Idea of the Day | Kai Rostcheck

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...

Idea of the Day: A new twist on the local book exc...

Earlier this week I read nearly all of The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris. (I heartily recommend it, by the way). But it was a borrowed copy, and I didn’t quite finish it before I had to return it. No problem…I just headed over to Barnes and Noble to pick up a new copy today. It’s worth having. But I would rather have found a used one nearby. Used book exchanges have been around for ages in different...

Idea of the Day: “Still-in-Season” sto...

At 4pm, it’s still 95 degrees outside, I’m pretty much done working for the day and I’d like to take the kids to the beach. But we’re not going, because my daughter left all of her bathing suits at her mom’s house and I’m too lazy to drive over there (it would be an hour back and forth). It would be easier to go to Target and pick up a new suit. But I know they don’t have any...

Idea of the Day: EarlyStagePitch.com...

I’m jazzed about this idea. As you might know, I’m a mentor to early-stage and first-time entrepreneurs. Many of them are trying to refine or redefine their pitch. They need a test market, somewhere to get critical feedback before they try their message out on potential customers or venture capitalists. I’m picturing a website where entrepreneurs can schedule a ‘virtual pitch’; a webinar...

Idea of the Day: Customized backjack covers...

Since I started a wellness company at one point, I’m still pretty connected to the goings-on in that field. And I do a lot of personal growth workshops, which typically means I sit on the floor (or on my backjack) for long periods of time. My marketing brain kicked in around this idea at one point, and I realized that I’ve never seen a customized backjack cover. And when I google searched, I didn’t find...

Idea of the Day: Custom cars...

Monika Desai has me sold. She’s the Founder of Sole Envie, a company creating custom footwear for women. For those of you following me on Facebook, you know that my favorite date with my wife is an evening at DSW. So I get where Monika is coming from here. Women have relationships with their shoes, I think. So having compatible personalities between the shoe and the wearer make perfect sense to me. And this gets...

Idea of the Day: Edible pop-culture...

What flavor iPhone would you choose? That’s right, I didn’t ask which color, I asked about your flavor preference. I mean, since iPhone soap is now available, why not produce iPhone candy too? For big eaters, how about a munchable Xbox? And since we’re heading in that direction, why not extend the idea to pop culture as a whole? Got a hankering to eat Paris Hilton? We can arrange that. (eewww…that...

Idea of the Day: light-up switch plates...

Why do night lights exist? The answer seems kind of obvious…to help us see in the dark…but I think there’s a better way. Light-up switch plates would solve two problems simultaneously: With on/off and dimmer switches built in, you could adjust the backlight coming from the wall plate (think of it as an adjustable nightlight). Plus, since the light-up switch plate is part of the actual light switch,...

Idea of the Day: International employee exchange...

Last year Boston Consulting Group released a book titled Globality: Competing With Everyone From Everywhere For Everything. The concept is straightforward: ‘globalization’ was a trend marked by the expansion of large national companies into international markets. Globality, on the other hand, means that we are now in an age where the playing field is more level then ever before (largely because of the internet). But...

Idea of the Day: Open up product ideas to online s...

Reading about doggie windows for cars today on my new favorite website (Quixoting), I realized that it might be a win-win-win from Companies like Petsmart and PetCo to link in with manufacturers and open up product ideas to actual online shoppers. But here’s how things usually work in the retail world: A manufacturer builds a product (hopefully with lots of early stage testing and market feedback from potential...

Idea of the Day: How to get elected (and stay in o...

Oh-oh. This is going to sound political. But I promise that I’ll vote however you want me to… Try to imagine a world in which elected representatives vote according to the will of their constituents. Seems kind of absurd, right? (Since political self-interest and lobbying play such key roles in our government, which is supposed to be “of the people, by the people and for the people”). A New England...

Idea of the Day: multi-channel radios...

My family has one television. I think this is plenty, but my daughter Noah, when helping me out with the Idea of the Day, said she thinks it would be cool if somehow the tv could project multiple images simultaneously. That way everyone could watch what they wanted and no one would have to (gasp!), you know, agree. I’m not sure that’s anywhere in the near future, but I started thinking about the concept a...

Idea of the Day: Built-in bookmarks...

I love it that you get “built in bookmarks” with hardcover books, by simply using the cover flaps as placeholders. But you don’t get that same convenience with softcover books. So how about making perforated, tear-off book marks for paperbacks? The publisher could built them in, maybe on the first page (which would be cover stock instead of regular paper). And of course the bookmark graphics would be...

