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Supercharge Your Business, Now
875_ 7/26/10-Discover 3 new ways of Thinking, Planning and Executing...
Learn about the Process – 1) Radical Planning – Are you ready for it? The audit will help you cross the sea of change with a successful, proven process. 2) The People Factor – What's the answer to the people puzzle? How do you tap into your team's mental DNA? Allow your people to be the solution. 3) The Trends – There is a ground swell in your market space. Can you identify it? Capitalize on it and avoid the traps and pitfalls. "Growth is impossible without change. As Larry points out, the most effective way to manage change is to create it. Mastering Change allows for new natural alignment and unprecedented growth and success.” Curt Coffman, Co-Author, 'First Break all the Rules'. What do these organizations have in common? AT&T, Ball Aerospace, Bechtel Corp, Canon, Children’s Hospital, Dean Foods, First National Bank, GE, Hilton, IBM, IRS, Johnson Controls, Lawrence Livermore National Labs, Microsoft, Mobil Oil Japan, 3M, NCAR, Sanyo Australia, Stanford University, Tiffany and Company, Toledo Edison, US Forest Service, US Dept. of Transportation, United Way, University of Colorado, University of Wisconsin… Answer: They and many others have tapped into Larry Nelson’s programs. Guy Kawasaki, author of Reality Check and co-founder of Alltop.com, www.garage.com said, "Larry’s plain talk approach for managing teams is refreshing and practical. His advice will help teams deal with change challenges in unknown economic times because it’s not filled with hype and jargon. Mastering Change is a great resource for entrepreneurs and managers." Try Something Disruptive to Supercharge Your Business.
Related Links:
Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos ||
MC Blog ||
MC Seminars ||
Podcast Directory ||
Keywords: Mastering Change, Larry Nelson, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Leaders, Curt
Coffman, Guy Guy Kawasaki
Inventors, innovators and developing new products
926_ 11/22/10-
Talking with Tom Frey of the DaVinci Institute at the Inventor Showcase. Larry asked about some background and information about the event, the attendees and the inventors. Tom said, "We think the people that are developing new products are some of the most ingenious people out there. They dedicate their life to making the world better. Hollywood tends to trivialize the work of the inventor like the mad scientists. But actually they're providing a hugely valuable service. These people are dedicating a good chunk of their life and resources to get these products into the market and some of this stuff is absolutely fabulous, I mean it just jumps off the page when you look at it. I'm so amazed at the stuff they come up with every year and I feel empowered, I feel encouraged every year when I see all this activity." The Showcase features everything from manufacturers, to high tech to jewelry, just everything imaginable. :"Yeah, that's the real tricky thing for the judges. Going from booth to booth and actually evaluating some real sophisticated robotic product or some bio-medical product and then comparing it to games or jewelry, that's a tough job. But somehow it works. The credibility of the judges we have, there are so many talented people that are here, it's the credibility of the judges that adds weight to the awards that we give out at the end of the day. It makes this a fabulous event and it all comes together in the in the evening."
Related Links:
DaVinci Institute ||
Inventor Showcase 2010 ||
In the News ||
Blog ||
Keywords:Tom Frey, Inventor Showcase, DaVinci Institute, Entrepreneurs,
Innovation, Scientists, Designers, New Products - Chnl: Entrepreneurs 11/22/10 bytes: 2398879
LISTEN to
Tom Frey, DaVinci Institute, Inventors Showcase
Fifty companies and 70 investors
8812_ 8/16/10-
The TechStars Demo Day program in Boulder was a jam-packed event. In addition to the 11 winning companies out of a 600 application start, there was a room full of investors (of all sizes) and other interested supporters and professionals. The event was kicked off by David Cohen, founder and CEO of TechStars. David said, "We went through 600 companies down to ten. Over the summer we spend 3 months with them for a mentorship driven program, it's all about the mentors. And, we're gong to tell you what they've been up to today. He spoke quickly about the results from last year. There were 10 companies and they went on to raise more than $10 M after being here. A little history, there were 3 companies when we met here last year that had already exited. In the last year FiltrBox has been acquired by Jive Software. One thing that we are add, that we're really proud of, is that over 70 unique investors have invested in a TechStars company. [It's 50 companies and more than 70 investors.] We also ran a program in Boston. We also announced that we're running a program in Seattle, it will start in just a few weeks. It's really exciting and we've had a massive demand, on a worldwide basis, people want to understand what's been happening at TechStars. How does the model work, how can you replicate it? One of the things we've done about it is start our Affiliate Program. We've launched our first one in Copenhagen." Listen to what Jared Polis has to say next...
Related Links:
TechStars Details ||
TechStars ||
SpringStage Colorado ||
David Cohen Blog ||
TechStars Results ||
TechStars Demo Day Photos ||
Keywords: David Cohen, TechStars, Entrepreneurs, Economy, Colorado, Venture Capitalists, Startup Community, Tech Community TechStars, Brad Feld, Jared Polis 8/16/10 bytes: 4166533 Listen to: David Cohen, Founder, TechStars
You can control physical devices with your phone
873_ 7/26/10-
"A really interesting thing is we've made the android source code super open, super easy, to where developers who know nothing about hardware can start putting little commands on, like move forward and it does - and that really opens it up to doing almost anything." Larry had a discussion with the leaders of GearBox, Ian Bernstein and Adam Wilson, which is part of the 2010 TechStars Class. Ian said, "At Gearbox, we allow you to control physical devices with your phone. Over 78% of the apps in the Apple App Store are in the games and entertainment market and we figured that would be a good place to start. What we're doing is building a robot ball that you can control by tilting your thumb. So, just like the iPhone, people can say it's just a phone, but it's not just a phone. You can check your email, you can text, play games, you can do a lot of different things - there are thousands of apps for it. So, we're building this ball, and it's not 'just a ball'. The first app we're coming out with is 'Sumo' and by tilting our phones, we can physically throw a ball, your ball off the table. While we're doing this, there are on screen components, you can have power-ups and other features that wouldn't be possible just in RC play." Adam continued, "We get rid of having to know all the 'blue tooth' and all the hard stuff that goes into controlling a spherical robot. Another app that we're really excited about is the 'Cat Hat'. So now you're going to start buying apps for your cat, right? So the ball can get batted around at home, by your cat and it keeps track of and gives a score that can be posted on social networks, like they do with other games, and people get competitive with cats." ...listen for more...
Related Links:
GearBox Home ||
Gearbox's Smart Ball || GearBox Blog || TechStars ||
Brad Feld Blog ||
David Cohen Blog ||
Economy Builders ||
Keywords: Ian Bernstein, Adam Wilson, Gearbox, Apps, iPhone, Android Source Code,
Entrepreneurship, TechStars, Mentors, Paul Berberian, Network 7/26/10 bytes: 5098478
Listen to: Ian Bernstein and Adam Wilson, GearBox
851_ 6/1/10 -
Applications: Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In
Driven by the popularity of applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In, businesses have been looking for ways to incorporate these tools into the enterprise - launching an entire market space called Enterprise Social Computing. Enterprise social computing delivers the status posts, activity tracking and social bookmarking much like familiar social media tools– and extracts real value from these activities in areas like knowledge management, project execution and sales/service/support. Larry interviewed J. B. Holston, CEO and President of Newsgator. J. B. and Newsgator are also one of the 2009 winners of Colorado Companies to Watch. J. B. pointed out, "The easy way to think of Newsgator today is that we've got enterprise software that allows enterprises to have secure and scaled FaceBook and Twitter for their internal/external constituents. If you use any of those kinds of applications or LinkedIn, and you went through a company that's using our software you would have a similar experience with our company around that software. The company's been around about seven years, funded by Mobius VC, Brad Feld who is on our board. Our client base is the Global 2000, so we tend to have very large organizations as our clients, and we tend to have enterprise wide arrangements with our clients. So we have companies like Accenture and Deloitte which have deployed our technology on an enterprise wide basis and a lot of the technologies and vendors in this space are sort of a point solution. That's one distinguishing factor. Then we have a very close partnership with Microsoft, most of our deployments are related to a Microsoft product called SharePoint. SharePoint's got about 100 million seats worldwide, so we're able to walk in to any company that has SharePoint, any one of those hundred million seats..."
Related Links:
NewsGator ||
Colorado Companies to Watch ||
Brad Feld Blog ||
Find It ||
Economy Builders Channel ||
Keywords: J. B. Holston, Newsgator, Colorado Companies to Watch, Facebook, Twitter,
Linked-In, Microsoft, SharePoint, Social Media > 6/1/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 7397149 Listen to:
J B Holston, CEO & President, Newsgator
850_ 6/1/10 -
Elements of a winning logo design
"Before a logo is designed it is imperative that the branding strategy, mission statement and positioning are clear." Larry sat down with long-term colleague Michael Hamers, Founder and CEO of LightSpeed Commercial Arts to discuss the visual aspect of building your business. Mike went onto explain, "I need to understand the human side of the company we’re branding… it’s people. Who is this company, what are their values, what do they think is Important, what is their corporate culture. My logo will be a symbolic expression that will represent the People, the Product, and the Promise." He added, "Brand identity is the visual and verbal expression of the brand. A logo is the shortest, fastest form of communication available. You can see it, hold it, wear it,, watch it move. It starts with a brand name, then the brand mark builds out into the matrix of tools and communications: from business cards, to web sites, fleet trucks to signage, brand identity increases awareness and builds businesses. Next on the list is the tag line. Often I’m involved in creating the tag line as well. The tag line is very important because 75% of the time I am designing to the tag line, or what I often times call a positioning statement. Your company name is who you are (and often is a made-up word anyhow), but the tag line can offer much more information like WHAT you do or HOW you are unique. It’s a slogan, a clarifier, company statement or guiding principle that describes, synopsizes or helps create an interest. Although the brand is much more than a brand mark, the logo is virtually indistinguishable from the brand in the eyes of the consumer. It needs to be unique, memorable and meaningful. The concept needs to be immediately understood. Effective identity is valued because it builds awareness; increases recognition; communicates uniqueness; and expresses a competitive difference ...Listen for more...
