Cryptocurrency Volatility, a Vacation App, and More – Boston News
Let’s explore some of the most interesting stories that have emerged from Boston business schools this week.
Digital Tulips: High Risks, High Rewards in ICOs – Carroll School News
Boston University Carroll School of Management Assistant Professor of Finance Leonard Kostovetsky and Ph.D. candidate Hugo Benedetti (’19) recently co-authored a draft paper that explores how the high returns associated with Bitcoin, for instance, are in part a byproduct of the uncertainty that surrounds cryptocurrency. But as crypto becomes clearer, the researchers note that “that effect might be declining.”
The Social Science Research Network published the duo’s paper, entitled “Digital Tulips? Returns to Investors in Initial Coin Offerings,” which finds that “startups set a low, low price at the initial coin offering (ICO) stage to compensate for the volatility. In effect, it’s an uncertainty discount that keeps the price down, which drives up the returns.”
You can check out the full article on the official BC website.
People Aren’t Using Their Vacation Time. These Alumni Want to Fix That – D’Amore-McKim News
Treehoppr, “an online platform that tracks accrued time off,” was founded by Northeastern University D’Amore-McKim grads Kevin Corliss, DMSB (’16), Douglas Franklin, DMSB/E (’16), and Christopher Kenyon, CCIS (’17), in response to the “uniquely American” reality of how few working professionals take advantage of “paid time off.”
Treehoppr, an app created by a trio of D’Amore-McKim alumni, hopes to solve the uniquely American issue of not taking time off of work.
In an interview with their alma mater, Corliss says, “We want to help people eliminate these barriers to travel. What are the things you always hear when you ask people about traveling? They don’t have the time, the money, or the know-how when it comes to a foreign country. We want to help people solve all those issues.”
Dive into the trio’s story here.
The Gourmet MBA – Suffolk Experience
Suffolk University recently published a profile on current Sawyer Business School MBA Danielle Health (’19), whose @BostonBehavior Instagram profile demonstrates her knack for monetizing that very 21st century ritual of the meal snapshot—one she’s parlayed into a full-time job at social media management company Metter Media.
Health explains that she generally approaches the manager of “each restaurant she wants to visit as a one-time business partner.” She explains that her Instagram affords restaurants quite “a lot of visibility for a pretty minimal investment.”
She continues:
“Bigger food bloggers might have 100,000 followers. But that doesn’t matter if the people aren’t in Boston. About 90 percent of my followers are local to the Boston area, and most are my age. So I can deliver a really targeted and high-value group to a restaurant that I put on my feed.”
Check out the full profile here.
Ted Rogers Alum Raises Money for Flipd App
Raising money isn’t easy, but Ted Rogers School of Management alum Alanna Harvey may figured it out.
The former communications student at Ryerson University’s business school in Toronto successfully raised an undisclosed amount of funding for an app she co-founded, Flipd, according to a press release. The app “allows users to block phone distractions,” per the release. App users have spent more than 1 million hours distraction-free, the app’s website reads.
Educators can use the app by analyzing when students did (or did not) use their phone. This will help them evaluate more effective teaching methods. Students who need some help focusing also benefit from the app. But Flipd is really just about increasing productivity for people who get distracted by their cell phones. (C’mon, we’re all guilty of doing that.) The app even offers a blog that provides its users with words of wisdom on mindfulness and self-care.
A preview of Harvey’s Flipd app.
The app’s investors include Ryerson Futures, Figure 1 founders Gregory Levey, Richard Penner, and Joshua Landy, as well as Candice Faktor of Faktory Ventures. Harvey helped find this app-based company, but she’s put her communications degree to good use by serving as the Flipd’s marketing director. Investor Levey taught Harvey some of what she knows. He also knows a thing or two about startups.
“As a co-founder of my own startup, I saw some intriguing parallels with the way Flipd is approaching its mission,” Levey said in the press release. “And as someone who has taught undergrad and graduate students for over ten years, I definitely see the value of that mission.”
Both Levey and Harvey continue keeping the school’s spirit alive. The business school prides itself on its innovative education. They show what that looks like. Levey also shows what solidarity looks like through funding a former student’s app, which debuted in 2015 and has seen steady growth since its release.
Flipd is available for download in the iTunes Store and Google Play today.
Stanford Alum Talks Uber-Style App for Busy Families
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business recently published an article on its blog in which alumna Joanna McFarland (MBA ’05) offers an overview of HopSkipDrive, an “Uber-style” platform she co-founded with Carolyn Yashari Becher and Janelle McGlothlin to “match parents with drivers who shuttle their kids to and from school and activities.” Since it launched in November 2014 in Los Angeles, Farland’s service has arranged “tens of thousands of rides per month” for “busy families.” And families are busier than ever. Indeed, according to Pew Center research, 60 percent of American children live in families in which all parents work outside of the home.
New Restaurant Tip Calculator App Launched by Carey Business School MBA Candidate
Full Society is the future of the restaurant going experience. The app — which is headed by Carey Business School MBA candidate Paige Cantlin — allows diners to instantly pay, split and tip directly from their web capable mobile phones. And the cherry on top? At the end of payment, users are encouraged to donate to a local nonprofit that works to solve hunger.
According to an article on The Hub, Cantlin recently launched a beta version of the app to select restaurants in Baltimore with more to follow. One restaurant, Woodberry Kitchen, is also stakeholder in the company. Continue reading…
