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What’s Up with WhatsApp?

WhatsApp’s humble beginning started when founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton, who both used to work for Yahoo!, created the app in 2009. After buying an iPhone and discovering the potential of the applications industry on the App Store, Koum met his friend Alex Fishman and discussed about developing a chat application. They later met Igor Solomennikov, a Russian developer. Koum gave the name “WhatsApp” because it sounds like “what’s up.” After a few months of nestling at beta stage, the app was exclusively launched in November 2009 on the App Store. A December 2013 blog article reported that WhatsApp had 400 million active users per month. Facebook bought WhatsApp because of its growth that caught the executives’ attention. Now things are about to change.

WhatsApp Messenger, a freeware and cross-platform messaging app, is replacing the wireless carrier’s usual short message service (SMS). By entering a phone number, WhatsApp will search through the whole contact list to look for people who are also using the application. It allows users to send text messages, audio or video calls, images, other media contents, documents, and user location. Users can freely message each other without limits or extra charges.

Facebook Bought WhatsApp

In February 2014, Facebook declared its interest in acquiring WhatsApp for a staggering $19 billion. A lot of people back then questioned the app’s contribution to the already impressive affiliation of social media and chat apps of Facebook. During that time, WhatsApp had more than 450 million users (comparatively lower than the 1.2 billion users of Facebook). Despite its growth, the app is not particularly well known in the United States. Facebook had stepped in at the right moment, considering that the user base of WhatsApp has more than tripled ever since.

WhatsApp is now the most popular messaging app in the world.

More than 1.5 billion active users each month send an astounding 65 billion messages per day.  By acquiring WhatsApp, Facebook had gained some leverage in monopolizing the online messaging applications. This is in a way that no company could have ever done. It is a bold move that made some experts question the real reason why Facebook bought the chat app back then.

Worldwide Growth of WhatsApp Messages
Worldwide Growth of WhatsApp Messages

 

Imminent Change is on its Way

Fast forward to the latest events. WhatsApp is again facing an imminent change along its way. In contrast with other social networking apps Instagram and Facebook, WhatsApp has been advertisement-free ever since it started its services. But all of this may have to change, and WhatsApp users may not not be happy with this news. After Jan Koum’s resignation from Facebook, speculation about the app blew up and there were rumors that ads would be eventually rolled out into the app.

David Marcus, Vice President of Messaging Products at Facebook, confirmed that WhatsApp will now be open to advertisements.

“As far as advertising is concerned, we’re definitely getting WhatsApp more open. We’re now going to have the ability to enable larger companies, not only small businesses, to integrate a new API (application programming interface) to send and receive messages with people on the WhatsApp platform,” Marcus told CNBC.

Analysts have already predicted this event once Koum separated himself from Facebook.

Analysts at Barclays stated, “We normally wouldn’t publish a note on an executive departure, but we think Jan Koum’s departure as potentially significant implications. Our checks over the last few years tell us that once Jan leaves, that’s when the ads show up.”

 

What is The Formula for Entrepreneurial Success?

What is the formula for entrepreneurial success? Bold Business asked the founders, CEOs and managers of companies making bold impacts what traits propel entrepreneurs to success. Our list includes Arnie Bellini (ConnectWise), Steve Tingiris (Dabble Lab), Kasra Moshkani (Uber), Rebecca White (University of Tampa), Dirk Ahlborn (Hyperloop Transportation Technologies) , Scott Neil (American Freedom Distillery), Beck Besecker (Marxent), Jeremy Ring (Vivana), David Chitester (Seedfunders), Ed Buckley (Peerfit), Chuck Papageorgiou (International Screening Solutions), Joe Hodges (CareValet), and Sheryl Hunter (Hunter Business law).

Our exclusive interviews reveal four key areas: Vision and Focus, Risk-taking and Confidence, Determination and Resilience, and Willingness to listen and learn.

Vision and Focus

An entrepreneur recognizes a need long before anyone else sees it. Once a goal has been set, it will be impossible for an entrepreneur to tear his eyes away from it. An entrepreneur’s dedication to a vision stems from the belief that what they offer is valuable to the end user. This purpose gives the entrepreneur the tenacity to keep going.

