How to Launch a Business in the Sharing Economy 12-30

How to Launch a Business in the Sharing Economy

As a tech executive who often traveled on business, Aaron Easterly was constantly asking friends and family to care for Caramel, his beloved Pomeranian. “I would never take her to a kennel, so I’d go frantically down the list of family, friends and neighbors every time a business trip came up,” he says. “This was just one of those areas that felt frustratingly broken.”

Intrigued by the growing popularity of peer-to-peer platforms like Airbnb and Uber, Easterly sensed that there was an untapped market for other dog owners who didn’t wish to utilize commercial kennels or daycare services.

In 2011 he launched Seattle-based Rover, which connects pet owners needing boarding or sitting services with a network of prescreened dog lovers for hire. Today, Rover has roughly 25,000 approved sitters in more than 5,000 U.S. cities.

Easterly is not alone. After seeing how Airbnb and Uber can turn any house into a hotel and any car into a cab, many entrepreneurs have been hoping to discover the next peer-to-peer market—one they can leverage to enable members to monetize not just their possessions, but also their resources, talents and passions. 

Beth Buczynski, author of Sharing Is Good. How to Save Money, Time and Resources Through Collaborative Consumption, credits the growing popularity of sharing-economy startups to a consumer base that’s fed up with corporate domination and has shifted its values toward more mindful choices.

“We’re choosing to support people-minded companies and products that provide real value, prioritize efficiency, slash waste and cultivate solutions,” she says. “We’re finding this in peer-to-peer models that cut out the middle man and allow us direct access to each other and the goods or services we need.

“We realize we don’t each need a cordless drill sitting on a shelf in the garage gathering dust,” she adds. “What we do need is access to that drill for the 30 minutes when we’re putting a bookcase together. In the meantime, why shouldn’t it be available to others?”

Two essential elements of successful peer-to-peer ventures are community and density. “[These businesses don’t] work without people who care, are committed to the behavior and trust each other,” Buczynski says. “And sharing is easiest when the space between us is smallest. That’s why cities like San Francisco and New York have become hotbeds of peer-to-peer sharing.”

Think you know what will be the Airbnb of fill-in-the-blank? Relying on independent contractors to deliver the experience and service you need to succeed takes careful planning and execution—much of it different from that of traditional businesses. Whether it’s dog-sitting or car rental or handyman services, the launch of a successful peer-to-peer platform depends on sharp screening, extensive training and streamlined delivery. 

“Take the time to look for real problems that need real solutions—problems that can be best solved by communities themselves,” Buczynski advises. “Then provide the infrastructure so they can.” 

Here are some factors to consider.

1. Start with supply.

While many entrepreneurs assume that identifying (or creating) robust demand is the first requirement of a viable peer-to-peer launch, it’s equally important to cultivate a ready stable of suppliers, says Jamie Viggiano, vice president of marketing at San Francisco-based TaskRabbit, which enables users to outsource household errands.

“You need to get the supply infrastructure in place before you can push the demand side, and make sure the market is in equilibrium,” Viggiano says. Her company targets prospective suppliers (known as “Taskers”) through Facebook and Google advertising focused on the company’s core demographic and ZIP codes.

The same principle applies to scaling, she notes. Before TaskRabbit considers expanding into a new city, it ensures that the necessary suppliers are there.

“We typically have hundreds of interested Taskers who have signed up for the service prior to launching in a city, and we make sure in every ZIP code the supply and demand are at an equilibrium,” she says, noting that since TaskRabbit captures email addresses and ZIP codes from interested and potential participants, it’s a fairly easy process.

Kevin Petrovic, president and co-founder of San Francisco-based FlightCar, hasn’t found it so easy. His service, which allows outbound car owners to rent their cars to incoming travelers at the same airport, markets differently to each side of the equation.

Since launching in 2013 in Boston and raising a total of $20 million in venture capital, Petrovic and his team have discovered that paid acquisition is the best avenue for securing renters, whether it’s through search and display advertising or through third parties like rental search aggregators. To build a supply of car owners, however, FlightCar seeks public relations and press opportunities, as well as word-of-mouth through referral programs.

