BatchBlue Software Super Hero Contest Winners
The BatchBlue League of Justice & Department of Events and Activities has reconvened to cast their votes for the Second Annual Small Business Super Hero Contest winners. With so many amazing small businesses to choose from, it was difficult to whittle the list down to just three. But we did! We’re pleased to announce the winning entries!
First place: Chadd Bennett, RetroRazor.com
One man’s noble effort at greening up the facial hair industry? A romantic Italian backstory? And… his wife nominated him (calling him her Safety Razor Super Hero Husband)! Chadd Bennett’s cool vintage-style razor business won by a whisker.
My Husband, Chadd, was in Italy, when he was forced into a bind: he ran out of blades for his multibladed razor, in a small coastal village with just one farmacia. He was introduced by an Italian friend to the humble old safety razor, and our life has never been the same!
His collection of dozens of vintage razors, turned into a small business last year when he launched RetroRazor.com, and started selling new/“old” safety razors on Amazon. The green and economical angles have really hit home. This Razor Superhero has gone through some high points — getting great press coverage and good razor and blade sales.
But the challenges of a small business are there: What tools and services are affordable and scalable? How do you price and market a product that is going against the 50 billion dollar Gorilla? How can you make this a sustainable business! With all of the great advice out there, how do you focus and avoid the shiny objects!
I am proud of my Safety Razor Superhero Husband, for taking his passion to the next level; to help our family, to help the environment, and to help other family’s pocketbooks with $.15 cent razors!
For his victory, Chadd will receive a “Free for Life” BatchBook account, a $500 MailChimp credit, six free months of Shoeboxed, 200 custom business cards from Moo.com, a $250 JetBlue gift card, our Small Business Starter Library, a SuperTags tee shirt, and (of course!) a custom badge for RetroRazor.com.
Because Chadd was nominated by his loving wife Elizabeth, she will receive our very first Sidekick prize (three free months of BatchBook, a Super Hero lunch box, and a SuperTags tee shirt).
Second place: Ed Basconi, Edamar, Inc. (KitBook.com)
At BatchBlue, we love kids, we love science, and we love kids who love science. Kudos to Ed Basconi and his sidekick David Jones for their efforts in improving science teaching and learning, turning both kids and teachers into Science Super Heroes.
We’re two engineers on a mission to improve science teaching and learning in our nations’ schools and homes. We’re using our powers and products to create Teacher Super Heroes! What could be more powerful than a teacher armed with the tools and knowledge to, in turn, create Student Super Heroes? It’s a virtuous cycle centered on the best way to learn science — hands-on.
Our product, the KitBook, is an award-winning combination of a science kit and a textbook. It combines theory with practice in a single unit and is dramatically improving student achievement.
How dramatically? A university study showed that students using KitBooks scored 32% higher on standards-based tests than students learning the “old-fashioned” way.
Just ask Sister Mary Margaret the principal at St. James School in Torrance, CA. She called this week to say that their students LOVE working with the KitBooks, but the best part is their test scores are so high!
We live in an increasingly technology-driven world. President Obama recently said, “We know that the nation that out-educates us today — will out-compete us tomorrow.” We brighten our nation’s future by putting the proven power to improve student achievement in the hands of our teachers.
Ed’s prize includes three free months of BatchBook, a $250 MailChimp credit, three free months of Shoeboxed, 50 custom business cards from Moo.com, our Small Business Starter Library, X-Men DVD box set, a SuperTags tee shirt, and (you guessed it!) a custom badge for KitBook.com.
Ed was nominated by his partner David Jones (left in the photo above) so David will also bring home a Sidekick prize.
Third place: Dan Gellert & Randall Green, Jitterbug.tv
We confess, some of us BatchBlue parents have been fans of this cool music site for kids for a while. So when we received their contest entry, we were very excited! We could also relate to the problem jitterbug.tv is solving, which is to provide a safe, fun place for kids to find appropriate music online. That’s pretty super to us.
Once there was a parent and toddler child in search of an activity. Boinggggg, kid music and music videos — yeah yeah yeah. Searching the internet for good (safe!) stuff? blah blah blah (parent can’t stand it!). Oh, YouTube — yeah yeah yeah. Finding, searching (toddler getting anxious…), clicking Twinkle Twinkle — whew, finally! Okay but but but, wait wait wait, no no no — Twinkle Twinkle becomes the melody with heavy swearing and images of flesh (not baby flesh!).
Varrrooooommm — enter the saviour super business Jitterbug.tv. Oh, this looks fun. What! all music and videos hand-picked so it is safe. Free — no way… Easy to find the coolest kindie (kid + independent) music — click and listen. Need music for a kid party — no worries, Jitterbug radio — but you won’t hear Barney… Easy for parents, fun for kids, and much needed exposure for artists of this niche (if you can call the children industry a niche!).
Jitterbug.tv to the rescue — A place for parents and young kids to listen to great, independent, hand-picked kids music and videos (that won’t irritate adults!). Gathering music and videos from all over the world.
Dan’s third place finish fetches him three free months of BatchBook, a $100 MailChimp credit, a free month of Shoeboxed, 50 custom business cards from Moo.com, our Small Business Starter Library, a SuperTags tee shirt, and (for certain!) a custom badge for Jitterbug.tv.
Thanks again to everyone who entered. We enjoyed your super stories!