Related Links:
LightSpeed Commercial Arts ||
Logo Design ||
Entrepreneurs ||
Blog ||
Keywords: Michael Hamers, LightSpeed Commercial Arts, Logo, Design, Brand, Tag line,
Awareness, Recognition, Uniqueness, Competitive Difference > 6/1/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 9385485 Listen: Michael Hamers, LightSpeed Commercial Arts
842_ 5/17/10 -
A different way of funding for entrepreneurs
"What is the black hole of funding today?" Larry asked Brian Tsuchiya. Brian is known as the Startup Guru, has a Founders and Startup Meetup, and has 800+ people involved. He also has a Social Meetup where they focus more on the giving back component, that's a new Meetup and is growing as well. Brian replied, "there's a gap if you're not VC fundable (which is only one in a thousand businesses, roughly), it's tough to find, if you don't have the assets, banks aren't going to lend you the money - you need 1/2 to two million dollars, angels - most angels don't invest that much. You know the average syndicated investment from an angel group is only a quarter million dollars. What we are focused on is getting that money from a crowd. So imagine 1,000 people, and that's a lot but as an example, and they each gave you $100. Now there's a lot of money in that. Can you find a lot of people that can give you a thousand or a hundred bucks? Well, that's the concept you're getting a small amount of money, that you would typically think of in terms of an investor, but you get a lot more of those people. The cash funding hole is basically this quarter million to two million dollar range, that's just hard to find. However if you can find a big enough crowd that's compelled to invest in your business because either they have an affinity for what you're doing or you have a really large network of people, then if you follow the Security and Exchange Commission rules, you can engage a very large group of people. It's just not something people think of in terms of funding their business, but it is viable." Brian shares some specifics about steps for successful 'crowd funding '...Listen for more...
Related Links:
Startup Guru ||
Startup and Founder Meetup ||
Entrepreneurs Channel ||
Podcast Directory || >
Keywords: Brian Tsuchiya, Entrepreneurs, Startup Factory, Startup Guru, Incubator,
Startup and Founder Meetup, Crowd Funding, 5/17/10 Bytes: 5951114 CHNL: Entrepreneurs LISTEN to
Brian Tsuchiya, Startup Guru on Crowd Financing
858_ 6/21/10 -
Myths and realities of innovation
Business Innovation can be a threatening and misleading term for a lot of people because they think to be a great innovator, they've got to be like Steve Jobs. Larry had a conversation with Guy Cook, founder of Creation Wave about business innovation. Guy said many think, "I've got to do something that's going to change the world. I've got to do something that goes from 'horse and carriage' to the automobile. But that's not the way most of us need to think about innovation. All we need to think about to be successful innovators is how to change, how to apply things differently. How do we get outside of ourselves to improve? That's day-to-day innovation business managers need to undertake." They went onto discuss 'Innovation Ideation' and the challenges. Guy's advice for entrepreneurs was, "If you're just starting out, go sell something. People get all wrapped up about processes that don't yet exist; how do I raise capital? People get all wrapped up about issues that do nothing more than hold you back from fundamentally doing what you have to do. What you have to do as an entrepreneur is go sell something. As soon as you do that, your entire world changes. For those who have actually established a business and have it up and running, in terms of innovation, try to put in place a set of tools that will help you think about business problems. So, some operational tools that can serve as a check and balance for every activity that you undertake. It can be very simple, but if you do that it can help keep you out of trouble."
Related Links:
Guy Cook Linkedin ||
Economy Builders ||
Podcast Directory ||
Mastering Change Blog ||
Keywords: Guy Cook, Creation Wave, Innovation, Innovation Ideation, Steve Jobs,
Challenges, Sell, Create, Entrepreneurs - 6/21/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 4810399 Listen to: Guy Cook, Creation Wave
849_ 6/1/10 -
Raising money for a very long time
The keynote speaker at the Rockies Venture Club Colorado Capital Conference (CCC) was Jeff Hoffman. There were many venture capitalists, angel investors and other financial sources in attendance. Larry had a discussion with Jeff at the CCC and asked, "What advice do you have for people trying to raise money in today's market?" Jeff's experienced reply was, "There's no doubt that raising money today is harder. You have to keep in mind. good ideas get funded anyway, and people in the money business do not make money if they don't invest in anything. So money is harder to get, but it's out there. That means you have to be sharper, better prepared than the next guy in line when you go after that money." Jeff says he is fortunate in that he's sat on both sides of the table for a long time. He's raised money for all of his startups, during his entire career. But he's also sat on the investment side of the table, and listened to literally hundreds of pitches, PowerPoint's and business plans from people pitching for money, He has personally raised probably over $50 million in venture capital. He would later ask them, 'What did I do right, what appealed to you?' When looking for investment money there are three key points. Let me tell you..." Jeff is currently a founder and partner in ColorJar, a venture accelerator firm that helps entrepreneurs and small business owners launch and grow new business ventures. In this capacity, Jeff works with startup companies all over the country to help turn great ideas into profitable businesses. Hoffman is perhaps best known as a founder and CEO in the Priceline.com family of companies, where Jeff led the development and launch of Priceline’s consumer company. There's much more here so listen now...
Related Links:
Jeff Hoffman Website ||
ColorJar ||
Jeff Hoffman: Entrepreneurs Bootcamp ||
Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos ||
CCC Photos ||
Keywords: Jeff Hoffman, Entrepreneurs, Colorado Capital Conference, Mentors, PriceLine,
StartUp Guru, Raising Money, ColorJar > 6/1/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 9382664
Listen to: Jeff Hoffman, ColorJar
835_ 5/3/10 -
The value of mentors for entrepreneurs
"We had a startup before PriceLine, that was virtual shopping where - I had the idea, but I wanted to do the plumbing between conventional retailing and Internet retailing and do the middleware. We were a little early in the Internet business, but we got our feet wet in E-commerce. And then of course, I was part of PriceLine at the beginning which was obviously a successful buyer driven commerce model on the Internet that is still doing very well today." Larry interviewed Jeff Hoffman, Keynote Speaker - at the RVC Colorado Capital Conference and presenter of some workshops with the StartUp Guru StartUp program. Larry asked, What advice would you give to entrepreneurs today, given the economic difficulties we've been through? "First of all, challenge means change and change always creates opportunity. So on the one hand while people are saying it's a tough time out there and bad things are happening in the economy, I always look at that as new opportunity. Change in economic conditions or anything in the business world around us always creates an opportunity for something that is needed today, because of those changes, that wasn't needed yesterday. I would encourage entrepreneurs to be really focused on looking at the opportunities that a change presents. Second, as technology continues to advance..." Jeff goes onto say, "During my entire business life, and especially in the early days, I always had mentors. They never monitored gain for helping me, but they helped me anyway, they took their time to counsel me and teach me things that were clearly beneficial to me in my business life. So, I really believe in the way that helps. He shares many other ideas ...Listen for more...
Related Links:
Colorado Capital Conference ||
StartUp Guru StartUp & Founder Meetup ||
Launching and Funding Your Startup Business ||
Jeff Hoffman: Mentoring Circle ||
Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos ||
Keywords: Jeff Hoffman, Entrepreneurs, Colorado Capital Conference, Mentors,
PriceLine, StartUp Guru, > 5/3/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 5040172 Listen to:
Jeff Hoffman, CEO of Enable Holdings, Inc.
833_ 5/3/10 -
Entrepreneurs and a piece of the action
Adversity spurred Theresa on to start her own business. Larry interviewed Theresa Szczurek, one of the co-founders of Radish Communication Systems, which sold for $40 million. She'd started off as technical staff at Bell Labs and then moved on to International Marketing - "I was living my dream climbing the corporate ladder, I thought to success. But, I didn't realize the price I would have to pay for my position as one of the highest ranked women in my division. The lack of a personal life and the 60 hour work weeks took their toll. Behind my back, it turned out, colleagues resented my promotions, my boss instructed me to act without integrity. I sat back, especially when the company sent that boss and not me, to introduce to the world the product that I had been working on for three years, and I said, Wow! is this what I'm working so hard for?' - My head had dominated my rational decisions up to this point, but finally my heart broke through... and it said, what you really want Theresa is balance in your life!, You want connections with people, meaningful work in an environment where people can contribute and be rewarded to the fullest. I decided if I was going to work that hard, I wanted a piece of the action so that I could establish the values upon which we were going to operate. I wanted to mold the environment; I wanted input on the decisions. So my inner, wiser self said, make the decision Theresa, make the change, follow your heart in harmony with your head, "Pursue Your Passionate Purpose". So that's what I did and started my first consulting company, Technology and Management Solutions." There's more...
Related Links:
Pursuit of Passionate Purpose ||
Technology and Management Solutions ||
Boulder Business and Professional Women ||
Economy Builders ||
Keywords: Theresa Szczurek, Radish Communication Systems, Entrepreneurs,
Boulder Business and Professional Women, Pursuit of Passionate Purpose > 5/3/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 9431879
Listen to: Theresa Szczurek, PhD - author "Pursuit of Passionate Purpose"
801_ 3/8/10 -
Grant leads to a sale to Disney
Silicon Flatirons, ATLAS, and ITP present Krista Marks, Kerpoof as their featured entrepreneur in the Entrepreneurs Unplugged program. Krista Marks is the General Manager of Disney Online Kerpoof Studios. Prior to the acquisition by the Disney Interactive Media Group in July 2008, Krista was the CEO and Co-Founder of Kerpoof. With Kerpoof.com, and now Disney.com/Create, Kerpoof Studios has delivered the Internet's premier creativity platforms for children of all ages, platforms praised by press, educators, parents, and kids worldwide. Krista is also passionate about engineering and has long been active in efforts to broaden kids' awareness of engineering. Lucinda Sanders, CEO and Founder of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and NCWIT moderated this discussion and dug deep into the facts. Brian Patrick, founder of Colorado Tech TV video and audio taped this lively discussion. After bootstrapping Krista and team went forward on applying for a government grant. Krisat said, "The NSF (National Science Foundation) has many different programs aimed at advancing the cause of research and science in the United States and even internationally in some cases. SBIR stands for Small Business Innovation Research, so to qualify for an SBIR Grant you have to be a small business (fewer than 500 employees), and the grant has to be used specifically for funding research. A phase one grant is $100K and this funds the first part of that research, typically a feasibility type of analysis." In about two short/long years Disney bought Kerpoof...listen for more details...
Related Links:
Kerpoof Studio ||
Disney.com/Create ||
Entrepreneurs Unplugged ||
Colorado Tech TV ||
OnSightMedia ||
Entrepreneurs Unplugged with Krista Marks, Event Photos ||
Keywords:Krista Marks, Kerpoof, Disney, Silicon Flatirons, ATLAS, ITP, Lucinda
Sanders, NCWIT, Small Business Innovation Research, Grant, Entrepreneurs Unplugged > 3/8/10 Bytes:45382115 Chnl: Entrepreneurs
LISTEN to Krista Marks, Entrepreneurs Unplugged
The challenges and choices of building a company
785_ FEB 1/2010 Brad Feld and Brad Bernthal had an interesting discussion at the Entrepreneurs Unplugged program with Ryan Martens, Founder and Chief Technology Officer and Tim Miller, CEO of Rally Software. Brian Patrick, founder of Colorado Tech TV video and audio taped yhis discussion and you can choose to watch or/and listen. Ryan Martens brings to Rally proven leadership in dynamic, high growth software companies and is an expert in assisting organizations transition from traditional development processes to more Agile techniques. Before founding Rally Software Development - his fourth software start-up. Prior to joining Rally, Tim was CEO of Avitek, which was sold to BEA Systems in 1999. Tim helped create BEA's highly successful Portal Development Group and then served as Vice President of BEA's Accelerated Development Centers. Entrepreneurs Unplugged is a meeting place where faculty, students and community members with technical backgrounds learn about and get involved in entrepreneurship. In particular, the program offers students and faculty an opportunity to learn how a successful start up is created as well as an opportunity to network.
