Archive for the ‘Industry Experts’ Category

Expert Opinion – Pete Krainik
CMO of QD Technology
Chairman of the CMO Club

We were really lucky to have someone with such considerable experience in the marketing and sales industry take the next look at our site. Pete Krainik, current CMO & CSO (Chief Marketing & Chief Sales Officer) for QD Technology, has been in technology, marketing & sales for over 25 years, and definitely knows what he is talking about.

As you will soon learn from the number of impressive titles Pete has held, he is an industry veteran. As early as 1999 he was the VP of Sales for Mars, moving quickly to Chief Business Officer. From there he moved to up to the role of General Manager for i2 Technologies, and it just kept getting better. Next he was the Executive Vice President and GM of Siebel Systems, the CMO of Doubleclick, and then the Global VP of Marketing for Avaya. You may remember DoubleClick, they just were acquired by Google for over $3 Billion! Wow, we are sure that is all due to Pete’s influence. =^)

On top of all this, he has now started an organization of CMO’s from across the country, which has experienced over 300% growth in the last six months. If you are a CMO and you want to finally connect with a group of your peers in a setting where no one is trying to sell to you, check out the CMO Club (www.theCMOClub.Blogspot.com).

We have just have one question for you Pete, is there anything you can’t do? =^)

Here is a summary of Pete’s response to iRent2u.com:

“My first impressions of the site were that it has a simple and clean look. Overall it is very good. I liked the ease of registration, which has a great look and feel with reminders to complete the different components of the registration. In fact, I don’t see anything that stands out as needing improvement.”

Thanks Pete, coming from you that means a lot!

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Here is the text from the press release we posted this morning.

You can view it on the wire here.

iRent2u Launches Online Rental Marketplace in the $85 billion Rental Industry

Launching with over 1 million items in over 10 categories, iRent2u is the preeminent destination for all online rentals

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–iRent2u, LLC, the online rental marketplace, today launches www.iRent2u.com where you can rent anything from anyone. iRent2u is where everyone can get more from what they already have. Users can either lend their assets to make money, or borrow from others to save money. The company provides 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping and a built in reservations system. iRent2u facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

According to First Research, the current rental marketplace in the U.S. is in excess of $85 billion and is trending towards consolidation with about 65,000 small companies, each with one to three small stores. Rentals are the most efficient way to fill temporary needs, yet until iRent2u renters faced many obstacles. Items have been hard to find, over priced and inconveniently located. A highly fragmented industry, many rentals are handled by small stores. Often these small rental companies don’t have the expertise or desire to manage a website. In fact most stores do not list the items they lend, show their availability, or accept reservations online. Up until now, the industry has been lagging and inefficient.

iRent2u was founded by three entrepreneurs as they studied for their MBA’s: Roy Bacharach, Tim McCormack and Nils von Bothmer, who then went on to win the 2007 Pepperdine Business Plan Competition. Von Bothmer conceived the idea when he moved to Los Angeles, California and needed a drill to assemble his new furniture. Not wanting to purchase one for single use when there had to be ten within a one mile radius, he knew there had to be a better way.

The company bridges problems like this with a simple, innovative solution, the website www.iRent2u.com, where everyone can get more from what they already have. With 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping, and a built in reservations system. iRent2u makes renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste. iRent2u is eco-friendly, helps prevent over consumption and facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

“Ours is a simple solution that resolves serious problems. iRent2u is where everyone can get more from what they already have,” said von Bothmer, the company’s chief operations officer. “Users can either lend their assets to make money or borrow from others to save money. We make renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste and making the world more efficient.”

Product Benefits, Features and Pricing

iRent2u provides easy 24/7 access for customers to go to the site, browse or search for what they want and view user’s rental listings. Users can stay in control of the entire process — publish prices, or keep them secret; allow discounts for frequent customers or charge everyone the same rate; deliver to them, or have them pick it up.

Users can make reservations, read and approve rental contracts, leave their deposits, and even refer friends from within iRent2u. With a rapidly growing customer list of lenders, iRent2u is a no risk, online listing of rental items including the following features:

• • Inventory management and scheduling – provides an easy system to control assets online which is accessible virtually anywhere.
  • Customer comments and ratings – offers advice from other customers.
  • Reservations – provide an easy way to reserve an item for a future date.
  • Online contract system – allows users to reduce work and save time by managing contracts online.
  • Built in directions and mapping – helps people find each other quickly and easily.
  • Free to try, and no upfront listing fees – users are free to create an account and list items for rent. Once a customer completes a transaction, iRent2u keeps a small percentage of each customer’s transaction fee.

