This week the Peatix USA team was in Las Vegas, where, of all things, we learned! Here is what the first ever Collision Conference in the US had to impart:
Fact #1: Blue Bottle Coffee’s “New Orleans Iced Coffee” is now in stores
Whereas Starbucks bottled frappuccinos can be left out in the sun for a year and still be perfectly drinkable, Blue Bottle’s cartoned iced coffee, available now at Whole Foods, will reportedly contain the novelty of a shelf life.
On another note, the company will be setting up shop in Japan, completely skipping over some equally deserving US cities, literally because the Blue Bottle guys like a challenge.
Fact #2: Start-up names don’t necessarily have to be made-up words
This was like a how babies are made-level realization for most people at Collision. There were a few bold entrepreneurs in attendance who decided that no, in fact, there companies wouldn’t be a made up word or end in -fly or -ify or -ly or abstain from vowels.
Fact #3: Tony Hawk is a startup bro
Tony Hawk, on stage – Collision hasn’t disappointed pic.twitter.com/4nW3f8LuCU
— Mark Charkin (@MarkCharkin) May 14, 2014
Nintendo said to be in talks to develop “Tony Hawk Pro Venture Capitalist 2”.
Fact #4: Downtown Las Vegas, it turns out, is alright
Desperate to find another C to add to Zappos’s existing three Cs (Company Culture, Customer Service, Clothing), Tony Hsieh added Community, which has culminated in a $350 million fund to invigorate downtown, mostly through giant flaming insects:
Fact #5: You are entitled to $800 if your flight is delayed in Europe
The conference winner, eking out a victory even over a company that converts your walking into portable power, was AirHelp, which helps you win compensation from airlines for delayed flights—an entitlement hardly anyone claims because of the logistical nightmarishness of the process. But they’ve already extracted $1 million for passengers, and are “proud to be hated by the leading airlines in the world.”
