Mihai Mafteianu » Ideas

Could we fight corruption in Romania like this?

Mihai — Wed, 19 May 2010 09:22:32 +0000

I do usually post TED videos on my Tumblr Blog, but this is more relevant than most to the social and economic situations we have in Romania.

Is it possible to find corruption in Romania a similar way to how Shaffi Mather, a social entrepreneur from India, does it in his country of origin?

This might actually be a great startup opportunity for a social entrepreneur involved in consumer Internet. Pasted below is a comment from the Ted.com comment section, written by a person named ‘Ted Miller’:

If I have a product that I feel cheats me, I write a bad review on Amazon. Inevitably, bad reviews accumulate, the manufacturer is shamed, sales decline and the product is removed.

Why can’t something similar be done with corrupt officials? Create an online database with their photograph and profile, their work location, etc. It may only be a first name to begin with. But preferably India passes a law that requires all public officials to have a name badge and identity number.

Then if such an official solicits a bribe, you go to the site and anonymously or publicly (just like on Amazon) and post your grievance with the official. Perhaps you even post video footage of the occasion. If an official accumulates hundreds or thousands of bad reviews, it then becomes quite simple for media to expose them and their supervisors for allowing it to continue.

How would you like to be the corrupt official who has to explain to his children why he’s the worst-rated official in the newspaper?

Challenge Everything as a Design Philosophy

Mihai — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 13:47:39 +0000

Working on a startup teaches you a lot of things. Actually it might be the most powerful experience one can get into learning how to make something from nothing and overcome difficulties and conquer challenges.

An effective approach we developed towards design at iCartApp is to challenge every single design decision we take and create ways to test those decisions. Brainstorming, random app testing, focus groups, split testing are some of the ways we challenge our own approaches to a UI or UX decision.

We think of ourselves as providers and supporters as opposed to know-all entrepreneurs. We’re working on creating something remarkable and then let our users decide how it should behave and feel. Stay tuned!

iCartApp.com Mobile Shopping Cart Platform

Would a startup accelerator help Romanian entrepreneurs?

Mihai — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:45:53 +0000

After the tremendous number of entrepreneurship meetings, websites, TV shows, podcasts, blogs, wikis, etc. have emerged in Romania to promote the IT entrepreneurship movement would the industry benefit more from a startup accelerator?

I’m not thinking here of just advisory stuff, where you can call or meet with your advisors every couple of weeks or even months, but daily support in topics like:

finding the right market for the startup
creating a product
marketing planning
compiling a business plan
raise funding (and don’t get screwed)
connecting with the right people
incorporation help
legal & accounting advisory
getting in the right mindset
polishing the idea

The benefit for the entrepreneurial team is either:

get a proof of concept to the market faster and maintain or strengthen the first mover’s advantage
validate the idea faster so seed funding can come sooner than later
have a well put together company when it’s time to receive the first round of funding

I need your help here as I would like to know how useful would you find such program and what benefits would you see entrepreneurs getting out of it. What should the entrepreneur give back for those services? How would the added value be measured? Please comment even if you’re not involved in any way to Romanian startups. Any kind of feedback is highly appreciated.