tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66262604590763042722024-02-21T05:52:29.707+08:00My Wild Startup ThoughtsA little blog for us to share some of our wild business ideas that may be rubbish but some are probably great ideas. We ourselves can't be doing all of them and why let it waste? These thoughts here would definitely need further research and development.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-15195401131832028292010-08-19T15:18:00.001+08:002010-08-19T15:18:11.884+08:00Inspirational Video<p>Recently, I was shown this video via Facebook and this very simple message was delivered so eloquently that I felt that I should share it with as many creative minds out there as possible.  A very inspirational video for those who are at the cross roads of whether to start a business, venture or a company.</p> <object width="400" height="325"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mkeQYf4DMAg?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mkeQYf4DMAg?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="325"></embed></object> <p>If you have an idea, do not think of the roadblocks or the issues but think of the <em><strong>jobs</strong></em> that you can create, think of the <strong><em>standard of living</em></strong> that you can improve, think of <em><strong>growing the nation</strong></em> and think of <strong><em>making the world a better place! </em></strong>Think of it for this Merdeka month … </p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-59721532601918039012010-02-12T17:49:00.001+08:002010-02-12T17:49:52.687+08:00Niche File Recovery Software<p>We probably have heard of services to recover application and data files from accidental deletion or even from a crashed hard disk drive.  The techniques used vary from simple recovery of files using software techniques through the understanding of the file system structure to needing a clean room laboratory to fix the disk drives.  As a business, you would likely be charging an initial cost to investigate before you can even give a quotation!  Anyway, that’s that business.</p> <p>What I am thinking (wild thoughts) is to start a business to provide file recovery services for niche areas.  For example, the company Lexar Media actually has a product called Lexar Image Rescue (which I believe is in version 4.0 currently).</p> <p><img title="lexar" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-bottom: 0px" height="444" alt="lexar" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/S3UkPzDDAmI/AAAAAAAAB3w/pfnrqzThqOs/lexar%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" border="0" /> </p> <p>This is an interesting product in that it just specializes in recovering images (pictures) from any type of memory card.  On a side note: I wonder if it can recover RAW file formats.</p> <p>Anyway, the whole idea is that we are into multimedia and we have all sorts of non-volatile memory devices.  Maybe we can start to produce software to recover for specific memory types for specific types of file, e.g. phone book entries in your mobile phone memory card?  video files from your camcorder Compact Flash card?</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-85058151584507552972009-06-30T11:18:00.001+08:002009-06-30T11:18:10.293+08:00Twitter Gateway<p>As far as I remembered, when twitter first came to the scene, one of the main attraction to this micro-blogging or the one-liner blogging site, was the ability to blog (or tweet) from your mobile phone via SMS.  It was initially envisaged as an SMS based social networking tool.</p> <p><img title="450px-Twttr_sketch-Dorsey-2006" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" height="420" alt="450px-Twttr_sketch-Dorsey-2006" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/SkmD78c69EI/AAAAAAAABVY/LZ56EmeB798/450px-Twttr_sketch-Dorsey-2006%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" border="0" /> </p> <p align="center"><em>Picture taken from wikipedia.org.</em></p> <p>These days, most people use either the web based interface or some other tools that integrate with twitter via the twitter API.  SMSing to twitter is costly and hence there are less people using it.  However, it is also because the lack of gateways that are available.  From personal premium SMS experience, it is possible to provide such a service and potentially profit from it.</p> <p>In Malaysia/Singapore, you will need to work with the Telco companies to get a short-code for the premium SMS.  You probably need to negotiate hard to get it at the right price as in this region, the Telcos take a large percentage unlike in Korea and other regions.  All you need then is simple web services programming that can accept web services calls from the Telco’s SMS gateway and then you need to be able to integrate to the user’s twitter.  Of course, for easy registration and usage, you can provide a sleek webpage for the users.</p> <p>Why it may work?  If the charges are low enough, a few tweets a day would only cost the user maybe SGD1 or RM1 per day.  That isn’t really much compared to the total phone bills.  It provides the users with a simple way to tweet.