Ben Kaufman's Accomplishments
"Everyone has an idea," says 21-year-old serial entrepreneur Ben Kaufman. "Every day, people walk around going, Wouldn't it be cool if...I want to harness those ideas and let people have a forum."
Kaufman did that as the founder of Mophie, a start-up that makes innovative iPod accessories. But he needed to outdo himself.
Instead of setting up a traditional display booth at last year's Macworld convention, Kaufman handed out pads and pencils and invited attendees to sketch the products they wanted. Hundreds of people participated. Within 72 hours, Kaufman and his team had created three finished products, including one by 17-year-old Jared Fiovorich. The Bevy—a protective case for the iPod Shuffle that multitasks as a key ring, earbud wrap, and bottle opener—has outsold Mophie's other products four to one. That kind of response proves Kaufman's point: "Together we can all make better decisions."
Kaufman started Mophie when he was a high school senior with an idea to produce the Song Sling, a case for the iPod Shuffle that you wear around your neck. Plenty of 18-year-olds have ideas; Kaufman made his happen. "I convinced my mom and dad to remortgage the house," he says, "and they gave me the $185,000 in equity and let me give it a shot."
Says his mother, Mindy, "When you see someone who has a dream and a great idea, you don't want to stifle it."
The $39.95 Song Sling turned out to be a success, and Kaufman ultimately designed and manufactured 22 other products. In order to keep the buzz going, he says, "I needed to hit the shelf with a new product within four weeks after each new iPod model dropped." This meant a lot of trips to the factory in China.
To ensure that his exacting standards were met, he'd sit in front of the machines as the parts were coming out, saying "no," "yeah," "maybe," "closer." He pushed supervisors to speed up production times and stuck to his guns when they wanted to cut corners and raise prices.
What often motivates him, Kaufman admits, is danger. "Our accountant once called me in and said, 'Ben, we'll be out of money in two weeks,' and I was like, Yes! That's what gets me going." Adds product engineer Peter Wadsworth, "There are two things that inspire Ben: lots of money and no money."
Kaufman decided last year to change his business in a big way. He sold the Mophie product line and rolled the proceeds into Kluster, a virtual forum that allows consumers and businesses to collaborate on the design of products and services.
He launched Kluster at this year's TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in Monterey, California, inviting the elite gathering of "thinkers and doers"—2,700 people from 104 countries—to log on to Kluster's computer system and brainstorm a new product. Given a few guidelines on size and materials, they decided what to create (a board game about climate change), wrote a deck of question cards, and came up with a name, logo, and marketing strategy.
Just 72 hours after the exercise began, Kaufman went onstage with a fully rendered prototype of the game, Over There, telling the audience, "This is what you guys made."
As Kaufman envisions Kluster, companies that want to create a new product will use the platform (kluster.com) to put out a challenge to a relevant group of consumers—mothers, say, if a company is designing a new toy, or action-sports fans if it's planning an event for Red Bull—and offer a cash reward for a winning concept. Participants will be able to propose ideas (called sparks), suggest refinements (amps), and "invest" in ideas they believe in, using an alternate currency (watts).
Kaufman and his team are still tweaking the software and preparing to launch several projects for corporate clients.
And after that? "I want to build another company within Kluster," says Kaufman, "where all the products will be consumer-generated and there will be a café where people can talk about ideas. I've got so many ideas ..."
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译文:
梦想家：是否有想法？【读者文摘】--Shaunna版
本·考夫曼的成功 “每个人都有想法，”21岁的知名企业家本·考夫曼如是说。“每天，人们的思想都在不停地游走，‘如果能那样该有多好’…我于是想利用这些想法，让他们能有可以畅所欲言的空间。”
由此，考夫曼成了Mophie的创始者，一个以经营改良iPod配件为目的的新生企业。但他需要超越自我。
去年的苹果例会上，考夫曼放弃传统展摊的摆设，而是将信笺簿和笔分发给出席者，让他们描绘中意产品的草图。结果，百来位出席者都参与了。72小时内，考夫曼和他的团队创造出三种成品，其中一种出自17岁的杰瑞德·费奥沃瑞车之手。被命名为‘Bevy’的iPod mp3播放器保护壳以其可用作钥匙扣、耳塞壳及开瓶器等多功能用途而获得4倍于其他Mophie产品的销售量。如此的市场反应验证了考夫曼的观点：“团队让我们有更好的决策。”
大四的时候，考夫曼创建了Mophie公司，最初目的是他想要发明能将iPod mp3悬挂在脖子上的挂绳。很多年满18岁的人都有想法，而考夫曼让他的想法成为现实。“我说服父母抵押了房子，”考夫曼说，“他们给了我18.5万美元，让我放手一搏。”
考夫曼的母亲明迪如是说，“当你发现有人怀着梦想和绝妙想法的时候，就不会想要去阻止。”
售价39.95美元的mp3悬挂绳的面世很成功，而考夫曼最终设计并生产了其他22种产品。为了乘胜追击，考夫曼说，“在每种iPod新模型呈下滑趋势时，为了重新刺激市场，我必须在四星期内生产出一种新产品。”这就意味着要经常访问中国工厂。
为保证能达到自己的严格标准，考夫曼就坐在机器前，待部件一一出来时给予“不行”，“行”，“可能”，“差不多”的指示。他催促监督员加快生产进度，但当他们想要走捷径或抬高价格的时候，考夫曼仍坚守自己的原则。
考夫曼承认他的动力通常来源于危机感。“我们的会计曾经前来拜访，并跟我说，‘本，两星期内我们公司就要陷入资金危机了’，而那时我却比较乐观。因为那是我前进的动力。”产品设计师彼得·沃兹沃斯还说，“有两种东西能鼓舞本：多金和没钱。”
去年，考夫曼决定大规模地改变经营方式。他销售Mophie系列产品，并将其收益用于Kluster，一个为消费者和企业提供产品设计和售后服务合作机会的虚拟论坛。
考夫曼是在今年蒙特利，加利福尼亚举办的年度TED（技术、娱乐、设计）会议上开办的Kluster论坛。此次会议邀请了近104个国家2700名“思想家和实干家”型的精英，考夫曼让他们加入Kluster的电脑系统，共同研究设计新产品。只在给予部分资料如规格和材质的情况下，由参与者决定要创造的产品（一个有关气候改变的棋类游戏），并且，每个人都要将问题写在卡片上，为产品起名，定商标及市场策略。
测试开始72小时后，考夫曼带着已呈递的游戏模型走上台，并告诉观众，“这就是你们的成果。”
正如考夫曼预想的那样，想要创造新产品的公司都会用到Kluster平台（kluster.com）对相关消费群体提出挑战。也就是说，假如一家公司正在设计一种新玩具，那么就该针对家庭主妇消费群体；或者是如果为红牛极限运动迷举办一次活动，以现金作为冠军奖励。参与者可以提出建议（称为斯帕克斯），建议细节设计（安培数），使用支付货币（瓦特）来“发明”他们的想法。
考夫曼和他的团队仍在改善这个软件，并准备为合作客户开发几个项目。
然后呢？“我想在Kluster名下成立个子公司，”考夫曼说，“那里所有的产品都是消费者自主制造的，而且那将会开设咖啡厅，以供他们畅谈所用。总之我有好多想法...”
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