Avery Cohen from Metrist Partners will be presenting "Ten Tips for Improving Your Search Engine Optimization" at Windy City Social's Social Media and Online Marketing Summit. The event also includes one-on-one consultations with the speakers, so bring a list of questions!

Guests will connect with other marketers and learn about the latest trends in Social Media and Online Marketing from leaders in the industry. People will leave the event with new, innovative ideas about how to leverage Twitter, Facebook, SEO, E-mail Marketing and Experience Marketing.

Several of the speakers and sponsors will be on hand for 15 minute consultations where they’ll give attendees immediate steps they can take to improve their actual site or campaign! And our speakers are going to pick a few emails and websites submitted by attendees in advance to critique during presentations.

Speaker Highlights

• Creating an Experience They Will Remember (in a good way!): Cereality Founders Rick Bacher and David Roth
  
• E-mail Makeovers: Reagan Taylor, NCR
  
• Top 10 Tips for Improving Your Natural Search Rankings: Avery Cohen, Metrist Partners
  
• Tips on How to Get the Most out of the New Fan Pages: Brad Keown from Facebook
  
• Panel on Using Twitter to Promote Big Business

Consulting Highlights

• Email Makeovers
  
• SEO Review of Your Site
  
• Strategic Blog or Website Review: Strategic Marketing & Blogging Expert Liz Strauss (limited spaces)
  
• Twitter Tune-up: Register for Twitter and get tips from top tweeters
  
• Social Media Monitoring Set-up: Learn about free monitoring services and get help signing up for one of them.

Check Out the Full Line-up at Windy City Social

Or REGISTER NOW!

Labels: chicago, chicago networking events, online social networks, social media, windy city, windy city social

Entrepreneurial Innovators Take to the Stage

Part One: The Winners

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Ten entrepreneurs presented their five-minute pitches in an effort to win the top prize of $3,000 in the MIT Enterprise Forum’s annual Whiteboard Challenge. The top three presenters won $3,000, $1,500, and $500 in prize money from sponsor law firm K&L Gates.

There were about 90 entries this year. A panel from The Big Idea Forum preselected the ten finalists. Last year’s Whiteboard Challenge received entries from approximately 60 entrepreneurs.

The Winner: TiltAlign Therapy for Cerebral Palsy

This year’s winning entrepreneurial idea, as selected by a panel of four judges and a phone-in vote from the crowd, was Northwestern student, James Rein. Rein’s winning concept was called "TiltAlign", a therapy for people with cerebral palsy.

Rein, a Biomedical Engineering student at Northwestern stated that there are 800,000 people with cerebral palsy in the US. One of the symptoms of the disease is that patients have poor motor control and poor perception of where they are in space. Their spine and extremities get tilted from vertical and movement becomes difficult and strenuous.

This symptom of cerebral palsy is generally treated by physical therapy. One of the more common treatments is to teach them to move in a six foot cage, as seen  in these videos. Rein pointed that the efficacy of "cage therapy" for cerebral palsy is "just OK" and the cage itself costs five- to six-thousand dollars and is too big to fit in most homes. Thus the patient doesn’t have frequent access to the therapy.

Rein’s TiltAlign concept is to provide a more portable feedback mechanism to provide feedback to patients when they are misaligned. The device he described uses 1) a device with an accelerometer (the electronics that tell when an iPhone or Wii controller is moving), 2) attached to the chest, arms, or legs by a Velcro strap. The controller communicates to 3) a transceiver which controls 4) a device, either a DVD Player or Music, so that music or video instructions pause when the patient becomes misaligned during therapy.

The TiltAlign concept provides rewards for maintaining good habits and provides instant feedback. It can be used at home and the controls would have adjustable sensitivity, customizable for each patient’s needs. He estimated that the cost of each unit would be $200, compared to the thousands for the "therapy cage".

My question, prior to Rein's winning the prize, was to ask why this couldn't be a software solution built on Nintendo's Wii platform?