</p> <p>The main drawback is receiving tweets, you probably need to provide filters for the users at the webpage to filter their followers’ tweets.  They may only be interested in actively following a few or none at all.  All SMS’ to the users can also be charged, possibly less than for them to tweet.</p> <p><img title="twitter_logo" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-bottom: 0px" height="131" alt="twitter_logo" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/SkmD8QQwQ5I/AAAAAAAABVc/oncEifEH8Ak/twitter_logo%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="320" border="0" /> </p> <p>Over to you to explore … but meanwhile, I find <a href="http://neuroanthropology.net/2009/04/14/fear-of-twitter-technophobia-part-2/">this page</a> quite funny.</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-80486206328584216492009-05-24T09:26:00.001+08:002009-05-24T09:27:22.740+08:00Online site for professionally bound reports<p>There seem to be a sudden increase in online photobook printing for the many new found photography hobbyist.  Prices ranges depending on the quality of the print, from very affordable (and crappy quality) to very professionally done albums.  This convenience have attracted many people to use these services (including yours truly) as they are convenient and different.  I have even ordered a calendar of the kids portraits as gifts for family members.</p> <p><img title="canonfoto" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" height="215" alt="canonfoto" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/ShiiVAxvdKI/AAAAAAAABOs/MvFQznb7ERI/canonfoto%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="380" border="0" /> </p> <p></p> <p>Some examples of these sites are <a href="http://canonfoto.com.my" target="_blank">canonfoto</a>, <a href="http://photobook.com" target="_blank">photobook</a> and <a href="http://pixart.com.my" target="_blank">pixart</a>.</p> <p>Why only limit market (and limit) this service for photos?  Although we are in the so called “paperless” era, there seem to be an increase in printing on paper.  This is evident in that the increase in the number of laser printers (and inkjet printers) being sold for households and businesses.  Furthermore, just walk into any hypermarkets and witness the number of printing paper being stacked up for sale!  So, why not provide this service for the masses?  Target market would be;</p> <p>Businesses:  Many businesses participate in tenders and these usually require large printed documents that have to be submitted.  Businesses tend to get a comb binder themselves and submit their tenders in that format.  Wouldn’t they want to differentiate themselves from others with better binding and better quality printing?</p> <p><img title="nice-binding" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" height="216" alt="nice-binding" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/ShiiVnMYU8I/AAAAAAAABOw/RbR5mP4fDpc/nice-binding%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="380" border="0" /> </p> <p>Funding Applications:  Very much similar to the one above, but these are normally submitted to various parties for review.  If these are professionally bound, it would probably increase the chances for success.  However, it can be in-directly marketed via the funding agencies (as a requirement). </p> <p>Academic Reports:  Assuming that there are probably some bright students reading this and are probably thinking of being an entreprenuer, just think about how shabby most student reports are.  Whether for assignments or for their thesis.  We don’t need to spend a tremendous amount of money for binding them, but maybe something cheaper but still looks professional.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/ShiiWYvQUoI/AAAAAAAABO0/5IeFRVqZhJg/s1600-h/saddle-stitch%5B5%5D.gif"><img title="saddle-stitch" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" height="254" alt="saddle-stitch" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/ShiiXduOkHI/AAAAAAAABO4/KZHrN72bBE0/saddle-stitch_thumb%5B3%5D.gif?imgmax=800" width="380" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>You can actually buy printers that does these saddle stitch for you.  Would be a service that you can provide using the photobook models (where you provide templates) and with the convenience of doing it online.  Good luck!</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-81521889536016174242009-05-15T14:24:00.001+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.601+08:00Advertisements on T-Shirt and Memorabilia<p>In the online world where the expectations of free products and/or services are common, most business models are centered around advertisement.  Google’s main revenue comes from advertisement and there are many other online advertisement companies around.  The FREE world is here and probably here to stay for sometime, even with all the naysayers that this is not a long term solution.</p> <p>We have the “free” OS in Linux, the “free” greeting cards by Hallmarks, the “free” Office Productivity in OpenOffice.org, the “free” this and that.  