An examination of the recent trend for high-profile celebrities to involve themselves in the hyper-saturated brave new world of emerging startups, specifically as evidenced by the recent actions of Leo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher.

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” –Albert Einstein This Friday we’ve decided to showcase a conversation with Yoni Binstock, a young entrepreneur and member of our Innovatrs community. This American from Cleveland, Ohio has been working on an an innovative [...]

With the success and popularity of Zynga’s FarmVille and other such applications, marketers the world over have acknowledged the subtle potential of fusing entertainment with marketing, gamification, as a means of stimulating engagement and encouraging consumer participation with the brand. An exploration of the merits of using gamification tactics as a means of marketing innovatively.

As competition gets tougher and tougher more companies are using social media and crowdsourcing, asking their customers to provide ideas and help in the decision-making when tackling issues and achieving goals. Social media and crowdsourcing are powerful tools for a company to communicate with consumers when it comes to corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns. Businesses [...]

Here we go again. Tonight marks the return of the seventh series of The Apprentice, just five months after the last one. On this occasion, the budding ‘apprentices’ are not vying for a place in Lord Sugar’s company. Instead, the winner will receive a £250,000 investment in their business, a gesture that has been designed [...]

With an increasing amount of programmes out there like Dragon’s Den, has the image of the entrepreneur been diluted? Dragon’s Den, The Apprentice – they’re both shows that have put the entrepreneur into the public focus. But are they also cheapening the brand, so to speak? Maybe so – let’s face it, the reality of bringing [...]

In a recent survey of more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, from 75 countries in our Crowd, we found only 9.1% were women. So where are all the female entrepreneurs then? Oprah Winfrey and Anita Roddick were the only names mentioned when we asked which entrepreneurs inspired our Crowd – and they only made up 2.3% of the vote. [...]

It used to be considered that entrepreneurship was limited to a few countries and key territories. Well I’ve got news for you – the entrepreneurial spirit is a worldwide phenomenon… Let’s get things straight – a passport is not a determining factor in what makes a good entrepreneur. We went over what it takes in [...]

Plenty of people talk the talk, but what does it really take to walk the walk? What makes the perfect entrepreneur? A lot of people like to think of themselves as entrepreneurs. This might mean starting their own moderately successful business or just being a bit of a dodgy dealer type character. But as Alan [...]

Good old Richard Branson. We admire his entrepreneurial spirit and nous and his will to succeed despite a series of knockbacks and failures. His personal advice? “Don’t take it personally and don’t take it too seriously.”

Earlier this year, we asked why there are so few entrepreneurial start-up queens in the business world today.  There are only nine women CEO’s out of all the Fortune 500 companies. In Europe, only 30% of small businesses are owned by women. And yet more than half of graduates are female. So why are CEO’s and politicians still predominantly male?

There is only one secret to a successful start-up and it’s YOU! Entrepreneurs and would be entrepreneurs spend their lives trying to figure out the secret to a successful start-up. Investors make a living out of trying to select and back the very best business models for the future. Everyone’s chasing dreams.

Entrepreneurs can change the world. Bill Gates changed the face of IT and PC’s. Henry Ford revolutionised the way we travel on the ground. Frederick Terman was effectively the founding father of Silicon Valley. And Georges Doriot set up the first publicly owned venture-capital firm. The space is clear for the next entreprenurial great.

Starting out alone in business can be scary. Exciting, but scary. Entrepreneurs are free from the constraints of the corporate lifestyle but the pressures are replaced by new and equally taxing challenges. And you’re on your own this time round. 

Most entrepreneurs make the painful mistake early on of not taking the name of their start-up seriously enough. They almost always regret it later. And it’s not for the obvious reasons. It’s not necessarily because they’ll find it harder to differentiate from the competition when it comes.

Marc Andreessen, techno star, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz talks to Stanford University about how companies can take advantage of cloud computing. He goes on to comment about and rate the latest cloud computing services available.

Elena Alexseeva, Co-Founder & CEO at PhotoHand.com, has more than 15 years of experience in IT  services, having previously held IT strategy consulting and product development positions. In this latest Innovatrs interview, Elena talks about her first steps in the IT industry

Seth Godin is an iconic figure in the small business sector who has written several bestselling books (LINCHPIN the most recent one ), on topics including the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting and leadership.

Entrepreneur Andrew Rickman OBE (far left), is the founder and former non-executive chairman of Bookham,  the one-time second largest fibre optics telcom component producer in the world. Andrew set up the company as a start-up in 1988 and helped launch it to an FTSE100 company as CEO.

Jerry Kaplan, is widely known in the computer industry as a serial entrepreneur, technical innovator, author and the former co-chairman of Egghead.com, Inc. Previously he was CEO of online auction company Onsale which he co-founded in 1994. In this video Kaplan talks about the top qualities he thinks entrepreneurs need to have to succed:

In this latest video interview, entrepreneur Michael Birch (famous for creating Bebo in 2005) explains  challenges surrounding the choice of domain names and the misconception that social networking websites are not easily profitable.

An excellent interview with David S. Rose, one of the most highly regarded Angel Investors in the USA. David Rose is an entreprenurial executive and investor with experience in high technology and communications,angel investments, finance and government. Described as ” The Father of Angel Investing in New York ” and a ” world conquering entrepreneur “,  David is Chairman of [...]

Canadian innovator and cleantech entrepreneur, John Paul Morgan, reveals how he founded Morgan Solar, a company which makes inexpensive and affordable solar power in Africa. From formulating the idea, to the construction of a prototype, from building fundraising structures, to forming bonds with major strategic partners, John Paul explains how to successfully create a highly innovative company.

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 [...]

Great new start-ups are constantly getting launched – but hold on! Looking at the founders, something seems amiss… Yes, it’s the gender of the entrepreneurs! Where’s the women? With entrepreneurial DNA I don’t think anyone was talking about the ’Y’ chromosome that exists within men. No, it’s about having a great new idea and spotting an [...]