by Willy Franzen on February 28, 2010
In 1964 New York City hosted the World’s Fair for the third time. The fair was held in Queens at Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and it was dedicated to “Man’s Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe.” More than 50 million people visited the fair to see all kinds of cool exhibits—many focused on technology (you can read more about the fair on Wikipedia. One of these exhibits was the New York Hall of Science, which continues to operate to this day as New York City’s “only hands-on science and technology center.” It has been remodeled and revamped multiple times since 1964, and wide range of science focused educational programs. It looks like a really cool place to visit, even if most of their activities seem to be targeted towards kids.
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by Willy Franzen on February 23, 2010
Apparently my parents and sister have engaged in a never-ending series of online Scrabble games played via iPhone. I’m with my parents in Florida right now, and every five minutes they’re bugging each other to make the next move. It’s crazy. Free online gaming has hit the masses, and it isn’t pretty. There are tons of new online gaming companies, and while some are focusing on bringing new gamers to the market, others are more focused on gaining ground with serious gamers. Culver City, CA based Riot Games is a perfect example of the latter. They are behind League of Legends, a free online role-playing game that is set in an imaginative world. The game has been downloaded more than a million times, and Riot Games has received $20 million in venture capital investment based on the game. $8 million of that investment came from a Chinese gaming company that has a huge user base, so this is very much an international play.
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web development
by Willy Franzen on February 22, 2010
I’ll admit it, I don’t read The Economist regularly, but plenty of my friends do—mostly the smart ones. It’s a magazine (they call themselves a newspaper, but you’d likely identify it as a magazine) that stands apart from other periodicals in a variety of ways. It’s not the topics that they cover—they offer both news coverage and analysis and opinion on business and politics—it’s more the way that they cover those topics. The most interesting thing about The Economist is the fact that all of their articles are written anonymously. It’s about “a belief that what is written is more important than who writes it,” but you have to like the fact that anonymity allows the writers the freedom that they need to address topics in the ways that they should be addressed. The Economist is all about free trade and free markets, yet it “considers itself the enemy of privilege, pomposity and predictability.” The Economist is based in London, but they are very much an international business and magazine.
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web development,
writing
by Willy Franzen on February 18, 2010
I’m a huge fan of open source software. I build all of my sites on the WordPress platform, and I am amazed at how powerful the blogging software has become over the years. Still, I know that it can’t do everything. If I get too much more advanced, I’ll probably have to move to a platform like Drupal—another open source content management system. The problem with that is that I’m not a programmer, and Drupal is a bit more complex than WordPress. Luckily, there’s a support option. Acquia is a Woburn, MA based company that provides “products, services, and technical support for the open source Drupal social publishing system.” They were founded by Dries Buytaert, the guy who created Drupal, so there’s no question about whether they’re the right people to offer Drupal support—they know the platform inside and out.
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by Willy Franzen on February 17, 2010
Whenever I get a new Facebook friend, he or she usually tells me that I have way too many pictures of me fishing. Since I let go nearly all of the fish that I catch, I love snapping a quick picture before the release—it gives me bragging material. That’s why I consider it important to have a fishing buddy who also knows how to take a decent photo. The problem is that I still spend a lot of time fishing alone, and trying to take a self-picture with a fish in the other hand is extremely awkward. Luckily I discovered the Gorillapod
, a small tripod that has flexible legs that wrap around nearly anything. It’s a fishing buddy that fits in vest’s pocket. The Gorillapod is made by Joby, a San Francisco based company, and it really is an ingenious product—it takes all of the hassle out of lugging around a tripod.
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by Willy Franzen on February 2, 2010
I love Groundhog Day. I’ve always intended to have an annual party in celebration of the holiday, but I’m not one for throwing early morning parties (and who wants to celebrate after the fact if Phil sees his shadow?). In past years I’ve featured the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and NOAA in honor of Phil. Additionally I’ve featured companies like WeatherBill and The Weather Channel already, so I thought it was going to be hard to find another relevant company. Then I came across this blog post that told me that MyPunchbowl is “an official partner of the Groundhog Day festivities.” Problem solved! MyPunchbowl is a “free online invitations and party planning” startup based in Framingham, MA. They offer the perfect services for planning that Groundhog Day party that I’ll probably never have. They also do Ecards, and I’ve put one together for you that you can find below.
