Idea of the Day | Kai Rostcheck

Idea of the Day: More LinkedIn Improvements...

Here’s why LinkedIn should have auto-detection software like Digg, which keeps people from posting the same article multiple times: Since I am so focused on Internet Marketing right now (about to launch Free Marketing Made Easy) I have become more aware than ever before about some smart techniques for smart blogging and community building. Consequently, I spend a lot of time reviewing blogs and participating in...

Time-triggered customer service...

I’m in the process of developing an Internet Marketing program for entrepreneurs. (That’s not the subject of this post, but you can find out more about it here if you are interested). While doing so I’ve done a ton of research on different tools, techniques, etc. Some of this stuff take quite a while to figure out! One of the most common metrics for measuring the effectiveness of our websites is “time...

Idea of the Day: Sort your network...

As an entrepreneur and Connector with Boston World Partnerships my network expands at a pretty rapid pace. That’s a cool thing, as I love bringing people together in mutually beneficial ways. Obviously this advantageous to me as well, since it is a lot easier to get introduced to key collaborators. LinkedIn is my main portal for network aggregation, but there’s something missing from their approach. The...

Idea of the Day: Tic-tac-toast (play with your foo...

Other than the kid in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (you know, the one who made Devil’s Tower from mashed potatoes) we’re usually told not to play with our food. Bah! Why not turn breakfast into a game? If bread-makers created grid lines in their loaves (with cinnamon, maybe?) then we’d have a perfect tic-tac-toe grid on our toast. Fill in the spaces with jelly X’s or O’s...

Idea of the Day: Bottle cap instruments (“Sn...

Here’s a picture of a Snapple cap. You know them, they make the juices and iced teas “made from the best stuff on Earth.” Snapple has a cute gimmick going on with their caps. On the bottom of each one is a “Real Fact” such as ‘More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States.’ Hmm. The other thing about their caps is the standard safety button...

Idea of the Day: Currency sponsorships...

Here’s one for you: try to name all of the stadiums and venues that carry the names of their corporate sponsor. Good luck! In the Boston area alone we have the Dunkin Donuts Center, Comcast Center, TD Banknorth Garden (or whatever they are calling it this year), the DCU Center, Gillette Stadium…see my point? Corporate sponsorship is everywhere. So why not put those logos on money? Yeah, that’s right…I’m...

Idea of the Day: Location-based dating application...

If you’ve used something like Google Maps, you are aware that there are different kinds of web-based applications that give us information based on location. Another good example is one of the Twitter applications I use for my iPhone; if I click the ‘nearby’ option I can see what everybody around me (say from my town of Hopedale) is Tweeting. I can imagine Match.com building an application based on...

Idea of the Day: Justice chickens...

It’s electric blanket season, which means I climb into a pre-heated, cozy nest each night. Commenting on that earlier this week, my wife said something to the effect of “Just us chickens.” I’m still not sure what that mean (I think she was half asleep) but I heard it as “Justice chickens.” Which makes me think of the Justice League…you know, the one with Superman, Wonder Woman,...

Idea of the Day: More than a drop...

This is a Poland Spring 8oz bottle of water (the kind you get on planes for free). It is the smallest product that Poland Springs offers. Here is a CapriSun 6oz pouch. 27 varieties (flavors) of CapriSun are available in this one-size-fits-all package. What’s the difference? The packaging style, yes. But more importantly, it’s the packaging size. The water bottle is over 30% larger. In real terms, I can put...

Idea of the Day: Sell me your frequent flyer miles...

My buddy Joe was in Finland last week. Before that he was in Boston. Next week it will be Washington D.C. Yep, Joe travels a lot. So when he finally gets around to taking a family vacation he’ll have tons of airline miles saved up and will go anywhere he wants for free, right? No so fast. With fewer flights available now Joe has to take what he can get. Sometimes it’s U.S. Air, other times it’s United....

Idea of the Day: Smart carafe...