Sheryl Hunter, President of Hunter Business Law, captures it best by stating, “Stay really focused, know what your niche is, know what you’re the best at and then execute.”

Joe Hodges, President and Chief Disruption Officer of CareValet, LLC, further adds, “If you have an idea, and you feel it’s important, then you need to do it.”

The belief that you place in your vision will determine its success. Kasra Moshkani, General Manager for Uber Technologies in Southeast US shares, “If you believe in something, you have to go forward.”

Risk-Taking and Confidence

Jeremy Ring, State Senator of Florida and CEO of Vivana, urges new entrepreneurs to be bold and confident. “Sometimes you just got to not follow rules in a way.”

Calculated risk-taking and creating new paths is another key component for entrepreneurial success. Imagine how things might have turned out if Steve Jobs did not push through with developing Mac or gave up on the company Apple. Entrepreneurs are called to forge new paths.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

More than twenty years since its release, Apple’s Think Different Campaign is still as captivating as ever. It’s a persuasive campaign cheering on the “crazy ones.” Those who refuse to fit in a box and were brave enough to go against the current. A spot-on campaign that revived a venture at the brink of bankruptcy, built by one of the known “crazy ones” of our time, Steve Jobs.

Scott Neil, Doer of Things, American Freedom Distillery shares, “Entrepreneurs are asked to be out on the edge and, and be vulnerable.”

Determination and Resilience

Change can be daunting for most people. Because of this, new ideas are often treated with hesitation. An entrepreneur must be undeterred in achieving his goal. Dirk Ahlborn, CEO and Founder of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, asserts, “You just need to push it as far as you can.”

Grit—the ability to see things through—is one of the key traits that an entrepreneur must exhibit. As what the CEO of Connectwise, Arnie Bellini, believes, “Be dedicated to the vision, have a vision, speak the vision, get others to buy into the vision.”

Achieving one’s goal requires effort and sacrifice. Sometimes efforts will pay off. But for instances when things don’t go your way, it may feel like giving up is the only option. Steve Tingiris, Founder and Managing Director of Dabble Lab, encourages entrepreneurs to never give up and keep going.

The Perpetual Student

Warren Buffet was once quoted saying, “Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” David Chitester, Founder, Florida Funders and CEO, SeedFunders agrees. “Listen to what the investors are saying because they’ve done it before.”

Entrepreneurs are always hungry to learn new things.  They understand that to succeed, they need to constantly sharpen the saw. They need to constantly check what works and change what does not. Chuck Papageorgiou, CEO of International Screening Solutions, agrees by stating that you have to understand the things that you need to improve.

An entrepreneur also understands the value of good feedback. He accepts coaching with open arms and likewise gives genuine feedback to others. CEO of PeerFit Ed Buckley adds, “If you can’t be coached, if you can’t take input, you can’t give good coaching.”

So What’s Next?

Knowing what makes an entrepreneur successful is just the first step. The next step is to have an inventory of resources. Everyone trying to start a business must take stock of their strengths and weaknesses. Just as what Rebecca White, the Director of Entrepreneurship Center at University of Tampa, shares, “Success comes from what is within”. Look within and notice the things that you are good at. Do you have great ideas but has challenges in translating them to presentations?

Only after identifying your core skills and areas for improvement that you can start looking for people or teams that can help you realize your business goals. Looking at your immediate environment will also help you check if your business ideas will work or not.

As Beck Besecker Founder & CEO of Marxent shares, “Make it work for the actual end user that’s going to use it.” Customers should be at the heart of business endeavors because in the end, they are ones who will decide whether a service or a product is value-adding or not.

Lastly, to get there, you have to start somewhere. The time and place to start is right here, right now.

Four Societal Mega Trends Altering Chemical Industry

The chemical industry offers a plethora of products which impact virtually every aspect of our everyday lives. This industry consists of corporations that produce and manufacture industrial chemicals. They convert raw materials such as natural gas, oil, air, metals, minerals, and water into over 70,000 distinct products. While most of these products are directly purchased by consumers, including soaps, detergents, and perfumes, others are also converted to various end products. A good example of this is in Europe. There, several industries  utilize 70 percent of manufactured chemicals. Virgo Investment Group (Virgo) understands these trends and is making bold bets on the future of the chemical industry.

