Innovator success story: Nicholas Woodman dreams come true, now people can GoPro

Age: 38
Source of Wealth: video cameras, self-made
Residence: Woodside, CA
Country of Citizenship: United States
Education: Bachelor of Arts / Science, University of California, San Diego
Marital Status: Married
Children: 2

He earned a degree in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego. After school he founded a marketing company called funBug but after it did not succeed, in 2002 at the age of 26, he decided to travel around the world surfing. After a monumental year, GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman rides the wave of the world's fastest-growing camera company onto FORBES' list of America's richest for the first time. Woodman, 38, started the wearable video camera company in 2002 and built the first camera prototype with his mom's sewing machine and a drill. 

 His desire for a camera system that could capture close up footage inspired the 'GoPro' name.The original cameras he developed were point-and-shoot 35mm film cameras which mounted to the user's wrist. The product has since evolved into a compact digital camera that supports WiFi, can be remotely controlled, is waterproof, records to a micro SD card, and is affordable to the average action sports enthusiast ($200-$400). 

In 2004, he made his first big sale when a Japanese company ordered 100 cameras at a sports show.Thereafter, sales doubled every year and in 2012, GoPro sold 2.3 million cameras.In December 2012, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn purchased 8.88% of the company for 200 million dollars which set the market value of the company at 2.25 billion dollars making Woodman, who owned the majority of the stock, a billionaire.

Enjoy the video below, recorded using GoPro by Red Bull Team. 

Source:
http://www.youtube.com/user/redbull 
http://www.youtube.com/user/techcrunch 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Woodman 
http://www.forbes.com/profile/nicholas-woodman/
http://www.malakye.com/asp/front/CMSPage.asp?TYP_ID=2&ID=2831 
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/gopros-incredible-small-durable-camcorder-07012011.html 
http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-worlds-newest-billionaire-a-36-year-old-surfer-dude-named-nicholas-woodman-2012-12

Some Facts on Entrepreneurs

Source

http://antiwantrepreneur.com

9 Entrepreneurs who didn't take NO for an answer.

If at 1st you don't succeed, try again! These entrepreneurs did, and found huge success

source : http://visual.ly

How Two IT Guys Turned Their Love For Apple Products Into A Multi-Million Company

In 2002, Chip Pearson and Zach Halmstad were IT guys who loved Macs. Halmstad was managing a large installation of Macs at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Pearson had a company called The Foundation, a Mac reseller, that helped other businesses use Apple products.
Flash forward 11 years to Tuesday. The company they founded together, JAMF Software, just raised $30 million from Summit Partners, its first second VC investment. (UPDATED: the company raised $3 million three years ago.)

In 2002, they were bucking the trend. Those were the days when most businesses ran Windows. There were few IT tools to help them manage a lot of Macs, to do things like install software across hundreds of PCs, set them up on a corporate network, troubleshoot problems.

Today JAMF has over 4,000 customers, including 34 of the Fortune 500; is managing over 3.8 million devices, between Macs, iPads and iPhones; and employs 275 workers (over 100 hired in the last year alone).

"When we started out, it was a labor of love. We thought that someday we might have 30 people working for the company," Pearson, CEO, told Business Insider.

"[2002] was the year that the first Apple store opened, the first iPod was released, OS 10 was pretty new. For us it was always something that we needed to do, more than thinking it would turn into a successful mid-sized business. It was out of a love for Apple, Apple's deep commitment to its end users," he says.

After the iPhone launched and business users started bringing it to work, JAMF took off, in part because there's a peculiar trend that happens with Apple devices, Pearson says: People tend to go from one Apple device to lots of them.

"We believe the world is going to go from a one-device worker to a three-Apple device worker. One of the interesting things we've seen is no matter where they come in, whether someone starts out with the Mac, the iPhone or the iPad, they end up where they want more of those Apple technologies for their day-to-day use," he says.

Because of that, enterprise use of Apple devices has exploded, he says. Enterprises are renewing their contracts with JAMF with ever-more devices. Revenue has grown 70% at JAMF since Apple introduced the iPhone, he says.

JAMF isn't the only software that helps enterprises manage Apple devices. JAMF plays in a hot enterprise area called Mobile Device Management. It competes with Microsoft System Center (although System Center is geared toward a company that mostly uses Windows with a few Macs/iOS devices thrown in). Others include MobileIron and AirWatch. (AirWatch nabbed a huge $200 million venture investment, also its first, in February).

