 Leadership Change
After 45 years of leadership, Larry Jacobs and the Strom family transitioned controlling ownership of Sign of the Crab and Strom Plumbing by Sign of the Crab. We wish Larry and Vicki all the best in their retirement adventures!Larry and the Strom family will continue to drive the values and vision for Strom Living going forward. I wanted to reach out to let you know what we’ve been doing to ultimately improve our customers’ experience. We’ve spent a lot of time assessing our place in the market, our history, strengths, and aspirations. Our new brand is the culmination of that time spent and represents our values going forward. Our goal is to provide our customers with curated premium products, outstanding value, and unique service and support; all from a company that values authenticity and innovation. Company Updates The company went “live” on a new business process platform in December. The new integrated platform will enable us to operate the business with improved visibility and scalability across all major business processes. More importantly, we expect improvements in order accuracy and status, quoting and pricing, reduced ship times, and reporting. We also intend on rolling out a host of new system capabilities that will greatly enhance interactions with our vendors, partners (sales), and customers.Since moving into our current location in 1984, the facility and layout have largely remained unchanged. We are almost complete with a warehouse/office renovation that will enable a more collaborative and integrated work environment. Our goal is to optimize work processes and provide our employees with an environment to produce their best work. What to ExpectAs we embark on a new year, Strom Living (formerly Sign of the Crab & Strom Plumbing by Sign of the Crab) intends to deliver a new brand identity to expand public awareness in order to drive customer traffic into the showrooms. Our team is hard at work developing tools including a renovated website for brand awareness, an online library enabling easily accessible product knowledge, and a partner/customer sales portal for insights into orders status and inventory. We are currently assessing the marketplace, competitive landscape, industry trends, and our existing product lineup for opportunities. Thank you all again for representing our brand in the marketplace. I look forward to delivering our new brand, new product offerings, and better information so that you can continue to provide an outstanding experience for every customer. At Strom Living, we look forward to an exciting 2019 filled with opportunities in all our markets.  X3 Drones founder, Jeff Rodgers, has been featured in Emprendedor 24/7 for the academy's Latin American education platform expansion plans. Click the button below to be taken to their article (Spanish):
UAVs have been gaining importance around the world. The drone industry is currently in a nascent phase and is growing at an amazing rate. The global drone market is anticipated to reach $25 billion in revenue by the end of 2023. This growth highlights a diverse range of participants in the market: manufacturers, government, military, enthusiasts, and educators. Up until May 2017, FAA required pilots to register their drones, allowing for analysis on states with the most registrations: New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia. This might also indicate a potential opportunity cluster: drone education. X3 Drones hypothesizes this might be one of the reasons why most universities include drone education modules are in those states. We find that drone education is needed throughout the customer journey. X3 Drones aims to cradle new industries and new customers. Through education, we aim to promote safety, security and provide tools to satisfy hobbies like aerial photography and videography.  According to Skylogic’s research more than 90% of the consumer drone market is comprised of the Gen X demographic (32 - 52 years old). Armed with this information, X3 has developed targeted courses to best serve our clients.
The X3 Drone Academy has found that in a recent report, GCDM (2016-2020), both photography and hobby-generated revenue will grow at a CAGR of 15% and 26% by 2020. The report’s forecast for the global drone market indicated a CAGR of 23.4%; the total revenue for these two areas sums up to $980 million. It is clear that there’s a rapid changing technology in the drone industry and X3 Drones looks to be on the forefront of drone education innovation with its newly developed curriculum. Through strong media presence and precise market analytics X3 Drone Academy will continue its global expansion plans.  X3 Drones is proud to announce their graduation from Alpha status and is in a formal launch process for their education platform: X3 Drone Academy. The academy is X3 Drone's first public offering looking to bolster their vision of "LEARN. RENT. FLY."