From a chemical engineers’ point of view, the chemical industry entails the utilization of chemical processes. This includes, but not limited to, refining methods and chemical reactions. The purpose of this is to produce an array of liquid, solid, and gaseous materials. The majority of these products can be used to produce other items, though a limited portion go to general consumers.

Virgo Investment Group’s Major Focus

Most material products have either involved one or more chemicals during manufacturing or it is chemical in origin. But over the years, there has been rapid development around food, water, urbanization, and mobility. These four global mega-trends have been greatly impacting society.

Virgo Investment Group, a Burlingame-based investment firm, believes there are market and business cycle changes related to the mega-trends that provide unique opportunities for economic growth. The company invests across industries including specialty finance, healthcare, niche industrials, media, financial services, real estate, aviation, and energy. Virgo’s investment methodology identifies market seams whereby there is either a disruption or transition in an existing paradigm. These seams can be opportunistic (timely) or a structural change (secular).

In a Bold Business interview with Flemming B. Bjoernslev, Virgo Investment Group Operating Partner, he shares the importance of understanding the impact of chemical industries in today’s mega-trends. Virgo is a private investment company that work towards preserving capital. It also raises macro-economic viewpoints to determine market trends.

“The chemical industry depends on many of the products in our daily lives that we take for granted, such as rubber plastics, polyurethanes, and other key raw materials that are so vital for our daily lives,” Flemming commented.

According to Flemming the company also focuses on the necessary trends in the society, “As we developed the theme for investment opportunities within the chemical sector, we focused on some of the core mega-trends of our times.”

The Four Mega Trends

Agrochemicals help in alleviating challenges caused by urban sprawl.  The advancements lead to more resilient crops and effective utilization of farmland. These are also answers to the growing demand in food and agricultural production.

‘’A good example of how additives can add value in the food and agro cultural industry is, for example, the fact that preservatives can help the food stay fresher,” explained Bjoernslev.

With global populations growing exponentially, there is an increase in the demand for potable water and chemicals for water treatment. Nowadays, there is a greater demand to regulate water treatments or in other words, the purification of water. “Hence, increasingly a chemical water treatment products will be vital,” the Operating Partner added.

Meanwhile, the entire way of travelling from point A to point B is also changing. The chemical industry is providing support to the recent trend of creating lighter vehicles in the automotive industry to reduce fuel consumption and improve emissions. In this trend, Flemming elaborated, “So the beauty of the new technologies with the engineered plastics is that they have found a way of creating shapes and forms that can compete with classic materials such as metal, steel and aluminum carbon fiber is an example of the alternatives to the traditional materials that have been used in the automotive industry.”

Half of the world’s population will live in urban areas in 2025. The chemical industry is providing better engineered construction materials to meet the demand of the fast growing real estate development.

Looking Through the Future

The chemical industry is a vital part of the international economy. In countless products being used by consumers, ranging from pesticides and cars to clothing and toys, chemicals are present. The future of chemical industry will appear very different than its current state. In 2020, global production will increase to 85 percent. Non-Organization for Economic Development (OECD) nations will play as major contributors to this estimated production. Furthermore, the production in OECD participating countries will focus mainly on advanced technological products. It will include specialties and bio chemicals, with non-OECD compliant countries majoring in the manufacture of high volume basic products or chemicals.

Various studies and research in chemistry and biological sciences have shown that processes in chemical industry could also play an important role in developing solutions to address environmental issues. These issues include waste management, climate change, energy efficiency, and recycling. The chemical industry has developed plenty of voluntary initiatives to elevate the standards in solving health and environment issues.  It also aims to establish sustainable and safe transportation systems. In return, the chemical industry has gained a sustainable support from both the environmental groups and government institutions to operate according to the well-defined regulations.

Safe to say, the chemical industry will play a major role in bettering society and the way people will live in the future.

Four Societal Mega Trends Altering Chemical Industry

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