“Building the peer-to-peer component is all about understanding different ways to market to people so you can feed the marketplace on both sides,” he says. 

Sit! Aaron Easterly of Rover takes a client meeting.

Image credit: Rover

2. Conduct extensive screening and training.

As inclusive and socially positive as the sharing-economy ideology may seem, not everyone who applies will be a good fit for your business. Even though they’re not your employees, your providers are the face of your business, so it’s crucial to train them accordingly.

Rover uses a multitiered review and onboarding process that includes references, optional background checks and verification of social media accounts; online training and exams; and a manual review that determines whether every
applicant has a good plan and environment for dog-sitting, as well as whether they have the personality and experience to maintain an appropriate level of customer service. 

Once sitters are accepted into the program, Rover collects data on responsiveness, repeat assignments and photo shares to confirm the sitters are representing the business in a way that aligns with its mission. 

Another company, Bellhops, a moving service that contracts students, targets potential movers via reputable student organizations such as ROTC and sports teams, says co-founder and chairman Cameron Doody. The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company has a network of 10,000 movers operating in 136 cities.

Once recruited, prospective candidates complete an online application with both written and video components, which are then screened and, if approved, forwarded to company headquarters. There, the candidates are reviewed again and, upon approval, receive a confirmation email asking them to log in and build their profile. After that, they must view 12 online training videos and take tests on what they’ve learned. 

“They’re on the front line, so it’s all about integrating our culture and what we expect from our Bellhops,” Doody  says. “As soon as they complete that process, they get access to the job board and can begin receiving invitations to start picking up jobs.”

3. Foster trust.

It can be difficult to build trust with customers via an online platform. To ease pet owners’ worries about their four-legged family members, Rover offers 24/7 veterinarian consultations, premium pet insurance and the ability to share photos and music videos of sitters interacting with their canine guests. 

“We do that to make sure the user experience is phenomenal and make sure that people get updates showing their dog is having a good time, which puts their mind at ease,” Easterly says.

Positive online reviews and ratings are also crucial for gaining consumer trust and generating leads. Indeed, transparency is everything in the peer-to-peer world. The Rover website even has a live-feed “RoverCam” showing all the action at the dog-friendly company headquarters.

It’s also key to generate trust on the supply side. Unforeseeable factors combined with the remote nature of peer-to-peer businesses make extensive commercial insurance a must, insiders agree.

FlightCar has $1 million in liability insurance for the owners of the cars rented through its platform to protect them against any damage that might occur while the car is being rented.

“When you have cars and people driving, you always have to account for the worst-case scenario,” Petrovic says. “That’s what insurance protection is all about.” 

Making the grade: Bellhops' network of student movers is 10,000 strong.

Image credit: Bellhops

4. Keep payments simple.

Nothing makes Doody cringe quite like dealing with paperwork and cash. In addition to being a crucial part of Bellhops’ mission of reducing the cost and pain of small-scale moving, he contends that a hassle-free payment process is critical to the success of any sharing-economy operation.

“It’s all about automation, so you’re going to want to streamline it as much as possible,” Doody says, noting that Bellhops does not accept cash. “If we were to take cash, how would we handle that cash, and how would we get it back to the company? All of that paperwork can be mitigated through technology today.” 

The entire process is paperless and automated. Customers book with a small deposit on their card; the Bellhops arrive and clock in on their smartphones, then clock out when finished.

Immediately after the move, the customer receives a text or an email with a link to verify the reported time, allocate tips and give quick performance reviews. After verifying, anything owed past the initial deposit is automatically charged to the customer’s card, and wages for the Bellhops are created. “Closing everything out takes about 10 seconds,” Doody says.

Rover keeps payments equally simple for customers with a flat fee—no tipping—that’s paid through the online platform. Sitters receive their wages via PayPal, credit card or check.  

5. Focus on brand-building.

By nature, a successful peer-to-peer service has a built-in community of people who are engaging with and talking about it. Smart entrepreneurs will harness this momentum to develop a more robust brand, enhanced by the availability of compelling content.

