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When Seth Berkowitz was a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, he started baking cookies for friends out of his dorm. Soon, he noticed a trend: students got hungry late at night and there wasn’t any delivery alternative to greasy and heavy food. Berkowitz wondered, “Why not hot cookies and milk – delivered to your door after midnight?”
When inventor Doug Vick got up in the middle of the night and bumped into the bedpost, he wondered, “How many other people do this every night?”
So he invented high-quality double-lined fleece slippers with a weight sensor in the sole, a light sensor on the side, and an LED light in the toe.
In the latest episode of the Why Didn’t I Think of That? ® Podcast, Bob Smith and Greg Anastos sit down with thinkofthat.net blogger Benjamin Christopher and discuss the first of their Axioms For Entrepreneurs, “Re-think Your Industry.”
The Why Guys explore how companies like Netflix, Apple, Xerox, and General Motors were able to look at their industries, and their companies, in a new light.
Richard James was working at a Philadelphia shipyard and was looking for a way to keep nautical instruments stable in rough seas. That’s when a torsion spring fell off the shelf. Richard watched the spring crawl down shelves, stacks of books and tabletops, and land upright on the floor. Suddenly, he had a great idea…
Why do candles all have such “girly smells,” 14-year-old Hart Main asked his younger sister, who was selling the candles for a school fundraiser. Main thought why not have smells that guys would like, like fresh cut grass, bacon, sawdust and leather. So, with a $100 investment, and his heart set on buying a brand new bike, this young man invented a whole new kind of candle: the ManCan.
What they do:
Purchase “bin end” wines from importers and wholesalers and sell the wines on line at progressive prices.
Inspiration:
Craig Drollett and John Hafferty, who loved wine, decided to join forces and open a discount fine-wine store.
About the business:
Bin Ends Wine buys bin ends at discount prices from importers and wholesalers. The wines sell initially at 25% off retail price, but markdowns are progressive. By the time the wine's been in the bin for six weeks, it's marked down 45%. In their first year, Bin Ends recorded 1.5 million dollars in sales.
Do something you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. So goes the old saying. Of course, anyone who has ever started a business based on their passion knows that, just because you’re passionate, it doesn’t mean you won’t be working your rear end off.
Selena Cuffe recognized an injustice, and decided to do something that many of us forget is even an option: help people AND make money.