But JAMF differs in that it only manages Apple devices, not Windows. It's success is a big indicator of how much progress Apple has made with enterprise users, without much effort or attention to them.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/it-guys-who-love-apple-make-millions-2013-12#ixzz2o6j4q3jU

Entrepreneur of the Year: Elon Musk

INTRODUCTION

Elon Musk is best known for being the co-founder of PayPal, a money-transfer service for Web consumers, for founding Space Exploration Technologies or SpaceX, the first private company to launch a rocket into space, and for founding Tesla Motors, which builds electric cars.

IN PERSON
Elon Musk was born in South Africa, in 1971. His father was an engineer and his mother a nutritionist. An avid fan of computers, by the age of twelve Musk had written the code for his own video game, a space game called Blastar, which the preteen sold for a profit.

Elon Musk attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned two bachelor's degrees, economics and physics. He was admitted to Stanford University in California, with the intention of earning a PhD in energy physics, however, Musk's life was about to change dramatically. In 2007, he was elected as Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc.com.

Zip2 Corporation:

In 1995, at the age of twenty-four, Elon Musk dropped out of Stanford University after just two days of classes to start his first company called Zip2 Corporation. Zip2 Corporation was an online city guide that provided content for the new online versions of the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune newspapers. Musk struggled to keep his new business afloat, eventually selling majority control of Zip2 to venture capitalists in exchange for a $3.6 million investment.

In 1999, the Compaq Computer Corporation bought Zip2 for $307 million. Out of that amount. Elon Musk's share was $22 million. Musk had become a millionaire at the age of twenty-eight. That same year Musk started his next company.

Online Banking:
In 1999, Elon Musk started X.com with $10 million dollars from the sale of Zip2. X.com was an online bank, and Elon Musk is credited with inventing a method of securely transferring money using a recipient's e-mail address.


Paypal:

In 2000, X.com bought a company called Confinity, which had started an Internet money-transfer process called PayPal. Elon Musk renamed X.com/Confinity Paypal and dropped the company's online banking focus to concentrate on becoming a global payment transfer provider. In 2002, eBay bought Paypal for $1.5 billion and Elon Musk made $165 million in eBay stock from the deal.

Space Exploration Technologies:

In 2002, Elon Musk started SpaceX aka the Space Exploration Technologies. Elon Musk is a long-standing member of the Mars Society, a nonprofit organization that supports the exploration of Mars, and Musk is interested in establishing a greenhouse on Mars. SpaceX has been developing rocket technology to enable Musk's project.

Tesla Motors:

In 2004, Elon Musk cofounded Tesla Motors, of which he is the sole product architect. Tesla Motors builds electric vehicles. The company has built an electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster, the Model S an economy model four door electric sedan, and plans to build more affordable suncompacts in the future.

SolarCity:

In 2006, Elon Musk co-founded SolarCity, a photovoltaics products and services company with his cousin Lyndon Rive.

ELON MUSK TOP QUOTES
"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."

SOURCE:
http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/p/Elon-Musk.htm

Transform Your Passion into a Successful Business

I just wonder why my ayam kampung business is not able to survive even though I have a passion with. The best that happen to me is when I start up my business and at the same time i stay with my parent at my hometown.

Focusing on your passion is of the utmost importance. This will enable you to make faster decisions and help you manage your time efficiency. Anyone can start a business but it's depend to how you business grow and how you sustain it.

Your passion and commitment are the important element that every an entrepreneur when a business faces challenges and lack. If you don’t have a true passion for your business, everyone can sense it either your customers, staff, advisors and investors. But if your customers, staff, advisors and investors are always be by your side, it is a good quality management in your business.

Based on article by Gautam Gupta (chief executive officer of NatureBox) , there are three steps to help transform your passion into a successful business:

1. Do you know enough? If not, start asking

The author say that if you have a great idea, but aren’t familiar enough with the field to get started, use your network, speak with people who’ve started businesses in your industry to help you get up to speed quickly. This is like building an informal advisory board of people who’ve gone through a journey similar to the one you’re embarking upon.

You need know enough about the industry, industry background and know-how before producing products, building a customer base and forging your company vision.