Second Place: The BFF <3 Necklace

The second-place prize of $1,500 went to Avelo Roy, who presented eMotion’s "BFF ‹3 Necklace". Roy said eMotion’s vision is to serve people who are physically separate and emotionally connected. Roy is also no stranger to entrepreneurial competitions, the eMotion team won $25,000 in November at Entrepreneur Idol, held at Northwestern University.

There are 8 million "tweens", girls between the ages of eight and thirteen. 27% of them participate in online social communities. These girls are three times more likely to be the victims of cyber bullying or pedophiles. eMotion’s product, the $29.99 BFF<3 Necklace gives people a way to add friends in person. Once matched, you can share private messages and communicate via the necklace. CNN.com describes the "BFF ‹3 Necklace" as "a wireless communication device that takes the form of a fashion accessory."

The BFF Necklace is heart shaped and has color LEDs. The units are encoded so that friends who share necklaces can join each other’s networks. They can send messages that are conveyed by coded configurations of the blinking LEDs and they can exchange private messages on the eMotion web site.

The actual use of the BFF Necklace wasn’t clear to many audience members (anecdotally), nor was it clear (to me) how this product could protect from either cyber bullies or pedophiles. However, the company has assembled an impressive board of advisors, is selling an introductory product, and, according to Roy, the site is "becoming a destination" for their target audience.

Third Place: Portion Controlled Dinnerware

The third-place prize went to Thu Nguyen, who brought to the competition a simple, practical entrepreneurial idea: Portion Controlled Dinnerware. "For as long as I can remember, I have been dieting," said Nguyen in her opening.

After many diets, Nguyen was diagnosed as being "pre-diabetic". She was put on a special diet that required counting points – "I had ten choices per day, compared to the twenty to thirty choices I was eating before the diagnosis." She started measuring her portions, especially when eating carbohydrates. This meant that when she dined with friends, she had to take her portions in measuring cups. It was both complicated and stigmatizing.

Nguyen’s entrepreneurial solution to this situation was to conceptualize dinnerware that integrates portion control into the design. The designs on the bowls and plates clearly and artistically identify half-cup and one-cup servings. Nguyen envisioned, on the whiteboard, a wine glass with portion control markings for eight or sixteen ounces, much to the amusement of the audience. Her concept enables portion control to be managed without having to pull out measuring cups.

Food can be attractively served without the extra, potentially embarrassing, step of measuring when serving. Nguyen placed in the competition with a simple solution to a non-obvious, but frequently recurring problem.

Those were the winners. Over the next couple of days, I’ll provide a write-up of the other seven entrepreneur’s presentations from the 2009 MIT Enterprise Forum Whiteboard Challenge.

Labels: bff necklace, chicago networking events, competition, entrepreneurs, innovation, MIT-EF, portion controlled dinnerware, tiltalign

The slides from Avery Cohen's talk on Google Analytics to Chicago's Joomla User group are now on line. The talk used actual results and Google Analytics screens from the run-up to the CMS Expo that recently took place in Evanston. The talk was well-received and generated a lot of discussion. Dig in!

Labels: Avery Cohen, Chicago Joomla CMS Expo, Google Analytics, online marketing case

A piece by Stephanie Clifford in Saturday's New York Times business section is finally addressing the data revolution in online ad buying (comparing the analytics to Wall Street's, which may impress fewer folks than it would have this time last year). Major takes: it's faster and simpler to understand ad effectiveness than it ever has been, and the prevalence of ad network cookies is raising privacy concerns.

Labels: online advertising analysis, online advertising analytics, online advertising testing

I took a lot of notes at the MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago meeting on May 20th. The meeting was both inspiring and informative. Four authors of books on the topic of “innovation”, all of them consultants for companies of varying scale, answered questions about their approaches to bringing creativity to business. They addressed product and process innovation, in theory and practice.

