The Simulated Startup: Meet the Innovative Startups Inside Mammoth Companies

By

MasterCard Employee

MasterCard employee demonstrates ShopThis! with MasterPass which will allow consumers to buy products directly from Intel¡¯s Virtual Shopping Experience ¨C a fully interactive 3-D virtual fitting room app at MasterCard¡¯s Innovation Showcase event.

¡°Agile methodology,¡± ¡°failing fast,¡± ¡°pivoting¡±¡ªall concepts commonly used in startups¡ªare increasingly being put to work inside the walls of large, well-established companies. This is because executives at Fortune 500 companies have realized that the natural limitations that face startups¡ªlimitations on time and financial resources¡ªcan actually be boons, resulting in fresh ideas and fast execution.

So a handful of large public companies, including 足球竞彩网 Electric (GE) and MasterCard, have created startups within their own mammoth companies. In 2013, GE created FastWorks, an internal startup entity. Its mission was to develop products using the ¡°lean startup¡± approach, codified by Eric Ries in his book, The Lean Startup. (This means constantly experimenting and regularly getting feedback from customers to avoid building products that customers don¡¯t want.)

Continue reading →

4 Mental Blocks Preventing You From Landing Your Dream Job (and How To Get Over Them)

By

meditating

In today¡¯s ever-changing economy, searching for a job is hard work. The number of jobs, types of jobs, and even pathways into jobs are transforming at a pace that can feel impossible to keep up with. Add the desire to find a career that feels meaningful and fulfilling, and the job search can becoming a maddening task.

The path to a successful job search often starts with your own mindset. Consider how you think about yourself, your options, and the process to landing a job. These answers will help you form the foundation for the results you can achieve.

As a coach, educator, and practitioner, I work with clients to help them overcome common mental hang-ups that may be preventing them from landing their dream job.

Below are four of the negative mindsets that I see most often, and strategies you can use to overcome them.

Continue reading →

Four Ways Studying Abroad Can Advance Your Career

By

study abroad image

If you¡¯re a high school or college student interested in studying abroad, you¡¯re probably familiar with the more obvious ¡°pros.¡± You¡¯ll have the opportunity to explore a new place and culture, of course, and it¡¯s easy to see how broadening your horizon would lead to a wider, valuable new perspective. But did you realize that studying abroad could also help to advance your career?

More and more employers are recognizing the benefits of studying abroad?and are actively seeking out candidates with study abroad experience. Here are four reasons why studying abroad can help advance your career.

Continue reading →

5 Key Steps to Learning From Failure

By

learn from failure

When we hear or say the words ¡°fail¡± or ¡°failure¡± in relation to all things tech, we generally conjure up images of locked doors, garage sales of office supplies, empty chairs and desks, and a battle for the best developers who are now on the job market. But there¡¯s more to?it than that, and in every startup failure, there are more details than most of us will ever know about because we weren¡¯t there. We can only watch from the sidelines and make armchair quarterback calls about what we would have done differently.

But how do we actually learn from failure? It¡¯s too often a platitude like ¡°we only learn when we fail,” but that doesn¡¯t help the person or startup that just failed. What we need is a tangible process or exercise to walk through – painstakingly – to make sure that we do indeed learn from each and every failure, regardless of how small or how epic. That process is outlined below. Continue reading →

How to Say “No” to Your CEO’s Random Product Ideas

By

how to say no to your boss's idea

Here is how it happens. You see the CEO in the hallway and he stops you. He then says, ¡°I was thinking about this the other day¡ªI have a great new idea for a feature.¡± You nod politely and walk back to your desk¡ªfeeling sick to your stomach along the way.
Continue reading →

Top 10 Blogs For User Experience Designers

By

best ux design blogs

User experience is an industry that is constantly evolving. Whether you¡¯re a new practitioner or a seasoned veteran it’s important stay up-to-date on the latest conversations and ideas happening in the industry. So how do you stay updated and relevant? Here’s a clue: you’re doing it right now. Reading blogs is a quick and easy way to remain current. Below you’ll find some of my all-time favorite user experience design blogs; including established industry leaders as well as niche blogs discussing innovative topics.

With no further ado and in no particular order, find our top 10 user experience design blogs:? Continue reading →

20-Year-Old Entrepreneur Is Using Data to Retune The Music Industry

By

Raffi Khatchadourian, COO of indify

Raffi Khatchadourian is a Mathematical Economics major and incoming junior at Colgate University. A self-starter and talented entrepreneur, Raffi has established himself as the COO of indify, an emerging music startup, before many of his peers have even declared their major. Back in January, Raffi attended GA¡¯s week-long Business Accelerator program in partnership with Colgate University. Since then, he and his co-founders have gone on to win $10,000 in funding from Colgate University¡¯s Entrepreneur Weekend Shark Tank and $15,000 from Colgate University¡¯s Entrepreneurs 足球竞彩网. Read on to learn how this young entrepreneur transformed his passion for music and data into a successful early-stage startup.

Follow Raffi @DeadliestKhatch and his startup at @_indify. Continue reading →

3 Ways TripAdvisor Stays Ahead of Customer Needs

By


Due to the rapid evolution in consumer behavior when browsing travel destinations online, TripAdvisor is a brand that is constantly working to stay on top of their customers¡¯ desires, expectations, and digital behavior.

In the video above, Ravi Meta, VP of core consumer product at TripAdvisor, highlights three key methods for staying ahead of customers through both quantitative and qualitative feedback: Continue reading →

Your Ulitmate Checklist for Planning a Successful Hackathon

By

DeathtoStock_Wired6Companies across the globe have added hackathons to their roster of annual events to strengthen their corporate community and foster innovation in an engaging and cost-effective way. For employees, participation not only affords them unlimited snacks and beverages throughout the event, but it also bridges the gap between departments, sparks creativity and allows them to work on projects outside of their daily workflow.

Tech companies have begun hosting annual global hackathons and have reaped the benefits of the innovations created¡ªFacebook¡¯s chat feature and OneTravel¡¯s latest groundbreaking mobile feature, Opal, to name a few.

If your company has been toying with the idea of an internal team hackathon, but has no clue where to start, begin with this list of the top five hackathon planning items that every organizer should have on their to-do list. Continue reading →