At this rate, I am averaging about 1 blog posting a week. Snail's pace news cycle over here, but hopefully this post will make up for it.
So a producer from Fox Business News saw my work on the Midtownlunch.com; he contacted me and asked if I wanted to appear on this segment they do called, "So You Think You Are An Entrepreneur". Contestants come on the show, present their ideas, and the three judges give them a Pass/Fail rating.
I went on the show last night. I got an F+. That's right, an F+! (The "WOW Toilet" passed with flying colors but no, not the Lunch Ledge).
It is totally fine. The judges raised very valid points: a) people don't want to carry more stuff around with them and b) the products were too specific to NYC to be profitable.
But, specific to NYC was exactly my intent. Most of all, with my thesis, I am hoping to present new possibilities for the streets and public spaces of NYC. Instead of marketing these products nationally, I'd love it if some of the ideas I developed, in some form, could became part of the street "furniture" system that the city itself provided for us.
Right now there is no functional or visual cohesiveness between the structures on the street. Trash cans are dirty and ugly, fire hydrants are there to get peed on, and there are too many signs telling us what to do but not helping us at all.
But what if there was a way to wrap up the structures into a cohesive system that worked better for everyone involved. There might be pedestrian stations at various street corners or integrated into existing structures, such as bus stops. These stations could provide street eating and seating rentals (e.g. lunch ledge, cup hook, chair) as well as newspaper stands, trash and recycling bins, and even a book sharing program sponsored by the Public Library. It could be profitable for the city, fabulous for us, and it could all look beautiful! That's an A+ idea to me.
Here is the actual link to my segment (sorry about the fake-out video image above):
Enjoy!
This, and most of your interests, would totally work in Portland, OR. We have a huge food cart community (google: portland food carts), and I could see myself, and all the DIYers here, use the Cuphook, lunch ledge, and hydrantable. It would be fun, novel, and unique on a mundane lunch break.
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