Alexis Driscoll, a Principal at Outpoint Consulting, was the moderator, and asked about a third of the questions. The rest were provided by the audience, which kept the audience engaged and the conversation lively. The authors were:

• Adam Hartung, author of “Create Marketplace Disruption”
  
• Sarah Miller Caldicott, author of “Innovate Like Edison” and granddaughter of T. A. Edison himself,
  
• Craig Hickman, author of many more than a dozen business books and recent author of a mystery suspense novel with a business setting,
  
• Praveen Gupta, editor of Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Innovation Science and author of "Business Innovation in the 21st Century".
  

INTRODUCTIONS

Gupta talked about trying to create “Breakthrough Innovation”, he wants to bring out the brilliance in everyone. He wants you to let out “your inner Einstein.”

When asked why his latest book is a novel, Hickman said “Sometimes you can only tell the truth in fiction.” He cited a highly litigious business world that is also, in his words “highly corrupt”.

Caldicott echoed Gupta’s comments, “every one is innately creative.” The challenge is to unleash people’s talents to move science forward. To do that you have to understand who has the skills to create and, just as importantly, to connect with the resources to implement.

In his opening remarks, Hartung was more bold. “If people continue to follow the ‘core and focus’” message that has been so popular in recent years, he foresees “massive failure.”

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WERE CEO OF GM?
Gupta was eager to take on this one. He referenced Tom Peters “If you can’t change, you have to kill it and start over.” He referred to the “trash value” of GM’s R&D. GM has the wrong focus, you have to commit to growth and not just profit. “The rest of the world is cheaper than us.” Honda is known for innovation, Toyota is known for reliability, Volvo for safety. “US car brands are known for nothing”.

Caldicott agreed, saying that in her observations there is “no passion for cars at the senior levels. No connection between management and people who assemble cars.” It may be a contractual issue, but union members are not utilized to find better ways to make cars. She came back to Edison, who she says “knew the factories and was passionate about what he made.”

SHOULD YOU KEEP YOUR IDEA SECRET, OR SHARE IT?
Gupta quipped “Bill Gates said the life of Intellectual Property is equal to that of a banana.” He advocated for “open innovation”. Caldicott suggested that people need to find your communities who can help you develop your product.

WHEN DOES INNOVATION BECOME CORRUPTION?
This question was right in Hickman’s sweet spot. “It happens all the time. Deceit, abuse of power.” Innovation becomes corrupt when it becomes all about the competition. When the focus is on competitors and not on customers. True innovation builds solid advances in products and services. Maneuvering against the competition is false, not true innovation.

An audience member asked if Hickman’s test was “focusing on the competition vs. focusing on core competencies?” and Hickman agreed. Hickman recommended article Managing Our Way to Economic Decline, http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2007/07/managing-our-way-to-economic-decline/ar/1.

WHEN AND HOW DO WE DRAW THE LINE BETWEEN INVENTION AND INNOVATION?
Edison was known as an inventor, not a “scientist,” said Caldicott. He believed “utility is success.” Invent something and it will sit on a shelf. Edison preferred to take inventions out to the marketplace. That said, Edison was always doing basic scientific research, asking “How does it work?” Edison always combined the basic science with Applied Research.

Caldicott went on to describe how most institutions separate basic research and applied research. “Research” and “Development” are not together and, she said, “need to be together.” She identified three distinctions that need to work together: “Creativity” is having an idea. “Invention” is when you make something. “Innovation” is when it sells.

HOW DO COMPANIES CREATE AN ATMOSPHERE FOR INNOVATION WHEN SO MANY ELEMENTS CONTRIBUTE TO RISK?
Hartung says that the only way to innovate is to set up a separate place in the organization to develop innovation. He gave the example of GM’s electric car program. The people testing loved the cars. GM had to sue to get the cars back from the testers. But when the project came back to GM, it didn’t meet GM’s requirements and was terminated. Hartung’s take was that this project needed to stay in the “white space”, so that they could start from scratch and "fail until you succeed".

