13.04.2011
Educational Technology Company SnappSchool Named Winner of The Lean Startup Machine NYC, 2011
New York, NY (PRWEB) April 5, 2011
On April 4 2011 in NYC, 6 sleep-deprived entrepreneurs vowed to improve education with technology. Brant Cooper, a judge in the Lean Startup Machine (LSM), announced SnappSchool the winner of the 48 hour competition in which 12 teams of 5-6 participants worked around the clock to apply “Lean Startup” principles to their business concepts. The LSM premise is to identify and develop a product’s market before scaling the organization - “customer development” principles. Ideas went from pitch to product within 48 hours.
The judges included Eric Ries, the leading evangelist of the “Lean Startup” philosophies, coupled with accomplished entrepreneurs Brant Cooper, Giff Constable, Hiten Shah and Patrick Vlaskovits.
Alex Weinberg, a teacher with Teach For America in New York, started SnappSchool to assist educators to find relevant, quality content for their classrooms online, saving them over 20 hours per week.
“The Customer Development approach pushed us to get to know our customer, and allowed us to realize very early on that teachers were not actually our customers - principals were - saving us massive time and effort,” said Weinberg.
“At LSM we were forced to make quick, and often times hard decisions regarding our key business assumptions. It’s classic guess and check mixed with the movie Speed (the first one). Ultimately, though, that process is exactly what kept the vision alive - which was to build something to help teachers do their job,” said Boyd, a recent graduate of Rice University and Product Development Intern at Thrillist.
“Building a system that puts the highest quality web content into the hands of teachers can have a profound impact on our educational system. But if you build something that no one buys, that impact will never be realized," remarked Halloran, product manager consultant.
“At Google, we believed in ‘build it and they will come’. Lean Startup flips that on its head, and teaches us to hunt for the customer right away,” said Schuck, a Senior Software Engineer at Julpan Inc, previously Technical Lead at Google on Maps and Wave.
“Our team experienced the extreme highs and lows of entrepreneurship in just 48 hours,” said Helmkamp, CTO of Efficiency 2.0.
“As entrepreneurs, it's our duty to catalyze businesses worldwide in adopting this transformative business thinking,” said England, co-founder and CEO of Keepstream, a social media curation tool.
Other competitors at the event included start-ups such as Bebop, a CRM app for Pick-Up Artists, and Lardspotting, a mobile app allowing one to take a photo of their meal and get its calorie count.
About SnappSchool:
SnappSchool () is a curated directory of the best digital education content available online. We help educators quickly find great resources to develop a unique, thought-provoking lesson plan for their students.
The SnappSchool team: Alex Weinberg is a second year teacher with Teach For America in New York. Bryan Helmkamp is CTO of Efficiency 2.0, and previously was a software engineer at Gilt Groupe. Conner Boyd is a recent graduate of Rice University and is currently a User Experience designer working in New York. Jim England is the co-founder and CEO of Keepstream, a social media curation tool based in Austin, TX. John Halloran is a Product Management and Customer Experience consultant. He was one of the original employees of Liquidnet where he ran the Product Management group for 6 years. Adam Schuck is a Senior Software Engineer at Julpan Inc, previously Technical Lead at Google on Maps and Wave.
About Lean Startup Machine:LSM is a weekend long boot-camp where entrepreneurs learn Lean Startup principles through real-world problem solving and coaching from mentors that get it. In 48 hrs, you'll pitch an idea, form a team and attempt to build something customers actually want. The prize? Cash, mentorship and glory. This is a single weekend that will change how you think about building startups forever.
theleanstartupmachine.com
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JohnHalloranSnappSchool646-709-5234Email Information
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12.04.2011
UK banks urged to protect retail arms
Radical shake-up proposals outlined on Monday appear harshest for Lloyds Banking Group, which may be forced to sell hundreds more branches in addition to the 600 already on the block.
The recommendations, compiled by a powerful independent panel, are not as severe as many bankers had feared, but it would force HSBC, Barclays and peers to hold billions of pounds more capital and squeeze profits.
Those banks have threatened to quit London for New York or Hong Kong if regulation becomes too onerous, but the proposals from the ICB were not as potentially costly as some had feared and the Commission said they should have "a broadly neutral effect on financial services."
"The biggest surprise is the fact that they're going to re-examine the scope of the Lloyds divestments," said Oliver Bretz, managing partner of the global antitrust group at Clifford Chance.
"The comments on ring-fencing and Tier 1 capital are less of a surprise."
The big universal banks should hold capital separately for their UK retail banking operations, as well as for their businesses as a whole, the ICB said.
That would better protect retail operations if an investment banking arm hits trouble, and reduce the risk that taxpayers will need to bail out a riskier parts of a bank.
