Wednesday, September 23, 2009

What Makes An Entrepreneur Tick?

Stills from videotape of :en:Bill Gates' depos...Image via Wikipedia

What Have VCs Really Done for Innovation? TechCrunch Back in 1986, when Bill Gates was still making sales calls, he pitched my group at First Boston on why we should bet the farm on Windows. Despite the risk involved, we gave his fledgling startup the deal. This wasn’t because of his financial backers (he didn’t even drop any names), but because we believed in his vision and nerdiness. ....... VC’s follow innovation, they don’t lead. They go where they smell blood.
From Nothing To Something. How To Get There. forget everything else and just get your product out the door
For one there are few of them. But not that few. Every business owner is an entrepreneur. They create and sustain jobs. They are in every sector. The bold ones build the companies of tomorrow. Since most people work in the private sector to feed their families, we can say entrepreneurs are our guiding light. But what makes them tick? The failure rate is high, but many still try.

Partly it is a personality type, I think. Some people go for it, most don't. And there are all kinds. Few are big, most are small. The entrepreneurial spirit can also take over jobholders. I would think the best companies encourage that spirit.

But there is no crystal ball. It is hard to pick the winners early in the game. And, of course, the trailblazers become legends in their own lifetimes.
  1. Bill Gates On The Chrome OS
  2. Bill Gates, Chrome OS, Natal, Wave
  3. Bill Gates: Behind The Curve On Chrome OS
  4. Bill Gates Drove Up Traffic To This Blog
The Holy Grail of the Unconscious New York Times he started to view the human soul — not just the mind and the body — as requiring specific care and development, an idea that pushed him into a province long occupied by poets and priests but not so much by medical doctors and empirical scientists. ....... the same borderlands traveled by both lunatics and great artists. ...... the mangrove swamp of his inner world ........ the idea that a person might move beneficially between the poles of the rational and irrational, the light and the dark, the conscious and the unconscious — that provided the germ for his later work and for what analytical psychology would become. .......... “All my works, all my creative activity,” he would recall later, “has come from those initial fantasies and dreams.” ......... Jung had become disillusioned with scientific rationalism ........ “the spirit of the depths,” a field that makes room for magic, coincidence and the mythological metaphors delivered by dreams. ........ humanity shares a pool of ancient wisdom that he called the collective unconscious
Paul Krugman: Reform or Bust
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Thursday, September 17, 2009

That Thing About Changing The World

Image representing TechCrunch as depicted in C...Image via CrunchBase

Memo to Start-ups: You’re Supposed to Be Changing the World, Remember? too many people building safe businesses, too many companies just trying to make existing things slightly better ....... The people who extol the virtues of “sensibility” are never the people at the core of the next great companies. .... Whether press or VCs, they’ll be late to the next wave, just like they were too late to this one.
Or maybe the next big startup is not trying to sqeeze into the dot com space.

Twitter Closing New Venture Round At $1 Billion Valuation TechCrunch
Facebook Crosses 300 Million Users. Oh Yeah, And They Just Went Cash Flow Positive.
RedBeacon Wins The Top Prize At TechCrunch50 2009
Skype Sniffing Around Web Chat Startups
Jajah Brings Voice Calls To Twitter
Posterous Adds Theme Support; Continues To Grow
For Better Social News Times, Make It The Twitter Times
Pricefalls Scores Seed Funding, Launches Online Auction Site In Public Beta
Corkd Is Back With A New CEO, Winery Fan Pages, And A Social Stream
Imitation Isn’t Always Flattery: Microsoft Previews Google Apps Killer To Beta Testers
Fwix Launches API For Real-Time Local News, Announces $2.75 Million Series A Round
TC50: Six Noteworthy Startups From Korea And Japan





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The Car Connection: GMC, Volkswagen, Ford, Mazda


GMC Review: A whole bunch of robust looking vehicles fall in this category. Look around and take your pick. For example, the 2009 GMC Yukon Denali. It is the go to SUV for VIP

2005 GMC Yukon Denali Photographed in Bradento...Image via Wikipedia

motorcades and for good reason. It looks sturdy. This is a secure looking vehicle.

2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI: This sportswagen is an improvement from its previous edition for how much cargo space it has in the back. Its aerodynamic styling catches your eye.

Ford Transit ConnectImage via Wikipedia


2010 Ford Transit Connect: This van has been designed for tight, urban environments. This was launched in Europe first, but will hit the market in the US as well.