Gupta added that “failures do cost money”. Projects need a scorecard optimized for profitable growth and a will to overcome failures. The CEO must inspire people to do their best, managers must create structures for success, and employees must be free to innovate. Management must give room for innovation.

HOW MUCH WHITE SPACE DO YOU NEED?
Hartung said that IBM’s PC development lab at Boca Raton was a success. Xerox PARC failed because it lacked one of the skills Caldicott had touched on earlier, the ability to connect the “invention” with the business’ go-to-market capabilities. Argon and most U.S. basic research facilities fail.

Hartung’s objective is marketplace disruption. For big companies, the business process is locked-in. They can easily expand and do variations on a theme, but they can not change the underlying process. Thus, Xerox PARC ended up giving away the Graphical User Interface and Local Area Network technology that was developed there. They could not innovate into a completely new field. Caldicott said that Edison would sell off discoveries or inventions that he did not see his company taking to market.

Hartung says he has 10 rules for strategic innovation in his book. The “whitespace” company needs to come back and “eat” the parent company. Actually, it’s the people who need to be innovators, people willing to disrupt. He pointed at Hospira, the Abbott spin-off, as having a good mix of people willing to disrupt their processes. Caldicott talked about businesses having a mix of characteristics relative to innovation, and that it tends to be a bell curve. 10% looking to try or make new things, 10% looking to make our things better and 80% looking to be followers of defined “best practices”.

Hickman brought up a concern about the dogma of “Control or be controlled”. This works in promoting “best practices”, but fights innovation. It creates corruption in hierarchies where people have bought into being the followers.

Speaking of corrupt hierarchies,
ILLINOIS POLITICS: CAN WE INNOVATE OUT OF THE PAY-TO-PLAY ENVIRONMENT?
Hartung says that business has fewer rules, but just as GM can’t innovate from the inside, neither can state government. The federal government will need to come in and change the game. Others agreed.

ARE THERE COMPANIES THAT ARE TOO BIG TO FAIL? CAN BIG COMPANIES INNOVATE?
The question used the term “sustainability”, which some people took to mean “sustained growth” and others took to mean “environmental sustainability”, often called “green business”. Gupta took the lead on the question, and split the difference, giving the example of how Ford spent a lot of R&D money on “green” and sustainability initiatives for their cars and facilities, but didn’t know how to build new cars, only to adapt. GM, he said, “stands for Greatly Mature. Their time is gone” GM has a 5% success rate with innovation. Today, companies need to create, to manage for disruption, to innovate fast, in real time.

Not all companies can sustain innovation. There is a culture and there are structures. Caldicott discussed four models for innovation:
1. Compliant – “I will innovate if the market makes me”.
2. Dabbler – Creates teams to dabble in innovation outside core functions of the business.
3. Continual Improvement – Six Sigma adherents, incremental improvements
4. Innovative Enterprise– Constantly open to change and innovation across the enterprise.

She gave the example of the rare Innovative Enterprise as Edison’s West Orange Laboratory.

Hartung says that the problem for big companies is that their focus on profits. “Profits are result.” You need to innovate to solve problems, not maximize for profits. “When you look only at profit, you do stupid things, like selling all the parking meters at one time.” Profit squeezes are not sustainable.

HOW IS THE INTERNET AND SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGING INNOVATION?
Caldicott says that the new medium is opening collaboration to occur across the world. Companies need to harness the concept of Open Innovation and develop competencies. She referred to 3M studies on how their scientists interact on social media. They have a mandate to share information across scientific and marketing audiences. They can see clusters of information and see who the connectors are. About a dozen people are the core glue that keeps people connected and information flowing.

