Sommaire pour February 2016 de Fast Company

“We came all the way from Bangkok for this, and was it worth it? Hell yeah!!” So wrote Katherine Amatavivadhana, one of 3,000 attendees at our inaugural Fast Company Innovation Festival in New York City. “It was a visit to a future world that is already here,” another attendee from Bosnia expressed in a blog post. “During five days, at a hundred different events, you could hear about innovation from the business innovators themselves, from Hollywood stars, who are increasingly becoming business people, and from entrepreneurs, who are increasingly becoming media stars.” We set out to bring Fast Company’s pages to life—nearly two dozen of our cover subjects joined us, including Nike CEO Mark Parker and Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts—and in the process something magical happened: By juxtaposing perspectives…

Desi Perkins SOCIAL FOLLOWING: YouTube 1,591,000 Instagram 2,100,000 Twitter 145,000 A former freelance makeup artist and now an in-house Ipsy stylist, Perkins is known for her eyebrow tutorial videos, one of which has raked in more than 10 million views. Loey Lane SOCIAL FOLLOWING: YouTube 563,000 Instagram 202,000 Twitter 14,800 This beauty and plus-sizefashion vlogger uses her platform to showcase stylish outfits for bigger women and promote body positivity for everyone. YazTheSpaz SOCIAL FOLLOWING: YouTube 66,000 Instagram 156,000 Twitter 16,700 Turkish-Cuban model and makeup guru Yasemin Kanar spotlights creative ways to wear hijabs. Aurora AmorPorElMaquillaje SOCIAL FOLLOWING: YouTube 356,000 Instagram 1,600,000 Twitter 1,100 Mexico City–based Aurora focuses on glamorous lip and eye makeup combinations that help fans embrace their inner Kardashian. Nyc Dragun SOCIAL FOLLOWING: YouTube 39,000 Instagram 116,000 Twitter…

1808 Pellegrino Turri invents the working typewriter to help a blind friend write legibly. 1876 The telephone emerges from Alexander Graham Bell’s many attempts to create technologies to help the disabled. 1937 Joseph Friedman creates the flexible drinking straw so his young daughter can drink from her cup more easily at the table. 1948 The transistor is invented to power smaller hearing aids. 1960s Icon-based keyboards, now ubiquitous, are first developed to assist those who are unable to speak to use speech synthesizers. 1973 Vint Cerf, who is hard of hearing, develops email, in part because it’s an easy way to communicate with his wife, who is deaf. 1978 Ray Kurzweil creates machine-scannable fonts, and the first image scanner, to help the blind. 1990 Sam Farber founds Oxo, dedicated to…

At Imperial Restaurant in Portland, Oregon, diners are getting a taste of the latest superfood to hit the market: dulse, a crimson seaweed that’s packed with nutrients and, when fried, offers up an umami flavor similar to bacon. “It disappears in your mouth,” says chef and owner Vitaly Paley. Wild dulse, which is sold as a specialty item at places like Whole Foods, grows primarily on the shores of Ireland and the north Atlantic coast and is notoriously difficult to harvest: It’s plucked by hand and can deteriorate quickly. But the dulse that Paley sprinkles atop his tuna poke doesn’t come from the ocean—it’s farmed in 6,000-liter tanks at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. Marine biologist Chris Langdon began cultivating this strain of dulse as a food for…

On a hot, swampy November afternoon at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, the private school’s boys’ lacrosse team is huddling around the bench draining water bottles after a round of drills. It’s a scene like any other on high school fields around the country . . . except here there’s a small crew of men sitting off to the side with laptops, running diagnostics on the team’s fluid intake, tracking each player individually through smart chip– enabled refillable water bottles. Each “smart cap” bottle is digitally linked to a specific player. It works with an app to calculate how much he sweats in an average practice, how much he loses in the way of carbs and sodium, and how much he needs to drink to maintain optimal performance. Each bottle…

FIND NEW ANGLES “You have to be flexible, right? There has to be a lot of open-mindedness. If I took the strategy for breaking Lady Gaga and used that for Meghan Trainor, we would’ve failed. You have to adapt with the times and understand how consumer behavior changes.” OPEN YOUR MIND—NOT JUST YOUR WALLET “It takes me a while to get to rejection. It’s not a knee-jerk reaction. I like to hear people out and see if there’s something there. When I first got pitched Uber [as an investor], I thought it was the dumbest idea ever. I get on the phone with Travis [Kalanick], and once he explained it, then I got it. I’m definitely a risk taker. Being an entrepreneur, naturally you take risks.” ENCOURAGE DISCOVERY “I never…