“People build our brand for us almost a thousand times a day around the world when they drop the #besomebody hashtag,” says Kash Shaikh, founder of Austin-based Besomebody, a “platform for passion” that connects people based on their shared passions. “Content can build a brand for you and can also help you scale that brand,” says Shaikh, who launched the company in June 2014 after receiving $1 million in seed funding from the E.W. Scripps Company. 

Besomebody creates video and photo content of its so-called “Passionaries” unleashing their passions in areas ranging from fitness to photography to hip-hop; users can explore this content on curated topic feeds and connect with others who have similar passions for information or monetized lessons and instruction from local Passionaries.

Shaikh says Besomebody reaches almost 5 million people per month in 180 countries through 12 social media channels. “We curate and create the best high-quality content that’s motivating and makes people feel inspired,” he says. “And that builds the brand for us.”  

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6 Potato Salad-Tested Crowdfunding Tricks That Work 12-30

6 Potato Salad-Tested Crowdfunding Tricks That Work

Image credit: Pixabay

Zack “Danger” Brown ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise $10 so he could make potato salad. Thirty days later, the campaign was funded at $55,492.

With so many worthy causes seeking money, it seems like a hoax that almost 7,000 people put theirs toward potato salad. But was it?

Brown had a well-thought-out strategy in place before launching his campaign, and the fact that he succeeded in raising that much money means there are several lessons to take from this “fluke.” Luckily, they’re easy to replicate and can work for anyone willing to put in the time and effort.

1. Choose your platform wisely.

Kickstarter blogged about the potato salad campaign and supported the project, though it was outside the norm. It’s important to pick a crowdfunding platform that’s geared toward your audience and supportive of you.

Your campaign site should enable you to draw a crowd and brand yourself and your project. Whether you’re developing a video game, a virtual sandbox, a book or potato salad, utilize this space to show your idea off. I compare it to your home: You want to make it a fun, welcoming place where people want to hang out.

2. Shake things up.

For most, routines get old. When something comes along that’s random, bizarre or just different, we jump at the chance to experience it. This offbeat factor is the appeal behind flash mobs, Dollar Shave Club’sviral videos and -- you guessed it -- crowdfunded potato salad.

3. Don’t just ask for money.

Brown engaged his audience with compelling videos that kept supporters up to date. He communicated new ingredients and T-shirt creations in a whimsical way that made people want more.

These videos went beyond getting people to visit his site -- they gave them a reason to stay. Crowdfunding isn’t just asking for money, it’s giving supporters a sense of accomplishment and gratification. When they experience the final product, they know they’re receiving something they helped create.

4. Get supporters before reporters.

Three days after his campaign went live, Brown appeared on the local news to spread his story. He had 200 backers at that point and ended with nearly 7,000. What people often forget is that those first 200 supporters have to come from somewhere.

The most successful campaigns have supporters before they launch. The Veronica Mars Movie Project met its goal within the first 10 hours and raised more than $5 million because the cult TV series had a loyal fan base hungry for more.

You don’t need support on that scale, but you do need 20 to 50 people to build momentum before you launch. Identify and nurture your audience, share your story and get people excited so when you launch, you already have a following with organically grown relationships.

5. Offer simple, cheap and creative rewards.

Brown’s reward levels gave everyone the opportunity to participate. He included ridiculous things such as “I will say your name out loud while making the potato salad,” and 5,664 backers out of the total 6,911 supported Brown at $10 or less.

Do you think that many people are passionate about potato salad? Probably not, but the rewards made this hilarious concept one that people wanted to be a part of.

Follow this creative example when designing your campaign, and offer experiences that are available in limited quantities or are exclusive. Writing a book? Make one reward level “dinner with the author.” Building an app? Create user avatars after your top backers.

Don’t forget to create a sense of urgency. Once the campaign ended, backers knew they’d never get another chance to hang out with Brown while he made potato salad.

6. Say "thank you."

Brown kept people engaged throughout his campaign and followed up with videos thanking his supporters. Backers want attention and acknowledgment for contributing.

We can’t know Brown’s motives, but his tactics worked. If you’ve struggled to raise funds for something meaningful, it may be infuriating that this guy raised so much money for potato salad.