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by Willy Franzen on January 24, 2010
I live across the street from what was formerly the world’s largest building—the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. It’s massive at 4,000,000 square feet, which is extremely impressive considering it was opened in 1930. What’s even more impressive is that, with some debate, the Merchandise Mart is now the world’s largest “green” building. It is LEED-EB Silver certified, and apparently the retrofitting that they did to achieve this certification has cut utility bills by 10%. Upgrading one of the largest buildings in the world to be more energy efficient and environment-friendly is a daunting task, luckily the LEED Certification process provided the owners of the Merchandise Mart with guidelines to work to. The organization behind LEED is the U.S. Green Building Council, which is based in Washington, DC. They are a non-profit that is “committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.”
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Washington DC
by Willy Franzen on January 19, 2010
When I was in 6th or 7th grade, I played a trading card game called Magic the Gathering. Being a baseball card collector, I was more interested in what the cards were worth than actually playing the game. I occasionally played with my friends, but when they lost interest, I went back to baseball cards. Many trading card games came after (I didn’t play any of them), but apparently Magic the Gathering was the first. I had long forgotten about Wizards of the Coast, the company that was behind Magic cards, when I came across their name again. I took a look, and was surprised to see that the Renton, WA based company has grown quite a bit over the past decade and was eventually purchased by Hasbro. Wizards of the Coast is still a gaming company—the world leader in hobby games—and their brands include Dungeons & Dragons, Duel Masters, Heroscape, Axis & Allies, and Star Wars in addition to Magic the Gathering.
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by Willy Franzen on January 6, 2010
Check out this week’s sponsor, New York City Teaching Fellows. They’re seeking new grads with no prior teaching experience or background in education to help make a difference in NYC’s public schools.
When I last bought a car in 2001, the best way to go about it was to stop by dealerships to see what they had in their inventory. I remember using the Internet to some extent, but it wasn’t all that helpful. Although I haven’t purchased a car since, I’m pretty sure that the web is playing a much larger role in the car buying decision process these days. That’s why Cobalt, a Seattle based company, is doing so well. They’re in the business of automotive marketing, and they made the Inc. 5000 last year with 134.0% three-year revenue growth to $168.4 million. Cobalt works with both dealers and manufacturers to “increase their retailing effectiveness and profits.” The company has been around since 1995, and it consists of three key subsidiaries: Dealix, UsedCars.com, and IntegraLink.
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Ohio,
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software development,
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Washington,
web development
by Willy Franzen on December 17, 2009
I love boring businesses. It may not seem like it considering the fact that I’m often featuring startups that are on the cutting edge of technology, but I really do appreciate when a company is able to take an extremely simple idea and make it profitable. Uline is a perfect example. They are a Waukegan, IL based company that considers itself “the leading distributor of shipping, industrial, and packing materials to businesses throughout North America.” It all started in 1980 when Liz and Dick Uihlein identified a need for a local shipping supplies distributer. They started the business in their basement with the H-101 carton sizer, and now they have a product line that fills a 452 page catalog. That’s a lot of growth, and I expect it to continue as e-commerce and the shipping that results from it keep expanding (I have about a dozen boxes in my apartment from various holiday season shipments). And if for some reason the shipping business does slow down, Uline can always reorganize as a producer of forts for children—I always loved playing in cardboard boxes.
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Texas,
Washington,
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by Willy Franzen on November 19, 2009
A couple of days ago the blogosphere exploded (pun intended) with news about bomb proof wallpaper. The story originally came from Popular Science with a video of a wrecking ball trying to knock down a brick wall that has been reinforced with the X-Flex Blast Protection System (the video is included below). I always love news stories like this one, because it puts the spotlight on a company that you never would have otherwise. In this case it’s Berry Plastics, an Evansville, IN based plastics company. Their products range from agricultural films to plastic bottles and from drink cups to trash bags. There’s a good chance that you have dozens of items in your house/dorm/apartment that were manufactured by Berry Plastics—you just don’t know it because most people don’t care who manufactured their shampoo bottles.