Gupta says that this approach has changed the whole innovation process. The building blocks of innovation are moving from big companies to smaller groups of networked individuals. Companies that understand this get the benefits. For 3M, it takes six years to get a return on investment. For Google and Apple, it is just over a year. For Nintendo, ROI is $ 3.50 – or around 90 days. And, he added, “for GM, never”.

HOW CAN PEOPLE INNOVATE ON BUSINESS PROCESSES?
Caldicott talked about the World Innovation Forum earlier this month (May 5). Business Processes played a big part in that discussion. She believes that businesses will move from a pyramid to a flatter structure. Generation Y will be the largest population on the planet. Next year Cisco will employ more Gen Y than Baby Boomers. Gen Y is more collaborative and engages in “horizontal collaboration”. This will give rise to more business processes to share information about markets and products, needs and uses.

Hickman added that hierarchies are easily corrupted because of a concentration of power. The power has to be dissipated and shared. Corruption is hidden. People must be empowered for innovation to take place. This is also critical for democracy to work.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN INNOVATION? IS IT COMPATIBLE WITH THE U.S. CAPITALIST APPROACH?
Caldicott pointed at Argon labs. Their mandate only allows them to go to a pre-commercial phase. Thus, Argon’s battery technology ends up only at Toyota. Argon needs to open up. Their charter needs to change, though she didn’t say to what.

Gupta talked about four types of research:

1. Fundamental Science, done by universities and government
2. Platform Research, done by the largest, though sometimes mid-tier, companies
3. Derivative Development, done by most companies
4. Variations or Incremental, done at the individual level

If we want innovation, teach people to ask questions and to be creative. That value on creativity and innovation comes from governmental programs.

LARGE CORPORATE MANAGEMENT HAS SHIFTED FROM PEOPLE WITH ENGINEERING BACKGROUNDS TO MBAS. HAS THIS RESULTED IN THE DEATH OF INNOVATION?
Hickman responded that the rise of entrepreneurs is critical to innovation. “Control” has become an extreme dogma and closes opportunity. The biggest obstacle to innovation is management.

As a final note,

WHAT SINGLE MYTH ABOUT INNOVATION WOULD YOU LIKE TO DISPELL?

Gupta: We think people are not creative. This is not true. We are all born creative. Learn to challenge the status quo.

Hickman: Not all innovators are the same. We mostly do just a passable job of putting the right people in the right places so that we can use all available talents.

Caldicott: It is not true that innovation takes a lot of people. A great team is 3 to 8 people. Not 25-50. A team of three people invented optical fiber. Their competition was a team in Japan had 50 people and failed.

Hartung: It is not true that innovation comes from deep knowledge of a subject. Deep knowledge leads to incremental improvements. Innovation comes from lateral thinking.

And that's quite enough from me. As always, please contact me with any questions or corrections.

Kit Mueller runs REConnect, featuring an on-line networking and events for Chicago real estate professionals. Mueller and also holds twice-yearly SPARKt conferences on Real Estate and technology. The second Chicago SPARKt conference was held April 29 in the Volcano Room at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago's West Loop, with a half-dozen relatively quick high-quality presentations. Muller kept the proceedings on-target (with occasional coaching from the peanut gallery) and the atmosphere upbeat, casual and informative.

There was a good sized crowd, made up primarily of Real Estate professionals, including agents and brokers as well as various online real-estate related web sites and a handful of other service providers. Highlights included
- Matt Dollinger from @properties on Real Estate use of online social media
- Michael Berger, 37 Signals' iPhone geek talking about mobile applications for Real Estate
- Christian Sterner of Welcomemat.com demonstrated how to make online video effective
- A discussion on "Privacy and Social Media" from lawyers Glenn Manishin of Duane Morris and Brock Meeks from the Center for Democracy & Technology
- Eric Bryn talked about how he uses Web Analytics to help realtors come up with blog topics.
- Adrian Holovaty from Everyblock talked about the future of Everyblock and its local data technology.