Related Links:
Entrepreneurs Unplugged ||
Silicon Flatirons ||
Colorado Tech TV ||
OnSightMedia ||
Mastering Change ||
Keywords: Ryan Martens, Tim Miller, Brad Feld, Brad Bernthal, Rally Software,
Entrepreneurs Unplugged, Colorado Tech TV, Brian Patrick, OnSightMedia > Channel: Entrepreneurs 79946713 bytes - 2/8/10
LISTEN to Ryan Martens, Tim Miller, Brad Feld and
Brad Bernthal
745_
Ted Turner: From CNN, to Bison, to the United Nations and Beyond This is part 1 of a 4-part series. It's engaging, funny and loaded with learning
points. The special guest on this Silicon Flatirons 'Entrepreneurs Unplugged' is Ted Turner. David H. Getches, Dean, University of Colorado Law School introduced Ted and shared some historical information that will open many eyes. Ted Turner lives his 21st Century life of giving and advocating to make things right and it is for that reason the University of Colorado Law School and the Silicon Flatirons Center for Entrepreneurship has created 'the Entrepreneur for Good Prize' and today we are presenting the 'Inaugural Prize' to Ted Turner. Then the Entrepreneurs Unplugged discussion was led by Brad Bernthal, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, CU Law School, and Entrepreneurship Initiative Director, Silicon Flatirons Center. Brad said, "Let's start out with the early days, 1963 and the bill board business. You're 24 years old, pressed into running the business under the most difficult circumstances I can imagine as your father passed away. Can you talk about growing Turner Advertising and your first entrepreneurial venture?" Turner is co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; chairman of the Turner Foundation, Inc., which supports efforts for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect the earth's climate, safeguarding environmental health, maintaining wildlife habitat protection, and developing practices and policies to curb population growth rates; chairman of the United Nations Foundation, which promotes a more peaceful, prosperous and just world; and a partner in the Ted's Montana Grill restaurant chain, which operates more than 55 locations nationwide. Listen for more...
Related Links:
SFC Entrepreneurs Unplugged ||
SFC Photo Album ||
'Call Me Ted' Amazon ||
Economy Builders ||
Podcast Directory ||
Keywords: Ted Turner, CNN, Entrepreneurs Unplugged, David Getches, Brad Bernthal,
Silicon Flatirons, Entrepreneur, Channel: Entrepreneurs 22984253 bytes 11/23/09
LISTENPart 1 of 4:
Part 3: Brad Bernthal probed into Ted Turner's worldwide passions. Ted talked about numerous countries and cities, including Denver. He referred to the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Rwanda's Tutsis and Hutu political moderates by the Hutu dominated government. Over the course of approximately 100 days more than 500,000 people were killed. Ted went onto talk about Rwanda today under the leadership of H.E. President Paul Kagame of The Republic of Rwanda. Rwanda has outlawed plastic bags and every month his cabinet and everyone in Rwanda goes out and picks up all the trash in the country. Ted said, "People tend to think that philanthropy is giving money away. I don't approach it from that point, what I'm doing is making an investment in the future of humanity. I'm making an investment in a better world - I'm trying to, it's not easy. Kids ask me, when I speak at a high school or college, what's more satisfying making the money or giving it away? And I say you have to make the money before you can give it away. Then they say, 'It's easy for you, for rich people to give it away when you have so much. And I tell them it's easy for you to be a philanthropist too, one thing you can give is your time. One thing Ted does, when he walks down the streets of Atlanta or Denver, etc., if he sees a piece of trash on the street, he picks it up and walks to the nearest trash can." Listen for more...
756_
Questions and answers with Ted Turner Part 4 of 4
This is the last segment of the Silicon Flatirons Center's "Entrepreneurs Unplugged with Ted Turner". What a treat it has been!
Very enjoyable, a great time with a man no one really expected to be so open and
genuine. We wrap up an interesting, hilariously funny session with the usual one-on-on audience generated Q&A, of course with a special emphasis on student participation. Ted doesn't disappoint. And next time you get a chance, be sure to make a point of seeing Mr. Ted Turner, although he'll tell you to,
"Call Me Ted".
- 12/14/09
LISTENPart 4 of 4
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742_ Producer of Everyday Edisons and Publisher of the Inventors Digest
At the DaVinci Inventors Showcase, Louis Foreman was a keynote speaker. Louis is the creator of the Emmy® Award winning PBS TV show, Everyday Edisons and serves as the Executive Producer. The show is in its third season and appears nationally on PBS. He is also Producer of Everyday Edisons and Publisher of the Inventors Digest. In July of this year, his first book, The Independent Inventor’s Handbook, was published. In 2008 he was appointed to serve for a three year term on the nine-person Patent Public Advisory Committee of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Over the past 20 years Louis has created 9 successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 others. A prolific inventor, he is the inventor of 10 registered US Patents, and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of well over 400 more. Louis discusses ideas and how to figure out the ideas that are worth pursuing. "You have to understand the value of intellectual property and how important it is to not just have an idea but you've got to take that idea and reduce it to practice and figure out how you generate an economic return from that invention. Don't rely on what your friends and family think, develop a picture of who wants this product, figure out and identify your market. Build a spread sheet, figure out costs, these aren't made up figures but realistic estimates. We need data points in order to make a reasonable decision, whether or not it makes sense to pursue it. So we may put all of these numbers together and find that most likely our invention will generate $100K; worst case we may lose $70K, and if Oprah loves it, we can make $400K. Now we can weigh risk and reward..." There's much more... For your convenience:
Part 1 of 2;
immediately following Part 2 of 2
Related Links:
PBS: Everyday Einsteins ||
Inventors Digest ||
Edison Nation ||
Inventors Showcase Photos ||
DaVinci Institute ||
Inventor Showcase ||
Find It ||
Keywords: Louis Foreman, Everyday Einsteins, Inventors, DaVinci Institute, Entrepreneurs, PBS, DaVinci Inventors Showcase, US Patents, Inventions -
Channel: Entrepreneurs
23438313 bytes 11/23/09 LISTEN To Part 1 of 2
738_
Going from Oil field engineer to IT executive to Web 2.0 CEO
Going from Oil field engineer to IT executive to Web 2.0 CEO is only an overview of Dave DuPont, Chief Executive Officer of TeamSnap Inc. Dave has twenty years of experience in technology leadership positions. He was previously CEO of SANRAD, a venture-funded storage networking company that he joined in 2006. Before that he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Plasmon. Dave first moved to Colorado in 2000, when he helped found LeftHand Networks, a Boulder-based company recently sold to Hewlett Packard. The tech titan acquired LeftHand for $360 million to help round out its storage and virtualization portfolio, and target midsize businesses. Prior to that, he was in charge of Dell Computer Corporation's North American Precision Workstation business. Dave's newest venture, TeamSnap is for the overworked person who's in charge of your recreational adult sports team or youth sports team. Coaches, managers, parents, and anybody else who's been tapped to keep track of your sports team. TeamSnap gives this person their life back. But most of all, TeamSnap is for the team because it enables your teammates to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate in ways that are both fun and time-saving. Bottom line, TeamSnap puts the enjoyment back into team sports. currently they have the following kinds of teams using TeamSnap: Baseball, Basketball, Cheerleading, Cricket, Cycling, Field Hockey, Football, Hockey, Ice Hockey, Indoor Soccer, Inline Hockey, Kickball, Lacrosse, Running, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, Ultimate, Volleyball and many more — pretty much any kind of sport you can imagine. Dave has some very good advice for entrepreneurs that he shares with Larry during this interview. There's much more...
Related Links:
TeamSnap Home ||
RVC Events ||
Angel Capital Summit ||
Find It ||
Keywords: David Du Pont, TeamSnap, Teams, Web 2.0, RVC, Angel Capital Summit, LeftHand
Networks, Hewlett Packard, Entrepreneurs - Channel: Entrepreneurs 10572918 bytes 11/16/09
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Build an 'A' team, create a vision, build a culture for the long haul
Larry coralled Paul Jerde, CU-Boulder, Robert H. & Beverly A. Deming Center and Larry Jones the CEO of StarTek and Chairman of the Deming Board and asked them to share the three biggest strategies that they would recommend for entrepreneurs. Larry Jones said, "The first and foremost is picking your team. Picking the 'A' team, people you know well, who you think have the expertise whether it be technical, people, marketing & sales - but building the right team, and don't compromise. Second is create a vision and a passion. Yes, you have an idea, yes you have a view of whose going to buy your product, but turn that into a vision with a very big passion. And your life is going to be surrounded by this and therefore you're going to be singing this song over and over again to your employees, to your investors and to your customers. Make sure that that is a passionate message. " Listen for more great advice. Paul Jerde recommended, "I think the starting point is always for someone to do the best job they can of finding a passion, something that just personally they are very excited about, that they feel is important and worthwhile doing, and looking for opportunities based around that area of passion. Secondly, coupling that, wherever possible to emerging areas of opportunity. The great title waves of technology advancement and IT built a lot of wonderful careers. We talked in previous interviews about areas of energy, organics, healthy food, healthcare, bioscience, biomedical; as great examples, some of the world's greatest challenges. Clearly areas of great opportunity going forward." Paul also had more to offer. Listen for more and be ready to take notes...
Related Links:
Deming Center ||
Technology Transfer Office ||
StarTek ||
Entrepreneur Channel ||
Mastering Change ||
Deming Center Event Photos 9/30/09 ||
Keywords: Paul Jerde, Larry Jones, CU TTO, Robert H. & Beverly Deming
Center for Entrepreneurship, StarTek, Entrepreneurs, University of Colorado > Channel: Entrepreneurs >
5934083 bytes - 11/2/09
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731_ Entrepreneurs Unplugged:
With David Cohen, Executive Director of Techstars Brad Feld, Managing Director & Co-founder of the Foundry Group, Brad Bernthal, Entrepreneurship Initiative Director at Silicon Flatirons and Jill van Matre got to do something many of us would like to do...ask David Cohen, Executive Director of Techstars how he got to where he is including the 'learning experiences' along the way. Brad really got into some deep and important issues. David Cohen is the founder and Exective Director of TechStars. David has a soft spot for technology startups and enjoys helping innovative early stage technology companies succeed. He also has a passion for Colorado and believes it's a fantastic community for any startup. The TechStars program combines these passions with capital, connections and real-world experience to provide a unique opportunity for early stage startups. David is a founder of several software and web technology companies including Pinpoint Technologies (now ZOLL Data Systems) of Broomfield, Colorado. While at ZOLL Data Systems, David was also the CTO. The company was acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation (NASDAQ: ZOLL) in 1999. You can read about it
in No Vision, All Drive [Amazon]. David was also the founder and CEO of earFeeder.com, which was sold to SonicSwap.com in 2006. David is also an active startup advocate, advisor, board member, and technology advisor who comments on these topics on his blog at ColoradoStartups.com. If you want to learn more about what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur listen to this live recording at the Silicon Flatirons Center 'Entrepreneurs Unplugged' event.