Currently in Alpha, X3's rental app looks to take on an untapped market for crowd-sourced drone availability. Creating the Airbnb, Turo, or Uber for drones is no easy feat; X3 Drone's has been strategic in its employment of ELEVEN FIFTY-ONE Sr. Developer, Swapnil Gaidhankar, to lead the web, iOS, and Android development of its rental platform. X3 Drone Academy Mission Statement At the X3 Drone Academy, we aim to educate people of all ages. Our goal is to provide a foundation of safety for the drone industry; elevating awareness, accountability, and responsibility of pilots at all skill levels. We define success as providing a healthy means for society to adopt drones - from hobbyists to developed industry. We believe that rapid changing technology in the drone industry, including our own, will guide our customers to connect with the world around them. Through conscious observance of the world from above, our academy looks to not only equip our pilots, but to also empower their lens of observation. We hold integrity as our utmost value. We are committed to staying current with our material all-the-while providing empathy and a education of privacy. Experience the best education platform and the highest quality learning content with the X3 Drone Academy. Goals
Stan hails from Intel Corporation, last serving as the Senior Director of Quality & Reliability Capabilities Development. In this role, Stan founded several organizations of scientists, engineers, business analysts and information technology specialists to create highly sophisticated technical and business models, automation and operational capabilities for over 20,000 Intel employees spanning the company. His scope included: Technology development, Product development, Sales & Marketing, Enterprise Quality, Corporate Product Regulations and Corporate Sponsor and Examiner of the Intel Quality Award on behalf of Intel’s CEO. Stan held the Intel company record for the number of Intel Achievement Awards (Intel’s most prestigious recognition of individual and small team accomplishments based on technical innovation) for over a decade. Make it happen, make lasting positive change, provide a hand up (opportunity). Stan is inspired by technical and social leadership. When not in the office, he enjoys riding motorcycles, building high performance cars, and traveling.
The challenge? To make a film in a single weekend. Filmmakers from all over the world competed to see who can make the best short film in only three days. The 4PFP is an online contest which follows the same basic idea of the 48HFP - write, produce, and edit a short film in just a weekend using an assigned genre and three elements which are announced via email at the start of the weekend. For PDX Productions' "The Wash," the genre and three items that were required to be incorporated into the production were: A scandal, a scientist named Janet Jones, the line "I'd really like to know who wrote this dialogue," and dryer lint. The 4PFP films are all judged by a panel of film professionals, and the top 4PFP film will be awarded $3000 USD and screen at both Filmapalooza 2017 and the Cannes Film Festival 2017, Court Métrage. Additionally the top 15 films will be made available online where the general public will vote for the winner of Audience Favorite, who will receive $1000 USD and also screen at Filmapalooza 2017. 
LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) JUNE 15, 2016 Pick My Solar, a California-based online solar purchasing platform, has acquired the award-winning startup Solar Merchant, extending its disruptive solution to commercial real estate owners and tenants. Solar Merchant, founded by veterans of SunEdison, SolarCity, and Intel, created a model that shortens the project development cycle in small commercial solar from months to weeks. In December 2015, Solar Merchant won the US Department of Energy (DoE) Catalyst Energy Innovation Prize, which provided funding from DoE’s SunShot Initiative. “The growth potential in the commercial sector is immense. The Solar Merchant acquisition aligns with our long-term growth strategy, leveraging our proprietary technology to streamline the commercial sales and finance processes and continue reducing the soft costs of going solar,” said Max Aram, CEO of Pick My Solar. The commercial platform is currently in beta and is set to launch in all major solar markets in September. This expansion of the Pick My Solar marketplace will allow business owners and real estate investors across the country to extend their investments into solar energy in an efficient, streamlined process and ensure maximum return on investment. “Pick My Solar has built the nation’s leading solar marketplace that facilitates the customer experience from lead to contract,” said Solar Merchant co-founder and CEO Kyle Cherrick. “Our team is incredibly excited to continue building a solution for business owners, commercial real estate managers, nonprofit organizations, and multi-family living facilities within the Pick My Solar platform.” Visit Pick My Solar at Booth #8421 during the Intersolar North America exhibition, July 12-14, at the Moscone Center’s West Hall in San Francisco, Calif. About Solar Merchant Solar Merchant is the nation’s first online solar marketplace focused on accelerating the development process for the small commercial solar sector using a suite of in-house and industry-networked software. The founding team leveraged expertise in real estate, finance, law, and project development to build the technology that received a grand prize award in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Catalyst Energy Innovation program in 2015. About Pick My Solar Pick My Solar is an online solar purchasing marketplace, providing homeowners and business owners with expert advice and high quality custom bids from a national network of highly qualified solar installers. The overarching mission of Pick My Solar is to simplify the solar purchasing process, drive down costs, and provide the consumer advocacy necessary for solar to achieve broad market success. http://www.prweb.com/releases/pickmysolar-solarmerchant/06/prweb13485174.htm |