Matt Dollinger's blog, The You Factor, helps Realtors understand how to use Social Media. The crux of Dollinger's message is to put yourself, personally, out there. Dollinger puts a Real Estate frame around some of the concepts discussed online by Social Media thought leaders like David Armano and Peter Kim (both of whom he referenced in his talk). When you are online, you are not "selling", but building a "personal brand" that shows you to be someone who can help people when they need to make a complex and emotional decision.

Christian Sterner expanded on Dollinger's "personal branding" message, showing how Realtors can use online video not just to show homes, but to become an online presence for all things local. Post videos on YouTube & Yahoo for search engine optimization (SEO) effects. Sterner also suggests using Social Media sites to announce and embed your videos, as an opportunity to connect with people where they are online.

Michael Berger, a former "Apple Genius" who focuses on mobile applications at 37 Signals, demonstrated mobile applications on the iPhone that Realtors can share with clients. Apps from Zillow, Trulia, and Everyblock take advantage of the iPhone's GPS capabilities to show local real estate information on maps. You can see your current location and nearby homes for sale, and other local community information.

Brock Meeks from the Center for Democracy and Technology was perhaps the highlight of the afternoon. A former big-league journalist, he and Glenn Manishin discussed some of the legal issues around on-line social networks. Meeks talked about the process of hiring a Social Media Manager for the Center for Democracy and Technology. He looked at their Facebook and Twitter posts; many candidates demonstrated an "personal brand" that was not consonant with the mission and values of the Center. They also warned that what you say on Facebook or Twitter could become a binding addendum to any existing contract. So be careful out there!

Eric Bryn showed how to use Google Analytics and a few other tools to capture new audiences on the web. He manages several group blogs for realtors. He looks at the blog contents and uses Google Analytics to discover the "organic" search keywords that are used to reach blog entries. If he sees a spike in activity, he knows that there is a good opportunity to use those terms again. Google Analytics also reports if site visitors read more than one page or register for email newsletters.

Bryn also looks at the terms used in entries, and finds synonyms through the Google AdWords Traffic Estimator. This shows synonyms and approximate value for those terms if one was to advertise on the topic. Microsoft offers adlabs.microsoft.com, a tool that shows keywords and relative intent-to-buy associated with usage of those keywords.

Once a valuable keyword that drives traffic is found, Bryn encourages his clients to write "variations on a theme" using the keywords as topics. He used a visual of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans. "7 tips for...", "What not to do when buying...", video and photographs.

Adrian Holovaty talked about the Everyblock iPhone app. With iPhone GPS capabilities, you can see crime/health/news reports for your current location. Holovaty also talked about how Everyblock.com was created under a grant, and under the terms of the grant, the Everyblock code, built on the Django platform, will become open source this June.

There were a lot of very practical gems in the SPARKt conference. With the exception of Meeks & Manishin's talk, the focus remained solidly on Real Estate, though the advice was easily transferrable to other high-touch services. Photos from the event are at SPARKt website. Mueller continues to run frequent RE-Connect events.

Labels: chicago technology, real estate marketing, social media

Karl Havard in the British Internet periodical "Econsultancy" uses a football ("soccer", to you NFL fans) metaphor to make a point about all of the other things, besides good solid SEO, that we Internet marketers need do to "score" success. A "goal hanger" is a player who waits just outside the box around a football goal, hoping to deflect the ball that others work so hard to advance. To Havard, we focus too much of our efforts (especially monetary ones) on SEO, while shorting, for example, the conversion elements on our site that make SEO pay off, just as football fans give too little credit to the players who worked so hard to get the ball to the "goal hangers". The algebra of success is Site Entries times Conversion Rate, and the return on conversion investment is often "misunderestimated", as former President Bush would say.