Related Links:
Entrepreneurs Unplugged ||
TechStars ||
Colorado Startups ||
Foundry Group ||
Economy Builders ||
Photos from Entrepreneurs Unplugged 10/19/09 ||
Keywords: David Cohen, Brad Feld, Entrepreneurs Unplugged, TechStars, Colorado Startups,
Foundry Group, Silicon Flatirons, Brad Bernthal, Jill van Matre, Pinpoint Technologies > Channel: Entrepreneurs 24509370 bytes 11/2/09
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Colorado is the place to be if you want to be in business for yourself
"If you are a new entrepreneur, coming into the market, the first thing you've got to realize is that you are a sales person. That is a skill that you've got to have to run your own business." Larry interviewed Dawn Todd the key person behind the Angel Capital Summit, of course, that's coordinating between Rockies Venture Club and Catapult Business Development and everything else. Dawn went onto outlining the top three things for new entrepreneurs. "
The second thing I would say is that you've got to sell into which you already know. It's a challenge to sell into a brand new market. Third, in my opinion, you have to learn to manage your own thoughts, because it's true that not everything you think, is true. It's your consciousness that drives your business and once you learn how to manage your own thoughts, then you can drive your business where you want it to go." She went onto explain the key points about the Angel Capital Summit. The Angel Capital Summit is an event that brings together entrepreneurs and investors, and gives them a chance to create a relationship. Probably one of the most innovative events that I've seen put together. It really gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to prepare themselves and think like an investor. This will actually be the largest Angel Investor Event in the United States this year! And I've got to say I am very excited, I think I am the first woman chair of this event. I attended the Angel Capital Summit last year and Wildly Successful Woman was a marketing partner, and really excited to be part of that. I attended the event, there were about 700 people there last year, and I looked around the room and there were about 150 women and I was so shocked, amazed. So after the event...listen, there's more...
Related Links:
Angel Capital Summit 11/17/09 ||
Rockies Venture Club ||
Business Catapult ||
Dawn Todd Home ||
Wildly Successful Woman ||
Mastering Change ||
Keywords: Dawn Todd, Angel Capital Summit, Rockies Venture Club,
Business Catapult, Wildly Successful Woman, Entrepreneur, > Bytes: 8116665 9/14/08
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704_ Disrupting the Conference Call Market – Gold Systems does it Again
Until now it has not been practical for companies to host their own conference calls with any kind of scale, so conferencing service providers have thrived — and your costs have exploded. Traditional conference companies are paid for every minute that each person is on the call. Larry talked with Terry Gold, co-founder of Gold systems about the big changes in that industry. Gold Systems just released their new Conference Server. This is a new conference call product built on top of Microsoft Office Communications Server. Terry shared some great ideas for any entrepreneur as it relates to selling your product or surviving in this economic environment. "Yes, you know we've been through this before, my service anniversary was July 4th, 18 years, and so we've seen a few tough times. When this one happened, and I'll pin it back in October, that's when we saw a big change in incoming orders and the way customers were talking, and we realized it couldn't be business as usual. We were thinking of a new product at that time and made the conscious decision that we had to think of it from a customer's point of view - 'what would make it easy for them to say yes'. We think Unified Communications is part of that, in fact we sometimes think of this as a Trojan horse. Back in October we were thinking, wow, is now the time to go in and try to convince a company to rip out their old PBX's and replace it with something new and kind of unknown? We thought, No. " There are a number of specific ideas ...listen for more...
Related Links:
Gold Systems ||
Conference Server ||
Feld Thoughts ||
Podcast Directory ||
Keywords: Terry Gold, Gold Systems, Conference Call Market, Conference Server,
Unified Communications, Microsoft Office Communications > Channel: Software 6233759 bytes - 8/3/09
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702_
Pushing Water Uphill with a Rake, Memoirs of a Successful Failure
Larry sat down with Steve Baker who was sued for $1.4 Billion and is the author of 'Pushing Water Uphill with a Rake, Memoirs of a Successful Failure'. Steve reflected back and said, "What I learned, going through this is, you can go out in life and particularly in business, do everything right and still fail. I did, we did everything right, as I tell the story in the book, and along came this suit for $1.4 billion dollars, and the stock market crash. Everything I did right didn't matter, everything went wrong. I lost everything, I lost my home, I filed for bankruptcy, and through that experience, I learned many valuable lessons and that's why I'm still here today. The biggest thing I learned going through that experience is the road to success is paved in failure, and you will fail to one degree or another, it's just part of being a business person. So know that going in, accept that and learn from it. As you and I have talked about this, the person who goes through this stands back and learns from it, that person will achieve success. The next thing that I learned and was able to do, is do your best and maintain your ethics, at all costs, as you're going through failure. Because what happens, and these are the turbulent times that try men's souls, and you must maintain that, because if you cross the line of ethics, very often, you're not coming back. I quote Thomas Hopkins, especially when speaking with kids, 'We are not judged by the number of times we fail, but by the number of times we succeed. And the number of times we succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times we fail and try again!'" Listen...
Related Links:
Pushing Water Uphill ||
Steve's Blog ||
Colorado Rising - Steve Baker - Ethics ||
Colorado Rising 6/15/09 Pushing Water Uphill ||
Mastering Change Interview with Larry ||
Keywords: Steve Baker, Pushing Water Uphill, Stock Market Crash, Ethics,
Thomas Hopkins,
Mastering Change > Channel: Entrepreneurs 6542213 bytes - 8/3/09 LISTEN
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Colorado's Entrepreneur EcoSystem and ICT Governor Bill Ritter was Introduced by Phil DiStefano, Provost and Interim Chancellor, CU Boulder. (Ritter is a CU Law School Alum, a 1981 graduate) The Governor addressed the topic of Entrepreneurship in Colorado. "As Governor I have this privilege of meeting really special people, and special in that they really contribute in a significant way. Brad Feld has been this remarkable presence in Colorado and as Governor, I can take advantage of having a person like Brad talk to me, help me, mentor me about this field, about ICT (Information, Communications, Technology) and about the world of entrepreneurship and his cohort in this is Phil Weiser. I lived in Africa for three
years and I was a prosecutor before becoming Governor, and I used to tell folks, as a prosecutor, if someone would have said to me, "We need ubiquitous broadband", I would have arrested them, I didn't know what it meant. These guys really helped me, about this issue, make sense of this industry. Phil is really gifted in his own right as a law professor, but also about how he developed this eco system that we're a part of. We are working in this state so that we can emerge from this economic downturn in a way that is faster, stronger, that we are better positioned for the future because together we've established a strategy to get there." Ritter went onto talk about the economy and Colorado's Entrepreneur EcoSystem.
Related Links:
Silicon Flatirons Center ||
Brad Feld Blog ||
Governor Ritter Website ||
PodCasting Directory ||
Keywords: Governor Bill Ritter, Brad Feld, Phil Weiser, Silicon Flatirons,
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Information, Communications, Technology, ICT > Channel:Entrepreneurs Bytes= 29829854 > 5.4.09
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The entrepreneur and the challenges
945_ 12/27/10-
Over the years w3w3® has had the honor and privilege of interviewing a number of best selling authors, Guy Kawasaki, Leonard Nimoy, Jack Uldrich, Curt Coffman, David Cohen & Brad Feld, just to name a few of people who are coming from firsthand experience. Now we are interviewing Eric Alexander and he has a very interesting background. Not only has he climbed Mt. Everest (the highest mountain in the world at 29,535 feet) a number of times, he's also climbed major peaks on six different continents. He's recently written a book, "the SUMMIT, Faith Beyond EVEREST'S Death Zone". This is about his ascent with, Erik Weihenmayer, the first, and still only, blind person that ever summated Everest. On May 25th, 2001 Eric defied the odds and scaled Mt. Everest guiding his blind- friend Erik Weihenmayer to its lofty 29,035' summit. In 2002 the pair traveled to Russia and climbed Mt. Elbrus at 18,500 ft, and again found success on Mt. Kosciusko, Australia –– two more of the seven summits (the highest points on each of the seven continents) notably the pair skied from the top of each of these latter two – making this the first-ever blind ski descents.) Eric relates his experience to the world of the entrepreneur. For the past eight years, Eric has been traveling around the world and giving presentations to businesses, corporations, school and church groups, and the reason he's been doing that is he believes there is an important message for just about everyone. We all face challenges and we all have 'Everest' whether you're an entrepreneur, whether you're a successful person in business that can apply it to family life. Climbing Mt. Everest was a goal Eric set for himself at a very young age, one that he thought he wouldn't accomplish just due to the fact that it is so far away and so expensive. He just kind of held on to that goal, not pushing for it, but thinking maybe someday...until he met his friend Erik who is blind. And believe it or not, it was the blind man who had the vision to put this thing together. There's much more, listen now...
Related Links:
Higher Summits ||
In the News ||
Entrepreneurs ||
Mastering Change ||
Keywords: Eric Alexander, Erik Weihenmayer, The Summit, Mt. Everest, Guy Kawasaki,
Leonard Nimoy, Jack Uldrich, Curt Coffman, David Cohen, Brad Feld 12/27/10 Chnl: Software0 Bytes: 14872558 LISTEN to Eric Alexander,
Author, the SUMMIT, Faith Beyond EVEREST's Death Zone
US patents: Myth, miracle or madness
929_ 11/22/10-
Larry interviewed Robert Stoll, Commissioner for Patents, U. S. Patent and Trademark Office. He was the keynote speaker at the DaVinci Institute's Inventors Showcase 2010. Mr. Stoll was happy and excited to be at the Showcase seeing these inventors actually showing and using these new inventions to create wealth for themselves and for their state and said, "It is really fantastic to see these folks excited about their inventions, excited about getting into the business. We recognize we are in a down economy, but this is what drives America. It is the entrepreneur who actually becomes invested in their idea and actually drives it to completion." Larry noted, "There have been many changes in patents and trademarks, can we talk about those changes?" Robert replied, "There are many changes going on. Director David J. Kappos, who came to the Patent and Trademark Office a little over a year ago, recognizing the importance of getting the patent out, for the economy, for driving the economy, has made significant changes. We're trying to reduce the backlog that we have in patents because we recognize that all those applications that we're holding - when they're allowed, people can actually go to the bank and get money to start up companies and to hire other Americans to do the jobs here. So I think it's extremely important that we remove the backlog. Director Kappos has charged us with moving forward, we've got a lot of initiatives, new account system, a new plan for actually measuring production. We are actually hiring significant numbers of attorneys and a significant number of examiners. I expect to be hiring a thousand examiners this year and a thousand examiners next year." Larry said, "We understand there is some potential expansion into other areas. Is Denver in the cards?" He replied... listen for his comments...