But don’t let it upset you. It’s a success story you can learn from. While there’s nothing serious about potato salad, the $55,000 it raised should certainly be taken seriously.

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How Venture Capital and Crowdfunding Can Be Mutually Beneficial 12-30

How Venture Capital and Crowd Funding Can Be Mutually Beneficial

Image credit: Tiz | Flickr

In the wake of success stories such as Coolest Cooler, which raised more than $13 million on Kickstarter, I’m starting to hear talk that crowdfunding is making traditional financing less relevant. I question this logic—and not just because I’m part of the traditional financing world.

There are a number of reasons. First, not every product can be explained in a five-minute video (think: your next advanced iteration of carbon fiber). Nor can every product be built for prices the average Joe is willing to risk (for example, the next Tesla automobile), or be brought to market for
less than $10 million (e.g., the next generation of cholesterol drugs).

What’s more, I’m not willing to concede that venture capital is irrelevant for financing cool new consumer gizmos or, more important, that it can’t work in conjunction with crowdfunding. In fact, an increasing number of venture-backed startups are choosing to launch products on Kickstarter, in a symbiotic relationship that works for both the startup and the investors.

VCs are not blind to the advantages of crowdfunding. Successful campaigns provide validation—and connections. I backed a Kickstarter product, the OneBowl, a bowl-strainer combo that raised about $60,000. (A nice sum, to be sure, but anyone who knows about delivering plastic-injected widgets is aware that the mold and tooling alone will probably cost $60,000 to set up.) 

As I followed OneBowl’s post-campaign updates, it became apparent that the founder was getting inquiries about financing, manufacturing partners and even sales and distribution based on the success of the campaign. Those connections would ordinarily take years of pitching and road shows to put together. OneBowl did it in months.

Even if your company is well-funded, it is hard to find a more exciting and cost-effective way to launch a product than through a crowdfunding campaign. Where else is there a built-in audience of people so intent on finding the latest and greatest stuff that they are willing to help fund its development? This is why venture-backed firms like Misfit Wearables and cosmetics-maker Julep turn to crowdfunding to launch products.

VCs are sourcing deals via crowdfunding platforms at an ever-increasing rate. According to venture capital database CB Insights, nearly 10 percent of all crowdfunded projects that pass the $100,000 mark land some level of formal venture capital funding after the campaign ends. More than $300 million in venture capital had been committed to these companies as of mid-2014, according to the same report. 

As these worlds collide, there may be some concern that VC-backed products are diluting the creative “specialness” of Kickstarter. But I believe that VC-funded players should be transparent about their backing, spinning their products to the crowd as less risky bets to fund. Conversely, VCs should stop pretending that crowdfunding is for amateurs and embrace its ability to lower the risk of finding the next big thing. 

In the end, I hope we can all play nice. My new pasta dish depends on it.

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How an economist trains for a marathon 1-30

How an economist trains for a marathon

Reproduced from Chicago Booth's Capital Ideas

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NASA has emailed a wrench to astronauts in space 12-29

NASA has emailed a wrench to astronauts in space

Talk about throwing a wrench into the works.

Responding to International Space Station (ISS) astronauts’ need for a wrench, NASA solved the problem by emailing a digital file to the ISS. The astronauts then 3D-printed the tool.

In a post on Backchannel, Mike Chen, founder of Made In Space, explained how the process worked. Made in Space is a Silicon Valley startup that built the 3D printer that was shipped to the ISS in September. In November, the first-ever 3D-printed part was, yes, made in space.

“My colleagues and I just 3D-printed a ratcheting socket wrench on the International Space Station by typing some commands on our computer in California,” Chen wrote in his post. “We had overheard ISS Commander Barry Wilmore … mention over the radio that he needed one, so we designed one in CAD and sent it up to him faster than a rocket ever could have. This is the first time we’ve ever ‘emailed’ hardware to space.”

Above: ISS Commander Wilmore reaches into the 3D printer to retrieve the wrench.