Seldom do we see “free” physical products but that seems to be sprouting up occasionally.</p> <p>In Japan, they have free photocopying services where they will sponsor the paper and the copying.  The catch is that the opposite side of the paper will be full of advertisements, much like the advertisements on the back of your supermarket receipts.</p> <p>Currently, we will encounter pirated merchandises such as T-Shirts or even Hard Rock Cafe badges from various parts of the world.  These seems to be very popular among tourist.</p> <p><img title="T_shirts" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-bottom: 0px" height="218" alt="T_shirts" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/Sg0KmPD9u-I/AAAAAAAABLo/I7QTUrL3DVg/T_shirts%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" border="0" /></p> <p>The <strong>business idea</strong> is simple.  Why not start an advertisement business that prints the advertisement onto items such as T-Shirts.  This can be setup quite cheaply initially to gauge the market acceptance and also to minimize investment initially.  All you need is an online presence where they can submit their logo and requirement.  You can then start by printing them on those iron-on labels for T-Shirts and start producing them.</p> <p>The issue here is that they probably won’t see the marketing returns by sponsoring the whole T-Shirt, but you just need to gauge fees that you can charge, don’t worry about the margins.  After that, work with the T-Shirt retailers and sell them at cost.  Your profit will be from the advertisers and not from the T-Shirt customers, who will basically just cover your T-Shirt cost.</p> <p><img title="t-shirt-rack" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-bottom: 0px" height="170" alt="t-shirt-rack" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/Sg0Kmjp9d4I/AAAAAAAABLs/9bqIQzYIM4c/t-shirt-rack%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="260" border="0" /> </p> <p></p> <p>In short, instead of selling pirated T-Shirts, these T-Shirt retailers can sell genuine product without paying royalties whilst the brands can advertise cheaply.  Of course, the known brands would be particular with the type of materials and would probably look at their merchandise as a revenue channel.  However, for others, it maybe a good brand visibility channel, think of consumer brands like Persil.</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-69382036918170608832009-04-09T17:37:00.001+08:002009-05-15T14:46:28.968+08:00Who Moved My Cheese?<p>In this trying economic times, it is tough for organizatons to justify headcounts and what more to ensure that they hire juniors to ensure future continuation of their human resources. This puts young graduates this year into a very tough situation.  First and foremost, there will be very little job openings for them and more IMPORTANTLY, how do they ensure that when the job market is better, they are preferred over the future fresh graduates.  In other words, how to they make their unemployment time count towards the consideration.</p> <p><img title="DSC00323" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" height="290" alt="DSC00323" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/Sd3B6bGL30I/AAAAAAAAA9I/hIcfYZVSYy4/DSC003236.jpg?imgmax=800" width="380" border="0" /> </p> <p>In my personal experience in 2000, during the dot-com boom, where there are quite a number of graduates of 1997/1998 whose resume were no different from those who graduated in 1999/2000.  In this particular situation, they (those who graduated in 1997/1998) will actually be less likely to be hired as somehow employers will not like the fact that they were idle in the last 2 years!  So, back to the title of this posting; basically for fresh graduates, your cheese have been moved, you need to find new cheese while looking of your original cheese.  (Note: Please do read the book “Who Moved My Cheese” to get a better understanding about life! … a very important life book).</p> <p>There are generally 3 options for fresh graduates who are unable to get a related job; (1) stay unemployed, (2) be an entrepreneur, and (3) take up any jobs that they can get.  This posting is not for (1).  If your intention is to do that, my very best wishes to you.</p> <p>So, what can you do?  Some of us either do not have the will to be an entrepreneur, too inexperience to be an entrepreneur or sometimes lack of funds.  If we take up any job at all, say as a bank officer, after 2 years, we will be no better, if not worse, than the future graduates.  Furthermore, if we perform well, we may be stuck in the job.  That’s not a bad thing, I had an acquaintance, who started as a McDonalds crew member, and loved it and stayed to be the restaurant manager and now he is the regional manager.</p> <p>However, if your intention is truly to take up a job in your preferred line of work, you can take up any temporary job (basically food other than the intended cheese) but make sure that you are prepared for your cheese. </p> <p>In the ICT world, there are tons of opportunities to remain in the right field and prepare yourself, .  