Related Links:
USPTO ||
Inventor Showcase 2010 ||
Economy Builders ||
DaVinci Institute ||
Podcasting Directory ||
Keywords: Robert Stoll, Commissioner for Patents, U. S. Patent and Trademark
Office, DaVinci Institute, Inventors Showcase, Entrepreneurs, Inventions, Innovation, David Kappos - 11/22/10 Chnl: Entrepreenurs
bytes:2827079 LISTEN to
Robert Stoll, Commissioner for Patents, USPTO
Series A round of $35 million
915_ 10/25/10-
A day after the Colorado Cleantech Industry Assoc. Awards program Larry sat down with Chris Shapard, Executive Director of CCIA and Raymond Johnson, President and CEO of Infinite Power Solutions. Ray was the winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Cleantech industry and is also a Colorado Companies to Watch Winner. After Chris introduced Ray, Larry asked Ray to tell us about Infinite Power Solutions. "The best way to describe Infinite Power Solutions is we are making the world's most powerful battery in a size and format that is almost unbelievable. If you can envision a battery the size and thickness of a postage stamp that will power anything from a wireless sensor to one day maybe an iPod. We do that in a technology that is both clean and green. It's solid state so there's no liquid electrolyte, there's nothing that can burn or gas or leak. You can implant this in your body, you can put it in micro electronics and so it really has become the green and clean battery of the future. And the interesting thing is we manufacture it right here in the USA - made in Littleton, Colorado. As a manufacturer we are the first ever to build a volume manufacturing facility for this technology, it is ISO 9001 certified, and as I said, we beat the Chinese and everyone else, to the marketplace and we have a leadership position. With the support of organizations like CCIA we are really getting the exposure into a lot of different arenas that you wouldn't normally do. Our rallying cry is 'We will see our Infinite Power Solution Batteries in every micro electronics device made in the world today.'" It was September of 2005, there were four employees, Ray was number five, they had burned through some cash from early investors. "We had essentially a prototype in the lab, we had a little pilot line and when I met with the inventor of the technology, our CTO, Dr. Bernd Neudecker we walked through the value proposition. Having been in the semiconductor business for some 20 years, I said, 'Wow, this is a game changer!' So, I joined. They have now raised $80 million. Listen for more interesting details...
Related Links:
Infinite Power Solutions ||
Colorado Cleantech Industry Assoc. (CCIA) ||
CCIA Award Winners ||
Technology Partners ||
CCIA Award Photos ||
Keywords: Raymond Johnson, Infinite Power Solutions, IPS Batteries, Chris
Shapard, Colorado Cleantech Industry Assoc., CCIA, Dr. Bernd Neudecker, Venture Capital
10/25/10 Bytes: 8176747 LISTEN to
Raymond Johnson, President & CEO, Infinite Power Solutions
Entrepreneurs and large organizations 890_ 10/18/10- Silicon Flatirons, ATLAS, and ITP present Greg Maffei and Michael Zeisser as the featured entrepreneurs with moderators Brad Feld, Foundry Group and Brad Bernthal, Clinical Law Professor and Director, Silicon Flatirons. Both Brads asked some intriguing questions and dug deep into the entrepreneurial realm and their relationship with big organizations. Gregory Maffei is President and Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Media Corporation. He leads the team transforming this diversified company with interests in media, technology, and telecom into a more focused operating company to maximize shareholder value and compete in the digital age. Liberty's assets include some of the world's most respected media companies including DIRECTV, QVC, Starz, Overture Films, SIRIUS XM, GSN, Expedia, and the Atlanta Braves. Mr. Maffei became CEO of Liberty in March 2006. Previously, Mr. Maffei has served as president and CFO of Oracle, CEO of 360networks Corporation (a regional broadband carrier), CFO of Microsoft, and chairman of Expedia. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and an AB from Dartmouth College. Mr. Maffei serves as a director of DIRECTV, Electronic Arts, SIRIUS XM, Zillow.com, and 360networks. Michael Zeisseris Senior Vice President of Liberty Media Corporation, a leading media holding company. Michael oversees Liberty Media's activities in eCommerce, interactive gaming and digital media. At Liberty Media, Michael has led numerous M&A transactions and oversees Liberty's eCommerce Group of companies. Michael has served on the boards of IAC/InterActiveCorp.(Nasdaq:IACI), Fun Technologies (TSX:FUN), OpenTV (Nasdaq:OPTV), QVC Inc., Provide Commerce, BuySeasons Inc., Backcountry.com, BodyBuilding.com, CommerceHub, GSN/The Network for Games, GoPets Ltd, and SlingMedia. Prior to joining Liberty Media in 2003, Michael was a partner at McKinsey & Company in New York, where he co-founded McKinsey's Internet Practice, and was a member of McKinsey's Media & Entertainment and Private Equity practices. Fascinating discussion about entrepreneurs and large companies...Listen now... Related Links: Liberty Media Corporation || Silicon Flatirons || ATLAS at CU || FeldThoughts || Podcast Directory || Entrepreneurs Unplugged Event Photos Keywords: Greg Maffei, Michael Zeisser, Liberty Media Corporation, Entrepreneurs Unplugged,
Brad Bernthal, Brad Feld, Jill Van Matre, Silicon Flatirons, ATLAS, ITP, CU, 10/18/10 bytes: 32408871
Listen to: Entrepreneurs Unplugged, Greg Maffei, Michael Zeisser, Liberty Media, Silicon Flatirons, CTP
Starting a business or expanding a business
904_ 10/4/10-
David Moll first appeared on the w3w3.com radar a number of years ago. He'd just been appointed president of a small local software company. David took this company from their early Boulder offices (he describes as an original garage startup) with about a dozen people to one of the most successful, a huge, profitable security software company, everyone knows as Webroot. Today David is founder of the VC firm, Infield Capital. With his industrial, high-tech and venture capital background Larry decided to ask him two important questions in these tight economic times. "First, is this a good time to start a business?" David's answer might surprise, so listen carefully. Here we give you a few teasers... David said, "Nope! This is a terrible time to start a business. But, with that said, I think a lot of people don't necessarily have a choice. We know what the job climate is... a lot of people find themselves outside of the workforce and not voluntarily so. With your resume emailed to as many places as you can think of, what the heck do you do then? For somebody who finds themselves in that position it may be more necessity than choice to start a business, and just because it's a bad time doesn't mean it's the wrong time." David continues with challenges facing companies, consumers and job seekers. "Our second question, What about expansion, is it a good time for expansion?" David said, "It's a great time! Where companies need to be careful is that you want to be thoughtful about the risk you take on. Grow from your strength, not from speculation to make sure you're making good decisions. So this is not the time to bet the farm. But I do like this. You, Larry, gave me the really generous introduction and we talked about Webroot. Well, it was a really interesting phenomenon, I joined Webroot in 2002. You know 9/11 and the crash of the Internet bubble and all those things that kind of roiled about in 2001 were still very fresh upon us and venture capital spending didn't really return until about 2003ish... So the little company that I joined, Webroot, we were undergoing an expansion in 2002 and 2003... We thoughtfully increased our expense rate, thoughtfully endeavored into new product development, added staff in our sales, marketing and online channel growth - none of it foolish... But we positioned ourselves for growth when few companies were growing and as a result, when the good times came..." There's much more...
Related Links:
Infield Capital ||
Green Garage ||
Venture Capital Panel ||
Venture Capital Channel ||
Conscious Economy ||
Keywords: David Moll, Infield Capital, Entrepreneurs, Green Garage, Venture Capital,
Startup, Webroot, Rockies Venture Club 10/4/10 bytes: 5072146
Listen to: David Moll, Founder, Infield Capital
Brad Feld and David Cohen:
Do More Faster Book
903_10/4/10-
Larry sat down with Brad Feld, managing partner of Foundry Group to talk about an exciting announcement. Larry began the interview with, "You know there are a lot of powerful words out there, and three of them are Do, More, Faster, do you have any comments to make on them?"
With a chuckle, Brad said, "Good setup! Do More Faster is the title of a book that David Cohen, the founder of TechStars, and Brad Feld have written." By strange coincidence, this is Monday, October 4th, the publication date! The origin of the book was a phrase thrown around TechStars, Do more faster. If you're not familiar with TechStars, it is a mentor driven accelerator, started in Boulder four years ago. It's a 90 day program, usually 10 companies, usually 25 to 30 entrepreneurs go through the program, full time, extremely immersive. They have about 50 mentors, experienced entrepreneurs that work with them along with those of us in the program. They get a small amount of seed financing at the front end of the program. About a year ago David and Brad sat down and talked about a way they could codify some of the things that they've learned. They settled pretty quickly on having the mentors and entrepreneurs involved in helping create the book. "We looked around and there aren't many books written by entrepreneurs, especially first time entrepreneurs about the experiences they've had creating companies. We then organized the chapters around usually one line phrases like 'do more faster' that have come out of the last four years of running TechStars that David and I sat down and put together with some other people. Then we had a bunch of people write first drafts about which we spent a lot of time on and then David and I organized the book and put some connective tissue between the essays. So very experiential, lots of details from the founders, from the entrepreneur’s perspective, from the mentor’s perspective, about specific things that all entrepreneurs could use, but especially first-time entrepreneurs or perspective entrepreneurs. We were on the verge of self publishing and we got introduced to some folks at Wiley and they took that book on. They were incredibly helpful."...There's more...
Related Links:
Foundry Group ||
Brad's Blog ||
Venture Capital Channel ||
Amazon ||
Tech Stars ||
Mastering Change ||
Do More Faster Book Home ||
Keywords: Brad Feld, Author, Do More Faster, David Cohen, Tech Stars, Do More Faster,
Book, Entrepreneurs, Wiley, 10/4/10 bytes: 7984590 Listen to: Brad Feld, Author, Do More Faster
Entrepreneurs are getting much younger
884_ 8/23/10-
"We're talking with David Wolf, the founder and managing director of Wolf Ventures, and David is also on the board of a fabulous organization, Young Americans Center for Financial Education - in this day and age, that sounds like a very good idea." David replied, "Well financial literacy or the consequences of illiteracy have become quite evident lately. But, Young American Center was founded by Bill Daniels; we recently celebrated our 21st anniversary, and originally started as Young Americans Bank. It is the only bank in the country, federally chartered, for customers all under the age of 23. Not a particularly profitable business model I might add, but it really serves our market well. So we are very focused on the needs of young people, from infants through the teenage years and then early into college. From our experience of operating and managing a real live bank with 40,000 customers, in almost all of 50 states, we began to build an adjacent program to educate young people. Over the years we've developed that into the Young Americans Center for Financial Education, a separate 501c3, from our federally chartered for profit, attempted for profit bank." David shared many things about the activities at the Young Americans Center...listen for some extremely interesting points. They talked about the 9th Annual Celebration for Young Entrepreneurs on 9/23/10 at the Seawell Ballroom. "Well, I'm very excited, it is such a fun evening, and it is a celebration for young entrepreneurs. And it's modeled after one of our former partners, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Dinner here in Colorado. But this is for young entrepreneurs and all of the competitors are under the age of 21, with four age categories; 6 to 11, 12 to 14, 15 to 17 and 18 to 21 and they actually compete for a cash prize of $1,000."...listen for more...