Maybe I have a skewed perspective on this, since I practically make a living by networking at coffee shops. Still… It’s all too often that I receive my coffee from the counter, go to the condiment station to add cream and sugar, only to find…no cream. Or milk. Just skim. Empty, empty, empty. So I can wait until somebody can refill the half & half vessel, or just deal. Mostly I just deal. Hey,...

Idea of the Day: The start-up lottery...

Small businesses are under financed. That’s obviously not a shocking statement by any means. I meet a lot of folks who have really good ideas (a job perk…people seem to love discussing their concepts with The Idea Guy) and lack the resources to bring their vision to market. Some organizations like YCombinator are working to change that by placing more emphasis on the idea than the business plan. Still, lack...

Idea of the Day: Love Bites...

Vampires are in. What with the whole Twilight saga and all, people are all “Edward” this and “Jacob” that. I haven’t seen the movie or read the books, but everyone around me from tween to soccer mom seems taken with the whole thing. And I have just the product for them: Love Bites. What’s a love bite? C’mon, you know…a hickey stencil. Shocking? Maybe. But it happens anyway,...

Idea of the Day: Cover weights (stop blanket thiev...

I admit it…I’m a blanket thief! I don’t mean to be…but inevitably we wake up in the morning with two feet of extra covers on the floor next to me. Meanwhile, my poor wife is shivering. I know what we need! Cover weights! Now, Lisa might tell you that she should just have her own blanket. But that’s no fun. Instead, I’ll invent a 6 foot long length of fabric that will be about 5 inches...

Idea of the Day: Un-blendable iPhone (yes, it̵...

Watch this video (there’s a point, I promise)… David Meerman Scott mentioned it during his talk about Viral Marketing last night. Why was he discussing it? Because this video got over 7 million views on YouTube, and sold a lot of blenders. So why hasn’t anybody piggybacked on the idea yet? I would take the product shown here, a chromium iPhone case by Metallo Designs (also available in stainless steel),...

Idea of the Day: Talking (celebrity) weights...

Ok, so talking weights would be nothing new. Here’s a picture of a cool version from Yanko Design. Yes, they really talk to you. They are actually pretty smart, and can even warn you when your form is incorrect. These would be great for slackers (umm, not that I’m one) who can never seem to pick up those weights. But you know what would make them even better? Celebrity voices! Who cares about the trainer’s...

Idea of the Day: Light up braces (smile!)...

See this picture? No, my daughter isn’t radioactive. She has a little Halloween light up device in her mouth. It has red, blue, green and yellow LED’s that flash on and off. Quite the effect. It’s way cooler than the colored bands on braces that are all the range among tweens now. In fact, it gets me thinking how cool it would be if there were light-up braces! Imagine that…if there was a tiny...

Idea of the Day: Give a quarter (feed the fish)...

A few days ago I visited the Imperial Buffet. I’m not so sure what’s regal about it, but the kids love it. After all, what’s a meal without a plate of mixed pineapple, glazed donuts, chicken wings, pudding and crab rangoon? A funny thing happened while we were there. One of my kids noticed a quarter under the table next to us and mentioned the fact while a server was cleaning up. That waitress picked...

Idea of the Day: Multi-vendor commercial anthologi...

Here’s a concept for the real-life Mad Men on Madison Ave… I just saw the actor/comedian Matt McCarthy (of FIOS commercial fame) in a McDonald’s breakfast commercial. In FIOS ads Matt plays the displaced Cable Guy who is constantly running up against the confident and sympathetic Verizon rep. You genuinely feel for the guy. In the McDonald’s commercial Matt is the same kind of somewhat lovable...

Idea of the Day: Thigh-high sneakers...

My daughter’s new kicks look like these. They are knee high AirWalks (like Converse) that lace up but also unzip to make them easier to put on and take off. kinda crazy. Kinda ugly. Kinda cool. You know it’s only a matter of time until we see the thigh-high version…

Idea of the Day: Arbitrage software...

ar⋅bi⋅trage: the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same securities, commodities, or foreign exchange in different markets to profit from unequal prices. Most businesses are founded on a simple principle: we want to buy something at a low price and sell it at a higher price. From a purely economic standpoint, the less we have to add to the mix, the better. Lots of ecommerce websites take advantage of this principle....