2010 Mazda CX-7: This baby has an aggressive look. It has a SUV feel. But it drives like a passenger car. That is the combo that seems to have been attempted. Autoblog: “Mazda has refined the CX-7 inside-and-out, including a redesigned front end with a larger five-point grille and different front and rear fascias.”
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TutorVista: Math Help



TutorVista is the top online tutoring company in the world. It is the beauty of the online medium that the tutoring can be 24*7. For about a hundred dollars a month, a student can get as much tutoring as she wants and needs on all subjects. That is a deal. K-12 students are welcome. Those starting college are welcome.
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AMS Fulfillment



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Advantage Media Services (AMS) takes care of it for you. It stands out by offering OnGuard Inventory Protection™. AMS takes care of your inventory, and you track it all from your desktop. That easy. AMS does B2B as well as B2C.

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OpenACircle: Where Business Meets



OpenACircle.com is an online collaboration space. You can't meet in person, but you absolutely have to work together. Some of the exchanges possible at OpenACircle.com beats meeting in person. It is a multi-media experience.

Online collaboration is a business must. OpenACircle.com gives you great options. It allows you to reach out to members of your team, to your customers, and potential customers. Inviting is a piece of cake.

Files, documents, pictures: share them all. OpenACircle.com allows for video talk: upto 50 people can participate.

Go to OpenACircle.com and create your private collaboration circle now. OpenACircle.com is free.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Google, Micropayments, And Online Newspapers

Google's proposal to the Newspaper Association of America

This article has been making the rounds this morning among some of my friends: Google developing a micropayment platform and pitching newspapers: “‘Open’ need not mean free”.

This truly is the wild wild west.

Image representing Google Checkout as depicted...Image via CrunchBase


Noone really has a clue. Newspapers are imploding left and right. News is more important than ever before. But newspapers are not? Journalists are not? Many people don't know how to square that circle.

Companies need focus. That is why Cisco outsources its manufacturing. And big companies don't necessarily do well in every little venture they paddle into. But Google is Google, and Google Checkout has been a minor hit, although, it has to be noted, in the aftermath of Google Checkout PayPal has only grown.

But micropayments, I believe, are a tougher nut to crack. PayPal did not show up in

Image representing PayPal as depicted in Crunc...Image via CrunchBase

the face of an imploding industry. It simply showed up.

Will people pay? Even small amounts? Will ads carry the day on their own? I don't know. I don't know anyone does.

We sure will see a lot of creative destruction in the space over the next few years.

My PayCheckr team has as good a chance as any, and I am sure there will be several players in the space.

(Disclaimer: I sit on the PayCheckr Board, and am a small part owner.)

Netizen: The First Blog To Place The PayCheckr Button
The PayCheckr Promise
PayCheckr Potential
PayCheckr: Bringing Money Into Blogging?
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Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Jay Leno Should Go On YouTube

Jay Leno: It's Not the Tonight Show. It's, Um, the Ten-ight Show Time 9/15 Everyone's asking how well Jay will compete against CSI. I wonder if his biggest rival, in the long run, isn't YouTube.

Jay Gets Bigger, NBC Gets Smaller
Leno to America: Goodbye! I’m Not Going Anywhere!
Jay Leno Is the Future of TV. Seriously Time The show could be a footnote, or it could make its host bigger than ever. But either way, the small screen is only getting smaller.
Comedy is not going anywhere. And Jay is funny as hell. What is being challenged is the business of television, the business of comedy on television. Jay could adapt to the business.

I say go on YouTube, produce one, and two and five minute clips. Embed ads in them. And produce a ton of the embeddable material: a Jay Leno joke on every conceivable topic that you can embed into your blog or website.

There would be a basic fee for the ads, and then a recurring fee based on how many times that particular clip got viewed.

I bet he would make more this way than doing his hourly thing on NBC.

I am suggesting ultimate fragmentation to a guy who many consider a holdover from the era of mass media. He might not like it.

New York Times, Don't Die, Live
All Books Need To Go Digital

http://twitter.com/paramendra/status/3771376873



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Sunday, September 06, 2009

Memory Upgrade



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CheckAppointments.com



CheckAppointments.com is an online software that takes care of the scheduling needs of professionals and small businesses, all for free: no more playing phone tag with your customers.

CheckAppointments.com helps you focus more on your business. It takes care of the scheduling needs of a large team, and gives you the option to publicize the availability of your team to your clients.

CheckAppointments.com gives each account a small website that you can share with your clients.

CheckAppointments.com allows for the use of one account by many users.

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