From time to time here at Bay Area Mastermind we like to feature ideas and products that are innovative and may also be some tools you can use. By taking a look at these simple examples it can give entrepreneurs ideas to help them innovate and expand their business. So let’s take a quick look at one forgotten trend and two new products.
Diesel cars
These days it appears that all the rage is about hybrid cars and their gas savings.
Well what about the diesel cars. They have improved a lot since you probably last looked at them. For one thing they now are running quietly and provide 15% more energy for each unit of fuel they use. In other words you will get between 30 to 35% better fuel mileage and actually put up less CO2 into the environment. In some cases there are still some tax credits The only drawback is that there only about half of all US gas stations carry the fuel, but you don’t have to fill up as much.
A new twist on an old idea
Alright here is something we came across that is pretty cool. Trying to keep a toothbrush and tube of paste in your desk at work is not only messy it is a hassle. Colgate has now come up with “Wisps”. These are single use mini toothbrushes that releases a burst of paste as you brush. There is no need for water to rinse because the paste is edible. They run about $3 for a pack of 4. This is an excellent example of finding a solution to a common problem and using exisitng technology.
Netbooks
Netbooks are low-cost laptops with limited computing power. They are designed for basically being able to surf the web and emailing.
These are smaller in size than regular laptops and may be ideal for those people who want something to take that is less expensive and heavy than a traditional $3,000 laptop.
One example is the Dell Inspiron Mini 10. This netbook starts at around $300 and is only 9.1 x 6.8 inches and includes a full keyboard, a web cam, three USB ports and a battery that will last 3.5 hours. Here we can see an example of actually simplifying an existing product and making it less expensive as well as more convenient.
At times we focus only on adding features when maybe coming up with a “Lite” version would be easier and actually be more of an interest to our customers At Bay Area Mastermind we help our members innovate and develop their product lines using many examples as see here.