Innovation Archives

Bootstrapping a MilkCrate; A Digital Hub for Sustainability

Morgan Berman, Cofounder and CEO of MilkCrate Philly

MilkCratePhilly.com
@MilkCratePhilly
@morganberman

“I didn’t know how to write. I didn’t know how to code. I just had the desire and the insanity to do it.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“My confusion on how to live more sustainably is what inspired MilkCrate Philly. When I was writing my master’s thesis I learned that pretty much everyone else was confused too. People want to make transformative choices, but we get stuck in our habits because we’re confused and the information too spread out.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“There are a lot of green apps out there, but they’re all very niche. Many are siloed by the technology they’re focusing on, the category they’re focused on, or the geography they’re active in.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“What will make MilkCrate Philly successful is providing engaging everyday experience, where you can see what people are doing in your community to be more sustainable. A lot of those actions are going to be sponsored by places like the water department, the energy Co-op, or local green companies. Each sponsor will have signup forms with simple calls to action or lifestyle tips.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“With the use of social logins, we’re giving your interests, as consumers, to related parties and organizations. We’re capturing that interest and creating a funnel for local programs. With one click, you can make those decisions and the rest is up to them.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“We also have a searchable database that will allow you to browse for businesses on your own, but we’re giving your interests to them and creating a funnel for participation and engagement, so that it can evolve naturally.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“We just got into Project Liberty , which is an incubator with the Philadelphia Inquirer and Benjamin Franklin Tech Partners, SEP. We’re really excited about potential for creating more engaging content for sustainability.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“We’ve been talking with Ticketleap about how to integrate with them, in an effort to make it really easy for you to engage with our community and actively participate”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“We’re not creating our own criteria system or standards. We’re using the existing standards of our partner organizations. B Corp is a partner. SBN Philadelphia is a partner. We basically get their lists, import them into our database and it codes whether someone is a member or not, and those badges will show up on the app.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

We’ve also been talking with Change.org in order to expand beyond conscientious consumerism. We’re venturing into opportunities for political action and civic engagement, so that you can support other causes that matter to you.”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

“Our collaborators are truly at the heart of what we are doing!”
— Morgan Berman, Cofounder of MilkCrate Philly

Prezi Bootcamp w/ the i2n Team

The CCEDC’s i2n team visited WSL today for a crash course on Prezi. Our designers, Daniel, Jehrin and Mary are all very innately creative people who enjoy working with design softwares that are as fun and exciting as they are!

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We took the Prezi Bootcamp opportunity as an excuse to show off a new product that we’ve been working on. So, we decided to demo a scheduling software that provides local innovators opportunity to share their expertise with aspiring entrepreneurs, at one of three locations.

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There was a previous attempt on our part to implement a comparable product as part of our mentorship program, but there were far too many bugs and too few answers from their support team. Rather than attempting to lash back at their apathetic team, we opted to quietly build a replacement.

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Following the demo, our design team stepped in and gave an overview of the prezi’s basic functionality. They displayed a step by step walkthrough of the software, gave real life examples, and answered questions.

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The bootcamp seemed like it was very well received and we had some fun in the process of doing it. Another fun day at WSL, filled with learning opportunities.

EarthNight Demo w/ Rich Siegel

@cleaversoft
@RichSieges

What was the inspiration behind EarthNight?

My friend Paul and I were playing lots of runner games at the time on iOS, and they all lacked depth. It was nothing like the kind of depth I had come to expect from great games. So, we set out to make the best runner game of all time! That was almost three years ago now.

Paul’s graphic illustrations and Chipocrite‘s chiptunes are my main sources of inspiration for the game. We wanted to make every single frame of the game look like a living painting, a super graphically deep experience. We want to provide an experience that no other runner has pulled off yet. And, Chipocrite is the best chiptune artist I know, perhaps the best of all time!

NO1

What does EarthNight offer that is chiefly unique?

Well, the game is not easy at all. You really have to have fast reaction timing and understand the game’s systems in order to be successful. You cant just start mashing buttons and hope to beat the game. It’s a game of finesse. Once you get a game over, that’s it, you’ll have to restart form the beginning. The game only has two buttons so it’s simple enough for anyone to learn how to play in 10 seconds, but it’ll take a lifetime to master. I hope it’s one of those games that people can play over and over and over again.

NO2

What’s next for EarthNight?

Who knows?! We just announced on a couple months ago that EarthNight will be launched on PlayStation 4. I had the opportunity to demo EarthNight at the Sony booth at E3. We also got to demo EarthNight to a ton of people at Technically Phill’s Philly Tech Week. A lot have people have been asking when the release date will be, even my parents, and my answer to them is I have no idea. You cant rush art and I think of this project as a work of art. So, the answer is as long as it takes!

NO3

Funnel Optimizer demo at WSL

@brandonhilkert
FunnelOptimizer.io

What is Funnel Optimizer?

Funnel Optimizer is a monthly subscription service to help bloggers provide more value to their audience and sell more of their products by offering subscribers access to new content and discounts, rather than showing them the same subscription forms.

Funnel Optimizer alters what the user sees, based on each individual’s level of involvement.

The current funnel looks like this:
bad-funnel-155e7edb90a3250ccfcbb85a1670cb3f

And, with Funnel Optmizer:
good-funnel-annotated-8fdeed9db5051ca51f302de12ab30b43

Why did you create it?

Six months ago, I released a book called ‘How to Build a Ruby Gem’ that resulted in $16k+ in sales, so far. My Multilevel marketing approach, and a niche target population of ruby developers contributed to my book’s success. But, I also believe that choosing to capture emails on my blog and posting gem-related content regularly seemed like a good way to grow interest, offer subscribers additional incentives like discounts, and ultimately sell more books.

In the process, I observed that my previously subscribed readers to my newsletter STILL saw the same newsletter opt-in form shown above. I thought to myself, ‘Why on Earth would that be helpful to the them?’ It prevented me from offering previously subscribed users to new offers and stifled the opportunity to sell my products.

newsletter-form

Traditionally, the way to solve this pain point was to purchase a fancy marketing automation system and pay potentially 4 figures a month. So, I decided to build a solution that would be more accessible for people like myself. Ideally, what I wanted was to show my first visitor the opt-in form above, and if they signed up, promote my book. It was a choice to consider my viewership by customizing their experience and provide them access to new offerings.

What’s next for Funnel Optimizer?

The next step for Funnel Optimizer is to develop a full payment processing system on my site, FunnelOptimizer.io , So when people sign up they can instantly use it. Im currently operating under a somewhat slower on-boarding approach, and now Im ready to put the power in their hands!

Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce (MACC) Visits WSL

It was great meeting Tracy, Sital and Roxanne from the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce, sharing Walnut St. Labs’ vision, and learning about the coworking space and incubator that they’re working on.

We were thrilled to see how much interest they shared in our mission for Chester County and the Greater Philadelphia Area.

Tracy is Program Manager of Middletown Main Street, Sital is Human Resource Professional at ELM Strategies, and Roxanne is the Executive Director of the Middletown Area Chamber of Commerce.

Tracy, Sital and Roxanne are also active members of the MACC Board of Directors.

Middletown is a town, located in New Castle County, DE. Wikipedia states that Middletown is known as the fastest growing area in Delaware.

They’re having an Incubator Mixer on November 6th, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Let’s support innovation in Delaware! Register Here

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