Some of the examples are:</p> <p>(1) <em><strong>iPhone application development</strong></em>.  Not only can you keep your skills up to date and in demand, you can develop several simple and basic applications and use the iPhone store to market your program.  Imagine you go to an interview 2 years later and the interviewer has an iPhone with your application loaded … I am sure you will get the job.</p> <p>(2) <strong><em>Blogging</em></strong>. Effective blogging requires an in-depth understanding of the Web 2.0 technology and usage.  If you can show your future prospective employer your success in understanding the Web 2.0 world and attract traffic to your blog, you will also show that you are still in the ICT business.</p> <p>(3) <strong><em>Online product trading</em></strong>.  There are many opportunities for online trading, but you need some initial capital.  Much like trading on eBay, there are other avenues in Malaysia, such as lelong.com.my and lowyat.net.  These two being the most popular.  You will always find good deals and you can benefit from it.  Furthermore, you can impress your potential employers with knowledge of online scams, online payment, and maybe even set up an online store front.</p> <p>(4) <strong><em>Gaming</em></strong>.  This may sound ridiculous but understanding gaming technologies, especially MMORPG types, and being able to explain how things work on the network, will definitely be a plus point to prospective employers looking for system and network administrators.</p> <p>(5) <strong><em>Android application development</em></strong>. Android is a new google operating system for mobile phones and much like iPhone, there’s an online store called the Android marketplace.  Time to check it out.</p> <p>(6) <strong><em>Open Source Development</em></strong>.  You can always contribute to open source development projects.  This is by far the most impressive way to ensure that employers take note of your technical skills.  You don’t really have to contribute to the programming parts, even by doing the documentation, it will be impressive enough.</p> <p>There are many more ways to ensure you are ahead of future graduates, you just need to make sure that you can do it in the evenings and weekend while holding on to your day job.  Some are with monetary returns, some without.  Good luck!</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-61970953677270622722009-03-21T23:44:00.001+08:002009-05-15T14:44:52.148+08:00Ministry of Youth and Sports Funding<p>Thanks to <a href="http://pesona.mmu.edu.my/~ccho">Mr Ho</a>, who informed me of this funding.</p> <p><a href="http://www.mpeb.gov.my/PortalTEB/peniaga.php"><img title="youthNsports" style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-bottom: 0px" height="264" alt="youthNsports" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_fX4ubyr2-9U/ScULa3yn9HI/AAAAAAAAA54/zg10kZcJc9g/youthNsports%5B9%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="364" border="0" /></a></p> <p>The ministry of youth and sports is providing <a href="http://www.mpeb.gov.my/PortalTEB/peniaga.php">funding</a> for youths to be entrepreneurs but the amount is miniscule!  They are providing RM3,000 with the following conditions.</p> <ol> <li>Malaysian citizen</li> <li>Between the age of 18 and 40 years old</li> <li>Youth association members will be given preference</li> <li>Full time venture, part time basis does not qualify</li> <li>Must have prior experience in the chosen field to venture</li> </ol> <p>Initially, I couldn’t really think of how someone who has experience or track record in the specific field would need RM3,000.  After giving it some thought, someone who may want to start a local delivery service may need the extra RM3,000 as working capital for his motorcycle, or someone who wants to start a small burger stall may need additional RM3,000 for the stall and inventory or a part-time photographer, who may need some working capital to rent studios and go full-time or even a software developer who just needs the RM3,000 to jump start his/her own iPhone applications!</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-71824077172799280802009-02-21T21:50:00.001+08:002009-05-15T14:48:19.910+08:00How about a multi-fulfillment business?<p>Well, we all know that 2009 is a year that will see quite a few hardships and those graduating this year will have to be more innovative in getting jobs.</p> <p>However, there are many other opportunities than merely seeking employment.  For a start, many are encouraged to be entrepreneurs, there is a sudden interest in retaining students to pursue postgraduate studies to boost University rankings and of course, they can also opt for direct selling.</p> <p><img style="border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; border-left: 0px; border-bottom: 0px" src="http://www.dropzone.com.my/images/img05.jpg" align="left" border="0" /> There is this other in-between option of being an employee and an entrepreneur, some may call it franchising programs or even consider direct selling agents to be in this category.  A company by the name of <a href="http://www.dropzone.com.my">DropZone</a> is offering Malaysians to be “your own boss”.