The iRent2u service is absolutely free to create an account and list items for rent. Once a customer completes a transaction, iRent2u keeps only 10 percent (10%) of each customer’s transaction fee plus a $1.00 service fee. Lenders can even reduce their transaction fees to five percent (5%) by referring their friends to the site. Transaction fees drop one percentage point (up to five) for every referral that creates an iRent2u account.

Benefit to Rental Companies

As an online aggregator for rentals, iRent2u provides rental outlets with a way to succeed in a fast changing market, giving small businesses the same tools as larger companies. By gaining more exposure on iRent2u, these companies can increase both rentals and revenues with no additional risk. Rental companies simply pay a small transaction fee once a sale is complete.

iRent2u envisions existing rental companies as resellers, partners or advertisers. Early inventory for the company has been provided by a broad range of companies including BookRenter (textbook rentals for students), Ridester (ride sharing), Amadeus (20+ major car rental companies), and Stratos Jets (private jet charter service).

About iRent2u LLC (www.iRent2u.com)

The online rental marketplace where you can rent anything from anyone. iRent2u offers 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping and a built in reservation system, making renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste and making the world more efficient. iRent2u facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

Contacts

iRent2u, LLC
805-617-4654
info@iRent2u.com
or
Media Contact:
pr@iRent2u.com

Popularity: 100% [?]

Expert Opinion – Harish Keshwani
Strategic Business Blog Consultant and Coach,
iSeries Software Developer, Blogger, Entrepreneur

We got some great feedback from Harish Keshwani, an experienced new media strategist who is especially renowned for his expertise in business blogging.

Originally from India, Harish first made a name for himself in the states as a developer with such companies as Hewlett Packard, Vertrue and IDS. It soon become clear to him though that many businesses were missing a huge opportunity by not capitalizing on one of his specialties, blogging. Since then he has been very successful helping small to medium size businesses realize the power of social media with his company Ideologic LLC. Harish asserts that business blogging has numerous benefits such as bolstering search engine rankings, giving companies a direct unfiltered communication channel with their customers, and helping to put a human face on a corporation. Harish has now proven that the pen is mightier than the balance sheet.

Here was Harish’s response to iRent2u.com (shortened for publication):

“When I saw the site I thought it was very clean and fast loading with an Intuitive interface and an easy registration. A first time visitor can be up and running in 10 minutes using wizards to rent or lending wizards. I like wizards for renters and lenders. I also like the site’s color scheme a lot!”

Then Harish added to our delight,

“You are doing all the right things to launch this site.”

We sure hope so. Thanks again Harish!

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Expert Opinion – Mike Miller
CEO of Gagas (www.Gagas.com)

Our expert opinions keep rolling in, and they just keep getting better. One of our first customers added his voice to our group of experts, and quite some advice it was! Mike Miller, CEO of Gagas (www.Gagas.com), a service that lets you rent children’s clothing for special events, gave us all sorts of great insights into our site. We can’t wait to implement some of your ideas Mike!

An eager early adopter for the internet, Mike has been building websites for about as long as websites have existed. Mike actually built Notre Dame’s first website, pretty cool. As Mike spent a long time doing usability testing for websites at major corporations like Whirlpool, GE, John Deer, Castrol, and many others, he turned out to be a gold mine of input. We sure are glad we asked!

Here is a brief section of Mike’s response to iRent2u.com (shortened for publication):

“Clean design, good limited palette. It has a strong “Web 2.0″ look (the bouncy, oversized, rounded edges, contoured gradients look). If you have to err in a direction with the design, it’s not a bad direction to go with. The site seems professional, legitimate, and established at first glance.”

We will stop there, because otherwise it would turn into a small book. Mike went so far as to include screen shots with graphically edited suggestions. Now that’s the spirit Mike!

Thanks again Mike, and we look forward to working together helping the world realize the value and great advantage of rentals.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Expert Opinion - Kimbul Musk
CEO of Me.Dium.com, Renowned Chef, Angel Investor

Our next ecommerce expert and rising star is Kimbal Musk, the CEO of an exciting new startup and application called Me.Dium (http://me.dium.com). A lifetime entrepreneur, Kimbal is also a renowned chef with his own restaurant in Boulder, and a successful angel investor having funded successes like PayPal and X.com.