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by Willy Franzen on October 29, 2009
It took long enough, but Internet video is everywhere. Yes, we had online video 10 years ago, but now it actually looks good—and works. The main reason for this is that end users (you and me) finally have technology in their homes that can handle playing online video. This means high speed Internet connections and computers with enough processing power to not crash when a website uses a Flash video player. The issue for content creators is that delivering video still poses some challenges. Sure, I was able to produce an online job search training course that relied heavily on video with little trouble, but I wasn’t delivering video to thousands or even millions of people (I wish I had the problem). As your use base increases, the challenge of delivering video increase exponentially. Moreover, managing video content in an organized fashion is a completely different challenge than organizing text and images. Brightcove is a Cambridge, MA based company that provides an online video platform for many of the worlds biggest brands.
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web development
by Willy Franzen on September 29, 2009
I think that I’ve mentioned before that my first experience with video chat was was with CU-SeeMe in an Internet cafe in the mid 90s. Back then the potential for social interaction over online video seemed pretty promising, but the potential for business uses (not that I thought about that when I was 13) was even greater. Real-time video has been slower to take hold on both the social and business fronts than I expected, but now that the quality is so good, we’re seeing more and more businesses embrace video conferencing. Tandberg is a company that is at the forefront of this movement. They have dual headquarters in Oslo, Norway and New York City, and they are both “the market share leader and the fastest growing company in the video conferencing industry.” Their 30% annualized revenue growth for the past 10 years may not be Inc. 5000 material, but it’s still hugely impressive.
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Virginia
by Willy Franzen on September 28, 2009
We’ve already taken a look at Kiva, a San Francisco based microfinance non-profit, but today we’re going to take a look at Kiva Systems, a Woburn, MA based logistics and robotics company. They were ranked #6 on the Inc. 5000 this year by growing from $204,000 in revenue in 2005 to $21.4 million in revenue in 2008. That’s 10,399.0%, which is just insane. Their growth is coming from the online shopping revolution, even though they’re not an e-commerce company. This is due to the fact that their automated order fulfillment systems are huge efficiency boosters for warehouse operations. It’s hard to imagine how a Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System works, but once you see the video below, you’ll totally get it—and you will be amazed.
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by Willy Franzen on September 16, 2009
While the Inc. 5000 is filled with exciting companies that you’ve probably never heard of, there are also some familiar names on the list. Rosetta Stone is a popular brand with job seekers, not because of their jobs, but because many new grads decide that they should put their free time to good use and learn a new language. (I think they’d be smarter to invest in a job search prep course, but I’m biased.) Rosetta Stone is far and away the biggest brand name when it comes to learning new languages, so it’s no big surprise that the Arlington, VA based company has grown from $48.4 million in revenue to $209.4 million over the past three years. In fact, the growth has been so strong that they recently held an IPO that was considered very successful.
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by Willy Franzen on September 10, 2009
The other night I wanted to read a book before bed, but I had moved the lamp from my bedroom into my living room because our hard to reach light fixture’s lights burnt out. It took all of 30 seconds to move the lamp back to my bedroom, but it was a pain in the butt. If only I had a LightWedge—a product made by the company of the same name that will illuminate your book for you. It’s a stupid simple idea that beats the heck out of wearing a headlamp in bed. Oh yeah, and the Newton, MA based company is making a ton of money. Inc. magazine recently came out with their list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the US, and Lightwedge came in at #1,609. That may not sound great, but when you see that they increased from $3.9 million in revenue in 2005 to $11.6 million last year, you have to be impressed. I always say that the best way to job search during a recession is to look for the companies that are growing, and there’s no better way to find those than Inc. magazine’s list.
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by Willy Franzen on July 16, 2009
Take a second and think of your favorite toy growing up. Was it a Barbie? Matchbox Car? American Girl Doll? View-Master? Magic 8 Ball? Rock’em Sock’em Robots? Hot Wheels? Polly Pocket? Even if it wasn’t one of those, there’s a good chance that it was made by Mattel. I’m sure that you’ve heard of the El Segundo, CA headquartered toy company before, but I bet you never realized just how many toys they actually make. Not only do they have some of the biggest toy names in the world, but they’re also behind all of Fisher-Price’s toys. If you always wanted to be like Tom Hanks in Big
and work for a toy company, Mattel is your chance to live every child’s dream.
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Texas,
toys,
Wisconsin
by Willy Franzen on July 7, 2009
Now, I know that the name ChannelAdvisor sounds like some sort of new and improved tv guide that you can buy on the infomercials, but bear with me for a second and I’ll tell you what ChannelAdvisor is really about. The simple version is that they’re a Morrisville, NC based company that helps other companies sell online. The more complex story is that ChannelAdvisor “helps the world sell online with solutions for retailers to efficiently distribute their products across multiple online channels, drive shoppers to those products, and then convert those shoppers into customers.” That sounds good, but what does it really mean? Major retailers often have thousands of products. Their first e-commerce priority is to get their products listed on their own site, but after that they want to extend their reach to comparison shopping sites. There are tons of these comparison shopping sites, and they all have different data requirements for listing products. The retailer can try to do it on their own, or they can hire ChannelAdvisor to do it for them.
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United Kingdom
by Willy Franzen on June 17, 2009
Try 5 lessons from One Day, One Job’s Job Search Prep Course Found Your Career for free. It will help you get a job faster.
Nobody likes getting spam in their inbox, but a well-crafted, beautifully designed marketing message from one of your favorite brands isn’t always that bad—especially if it includes a special offer (kind of like the one above). We’ve already talked about Aweber and Constant Contact in terms of e-mail marketing, but today we’re going to talk about a company that does it on a much bigger scale. Burlington, MA based e-Dialog “is the proven provider of advanced e-mail marketing and database technologies, products, strategies, and services for permission-based e-mail marketers,” and they can back that up with a client list that includes the NFL, Nintendo, the NHL, OfficeMax, Harvard Business School Publishing, and many more serious brands.
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by Willy Franzen on May 21, 2009
As you may or may not know, I’m an Apple guy; in fact, I’ve been an Apple guy for close to 20 years (I’m 24). I’ve watched the Microsoft vs. Apple rivalry unfold over the years, and even though the rivalry isn’t nearly as bitter as it used to be, I still enjoy taking jabs at Microsoft whenever I get a chance. You can call it a character flaw if you want. Anyway, the reason that I bring this up is that over the years, Microsoft has enabled a cottage industry (and by cottage I mean insanely huge) for people and companies who fix their products. The antivirus industry alone is worth billions of dollars, and that’s just one example. That’s where Clearwater, FL based Sunbelt Software comes in. They’re an antivirus software company that has Microsoft to thank for much of their success. They’ve been around since 1994 and they’re a member of the Inc. 5000. Seriously, they need to send Microsoft some sort of thank you gift.
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by Willy Franzen on May 20, 2009
Have you always wanted to be a secret agent? Well here’s a mission, if you choose to accept it: try to land a job with New York City based kgb. No, I’m not talking about Russia’s version of the CIA. I’m talking about “the world’s largest independent provider of directory assistance and enhanced information services.” Formerly known as INFONXX, kgb is in the business of making information easily available. If you’ve seen their commercials, then you’re probably most familiar with their “Ask Us Anything” service. I personally think it’s for lazy people, but that’s because I’m a huge advocate for developing your own research skills. If getting the answer to your question is worth 50 cents, then that’s cool, but I’m gonna Google it myself. The good news is that kgb’s business goes well beyond charging lazy people who need their stupid questions answered.
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Texas,
user experience,
web development
by Willy Franzen on May 19, 2009
If you’re an Internet geek like me, then you’ve probably noticed all of the buzz around Wolfram|Alpha. Some have dubbed it a “Google killer,” but as far as I can tell, they’re way off the mark. They’re wrong because Wolfram|Alpha isn’t a search engine – it’s a knowledge engine. The goal is “to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.” The concept is kind of hard to grasp until you try it, but once you see how it works, I think that you’ll be impressed. So, who is behind Wolfram|Alpha? Wolfram, of course! They’re based in Champaign, IL, and they’re “one of the world’s most respected software companies–as well as a powerhouse of scientific and technical innovation.” They’re the company behind Mathematica – a software package that excels in ” computation, modeling, simulation, visualization, development, documentation, and deployment.” I’ve never had the pleasure of using it, but I know math teachers who think it’s pretty awesome.