Idea of the Day: PowerPoint Karaoke...

My colleagues at Boston World Partnerships came up with this idea last night: PowerPoint Karaoke. If you’ve been around the corporate world long enough to know the old etiquette, this will crack you up. Here’s the deal: You and several team members each build your own presentations (they can be about anything from yak herding in Guatemala to cat herding in New Brunswick). Swap presentations, so you have...

Idea of the Day: Crowdsourced video for airlines...

I just listened to a Harvard Business Idea Cast comparing the success of Singapore Airlines with the austerity measures put in place by their domestic counterparts. Singapore Air is investing in “human software” (aka, customer service) for their first class and business class customers. The perks include in-flight standing areas, cappuccino and a database that knows just what brand of scotch you want (and...

Idea of the Day: How to make TEDx Boston even bett...

The first TEDx Boston event has come and gone, and is certainly worthy of review. If you were there then I’d love to hear your comments. If not, here’s an overview of what the day looked like: From 2-7pm the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology hosted some of Boston’s best and brightest. The highlights included: Smart city and smart transportation planning taking place at the MIT media lab. Reverse mentorship...

Idea of the Day: Do something cool with lanyards...

I’ve been to a many trade shows and events where I am given a lanyard with my name badge. While I appreciate the free gift, these always end up in the trash. I mean really, what use does a lanyard have once the conference is over? Here’s an idea: use Zip-its for lanyards! Zip-Its are basically just long zippers that, well, zip together to form purses, pouches, messenger bags, etc. Check out my earlier post...

Idea of the Day: Collapsible Cooler...

Every year we pack up the van and head to my in-laws near Newport, RI for a beach weekend. There are six of us in my family and we inevitably pack too much, so I always find myself stuffing things over the back seat, under the middle seat, etc. The cooler is the one thing that consistently annoys me in this endeavor, because it takes up so much space even though we actually only need it to go to and from the beach. I...

Idea of the Day: Convertible shoe boxes...

I like new shoes, and my wife really likes new shoes. We recently renovated a walk-in closet to give her more space. As part of the redesign we included lots of shoe racks, so that has been on my brain lately. What if shoe boxes were convertible? Most of them are pretty sturdy, so how about investing a bit of thought into a way that they could be open-faced and stackable. “Buy new shoes, free shoe-rack included.”...

Idea of the Day: cold activated labels for Fla-Vor...

By now you’ve probably seen the Coors Light commercials touting their “Cold-Activated” labels which turn blue when your beer is cold: Sorry to say, but this seems to me like one of the dumbest things ever (if you say that some of my ideas are equally as dumb I won’t necessarily disagree). Seriously though, you need to be over 21 to drink in most states. By that age haven’t you figured out...

Idea of the Day: 4 Steps to reinvigorate Boston’...

If I were ‘in charge’ of reinvigorating Boston’s economy, here’s how I would start: 1. Map out two sectors: traditional and emerging industries. This would basically leave us with a horizontal industry profile: 2. Add the emerging Global Mega-trends that will shape our future. These will include some fairly obvious themes like carbon capture, an aging population and the changing regulatory market, as well as...

Idea of the Day: CUSTOMERSCARE.ORG...

A while ago Seth Godin wrote a blog titled “They Don’t Care, They Don’t Have To” in which he rails about poor customer service and lack of corporate accountability. I’d like them (ie: businesses) to have to care. So I think I’ll start a website called CUSTOMERSCARE.ORG (as of right now that url is available, which should tell you something). This will be an ultra simple to use website...

Idea of the Day: Dead stuff on a stick...

If I owned a beef jerky company I’d call my brand “Dead stuff on a stick.” This will never happen, because: A. I’m a vegetarian. B. I don’t tend to be that provocative , and I’m generally opposed to indulging in controversy simply for the sake of attention getting (despite what some blog experts say). Overall, I just don’t think that’s a healthy approach, and most importantly...

Idea of the Day: Senior transportation...

Our society has a senior transportation problem, and with the advancing ’silver market’ (the new term for the baby boomers) that challenge is looming larger. There’s increasing squabble about re-testing seniors for driving licenses, but nobody really wants to take responsibility for that (should it be up to the State DMV, families, doctors…?). It’s a quality of life thing. Senior’s...

Idea of the Day: Microbrew marketing...