2. Jump in.

The author says that there’s really no better way to start than diving in head-first. In the beginning, you may not have your exact plan mapped out, and you’ll likely make significant changes to your model. But the benefit of starting a business around a passion is that you know why you’re doing it and can more easily overcome barriers that come up along the way. It’s this deep-rooted drive and enthusiasm that will keep you motivated and engaged with the product you’re selling.

3. Surround yourself with others who share your vision

You can share experiences because they help shape the business.

You also can expect long work hours and hard days in the beginning, personal drive and shared similar values with your colleagues will see you through this time. This enthusiasm translates to a positive customer experience. And that's what will build your business.

Turning your passion into a successful business not only allows you to be profitable while doing something you love; it helps set you up for lasting success. Most importantly, passion is central to making decisions that are in the long-term interest of the customer and the company, which will help you, establish sustainability and longevity for your brand.

Maybe after I complete my study, i should apply for transfer again to continue my business with family at my hometown.

ADAcode – dial, wait and done! FOC

ADAcode create a great opportunity for brands to interact with their consumers. People just need to dial the number or code for certain event using their mobile device. Required information will be send to user mobile free of charge.

ADAcode founder is Allahyarham Encik Azli Paat, Malaysia well-known ICT expert.

How it works?

When you see an ADAcode, just dial the number, wait for an SMS and your're done.

ADAcode vs QRCode

A Success Story

At the event of MSC Malaysia Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) award 2012, ADAcode win:

1. "Best of The Best" , Prime Minister’s award
2. Best of e-Government & Services

Source:

http://www.adacode.my/

https://www.facebook.com/ADAcode/

An interview with international banker and founder of AmBank - the late Ahmad Hussain Najadi

Born in Bahrain, the late Ahmad Hussain Najadi made his name on Malaysian shores as the founder of Arab Malaysian Banking Group (AmBank). Touching upon his roots, Hussain talks about his influences, the rewards of risk and a journey that has brought him across the world to a home in Kuala Lumpur. The conversations took place in a BMW car and was recorded by popteevee channel on Youtube.

Best Small Businesses of 2012

SmallBusiness.co.uk presents the ten small companies interviewed on the site that showed the most promise, innovation, or simply glorious eccentricity in 2012. From cat hotels to taxi apps, one thing's for sure: these businesses are definitely marketable one way or another. Ben Lobel wrote.

1. THE CAT HOTELIER
Abi Purser left a job as a saddle fitter to start Longcroft Luxury Cat Hotel in 2010, and franchised the business soon after. She hopes to oversee 200 operations in ten years' time.


You can read more about the story here.


2. The NIGHTLIFE PLANNER
Nick Telson co founded DesignMyNight.com, an online service that helps users plan their evening’s entertainment, with a university friend in 2009. He says, 'With a tech company you have quite low overheads and a high margin. We want to be in three or four UK cities within 12 months.'


You can read more about the story here.


3. THE JETSETTER'S FRIEND
Carol Cork launched online private jet booking platform PrivateFly.com with her husband in 2007 and the company now turns over £4 million. She says, ‘We wanted to make private jet travel more transparent, accessible and efficient.’


Read more about the story here.


4. THE NITRO ICE CREAM MAN
Charlie Francis set up a mobile liquid nitrogen ice cream parlour in 2011 and is set to grow turnover to £140,000 next year. He says, 'My parents have been making ice cream for 30 years and it made sense to go into something where I could draw on that experience.’


You can read more about the story here.


5. THE WASTE MANAGEMENT MARKETPLACE
Edward Fanshawe set up waste management bidding site Skiptrips in 2012 after having difficulty getting decent quotes for skips. ‘I decided to set up a marketplace where Environment Agency-regulated skip providers can bid online for jobs,’ he says.


Read more about the story here.


6. THE SURVIVOR
In 1998, Ann-Maree Morrison was fighting for her life after being hit by a train while on holiday in Australia – but that didn't stop her from starting a successful label-making company turning over £300,000.


You can read more about the story here.


7. THE SALAD DRESSING GURU
Gem Misa started natural food company Righteous in 2009 and turned over £120,000 in 2011. She says, 'I was at Unilever but I wasn’t able to create products. I knew if there was something I wanted to work with day in day out it would have to be food.’


