room service, and so on. Revolution is looking for a small team to identify the developable land, map out home architecture and design, and assemble the right mix of services.
"It's about lots of services, lots of amenities, lots of convenience," Davis says. The plan ought to consider not only location options but also different sales models: Homeowners should be able to choose among full or fractional ownership and different levels of property management, perhaps even taking part in selling the community's services to outsiders.
What they'll invest: $5 million for the right plan
Send your pitch to: tigesavage@revolution.com. -- M.V.C.
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