Idea of the Day: Butter-on-a-stick...

Sometimes lazy kids make for the best ideas… A few mornings ago one of my children took the easy way out. Instead of cutting pads of butter and spreading each one on her pancakes, she simply picked up the whole stick (fortunately the wrapper was still on) and rubbed it all over the hot, fluffy flapjacks. Sigh. That action simultaneously horrified me (manners cop, you know) and appealed to my curiosity. After all,...

Idea of the Day: Patent software for Mac...

I am in the process of learning how to file patents, and plan on beginning with some Provisional Patent Applications (PPA). Fortunately there is some great software out there to automate the process and make it pretty simple for me. Patent Wizard is a good example of this. Unfortunately, this software doesn’t run on a mac. I looked around online for 10 minutes searching google, images, products, etc. and found...

Idea of the Day: the anti-car phone (keeping teens...

Our son will soon be old enough to take drivers’ education classes and start bugging us about getting a car (good luck with that one!). That’s an exciting right of passage that I remember from my own experience as if it were only yesterday. The reality though is that I am a concerned parent now, and young drivers are arguably less safe than ever before because of their inclinations to use their cell phones...

Idea of the Day: Build a platform...

“All the world’s a stage…” I’m hearing a lot about platform development this week. “What’s that?” you might ask. Let’s call it the built-out of a framework that will allow you to spread your message to a wide audience. Here are some examples: You’ve heard of the iPhone, of course. Well the genius there isn’t just the phone itself by any means. The...

Idea of the Day: International Business Insurance ...

Sam Goodman scared me. He’s the author of Where East Eats West – the Street-Smarts Guide to Business in China. His book is probably great. I’m not sure yet, because I just picked it up yesterday after listening to him speak. Sam really knows how to line you up. Take for example, this excerpt from his website: Judging by the fact that you are here, you are probably either salivating at the size and...

Idea of the Day: 1-800-We-Fix-It...

You’ve heard of 1-800-Got-Junk, right? There’s a brilliant story to that company that goes something like this: Guy is broke. Needs a job. Sees some other guys doing junk removal, realizes all he needs to do that is a truck (which he already owns) and a bit of advertising. Starts up. Succeeds. Realizes that he can’t scale the business very well (it’s impractical to try to reach every market)...

Idea of the Day: Build a product portfolio in 10 s...

I recently bought the deluxe inventRight course, and I’m glad to report that is has already proven to be worth every penny. But I wasn’t so sure at first. I was hesitant in fact, unsure whether I wanted to invest so much money. What sold me? Their free radio shows on blogtalkradio.com. I listened to all of them, got great information and wanted more. Finally I called their office and got one of the partners...

Idea of the Day: Auto-lacrosse...

Not too long ago I wrote about Bungy Bat, a retractable tether system that would connect bat and ball for solo hitters to practice without the disadvantage of having to chase after their own balls. Today I was thinking of one of my sons, who is a natural athlete but joined the lacrosse team after his peers had been playing for years. He could use some extra practice time, which presents another application for a similar...

Idea of the Day: Heated Snow Shovels...

Oh-oh, it’s coming. Fall is in the air. I’ve already pulled out my sweatshirts and the down comforter. Even the leaves are starting to change. Soon we’ll be in the midst of another long, cold New England winter. That means shoveling, fighting with ice and trying to get the typical sticky slush off of the shovel each time I take another scoop from the driveway. Sigh. But wait! What if I create a heated...

Idea of the Day: An aggregator to measure demand...

There’s one common mistake that almost every entrepreneur and inventor makes their first time around: we build products or create services then try to generate demand, instead of studying the market and delivering solutions into markets where there is already demand. Google has introduced some tools that can allow us to study market potential before spending a dime. These include: Standard search Keyword search...

Idea of the Day: Zorbing for dogs...

I was browsing around at Petsmart today, looking for new designs and clever inventions. One of my favorites is the oldy-but-goody hamster habitrail. My daughter has been pestering us for that kind of set up, but it just seems like it would be a tease for our four cats. Especially if we put the little critter into one of those clear plastic balls to roll around on the floor. But this got me to thinking…it would...