Read more about the story here.


8. THE GREEN DATA CENTRE
Green tech entrepreneur Peter Hopton founded data centre cooling company Iceotope in 2011. He says, 'Back in 2005 I was experimenting with computers and electronic fluids for cooling purposes. I filed a patent, pitched to investors and got seven figures of investment in 2008.


Read more about the story here.


9. CASH-MAGNET
Smartphone app Hailo has made headlines for securing one of Europe's largest ever venture capital funding rounds - around £10 million. Says co-founder Russell Hall, 'In January 2009, two other taxi drivers and I had the idea of using a web-based platform to get passengers into taxis that would otherwise use minicabs.’


Read more about the story here.


10. THE INNOVATION TEACHER
Simon Hill started innovation management company Wazoku in 2011 and is already looking to turn over £400,000 for his next year of trading. It's a subscription-based business with software that helps generate ideas and innovation within a company, taking the traditional company ‘suggestion box’ online.


Read more about the story here.

How iPhone 5S can Sparking Innovation

Since iphone5 was released at the end of the year 2012, i was very excited to change to the new iphone. But after I heard about the scratches that appear at the body of iphone5, I was thinking twice. But as usual, Apple will come out with the new iphone ‘S’ every middle of year to increase their product feature every year.

Right now, I already got iphone 5s.. and what I can say is it was amazing.

Who was say that Apple has stopped create the innovation into their own produce? Based on my experiment about my new iphone5s , the innovation that they put on iphone5s is very amazing. 

 

(photo credit : http://www.machines.com.my)

 1st : Fingerprint scanner
a) The potential of biometric technology for authentication
b) Security and privacy – all the data stored is in your 64-bit A7 chip. 

  

(photo credit : http://www.machines.com.my) 

 2nd : Camera
a) with a new f2.2 aperture lens, slow motion video at an astonishing 120 frames a second and automatic burst photographs at 10-frames per second.
b) There is a solution for white-washed faces - a True Tone flash strobe in ''cool'' or ''amber'' to avoid zombie skin in those romantic portraits at night.

 

(photo credit : http://www.machines.com.my) 

3rd : Battery
a) The 64-bit, A7 chip is fast and an extra two hours of battery life gives you more breathing space for a busy day, when you don't have time to stop and recharge.

Based on 5 tips that were given from ‘5 Tips For Sparking Innovation’ by Carol Kinsey Goman this is what I can see Apple tries to do for their new iPhone 5S:

1) Innovation is everyone’s job. Whether you lead a team, a group, or an organization, you’ve got to involve and rely on others. Isolating “a creative few” as the sole visionaries in the organization simply won’t cut it anymore. Thirty years ago, by the time an idea got to the CEO, it had been sifted through multiple layers of management. Now, savvy leaders encourage e-mails, phone calls — anything to hear directly from people on the plant floor or on the front lines of customer service to get their opinions and suggestions.

(Apple always create something new since 1976 and besides that Apple is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, personal computers, computer software, and commercial servers, and is a digital distributor of media content)

2) The heart of innovation is trial and error. While many say they do, too few organizations truly encourage failure. I have, however, known hundreds of individual leaders (at all levels and from a cross-section of industries) who created environments for their departments or teams where failure was acceptable. Where it became a learning experience, and not something to be punished. These leaders shared their own failures and made it safe for others to do the same.

(Apple always does a trial and error.)

3) Tell stories that show how mistakes can become successes.

They do so all the time, and it is those mistakes that make it possible for the company to come up with the products that it does. Where Apple differs from other companies is in how it makes mistakes.

“I love the iMac, but we just delivered it in the wrong color,” Jobs lamented.

The issue of colour is always significant with Apple but yet it’s proven one of the most powerful in Apple’s design. Their approach to colour is strategically cyclical much like its own logo. The strategy has been a success, with colours breathing new life into its iMac and iPod . But today, it show that how seriously Apple takes its colour palette by introduce iPhone5S (Gold, Silver and Grey) and iPhone5C (Green, Yellow, Pink, Blue and white)

You can't create and improve products without making mistakes.

