MBA Idea No. 15: Affordable Luxury Cars
In a world of Groupon and LivingSocial driving down the price of services and restaurants, a new startup aims to make the luxury car market more affordable.
“People don’t realize they can get a nice BMW for the price of a Toyota Camry,” said co-founder Corey Hulen, “they just need to know which locations and model years sell at the most affordable prices.”
As a demonstration, if you’re looking for a for sale within 300…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No. 15: Affordable Luxury Cars ]MBA Idea No. 14: Free MBA labor
31Projects connects MBA students with consulting projects from companies.
“Our vision is to provide an open platform where all organizations, regardless of size or resources, can easily and effectively identify and recruit the talent they need to be globally competitive. The projects and competitions are win‐win situations for both organizations and students, and can be used by employers to create a highly effective pipeline of top student talent into their organization.” says founder and…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No. 14: Free MBA labor ]MBA Idea No.13: Commercial Infidelity
AshleyMadison is an online dating service—6 million users strong—serving people in existing relationships looking to have an affair.
Controversy surrounds the site, and Superbowl XLIII, the Toronto Transit Commission and the City of Phoenix, Arizona banned its advertisements.
Trish McDermott, co-founder of Match.com, accuses AshleyMadison of being a “business built on the back of broken hearts, ruined marriages and damaged families”.
Despite the setbacks, founder Noel Biderman (pictured…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.13: Commercial Infidelity ]MBA Idea No.12: Millionaire Dating Sites
Ranked the top wealthy dating site on the web, MillionaireMatch features a “certified millionaire” dating program requiring documentation of over a million in assets or $150,000 in annual gross earnings—interestingly, a compensation segment most top MBAs fall into after graduation…
The site describes itself as: the first, most effective and largest site in the world to connect with, date, and marry successful, beautiful people. Our members include CEOs, pro athletes, doctors, lawyers, investors, entrepreneurs,…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.12: Millionaire Dating Sites ]MBA Idea No.11: Sell Your Vacation Photos
iStockPhoto.com turns your photos into cash money by selling them to companies for use in marketing and advertising.
If you own a digital SLR or other semi-professional camera, everything from your scenic vacation photos, to baby pictures, to wedding snaps, to family portraits can become attention grabbing visual accents to advertisements, websites and marketing materials around the world.
Buyers of photography search through thousands of well-indexed archived images available for sale.
Price…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.11: Sell Your Vacation Photos ]MBA Idea No.10: Flying windmills
Joby Energy develops airborne wind turbines.
The machines generate electricity high in the air where winds blow powerfully and consistently compared to winds available for land-based windmills.
Other companies in the space include Magenn, which makes a balloon-based solution, Ampyx, which uses a plane-based solution, and Sky Windpower, which uses helicopters.
There are some kite-based projects as well, including: aeroix, KiteGen, and Laddermill.
Plus, China is…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.10: Flying windmills ]MBA Idea No.9: Gamble Shopping
Swoopo.com lets people gamble against each other to win the right to buy TVs, electronics and luxury items at ultra-low prices.
Swoopo is bidding fee auction site.
Participants pay a non-refundable fee ($0.60) to place a small incremental bid ($0.01) on a product they want.
Each bid extends the auction time of the item by a few seconds.
When the auction time for an item expires, the person to cast the last…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.9: Gamble Shopping ]MBA Idea No.8: Fan-funded Fashion Designers
StyleTrek.com helps emerging designers find funding and marketing support from fans and admirers.
The site is for two kinds of people: First, those who want to support fashion designers—style trekkers—both by buying their products and contributing financially as they develop their designs.
Second, emerging designers from around the world passionate about design, but unable to access the financial and marketing resources to launch their careers in a highly competitive, hits-based market.
The…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.8: Fan-funded Fashion Designers ]MBA Idea No.7: Group ATM Cards
WePay.com lets you deposit, withdraw and spend money from bank accounts shared across friends.
If you’re on vacation and sharing expenses you can avoid adding up and splitting every restaurant bill, bar tab and hotel room.
Instead, everyone can deposit money into WePay.com by credit card or bank account, and get group ATM cards that draw from a shared bank account.
WePay provides itemized detail on expenses online.
In additions…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.7: Group ATM Cards ]MBA Idea No.6: Skills monitoring social network
Zapoint replaces expensive in-house HR skills monitoring software with on-demand services.
Employees and managers track and review skills of colleagues in a closed social network.
They discuss topics, make assessments and potentially make better team building and promotion decisions.
Employee profiles list out the length and depth of expertise among skill sets and even note the “decrease” in skills left unused for extended periods of time.
Founded by…
[ Read more on MBA Idea No.6: Skills monitoring social network ]
