Love Your Melon: Social Media & Making A Difference
Millennials are often teased and scoffed at for being a generation of social media obsessed narcissists. But those quick to pass those judgements haven’t been exposed to millennial startups like Love Your Melon who use the power of social media to spread good in the world. Love Your Melon began in 2012 as a lemonade stand class project […]
Rent the Runway: The Millennial Business Model
It’s been called the Spotify, Netflix and Uber of dresses, it’s Rent The Runway. Rent The Runway’s story dates back to 2008 when Jennifer Hyman visited her sister in New York City while on Thanksgiving break from Harvard Business School. Her sister showed her a $1,600 designer dress she had purchased for a wedding that weekend, […]
Marley Natural: A Growing Industry of Growing Cannabis
It seems that nobody is more excited for the legalization of marijuana than those in the venture capital and investment industry. But cannabis startups face a major challenge of rebranding in a criminalized industry marketed with hippie tie dye, trippy pot leaves, and ridiculous bongs. Marley Natural believes that the marijuana industry needs trustworthy brands to help […]
GrubHub: Merging Tech, Necessity and Luxury
Technology is expanding beyond alleviating the struggle to meet our basic human needs and entering the realm of purely luxury enhancements. Companies like GrubHub are leading the front lines in the tech world of ultimate convenience by taking next day delivery promises and raising it to food delivery within 60 minutes, sometimes even to the front door […]
Seasonal Funding Tips 101
Running a business is referred to as a balancing act. A roller coaster. A game of pinball. Like raising a child. Those metaphors are all the more true when operating a seasonal business. Sometimes a seasonal business operates year round but has a peak, other times it closes for several months before reopening. This unsteady […]
Punk Post Co: Putting the 2018 in Snail Mail
It’s no surprise that in 2018, some companies are skipping the website phase and conducting business solely with an app. Meet @PunkPostCo, a virtual boutique greeting card shop. In an age of texting and ecards, founders Santiago Prieto and Alexis Monson realized that receiving a hand written card has an unmatchable sentimental value, and there is […]
Breville: The original UX focused company (Before Apple)
UX, standing for user experience, is something designers strive to enhance in this age of luxury gadgets. And no kitchen appliance company does UX like iconic Australian brand Breville. The story of @Breville starts with Peter Pan, a pony racing in the 1932 Melbourne Cup. Radio Salesmen Bill O’Brien and engineer Harry Norville placed a bet on 4-1 […]
Silly Bandz: Capitalizing on Trends VS Fads
Creating a business based on a current fad has the potential to reap a lot of profit quickly, but takes quite a bit of luck to be the first one on the fad. Smart business owners say build a company around trends but not fads, because trends have a lasting impact and slowly shift so […]
Insomnia Cookies: The Brilliance of Marketing Towards College Students
“I had a sweet tooth.” And thus, Insomnia Cookies, now a major dessert name with over 100 stores open in the US, was born. INSOMNIA COOKIES HISTORY In 2003, Seth Berkowitz was in his junior year as an economics major at the University of Pennsylvania. He had a craving for late night study food, but wasn’t […]
Equinox Fitness: Cult Following Companies
“It’s not fitness, it’s life,” is one of Equinox Fitness Clubs’ many slogans that contribute to their elite cult following. @Equinox opened its doors on September 23rd, 1991, by the Errico Family and was bought by The Related Companies in 2006. The New York based, luxury fitness chain has gone on to purchase and found other brands such […]