ignire

FlightGazers -A grand vision.

Hi all and welcome to my ignire. This blog contains business or value ideas inspired from daily life. Think of this as my sketchbook for business ideas. Some of the ideas are explained in detail and some are quick "sketches", typos and all. I arrive these based on some sort of user centered experience originating in my daily life. I rarely vet these and some might sound like something that exists or exists already... there are a lot of burger joints in this world and there is nothing new under the sun. The only thing that matters is that I practice. Iteration is everything to the craft of generation. The entrepreneurship bug will not leave me. Eventually, one of these might become reality. Enjoy! 

Featured Post: FlightGazers -A grand vision.

So an unlikely twitter "friend" and former director at the CIA turned me onto an amazing article about sun spots, magnetic disruption and the most beautiful storm captured in words. ...in 1859. This is so worth your time. I do hope you'll read it because it inspired me and the value sketch below.  http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/05/1859s-great-auroral-stormthe-week-the-sun-touched-the-earth.ars/1

Now, in the grand tradition of improv I am going to riff on the concept of celestial wonder to spin out a biz idea about an airline for star gazing.

I was thinking how amazing it would be if we could

The BackNForth Problem

Lately, I spend A LOT of time in Twitter. Some might call it a waste of time or lack of productivity but for me it is my number one relationship building tool for career and business. Twitter grants access in a way that I cannot describe beyond calling it "amazing". There is something about the imposed constraints and highly public nature (product logic) that enables a humble Joe like me to converse with hero's, guru's, celebrity leaders and scholars. No joke, who gets access to the former CMO for New England Patroits, a CIA director, Senators, Mayors, best selling authors, CEO's? The answer is me ...and you and anyone taking the time to simply say hello or post something interesting. Constraints deliver.

As I said, Twitter is nothing less than amazing in some regards but as I spend more time on Twitter I find I want a bit more functionality. I know, I know, added features would surely spell Twitter's demise, right? I can hear my tech friends throwing arms in the air as I type. Now, I love simplicity and I believe strongly that laser focus in product design matters but this fella wants just one thing and the features I'd like to propose aren't what you think at all. I don't want to schedule tweets. I don't want to manage multiple accts. I don't want a link to FB or LinkedIn or anything of the sort. I just want a direct Twitter connection to my calendar! That is it, a calendar. Yes, you clicked through and read this far to hear me say I want a calendar in Twitter. -Simple and beautiful...you'll see ;)

And I want calendar functionality for one very simple reason, I hate jumping back-N-forth on my iPhone.

The inspiration from my utterly normal life:
I was tapping out some thoughts on innovation this morning and next thing ya know I am scheduling a Monday morning meeting with a local tech entrepreneur. Serendipity, yes, Twitter delivers...3times this week as a matter of fact. These occurrences only seem to increase for me thus my desire increases for increased functionality, increasingly, indeed. :) The problem- the work flow goes like this: jump from twitter to calendar back to twitter to calendar to twitter to calendar until dizzy. This is super-duper annoying just like clicking a one button mouse five extra times instead of one right click. Likewise, since it's an iphone interaction I had to press the home button a hundred times to go back-N-forth, something that will ultimately screw me one day when the button goes bad. -You know what I am talking about iOS peoples. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, cry me a first world river! :) I know... Still, if I could link or embed my calendar into Twitter I would be stoked.

Thank you for sticking around to the end, just remember, back-N-forth is only beneficial in negotiating, ping-pong, cleaning and sex. Fight to minimize the back-N-forth.

cL!

Weird is memorable and constraints are tasty.

Creation is the first step leading to any great result and "why not" is often the catalyst to creation. Yesterday, I stepped toward "why not" while embracing some simple constraints provided by scarcity in my fridge. First, it was lunch time and I was hungry (the need). Second, I was feeling lazy (constraint) and wanted to make some sort of left-over salad (intended product). Third, I had chili and fourth I had some greens and fifth some left over ranch. Our fridge lacked other "salad" style foods (the problem to solve and design around).

Never underestimate the power of constraints. Never ever underestimate the power of weird. Always embrace, why not. 

I placed the greens upon a plate, threw down some ranch, raisins and peanuts and plopped the left-over chili on top (cold mind you). It was weird. It was memorable. It was FREAKIN AWESOME!

See:

No joke, this why-not creation is the start of a restaurant based on a simple concept premise: odd combinations and delightful paradox. Cold Chili + greens lightly swirled in hot garlic oil. Memorable, tasty combo's made fresh daily to challenge your culinary intellect and instinct.

Ordering at the new restaurant would involve liberal use of "why not" and "let's try it". Food gal to hungry customer, "how about dandelion greens, cabbage and cheese pizza strips?" Customer, "ok, why not, let's try it!"

Second prototype-

Today, I was faced with the same problem but this time the constraint was baked french fries made from scratch and frozen corn (my kids have a thing for eating frozen corn, frozen -whyNot).

I wanted salad and there were the fries just starin' at me. Wah-bam, FrenchFry salad with ranch, a bit a ketchup, some cut ginger chicken and my go-to culinary friend, raisins. 

I won't lie, it rocks. The french fries had some indian spice and the Iowa chicken some Chinese ginger. Awesome. Seriously. Next paradox: there is perhaps nothing more American than a French fry and nothing more healthy than salad. Huh. Right! Hopefully by baking the fries and putting them on a salad I have reversed their power to make me fat and in the process made those American fries a bit more French :) "Sure, why not."

Regardless, this simple idea would hold weight in Big10 college towns like Madison, Lawrence, Ann Arbor and Columbus for at least a couple years. ;).

Why-not is a catalyst. Weird is memorable. Constraints are tasty.

Fetching Velo's! A dapper food delivery non-profit rolling on two beautiful wheels

I have been missing in action for a bit. I know that. Such is life. Regardless, I am back. My brain is turning back on and my confidence is coming back. So here you go. One from my sms text files sent just days ago to bestus friends. asdfaasdf

 

Just fell in love- Fetching Velos, a cycling centered Madison non-profit focused on delivering meals with grace and civility [by bike] to area shut-in's and elders. FV is meals on 2 wheels delivered by Fetching souls in dapper drab on gleaming sensible city vessels.

Needed to start (theshortlist): meals to deliver and a food service partner, special trailers equipped for delivery and a handful of sweet, well intentioned riders who'd like to help make a difference delivering prepared meals and groceries to some of Madison's finest hidden gems.

This is only a dream. Don't be alarmed. Goals start with dreams.

Another one from my Dad:

Another one from my Dad: how about Just Plain Tea. A company called, Just Plain Tea who make iced tea made from, you guessed it, real unmucked tea. No high fructose corn crap, no sugar, no falsely yet somehow legal "juice" and no fake tea like that "green tea" that everyone esp the tea company named after a state makes and sells.

As he sees it 30-40% of America will be diabetic just like him in the next 5 years so there will be a great big market for it, Just Plain Tea.

This one is from my

This one is from my dad. His question, why hasn't anyone made a tea bag that makes an entire pitcher? Great question User centered design insight if I do say so myself. 

So imagine one big tea bag that replaces ten individual bags. One bag for the BigPicture, ahem, The Big Pitcher!

Imagine a simple silicon mold

Imagine a simple silicon mold in the shape of a soft serve ice cream cone. You know the way they should look, the ideal way an ice cream cone should look. Then take the mold, fill with pudding, place in freezer, wait til frozen, place in a cone and shizzam, puddin cone! 

That is a silly product I could get behind.

Truth and fiction and big data...

Found this in my drafts:

Yay it has been like 6 months or something since I last posted here. In that time I've become an iphone fan, RIM imploded and the Blockbuster down the street turned into a gym. I am still Dad more than entrepreneur. [My little dudes need me so I am okay with that dilemma.digression] The recession is still on and Scott Walker is still gov'nah of Wisconsin. A lot has changed but some things stay the same like the repulsively attractive power of a freak show.

What is it about the oddities and abnormalities in life that so many find fascinating? Why is it that the less than ideal life is so entertaining? Why are we paradoxically repulsed, excited and attracted to "freak show" moments?

I was thinking about a tweet I read regarding sensors in cars that detect bad roads then share the inputs with the great big, bad ass cloud. Somehow this data storm would lead to good-road/bad-road data viz and the life of the automobile driver would magically become all better because municipalities would fix the bad roads (ha, that's the funny part right). At the same time a friend says he needs a crowd sourced idiot detector app for our locally owned side show attraction, Woodman's East market. Basically people could post when the idiot factor was high and my friend could decide to go or avoid based on the data.

Now, that market is known for it's own slice of Wiscona Americana. Sometimes it is an excellent people watching experience while other times a complete debacle, F-a-roo. One thing is for sure Woodman's East has never let me down in the entertainment category. It is a rich slice of Wisconsin life including the good, the bad and the ugly. Oh the ugly!!!