4) Help stamp out the Not Invented Here (NIH) mindset. An example of generating motivation to break that mindset came from General Electric in the days when Jack Welch was in charge. Welch made it clear that the sharing of good ideas across the organization was a high management priority. This posed a challenge for GE managers because of the size and diversity of the company. If you did have a good idea, how could you identify the people in other businesses who might benefit from it? The Chief Learning Officer at GE came up with a simple solution. He created a “hot line” to be manned by his team. This operated similar to a dating service – only instead of matching people to potential mates, it matched good ideas with business units that could put them to use.

5) Broaden your definition of innovation. Move the concept of innovation beyond new products and services to include strategic innovations – new ideas about mission, values, and goals; administrative innovation – changes in internal systems; field level innovation – solutions from those closest to the customer on ways to better serve those customers; and job-related incremental change that encompasses everyone in every position finding ways to do things differently and ways to do things better.

 
So, let get your iPhone5s now, because you can be the part of innovation.

LESSON OF SUCCESS : The Legacy of Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr The Hong Piow

Last 2 week, when I try to figure out what title for my book review? Suddenly, I saw my lovely nephew was playing with a book. The name of the book is “LESSON OF SUCCESS : The Legacy of Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr The Hong Piow” . When I read it, it was book from my sister-in-law ex-company, Public Bank.

As you already know, my sister-in-law is still in unconscious and paralyzed condition since a year ago. It almost 2 month she was admitted to Gleneagles Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Her employer pays for all the expenses. My lovely nephew that I always mention is Faris who is her first child before comma. I hope that she will recover and be able to continue raising her son. Please pray that she will be always happy with her loving family

I was respect about her company and how Public Bank management staff appreciates their staff. The thing that I want to share with you is about the book of the chairman of Public Bank.

LESSON OF SUCCESS : The Legacy of Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr The Hong Piow
Author : Dr Victor S.L.Tan
Year :2011

The aims of this book are to share the secrets of success of the man behind the Bank that was recently named The Most Award Winning Bank by Malaysia Book of Records.

Based on the book, the definition of success consists of 6 components:

There are 8 success principles that have guided Tan Sri the as he led Public Bank’s growth from a single branch bank to a corporate giant today with more than 17000 competent and committed staff.

Here is Tan Sri The’s 8 Principles of success onto the Public Bank Logo:

Principle 1 : Know Your Purpose
Principle 2 : Be Passionate About Your Chosen Field
Principle 3 : Be People Oriented
Principle 4 : have Perseverance To Overcome All Odds
Principle 5 : Be Proactive In Thought And Action
Principle 6 : Practise Professionalism
Principle 7 : Maintain Prudence
Principle 8 : Be Positive Towards Work and Life

I hope the lesson of success from this book will give the new step of innovation for other company. It not only about your company but being people-oriented does make great business sense. Happy and satisfied employees are committed and productive employees. 

What can you learn from mompreneur whose invention listed in 10 most Innovative Small Businesses of 2013

Entrepreneur.com listed SnuggWugg as one of the 10 of the Most Innovative Small Businesses of 2013.

Changing a diaper is one of life's less pleasant tasks, even when baby is lying perfectly still. Much of the time, however, baby doesn't lie perfectly still, and thrashes and squirms. This created a ripe opportunity for a resourceful entrepreneur to revolutionize the process, and Lisa Cash Hanson was that entrepreneur. SnuggWugg won the 2012 Huggies Mom Inspired Grant of $15,000.

If you still can recall my last post regarding Sir Richard Branson commented on "How small business can Innovate" which can be read in here, he actually made it a point that entrepreneurs should tell customers about the purpose behind their product.

That is what Lisa Hanson did. We can read about the pre-invention story on SnuggWugg birth. She described "One day I observed my husband attempting to change my daughter’s diaper. Her endless squirming, twisting and turning added an increased level of difficulty to the task....." the rest was history when she made her way inventing something very useful for others who are in the same boat!

Must Watch: Kisah Kejayaan Usahawan Bumiputera

I would recommend aspiring Bumiputera Entrepreneur to watch this. It is an eye opener to which financial channels you can opt for. Government is there to help us venturing into business. Forget about the negative comments (know our rights and give it a try!).

To briefly summarize agencies out there to help us:
1. TEKUN
2. Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM)
3. PUNB
4. SME Bank
5. SME Corp
6. Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNS)
7. MARA
8. MTDC
9. TERAJU
10. EKUINAS
11. MDEC
12. Agro Bank

So which one?