“Tip Included”, New Entrants to Business Lending, and Don’t Reinvent The Wheel

Dollar Pizza Anyone?

Tipping etiquette has been a hotly debated topic and those who have worked in the industry insist that it should be mandatory because of the low minimum wage that servers receive. However as more restaurants adopt a “gratuity included” policy, lawyers have come out of the woodwork to take advantage. 

While most of us believe that getting rid of tips will relieve us from having to bust out our calculators when the bill comes, the suit claims that it’s really a price-fixing conspiracy that “unlawfully transfers millions of dollars from customers and servers to restaurant owners.” What it boils down to is restaurants are increasing prices by higher margins than the traditional 15-20% tip. Our thoughts? So what.

When Giants Come Out To Play

Google and Amazon have entered the small business lending industry which terrifies regulators, banks, and fintech platforms alike. Amazon has lent over $1 billion to merchants this past year which is smart since they have all the merchant’s data at their disposal. While traditional lending requires extensive underwriting, Amazon has the merchant’s transactional history while Google tracks people’s personal buying and selling history. That grants them more transparency into who they’re lending to which drastically reduces risk. What industry will they look to disrupt next?

Don’t Reinvent The Wheel, Just Make Nicer Rims

Looking to start a business? People often wait for that “Aha” moment when the lightbulb flashes and a brilliant idea comes to them in their dreams. However it’s important to know that most successful businesses take existing products and services and just make them more efficient or user friendly.  Tesla was not the first electric car company, Facebook was not the first social media company. Both of these took what existed and made enhancements.
Instead, a better approach would be to brainstorm potential ideas and put them to the test. In fact, you can even generate 20 potential business ideas in 10 minutes.