StartupRealities

Startup No 188 - StartupRealities 2020 series  PhotoPlatforms is a city branding and promotion company which installs free viewing platforms at major urban landmarks to allow tourists and visitors to have photos taken of them at the respective attraction. Some of the platforms are permanent structures, while others are temporary ramps that can be moved in and out for the tourist season. The location of the photo platform is optimised to allow the best angle, sunlight and exposure for a quality Instagram photo that the tourist would not hesitate to post on social media. The platforms are user-friendly for taking selfies as well as for having photos taken by others. CEO QUOTE " In a world of social media, we let tourists and visitors do the advertising of the city. All it takes is to have a nice photo taken of you and, say, the Eiffel Tower, and then posting it on social media. It is guaranteed that social proofing and social jealousy will make at least several of your friends, acqu...

Startup No 187 - StartupRealities 2020 series  EntrepreneurshipScore is a rankings company that compiles an annual ranking of the world's 1,000 leading entrepreneurs and calculates a separate entrepreneurship rating to anyone who requests this service. The #EntrepreneursRanking is similar to the ranking of tennis players and is based on a range of factors in the following categories:  - profitability of one's startups/scale-ups;  - value of owned company stakes, shares and assets;  - dividends and salary income received;  - funding raised from investors and venture capitalists (VC); and  - positive media exposure during the year. The company shortlists fewer than 2,000 entrepreneurs globally for the Top-1,000 #EntrepreneursRanking and compiles the ranking free of charge for the ranked individuals. On the other hand, the #EntrepreneurshipRating is based on similar factors but is a paid service open to anyone. All ratings are made public once compiled and ran...

Startup No 186 - StartupRealities 2020 series MetaphorGenerator is an artificial intelligence (AI) company whose machine learning software reviews text and generates possible metaphors to accompany the text. The programme is particularly useful for enriching new literary works with novel metaphors. While generating the metaphors is entirely computer-generated, human input is needed to shortlist and select the most relevant and useful metaphors for inclusion in the author's text. CEO QUOTE "Imagine a story that talks about the buzzing sound of your dishwasher when turned on. Our MetaphorGenerator will come up with interesting metaphors to go with this scene: perhaps the dishwasher is a metaphor for the busy life of a corporate executive, while washing dishes by hand would symbolise the more relaxed career of a teacher. After all, a teacher puts in a lot more personal touch in educating children - just like someone washing dishes by hand puts in personal touch and effort."...

Startup No 185 - StartupRealities 2020 series GardenPackaging is a garden architecture company which wraps entire gardens and lawns under a giant tensile awning to reduce the intensity of sunlight in the summer and create an artistic visual effect. CEO QUOTE "I was inspired by environmental artist Christo Javacheff  and architect Frei Otto to start this company. Christo and Jeanne-Claude focused on wrapping famous landmarks in their art installations. While I thought: 'Shouldn't someone democratise this beautiful mix of art and architecture and bring it to the people?' This is how my company was born: by the people, for the people!" - said GardenPackaging founder and CEO Garda Packer . Tensile canvas structure in a Park (image source: Wikipedia )

Startup No 184 - StartupRealities 2020 series BeachPorts is a port infrastructure developer which produces temporary ramps that allow using sandy beaches as port quays to load and unload containers on boats. The boats then connect to containerships moored offshore. The ramps can be rolled out and rolled back on demand and allow coastal cities and tourist resorts to connect to global trade flows without requiring a permanent port and without damaging scenic beaches. CEO QUOTE " We help preserve nature while keeping businesses running and trade flowing. That's why we deserve the Nobel Prize for the Environment, which has yet to be created. " - joked BeachPorts founder and CEO Beatriz Portolese . Sandy beach (image source: Wikipedia )

Startup No 183 - StartupRealities 2020 series OpenSEZ is a real estate and industrial park developer which creates and operates Special Economic Zones (SEZ) on greenfield sites. The SEZ have the backing of national governments and offer preferential tax treatment, autonomous rule of law, subsidised healthcare, free education and free internet for all residents and employees in the SEZ. Key geographical areas of interest for the company are unpopulated border zones along the coast of Africa, so that each SEZ straddles two jurisdictions. This creates a healthy internal competition between the two national sections of the SEZ, which are run autonomously and often under different rules and legislation. The SEZ also aim to be self-sufficient in energy (generated by solar panel farms in the vicinity) and water (produced using new energy-efficient osmosis desalination technology). CEO QUOTE "Our company's name is OpenSEZ but we are popularly known as Open Sesame! We create miracles o...

