Category: Entrepreneurship

Dumb Yet Successful Entrepreneurs

Atari I had to laugh at this one.

Here’s a quote from Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari:

I think that one of the reasons Silicon Valley creates so many entrepreneurs is, you work next to someone who has started a company and you say to yourself, “That guy has been successful and he’s a dumb shit.”

I saw these guys at [Nutting Associates, an arcade company in Mountain View, CA] who were not smart folks, and yet they had this successful company. So I said to myself, “I couldn’t possibly screw up more than them.”

So there’s reason #107 to start your own business. There are a lot of successful yet dumb shits out there. You can do better than them!

The Five Key Evolutions of Entrepreneurship

Oh wait, there’s more. Yesterday, I cited a quote from the article “How to Thrive in 2009” by Bo Burlingham of Inc. Magazine. In it, he interviews Jim Collins, author of Built to Last and Good to Great.

Collins also talks about what he calls the “five key evolutions that have helped bring to life the idea of entrepreneurship as a systematic, replicable process” since the 1970s. Before that era, starting your own company was a momentous task that was done without any kind of support. Now, these evolutions have allowed countless individuals to become entrepreneurs:

  • Raising Capital

    There are all kinds of ways to raise capital now, as compared to the 1970s: venture funds, angel networks, private equity, search funds, IPOs, etc. These new methods have enabled many more businesses to grow.

  • Learning To Be An Entrepreneur

    Starting a new business is now considered a learnable process, as opposed to something just wacky, gutsy people do on their own. There are now entrepreneurship classes, seminars, workshops, books, and websites galore, all geared towards teaching someone how to start a business.

  • Being a Hero

    In the 1970s, the role of an entrepreneur was seen as exploitative and sleazy, sort of like a used car salesman. Somewhere along the way, the role did a 180 and is now socially acceptable, even heroic, in some cases. What a flip-flop!

  • Building a Better Process

    Remember the phase, “build a better mousetrap”? That was what being an entrepreneur meant in the 1970s. Now, it means building a better process.

  • Going Through the Stages of Entrepreneurship

    Entrepreneurship has evolved through three stages so far, with a fourth that has been emerging. They are:

    Stage One
    You have a great idea.
    Stage Two
    You build a successful business.
    Stage Three
    You build a great company.
    Stage Four
    You start a movement.

Wow, I got two blog posts out of one Inc. article. Nice!

Photo by: foundphotoslj

It’s About Ambiguity Stupid, Not Risk

Pat It’s about ambiguity stupid, not risk. So says Jim Collins. (Except for the “stupid” part, he didn’t say that. Out loud, at least. heh)

In Inc. Magazine’s recent article “How to Thrive in 2009“, author Bo Burlingham interviews author Jim Collins for Inc. Magazine’s 30th anniversary issue.

Burlingham and Collins talk at length about entrepreneurship. One passage caught my eye. Burlingham asks him, “It has to do with your ability to handle risk, no?” To which Collins replies:

Not risk. Ambiguity. People confused the two. My students used to come to me at Stanford and say, “I’d really like to do something on my own, but I’m just not ready to take that much risk. So I took the job with IBM.” And I would say, “You’re not ready for risk? What’s the first thing you learn about investing? Never put all your eggs in one basket. You’ve just put all your eggs in one basket that is held by somebody else.” As an entrepreneur, you know what the risks are. You see them. You understand them. You manage them. If you join someone else’s company, you may not know those risks, and not because they don’t exist. You just can’t see them, and so you can’t manage them.

Too true, too true. Being an employee isn’t less risky (sometimes it’s moreso), it’s just a lot less ambiguous. And if you can’t take ambiguity, perhaps you shouldn’t consider being an entrepreneur.

Peeking Through Data.gov

Data.govNeat, Data.gov launched today! As soon as I read about it, I clicked over to check it out. A few things caught my eye:

  • Some Data is Better Than No Data

    It’s been noted that only non-controversial data is currently available, though I’m of the camp that some data is better than no data. I have a feeling the technical team behind this site has big dreams for it, but are being held back by red tape, security issues, politics, and technical limitations. Getting this far, I’m sure, was a monumental task.

  • No Live Mash-Ups Just Yet

    The site isn’t offering live data right now. I can’t tell if they plan to either, though I imagine they would like to. The data currently comes in XML, CSV/Text, KML/KMZ, and ESRI formats, some of which are in ZIP archives. So no live mash-ups with this data just yet.

  • Data Miner’s Wet Dream

    People who love data, mining data, crunching data, and analyzing data must love all the great info coming out of (and soonto come out of) Data.gov. It would be cool to see some nice data visualizations or data visualization tools that make use of this data.

  • Green Information

    If you’re running a green information & services site, perhaps the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) and Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET) datasets could offer some nice additional data for your users.

  • Employee Benefits Information

    Perhaps a job-related site could use the data from the Benefits Data from the Benefits and Earnings Public Use File for some interesting historical statistics.

