Álvaro Sanmartín Cid

Por qué siempre recomiendo YUZZ Buenos días. Mañana se lleva a...

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:51:13 +0200

Por qué siempre recomiendo YUZZ

Buenos días. Mañana se lleva a cabo el encuentro nacional Yuzz en Madrid (www.yuzz.org). Éste es un programa de Fundación Banesto que tuve la oportunidad de disfrutar en 2010, y que realmente cambió mi vida. Estos días me encuentro casi de forma natural promocionando el evento que organizan, porque realmente creo que cualquiera debería, al menos, probar suerte en el concurso que organizan.

¿Por qué? Pues bien, porque creo que éste programa te da la oportunidad de probarte a tí mismo, de investigar si realmente tienes un gen emprendedor o no. Al contrario que otros programas de emprendedores, Yuzz sólo busca jóvenes con ideas. No quieren planes de negocios, no buscan invertir en compañías…buscan chavales con talento a los que dar una oportunidad. Por eso me gusta tanto, y por eso siempre les ayudaré en lo que pueda.

Yo les estaré siempre agradecido. Así que… ¡Venirsus mañana!

Amazing crowdsourced ads Definitely, it´s amazing the quality...

Sat, 26 May 2012 16:52:22 +0200

Amazing crowdsourced ads

Definitely, it´s amazing the quality that crowdsourced ads have these days…they are creative, well executed and sometimes brilliant. I found this one in Genius Rocket, une of the many Crowdsourcing creative communities where you can find solutions for businesses communication needs.

The world is in trouble. And the solution is there, it´s a matter of time the mainstream takes it for granted.

Money pledged in Kickstarter reach $200 million...

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:29:55 +0200

Money pledged in Kickstarter

reach $200 million [Infographic]

Reading this mashable article, I found this interesting infographic where you can see how crowdfunding is growing and it is becoming a global trend. With the first project published in April 2009, the platform has hosted more than 27.000 projects with a 46% of sucess rate in 2011.

www.kickstarter.com

Today working @ EOI

Fri, 11 May 2012 21:37:41 +0200

Today working @ EOI

CrowdfundMe , Crowdfunding platform for almost anything…

Wed, 09 May 2012 01:23:12 +0200

CrowdfundMe , Crowdfunding platform for almost anything…

Obama signs new crowdfunding law Rules change. Game...

Wed, 09 May 2012 01:06:28 +0200

Obama signs new crowdfunding law

Rules change. Game on.

“One of the big things about America is that we are a nation of doers. We think big. We take risks. And we believe that anyone with a solid plan and a willingnes to work hard can turn even the most improbable idea into a successful business. Ours is a legacy of Edisons, Graham Bells, Fords, Boeings, Googles, Twitters…this is a country that has always been in the cutting edge, and the reason is that America has always had the most bearing entrepreneurs in the world.”

March 2012 will be the month that we will remember as the month where Rules of Funding changed first time in history. This is HUGE, believe me.

Last week President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) that includes revisions to the 1930s era financial regulations that limited equity funding for start-up businesses.

According to the “Practical e-commerce” article, that you can find HERE, these are the rules that will apply in the future, and that I am quite sure that many countries will follow.

The law allows an entrepreneur or small business to raise up to $1 million per year through an SEC-registered crowdfunding intermediary. The House bill did not require an intermediary and would have allowed people to raise money via Facebook and other social media websites.
Intermediaries seeking to help companies raise money through crowdfunding must register with the SEC, make sure investors are advised of the risks they are taking, and take measures to prevent fraud.
Individuals with an income of less than $100,000 per year are allowed to invest the greater of $2,000 or five percent of their income.
Individuals with an income of more than $100,000 can invest up to ten percent of income, with a cap of $100,000.
Companies that use crowdfunding must provide financial statements to investors. Companies seeking to raise $100,000 or less would have to provide tax returns and a financial statement certified by a company principal.
Companies seeking between $100,000 and $500,000 in capital would have to get independent accountants to review these statements.
Audited financial statements would be required for companies seeking more than $500,000 in capital.
Companies can avoid registering with the SEC until they have 2,000 shareholders, up from 500 currently.