BRANCHES SALE?
The report said Britain's banks should hold core Tier 1 capital of at least 10 percent, compared to new global rules of 7 percent, although the Commission said this should be a baseline "international standard for systemically important banks." There had been fears the banks would be told to hold more.
The ICB, headed by Oxford academic and former Bank of England interest rate setter John Vickers, was tasked with considering structural reforms to reduce risk and promoting competition.
More needs to be done to combat lack of competition on the high street as Lloyds' takeover of HBOS left it with a 30 percent share of the current account market, for example.
Signaling hundreds more branches need to go, the report said Lloyds' sale of 600 branches would "have a limited impact on competition unless it is substantially enhanced."
Vickers and his team stopped short of the nuclear option of unwinding Lloyds' takeover of HBOS, but said: "There is cause for regret that the government in 2008 amended competition law to facilitate the Lloyds TSB/HBOS merger but the facts in 2011 have to be taken as they are."
"Enhancing the divestiture would be more economically efficient than reversing the Lloyds TSB/HBOS merger," it added.
Lloyds said it was assessing the full implications of the report and would update the market once it had reviewed the report in detail.
It will be up to the government to choose how much of the ICB's proposals to implement, and banks are already lobbying hard to limit the scale of reform.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Steve Slater, Paul Hoskins and Sarah White; editing by Sophie Walker)
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Wine traders expect strong demand for Bordeaux futures
China and Hong Kong have become the biggest customers for the world renowned Bordeaux wines but some traders are warning against neglecting the more traditional markets in Europe and the United States.
Most expect sales and prices to match last year's or to increase through the three month sales period, leading up to June's annual Vinexpo sales fair.
The sales drive kicked off in buoyant mood.
"I am mostly optimistic and confident about this campaign," said Bordeaux merchant Philippe Tapie, noting the exceptional quality of the vintage due to the weather and "colossal investments" to improve technical quality.
But it is one thing to have a great vintage and another to sell it. This past week, barrel tastings tested interest in the vintage before prices are set and the wines are sold as commodities futures - or "en primeur."
"The number of people who attended was down slightly compared to last year but with more real professionals and a greater number of nationalities," said Philippe Dambrine, director of Chateau Cantemerle.
Overall there were 19,000 visits to the seven chateaux hosting barrel tastings, with visitors from 68 countries, according to Jean-Marc Guiraud, director of the trade body the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux.
"If you consider the fact that more than 80 percent of our business is with fewer than 20 countries, that figure shows a high level of interest in all the markets," Guiraud wrote in an email to AFP.
"The main distributors from these small markets were there and this is a very encouraging point, as many people think that China now absorbs a growing part of our production."
While China and Hong Kong have quickly become Bordeaux's biggest export market, the question is whether they will put cash into a product that will not actually arrive in their warehouses for another two years?
"I definitely think so," said Philippe Laqueche, general manager of Yvon Mau, one of Bordeaux's largest wine merchants.
"The key players in Hong Kong and Mainland China are confident of the quality and the future ratings and they want to follow what they did in '09."
But Chinese importers new to the trade may find it hard to get allocated the most coveted brands of such an exceptional vintage.
"We get allocations because of our longstanding relationships," said Bandy Choi, an importer-retailer trading in Macau, Hong Kong and China. "The new importers won't get allocations -- just a case or two to say 'hello'."
Bordeaux tends to prefer long-term market builders.
"Unless they have a clear and significant project, it will be difficult for them to get an allocation," confirmed Laqueche.
Chinese demand is expected to remain limited to established labels.
"We expect Asia to still only want the top 10 or 20 names and can't see that changing," said Gary Boom, managing director of Bordeaux Index, which has offices in Hong Kong and London.
"They won't buy unknown brands," confirmed Hong Kong trader Dennis Lok. "These will be sold to mature markets."
Mature markets in Europe and America have become a concern for chateaux as they see their wine flow to China, leaving shelf space open to rivals.
"The attraction of the Asian and Chinese markets is a terrific engine, unique. Nevertheless, one must not neglect and get cut off from traditional and historical markets," said Bordeaux merchant Tapie.
The US market has not yet fully recovered but currency fluctuations mean the price will increase for American buyers.
"Our currency has slipped -- so even flat pricing will mean an increase in the USA," noted Chris Adams, CEO of Manhattan retailer Sherry Lehmann.
"Then we have avid worldwide interest, which I understand may translate to Asian buying in this campaign.
Bordeaux loyalists also have reason to beware demand from new investors.
Choi, who provides wine investment training for Bank of China employees and their wealthy private banking customers, says the Chinese are quickly grasping the profits to be made in wine speculation.
"But chateau owners don't want to hear about wine investment and speculators because it makes the prices crazy," said Choi.
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