Startup No 182 - StartupRealities 2020 series InHouseSkunkWorks is an innovation and startup accelerator company that helps established corporations launch and manage their own corporate accelerators for startup projects in their industry, unimpeded by corporate bureaucracy. The company's slogan is "We Try Out Your Crazy Ideas". The company uses a standard template accelerator structure (a white label / original equipment manufacturer OEM-type format) and adds modifications depending on the project. The name is inspired by the original Lockheed Skunk Works . CEO QUOTE "Some people think our name comes from the Ali G Indahouse movie. No! We are for real! The best way to describe what we do is to draw an analogy with Rocket Internet: we create a scalable fail-safe project execution environment where it is safe to iterate and pivot business models and innovations." - said  InHouseSkunkWorks founder and CEO Inna Skundberg. The original Skunk Works in Palmdale, Cali...

Startup No 181 - StartupRealities 2020 series CitiesOfFounders is an urban planning company that helps philanthropists found new cities and give their name to the city, Alexander-of-Macedon-style. The company's primary focus is Africa, where population growth and urbanisation pressure create a need for new sustainable cities. Most of the new cities are built on desert land on the African coast; are powered by nearby solar energy farms; and desalinate seawater for their water supply. The water mains and sewer systems of new coastal cities run parallel salt water and fresh water networks, with saltwater used exclusively for flushing toilets. CEO QUOTE " Alexander of Macedon founded or renamed more than 20 cities in the 4th century BC. Our modern founders aim to have one city named after them, but this is already a great achievement. " - said CitiesOfFounders founder and CEO Citar Fountaine . Alexandria, Egypt (image source: Wikipedia )

Startup No 180 - StartupRealities 2020 series CreamOfVeggies produces high-fat cream-type products made of plants only, which are suitable for vegetarians and vegans and are used especially for adding to hot drinks: coffee and tea. The company's range includes almond cream, oat cream, soya cream and rice cream. To meet EU food labelling rules that require the presence of cow's milk in cream, the company uses the neologism #craem to describe and brand its products: #AlmondCraem, #OatCraem, #SoyaCraem, #RiceCraem.  CEO QUOTE "When people order a latte with a plant-based milk substitute, many are disappointed with the plain taste. This is mostly because the fat content in the milk substitutes is lower, compared with cow's milk. We square this circle with our high-fat craems: a 10% fat almond craem will never taste plain to anyone ever again." - said CreamOfVeggies founder and CEO Creda Vegerano. Almond Milk (image source: Wikipedia )

Startup No 179 - StartupRealities 2020 series ChildhoodEntrepreneurship is a school franchise that teaches school children and university students how to become entrepreneurs. Six different levels of the curriculum exist for kindergarten kids, primary, middle and high school students, and bachelor and masters students. The curriculum applies the Shang/上   methodology of developing a broad foundation, an aspirational specialisation and soft skills (social acumen) primarily through experiential exercises. Business Planning is taught from middle school onwards but basic concepts such as profit are developed from as early as kindergarten (nursery/daycare). CEO QUOTE "We sometimes get accused of inflating an entrepreneurial bubble by encouraging children and young people of all ages and backgrounds to start up companies. But this is far from the truth. We help children and young adults develop an enrepreneurial mindset, which would be useful for them in any vocation and industry. ...

Startup No 178 - StartupRealities 2020 series ExperienceHousing is a subscription service that allows prospective house buyers to spend a full week living at a shortlisted location to help them decide if they would want to buy and live in the given house/apartment long-term. The service allows the subscriber to experience the complexity of living at a new place, including facilities, sound and heat insulation, neighbours, transport services and the environment for a week on average. On the other hand, the service also allows sellers to benefit from an income stream while selling their place as houses for sale usually cannot be rented out during such a period. CEO QUOTE "Our service creates a win-win: the buyer has time to explore the details of living at a given venue, while the seller gets some short-term revenue. The annual subscription allows up to five weeks of living at up to 5 different locations. However, for more expensive properties, the allocation of days is red...

Startup No 177 - StartupRealities 2020 series StencilBooks is a publisher which uses one-page-size chapters in all books it publishes. The company will publish a book only if the author complies with the 1-page rule: every chapter must be a stand-alone story and must be contained within a single page. CEO QUOTE "We bring discipline to the post-linear world. Wikipedia articles are non-linear while traditional books are linear. But why should novels be linear? Why can't a reader open a book at any random page and read a story and understand everything, without prerequisites? This is what we are changing in the world of publishing with our 1-page rule. If poems can show discipline by following a rhythm and a set of rhymes, so can novels and even non-fiction books be disciplined by following a strict format." said StencilBooks founder and CEO Stella Boocker . Book (the Guthenberg Bible) (image source: Wikipedia )