Kimbal’s current venture, Me.Dium.com, promises to change the way you browse the web. It’s a browser add-on that gives you a continual overview of what websites your friends are using, allowing you to spot popular sites and events with your friends. It is a bold new way to use the internet, and has incredible potential. We wish Kimbal the best of luck with his new service.

Here was Kimbal’s response to iRent2u.com (shortened for publication):

“My first impression of the site is that the home page is nice, and it has a clear message. It’s easy to navigate, and the UI is good and simple.”

Thanks again Kimbal!

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Popularity: 8% [?]

Expert Opinion – Michael Sheridan
President at Global Debt Exchange, LLC

Some of our best feedback yet came from fellow Pepperdine MBA alum Michael Sheridan. Michael has been involved in finance and startups for a long time. Beginning work in the capital markets, he was a Risk Manager and Derivatives Trader, achieving the position of Senior Equity Derivatives Trader for TD Waterhouse. After that he earned his MBA and returned to the market to help startups.

Since then he has been a partner in two different companies, Blue Waters LLC and Venature LLC. Both are organizations focused on helping startups acquire funding and the management expertise to manage that funding the maximum success. Working so close with VC’s meant that many wanted to work with him, so he was recently recruited to launch his own startup, the Global Debt Exchange (http://www.gdexauto.com).

The Global Debt Exchange is a VC-Funded web based software company working to change the way Banks, Hedge funds, Credit Unions and Financial Institutions purchase asset-backed debt. Sound complicated? It is, but it’s just the kind of thing the finance guys at big banks are going to love and it has incredible potential.

Here was Michael’s response to iRent2u.com:

“I have been spending so much time on designing our own web site and working with different web 2.0 entrepreneurs. Your site has a crisp, clean design. It is web 2.0 for sure, meaning it is very friendly and legible. Some of the things I really like are your aggregate listing page, user ratings and actual item listing pages, which are excellent.”

Then he added those magic words we love to hear…

“I truly believe this is going to be fun to watch takeoff.”

Thanks again Michael!

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Expert Opinion - Mark Ranalli
CEO of Helium.com

As our experts weigh in, we will be publishing their comments. One of the first to respond was Mark Ranalli, CEO of Helium.

We feel especially lucky to have Mark’s input, as he has also created a two-sided market like we hope to do. In his market, people on one side are selling their ability to write, while the other side offers their need for good content. Having been in business for over 2 years now, they have been very successful and I am sure will continue to do so.

If you are a writer, or in need of good content for your site, we definitely recommend heading over and checking out Helium.com’s “Helium Marketplace”. It is a top notch service.

Here were Mark’s answers to our questions (abbreviated for publication):

“My first impression upon entering the site was that it was clean and clear. Maybe a little too ‘basic’ in look and feel, but I’d always err on the side of simple. I like that it is an interesting concept, and the intro and FAQ’s were simple, easy to find, and helpful. I think you need to be ready for people to start uploading items you never expected.”

Then Mark added something we really appreciated:

“You have a great idea. I think it’s a winner. I look forward to tracking your success.”

Thanks again Mark!

Look forward to seeing other comments from Industry Experts over the next week until we launch November 15th!

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Popularity: 9% [?]

Expert Opinion - Joel G. Block
Founder of Growth-Logic Inc.
(www.Growth-Logic.com) & JoelBlock.com

One of our many experts to weigh in his opinion was serial entrepreneur, author, speaker, and “Growth Architect” Joel G. Block.

Joel has a long history of success in business. Starting at Price Waterhouse, he has since founded and sold a successful property management firm, and three separate successful fax publication businesses. After this string of success he founded his most recent venture, Growth-Logic Inc.

Joel uses Growth-Logic as a way to help startup companies develop the correct ‘architecture’ to be successful, as well as a venue for him to teach proper business principles to clients and motivated entrepreneurs all over the world.

Here was Joel’s response to iRent2u.com:

“This is a very user friendly web site. I like it and found it easy to register and get set up. As you increase your inventory it will be great!”

Congratulations.

Thanks again Joel!

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Popularity: 8% [?]