Image Credit: NASA

Known alternatively as additive manufacturing, 3D printing is a process in which materials are slowly applied, one layer after another, based on a digital file. Normal manufacturing involves either filling a mold or cutting material out of larger pieces.

The wrench job goes right to the heart of what Made in Space’s technology — and 3D printing technology in general — is all about: letting people or institutions make just what they need, rather than carrying unnecessary inventory or having to wait around for order parts to arrive, a particularly slow process for those aboard the ISS. Instead, astronauts on the ISS, or sailors on, say, Navy ships, need only to carry enough materials to print what they need. And although the technology is likely not up to the task of manufacturing large numbers of production-quality items, it is ideal for making prototypes or one-offs of things like non-precision tools.

“What I’m really excited about is the impact this could have on human space exploration beyond Earth orbit,” Chen wrote. “When we do set up the first human colonies on the moon, Mars, and beyond, we won’t use rockets to bring along everything we need. We’ll build what we need there, when we need it.”

Since the first 3D print job on the ISS in November, there have been 19 others. All 20 of those parts were designed on Earth prior to the printer’s trip into space. The wrench, however, was the first designed after the fact and sent up digitally.

The design process is fairly simple, especially for government work. First, Chen explained, the part is modeled in a CAD software program like Autodesk’s Inventor. Then the file is sent to NASA. Next, the space agency transmits it to the ISS via its Huntsville Operations Support Center. Finally, the 3D printer receives the file and generates the part, layer by layer.

The work being done by Made in Space and on the International Space Station is a perfect example of the partnership between a purely Silicon Valley startup and the government. Made in Space was one of the first companies to spin out of Singularity University — a private nine-week course held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. that covers exponentially growing technologies like nanotechnology, biotechnology and bioinformatics — and is now among the current crop of companies in the Valley’s most prestigious accelerator, Y Combinator.

Working with NASA could mean big business for the startup, although if the quality of the printouts are too low for NASA standards, it could be a big setback.

“On the ISS, this type of technology translates to lower costs for experiments, faster design iteration, and a safer, better experience for the crew members who can use it to replace broken parts or create new tools on demand,” explained Chen. “But what I’m really excited about is the impact this could have on human space exploration beyond Earth orbit.”

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A picture about tech addiction won National Geographic's 2014 photo contest 12-29

A picture about tech addiction won National 

Geographic's 2014 photo contest

This year's National Geographic photo contest winner highlights humans in the wild (read: public transportation) doing what they do best: staring at their cellphones.

The winning image, titled "A Node Glows in the Dark," was taken by Brian Yen in Ocean Park, Hong Kong.

"I feel a certain contradiction when I look at the picture," Yen told National Geographic. "On the one hand, I feel the liberating gift of technology. On the other hand, I feel people don’t even try to be neighborly anymore, because they don’t have to."

Yen's image also happens to recall London-based photographer Babycakes Romero's "Death of a Conversation" photo series, which went viral earlier this year.

A photo of migrating wildebeests in Tanzania, taken by Nicole Cambre of Brussels, Belgium, won the nature category and Triston Yeo, of Singapore won the places category with a photo of Budapest thermal spas.

National Geographic pored over more than 9,000 entrees from 150 countries to choose the winners of its annual photo contest, whose pictures will be published in the magazine.

• A node glows in the dark...

  

  In the last 10 years, mobile data, smart phones and social networks have forever changed our existence. Although this woman stood at the center of a jam packed train, but the warm glow from her phone tells the strangers around her that she's not really here. She managed to slip away from here, for a short moment, she's a node flickering on the social web, roaming the earth, free as a butterfly. Our existence is no longer stuck to the physical here, we're free to run away, and run we will.

  IMAGE: BRIAN YEN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• The great migration

  

  Jump of the wildebeest at the Mara river in North Serengeti, Tanzania.

  IMAGE: NICOLE CAMBRE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Bathing in Budapest

  

  The Thermal Spa in Budapest is one of the favourite activities of the Hungarian especially in winter. We were fortunate to gain special access to shoot in the Thermal Spa thanks to our tour guide, Gabor. I love how the mist caused by the great difference in temperature between the hot spa water and the atmosphere. It makes the entire spa experience more surreal and mystical.

