Innovation Co-working Corners.

Every company that owns or hires an office building has space that isn’t used. I would suggest to offer it a new destination. A co-working space for innovation, Innovation Co-working Corners, I’d call them. The goals is to find people within the firm, extended with freelancers and external consultants, to collaborate on solutions that the company is benefitting from. The idea would be that people from outside the company spend one hour a day to discuss and explore the resident (corporate innovation) co-workers. In return they can use a desk, the wifi, toilet, meeting rooms, … to build or work on their own business. Assuring the influx of new ideas, something nice could come out of these innovation co-working corners.

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Workplace Change Agents.

Workplace Change Agents is a dedicated team of workplace interior designers and change managers who create the perfect working environment for enterprises and startups that reflect the (desired) corporate culture of the company. They do this by entering the firm for a three-six months analysis period and recommend both improvements in the structure, processes and people needed to be more effective and productive using all the current (and state-of-the-art) technologies and best practices. They don’t just deliver, they participate and make things better in close collaboration with the people and always in respect with the current context.

Revenge co-working spaces (for refused job applicants)

I’m in San Francisco this week and I’ve met some people here who dream of working at one of the major tech companies. It’s not easy to get a job interview, neither is it to get hired there. When I stood outside of the Adobe building, I started talking to a guy that was refused a job there. I told him him he rather starts up his own business or at least continues to solicit. (He was quite upset and sad about his interview). I tend to believe the best revenge a failing job applicant can make is to startup a business and prove the world leading tech companies wrong. So I want to facilitate a co-working space when you only get access to with proven failures of obtaining a tech job. A couple of mentors/coaches do an entry interview and gives each guy a three month period to find an idea, hook up with potential partners and create some material to just go for it. After which you are redirected to startuphouses. As Frank Sinatra said: “Success is the best revenge”; Revenge co-working spaces.

One idea per day. Ten in a row. #oipd

After my streak of 39 ideas on eenideeperdag.be, this is small bread but nevertheless a good start. Perhaps I should get a badge or something…

Feel free to take any idea and build a business out of it. Let me know if you’re taking up something or has found people who are already doing something similar in the comments.

1. Is it fruitorvegetable.com? 
2. Branded boxes for e-commerce
3. Airbnb for freelancers and business people locations
4. Glow in the dark pain for objects in traffic
5. Foodprov.com, hard-to-find ingredients for chefs
6. The call you later app
7. The who sits next to me discovery app
8. StartupTravelers community
9. Mibike.com, a stolen bike service app and community
10. 3D printing templates community

I hope you enjoyed the ideas!

StartupTravelers.com – Create a startup with strangers while travelling. #oipd

For me, vacation is purely meeting new people, visiting places, good food, more drinks than usual, catching up a bit on sleep. But after two or three days, I get bored. And I get plenty of ideas when travelling. So StartupTravelers is an idea that basically beats Startupbus (in which I participated in the first Europe edition 2011) because it’s more open because of it’s self-regulating community of startuptravelers who will advice and evaluate along the (travel) way. 

The concept of StartupTravellers.com is a website platform where you can meet likeminded people who love to do/realize/work in a startup and combine that with travelling. Who doesn’t get inspired by travelling? Everybody, right?

First, you look for an idea, people or a period in which you want to travel. Secondly, you decide with your fellow startup travelers where to go. The platform offers some nice pré-defined routes (mostly by train) in. These routes have the advantage that you can also combine the working (while getting from point A to B) with meeting people who will evaluate your startup and perhaps offer you a place in startup accelerator program or seed capital. Online other startup travelers can follow your trip, interact and provide your startup with valuable input.

TheWriteID wasn’t right for me.

I have to admit it. Although I still believe the TheWriteID concept is the best idea I’ve had so far (to stay politically correct; just below proposing to my wife and the decision to have kids). It is one I cannot realize by myself. Some say it’s fine to fail often and that it’s fine to fail fast. But still, it hearted me more than I was hoping.
What stroke me most is that although I was passionate about the idea, hardcore believer and evangelist, and the basic ideas were feasible but hard to realize I could get people enthusiastic for just a brief moment. I guess these were the momenta I’ve spent with them. I realize now – all these people have other priorities, other obligations, other worries than to change the world.

But okay, I have to thank them because they are worth it. A shit load of people who gave me advice, made and broke stuff or at least tried to get things moving. I could make a list but it’s a long list and I would want to forget anyone. I know who did. And that what matters.

So, thank you, guys.

For those who didn’t know about TheWriteID, here below you find the scope in brief and how Frank & I thought we found all elements independently existing from each other.

TheWriteID is a work in progress, both as a technical solution and as a commercial offer. It aims to be the identity layer on top of the internet with the sole and only goal to regain control over one’s online and digital identity by extracting it from current networks & services. The best part of TheWriteID is that the data is encrypted locally so we can’t read out the identity data itself, unless a user decides to share it. We aim to make true identity manageable and re-usable for other networks and services, by introducing variable personas.

In essence, we wonder how we can evolve from an internet of connected devices to a truly internet of connected people? TheWriteID aims to get us from the era of connected contexts to one where users are free to handle their identity and all its slight variations with who they want/like/decide.

Digital identity, as it could have been: www.TheWriteID.com. 😉

If you feel like doing something with it – go ahead!
Keep me posted. I’ll be your first ambassador.

[TWID] Starting up TheWriteID

I’ve been really excited about this for months now. And what’s more interesting and new to me, I exponentially like it.

TheWriteID will help all people online that have (too) many profiles and contexts to manage, by giving them a place where they can control their online identity and all its facets, anywhere.

While I was writing for the millionth time what the essence of TheWriteID is, I changed it again. It’s weird how a one sentence pitch is evolving all the time, and very much depends on the mood of the day. Small differences, sometimes I use another perspective. Perhaps that is why it’s so difficult to simply explain what it’s all about. The idea is so little and so simple, but the concept is so big in my head. Not to mention the consequences when done right. The approach to this project is an accumulation of all the things I’ve done before, with a couple of differences. The two most important ones are listed here: