Archive for the ‘Opportunities’ Category
Can The World Hear. . . Us?
Not sure if any readers have noticed but the title of our blog is a slight flaw as it implies only one mastermind behind this idea and this dream. Although I am the primary writer, I want to make sure everyone knows that Josh is also intricate to the blog’s process with the backend work and constant discussions to further ideas and the future startup.
But beyond the naming problem, I realize this could lead to problems in the future over say copyright or ownership of this blog. As we go separate ways (I hope not), two roads diverge in a yellow wood, and we may never know where we may end up.
I hope when that time does come, this blog still stays alive and our memories and experience really advance us in wherever we are. I know thatsounds corny but the inevitable does happen so although the title says “Can The World Hear Me” I really want it to be “Can The World Hear Us” as I believe there are more people than just Josh and me that share this dream.
On forth!
~Kevin Xu
GoCrossCampus― Bringing Risk Online
Remember the traditional board game you used to play with your friends on bored weekends? Well a couple of guys from Yale and a guy from Columbia want to bring that same intense territory-conquering battle to the web, to your campus, dorm vs dorm. Meet GoCrossCampus (GXC).
This has created a huge stir across campuses as dorms get to make secret alliances and betrayals to battle for supremacy! All in the sake for bragging rights, exactly what college students love.
The game has recently hit the NYT and Techcrunch providing substantial coverage for an otherwise unheard of game beyond the college campus. They hope to expand their user base to even more universities and even large corporations for office vs office type battles. According to the NYT, it seems that Google has taken quite an interest. I hope they find their way to my high school next!
In my opinion, they have done all the right steps so far growing what was an idea into a full-fledged startup. Not many ideas have become more than an idea in a college dorm room (not everyone can be a Facebook) but GXC shows a lot of promise.
The one thing I always wished to see more of with Web 2.0 was integration with the real world. I always viewed the internet as the next “New World”, kinda how America used to be viewed with limitless possibilities, but we still need direct interaction in our current world. GXC involves optional planned meetups to elect commanders and spies for even more fun which is exactly what I wanted to happen. I bet this can be expanded for even greater depth!
GXC even emailed me and we chatted about ideas and such. Who knows, this might possibly turn into something. I’ll keep you guys updated.
So everyone go sign up! You don’t have to be affiliated with any colleges to play some games like the GoCrossPoliticalBash. Go Colbert! =D
~Kevin Xu
A noob in San Francisco…
I failed to get into the SSBB tourney… (stupid line)
I failed to meet Aaron Stanton… (or any other tech dude)
I failed to go to meetups or conventions… (GDC costed $$$)
I failed to make any progress startup-worthy… But hey I got to visit San Francisco!!!
Hello San Francisco!
Tomorrow I’m flying to California for a week-long super vacation extravaganza!
Basically I want to check out the startup culture and visit some colleges. I view San Francisco as a city full of wonderful opportunities for a young lad like me. Just by meeting the right people and making the right connections can get me really far in my dream.
First up I’ll be in Los Angeles from the 16th to the 18th. There will be a Super Smash Brothers Brawl tourney that I hope to get in. Only first 256 people though, let’s see how clever I am.
Then I hit the road and off to San Francisco from the 19th through the 22nd. I will be visiting Stanford on the 21st but other than that I will just be around the area just basking in the culture. I don’t think any big companies like Google or Apple will just let me talk to someone if I go into HQ. But I sure will try to take lots of pictures in front of those company logos!
I’ll also be sure to blog anything worth mentioning here. California has great wi-fi spots =D
So if anyone is in those areas, I will be more than happy to meet up with anyone! Just send an email or leave a comment. Aaron Stanton from CanGoogleHearMe actually offered to have lunch with me after reading my last post. He hasn’t replied back to my email but here’s me hoping for the best.
~Kevin Xu
Wanna Doodle 4 Google?
Seems like Google wants to tap into the precious minds of pre-college kids once again― more specifically my age group.
Doodle 4 Google is Google’s newest project allowing kids in grades K-12 to draw a new Google logo and win prizes. It will be centered around the theme “What If…?” which leaves it open to an infinite amount of innovation. Grand prize includes a $10,000 college scholarship, a technology grant for your school, a trip to the Googleplex, and of course your logo on the Google homepage for a whole day.
Pretty genius idea if you ask me. The Google logo has become almost a cultural icon and if you are an artist this is an awesome opportunity to show off your ability. My bet is that Google is going to value the creativity of the logo way higher than the actual artistic prowess of it.
But I find it funny how GHOP just ended with the winners announced and now Doodle 4 Google starts. Google has done a fine job of micro-managing by splitting the company into different departments (Open Source, AdSense, Gmail, etc.) but it’s interesting how they all come together targeting 18 year olds and younger to join them as a part of these contests. It’s a great opportunity and also great prizes await. But it’s all just very interesting…
It’s not like Google is trying to brainwash kids at younger ages to hail them as Godly or something. The least we want is a new generation of fanboys/fangirls (being politically correct here). Or maybe they are just prepping kids to love them so they don’t have to pay them so much?
But I do admit that I love their logos:
~Kevin Xu
Ravejelly Guest Post!
Today we are presenting our very first guest post! The author is a fellow lad from Great Britain who instantly fell in love with our blog, our dream and our question, Can The World Hear Me? Part of our goal is also for the the world to hear other people too that have a strong message but don’t have a blog yet or currently no strong means to reach out to the 6 billion people out there. By having a contact in Britain, that means we are also going international 
Now without further ado, presenting “Seb Huckle, RaveJelly (Coming soon…)”
Starting the next Bubble?
I have been known to be a “futurist” and by that I mean half my mind is always in the future. I’m usually thinking of things that will happen in the near future and how I can prepare for it and also the far future and what I can expect. And lately I’ve been noticing that my venture into startups might be very bad timing.
Winning a custom wordpress theme!
First I’d just like to welcome all the new readers from our last post. We got some huge spikes in traffic and I hope you all stick around. We re-thought the idea and realized that without further implications, it will remain what it is, an idea. At least for now…
On brighter news, a nice guy named Brian from plainbeta is offering a to design a free custom wordpress theme for any blog to further develop his web design skills and develop his portfolio.
So I thought I would give it a shot in his contest. In all honesty, Josh expertises in the realm of software programming rather than web design but this could provide nice experience for him as well.
So we are searching for that elegant web 2.0 style of course and already got a logo going on. So onto his questions!
Why should I pick your blog?
Simply put, our blog’s message and name is “Can The World Hear Me”, and that is what we want, the world to know who we are. So we definitely need a special theme that stands out from the rest and is nice to look at. We are only 16 so some people might not take us seriously but we definitely want that ‘professional touch’ so that people do. Our blog currently deals with our search for a startup idea that can go head-to-head with whatever is going on in Silicon Valley right now despite the fact that we are only 16. We are looking into adding other sections for “ideas” and such that add the extra flare in a otherwise normal looking blog. By picking our blog, you are helping us achieve that dream.
What do you want the design to look like?
We have some ideas going around, mostly just a conglomeration of other designs we have seen. We have been having trouble finding a color scheme that we like too so we hope we can work together with you to develop a nice working theme.
So what’s so special about it?
I’m not too sure but I am almost certain that we are two of a few teens with a dream as big as this. What happened was that we were just two friends going through the tribulations of high school with just dreams and nothing special. We finally wanted to stand out and take action and that is where this blog comes from. Objective #1 was to get noticed in the “blogosphere” and we are well on our way and a new fresh design would be awesome as well.
So with that we hope this was a good sell Brian. Hope to get in contact with you soon.
~Kevin X
U can haz t-shurts?
I couldn’t sleep last night. I had my first major breakthrough for an idea. Normally I would be keeping this idea a secret but I have a reason to share.
The idea was for lolcat t-shirts.
I bet the idea has been thrown around but no particular “store” has been made to specifically sell shirts with a lolcat on it. My idea was specifically for customers to upload the lolcat they want on the t-shirt. Of course there will also be pre-made ones for the most popular lolcats.
Imagine a t-shirt of a lolcat wearing a t-shirt of a lolcat wearing a t-shirt… yeah you get it. Add a funny caption as well.
I came up with domain names, hosting options, website layouts, models, profit numbers, time management problems, money issues, “lolcat gramur”, beta’s, trails, competition, partnerships, marketing, t-shirt making techniques, and finally legal issues. . .
icanhascheezburger currently has the monopoly over lolcats and believe it or not, they have a store. But the items they sell are ICHC-related products which have little to no relation to what I am aiming at. So technically I still can proceed with this. . .
But while looking over the terms of use, I came upon this:
Any use of the Website or its Content or services that Pet Holdings finds, in its sole discretion, to use its resources or User Submissions with the effect of competing with or displacing the market for the Website, its Content, or its User Submissions.
Being only 16, I do not have much legal knowledge (I even tried asking a lawyer teacher at my school) about copyrights and permissions, etc. But what I do know is if this idea did come about, many customers will probably take pictures from icanhascheezburger (maybe even crop out the little trademark out) and this can lead to all sorts of issues and CEO Ben Huh and Pet Holdings, Inc will not be very happy.
There is also the thing with making t-shirts during our busy school-weeks. There is that part of me that would not risk going to college for a t-shirt company.
And I’m not sure our parents would be too keen on investing money for t-shirt screening materials. This website seems to be quite helpful in that factor but we could also find potential partner-ups in the local area. Then this all comes back to money again.
So we definitely need help if anything is to happen. This might be newbish bit its worth a try. I declare this post an informal open letter to Ben Huh and anyone else that might be able to help us. I call for a partnership or some formal deal. Digg this post, email us, leave a comment, any support is appreciated. Somehow get this word to the right people.
A large part of me believes nothing will come out of this but that sentimental child inside of me can still hope.
~Kevin X
Too Late to Create a Facebook App?
Some people think Facebook is on the rise and will continue rising. Other’s think it has reached the top of the hockey stick and has leveled off and will eventually fall. So is it technically too late to hop on the ‘bandwagon’?
Josh and I brainstormed about creating an app previously but not much thought was put into it. Success would lie in its addictiveness and the profit would probably come from ads. But recent research shows that some of the top apps are valued at over $100s of thousands of dollars! Who knew an app could be worth so much!
I remember when the apps were first launched. I took one look at iLike, the top app at the time with 1000 users, and thought “wow this is a major failure”. But look at iLike now, over 12 million installs and half a million active users!
The genius behind this is that these are all user-made. That top app might be made by a real hardcore business company or by the neighborhood tech geek (I mean that in a good way). Recently I have stumbled upon ThePlaz, another high school Junior like me, who created GridView which is valuated to be worth more than $200,000! Talk about ka-ching!
Another friend and I have also been discussing the idea of web-apps on other platforms. The activity going on on the iPhone and iPod Touch is promising. The news about the Google Android OS is also very exciting although you certainly do need that “killer-app” idea to truly make gold.
Jessica Mah and her partners have even created a whole business venture around apps and social networking at ShockApps. They currently have Serial Killer which is unmorally entertaining. I hope to see what they come out with next.
So do you have any input in this topic? Drop us a comment!
~Kevin X