I think this is a pretty smart move of the Obama administration to control the money flow and attract capital through this US platforms like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo. According to the “Daily crowdsource” the amount generetad raised to $20.5 million worldwide using such intermediaries, five times more than was raised in 2010.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it ws the age of wisdom, it was the age of..."

Fri, 04 May 2012 20:59:48 +0200

““It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it ws the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.””

- Charles Dickens

Thanks to Marta Castaño!!

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:39:13 +0200

Thanks to Marta Castaño!!

Thanks to @webdirecting for sharing! Find it here

Wed, 02 May 2012 09:32:14 +0200

Thanks to @webdirecting for sharing!

Find it here

Quirky: Bring your ideas to life It´s not up to me. It´s not...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:23:32 +0200

Quirky: Bring your ideas to life

It´s not up to me. It´s not even up to you…It´s up to US.

You have a new product in your mind. You send it, community curates it and completes it. And if it´s good…it becomes reality.

As simple and quirky as that.

www.quirky.com

Munich: Yesterday u broke my heart, today I fell in love with...

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:18:00 +0200

Munich: Yesterday u broke my heart,

today I fell in love with you again.

Yesterday night, while Real Madrid missed the last penalty in the Bernabeu Stadium, I landed in Munich. I think the city felt guilty and changed it´s normal grey mask for a beautiful blue and sunny sky. I forgive but not forget… however, it´s a good start ;) I decided to go in the hard way, and I took the german routine, that means:

1. Wake up seeing a number lower than 7 in the alarm. (Ok, 7.30 is not bad for me…)

2. Go running before breakfast, and give a walk around the woods.

3. Have a fruit salad, orange juice, some biscuits and start working at 9. Checking emails in such a garden is always different.

4. Have lunch at 1PM. I was hungry! Something´s wrong here… Of course, the bratwurst was in the menu :)

5. Stop working at 4PM and visit the city.

Some of the details that caught my attention:

- Everything is quiet, has order, rules and structure. The number of trees that can be planted in your garden is regulated, the wood trees are regenerated in a structured way…Generally speaking, they have rules and they are good at follow them. I really like these germans. Specially the Lau´s, the family that is hosting me. But I need a whole paragraph for them.

- Peaceful. I don´t know if it is because I am living in the middle of the forest, but even while I was walking through the city I had the feeling of being in a peaceful atmosphere. Streets were not busy, the train was silent, and it invites you to think and take your own space.

- Attention to details and excellence. Whatever they do, it has this excellent details that distinguish the good and the best. But not only in the products they create, such as BMW (where we visited their museum), but also in their private life. While staying at home, all the components of the Lau´s family is looking to give me the best attention and care. They are simply like that, excellent in whatever they do. I love that passion for excellence and I have to say I am overwhelmed with all the attention I am getting from this lovely family. In 24 hours they prepared the healthiest breakfast including natural juices, we had lunch under the blue sky with a nice barbacue, and…I went into a typical biergartden to see how the people have fun like in the Oktoberfest.

All of that mixed with beautiful conversations, bike rides, walks in several parks and sightseeings from the highest tower of the city and even a rollercoster. I dont know how I am still awake at this time. Maybe it´s because I am so happy and thankful for having friends like Tanja Lau.

Let´s see what´s happening tomorrow :)

Me VS We. Collective Intelligence. Collective intelligence has...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:27:18 +0200

Me VS We. Collective Intelligence.

Collective intelligence has existed at least as long as humans have, because families, armies, countries, and companies have all—at least sometimes—acted collectively in ways that seem intelligent. But in the last decade or so a new kind of collective intelligence has emerged: groups of people and computers, connected by the Internet, collectively doing intelligent things.

This is the start of the Collective Intelligence conference 2012, that will take place in Boston from the 18th to the 20th of April. Amazing speakers of top universities around the world will share their studies around this new whole era of collaboration.