Related Links:
Young Americans Center ||
9th Annual Celebration for Young Entrepreneurs ||
Daniels Fund ||
Entrepreneurs Channel ||
Blog ||
Keywords: David Wolf, Young Americans Center, Bill Daniels, Financial Education,
Young Americans Bank, Wolf Ventures, Personal Finance, Free Enterprise, Global Economics Entrepreneurship 8/23/10 bytes: 103399789
Listen to: David Wolf, Wolf Ventures for Young Americans Center
Very different from the post-Internet 2001-02 bubble
880_ 8/16/10-
Then Brad Feld, Managing Partner of the Foundry Group (co-founder of TechStars) started turning on some lights. "We are in the middle of what I think is a great 'entrepreneurial revival' in the U.S. It's been remarkable to me how, especially over the latest economic down cycle, over the last two to three years, entrepreneurs across the country have really risen to the occasion in a very fearless way. Across all ages and demographics this time around. Very different than what happened post Internet Bubble, 2001-02, which I had with my partners at Foundry Group, the joy of experiencing first-hand. What is a remarkably different tone this time, and I think there is a really good understanding both of experienced entrepreneurs as well as first-time entrepreneurs about just how powerful, how exciting and how fun and satisfying it is to build an entrepreneurial company. When Jared and I met David, in 2006, we hoped it would be something great for the entrepreneurial community. We figured we'd lose whatever money we invested, thought that's the way it works, and it would be fun. It's been incredibly gratifying to see what's come of it. It's just a good example of how resilient entrepreneurs are and how important it is." Listen for more from Brad at the link below... Brad then introduced Nicole Glaros, General Manager of TechStars. After her review of the event, she introduces Liam Davis-Mead and Shane Taylor cofounders of ScriptPad...listen for more...
Related Links:
TechStars Details ||
Foundry Group ||
TechStars ||
Brad Feld Blog ||
TechStars Demo Day Photos ||
Economy Builders ||
Keywords: Brad Feld, TechStars, Foundry Group, Entrepreneurs, Demo Day, Blog, Boulder, Front Range, Nicole Glaros, 8/16/10 bytes: 4837671 Listen to: Brad Feld, Cofounder, TechStars
Major tax for venture capitalists
879_ 8/16/10-
Then, Congressman Jared Polis (co-founder of TechStars) stepped up and congratulated David Cohen for what TechStars has accomplished for the Boulder area but also around and for the country, really creating a lot of sustainable value in the system. Then Jared said, "There's a lot that happens in Washington that affects the startup community, the tech community. It's important for all of us involved in the community to monitor and be aware of the types of policies that are being discussed. In recent months there's been discussion of major tax increases of venture capitalists, what we call carrion interest. It will be more than doubling of the tax, and that obviously can't happen in a vacuum. That has a major impact on incentives and the startup culture in terms of treating the venture capitalists different than those who are part of the supply. Everybody that is part of this ecosystem, part of the TechStars ecosystem and entrepreneurs largely are going to be big part of what makes our country special, and what will drive the growth of our economy in the next century. So your role is critical, I hope you're up to it." Jared's entire talked is linked...listen for more...
Related Links:
TechStars Home ||
TechStars Results ||
Jared Polis Foundation ||
TechStars Demo Day Photos ||
PodCast Directory ||
Keywords: Jared Polis, TechStars, David Cohen, Entrepreneurs, Economy, Colorado, Venture Capitalists, Startup Community, Tech Community TechStars, Brad Feld, Entrepreneurs, 8/16/10 bytes: 5439219
Listen to: Congressman, Jared Polis
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This Could Be the FIRST Step to Bringing Out Innovation in Our Youth
In September 2002, CSIA invited Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST Robotics and President of DEKA Research
and Development to talk about innovation. While Dean is too humble to claim this, many call him the the father of innovation spirit. At the event, Dean Kamen entered the Seawell Ballroom in what looked like a motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair proceeded to 'walk' up the stairs of the stage, over to the podium and then the wheelchair proceeded to lift Dean at a level that would be comparable to a 6' 6" person. The audience was amazed and listened to his humorous and insightful talk. After a little discussion, one of Dean's teammates brought up on stage what is now widely known as the Segway. The first few seconds of this unedited recording you'll hear Dean on his high-tech wheelchair climbing the stairs of the stage onto the podium. Dean goes onto point out that, "Many youth are inspired to be a Michael Jordan, but it's more likely they will end up flipping hamburgers." That's a tough sentence for parents and grandparents to hear, but unless there is a change, you know the rest of the story. Dean Kamen and FIRST offer an exciting alternative...and now we have Colorado FIRST. Larry and Pat along with their grandchildren (and hundreds of others) recently attended the Colorado FIRST Regional Competition held at DU. It was the most exciting and uplifting event they have attended in decades. Listen to Dean Kamen's talk, take a look at the photos and visit their site...if you don't know what to do next, give us a call. VIEW Photo Album from Dean Kamen's Visit - 8/2/10 LISTEN to Dean Kamen, the Father of Innovation Related Links:
Colorado FIRST ||
Segway ||
US FIRST ||
Find It ||
Coaching, Consulting and Mentorship
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We're talking with Brian Tsuchiya, many people know him from the Startup Guru Meetup group. One of the topics Brian really believes in and focuses on is mentorship. Brian gave us his definition of mentorship, "It's the act of taking someone under your wing and helping them move through a process, in my case, as entrepreneurs." In Brian's case, "Mentoring is a combination of coaching, which is a skill that helps people get to completion on their own, you know helping you find your path. And then expertise or consulting which is advice, like 'Oh, I've done that, don't do it that way'. Or, 'this is the way you can do that'. So for me mentoring is a combination of coaching and consulting." Larry said, "So you're saying there is a difference between coaching and consulting?" Brian replied, "Absolutely. For example consultants say, here's how you do it, go do it that way, I'm the expert and this is my advice. Coaches really kind of help you find your own answers and they're really there to hold you accountable for that, whereas a consultant might not necessarily do that. Mentoring traditionally has been a free service. You go find someone that's older and more experienced and you want their advice. There are more people looking for mentors than find them. So I felt that in a paid type of model it would be like coaching but more significant. If you hire a coach, it's a very different experience and in mentoring sometimes, I tell my clients, I'm a consultant, here's what you do - coaches don't do that." Brian goes onto the selection criteria...
Related Links:
Startup Guru ||
Startup and Founder Meetup ||
Entrepreneurs Channel ||
Podcast Directory ||
Keywords: Brian Tsuchiya, Mentors, Consultants, Coaches, Entrepreneurs, Startup Guru,
Incubator, Startup and Founder Meetup - 10/11/10 bytes: 5803470
Listen to: Brian Tsuchiya, Startup Guru
Boulder has an interesting startup ecosystem
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Four years ago, Larry interviewed David Cohen about an idea they had just launched. David is the founder and CEO of TechStars. The idea was interesting and exciting but it is very different today. David offers an overview and an update on the TechStars progression. "TechStars is a three month long, mentorship oriented program for Internet startups. We surround them with some of the serial entrepreneurs and investors in the country and we try to help move them from an idea to a business. For the first two years we operated just in Boulder, after that we did expand. In 2009 we expanded the program to Boston. So we operated the program in two places in the summer of 2009, and decided after that experience, running them at the same time was actually sub optimal. So we now run the Boston program in the spring of each year. There was a gentleman, Bill Warner, who is one of the investors in TechStars Boston, who was an investor in one of our companies, EventView in 2007. Bill really understood what we were doing was a mentorship plus community model, where people like him from the community could really get involved with the startups. Then there is Brad Feld. Just finished the second year there and it's gone really well, lots of interested investors, a different set of investors in that community. Then just recently we announced we're also expanding to Seattle, which will run in the fall. we've also been approached by hundreds of organizations around the world, trying to do things similar to TechStars. I've done some consulting on the off season, places like Singapore, Japan, England, Denmark, and Canada, and talked to people about how to do this. Recently we decided to launch the Global Affiliate Program." David and Larry had a very interesting discussion about the challenges entrepreneurs face in Colorado, other states and other countries
...listen for details...
Related Links:
TechStars ||
Brad Feld Blog ||
SpringStage Colorado ||
David Cohen Blog ||
w3w3.com Blog ||
Keywords: David Cohen, TechStars, Brad Feld, Entrepreneurs, Bill Warner, Boston, Seattle, Singapore, Japan, England, Denmark, Canada
7/19/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 5558024 Listen to: David Cohen, TechStars
What are the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs today?
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Larry Interviewed the leaders Michael Joseph and Tom Feldhusen of VacationRentalPartner, which is part of the 2010 TechStars Class. When asked, "What do you think are the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs today?' They replied, ": I think these challenges are also what makes it exciting, basically everyday you're doing ten thousand things that are way out of your comfort zone. But, of course, with TechStars you have such a great support system around you. Great mentors, great other teams to work with, David and everyone here are just amazing. They just take it all, and the learning, kind of speeds it up and makes it easier to do all those ten thousand things." When asked, "What about raising money, have you tried yet?" They had a very common but important view for new entrepreneurs, "We've raised a little, from friends and family and of course the TechStars money pays the rent. I think that ties into your previous question about challenges. It's still really inexpensive to start a company and as a result there are lots of people starting companies and there's a lot of competition for the VC dollars and Angle dollars that are out there. So one of the challenges is it is a very competitive landscape out there. Especially in today's economy." ...listen for details...VacationRentalPartners makes it easy for owners to generate income from their second homes. and we eliminate the need for owners to pay 30 to 50% commission by providing tools that replace management company services.
