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Browsing Tag fast company
The Incredible Saga of Crowdfunding
September 4th, 2012 → 3:51 pm @ Ari Kaplan
Fast Company magazine ran an interesting feature – Shaking Up Crowdfunding – recently about the challenges of financing equity shares in start-up companies using the story of an ad executive interested in buying Pabst Brewing Co. for $300 million as background. From a simple tweet to international influence on U.S. securities legislation and the passage of the JOBS Act making crowdfunding a reality, the article is a great read. The U.S. Small Business Administration also offers this overview of the differences between peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding, noting that 40 percent of entrepreneurs start new companies with less than $5,000.
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Progressive’s Snapshot and Reinventing Car Insurance
July 22nd, 2011 → 7:33 am @ Ari Kaplan
Reinvention is everywhere. I found this article – Progressive Uses New Driver-Focused Technology To Determine Insurance Rates – by Malia Wollan from Fast Company particularly compelling (privacy concerns aside). It profiles Progressive CEO, Glenn Renwick, and the company’s new Snapshot tool, which monitors miles driven, as well as braking, acceleration and speed over a six-month period in an effort to price based on individual behavior than general population statistics. I have included a video discussing Snapshot below:
The article notes that Allstate offers a device called Drive Wise.
Reinventing Architecture in Africa
July 21st, 2011 → 10:28 am @ Ari Kaplan
In this great piece – Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré Repurposes European Techniques For His Native Country – by Fast Company‘s Linda Tischler about a school in Gando, Burkina Faso, reinvention in the architecture industry is striking. It describes Diébédo Francis Kéré‘s amazing design of a school using a new type of brick made of clay, fortified with 10% cement, and compressed by hand tools into building blocks, as well as a unique double roof of clay and iron that produces a breeze simulating air-conditioning. Kéré even drew plans in the sand to help those erecting the structure.
An amazing individual, the article quotes Kéré:
You have to have a dream, start small and believe.