Labels: conversion rate improvement, seo, web analytics, web marketing

News out of eMetrics San Jose: Brett Crosby of Google Analytics announced new features for Google Analytics, including Pivoting and Secondary Dimensions, so that we can look at the relationship between two dimensions at once; Share Custom Reports and Advanced Segment Customizations, so I can port custom report structures I've built, and new ones now being made available, into other GA accounts via a URL; Manage Customizations Across Profiles, to do just what that says, especially useful if some custom reports would be nonsensical for certain profiles. Expect to see these over the next few weeks.

Labels: Brett Crosby, eMetrics San Jose, Google Analytics, Google Analytics Custom Reports, Google Analytics new features

April 7, 2009

Four interesting and innovative companies presented their concept pitches to the monthly Business Networking Chicago Venture Capital meeting. Hosted by Len Bland and David Carmen, the attendees included entrepreneurs, service providers, students and perhaps a half-dozen actual investors.

The companies presenting at BNC Venture Capital are generally early in the cycle of seeking investment, and both participants and audience have an opportunity to learn how to make their business case to potential venture capital investors. Each speaker is given ten minutes to present and fifteen minutes to answer questions from the crowd.

Moderator Bland asks them to make sure they answer three questions: 1) What is your product or service and why will customers buy it? 2) Why is the management team qualified to execute the business plan? 3) How will your investors make money?

Of the four companies that presented at the meeting on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, two were related to education; One was an innovator in sustainable (e.g. "green") transportation options; and one offered to transform the manufacture and distribution of a common retail product.

INNOVATE2LRN – Dedicated Workstations for Urban Students

The first company, Lake Forest based INNOVATE2LRN, branded as QWK2LRN provides "thin client" computers to urban schools, with the objective that each student have a working computer at their desk full time. They provide hardware and infrastructure utilizing on-demand remote (or "cloud") server capacity.

It was interesting that the audience did not have a clear understanding of the Innovate to Learn's business model. That their service is related to providing computers and a "cloud-based" infrastructure to schools. This may be because QWK2LRN CEO Bill Lowe focused much of his presentation on the efficacy of having a dedicated computer workstation for each student in urban schools. He then recommended that the schools use web-based educational programs; the QWK2LRN solution does not provide software or teacher training, though they do have one person available to consult with teachers and administrators on selecting appropriate web-based educational programs.

A key to QWK2LRN 's business plan is that the management team works with school district superintendants to get access to already-allocated federal funds to pay for the hardware. The core team is made up of executives from Xerox, they bring Xerox's top-down approach to sales. The executive team has built strong connections with philanthropists who are active in urban and educational causes. This has given them access to school district superintendents rather than going in through the IT department. We note that, at this writing, their web site is "undergoing site maintenance".

SCHOOL TOWN – Web-based Teacher-Parent-Student Communication Platform

The second education-related company to present at the BNC Venture Capital meeting, School Town, provides tools to help teachers, students, and parents communicate about school assignments and schedules. School Town also provides capabilities for teachers and parents to collaborate and share lesson plans and other educational information. School Town CEO Michael A. Kritzman also stated that School Town provides a platform for teachers to implement "differentiated learning" in the classroom.

Based out of the Chicago suburb of Glenview, they have had successes with their initial installations. The solution helps teachers and parents communicate with students, and helps students develop time management skills. One concern of the audience was whether competition in the education marketplace represented a good opportunity for the company to be acquired for integration or if the company could succeed as a stand-alone SaaS offering. Kritzman indicated that their strategy is to develop the product and be acquired. Another question from the audience was how much time School Town would save teachers versus the complexity it added to their jobs.

PARRY TRANSIT – Ultralight Rail Using Hybrid Power

Parry Transit is an American subsidy of a British company that developed the hybrid trolly. They offer a sustainable ultralight rail solution. CEO Barry Seifer described ultralight rail as an affordable green transit technology. Light rail has a 10-year sales cycle, but ultralight is less expensive for both the track and cars and can go to market more quickly.