Idea of the Day: Pedi-shoes...

I’ll bet you would never have guessed that the “As Seen On TV” brand’s best selling product is the PedEgg. I was shocked when I learned that, though I guess I shouldn’t have been considering how large the cosmetology market is. Today I was thinking of ways to make pedicures even more affordable and efficient. Viola! I give you the Pedi-shoe! This invention consists of a pair of shoes lined...

Idea of the Day: Finger mouse...

I am currently working with inventor Emil Jacob, who has created a new ergonomic product known as Pad ‘n Click. This solution consists of gel pads that stick to your mouse to correct the position of your hands and fingers. It is simple and ingenious. But it also makes me wonder, why do we use mice anyway? The straightforward answer would be “to control the computer” but there are alternative (and arguably...

Idea of the Day: the “Stupid Idea” sho...

I spent last night on a plane from Columbus to New York cracking on stupid ideas with inventor Emil Jacob (founder of Pad ‘n Click). Some of the ideas we harshed on were our own, of course (let’s face it, you’ve probably had that reaction to my posts, from time to time). And fortunately we were at no loss for raw material. You see, we were on US Air and had the Sky Mall catalog at our disposal. Many...

Idea of the Day: Trick-out your mouse...

The 2009-10 NFL season opens today! You know what that means? You’ll be getting lots of football-related ideas from me for the next few months. But don’t worry, I’ll play fair (leave SpyGate out of this…). The first idea of the season: NFL decals for your computer mouse. In fact I want more than just a Pats logo there, I want racing stripes, flames and maybe shooting stars. OK, I’m going...

Idea of the Day: This one’s for the dogsR...

Play-doh sure is an inspirational toy. My daughter Noah came up with this idea as she was sitting at my kitchen table playing with some: Her concept is a (very) dog friendly restaurant. It would be geared toward those of us who lavish praise and rewards on our furry best friends, and want to take them everywhere with us. This cafe would actually be for the dogs, with snacks and drinks available to their human counterparts. Sound...

Idea of the Day: Call-ahead returns...

I’m standing in the ‘Returns’ line at yesterday, listening to other customers talking on their phones and complaining about the long wait… Welcome to Walmart. You’ll find the lowest costs, but you still pay a price. So here’s an idea: how about call-ahead returns? I know that some retail outlets are finding success through their on-line ordering systems where you pick up the product...

Idea of the Day: Picture-finder...

Yesterday my cousin posted a picture of a ring on Facebook. She was hoping that someone in her network might recognize the style and be able to tell her where to find another one like it. This lead me to think, shouldn’t there be an application that would allow you to upload an image, then search the entire internet for similar images? Google Images would be the natural place for it. I bet the FBI has something...

Idea of the Day: Self-adhesive ice packs...

What do you do if you twist your ankle, strain your back or bruise your shoulder somehow? Ice it, of course. Why? Because chilling the affected area reduces swelling and discomfort. Ahh…that’s better. I’ve been thinking about this since yesterday. I went to my daughter’s barn with her, and took pictures of the horses so she could print them out and personalize her locker. As soon as we got there...

Idea of the Day: ‘Lego’ Tic Tac packag...

There’s something about the Tic Tac box that I’ve always liked. It feels right in my hand. It looks cool. It’s unique. Now it’s even recyclable (see their website for more info). And though the company has suggested some post-consumer uses for the container (travel-sized storage, etc), those applications are pretty limited. So what about adjusting the plastic box a bit, and making it ‘Lego-like?”...

Idea of the Day: Transformer sunglasses...

It’s about time for a new pair of shades. Too bad, because I really like mine. I got them in Kauai so I’m kind of sentimental about them. Alas, they are pretty scratched up now so it’s time for a replacement. But how can I keep this from happening again? The problem perhaps, is that I refuse to carry a ‘murse’ (man-purse). So I have nowhere to put my sunglasses to keep them safe when I’m...

Idea of the Day: Faster ice-cream (yum)...

