耐克企業孵化器不容小視
????本周一,與TechStars(2007年成立的著名孵化器——譯注)合建的Nike+加速器(the Nike+ Accelerator)董事總經理迪倫?博伊德在俄勒岡州比弗頓的耐克(Nike)全球總部登臺演講,主要展示了該加速器運行3個月以來的一些有意思的統計數據。過去的84天里,10家在孵的初創企業共獲得了3,472,366點耐克能量(NikeFuel)積分,做了4,683次項目展示,并參加了2,880次快速輔導課程。除了在波特蘭的辦公室里通宵達旦地奮戰,這些企業還喝掉了6,412杯星巴克和斯鄧姆頓咖啡【并在辦公室里的打豆子(PAC-MAN)游戲機上贏得了創紀錄的高分212,256分】。 ????現在他們要發布一個對這些新創企業來說意義非同尋常的數字:投資金額。尼古拉斯?齊爾斯是位于紐約的風投公司Betaworks的種子期投資經理,這個加速器里的企業表現出來的狀態讓他印象深刻。在他看來,它們與Y-Combinator這樣的加速器推出的企業在品質上旗鼓相當。他說:“這些公司有相當一部分已經運營了很長時間,有一部分已經有了收入,還有一些已經擁有了可靠的用戶群。” ????博伊德稱:“創業社區、耐克公司(Nike)和TechStars能走到一起,通力合作,向大家證明Fuel加速器前景可期,還能取得可量化的成績,這是一個巨大的成功”。依靠2萬美元的種子基金,同時充分挖掘應用程序界面(API)、移動開發者工具包(SDK)和能量腕帶的數據,這10家公司向世人表明,可穿戴計算技術將在手腕這個方寸天地大展拳腳。 Chroma Games:Chroma公司的聯合創始人兼首席執行官馬庫斯?埃斯蒂斯身穿迷彩夾克、牛仔褲和白色球鞋,在臺上頗為引人注目。不過,他展示了公司的首款游戲Jump Bots之后,這家位于波特蘭的富有活力的電子游戲工作室憑借自身的特色立即脫穎而出。這款游戲很簡單:用耐克能量積分打造一個虛擬機器人,和朋友用同樣方式打造的機器人對戰。不過游戲所用的概念則要復雜得多。通過運用獎勵玩家的強迫循環(compulsion loop,游戲設計術語,通過動作和恰當獎勵之間的聯系來保持用戶粘性的結構——譯注),這個游戲很容易讓人上癮。同時玩這個游戲所需的鍛煉過程也會比較辛苦(一直到練滿兩個月時才算到達臨界點,那時身體會通過減少脂肪和/或增強肌肉做出反應)。Chroma希望減輕游戲設計師的壓力,讓他們不再圍繞“微交易模式”(micro-transactions,即通常所說的內購機制——譯注)開發游戲,而是采用所謂的“機動交易模式”。換句話說,如果玩家想要一個更好的Jump Bot,那就必須好好運動才能如愿。 CoachBase:每年,全球有1.35億名兒童進行各種體育運動,他們都有教練——絕大多數是他們那些毫無經驗的父母。不少“父母教練”每年在體育器材上花費超過100美元,位于香港的CoachBase公司便將目標用戶鎖定為其中46%的人群。該公司打造的平臺為目標用戶提供以訓練方法、視頻和有效技巧為特色的高品質內容庫,已經推出的一個iOS運動應用受到廣泛歡迎,付費用戶數高達15萬,而且已經被NBA采用。通過耐克的整合,這個平臺達到了一個新高度——能測量運動者的運動強度,并能讓運動者看到自己的比賽水平逐漸提高的過程。公司首席執行官基思?拉姆賈汗希望獲得100萬美元投資,讓公司徹底搬遷到美國,同時擴充團隊。 |
????So when Dylan Boyd, managing director of the Nike+ Accelerator partnered with TechStars, took the stage Monday at Nike (NKE) world headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. for the program's demo day, he revealed some interesting stats from the accelerator's three-month stint. Over the previous 84 days, the 10 participating startups had earned 3,472,366 NikeFuel points while giving 4,683 pitches and participating in 2,880 speed-mentor sessions. And logging long hours and late nights in their Portland, Ore. workspace, they also drank 6,412 cups of Starbucks (SBUX) and Stumptown coffee (and recorded a high score of 212,256 on the office PAC-MAN machine). ????But now that they're ready to launch, one figure matters more than any other to these fledgling firms: investment capital. Nicholas Chirls who manages seed investing for New York City-based Betaworks was impressed by the companies presenting, likening the quality to those put out by accelerators like Y-Combinator. "A lot of these companies seemed relatively far along, a number are producing revenue, and some have real user-bases, already," he says. ????"It was a tremendous success, for the community, Nike, and TechStars to come together and show that the future of Fuel and quantified self can be delivered," says Boyd. Backed by $20,000 in seed funding and tapping into Nike+ APIs, mobile SDKs, and Fuelband data, these 10 companies showed that the future of wearable computing may be all in the wrist. Chroma Games: Sporting a camouflage jacket, jeans and big white sneakers, Chroma co-founder and CEO Marcus Estes had a distinct look on stage, but his Portland-based active video game studio stood out on its own after he presented their first title, Jump Bots. The game is simple: use NikeFuel points to customize a virtual robot and battle against your friends' creations. But the concept is much more complex than that. With a compulsion loop that rewards playing, games can be addictive. Working out, meanwhile, can be painful (until you hit the 60-day point, which is when the body responds by lowering fat and/or building muscle.) Chroma is looking to take the pressure off game designers to build titles around micro transactions, and instead use "motor transactions." In other words, if you want a better Jump Bot, you've got to move your body to make that happen. CoachBase: Every year, 135 million kids play sports, and all have coaches -- most of whom are parents that are totally unprepared. Hong Kong-based CoachBase is targeting the 46% of coaches who spend more than $100 on materials each year, with a platform that offers a high-quality content library featuring drills, videos, and effective techniques. The company already has a popular iOS sports app, with 150,000 paid users and adoption by the NBA, but the Nike integration takes its platform to the next level, measuring the intensity of players and showing how their game improves over time. Seeking $1 million in investment, CEO Keith Rumjahn is looking to move the company permanently to the U.S. and grow his team. |