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Business Opportunities Weblog

Business Opportunities Weblog

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Chewing Tobacco Replacement: Grinds Coffee Chews

Posted: 11 May 2011 11:58 AM PDT

Baseball is an inherently unhealthy game. Not only are the players overweight but there’s always the risk of being beaned in the head or chest by the ball. But far and away the most dangerous part about baseball is the propensity for it’s players to use chewing tobacco. A couple former college players from Cal Poly hope to change that with their new chewing tobacco replacement, Grinds Coffee Pouches:

2009 graduates Pat Pezet and Matt Canepa recently returned from touting their new product, Grinds Coffee Pouches, at professional baseball spring training camps in Arizona and Florida.

Grinds is already being used by players in 12 Major League locker rooms, where Pezet and Canepa are marketing their chewable caffeine fixes as a substitute for chewing tobacco.

Grinds pouches, filled with coffee grounds, also provide liquid supplements and come in mocha or mint chip flavors. One can, with 20 pouches, has the caffeine equivalent to about four or five cups of coffee.

Will Grinds pouches reduce spitting? According to the website, “The best way to absorb the energy from each pouch is to swallow the saliva it produces. When you have a Grinds pouch in, you're essentially brewing the coffee in your mouth.”

Yum.

Through Kids And Startups

Posted: 11 May 2011 10:00 AM PDT

We’re just coming off of Mother’s day, the perfect day to let our mother’s know just how much we love them. It also celebrates their ‘super’ abilities. Christina Grushkin is one of those moms.

After spending nearly 10 years working in advertising, marketing, and sales, she left the business world as an employee and returned as an entrepreneur. She launched The Ladybug and Bean, an online store featuring handmade blankets and gift sets, reports VatorNews.

"It's a 24-hour job. When the kids go to bed at 9pm, I start working until 3am." (!) When I asked her if she ever sleeps, she says she gets it when she can, like when the kids are napping. Unfortunately, they don't always nap at the same time.

Despite being at home most of the time taking care of her two little girls, Grushkin understands the power of social media in making business connections over the Web. The Ladybug and Bean has a healthy presence on its own blog, on Facebook and on Twitter, each with its own unique voice.

Photo from The Ladybug and Bean

Self-Driving Cars Coming to Nevada

Posted: 11 May 2011 09:09 AM PDT

Photo by jenny8lee

Google’s self driving cars will soon be a reality, if a Las Vegas-based lobbyist does his job right. Google is quietly lobbying for legislation that would make it legal for self-driving cars to drive legally on public roads.

The vehicles have already been tested on more than 140,000 miles of California roads, extra-legally, you might say.

Photo by jenny8lee.

Indonesian Entrepreneur Finding Worldwide Success

Posted: 11 May 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Fahima is the founder of Virus Communications and CEO of Virtual Consulting. She also happens to be one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Indonesia.

The British Counsel recognized her as one of 10 International Young Creative Entrepreneurs in 2007, Business Week named her one of 25 Asia Best Young Entrepreneurs, and she even won the Femina L'oreal Best Mum award. The awards don’t stop there. She has been noted as a Young Woman Future Business Leader by Swa Magazine, and Fortune Magazine considers her one of the Top 40 Below 40 in Indonesia.

Penn Olson asked her about her journey in business.

Entrepreneurship is in my blood, it runs in the family. In 2006 I started my entrepreneur journey, I was 27 at the time. Together with my husband, we decided to leave the advertising industry to form Virus Communications. People said it was a crazy decision because we quit at the same time. But I think there will be no crazy result without a crazy (daring) start. And it proved to be the right decision, Virus Communication grew fast, and we went in at the right timing too. We also had the right partnership.

Virus was originally a traditional marketing communication company, but two years down the road we did a SWOT analysis for the company, and decided to focus on both online and digital. It was the right decision, again, because the industry was hoping for a consultancy that was able to connect digital marketing and communication in one language.

Once we decided to go online, Virus grew even faster and bigger. We won important pitches from big clients, and even won a regional pitch for a big international brand. Because of this sudden growth, I needed full support on infrastructure, financial and human resources. Not long after that we decided to merge with Virtual Consulting in which I am now the CEO and owner along with my husband.

Screenshot from Virtual Consulting

Business Ideas from Twitter: Fashionable Orthopedic Shoes

Posted: 11 May 2011 07:52 AM PDT

@abhijithrao:

Lady in next room at orthopaedic clinic cribbing 2 the Dr. abt the lack of designer prescription shoes. Business idea, anyone?

Finding Funding In Unusual Places

Posted: 10 May 2011 09:00 AM PDT

Lucy Valena was mentally ready to become a coffee entrepreneur, but her wallet was not. She lacked savings and collateral, but she had determination. So, she reached out to the SBA. Rather than give her a loan, they told her to try the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream program. According to USA Today, she succeeded.

The loan funded espresso catering service Voltage Coffee, which “allowed me to meet people and make a name for the company,” she says.

As that business grew, she secured $150,000 in venture capital. Last November, Valena had a coffeehouse to call her own: Voltage Coffee & Art opened in Cambridge, Mass.

With some research, entrepreneurs can find unexpected loan providers, business grants, online lists of angel investors and business plan competitions that dole out cash prizes.

“A whole bunch of options have opened up,” says Paul Kedrosky, a senior fellow at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation and capital markets. “People have gotten much more comfortable with providing and receiving capital in new ways.”

Photo from Voltage Coffee