  • Weather Information

    Or how about a site with some data analysis of previous storm patterns? The National Weather Service (NWS) has lots of databases available with this information.

  • Patent Information

    Interesting, there’s a Patent Grant Bibliographic Data dataset. It’s got nothing on Google Patents though.

  • Tools

    Under the Tools section, there are pointers to more sources. Unfortunately, these sources don’t offer an easy way to get their data either. Similar to the rest of Data.gov, they offer their data in downloadable ZIP archives instead of live feeds or APIs.

  • Census Data

    If census data was easy to parse, filter, dissect, and analyze, that would be awesome. Unfortunately, the American FactFinder and DataFerret datasets don’t offer that. Too bad. Someone could create a nice marketing application with this information, I’ll bet.

  • Government Contracts

    How about a site that crawls through the USA Spending Contracts and Purchases dataset (for historical info) and combines it with the functionality of FedBizOpps.gov and the info at Business.gov? You could concievably create a one-stop shop for companies interested in contracting with the government.

  • Government Grants

    Or how about doing all that with government grants? You’ve got the USA Spending Grants and Loans dataset for historical info and Grants.gov for the functionality. Applying for grants is a tough business. There are many auxiliary services needed too, such as grant writers, organizational advice, etc. If you combine those services with historical data, perhaps you’ll have a nice full-service solution here.

  • Airline Information

    Although there are commercial services already offering this info, having data about Airline On-Time Performance and Causes of Flight Delays would be an interesting add-on for sites with travel and airline reviews.

I’m sure there are a lot more ideas that can come from these datasets. And to be fair, another source of government data already exists: USGovXML.com. You’ll find much more here than on Data.gov, and in developer-friendly formats in some cases.

Still, I think Data.gov is off to a great start. I for one am cheering them on. Go Data.gov go!

It’s Been Awhile

“It’s been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
and it’s been a while
Since I first saw you”
– A. Lewis

Has it really been that long since I last blogged? Wow. When I started this blog, I told myself I would blog at a minimum of once a week. Looks like I just barely made it with today’s post.

Life and work have been busy. That’s the usual excuse for not keeping up with a blog. Unfortunately, infrequent updates are also the usual reason readers abandon a blog. I sure wouldn’t want you to do that, goodness no!

In brainstorming a post for today, I thought: how is an entrepreneur to balance a regularly-updated blog and a start-up? Some business owners do this well. Many others, I suspect, are like me and sometimes find it tough to do both. What’s a busy entrepreneur to do?

Here are a few ideas:

Schedule It
Carve out some time in your schedule to blog. Maybe it’s in the mornings, right after you check emails. Maybe it’s at night, right before you go to bed. It may not be easy to find time in a busy schedule, but if you are like me and run your life with a calendar, whatever isn’t make it to your calendar won’t make it into your day. So schedule it.
Write a Bunch at a Time
Don’t have any spare hours to write? Perhaps there is an occasional slow work day. Take advantage of this block of free time to write a bunch of entries. Then schedule them to be published throughout the week or month. By their very nature, these entries can’t be about daily events, so pick time-insensitive topics.
Hire a Ghost Writer
This technique is controversial, though some celebrities do it (and on Twitter too). If you are a business owner and are trying to establish a brand for yourself or your company, I would highly recommend against this tactic, however. Instead, consider the next tip:
Assign a Team of Bloggers
Do away with the idea of your own personal blog and select some responsible & word-crafty members of your company to operate a company blog. You may want to write an occasional entry so your readers can hear (see?) your voice. Of course, this effectively means you’re running a group blog and not a personal blog anymore.
Write Shorter Posts
If you are prone to somewhat-verbose entries like me, consider writing a short post here and there. They are quicker and easier to do, not to mention a lot less stressful.
Use Alternate Publication Tools
Speaking of short posts, there are other publication tools that are formatted for smaller entries, such as Twitter, Tumblr, and Posterous. Consider using one of those for your self-publication needs.
Use Alternate Devices to Blog
If being at a computer is difficult because you are frequently traveling, then download a blogging app for your mobile device, such as WordPress on Blackberry, WordPress on iPhone, TypePad on Blackberry, Blogger from Blackberry, or MoveableType from iPhone. There are plenty more out there too.
Give It Up
Ultimately, it is a matter of prioritizing your workload within a finite amount of time. If there are simply too many other important responsibilities, maybe it is time to retire your blog. Bid bye-bye to your abandoned blog.

Of these tactics, I try to schedule some time to blog and occasionally write a bunch at a time. Once in a while, I’ll do a shorter post just to get an idea or comment out. But to make sure my blog doesn’t start attracting cobwebs, maybe I’ll need to schedule a weekly time for them.

These are just some ideas I’ve heard of or thought up. Do you have any other suggestions?

4 Great Businesses Coming from Recessions

McDonald's Some of the world’s greatest companies were born during economic recessions. Bet you didn’t know that.