</p> <p>Basically you apply to be a dropzone partner to operate their services and since they are new, they would require you to help them out.  You will not be employed by them, but you will be provided with financing facilities (if you qualify), training and a few other things that are normally associated with being an employee.</p> <p>If you are interested to know more, it would be best to email them at <a href="mailto:mentee@dropzone.com.my">mentee@dropzone.com.my</a> for exact details of the program.</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-32788525021686042532009-02-18T15:22:00.001+08:002009-05-15T14:48:19.911+08:00Photography studio<p>In the past, each local community had at least 1 photo studio where films get processed into photos or even just to get their identity sized photographs (e.g. passport).  These studios have either closed (or in the process of closing) as digital photography and the Internet makes photo printing at a local photo studio unnecessary and the many small kiosk where you can print your photos cheaply.  Some of them re-invent themselves to provide photography equipment such as cameras but many can’t utilize the space that they used to have for the large film processing and the large studio.</p> <p>However, with the number of novices taking up photography as a hobby, it would make sense to provide the following service:</p> <ul> <li>Studio for rent, equipped with changing room, dressing table and generic studio equipment such as reflectors and flash stands. </li> <li>Short studio and indoor photography courses for beginners. </li> <li>Short post-processing courses for beginners. </li> <li>Small cafe with Internet access. </li> <li>Photo printing and sale of photography accessories, e.g. filters, memory cards and so on. </li> </ul> <p>All these can be probably housed in less than 1,800 sq ft, a typically size for a single floor of a shop office which will be cheaper than the ground floor shop rental.  You will need</p> <ol> <li>500 sq ft studio </li> <li>500 sq ft classroom </li> <li>300 sq ft office </li> <li>500 sq ft cafe </li> </ol> <p>Partner with a company that can provide models and locate it near colleges (for part-time models and also to target the growing number of students with DSLRs) and IT companies (as many IT geeks are into photography).</p> Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-71419491926217794092009-02-14T00:55:00.002+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.601+08:003rd Party DSLR Products<p>Lately, I have been spending sometime with my Sony Alpha 200 Digital SLR (DLSR) camera.  This is my first DSLR and hence the minimal investment into something that I am unsure. I have also been spending time looking for 3rd party accessories, such as filters and flash.  The main purpose is to learn about the different types of techniques that can be done with a DSLR (see my other blog at <a href="http://www.iantan.net/">http://www.iantan.net/</a>) without incurring too much damage to my pocket.</p> <p>I have bought stuff online and with further exploration, I think there is a business that one can do part-time.  The thought is as such, from my observation, most Malaysians would prefer to transact COD or through a face to face meetup, quite evident from lowyat.net (LYN) trades.  As such, many would shy away from purchasing from places such as alibaba.com and ebay.com.  This maybe because some of them do not have credit cards or a paypal.</p> <p><img style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" src="http://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/logos/logoEbay_x45.gif" border="0" /> </p> <p>So here a simple and old idea.  Buy from ebay for yourself, go to Teh Tarik sessions and show what it can do, then return to the forum and advertise.  For each product, you may be able to turn over a 20% margin.</p> <p>Stores such as sainidigital do provide reasonably priced items and shipping and I am sure with small volume (3-10 qty) you can firstly save on shipping and secondly maybe negotiate the price.</p> <p><img style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" height="65" src="http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/23000258/Images/1/LOGOBANNERMAR07.JPG" width="240" border="0" /> </p> <p>I may try this for side pocket money too …</p>Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-87196769812288084012009-02-06T15:32:00.002+08:002009-05-15T14:48:19.911+08:00Small Low Cost Cafe ...Recently, a colleague of mine said that we should have a nice quiet place to hang out near work. Being in a new "city" with very limited places to "hang out", it got me thinking about how much does it really take to have a <span style="font-weight:bold;">small low cost cafe<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span>. The main ingredient is probably the coffee machine and the coffee.