LATEST IDEAS

A Close Call Compels Elizabeth Spiers to Launch Everup
Close call compels Elizabeth Spiers to launch ‘Everup’

For six weeks, Elizabeth Spiers was terrified by the possibility that any day could be her last. When the longtime writer, editor, and publisher was on maternity leave with her newborn son this past summer, her doctor diagnosed her with a brain aneurism. “I walked around effectively thinking to myself, ‘There’s a bomb in my […]
Sick of Craigslist? Three startups make apartment hunting easier

We all enjoy the convenience of two-click takeout, trading stocks on our phones, and swiping right to find the love of our lives (or perhaps just a date for the night). So why is apartment hunting still trapped in the ’90s? In many cities, Craigslist is the default for finding rental housing. Some might say […]
The power of a killer résumé

“If you call failures experiments,” said the very quotable educator Mason Cooley, “you can put them in your résumé and claim them as achievements.” With all due respect to the late professor Cooley, the above job-search method is guaranteed professional suicide. Fortunately job seekers—and prospective employers—realize that résumés are serious business. Even as technological advances flood […]
Clearing the Runway, Drone Startup FreeSkies Takes Off
Clearing the runway, drone startup FreeSkies takes off

Jay Mulakala recalls one particularly hard-hitting conversation with a potential investor. “He told us straight up, ‘Your pitch sucked,’” says Mulakala. Mulakala and Andy Putch knew they had a tough road ahead of them when they founded their software company FreeSkies. After all, the two of them had just graduated from the University of Illinois […]
Rise of the robots: Jobs machines can do better than you

The robots are coming, and this time it’s for your job. They’re bypassing the interview process and heading straight for your desk, not to mention the desks of your co-workers. And it looks like they’re here to stay. With technology advancing and the labor market evolving, the encroachment of robots is more widespread than you […]
Got a great app? Make sure people don’t delete it

Once customers download your app, the last thing you want is for them to forget about it or (gasp) delete it. That’s where Mark Ghermezian comes in. His company Appboy, which he founded with Bill Magnuson and Jon Hyman in 2012, answers questions all app developers have: How do you get the word out about […]
Business-savvy 9-year-old’s toy drive goes high tech

For a 9-year-old girl, Lily Lee seems incredibly busy. It’s not just the usual things, like doing flips in tumbling class, learning how to play the flute, and walking her dog named Lucky. For the second year in a row, the San Francisco fourth grader has been organizing a toy drive so that foster kids […]
No Time to Wait for Packages? Parcelly Has you Covered
No time to wait for packages? Parcelly has you covered

Sebastian Steinhauser knew that there had to be a better way to receive packages. He was tired of waiting at home for the truck, sacrificing precious hours just to avoid a missed delivery. It was inefficient and, for those with schedules as full as his, impractical. The WeWork Moorgate member set about finding a solution, […]
Five apps for editing your next viral video

From an automatic editor to a full-fledged solution, here are the best options to make that hilarious cat video shine
In the Beauty Business, Startup LeSalon Is Tough as Nails
In the beauty business, startup LeSalon is tough as nails

Shelves full of sleek, minimalist jars and bottles are the first things you notice at the headquarters of LeSalon. If it feels a bit like a salon, that’s not accidental: the London-based company offers high-end nail services. But this isn’t where the pampering takes place. Their innovation is that their services are delivered to your […]
Once gritty, London’s Tech City shines with new startups

If you’re in London, where your startup is located couldn’t be more important. And right now, everyone is competing for space in the super-hot neighborhood of Moorgate. “We’re originally from Holland and where you’ve based there doesn’t really matter,” says Vincent Karremons, founder of the online recruitment network Magnet.me. “It’s not something people would really […]
How to recruit an all-star team

Do you aggressively go after talent by courting a prospect that you think can help elevate your business? Do you operate like a social media ninja, relying on LinkedIn, Twitter, and the latest online tools to identify and pluck talent virtually? Do you work with in-house and outside recruiters to tap recruits from competitors and […]
Nobody reading your blog? Three ways to fix that

So you’ve started a blog to begin content marketing for your company or personal site, but it’s not quite yet a traffic-generating machine. You post biweekly. One month goes by and…only 600 visitors. Another month of regular posting and still barely linear growth. Four months later, not much change. You start to wonder if your […]
From Underage Brewer to Big-Money Entrepreneur
From underage brewer to big-money entrepreneur

Peter Ellen’s first business wasn’t quite legal. When he was away at a traditional British boarding school, Ellen took advantage of the fact that his fellow students were looking for a way to get around the ban on alcohol. “I saw it was in high demand, so I started a home brewery business,” he says. […]
Get That Cool Job: interior designer

Always rearranging your living spaces? Obsessed with houzz.com? Know what colors work together, and how to coordinate your throw pillows? You might want to consider a career in interior design. And guess what? The outlook for this industry is good. Employment of interior designers is predicted to be growing at a higher rate than average, […]
From Lady Gaga to Lyft: investor Troy Carter on picking winners

If you can catch Troy Carter’s attention, there’s a good chance that you’re about to hit it big. After all, he was an early investor in a long list of companies—Uber, Lyft, Dropbox, and Warby Parker, to name a few—that did just that. How does he know an idea is a winner? “You know it’s […]
Everything you need for a podcast, right in your pocket

Podcasting is incredibly popular these days—just like back in 2004 to 2005, after Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code podcast hit it big. But he was a former MTV VJ, after all. We can’t all have such amazing credentials that will propel us to podcasting stardom. So how exactly did podcasting make a comeback a decade […]
No one reading your PR pitches? 10 ways to fix that

Baffled and disappointed that nobody seems interested in your company’s story? Your competitors seem to have all the luck, garnering features in blogs and magazines, while the best you get is a lousy mention in a longer article. I’ve been working in PR for years now, and have a few things to share about why […]