Related Links:
VacationRentalPartner ||
TechStars ||
Brad Feld Blog ||
SpringStage Colorado ||
David Cohen Blog ||
PodCast Directory ||
Keywords: Michael Joseph, Tom Feldhusen, VacationRentalPartners, David Cohen,
TechStars, Brad Feld, Entrepreneurs, 7/26/10 bytes: 4744571
LISTEN to Michaell Joseph and Tom Feldhusen, VacationRentalPartner
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Lessons learned lead to a brand new product
At the 9th Annual Business Plan Competition Larry interviewed Steve Katsaros, Winner of the 2003 Bard Center Business Plan Competition for Revopower. His latest endeavor is Nokero, which has developed and manufactured a solar light bulb with a price point so low he hopes to improve lives worldwide through safe, solar-powered light that replaces kerosene lanterns used by the world's 1.6 billion people who live without electricity. Steve explained how Nokero's Lights for Life can handle a dicey situation, "We don't think about it much, but kerosene is a very dangerous product and it's used for lighting by 1.6 billion people who live without electricity. The trick with this solar powered light bulb is to make it affordable enough that the 2.8 billion people who live on less than $2 a day, can afford this. It's shaped just like a light bulb, any one in the world can instantaneously know what it is. There are four solar panels around the outside and five LEDs that are all powered by a rechargeable nickel metal hydrate battery - the rechargeable battery is recharged by the solar panels. So during the day this goes out, gets charged up and it comes in to the humble hut or wherever someone is living in India or Pakistan or sub Sahara Africa, and they have light to read by, to cook by, to just conduct general living tasks where they would normally not have light or be using kerosene."
Related Links:
Nokero Home ||
Bard Center ||
Business Plan Competition ||
Competition Photos ||
Find It ||
Keywords: Steve Katsaros, Nokero, Revopower, Bard Center Business Plan Competition,
University of Colorado Denver, Solar Light Bulb 6/21/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 3409191 Listen to: Steve Katsaros, Nokero
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Raising Angel Capital and Getting Acquired
Larry talked with Tom Keller, past CEO of IntenseDebate. He asked, "Tell us how TechStars helped Intense Debate and how they went about it?" Tom replied, "Intense Debate came out of the first class of TechStars. David Cohen, the founder of TechStars, recognized early on that it's all about the people. The Intense Debate guys applied and David was very impressed by what they'd built - gave them suggestions to change. David recognized that he wasn't a fan of what they were chasing at the time business wise, but the technology was interesting in general and the team behind it was really outstanding. David spotted a quality team and brought them into the program with the understanding that with a good pairing of mentors and this talented team a good business would come out of it." Tom went on to explain the fund raising process was like...very interesting. He pointed out, "Brad Feld was one of our advisors. The metrics that he gave me for growth, that I remember to this day, was five percent per week - that was our target growth. It was important because it meant every Monday morning I would put out an email to our advisors of how much we'd grown. And you know, 5% per week, compounded, is actually pretty solid growth, but I remember feeling the pressure if we only had a 3% or 4% growth week, and that's sort of like pulling your hair out Monday morning. That really creates good behaviors within the company because you understand what's driving adoption or maybe what's causing churn. Tom went on to explain the WordPress acquisition. Listen for more eye opening information...BTW, Tom now heads up TechStars Global...
Related Links:
IntenseDebate ||
TechStars ||
Brad Feld ||
WordPress ||
Find It ||
Keywords: Tom Keller, IntenseDebate, TechStars, Brad Feld, WordPress, Angel Capital,
Mentors, Entrepreneurs, TechStars Global 6/14/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 7908104 Listen to: Tom Keller, Intense Debate
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Changes in market deals and capital availability
From the floor of the Colorado Capital Conference (CCC), Larry Nelson talks with Kelly Burton, founder and CEO of InvestorAvenue.com. RVC's Colorado Capital Conference is Kelly's favorite. The reason for that is she likes the educational aspect and this year RVC really executed well in delivering a variety of tracks, not to mention the names that they're attracting to deliver the content on some extremely valuable topics. Timely topics, things that I'm thinking about, things that I know my peers are thinking about, things that the entrepreneurs are definitely faced with. Larry asked, "What are some of the changes you've noticed in terms of market deals and capital availability?" Kelly replied, "Investors want to get to a more mature deal. For example in the last forum I looked at ten criteria that I had not looked at as closely and it had to do with maturity. Not only maturity of the opportunity, maturity of the financials, maturity of the product, the entrepreneur. The audience responded to that extremely well because it is what they are investing in. We're not seeing prototypes getting funded like we used to. It is more about how close are they to revenue and/or what are their revenue numbers, burn rates, cap rates, of course. Also looking at the entrepreneur's track record maturity and at the end of the day 'can I hang my hat on that team - the management team, the founder, the CEO'. So I've definitely seen a longer harder look by the investor to the team and also the maturity of the product. We're in the A+ Game now." There's more great advice...
Related Links:
Investor Avenue ||
Colorado Capital Conference ||
Rockies Venture Club ||
Mastering Change ||
Colo Capital Conf Photos ||
Keywords: Kelly Burton, Investor Avenue, Colorado Capital Conference, Rockies Venture Club, Raising Capital, Entrepreneurs, Investing, Market Deals > 5/17/10 Bytes: 5603163 LISTEN to
Kelly Burton, founder and CEO of InvestorAvenue.com
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Profile of a Leader: Persistence and Partners
For the Profile of a Leader Series Larry talked with Bob Ogdon, Founder and CEO of SwiftPage. Larry heard him speak before Swiftpage was launched and knew he was a winner. Bob pointed out how important partners are and highlighted Frank Johnson, Tom Lopez and Matt Showalter. He went onto say, "I have the philosophy that you can't be an entrepreneur without partners, it's too hard. You need somebody's shoulder to cry on, someone to encourage you and you encourage them and you go fight the battle together. That whole understanding of partnership is what Tom taught me and I really feel lucky that I had him as a partner for so many years." Larry got into: What influenced the formation of your values?; What was a challenge you couldn't overcome and had to live with?; A major turning point in your career? And then he asked one of his favorite questions, "What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?" Bob's reply is very insightful. "I think the biggest advice would be to never give up. What an entrepreneur does and brings to the table is really the energy and the vision but not necessarily the answer. I think people get hung up thinking they have to have the answer when they start. Really what you want to do is get yourself in play, in the market and then let the market tell you your path. You do that, you listen and you live long enough, you'll eventually get a really valuable company. You have to have the legs to live long enough, to have the willingness to listen and, I think if you can accomplish those two things, there's no reason you can't build the business you want." By the way, all three of Bob's children are part of the Swiftpage family. Check it out...
Related Links:
Swiftpage ||
Profile of a Leader Portal ||
Economy Builders ||
Podcast Directory ||
Keywords: Bob Ogdon, Swiftpage, Profile of a Leader, Entrepreneur, Frank
Johnson, Tom Lopez, Persistence, Vision > 5/3/10 Chnl: Profiles bytes: 10138439 Listen to
Bob Ogdon, Founder and CEO, SwiftPage
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Due diligence and relationships with investors "
Because if due diligence is left undone, it can undo potential relationships with investors". Larry talked with Mark Weakley, Partner, Holme Roberts & Owen, Boulder about this important and touchy subject. Larry asked, "What are some due diligence issues that could kill a deal? Mark shared what was almost an overwhelming group of points ...important for every entrepreneur to be aware of. "IP ownership, I would say. Just make sure you don't have joint ownership - make sure the company owns it! Often the technology that is developed, has been incubated or developed, then they form a company. So the organization of the company should include an assignment of the inventions; describe what the inventions are and make sure it's comprehensive. That's part of what is the consideration that the founders are paying to receive the shares of stock. Also have an invention assignment agreement and a non-disclosure agreement - most law firms that work with these companies have these as a form document. It's not like you have to pay a lot of money for them - but get one from a firm that does a lot of that work. So make sure that everyone that does work for the company has signed an agreement that says the IP belongs to the company. A contractor working for you has every right to file for a patent, as do you, but dual ownership makes the process of owning the technology, moot. On the cap table side, it is often unclear who owns what. We recommend not only do you document who owns what, issue stock certificates, that's the evidence of ownership." Listen for more how-to steps... Mark also pointed out that this and many other important topics to entrepreneurs including how to raise capital will be covered at the RVC Colorado Capital Conference on 5/12/10. See you there.
Related Links:
Colorado Capital Conference ||
Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP Home ||
It's the Law Channel ||
Rockies Venture Club ||
Keywords: Mark Weakley, Holme Roberts & Owen, LLP, Due Diligence, Investors,
Colorado Capital Conference, Entrepreneurs, Capital, IP > 5/3/10 Chnl: Law/Entrepreneurs bytes: 8456048 Listen to Mark Weakley, Partner, Holme Roberts & Owen
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Raising Capital for Entrepreneurs
It's 'Entrepreneurship in 3-D'. Larry discussed with Mark Weakly, Chairman of the Colorado Capital Conference (CCC) about an opportunity for entrepreneurs to secure funding. Submissions must be received by April 6th 5:00 PM. Mark goes onto explain, "We're going to bring together entrepreneurs, every shape and size, venture capitalists, angel investors, pundits and business leaders. And we think that entrepreneurship is more critical than ever. Coming out of the economy the way we have, how entrepreneurs drive the Colorado economy, we think it's turning the corner and we think entrepreneurs are leading the way and we want to support those individuals and those ideas. So, the idea is to educate and sustain entrepreneurs by connecting them to the resources they will need, at this event." The CCC is on May 12 and this event is 'Entrepreneurship in 3-D'.
Related Links:
Colorado Capital Conference ||
Call for Presenters ||
Venture Capital Channel ||
Entrepreneurs Channel ||
Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Colorado Capital Conference, Venture Capitalists,
Angel Investors, Funding, Mark Weakly, Business Leaders
3/25/10 Bytes: 3489126 LISTEN to Mark Weakley for RVC Colorado Capital Conference
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Raising money and building a team; Crash Course
This CU New Venture Challenge Crash Course addresses core elements of building a business: including a discussion of how to build a team, how to identify and use mentors, and selecting and refining an idea. Brad Bernthal, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, CU Law School, and Entrepreneurship Initiative Director, Silicon Flatirons Center introduced Jason Mendelson a co-founder and Managing Director with the Foundry Group, a Boulder-based venture capital fund with over $225 million under management. In this Crash Course, Jason went onto emphasize, "Build a great team. Great teams succeed, poor teams always fail. Find mentors and advisors,Boulder is a great town, it's mentor town USA. Engage these mentors, if you have an interesting idea and you're cool to work with we'll keep engaged and most of us aren't looking for anything in return, it's just the right thing to do. But that goes to another point, don't get taken advantage of. Being confident is important but being self-aware and being trainable is one of the most sexy things for a mentor to see. If you know all the answers, know everything, are super confident, you're always right and don't listen, you'll quickly burn out your mentor very, very quickly. Learn to keep people engaged and you can do that in a number of ways... maybe a weekly email that isn't too long. It's closing the loop every time you get feedback from them. You don't always have to agree with them but at least show that you are listening - keep them engaged." Jason then talked about raising money. You'll be surprised what he had to say. Listen, there's more...