MAKE MARKETING SMARTER “If you purchase a car, you probably don’t want to see another car ad anytime soon,” says Carolyn Everson. “If you want to see anything, it might be an ad from the car company welcoming you and telling you how the car works. Consumers want you to add value to their experience. Otherwise, you are noise.” Ads need to feel essential, not like something to endure. “The relationship people want to have with brands . . .most of the time they don’t want to be advertised at, interrupted,” says Marc Mathieu. “When you bring utility to people’s lives, that’s where you have an opportunity.” THE FUTURE IS COMING “VR is going to drastically change the way people think about the world,” says Mathieu. “And we’re working on…

“these are the hottest girls I’ve ever seen!” Sean Rad—29 and recently single—is bowed over his iPhone, eyes inches from the screen, totally enamored with the latest version of his groundbreaking dating app, Tinder. It’s a Monday evening in mid-October at Craig’s, a dimly lit West Hollywood hot spot where paparazzi track every arriving Uber, and Rad can’t believe how attractive the women in his Tinder feed are. He swipes through endless photos while sipping his usual dirty martini, grinning like a kid. “What the fuck?!” he says. “This is nuts!” The deliciously addictive Tinder is as much cultural phenomenon as dating app—a strikingly simple tool that lets you flick through photos of nearby users. Swipe right to register a “like” or left to skip ahead to the next one.…

KEN PARKS Then CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, SPOTIFY Now EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, PLUTO TV Is passive viewing passé? With TV watchers increasingly ditching cable for streaming services like Hulu and Netflix, that old habit of flipping through random channels is fading. But while people love the convenience and control of streaming, many miss the let’s-just-seewhat’s-on aspect of traditional TV. At least that’s what Ken Parks is hoping. Last fall, Parks—who previously oversaw all of Spotify’s U.S. operations—joined two-year-old video-streaming company Pluto TV, a free platform offering more than 100 channels of live-running content: everything from old Cheers episodes to a live feed of the Bloomberg News channel. “Services like Netflix have achieved remarkable success and scale, but if you look at the data and people’s behavior, the dominant use case for TV…

“Cupcakes are done to death, but Yeh Cakes, made in New York City, are custom works of art.” Lara Crystal Cofounder, Minibar “Coming home on a flight, I found that I couldn’t stand up. My left knee was locked. The RolPal, a next-level foam roller, helped me walk again. It’s designed to massage trigger points, and it comes in a travel size.” Patti Pao Founder and CEO, Restorsea “M y Kaikado canister holds the single-origin coffees I drink. The 140-year-old Kyoto com pany designs them to get more beautiful with time. I love my iPhone, but in two years it will be toxic waste.” James Freeman Founder and CEO, Blue Bottle Coffee “Salt of the Earth is the most moving film I’ve seen in years. It follows the life of…

Though the idea of using technology to improve firearms safety has been around for decades (and stymied by politics for just as long), a forthcoming product offers hope that 2016 could be the breakthrough year for smart guns. Created by Detroit entrepreneur Omer Kiyani, Identilock is a biometric clasp that shields a gun’s trigger and releases only when it detects the owner’s fingerprint. The goal: Curtail the estimated 2,000 accidental shootings that hospitalize children and adolescents in the U.S. each year and reduce the market for stolen handguns. The first device of its kind, Identilock is expected to become available this spring—and Kiyani hopes that it will change the conversation around smart-gun technology. “Identilock is the one product that brings both sides of the gun debate together,” he says. The…

Last year, Blake Mycoskie confronted the one dilemma all entrepreneurs dream of: what to do with a personal windfall. In Mycoskie’s case, the $200 million (after taxes) that arrived after he sold half of his company, the buy-one, give-one shoe retailer Toms, to Bain Capital. He consulted family and friends, intending to find a philanthropic cause that he could embrace and attack, in the manner of other entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Marc Benioff, and Sergey Brin. But Mycoskie has always been an unusual businessman, a free spirit sprinting down a path of his own invention. His decision: use $100 million of his money to launch an investment fund that will back, well, companies that want to be like Toms. Encouraging clones isn’t high on the list of strategies recommended…