My new buddy Matt is the Supreme Chancellor of Beer. Seriously. It even says it on his business card and he has a website to prove it. Matt is a taste maker, educating folks about the fine points of better beers through dinner parties and continuing education classes. As we were talking about the microbrew challenge (the industry as a whole continues to expand, holding 4% of total beer sales currently and aiming for...

Idea of the Day: Rate, refer, reward....

I love this: if I log in to Yelp and give a 4.5 star rating, I receive a coupon offering 10% off on both entrees when I bring someone with me for my next visit. That’s a great way to simultaneously reinforce customer loyalty and get new referrals. There’s only one problem: it doesn’t actually exist. But it should. And it’s today’s Idea of the Day. If you login to a review site and give something...

Idea of the Day: Give away your extra customers...

“Too much of a good thing…” My neighbor is a great guy, a genuine people pleaser with a mile wide smile. An auto mechanic by trade, he started his own business a few years ago. Not surprisingly perhaps, it’s thriving even in our current recession. But he has a problem. He has too many customers. His company employees 3 full-time mechanics for 2 garage bays, so they can’t grow much more. In...

Idea of the Day: Marketing tv...

Good ads (and sometimes even bad ones, like McDonald’s recent Fillet-o-Fish campaign) invariably entertain, engage and/or horrify us. At the best of times they represent art and in the worst cases they leave us scratching our heads, or just plain disgusted. Those things are all captivating! With the advent of some really cool viral, buzz and new media advertising, things are getting even more interesting. I think it’s...

Idea of the Day: How to sell more salad...

I took these pictures at the mall a couple of days ago. One shows people in line at Master Wok and Cajun Café, while the other shows a lonely salad maker (albeit with a great hat) behind his stand. These food service locations are all in a row. If you look closely you’ll see a woman in a white shirt handing out samples in front of Master Wok, while a man in a red shirt is doing the same for Cajun Café. Salad Creations...

Idea of the Day: how to reduce the use of plastic ...

Check out this headline from a recent Whole Foods press release: Whole Foods took a leadership position by eliminating plastic bags from their stores, and obviously the bet paid off: their customers are happy about the decision and the environment is cleaner as a result. So why haven’t more companies replicated this stance? Here’s one way that it could happen: Starbucks (and/or Dunkin’ Donuts, Peete’s...

Idea of the Day: Let your customers win something...

Do you know why Happy Meals have been so tremendously successful? Is it for the food quality? (err…) How about the portion size? Nope, I don’t think it’s either of those. The appeal used to be about the package (remember when the container was shaped like a treasure box?), but even more importantly, it’s about the prize. There is a simple principle at work here: people love winning. Even when the prize isn’t...

Idea of the Day: Piezoelectric roads...

During the July 4th weekend I had ample opportunity to spend time with my family and poll them on things they think would be cool. I was mining for Ideas of the Day, and it paid off. In fact, I hit pay dirt on a whole series of energy efficiency ideas that I’ll introduce shortly. One short riff came from something I had heard of last year; a dance floor at a Rotterdam night club that harnesses human power and turns...

Idea of the Day: How to make LinkedIn even better...

I loved LinkedIn. In my role of Connector for Boston World Partnerships I find it particularly useful, since I am so frequently creating meaningful connections for colleagues and acquaintances. Still, there’s always room for improvement. Currently, LinkedIn has two great features that aren’t, umm, linked in very well. Here’s feature #1, their job search capability: And here’s feature #2, which...

Idea of the Day: how to alleviate lines at the air...

Imagine this: you are waiting in line at the airport ticket counter, watching time tick away as you get closer and closer to missing your flight. Meanwhile, a counter agent has spent twenty minutes re-booking someone else who’s flight was canceled earlier, lining them up to make a connection tomorrow. Have you ever experienced this (from either side of the line)? Do you see the problem? One person was certain to miss...

Idea of the Day: Better ATM’s...

Automatic teller machines have come a long way. The new ones I use at Bank of America scan checks and cash automatically, with no envelope required, and let me confirm the amount of my deposit before it is processed. Cool. Efficient. I love it. But there’s still something missing. My ATM card is getting old, and the magnetic strip is wearing down. Every now and then this causes problems at a point of sale location,...

Idea of the Day: ice scooters...

My kids all have Razor scooters. Last spring, sick of the cold and snow, one of them wanted to go out and ride around on hers. I had to remind her that the sidewalks were still icy. Which leads to this idea: How about ice scooters? Heck, we’ve had ice skates forever now, and nothing else has come along in quite some time to take advantage of winter’s natural playing surface. While we’re at it, why not...

Idea of the Day: Paint in-a-box...

