When we brainstorm about making Bridge better, we want to turn over every stone. We explore many avenues, from increasing collaboration to lowering product prices to enhancing marketing. What if an improvement was right in front of us—constant to all of these concepts? Regardless of what feature we offer, there is one constant: navigation. Navigation is fundamental to allowing members to easily find what they need—and discover what they didn’t know they needed.
Work With the Nation's Leading Brands and Indie Shops to Support Main Street
Shop Local is a fast-growing e-commerce and gift registry platform providing services to leading independent retailers and premium brands. Based in New York, NY, Shop Local is seeking candidates to support the existing software and build out new services that will change the retail industry.
Shop Local has an opening for an entry level web developer to update the existing code base and write new applications. We are...
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Ronald Reagan said, “If you’re explaining, you’re losing.” Reaganomics usually refers to tax cuts and trickle down economics, yet I propose that we take the Gipper’s quote and ask: How can simplicity contribute to a business's success?
When we share what leading companies do, we can often skip an explanation and sum it up in a brief sentence. Examples:
Still popular in many areas one of the favorite tasks of becoming a bride is picking out items for the couple’s gift registry. Instead of spending money on decorations for the head table a new trend is for the couple to use their own signature dishes and side pieces to set their head table. This can include their dishes, silverware, glasses and even items from their favorite collections.
Guest are asked to help by shopping their gift registry and paying special attention to adding ...
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Google is often considered the first stop when searching for information. Looking for a product? You'll likely head to Amazon.com, where due to its 350m product listings, 25% of purchases reportedly start. Facebook will be your go-to for finding friends and family due to its 2b profiles of people. Airbnb lets you search 5.6m places to stay. These businesses are likely your choice because people want a massive selection when conducting a search. Many of the world's most ...
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Scott Galloway, the NYU business professor and firebrand, pens a weekly, attention-grabbing article about business trends. In last week’s post, he noted the rise of the attention economy. (...Yes, my post is an attention-seeker writing about an attention-seeker writing about attention.) Comparing our current economy to those of the past, Mr. Galloway notes that today’s oil is time. He tracks the growth of digital companies like Netflix, Microsoft, Facebook, and TikTok that...
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In the early 2000s, the board game Cranium became a hit. The game combined elements of Scrabble and Pictionary with the goal of helping more people enjoy playing a game. Richard Tait, who created Cranium and sold it to Hasbro in 2008 for $77.5m, passed away in July. Like Mr. Tait, I had been a paperboy, but he went beyond what I ever offered: he came up with a new service that sold breakfast sandwiches along his newspaper route. He increased profits and made customers happier. ...
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Over the last 15 years, brands have been increasingly doing a run-around to bypass their retailers and sell direct. Some brands suggested they’d never have a physical store. Some brands said they’d never have their products sold in another retailer’s physical store. What allowed the brands this hubris? The internet and Facebook. With the internet, brands would have a ‘store’ anywhere the customer is, and with Facebook, they could target them.
In the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, a motivational speaker played by Alec Baldwin addresses a group of salesmen. He writes three letters vertically on the chalkboard, “A B C.” He explains that the acronym means "Always Be Closing."
The way that Baldwin's character thinks about sales, I may think about reading. I think of: "ABR,” Always Be Reading. Whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I try to get in a page or two of the Times, Wall St. ...
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Amazon issued a press release stating that it is fighting with 10,000 Facebook groups that sell fake Amazon reviews. It’s ironic, since Amazon has been a chief promoter of the avenue allowing this behavior: Section 230. Section 230 allows tech platforms to host and indirectly promote just about any type of bad behavior, including illegal behavior (fake review services and yes, human trafficking, murder-for-hire, etc.) and then say it’s just a community space and belatedly remove the ...
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In the movie Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon, who plays a handsome MIT janitor moonlighting as a math savant (can one say, “Hollywood career vehicle”?), woos a young lady (played by the actress Minnie Driver) by outmaneuvering a few competing, obnoxious cads. When Damon’s character gets the girl's telephone number, he proudly shows it to the other guys and boasts, with his South Boston access, “How 'bout ‘dem apples?” I imagine Tim Cook imitating this...
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The Brick report helps our company track our past and current progress. Our team can easily look back at the last 78 weeks and know what we did. (Most companies would be hard pressed to do this easily.) The Brick brings us together and keeps us on the same (web)page. Its success leads to me ask: “Could we have an approach that helps us look at our future?" I’ve sometimes thought about crafting a weekly 'Horizon Report' that would share what’s next for us.
Today’s WSJ article made me think:
1. We need to reserve a ticker symbol for Bridge, like BRDG.
2. Meta should use the ticker DATA or THEFT, as that’s the business they’re in. They are in the business of using your personal data—whether via Facebook or in the metaverse, often without us being aware. To see a web page on Facebook or Instagram often requires logging in. Don’t want to log in? Too bad, that’s the only way to see the content. ...
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In the past, we’ve used spin classes and gyms as inspiration for Bridge. We see them as metaphors for helping retail business owners. The founders of SoulCycle, Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice, must have been eavesdropping on us: they are expanding their spinning approach to another sphere. The Times reports they have started Peoplehood, a business that seeks to help people via self-help (group-help?) sessions. It’s SoulCycle for the soul&...
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Today’s Wall St. Journal shares show retailers are frustrated by Facebook’s e-commerce offering.
Sellers complain it misses many basic features, including offering an item in different colors or sizes (what Bridge calls a “multi-SKU item”). One can’t control where the item is sold—apparently, a seller may have to ship to the Maldives. Some sellers said it’s too complicated to manage the service. What if they need help? There&...
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Jewelry ideas for Mother's Day Let us help you SHINE with the perfect gift for Mother's Day!!! We have a great selection of jewelry in stock ~ Julie Vos, Dot & Dash Design, AshbeeBritt, Meghan Browne, La Vie, Susan Shaw, Canvas Style and More ... AND, help her keep her jewelry from faux to fine shining everyday with one of our favorites Shinery!
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NYT: Amazon claims to not be responsible for what it sells
Amazon sells you an item, gets it from its warehouse, and delivers it to you—but says that it is not a seller, shares Moira Weigel in this past weekend’s Times. This shields it from accountability to customers that receive harmful goods. Amazon is using a similar excuse that Facebook and social media platforms use regarding harmful content: don’t hold us accountable; blame our users, even if we provide the service ...
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When I flew home yesterday from Charleston, while most people were seeking relief from their sunburns and reminiscing about their vacations, I was delving into The Wall St. Journal’s profile on Tracy Britt Cool, an ex- Berkshire Hathaway star. Mrs. Cool’s new company Kanbrick invests in businesses with $10m - $50m in revenue. What does Mrs. Cool look for when investing in a company? People and moats.
At Bridge, we’re reading Jim Collins’ Beyond ...
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