  IMAGE: TRISTON YEO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Shoulder Creek- Boundary Bay, BC, Canada

  

  A wild short-eared owl completes a shoulder check in case something was missed. Northern harriers were also hunting in the field and these raptors will often steal a kill from the owls.

  IMAGE: HENRIK NILSSON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Dragon

  

  Ice art on the window in Estonia.

  IMAGE: MAIE KIRNMANN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Stag Deer Bellowing

  

  Stag Deer Bellowing in Richmond Park, London, UK.

  IMAGE: PRASHANT MESWANI NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Muscle Power

  

  This playful fight amongst two young sub adult Tigers was indeed a brilliant life time opportunity that lasted exactly 4-5 seconds. The cubs were sitting in the grass as dusk approached when suddenly one of them sneaked up behind the other and what happened next is captured in this image.

  IMAGE: ARCHNA SINGH NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Zebras and the rim of the Crater

  

  Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, is the world's largest inactive volcanic caldera. It is a collapsed volcano that harbours a range of African wildlife that live in relatively close proximity and competition of each other. Zebras are amongst the most common animals in the crater along with wildebeest, gazelles, hyenas, and lions. On a clear day, a 360 degree view of the crater rim can be seen whilst being inside.

  IMAGE: ZIK TEO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Great Barrier Reef

  

  On a windy day right after a cyclone passed the far northern Great Barrier Reef, I took some friends out to the reef. Never before I saw that many glass fish on this particular coral 'bommie'. Just when I setup my camera, this Napoleon Wrasse swam right through the school of fish building a living frame.

  IMAGE: CHRISTIAN MILLER NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Children in the darkness

  

  Disabled children living in Syria war.

  IMAGE: ABDULLAH ALGHAJAR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Biltigiri

  

  The chef of Ramnami people in Chhattisgarh, India. Ramnami tattoo the name of the lord 'Ram' on their body. Their entire focus is on the name of Ram, the name of God that is most dear to them. The Ramnami Samaj is a sect of harijan (Untouchable) Ram. Formed in the 1890s, the sect has become a dominant force in the religious life of the area. The tattoo is the result of their devotion and also, a gift and an acknowledgement from Ram.

  IMAGE: MATTIA PASSARINI NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Temper

  

  A young girl throws a temper tantrum in a Bangkok shopping mall. June, 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand.

  IMAGE: ADAM BIRKAN NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Dead Sea Mudbathing

  

  Seekers of eternal youth coat themselves in mineral-rich mud, at the Dead Sea in Israel.

  IMAGE: NICK RILEY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Tea Time in the Hut in Paris

  

  Little discussion with a doll in a plastic box, not inherently beautiful. But with this slice of light, it looks like a bubble invented to dream in an imaginative world.

  IMAGE: K NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Waiting

  

  He was waiting on the bed, lost in thoughts, while his wife was preparing the bread to be blessed for the orthodox Eucharist.

  IMAGE: ROBERTO FIORE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• My brothers and I

  

  Our road trip down to Miami traversed this outlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We rested on this ridge overlooking the mountains. Though we argued consistently throughout the journey, here we were reminded of our brotherhood.

  IMAGE: TYLER G NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Destroyed Homs

  

  Birds fly over the destroyed houses in Khalidiya district in Homs, Syria. In the vast stillness of the destroyed city center of Homs, there are large areas where nothing moves. Then, suddenly, wind blows a ripped awning, or birds fly overhead.

  IMAGE: SERGEY PONOMAREV NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• The Storm

  

  I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment in Turkey.

  IMAGE: AYTUL AKBAS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2014 PHOTO CONTEST

• Tokyo – Shinagawa Station

  

  I was up at an ungodly hour to make it to the Tsukiji Fish Market, in Tokyo. With so many amazing things to see in the city, I had hardly slept, and managed to get off at the wrong station. Wave after wave of people kept coming through the station passageway. I spied a coffee shop with a vantage point and managed to snap a free shots, camera resting on the ledge. After the caffeine kicked in, I was ready to brave the river of people.
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