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by Willy Franzen on May 15, 2009
Yesterday I got an e-mail from a fellow Cornell grad named Danny Wen. He graduated a couple years before I landed on campus, but he and another Cornellian named Shawn Liu are also entrepreneurs. After graduation they started working at Internet consultancies, but eventually they decided to go into business for themselves in New York City. Just like me, they decided to solve a problem that they were facing. Unlike me (the guy who couldn’t find a job), their problem was tracking all of the money that they were making. Their response was Harvest, a web-based solution for freelancers and small business to track time and invoice clients. I know that keeping a small business organized is really hard, so it makes sense that a dead simple tool like Harvest would be in high demand.
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by Willy Franzen on May 13, 2009
I never liked talking on the phone much. I’m not sure why, but as a kid I never felt comfortable calling people. I eventually got over that, but I’m certainly glad that running my business doesn’t require a ton of phone time – I can do a lot of stuff online. However, if I was running a more phone intensive business, I’d definitely consider using Ifbyphone, a “hosted voice application and platform” run by a Skokie, IL (near Chicago) based company with the same name. Most phone systems require a huge hardware investment, but Ifbyphone’s can do all of the following through their software solution: Hosted IVR, Voice Broadcasting, Toll-Free Numbers, Local Phone Numbers, Call Routing, Virtual Receptionist, Store Locator, Google® Integration, Call Tracking, Dynamic Numbers, Find, Me Call Forwarding, Lead Distributor, Click-to-Call, and Conference Calling. I don’t know what all of those things are, but they sure sound important. Anyway, Ifbyphone focuses on offering their platform to small and medium sized business, and they have $4.6 million in venture capital funding to do it.
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by Willy Franzen on May 11, 2009
Part of my daily routine is reading Greg Mankiw’s Economics Blog. When I saw his post announcing that the text book that he wrote will now be accompanied by an interactive learning tool, I was intrigued. I quickly read the Washington Post article that Dr. Mankiw linked to in the announcement to learn more about Aplia, the company that developed this educational tool. It turns out that Aplia, which is based in Belmont, CA, was developed by a Stanford economist named Paul Romer who was very successful in developing a theory to explain why different economies grow at different rates, but not so successful at engaging students. Since Dr. Romer is clearly a problem solver at heart, he developed a product (and company) called Applia that “offers high-quality, auto-graded assignments” and is “dedicated to improving learning by increasing student effort and engagement.”
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by Willy Franzen on May 8, 2009
The other night I went to a great event called Out of Work Chicago to watch Jason Seiden speak and to get familiar with job seekers who aren’t fresh out of college. It was a great event, and I definitely enjoyed it. I didn’t need a ticket because I came with one of the featured speakers, but the thought of registering hundreds of people for an event seems pretty intimidating to me. I don’t know if the guys at Out of Work Chicago use Eventbrite, but it looks like the perfect solution for registering and ticketing people at any size event. If your event is free, Eventbrite is free. If you’re charging, they take a 2.5% cut. That sounds like a pretty decent deal to me, considering it eliminates most of the headaches of event registration.
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by Willy Franzen on May 3, 2009
Yesterday I got some bad news. A good friend and one of the best people in the fly fishing community was diagnosed with lung cancer a few months ago. It’s not a pretty picture, but if anyone can beat it, it’s him. Since he’s been on my mind since yesterday, I thought it would only be appropriate to take a look at the American Lung Association today. They’re a nationwide non-profit organization that aims to “save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease.” Whether it’s a lifelong smoker who is facing a life and death situation or a kid who is growing up with asthma (like me), the American Lung Association is there to help – mostly “through research, education and advocacy.”
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is the funniest, most in-your-face career guide on the market.