An article from Entrepreneur Magazine highlights some of the most innovative ideas to arise from economic slumps. From that list, I noticed four great companies:

The Great Depression (1930 – 1939)
1939 – Hewlett-Packard (HP)

Eisenhower Recession (1954 – 1961)
1955 – McDonald’s (MCD)

Vietnam, Stagflation, Oil Crisis (1973 – 1975)
1975 – Microsoft (MSFT)

1980’s Recession (1981 – 1983)
1981 – MTV (VIA)

The article also cites some pretty important ideas, such as scotch tape (1930), fluorescent light bulbs (1938), disposable diapers (1961), Post-It Notes (1974), Prozac (1987), the World Wide Web (1991), and the iPod (2001), all of which were born during recessions.

So you see, this isn’t a time for gloom and doom. It is a time to create and elate! After all, recession is the mother of invention.

Former Yahoos Take Yahoo! Back

Happy Post-April Fools!

Yesterday, we released a press release titled, “Former Yahoos Take Yahoo! Back: WebMocha, a start-up created by former Yahoo engineers, purchases internet giant Yahoo!”

It was an April Fool’s joke of course, but a few friends almost believed it. Gotcha! Hehe.

We thought the line, “Effectively immediately, the new company will be renamed WebMochahoo!.” was absurd enough to imply it was a joke, but, heh, maybe not. I’m glad to hear we danced the line of subtlety & irony well.

Writing it was a lot of fun. We had some really far-out ideas, but toned down the final copy wisely. I even searched around for PR article guidelines and looked at a few real ones about past mergers and acquisitions.

In the press release, we listed a Hiro Nakamura as our Media Relations contact, as a nod to Heroes (great first season, this season: meh). I even set up the email address motryingtopeekhuhc.ahcombewwhatareyoudoinghal@orih, in case another Heroes fan wanted to contact us. In my head, I had this whole plan to reply to each person as if I was Hiro and end each email with the exclamation, “Yata!” Alas, only one hardcore fan emailed us. (Props to you, Jason!)

We tweeted this, posted it on Facebook, and spammed a few friends and alumni lists. By the end of the day, we had a significant increase in unique visitors – more than 10,000%! Of course, our site isn’t a traffic destination and we’re not monetizing this traffic, but it’s a neat metric.

I’m not sure when we’ll take the press release down, but I figured I’d record it here for prosperity. The one on the site is better though. It has photos.

Former Yahoos Take Yahoo! Back

WebMocha, a start-up created by former Yahoo engineers, purchases internet giant Yahoo!

Sunnyvale, CA (PRWEB) April 1, 2009 — WebMocha LLC today announced it has agreed to acquire Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO), a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide.

WebMocha is a technology and web development services agency founded in 2008 by a group of former Yahoo engineers. Effectively immediately, the new company will be renamed WebMochahoo!. The new logo will be in red.

When asked why this purchase was made, WebMocha co-founder Mike Lee replied, “At this bargain basement stock price, why not?” Under the terms of the merger agreement, WebMocha will acquire all of the outstanding equity interests in Yahoo! for $18 per share, representing a premium of approximately 28% over the current stock price.

“Our first order of business,” added WebMocha co-founder George Diaz, “will be another re-org. After the initial re-org necessary for the transition, that is. Then we’ll have meetings about meetings.” Indeed, Yahoo! has lost numerous employees and executives in the last year, both from attrition and corporate reorganizations. In that time, executives Carol Bartz and Elisa Steele joined as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively, after Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang stepped down from the CEO position in November, 2008.

WebMocha executives will be enacting changes to raise morale and streamline productivity while a deep analysis of now WebMochahoo!’s business model takes place. This analysis will culminate into a 100 Day Plan that will be delivered in exactly one hundred days, give or take a few.

This step is just the first in a series of major acquisitions WebMocha will be making this year. Many others are also in the works. Webmoogle? Microcha? Webay? Facemocha? Webazon? The possibilities abound.

Effective immediately: foosball tables will be placed in every break room on every floor. All Year End Parties will be canceled until the company is back on the track of significant profitability and shareholder value.

When asked about the traditional Yahoo! yodel, WebMocha co-founder Barney Mok said, “Yeah…that’s gotta go. We’re bringing back the Arsenio Hall fist pump to instill fear in our competition.”

About WebMocha LLC

WebMocha LLC is a California-based web development and technology services company that builds optimized, high-performance, enterprise-level web applications.

Contact:

WebMocha LLC
Hiro Nakamura, 415-555-4180 (Media Relations)
motryingtopeekhuhc.ahcombewwhatareyoudoinghal@orih

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is focused on powering its communities of users, advertisers, publishers, and developers by creating indispensable experiences built on trust. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Contact:

Yahoo! Inc.
David Yang, 408-555-7426 (Media Relations)
yangmeister@yahoo-inc.com
Jerry Filo, 408-555-4110 (Investor Relations)
f@yahoo-inc.com

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April Fools, obviously.