FlyCleaners
Even if you happen to have locked down your dream apartment, the odds are still slim that it’ll actually have laundry in-unit. So a service that picks up, cleans, and returns your clothes to your doorstep with a few quick swipes on your phone? Let’s just say we’re open to it.
David Salama and Seth Berkowitz were counting on this last fall when they launched FlyCleaners, a startup aiming to take the way we do our laundry into the 21st century. The whole process happens via their app, available on iPhone and Android, which will have your laundry done at a local cleaner without ever requiring you to leave the house; pickup and delivery are free, too. Though its offices are in Manhattan, the service is currently available in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick, and its owners plan to expand farther into Brooklyn, as well as Manhattan and Queens. “I’ve lived in Brooklyn basically my entire life, so I really knew the area and the people,” Salama says. “We wanted to start in North Brooklyn because we knew that the residents were both tech savvy, open to trying new things and really busy. That’s our ideal customer!”
Storyhunter
Since the spring of 2012, the DUMBO-based team at Storyhunter has done something virtually unthinkable in the 21st-century economy: sought out and created countless paying jobs for video journalists. Founded by Jaron Gilinksy and Alex Ragir—both of whom have extensive experience in the field—the site is a passion project. And in less than two years, it’s fashioned itself as a best-of-both-worlds combination of citizen journalism and professional-grade ethics and production standards, connecting video journalists with assignments as well as seeing pitches through the process of getting greenlighted. Equally important? They make sure contributors are compensated fairly and in a timely fashion.
They’ve become a go-to resource for companies like The Economist and Yahoo!, and have also begun hosting ScreenUp, a series of screenings that serve as informal networking events and a chance to connect with documentary filmmakers, often via Skype. (Their network is most definitely a global one.) They’ve set up a complex and seemingly unprecedented system, but Storyhunters’ goal is as simple as it is crucial: “to tell the world’s most important, untold stories.”
Wow, thanks guys. We’re really honored to be part of this. Of course we can think of a whole lot of others at least as worthy…
As noted, Joios hosts lots of tastings. We’re always looking for products, tasters, venues. All ideas appreciated!