<br /><br />A few months back, I was visiting a friend's office and they offered me a cup of "freshly" brewed coffee. I went to the pantry and what I saw was that they took out this round flat vacuum packed sachet and placed it into an espresso machine, squeezed it and out came a very aromatic smelling coffee. It taste good too! And surprise, surprise, it's not a Krups machine but a Nescafe branded machine. Of course I went on to ask about the setup cost as most espresso machines cost a bomb. Anyway, it doesn't cost much but you will be bound to purchase all your coffee needs from Nestle.<br /><br />So, back to business ... what is needed. A small unassuming shop of around 500 sq ft or less, seats about 10 people or less, serves "nescafe" fresh brew, maybe freshly made finger sandwiches and of course "designer" furniture. Only need 1 staff to man it and if you are a programmer or works online, it can be a good additional income (especially if you are a coffee drinker yourself). So, what's the cost ...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.nespresso-pro.com/ooh/images/photo_trial_machine4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 1px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 200px;" src="http://www.nespresso-pro.com/ooh/images/photo_trial_machine4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Firstly, what's the name of the contraption I was talking about ... it's called <a href="http://www.nespresso.com">nespresso</a> (kinda predictable name isn't it?). The website basically tells you all you need to know. So back to cost ...<br /><br />Renovation for 500 sq ft: USD10,000 (USD20 per sq ft estimate)<br />Nespresso and food stock: USD5,000 (machine, coffee sachets and cash flow for finger food)<br />Rental and operations Cash Flow: USD5,000<br />Miscellaneous: USD2,000<br /><br />USD22k to start a business instead of paying more than that just for a franchise fee for one of those coffee chains. Errr ... how to make money, that I will leave it to you ...Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-5184390114397742882008-10-15T23:02:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:46:28.969+08:00No Ideas<span style="font-style:italic;">Blank!</span><br /><br />Have been too busy to even think of any ideas but I have read quite a few new, and not so new ideas, due to the nature of my work for the past one year. Just in case there are people who do come in and try to enlighten themselves with potential business ideas ... it will be back. Meanwhile, you have to think of it yourselve for the moment.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-68743164645355603832007-08-13T23:17:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.601+08:00Business Model from the Dot Com World<span style="font-style:italic;">Lessons Learnt from the Dot Com Era for Real Physical Business</span><br /><br />This entry is inspired by enterprising MMU students (or rather graduated students) and I feel strongly that I should at least give them a mention wherever I can to "advertise" their business.<br /><br />One of the most successful dot com business model is online advertising where companies such as Yahoo!, Google and a magnitude of others actually manage to create a successful web business. The brick and mortar business can also learn from this business model. In Japan, entrepreneurs are providing free photocopying where they generate revenue from selling advertising space on one side of the paper whilst photocopying on the other.<br /><br />Locally, in Malaysia, keep a look out for <a href="http://www.enveluv.com">Enveluv.Com</a>. Their domain should give you a clue and they should be ready for business in the next few months. I for one wish them success and believe strongly in their business model.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-10529343277778417952007-06-18T23:21:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:48:19.911+08:00Halal Baby Food<span style="font-style:italic;">Malaysia a Halal Hub?</span><br /><br />I was actually looking for some food and beverage business idea when I came across this company in UK that produces Halal Baby food! Being a parent of a toddler, it made me explore this more as I have always thought that baby food contains just vegetables and other soft food.<br /><br />Although they have a Internet store, it would make more sense if someone can import their products in bulk, obtain a halal certification and distribute them through retail outlets here as well. I am sure the market is very big and would even say that a speciality shop in maybe Putrajaya would be highly successful.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.halalbabyfoods.com/catalog/catalog.asp"><br />Mumtaz Baby Food</a>Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-59822934377206978432007-05-14T23:23:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.602+08:00Web 2.0<span style="font-style:italic;">Web 2.0 in a Vertical Market</span><br /><br />This has been at the back of my mind for sometime but I haven't found the time to write it down. There are lots of talk about Web 2.0 and surprisingly not many know what it is. Ok, I don't really either but from what I gather, it has to do with the web is now no longer a one-way traffic for information flow and in it's new re-incarnation, it is now a community based publishing or simply put (in my view), the content involves more than just one party. Examples of these are YouTube, Wikipedia, and MySpace (although I have no idea what is MySpace!).