For my Entrepreneur in Technology class at UWT I have to
come up with a business plan that leverages new technology or an existing
technology in a new way. I am supposed
to come up with three business ideas that fit the bill. Here are some of my ideas and a bit about
them.
1.
A tablet device that is just the touch screen
and a battery system for use with an existing smart phone. The phone would be attached to the screen
(via some slick adapter/holster unit) so that the phone's hardware and software
resources are used with the attached touch screen (which will be equal in size
to the current iPad standard.) The idea
is that iPads and their spin-offs are expensive and they use the same limited
resources and operating systems as the phones they are based on (basically
expanding the functionality of the phone.)
If the major difference is the screen size then offer a low cost screen
that can bridge the gap. This idea can
be expanded to include other interface adapters such as a netbook/laptop interface
(my netbook and my phone have nearly identical hardware specifications.) There are hand held keyboard/touchpad units that
interface with smartphones via bluetooth.
This could be a starting point to investigate the marketability of this
idea.
2.
I want to start a game publishing company. There are many levels to the gaming market
from huge AAA games to smaller casual games.
Traditionally, games have driven the need for better video hardware to
the point where some games are designed first to be visually pleasing and their
game-play is secondary. Graphics have
also been a huge cost in the development of major game titles. I believe we are seeing the graphics arms
race settle and some (fairly) standardized middleware (e.g. Unity3D) is offering
smaller game companies the ability to compete graphically with the larger game
companies at a fraction of the cost. With
some good, fresh, game ideas a start up game company can leverage these
middleware graphic /game suites so that the cost to develop sharp looking game
titles is much more manageable. Thus a
company can focus their creativity and resources on game-play rather than
graphics without their end product suffering.
3.
Last night I was thinking about the price of gasoline
and I started entertaining the idea of an alternatively fueled vehicle. Though my little Hyundai Placebo (I think it is an Accent) is easy on the gas
it still relies on an energy source that requires soldiers to be sent overseas
on my behalf. I started thinking about biodiesel
and how manageable it would be to run a diesel engine on existing biodiesel
fueling stations. I found out that there
is only one station in Tacoma none in the Portland/Vancouver area (these are
the two most likely places for me to live after graduation so I started looking
there.) I watched some online videos and
read some articles about how to create your own biodiesel in your kitchen. It's not a difficult process so it got me
thinking about creating do it yourself kits for people that want to create
their own fuel. People could access a
website that links businesses and individuals to exchange oil waste at a low
cost or buy supplies directly from the website.
I have a vision of people having small operations in their garages
similar to what my brother is doing with his home brew beer operation. A few 5 gallon buckets, some stable
chemicals, some safety equipment and people can brew their own fuel.
Well that's three. I
have more ideas but I thought I would pick three that were not within the same
markets.