I encourage you to visit their website: www.ci2012.org

The future of the shopping experience Today I want to talk...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 04:12:24 +0200

The future of the shopping experience

Today I want to talk about clothing. I´ve detected a trend in a new kind of startups that use an extremely different approach to the traditional retail stores to seduce to their clients.

Instead of having fancy shops, companies like Trunk club, Stitch Fix or Birch box are creating a model where the user receives at home a box with clothes, make up or whatever the company is producing. If the client wants to keep something, he/she just have to keep it and return the remaining clothes by Fed-Ex.

This model seems to start growing in the US, and I would really like to start trying it.

We´ve created the english version of the floqq video with...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:45:00 +0200

We´ve created the english version of the floqq video with VoiceBunny service, a crowdsourcing platform where you can find the professional recording that your business need…you can choose from more than 100.000 users, +50 languages… and the most amazing part is that it took 2 hours to make it. The best way to save money and time!

Start crowdvoicing at http://voicebunny.com/

Havas compra Victors & Spoils. Empieza la fiesta. El mismo...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:07:00 +0200

Havas compra Victors & Spoils.

Empieza la fiesta. El mismo día que Facebook compra Instagram por 1 billón de dólares, una de las mayores agencias de comunicación en España ha comprado una participación mayoritaria de Victors & Spoils, una agencia de publicidad basada en el crowdsourcing creativo.

Parece que la forma que están eligiendo negocios tradicionales para reinventarse es comprar empresas que les integren en un nuevo ecosistema al que son ajenos. Sin embargo, se enfrentan a problemas serios…porque, ¿Qué hacer ahora con el departamento creativo que estas empresas tienen interno? Me recuerdan un poco al gigante que no puede moverse por ser demasiado grande, y los enanos se le empiezan a subir a la chepa.

Veamos lo que pasa en otras industrias…

Video

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:39:42 +0200

"The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that´s the way to bet"

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:56:48 +0100

“The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that´s the way to bet”

- Damon Runyon

The new generation that has grown up digital Young people is ...

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 00:59:03 +0100

The new generation that has

grown up digital

Young people is not a problem of the current society. It´s the solution of the current society´s problems. Once you start understanding it this way, you´re closer to the crisis recovering. No matter what you do.

Good example Don, always inspiring.

Million dollar zazzle challenge. Co-creating the next product...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:33:38 +0100

Million dollar zazzle challenge.

Co-creating the next product launch with innovative prosumers.

Zazzle is a platform for quality custom products. Zazzle´s proprietary technology enables individuals, professional artists, and major brands, to create and offer billions of unique products for customers worldwide. Now this innovative company, with more than 6M unique visitors monthly, is launching the following challenge in association with MIT’s Smart Customization Group and UC Berkeley’s Center for Corporate Innovation,:

“Million Dollar Zazzle Open Innovation Challenge

Calling all innovators and entrepreneurs! Do you have the next great customizable product idea bubbling up and ready to explode on the scene of today’s revolutionary global customization market? Well, we’re ready to put a million dollars in technology, marketing, and distribution on Zazzle to work to launch the innovative concept that resonates most with our panel of industry leaders, academics, and investors as the next big thing!

That means we’ll invest in building the online design tools and 3-D product visualization, develop a marketing plan, and launch it on the Zazzle platform to a global audience of tens of millions of potential consumers! And, as an additional bonus, we’ll put you in front of the right investors, who may even finance your idea and help you turn it into a fast-growing company.

Zazzle is the world’s leading platform for quality custom products. Launched in 2005 and based in Redwood City, California, Zazzle’s vision is to redefine commerce, powered by the world’s imagination. The Million Dollar Zazzle Open Innovation Challenge is on…”

So if you have an innovative idea for a product that can be configured online, with a selling price lower than $100, capable of being made and shipped to customers in less than 5 days. This is your opportunity.

I like the way this company tries to engage customers by asking them what´s the next thing they have to produce, instead of trying to develop that strategy internally. Good move!

Wish you luck at: http://www.zazzle.com/challenge

What if…instead of defining solutions…we redefine...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:37:21 +0100

What if…instead of defining solutions…we redefine the problems to be solved? Introducing Google Solve for