Welcome to Berkeley Product Press! Newsletter for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, Product Managers & Idealists.
Issue: #01
Aspiring Entrepreneurs, Product Managers & Idealists - Want to keep up with the latest Products? Don't know what news to read up on? Want to connect with experienced professionals in the industry?
My name is Omair (your fellow Bear) and we are launching the Berkeley Product Press. We will cover Product Reviews, Founder Interviews, Internships & more!
If you'd like to join Berkeley Product Press, please contact us here.
Product Review: Transit (8.7/10)
Using public transport at Berkeley can be a pain in the a**, so we reviewed a product that has solved this problem for many students on campus. Transit, (co-founded by Sam Vermette and Guillaume Campagna) helps you look for the nearest transport stations, and schedule suitable times so you don't miss your morning 🛀. All you do is enter your destination, and Transit will do the work for you. It will tell you how much time you will spend walking, driving, using public transport, biking and even using Lyft/Uber (along with their estimated prices) to your rendezvous point. You can add your favorite transit lines and even buy tickets through the app. If walking 🚶♂️ isn't in your travel dictionary, you have the option to minimize and replace it with other alternatives. If you need accessibility options look no further, Transit covers accessibility trips too😉! Locations like home, work, & school can be set to avoid repeated input. The layout is unproblematic! They even have DARK MODE!
FEATURE REQUEST: Transit seems to be missing that social element that increases customer traction. Transit's service could be improved with a "companion" feature that would allow users to find and use the same transport as their friends. This way, if you have a friend that you would prefer going to school or work with, you could catch the same train as them based on their location and timing. But, that being said, not everyone is a fan of sharing their location and would rather be left alone while taking the Bart. Nonetheless, it leaves you with options. Overall, it’s the best app for simplifying your commute! Our Product Rating for this app is 8.7/10.
If you would like us to review a certain product, please reach out to me via email.
Funding Alert: Twine
Twine, a startup that launched amid the pandemic as a “Zoom for socializing with people” closes its seed round with a funding of $3.3M and bringing its total funding to $4.7M. The startup, led by Moment Ventures in the new round, is also backed by Coelius Capital, AltaIR Capital, Mentors Fund, Rosecliff Ventures, AltaClub, and Bloom Venture Partners. With this funding, Twine looks forward to including asynchronous matchmaking on their platform, allowing people to socialize and connect with those who are offline too. Look out for more positions posted by Twine as they grow.
Funding Alert: Rarible
The NFT craze continues to grow as Rarible, a platform that allows you to create, sell, or collect digital items secured within the blockchain, announces that they’ve closed $14.2M in their series A funding. It seems like more and more investors are starting to fund NFT marketplaces and have put their focus toward blockchain technology as they expect to see major returns on their investments. The series, led by Venrock Capital, Coinfund, and 01 Advisors makes Rarible an NFT powerhouse as it also partners up with Flow Blockchain. The startup also announced that it reached $150M in sales since its launch in 2019. Rarible’s goal is to make NFT’s mainstream as they use this funding to explore more user-friendly developments like accepting credit card payments on their platform. With the way they are going, that goal might be accomplished soon!
Product Internship @ SnackPass: SnackPass is a team of smart individuals who have built a cashier-less transformation system as they replace restaurant registers with self-service kiosks and mobile orders. The product internship will require leveraging a combination of qualitative, quantitative, and competitive market research to understand how they can iterate and build a world-class product experience, from ideation to launch. If this opportunity sounds interesting, click the link above to apply!
Product Management Internship @ Kyte: Kyte is a revolutionary startup that makes renting cars easier for its customers by delivering them to their doors. They require their interns to help bring the consumer product experience to the next level, generate and validate hypotheses, and take initiative towards new product features. If this opportunity sounds interesting, click the link above to apply!
Product Design Internship @ Wish: Wish is a high-growth, mobile-first, online marketplace that allows shoppers to browse and buy items from third-party sellers. Wish is looking for a Product Design Intern that can logically visualize complex systems, design wireframes, interaction flows, prototypes, mock-ups, and beautiful interfaces to effectively communicate interaction and design ideas to the team. The intern would also be making constructive suggestions for change. If this opportunity sounds interesting, click the link above to apply!
If you're interested in advertising a role, please reach out to us via email.
Happy Independence Day Everyone!
Omair Khan is the founder of Berkeley Product Press. Our team focuses on helping students learn and grow about Product domain. If you would like to become a writer for Berkeley Product Press please reach out to us!
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