Despite Mayor Daley's repeated tries to build light rail in Chicago, this Chicago audience could not relate to the Trolly concept, asking if they could put tires on the cars. Unfortunately, that would eliminate many of the benefits of the Parry Transit system. Light rail has enjoyed success in other locations, including downtown Portland as an outstanding example.

On one hand, with federal stimulus dollars on the table, Parry's ultralight rail looks like an appealing investment. On the other hand, high-speed rail for the Midwest has been getting the PR buzz lately. A lot of Parry's success rides on managing all aspects of selling to government, including setting public expectations.

NOVUS ICE SYSTEMS – On-site Ice Production for Retail Locations

Chicago-based Novus Ice proposes to "redefine the distribution chain for bagged ice" in retail locations by placing automated systems in stores. The systems run quietly and have the same footprint of current ice vending systems, with added height.

The manufacture and distribution of ice is typically a local monopoly, with some 2,000 suppliers nationwide. There are two large public companies trying to roll up this market: Reddy Ice and Arctic Glacier. Novus' business model is to finance the placement of the systems and take a percentage of sales from each unit. They will guarantee the retail price of a bag of ice. Eliminating the manufacturing and transportation costs of ice should improve margins on ice to around 20%.

The machines use standard components, assembled for Novus by the hardware suppliers. The makers of the freezer units have an existing nationwide maintenance operation, which Novus says will minimize the exposure of the maintenance risk.

The use of standard components raised the question of competition. Novus said that there is no competition currently in the market and that their projections are to take 4% of the retail ice market, focusing on chains with larger stores. Their business plan showed 64% EBITDA at the end of five years. They are in the planning stages for a pilot with Walmart.

Note, however, that a later Google search for "in-store ice production" yields a February announcement from Arctic Glacier of their in-store ice production system, and another system from Louisiana based Ultra Pure Water Technologies, dating back to November, 2005. (see http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5559/is_200102/ai_n22604092/ and http://www.upwt.com/icemakers.html ). It appears that there may be more to the story behind this innovation. If I were Ron May, I'd probably take up the space to also point out that the management team is not listed on the company's web site.

FEEDBACK FROM THE CROWD

At the end of each presentation Bland polled the audience to vote their confidence in the presentation's investment potential on a scale of one to ten. Novus Ice Systems was the best received of the companies presenting. School Town received the most tepid support from the audience. Parry Transit appeared to have the widest dispersion of low-to-high votes.

The next Business Network Chicago Venture Capital meeting is Tuesday, May 5.

Labels: BNC, business network chicago, chicago, innovation, venture capital

Real estate web sites Trulia and Zillow are both reporting growth, according to Search Engine Watch. Truila announced record growth in March, while Zillow announced an agreement to build co-branded real estate web sites for a consortium of 180 community newspapers. This makes Trulia and Zillow increaslingly important resources for realtors.

Compete.com shows significant growth for both Zwillow and Trulia over the past several months, as shown below. We note that Compete's panel does not conform to Trulia's reported Q1 growth, at lest reporting through February. By comparison, Google Trends reports relatively flat search traffic on the terms "real estate" and "homes for sale". It would appear that Zillow and Trulia are taking market share from other sites, perhaps the sites of realtors themselves.

What does this mean for realtors? We expect it's going to be increasingly difficult to draw people to the realtor's web site. Given that, realtors have an oportunity to engage with potential buyers and sellers on Zillow and Trulia. There is also an opportunity to focus locally and build online reputation through a variety of social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.

It's going to be up to the realtors to find their customers online and to connect with them where they are. Customers are searching for "real estate" or "homes for sale", but they are increasingly searching out "zillow" and "trulia". Trulia's blog talks about Trulia's presence on Twitter.

Trulia is chasing Zwillow for real estate shoppers. The opportunity is for realtors to become even more nimble. One strategy is to connect ubiquitously to their own local communities as real estate clients, homeowners and potential homeowners, become more connected online.

Labels: nalytics, real estate, social media, trulia, web analytics, zillow