June 2017 Every aspiring entrepreneur needs to learn a few critical pieces of information to move forward with their idea. The first and most important of these are: Customer – who do I think is my ideal customer, where and when might they use my idea, and how do I envision them using it? Problem/need… Continue reading How to get started with developing a new business idea
It’s challenging for any new idea to break through the noise. There’s such a great deal of information, news, content, advertising, pings, beeps, rings and more coming at us nearly every second of the day. Most of it is noise. No wonder it’s very difficult for most startups to find new and inventive ways to… Continue reading Comparatives, Competition and Noise
February 2017 I’ve worked with hundreds of potential and current entrepreneurs at the earliest stage of their idea development. With that, I think that I’ve gotten pretty good at helping assess those ideas and provide entrepreneurs with a few useful frameworks that can help them take their ideas forward. One of the first frameworks that… Continue reading New Ideas in the Right Order
October 2016 There’s relatively constant chatter these days about regional entrepreneurial ecosystems. Cities and regions know they need to be more innovative, need to facilitate startup development and need to provide the infrastructure and tax codes that help new businesses launch, grow and stay. A big part of those regional efforts involve universities and their… Continue reading Building a regional entrepreneurial ecosystem
Aug 2016 I’m looking for votes for my proposed important SXSW 2017 talk about tech diversity. The talk very purposely has a (likely) controversial title – “What White Guys Can Do About Tech Diversity.” The talk will recap a recent Congressional Panel briefing where representatives from government, technology companies, academia (me), investors and accelerators provided… Continue reading SXSW 2017 Panel – Please Vote
July 2016 The historical approach for entrepreneurs has been to first generate an idea, then do some market research, then write a business plan, then attempt to raise some money, then build a product or service and then try to sell what was built. Their business plan will often be structured like this: Cover sheet… Continue reading The Modern Business Plan
June 2016 I had the opportunity to participate on a Congressional Briefing Panel regarding the challenges of funding for women and minority tech startups. Entitled “New Models For Tech Start-Up Funding & Economic Impact”, the Briefing brought together a group of stake-holders to examine and analyze current disparities within tech start-up funding, contributing psycho-social/cultural factors, forecast,… Continue reading Revelations From A Congressional Briefing Panel