How do you refine a wineglass? That’s what Rachel Cohen and Andrés Modak found themselves asking when they launched their new online home-goods brand, Snowe. The couple wanted to create stemware that was durable and stylish but still affordable. So they ditched heavy crystal for Italian glass, emulated hand-blowing techniques to render the glassware seamless, and added a titanium coat for extra strength. The result? A wineglass that shines and sounds like crystal, and won’t break like cheaper glass. Snowe is just the latest in a new crop of housewares startups that, in the vein of Warby Parker and Everlane, cut out the middleman to offer luxury products at a lower cost. Boll & Branch and Parachute focus on bed linens— their sheet sets cost, on average, less than half…

FOLLOW OPPORTUNITY Selma director Ava DuVernay is tackling TV with the upcoming drama Queen Sugar. “I’m a filmmaker to my bones. But this is the golden age of television again. There’s television happening now that is jaw-dropping, stunning, and it’s changing our culture. You can’t not want to be a part of that if you’re a storyteller. For me, it’s looking at [Queen Sugar] as a 13-hour movie, because every episode is going to be very cinematic and beautiful and dope.” EMBRACE DIVERSITY— AND COMPLEXITY Multiculturalism is about more than just inclusiveness: It’s about depicting people realistically. “In Hollywood, there is one dominant voice. It is a white, male, straight gaze. When I talk about positive portrayals of black people and women, I’m saying complexity. I’m not saying goody-two-shoes, everything’s…

ENGAGEMENT IS ESSENTIAL “It’s important to talk to your fans and update them as to what you’re up to—what’s new, what’s fresh,” says Lazaro Hernandez. “Instagram is also a way to connect to a new audience. We’re seeing that a lot of people are experiencing the brand for the first time via social media. It’s interesting to show people the process of manufacturing and how labor intensive it is to make the things that we make—the magic that happens behind the scenes.” THINK “THUMB STOPPERS” “Almost every designer I work with now is like, ‘What’s the Instagram moment?’ ” says Eva Chen. “What is the piece that everyone’s going to pick up? What’s the thumbstopping moment when everyone’s like, ‘Oh, I have to capture this on Instagram!’? It’s amazing, because…

As the head of boundary-pushing genetic-testing company 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki is impacting lives and inspiring much discussion—especially now that her products have finally garnered FDA approval after previously being removed from the market. Interviewed by Lizzie O’Leary, a host of public-radio show Marketplace, the CEO talks about what keeps her pressing ahead. Fast Company: What’s the draw to going out on your own and building a business from the ground up? Anne Wojcicki: What I’m most excited about is this consumer-health revolution. Consumers are more and more standing up and saying they want to take control. FC: But the motivation was internal too. AW: I think about when we started 23andMe. When you’re solving a problem that’s for yourself, it seems very obvious and very natural. Like, I really want…

Michael Bloomberg CEO, Bloomberg LP 1981—2001 2014—PRESENT RISE In 1981, Bloomberg founded Innovative Market Systems, which quickly became known for its terminal system. Renamed Bloomberg LP in 1986, it made its founder a billionaire and expanded into TV, radio, and business journalism. Bloomberg stepped down as CEO in 2001 to run for mayor of New York. RETURN While Bloomberg was serving his three terms as mayor, his company wrestled with the same complicated prospects as other media companies in the Internet era. He returned as CEO at the end of 2014 and quickly took steps to streamline the business, cutting newsroom jobs and strengthening the company’s terminal business. Leah Busque CEO, TaskRabbit 2008—2011 2012—PRESENT RISE Busque and her husband dreamed up TaskRabbit after running out of dog food one day…

1995 Match.com KEY INNOVATION Taking dating digital One of the very first online dating platforms, Match popularized the concept of custom online profiles, which it used to, yes, match potential couples. Match is still the biggest player in the dating industry, raking in nearly $50 million in profit in the first half of 2015. 2000 eHarmony.com KEY INNOVATION Tapping data to find love When eHarmony launched, online dating was popular but technologically unsophisticated. The company’s personality-based algorithm brought a measure of science to the pairing process. Three million users signed on by the end of 2003. 2004 OkCupid.com KEY INNOVATION Upping the fun This people-connector’s quirky personality questions enlivened profiles and enticed younger users. Previously, such services had a bit of a stigma, but OkCupid—which, unlike predecessors, was free—suddenly made…

