Idea of the Week

The rise of direct to consumer ecommerce has created a myriad of downstream problems for consumers. Getting everything shipped to your house felt amazing at first, but now it feels overwhelming: Stolen packages, missed deliveries, discard boxes piling up. The last mile problem of ecommerce has stymied companies for a decade now, but what about the last block? Getting your packages delivered to your front door feels common, but it is a really a luxury we could do without?

Berny and Dan dive into the worst aspects of air travel. We all suffer through it, but there has to be a better way. The airline industry is decades behind other industries with their absolutely horrific customer experience. Why have they not evolved? What are the pain points? Are there any reasonable solutions to the mess of air travel?

Esports has been booming for the last few years, but the industry is still in its infancy. Billions of dollars is going back and forth, and they are new peripheral businesses being start up every week. It is in the gold rush phase now. Berny and I chat about some different business ideas for the Esports world including creating an ad platform to help companies place ads and how to manage the emerging talent.

Berny wanted to explore how we can connect with other people in a way that is authentic and not transactional. 10 years ago, you could actually connect with cool people on LinkedIn and start chatting. But then came the recruiters and sales people, and now LinkedIn is about as corporate as you can get. So how we create something new that helps bring people together that is just about connecting with others and not about making money?

Episode 1 : "Commuters and the Last Mile" About the Idea of the Week Podcast Idea of the Week is the brainchild of two friends who met while working at one of Silicon Alley's hottest startups. Dan Wipert and Bernard Klein are creative entrepreneurs who have spent much of their time developing digital experiences across a variety of business models. Never afraid to shy way from the unexplored, this podcast represents a storied collection of thoughts and ideas that could revolutionize the world. Only several decades in to one of the greatest economic shifts the world has ever seen, we are only at the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the internet and related technologies can deliver. Let Dan and Berny take you on a weekly journey to help you unleash the opportunities that may only be several lines of code away from reality.