Power Cubby - a Redbox for Phone Charging

Raw notes of a startup idea...

Inspired by a Fred Wilson article about new 10-minute power charging technology, I present to you an idea for Power Cubby - a Redbox for Phone Charging.

What It Is

A service, much like checking a coat at a restaurant or checking a backpack at an event, that will charge your phone while you are away from home or office and are doing an activity in which you don't (shouldn't?) use it, like the movies or a restaurant.

How It Works

0. Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Business-Lunch Hotspots, will have these "vending machines" with "charge pad" cubbies for phone-sized devices (sorry phablets!).

1. Open App and Register the Cubby Machine (get machine info via QR code/gps/wifi/nfc/etc.)
2. Cubby is opened
3. Place phone flat on power-charging pad in cubby
4. Receive a bar coded ticket (like a parking garage)
5. Cubby door closes and locks
6. Go do something awesome while your phone charges
7. Return to machine and insert ticket
8. Charge is displayed (transaction logged in app and email digest/receipt can be sent)
---- note: tracking the power level of the charge would be awesome here too
9. Cubby door is opened
10. User takes phone and goes on their merry way

Testing Product-Market Fit

Movie Theaters

Lean Test 1: Will Users Give Up Their Phones?
Have "secure looking" (to build trust) set of a iPhone chargers in a power strip with an extension cord (or a couple wireless charging pads) on a table with a cloth, a big sign, and an attendant, setup inside of movie theater, charge is Free.

Lean Test 2: Will Users Pay For Charge?
Same as #1, but charge $1 (can do cash only to keep it simple)

Business-Lunch Hotspots

Same as #1 and #2, but in a location that is a business-lunch hotspot.  This might be an easier test as no movie theater approval will be needed.

Other Tag Lines:
Valet Phone Charging

How would YOU make this product better?

First Week Working From Home: Efficiencies & Deficiencies

First Week Working From Home: Efficiencies & Deficiencies

These are probably obvious efficiencies and deficiencies, but they are worth note as they were the most impactful my first week.

Efficiencies

Zero Commute

I thought I was spoiled with a 10 minute commute with no traffic at SpaceX.  Man, oh man, coffee table to desk is as good as it gets.  This is huge when having to switching between "office guy" and "home guy" when something needs attention.

No Walk-By, BTW Distractions

The passer-by "oh, btw, how do I do this or that" office walk-by distractions are non-existent.  At SpaceX, in our fast-paced working environment, this happened a few times a day and added up to a considerable time suck from what was scheduled.  Don't get me wrong, these still add value, but they could probably be more efficiently delivered.

The Right Tool For The Job

Fully owning one's working environment, means one can customize the tool for the job.  Having the freedoms of customizing desk space, monitors, towers, laptops, plants, and even music playing over speakers as opposed to headphones are all "the little things" that aggregate into impactful differences.  My workspace is peaceful and productive.  I love it.

Deficiencies

Family at Home Distractions

My wife, brother, dog, and cat all work from home.  While they have been very respectful of my space and time while working this first week, it is also very tempting for either of us to engage the other with something small here or there.  Since I am the impostor, invading the space in which they have become accustomed to working, I am patiently seeing how this plays out.  Weeks like this past one, my first, had minimal external distractions and should be well within reason going forward.  Because the distraction risk is there, though, I have my eye on a couple local co-working locations.  Namely Coloft, NextSpace LA, and Launch Co-Work.

A Cuddling Companion and a Playful Furry Friend

Pets are awesome and they know how to irresistibly ask for your attention.  I'm fairly good at this compromise when I can afford it.  Because cute cat pictures are good for productivity, this distraction could be a net positive.

Home Office v. House Guest

Having a home office near the common areas means a little co-host responsibility is required.  Ideally, I can create an isolated fortress of working solitude to stay focused when in the zone.  Efficiently spending time is key to "making more time in the day".



These were my big takeaways from my first week working from home at a distributed startup company, MerlinCryption.

For more takeaways of my first experiences jumping from 8 years of corporate life to scrappy, entrepreneurial, startup life, subscribe to my blog, follow me on Twitter, or circle me on Google+.

Have Fun While Working Hard.

 - Graeham

#Launch2013 Fireside Chat w/ Evan Williams @ev (The Obvious Corporation)

The following are my rough notes from the #Launch2013 fireside chat between Jason Calacanis (@Jason) and Evan Williams (@ev).  Rough and raw points I found interesting to keep track of :)

- no 5 year roadmap
- his new product is "medium" with collections
- building cohorts of like minded ideas
- what matters to young entrepreneurs "do someting you really wnat to exist in the world and focus on it entirely, and something good will probably come of it."
- big companies are doomed to be slow, and we don't have to worry about them movnig into the space of a startup, so we can all build new things - based on experience working in google
- branch" better conversations
- lift" habit tracking app
- "beyond meat" alternative meat

VC Panel 2 Notes from #Launch201

VC Panel - Enterprise (@mamoon Hamid @mamoonha, Josh Stein @dfjjosh, Wesley Chan Google Ventures @weschan, Jay Levy @zelkovavc)
- how does mobile first disrupt CRM?
- mobile is the next dislocation in the enterprise
- "bring your own Device", "bring your own Service"
- in enterprise, you can sell the value => you save x, i charge x-y
- sugar crm > salesforce
** checkout sugar crm
- more expensive to start, to get to first customer, but once you get there, there is revenue, challenge then is hyper growth
- challenge is not making money, the challenge is scaling beyond $100 million
- like a "work day" (look into that product)
- a lot of commonalities between sales and marketing on saas companies
- in vc's find someone that can provide value over provide money
- when choosing vc's, ask them for the companies for which they didn't have their best experiences, and go talk to the ceo's, do your research

VC Panel Notes 1 from #Launch2013

VC Panel
- demonstrate knowledge in gaining traction, organic growth
- content is generally seen as "bad" investment, but platforms are generally "good" investment
- content is important, a la movie studioes, otherwise just empty screen
- interesting to see people pull in
- mobile phones have fast turn around time, more than pc's, more than tv's
- human to computer interaction huge opportunity for disruption
- lot of startups are not radical, big picture ideas, google is good at it
- has a "need" to succeed, not a awant
- vc's want to feel inspired, and might dropout even if it sounds like a good business
- needs vision but also great execution
- sending physical business plans to VC's is a very bad thing in this day and age, go digital
- "how do you build a monopoly doing this"

Prepping for Launch Festival #Launch2013

I've been to San Francisco many times, but have never dipped into the Silicon Valley scene during by visits.  This time though +Ben Miskie has given me a much needed push to experience the "infectious entrepreneurial energy" he has been raving about since +LAUNCH 2012.

I'm looking forward to attending the "startup launchpad that +Jason Calacanis built", meeting the cool kids, passing judgement on all the startups there ;) and hopefully establishing some long-lasting relationships in which I both contribute and receive value.

Most of all though, I am excited for a one-on-one coffee meeting with the #startup Hall of Fame entrepreneur +Steve Blank.  I've been reading his latest book, The Startup Owners Manual, and have been gaining some very valuable startup business insights.

Thanks to +Ben Miskie, +Jason Calacanis, and +Steve Blank for setting up an amazing Silicon Valley visit! :)

- Graeham :)