Now, the six of you who read my sporadic blog will know that this is the time when I jot down new business or value model ideas based on my utterly normal life. It has been awhile but here is the gig...inspired by a stranger's tweet about accelerometers gathering road conditions and my friend's hope to one day avoid mass idiocy at a grocery store on the East side of Madison. -Crowdsourced Freakshow documentary/app. This would be a little bit of the Walmart Shoppers Site and Police Mug Shot Sites combined with Pinterest, Path and FourSquare. A person would check in at their fav freakOrama and post the happens, unsightly, ill-formed train wrecks that are AmericanSideShows. Once checked in you can post a link, date and time spotting everything from the small obese child who ate CoolWhip off the floor after it cracked open from a fall, to "Missy" that loveable heroin addict who finds herself stubling around aisle 4 every Thursday at 9pm.

Exploitative? Probably. Entertaining? Maybe...for the right person anyway. Revenue? Who cares, this would be done for fun. If it made money, great. Regardless let's assume it is the same old, tired and hopeless ad based revenue model.

Sent from my iPhone

Siesta Loco

MyDad's idea at lunch: restaurant that provides lunch and a nap. Lunch in the front and a wall of hammocks in the back. Spanish themed food. Siesta Loco.

Have a great day. Take a nap.

Sent from my iPhone

Standing outside, clueless. DriveOn Bucko.

I have lived all over. I have lived in and around KCMO and Detroit and Albany, NY and Chicago and Portland, OR and even Maine. I was thinking about my time in two different neighborhoods, Ravenswood (chicago) and Portland's NW side. Both shared one distinct problem, high demand for on street parking.

I can't tell you how many times I forget where I parked my car. Everyday I parked in a different spot on a different street somewhere within a one mile radius of my apartment. You might be questioning if parking was that limited? The answer is yes. There are literally more cars than available street parking in those areas. I remember sometimes driving for an hour hoping to find a spot somewhere close to home. As weeks of this routine would go by I'd end up getting confused over which day I parked where.

I distinctly remember calling in "sick" to my new boss at HP because I couldn't find my car on one awful day. I was in a distinct panic that morning, not because I thought my car was stolen but because I was so late for work. I searched for more than an hour. After deciding to go block by block in a grid-scanning manner I ended up at a coffee shop completely broken. I sat down. I called my boss. I said, "dude, I can't find my car." He laughed and asked if it was stolen. I told him I just couldn't remember where I parked it. The conversation ended with him telling me to make in when I could.

I never felt more immature in my adult life. I felt like one of "those" kids rolling into class with the ole "dog ate my homework" spiel. "Uh, hi boss...that's right, I lost my car...no I am not drunk."

So long story short, I am suggesting something that probably exists already, a mapping feature that pins the location of your parked car. You park, you push pin the location and you walk happily home knowing that you'll never call your boss again with such a silly first world problem.

Ok, it's gotta exist right? There is probably no way it doesn't exist on iphone app's but who cares because as you might know each day a new burger joint opens somewhere. Burgers? Burgers?! Hey, that's not a new idea. You didn't invent burgers...yeah, yeah, yeah, in the words of my eighth grade gym coach, "it don't matta." All that matters is tone, flavor and timing.

So what the heck would make this "dude, where's my car" app so special? First off it would post an image of the location to anyone who you give permission, like your boss. In the rare case that your dog eats your iphone you can at least email him from your neighbor's ipad and ask, where's my car? He will tell you where your car is parked, that you are a dork and to get to work as fast as possible.

Next defining value moment. The app would tie in with local marketing schemes and programs. You tell the cloud where your car is and maybe just maybe if you happen to find yourself parking a block from PePak's Pastry Shop you might get an invite to sample a Fritter and get fifty cents off your favorite four dollar latte. PePak would be able to access your general demographic and psychographic what-nots giving the Pepak family greater insight about their community of customers.

So, forget Groupon, think DriveOn. Everyday you find your car. Every day you get to work on time. Everyday you have the chance at a great local deal.

Speaking of time, over time DriveOn could show your parking life visually and begin to develop intelligence around parking availability, time of day and more. It could tie into existing parking systems such as malls and airports becoming your one stop shop for knowing "where" on what day. (Where= where's my car, where's best deals, where's likely spot etc)

CL
;)

ChopStitos

In a meeting today. There were snacks. M&M's, apples and Doritos. I was reaching for the M&M bowl. My boss suggested Doritos because of their addictive power. I said I'd never go for the Doritos unless there were chop sticks to eat them. I can't stand the idea of that orange powder crap on my fingers. It is so powerfully negative I won't eat Doritos and I love that supremely engineered food substance.

So why not make simple chop sticks for snacks like Doritos! Heck, all chips?

Mission: no more oily, salty, orange fingers.

Goal: reduce germs from public food...no one wants to eat from a bowl who's contents lead the patron to lick their own fingers.

Hope: Trick little injection molded chop sticks on outside of chip bag similar to mounting used for straws on juice boxes.

Done.

Doritos
Chop Sticks
Make em!