SNØHETTA Snøhetta’s first project was the 1989 reconceptualization of the Library of Alexandria, a lost wonder of the world. Nearly three decades later, the Norwegian architecture firm is still updating iconic cultural centers: Along with a highly publicized Times Square makeover, it’s also designing a 235,000-squarefoot expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which reopens in May after a three-year closure. “Alexandria [involved] tons of international stakeholders,” says Claire Fellman, a director at the firm. “We developed a skill shepherding a vision through a complex process.” This helped the firm during its work on SFMOMA, which sits in the gentrified SoMa district. Rather than cave to commercial pressure to join the skyline-forming fortresses nearby, Snøhetta aims to open up SFMOMA to the neighborhood. The 10-story expansion, located behind…

“Hi! I’m Michelle.” Michelle Phan is poking her head into a spacious room at the Ipsy Open Studio in Santa Monica, California, an outpost of the San Mateo–based beauty subscription company she cofounded four years ago. A young woman named Sophie Torres is sitting at a table, neatly arranging brushes, bottles, and tubes in preparation for a video tutorial she is going to film about hard-to-pull-off hairstyles. She is a member of Ipsy’s extended family of online beauty influencers, who, like Phan, are using YouTube, Instagram, and other social media to build careers as beauty gurus. Phan is the biggest guru of all. Since 2007, when she started making videos of herself applying makeup in her bedroom and uploading them to YouTube, she has amassed a following of more than…

On one otherwise unremarkable day in May 2013, August de los Reyes fell out of bed, hurting his back. The then–42-year-old designer was just six months into his dream job at Microsoft: running design for Xbox and righting a franchise that was drifting due to mission creep. He had worked at Microsoft before, on projects such as MSN and Windows, but had returned because the world of gaming had an almost spiritual appeal to him. “I believe the universe is play,” he says. “And I believe there’s a moral imperative to play.” At first, de los Reyes didn’t think the accident was serious. But several trips to the hospital later, he finally underwent emergency surgery. He’d broken a vertebra, his spinal cord had swelled, and, with breathtaking quickness, he was…

SPRING BREAKERS (2013) Domestic gross $14,124,284 Theaters 1,379 “A24 is the best movie company I’ve ever worked with,” says director Harmony Korine. His gonzo film gained viral traction thanks to A24’s marketing campaign. “They’re next-level with their thinking and approach.” OBVIOUS CHILD (2014) Domestic gross $3,123,963 Theaters 202 Gillian Robespierre raised money on Kickstarter to send her sweet, no-frills comedy to Sundance, where A24 swiped it up: “They truly love movies and collaborating with filmmakers.” EXMACHINA (2015) Domestic gross $25,442,958 Theaters 2,004 Alex Garland says that his science-fiction thriller was a difficult sell before A24 backed it. “It would be very easy to see Ex Machina as a slow, boring, talky European movie,” he says. “They were just not afraid of it.” AMY (2015) Domestic gross $8,393,532 Theaters 435 Director…

AVA Soon-to-be-released mobile app that uses a device’s microphone to offer real-time conversation transcription services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. COTOPAXI E-commerce adventure brand (jackets, tents, water bottles, etc.) with a commitment to alleviate global poverty through health, education, and job skills– development grants. OWLET Smart baby sock that measures—and alerts parents to— an infant’s heart rate and oxygen levels. LAXMI Purpose-driven luxury skin-care company using ingredients sourced from female producers in developing countries. BACK TO THE ROOTS Makers of organic, sustainable ready-toeat and ready-to-grow products, including DIY boxed mushroom farms and tin-can herb gardens.…

Having jumped to Apple in 2014 after eight years as CEO of Bur berry, Angela Ahrendts talks with Fast Company’s Rick Tetzeli about how Tim Cook is building on Apple’s culture. Fast Company: Coming to Apple, did you feel you were about to take on a sort of monstrous job? How have you gone about improving morale in a workforce of 60,000? Angela Ahrendts: In the first six months I was able to hit 40 different markets and spend time with the leaders. An amazing culture was already built and an amazing foundation. I would first of all just listen and learn. And then you start in your own mind to think where you can add value— you’re uniting people, you’re getting them to collaborate. You’re building trust. That alone…

When I started writing this column in 2012, I worked for The Onion, where my job focused on growing the satirical publication’s digital presence. Three years later, I’ve returned full time to the comedic news business, working as a producer for The Daily Show With Trevor Noah and focusing on . . .wait for it . . . digital expansion. It may appear that I’m back where I started, but for the addition of two white hairs in my beard and a more careful tweeting style than the one that accidentally spammed all of The Onion’s followers and was the subject of my first piece. In writing my 32 columns in this space, though, I’ve learned a lot about how our digital and analog worlds intersect, and with this, my…