StartupRealities

Startup No 199 - #StartupRealities 2020 series ApprenticeEntrepreneurs is an education and training company which runs rotational 5-year apprenticeship placements at startups for entrepreneurially-minded 18-year-olds. After 5 rotations at 5 different startups, the graduates of the programme receive a diploma which the company deems equivalent to a university degree. The programme duration varies in some cases: occasionally 16-year-olds get admitted into a 7-year entrepreneurship apprenticeship. For university graduates with an arts and humanities background the programme is shortened to 4 years; while university graduates in business and engineering complete the programme and receive the diploma in 3 years. The last year of placement is usually combined with a stint at a world-renowned accelerator, e.g. Y Combinator, TechStars, 500 Startups, SeedCamp or Wayra. CEO QUOTE "Learning by doing is our motto. Budding entrepreneurs are best taught by being put in the thick of it, rather t...

Startup No 198 - #StartupRealities 2020 series DecentralizedTutoring is a global online education company that supports university students enrolled in online programmes by organising local physical meetup study groups and project groups supervised by qualified tutors. The company works with a range of students enrolled in online courses delivered by Code Academy, Coursera, EdX, FutureLearn, Kadenze, Khan Academy, Skillshare, Udacity and Udemy. Online MBA programmes such as ThePowerMBA, Quantic MBA and AltMBA also have their community groups and team project groups supervised by the company. CEO QUOTE "Everything is moving online these days. Yet, human interaction remains most intimate and efficient in face-to-face format. Students appreciate both the support of our tutors and the physical venues where we organise group meetups in the neighbourhood of the student. Convenience, teamwork and intimacy are our keywords." - said DecentralizedTutoring founder and CEO Decima Tuton...

Startup No 197 - #StartupRealities 2020 series BoatyMcBoatBase is a restaurant chain which operates a central hub of restaurant catering facilities and a flotilla of boats that function as restaurant venues while cruising in open water off coastal cities. The hub base stocks up the boats with a fixed menu of dishes and drinks, similar to the way onboard airplane catering works for business class passengers. Once stocked up for the day, the cruising boat restaurants pick up and drop off customers from centrally located stands at downtown sea or river piers at regular intervals. BUSINESS MODEL The business model of BoatyMcBoatBase is viable in major cities where it is cheaper to operate ships in open waters than to buy or rent expensive waterfront real estate for restaurant venues. At the same time, labour costs are lower as the food is not cooked on site by expensive chefs, but is prepared in the factory-size facilities of the out-of-town hub bases. Waiters and staff costs are similar ...

Startup No 196 - #StartupRealities 2020 series Applied Entrepreneurship Platform is a global university network which promotes the teaching of entrepreneurship to all university students, irrespective of their academic background and university major. The network is at the same time also a faculty platform for entrepreneurs who are interested in and good at teaching; and a membership platform for budding entrepreneurs and potential future startup founders.  South Korean TV series "Startup" (Image source:  Wikipedia ) The universities who are members of the network offer at least one Entrepreneurship course to every single bachelors and masters student and make it known to their students that they are expected to take one course, usually called Applied Entrepreneurship. CEO QUOTE "Clearly we don't believe that every single university student will become an entrepreneur. What we expect is that every single university student will develop an entrepreneurial mindset. We...

Startup No 195 - #StartupRealities 2020 series CampusAtHeart is a real estate developer that builds new cities centred around a "university city" hub. The company normally obtains commitments by at least three higher education institutions to set up campuses in a new "university city" before giving a project the go-ahead. The company's policy is to attract diverse participants that offer university programmes in different price ranges. The anchor institutions usually include at least one of each of the three categories: the campus of an existing university; a joint-venture campus by two or more universities; and a newly-founded higher education institution. CEO QUOTE "Young people make a city come alive. When there are multiple university campuses at the heart of a city, the city starts living. All pieces come together once the university hub is up-and-running: residential housing gets built in concentric circles around the campuses; restaurants and service...

Startup No 194 - #StartupRealities 2020 series LiveMediaCourt is a US reality TV channel that specialises in broadcasting live court sessions in which genuine judges and juries decide on reported fake news and media allegations cases. Claims made in mainstream media can be brought to a LiveMediaCourt judge for trial. The sessions would be broadcast unabridged if not dealing with sensitive issues such as terrorism charges or child abuse. CEO QUOTE "LiveMediaCourt is not a 'Judge Judy'-type exercise. The judges are real, not 'make believe real'. This is where it makes a big difference. Because it is a real court, anyone who lies in court risks perjuring themselves and ending up in jail. So people who often spread fake news on TV would think twice before they repeat a fake claim in one of our courtrooms." - said LiveMediaCourt founder and CEO Livio Medici-Cortez . Courtroom in Japan (Image source: Wikpedia )

Startup No 193 - #StartupRealities 2020 series EducationHubs is a university education services company which helps cities develop as global education hubs by promoting cooperation among the universities in the city to market themselves jointly using the city brand as the platform. To finance such projects, the company negotiates grants from city governments to finance the joint delivery of university courses. Thus, every student at a participating university can take up to three courses for free at three other universities in the city (funded by the local government). This promotes cooperation among the institutions and also creates an affinity with the city among students. CEO QUOTE " Nothing can beat a positive experience. When a student takes three courses at three universities that are not even their main alma mater, they are experiencing the life and culture of four institutions. Isn't this amazing!? This is how people develop a loyalty to the city, whether this is Barc...

Startup No 192 - #StartupRealities 2020 series StardomCatapult is an international coaching school that specialises in preparing candidates for elite scholarship and leadership programmes around the world, including Rhodes Scholars (at Oxford University), Schwarzman Scholars (at Tsinghua University), Fulbright Scholars (worldwide), World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Shapers and WEF Young Global Leaders. CEO QUOTE " School and university teach you the basics in life. But to really excel in your career, you need an extra nudge or push. We give you this nudge and connect you to alumni of these programmes who coach you how to join them yourself. " - said StardomCatapult founder and CEO Stan Catapoulos. Trebuchet catapult (Image source: Wikipedia )

Startup No 191 - #StartupRealities 2020 series  DefinedAcquisitions is a real estate intermediary which deals only in properties that have distinct and clearly defined geographical characteristics: for example islands, coastal strips of land, mountain peaks, or entire river valleys. CEO QUOTE “ The world is becoming more and more digital. Soon everything will be verifiable via blockchain, including property titles. But what happens if the entire blockchain ledger gets wiped out by a computer glitch or an Internet virus? We’ve seen many bitcoin investors lose their wallets in such freak accidents. This is why we want to play safe. We only invest in properties that can be pinpointed on the map and easily identified in the real world when looking at the landscape. Any property that has clearly defined natural boundaries would meet our requirements .” - said DefinedAcquisitions founder and CEO Defoe Acquilla.  Photo of Taal Volcano and Lake, Philippines (Image source: Wikipedia ...

Startup No 190 - #StartupRealities 2020 series  TwoBecomesOne is a PR, coaching and personal branding company that helps the “ No 2” in an organisation or business become “No 1”. For example, TwoBecomesOne could be hired by US Vice President Mike Pence to challenge US President Donald Trump for the top job (for his remaining term in office). CEO QUOTE: “ We are definitely not backstabbers. More like uplifters. ” - said TwoBecomesOne founder and CEO Twopac Onur .  Netflix series (Image source: Wikipedia )