<br /><br />Now, it makes me wonder. So far, the success are all 'horizontal' in nature. What about a community based information publishing in a much narrower vertical market space? One can argue that it is already part of an existing or new Web 2.0 site. However, information overload is an issue and with this in mind, I believe there will be a lot more Web 2.0 sites that are more specific in nature. It would be a smaller audience but a more targetted one, hence if the revenue model is based on advertisement, the charges can be higher due to targetted audience.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-7500350593114523982007-04-04T23:24:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:46:28.969+08:00This Google Economy<span style="font-style:italic;">Adsense?</span><br /><br />Well, I have finally got sucked into the Google Economy. As you may have noticed, there are now some google stuff on this website. So, for those who are not sure what to do and have their own little websites, Google AdSense may make sense.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-24862481957602339572007-03-29T23:25:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.602+08:00PS3 Supercomputer Project?<span style="font-style:italic;">PS3 Cluster</span><br /><br />Well, with it's 1 PPE and 8 SPE (that's 1 main processing core with 8 pipelines vector co-core processors), it has a theoretical performance of more than hundred GFLOPS (that's billions of floating point operations per second to the slightly technical minded people). The <a href="http://www.top500.org">Top500 </a>fastest computers starts with a few TFLOPS, so clustering a few of these low cost mini monsters should theoretically be able get yourself list on the list, albeit temporarily. I am sure there are people in the scientific community running FORTRAN or C code, using simulation such as Monte Carlo, would be interested in a low cost alternative. The PS3 comes with <a href="http://playstation.about.com/od/ps3/a/PS3SpecsDetails_3.htm">many networking ports</a>, so that's a good start for clustering, it can run Fedora Core 5 on it (check out the <a href="http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/power/library/pa-linuxps3-1/">IBM website on this</a>) which means that there should not be a problem with programming.<br /><br />Anyone out there who wants to jointly develop this, being a poor academician, I can't even afford a PS3, so you guessed it. Have ideas, no money ... sigh ...Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-17220765618368637752007-03-06T00:29:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:48:19.912+08:00Training<span style="font-style:italic;">Setting Up a Training Centre</span><br /><br />I just returned from a short crash course for Novell Linux Certification and it dawn upon me that the setup cost for such a business is very low. A small training room, a RM3,000 projector, some used Pentium 4 PCs with 1GB of memory and some tables and chairs. That's all?<br /><br />Now, it can't be that easy right? CSA just sent out a marketing email that they are conducting a 5 day course on some virtualization technology and they are charging RM3,000 per person. In a small class of 10, that's RM30,000 per week? Sounds easy ... not! In setting up a centre for short courses, many other things are involved. Constant marketing and constant cancellation of classes are common, very much like a low-cost carrier! Overall margins are not as lucrative but then hey, investment is also quite small. Any takers?Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-20748894621146867142007-03-06T00:28:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:48:19.912+08:00Highly Technical Training for the Industry?<span style="font-style:italic;">Linux Kernel Internals Anyone?</span><br /><br />I don't think so but then these courses are offered in the United States targeting the industry. Anyone out there think that such a course would be marketable in Malaysia or in the South East Asian region? If so, I would like to hear from you.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-18883067021040561062007-01-06T00:31:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:44:52.148+08:00Money<span style="font-style:italic;">Happy New Year!</span><br /><br />Well, firstly Happy New Year 2007 to my readers and we start the new year with new ventures. What is needed in a new venture? ... Money ... really? I have a proposal to be part of a startup that will start without any funding, basically just to do projects for income and to barter trade services for rentals and such. All this whilst developing it's own suite of multi-modal supply chain management. On the other hand, I have also been approached to partner in a cool idea which is probably 12-18 months ahead of its time, but the proposal is to obtain some funds. No matter how you look at it, any ideas that you have probably requires some form of funds.