It’s not that I’m in a hurry, but I can’t help but notice how long I have to wait in line each summer at the really good homemade ice cream places. Maybe that’s part of the experience I’ve come to love; standing there looking at the board for a while, wondering whether I want Peppermint Stick again (my favorite), or deciding if I’m in the mood to try something else like Coffee Oreo. Alas,...

Idea of the Day: Extreme bowling...

Kids these days. It’s ‘extreme sport’ this and ‘extreme sport’ that. I swear, if it doesn’t fly higher and go “boom” louder than ever before, it’s no fun at all. And you know what? They might be right! Check out this extreme pogostick, for example. It looks like fun! This gets me thinking about other things that could use a little brushing off. Like golf, for example....

Idea of the Day: Subway bread at home...

If you frequent Subway (it’s my favorite fast food place) you’ll almost certainly recall the first thing you notice when walking in the door; the smell of fresh-baked bread. This Idea of the Day almost seems too obvious then, but I think that Subway should sell their bread separately. Maybe they’ve already test marketed the idea – it’s hard to image they haven’t. I know that if I were...

Idea of the Day: Waterproof pockets...

My friend Joan recently told me about her experience at Six Flags with her boys, and her inconvenience of not being able to access money easily while going through the water park. I related my own similar experience from Canobie Lake park, which also has water rides. In both of these cases you wouldn’t want to carry your wallet, cash or credit cards around because they would end up getting soaked. Instead, you...

Idea of the Day: A single seller e-commerce soluti...

Today’s guest post is contributed by Linda Sardone, a frequent readers with a really good idea. She writes: Say you are in the market for several used books, CDs, DVDs, etc, from third party sellers who list their items on sites like amazon.com or half.com. You would like to combine these multiple media items and purchase from one seller if possible – less shipping cost, fewer transactions, etc. Wouldn’t it...

Idea of the Day: Bungy bat...

The other day my oldest son was explaining to me that jellyfish stingers unroll from inside of the creature and shoot out into the victim. Since then I’ve been thinking of things that are retractable. My vacuum cleaner cord is retractable. That’s cool. So is my tape measure. Quite useful. After a while I struck on the idea of a Bungy Bat. This would be a baseball bat tethered to a ball via a cord, which would...

Idea of the Day: Offer a gentle reminder...

I have no idea when my last oil change was, or when the next one is due. The problem, you see, is that the little peel-off sticker that’s supposed to live in the upper left-hand corner of my windshield fell off. Without it, I’m lost…and probably 5,000 miles or more overdue. Which leads me to wonder, with all of the contact methods available to reach me (phone, facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, three email...

Idea of the Day: Smart tires...

Ah yes, family dinner. That’s when we get together, talk about what’s happening in each others lives and…come up with new ideas of the day. Tonight the topic came around to Smart Tires. There’s a ton of high-tech activity in this field, ranging from pressure and temperature monitoring to shape-changing tires that vary depending on weather and road surface conditions. But I’ve been trying...

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I have ideas that can help your company…

Formulate a go-to-market strategy
Define and leverage your unique value proposition
Build a better customer experience
Discover under-served segments of your market
Create new revenue opportunities
Decrease time-to-market
Benefit from User Contribution Systems (Crowdsourcing)
Enhance internal & external communication
Engage with and learn from your prospects
Develop a Sustainability strategy
Design a lean distribution network
Brand effectively
Measure real-time ROI from marketing activities
Improve customer service and customer loyalty
Become an even more appealing place to work
Coordinate resources to maximize your innovation streams
Overcome traditional limitations
Make your good employees better and your better ones great
Establish policies that reward loyalty and ingenuity
Recognize emerging trends early on and get ahead of the curve
Use social media to your advantage

My background

Co-Creator of Free Marketing Made Easy, a program that helps small business owners understand why and most importantly HOW to use the best and most cost effective online marketing tools.
Brand Manager for an energy efficiency company.
Integrated Media Consultant in the publishing industry.
Entrepreneur.
New Business Development Manager for consumer and commercial technology products.
Lead Generation and Inside Sales expert.
Bachelor’s degree in Humanities (Magna Cum Laude).

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