Cloud computing has become one of the most talked about opportunities for start-up’s and small businesses. Today millions of SME’s use cloud computing to radically reduce their cost of IT, Web sites and social media marketing.
Traditional venture capital is at a Crossroads. The industry is still young by many standards, and like all spotty teenagers, it’s changing. The first and second generation of professional VC’s have learned a bunch of things, sadly most at the expense of the entrepreneurs they backed and the investors they sold. First up they learned [...]
Start-ups can accelerate their growth through the effective use of Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing brings on-tap and on-demand resources to your venture bit-time, part-time or full time. Online, flexible to the extreme and round the clock, from student to rocket scientist, 24×7. It takes the sweat out of developing your idea. But how specifically should you use [...]
Traditional venture capital is not working. Just look at the average returns of the vast majority of funds. The downturn hasn’t exactly helped. Early stage investing flew out of the pram. We asked our entrepreneurs what they would like to see as a manifesto for change. Here are some thoughts: – treat entrepreneurs like customers [...]
One entrepreneur who really gets to ‘make a difference’. ‘The hangover cure’. How’s yours?
I recently heard a successful serial entrepreneur and early stage investor state that the secret to early stage investing is to invest in ‘the chef not the recipe’. One of Silicon Valley’s greatest early stage investors, Bill Draper, used to tell me that he treated the entrepreneurs that he invested in like a stable of [...]
“You had me at hello…” So went the famous line from Zellweger to Cruise in ‘Jerry MaGuire’. “You had me at positioning…” Or not – is the reality with investors. Particularly early stage investors. Your company’s strap line and one paragraph descriptor is the most important weapon you’ll ever have. Get it right. If you [...]
Yesterday we posted a video speech by Richard Branson on how entrepreneurs can be successful in a recession. He summarized the last 2 years economic carnage pretty well – you know, bank implosions, Detroit blues, credit calamity – ya de ya da. Then explained how in fact its a good time to build a new [...]
Richard Branson talks out on how entrepreneurs should build a start-up through the recession. Are you?
Yesterday saw the 10th anniversary of Nasdaq’s exuberant peak. Press abounded. Today, a decade ago, saw the start of it’s demise. Nasdaq is still less than half of its value at the peak. Yet its irrational exuberance created todays Web and tech titans. Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo, AOL, Salesforce.com, PayPal, Google and on. It triggered the broadband [...]
The founder of Meetup tells his story starting up the Webs leading site for local gatherings/meetings. A great case study on using the Web to shape a global trend — and create a generic brand. Meetup’s done for meetings what Hoover did for vacuum cleaners. Do you Meetup?
I remember my father teaching me about the economic cycle. It’s really simple, he told me. It goes like this. Every 5 years each economy experiences a cycle of boom to bust. That’s 5 years from peak to trough. It’s just gravity. As hard as economists and politicians try to find ways to smooth the [...]
Great interview on how to innovate for social and sustainable development. Not just hard profits. Do you?
I was recently told of a Spanish saying which states that ‘money hides’. Never has this been more real. Last week we wrote an article on ‘Banks Battle Entrepreneurs’ which got a flurry of entrepreneurs contacting me with their particular war stories. Shocking. The reality is things are even worse than I thought. You see, [...]
Just when the world thinks it has a handle on the process of innovation Apple changes the game. You see conventional wisdom dictates that innovation either bubbles up from below at startups or from the outside at a remote R&D lab or – God forbid – by McKinsey. Some bright spark comes up with a [...]
Michael Lenox, from the Batten Institute, talks about Green/clean technology and entrepreneurship. The video interview provides a neat summary of the factors driving adoption of ‘green’ technologies and services. Check it out.
Once this Great Depression is said and done there’ll be a smoking gun byline left hanging in the pungent air: ‘The battle between banks and entrepreneurs’. I cannot think of one conversation I’ve had with an entrepreneur in the last year – and we talk to a great deal – which did not include them [...]
In this digital era, where intellectual property focused start-ups are the new norm, positioning is paramount. Take a recent, high profile example, Apple’s iPad. The last year or so we have been peppered with media buzz around the tablet. Then bingo, we discover Apple’s answer to this new hardware category – the iPad. Apple, behind [...]
Interesting interview with Offerpal’s CEO Anu Shukla on ‘What is Entrepreneurship?’.
This video reveals the future of computer interfaces – today. Innovative, powerful, stunning. Engadget shared it with us – click here to read full article. Locus OS Interface from Barton Smith on Vimeo.
At Innovatrs we get to chat with a number of interesting VC’s and funds across the US and Europe. Many of them are all hot and bothered about green and clean tech startups. They’re scouring solar, wind, wave, agriculture and other energy innovators for the next big, er, well, Enron! Enron? How uncool is that? [...]
Peter Jones, entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den dragon, shares 10 rules for entrepreneurial success. A little preachy in style but the content’s spot on!