<br /><br />For the financially challenged student and academic staff who yearns to be a technopreneur, here's your chance. Under the Malaysian 9th Malaysian Plan (9MP), they have allocated <a href="http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2006/12/26/technology/20061226120835&sec=technology">RM80Million</a> for the budding technoprenuers. Money, money, money ...Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-20800886725904524792006-12-02T00:32:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:46:28.969+08:00A Little Dry In The Brain<span style="font-style:italic;">2 months of no crazy ideas</span><br /><br />Just realised that I have not been updating my thoughts. It has been a <span style="font-style:italic;">long short trimester</span> and I have been extremely busy with lectures, preparation for my own research and also administrative tasks. Of course, if you have been following this little section of mine, you are probably thinking that I have some ideas that I am keeping to myself. Well, can't really answer that at the moment ..Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-33639140343810308982006-09-26T23:34:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.602+08:00PS3 for classrooms<span style="font-style:italic;">In a multimedia classroom, the use of PS3 to interact with the instructor through the build-in Wi-Fi</span><br /><br />In the classrooms of the future, the use of multimedia equipment for teaching will be the norm. Currently, the state of the art classrooms equip the students with a proprietary device that can interact with questions and exercises posted through the projector by the instructor. The classrooms are equipped with Wi-Fi access where the students have a unique identifier and can answer questions online. In addition, the marks can be tallied in real-time.<br /><br />The idea is to develop a similar software that runs on the Sony PS3 or any gaming or personal digital assistant that will also one day be as common as us wearing our shoesIan Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-31927574092318374212006-09-10T23:35:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.603+08:00Transportation Management<span style="font-style:italic;">An anti-fuel hike system</span><br /><br />This has been well researched and also there are several solutions out there. However, most are targetted at large distribution organizations. Small and medium enterprises on the other hand are left out. The system can be a simple one as the number of transports will be small and area of coverage will usually also be small. However, it would be bebeficial as the fuel/transportation cost has a major effect on the cost of goods.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-64311922669811318432006-08-31T23:36:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.603+08:00Hosted TiVO Service<span style="font-style:italic;">Legal or Pirated VCD/DVD?</span><br /><br />This is a gray area in terms of legality. Generally, it is assumed that there are pirated copies of VCD/DVDs for shows that are shown on free-to-air television. However, it is also "legal" for us to record these shows for our own consumption. If there is a service to assist us in recording shows, format and package them, for our own consumption, then it would not be illegal (or would it?). This can easily be an online service.<br /><br />A user logs on to the online service store, states that he/she would like to record the next season of "Winter Sonata" which will be aired on "free-to-air" television as he/she is not able to make it back in time from work. The user pays for the service online. The store will then record, put the episodes in series, package it into a VCD/DVD and send it out only when the last ordered episode is shown. The store will charge for the service, the media and the delivery. Of course, the pruchaser can also request for past series that he/she has missed ... and that normally encompasses everything other than the latest movies.Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6626260459076304272.post-53612095733256609442006-07-21T23:37:00.000+08:002009-05-15T14:49:00.604+08:00Baby MonitorA battery powered room audio monitor<br /><br />One of the problems with commonly available baby monitors is that the transmitter end of the baby monitor system is usually either battery powered or uses the mains. As most parents would know, it is sometimes difficult to ensure that the battery is in good condition and also if it uses the mains, then there would be a need for a power point. Having minimal electrical equipment in a baby's room is recommended. The idea is basically to redevelop a battery powered baby monitor (or room audio monitor) that can last for years whilst being able to operate wirelessly. Using the ZigBee (802.15.4) low powered short range wireless capability, this may be a good option.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_monitor">What is a baby monitor?</a><br /><br /><a href="http://standards.ieee.org/announcements/pr_802154.html">IEEE 802.15.4</a>Ian Tanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04874316726353710077noreply@blogger.com0