Paint should come in boxes with spouts. Here’s a simple illustration of why this is a good idea. Note the clean can before use, and the mess that comes with regular usage. The wine industry realized about a dozen years ago (and for different reasons) that boxes could be a boon. With the rise in home decorating shows over the past decade and the do-it-yourself revolution, I’d figure that some smart marketer for Benjamin...

Idea of the Day: How to find money...

I cashed in $150 worth of coins at a Coinstar machine the other day. There’s one at my local supermarket, which makes the service especially convenient. On the other hand, the machine charges 9% to redeem coins for cash. Ouch. There was a good alternative though: I opted to trade in my full balance for a Lowe’s gift card, and received 100% cash value. Heck, I was remodeling my bathroom anyway so the timing was right....

Idea of the Day: Crowdsourcing happy meals...

This is the Einstein bobblehead doll. My daughter received one in her Happy Meal last week. The toy was apparently promoting the movie “Night at the Museum.” Neither Noah, her friend Katie nor I made that connection at the time. The toy doesn’t do much (after all, it’s a bobblehead) though when you push down the head it locks in place, and can only be unlocked by inserting a card into a special slot. Katie’s...

Idea of the Day: How to save newspapers...

If you are unfamiliar with the publishing industry, today’s Idea of the Day might require a bit of background. For more context you can read further here. (It even includes a picture of a guy sitting on a toilet reading a paper. That’s worth checking out, right?). For the cut-to-the-chase version, here’s how I think publishers could revitalize newspapers: Instead of charging for subscriptions, they...

Idea of the Day: Twitter tag clouds...

Maybe this exists and I just haven’t seen it yet (I think 4,000 new Twitter apps roll out every day, after all). Twitter should embed intelligence to find/follow people who have similar interests. If I’m tweeting about microfinance, sustainable energy, entrepreneurship, etc. there should be a way to aggregate those keywords. (For an example of what this could look like, scroll down my page and see the rotating...

Idea of the Day: a hands-free toothbrush (rethink ...

Here are two things to consider: 1. If we spend two minutes, twice per day brushing our teeth and the average lifespan of an American is somewhere around 75 years, that’s approximately 1,825 hours or seventy six days that we spend brushing our teeth. I came to this realization when I asked my daughter to contribute an idea of the day. To encourage her thought process, I asked her to think about something she doesn’t...

Idea of the Day: we need a “Home Depot”...

Will you allow me to be contrarian for a moment? I don’t believe Home Depot is successful because they have the lowest prices around. That’s reversed. They have the lowest prices around because they are so successful. I know there are strong points to make the opposite case, but bear with me for a moment. Here’s my point: they are not just a hardware store, they are a lifestyle company. There’s...

Idea of the Day: commercial composting...

(note: today’s idea is derived from my longer essay about organic waste management. For more context, check out the full story here). Even though food and paper waste accounts for nearly half of our landfill space, there are no commercially suitable composting options on the market today. To be marketable, such a system would need to be affordable, manageable and efficient. The best idea I can think of would essentially...

Idea of the Day: Holographic ebooks (R2D2 knew thi...

Do you remember that classic scene from the first Star Wars movie (yeah, I know it was actually episode IV) where Luke discovers R2D2’s holographic image of Princess Leia imploring “Help us Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope?” I bet that’s not too far off. No, not the Star Wars part…that was a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away). I’m talking about the hologram. If you...

Idea of the Day: k-12 in a box (a human basics lea...

A little while ago I wrote about the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative and detailed some of the opportunities and challenges inherent in their vision. In case you haven’t read that yet (or might not), here’s my main take away: OLPC’s biggest challenge is convincing people that their attempt to bring the illiterate and impoverished into the digital age makes sense. I can give you one very good reason...

Idea of the Day: recycling at Quincy Market (and b...

What’s missing from this picture? Can’t guess? I’ll give you a bit of background then. I snapped it at Quincy Market last weekend. This is a standard trash can, as I’m sure you figured out. But what’s wrong is what’s not there: you don’t see a recycling container there. do you? Nope. And that’s because there are no recycling bins in Quincy Market. I find this same occurrence...

Idea of the Day: color changing cars & contac...

My daughter Genevieve brought home a pencil that changes from green to yellow when rubbed. After a while it reverts back to the original color. Cool. This is friction-based, of course. I thought about this for a few days then asked my other daughter Noah what she would use that kind of technology for. Her first answer was ’shoes.’ Interesting, as I had considered that too but couldn’t see how it would...

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