Related Links:
Foundry Group ||
Mendelson's Musings ||
Ask the VC ||
Silicon Flatirons ||
Pogoplug ||
Mastering Change ||
Keywords: Jason Mendelson, Foundry Group, CU New Venture Challenge, Crash Course,
Entrepreneurs, Brad Bernthal, Silicon Flatirons, Teams, Venture Capital > Channel: Entrepreneurs bytes: 35173425 1/25/10
LISTEN to Jason Mendelson, Foundry Group
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When you're looking to create and build a business
Currently, Brian Tsuchiya known as the Startup Guru, has a Founders and Startup Meetup, and has 800+ people involved. He also has a Social Meetup where they focus more on the giving back component, that's a new Meetup and growing as well. In addition Brian also does webinars on funding... for the people who participate, it's really about, are you fundable, what's the ecosystem of funding. Larry had heard about a new project Brian is launching 4/1/10 called, 'Startup Factory'. Larry went to the new 'incubator' to interview Brian and he detailed his ideas, "When you're looking to create and build a business there are some people, will call this an incubator, that have been very successful. If you look at TechStars they have a very specific model with a focus on technology, that's mentor driven. If you look at Boulder Innovation Center, you know, theirs is more advisors driven. Those are excellent programs for the types of clients they're attracting. What we've done is taken on their great ideas and we've added but we have more of an integrated 12 month program, we also do coaching and help them understand how their lives impact their businesses. So there is this very specific process that we use based on this eQuest process. We give them resources and the ability to work on their strengths. Entrepreneurs have a hard time doing what they really do well because they're bogged down by minutia - we try to free them up by designing this incubator in a way to support them." Brian talked about funding also. Listen, there's more...
Related Links:
Startup Guru ||
Startup Factory ||
Startup and Founder Meetup ||
Entrepreneurs Channel ||
Keywords: Brian Tsuchiya, Entrepreneurs, Startup Factory, Startup Guru,
Incubator, Startup and Founder Meetup, Funding > Channel: Entrepreneurs 9208756 bytes 1/11/10 LISTEN to
Brian Tsuchiya
755_ Ground Swells of Change and Your Team This is Part 2 of 2, from The Contradiction of Focus: Take time to discuss, debate and analyze with these seven steps.
1- Try to identify and describe the ground swell of change impacting your organization but be willing to modify it a number of times as you go through the process. Your customers, suppliers and other associates are dealing with the same challenges.
2- Then identify what are the elements that are creating and sustaining the ground swell. Remember they include innovations, disruptive technologies, inventions, laws, events, in/out of favor fads, something that is displaced or replaced, cultural changes, breaking news, local events, controversy, fiscal changes, mergers, movements, etc. Your customers and suppliers might have a different take on these.
3- Is there additional input and information that can help you in this assessment process? It’s easy to see that it is not possible to contain this process into a brief meeting, but it is well worth the time and effort into taking the time and making the most of the meeting.
4- This would be a good time to expand or reshape your view of the ground swell.
5- Go through the famous ‘Ben Franklin’ exercise with your entire team. Simply draw a vertical line down the middle of a flip chart or white board and on the left title it ‘Areas of Challenge’ and on the right side, ‘Areas to Capitalize on’. Use your brainstorming rules.
6- Develop a short-term action plan and an overall game plan with specific measurable outcomes and a clear understanding of who is responsible for what.
7- Assess your progress weekly to begin with and monthly when that seems appropriate.
...Listen, there are more How-To strategies... Related Links: Amazon || Entrepreneurs Channel || w3w3.com Home || Mastering Change Blog || Keywords: Mastering Change, Chaos, Larry Nelson, Entrepreneurs, Focus, Ground
Swells of Change, Landscape, Trends >> Channel: Change 6709526 bytes - 12/14/09 LISTEN
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Entrepreneurs Unplugged with Governor Ritter and Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem (Track 1 of 2)
Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., the Colorado BioScience Association, CSIA, Colorado's Technology Association; the Mizel Family Foundations, and the Silicon Flatirons Center worked together this special edition of Entrepreneur's Unplugged featuring Governor Bill Ritter and Jerusalem's Mayor Nir Barkat. (Track 1 of 2) in this interesting program started out with an introduction of Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. by Larry A. Mizel, Chairman & CEO, M.D.C.Holding. The Governor shared the five pillars that are the foundation of progress in Colorado. Even in these challenging times they have served Coloradoans well. The he introduced Nir Barkat, the 9th Mayor of Jerusalem. Mayor Barkat's early success as Mayor, significantly, is rooted in the business methods and entrepreneurial approach which he brings to City Hall. Mayor Barkat's roots are firmly in entrepreneurship. In 1988, Mayor Barkat co-founded BRM Technologies, a pioneering software house and later venture cap9ital firm that developed and marketed ground-breaking anti-virus software now standard on personal computers throughout the world. His leadership and business acumen brought him to the position of global chairman of one of BRMs largest venture projects. Mayor Barkat's early success as Mayor, significantly, is rooted in the business methods and entrepreneurial approach which he brings to City Hall. Mayor Barkat's roots are firmly in entrepreneurship. In 1988, Mayor Barkat co-founded BRM Technologies, a pioneering software house and later venture capital firm that developed and marketed ground-breaking anti-virus software now standard on personal computers throughout the world. His leadership and business acumen brought him to the position of global chairman of one of BRMs largest venture projects. Related Links: Entrepreneurs Unplugged ||
Gov. Bill Ritter ||
Jerusalem Website ||
BD New Tech Meetup ||
Economy Builders ||
Event Photos ||
Keywords: Gov. Bill Ritter, Mayor Nir Barkat, Jerusalem, Silicon Flatirons,
Brad Bernthal, Robert Reich, Entrepreneurs, >
Channel: Entrepreneurs - 20943044 bytes 11/9/09
Track 1: LISTEN
In
track 2 of 2 we have the highly acclaimed, familiar, Silicon Flatirons 'Entrepreneurs Unplugged' moderated discussion led by Brad Bernthal, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, CU Law School, and Entrepreneurship Initiative Director, Silicon Flatirons Center along with Robert Reich, Founder of OneRiot; Host and Moderator, New Tech Meetup, and guest of honor, Nir Barkat, 9th Mayor of Jerusalem and successful global entrepreneur. This was an engaging discussion loaded with a great deal of information for entrepreneurs as well as everyone in Colorado.
Track 2 of 2: Bernthal; Reich; Barkat
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Angel Capital Summit: An event by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs
The 3rd Annual Angel Capital Summit, November 17th at the Colorado Convention Center was the focus of an interview Larry had with Kevin Johansen, Chairman & Executive VP of Business Development, Business Catapult as he has been an integral part of the Summit since its inception. Kevin said, "I think the youngest chair person [we've got 14 different operating committees] is 24 years old. And we've got a lot of women involved this year - in fact the girls outnumber the guys this year. Dawn Todd the chairperson of the event is doing a great job - she is a study in perpetual motion and we're all struggling to keep up with her." Kevin went on, "This is the most wired group I've worked with ever. We've got a FaceBook page, you can friend us on that; we've got an active LinkedIn group that continues to grow - the Angel Capital Summit LinkedIn Group; And we also have a Twitter following of substance, there are close to 5000 people following us on Twitter right now. We've got to give a 'Shout Out' to Linda Hughes who is driving that. It's an event by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.” There's more...
Related Links:
Angel Capital Summit ||
Business Catapult ||
Rockies Venture Club ||
Economy Builders ||
Keywords: Kevin Johansen, Business Catapult, Angel Capital Summit, RVC, LinkedIn,
Wired, FaceBook, Twitter, Change, Entrepreneurs - Channel: Entrepreneurs -
Bytes: 5432532 -10/5/09 LISTEN
706_ The three distinguishing characteristics of a successful entrepreneur Larry corralled Brian Schwartz, author 50 Interviews (Entrepreneurs), and got into the history and outcomes of his new book. Larry asked, "How did you get into this 50 Interview theme?" Brian credited his wife, Debi and went onto say, "Well, my wife challenged me to interview 50 entrepreneurs before she'd give me her blessing to quit my job, which I was ready to do. This was back in February of '08, I set out to do the interviews and about 5 interviews in, people kept telling me, "Hey Brian, these are some great questions, have you ever considered writing a book?" I figured there might be something to this, so I got myself structured, disciplined and started putting them together for a book which I actually finished in December. Larry wondered, "What were the 3 most surprising things you heard during these interviews?" Brian replied, "The three distinguishing characteristics of an entrepreneur - and I hadn't been familiar with these before writing the book: 1.) a consuming passion. If I offered you $1 Million today to give this up, you'd tell me to take a hike. It's like an addiction, you can't let it go and that's how you know it is a consuming passion; 2.) Find a purpose greater than yourself, it's not about the money 3) Was how entrepreneurs view risk. They see risk as dashing into the future with hope. To them it's an empowering word, it's not a paralyzing word, they see it as a possibility to make things better." Brian gives some great advice in Larry’s book, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos. Listen for more... Related Links: 50 Interviews || On the Shoulders of Giants || Entrepreneur Channel || Mastering Change || Keywords: Brian Schwartz, 50 Interviews, Entrepreneurs, On the Shoulders of Giants,
Author, Risk, ChangeChannels: WiIT Bytes: 4492541 > 8/24/09 LISTEN
690_ Changing Rules for Raising Capital
Whether you talk to Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors or Lending Institutions they will all tell you the ‘The rules have changed for raising capital’. There are numerous factors in this changing equation. It’s not just the bumpy economy. It’s not just the lessons learned by VCs in the past 10 years. It’s not just the transparent environment created by technology and the Internet. It’s all these and more. Rockies Venture Club presents Moderator, Larry Nelson, Serial Entrepreneur & Author; with Steve Baker, Serial Entrepreneur & Author; Sue Kunz, American Bio Resources; Kelly Manning, State Director, SBDC Network; and Catharine Merigold, Vista Ventures. Check this out - Tuesday evening 7/14/09. Related Links:
Rockies Venture Club ||
Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos ||
Catharine Merigold ||
Steve Baker ||
Kelly Manning ||
Sue Kunz || Keywords: Chaninging Rules for Raising Capital; Larry Nelson, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos; Steve Baker, Pushing Water Uphill with a Rake; Kelly Manning, CO SBDC Network; Sue Kunz, American BioResources; Catharine Merigold, Vista Ventures; Rockies Venture Club -7/6/2009
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Authors offer sage advice to entrepreneurs about money and change Steve Baker, serial entrepreneur, host of 'Startup Underground Junkie' and author of "Pushing Water Uphill with a Rake" along with Stephen Replin, Attorney and author of "Hard Money: Where to go when the bank says no" offer a quick start guide to starting your business. Steve Baker says, "The number one secret to success is knowing what you don't know and seeking those who do. None of us can have all the answers, though we sometimes think we do." Of course, Stephen Replin, attorney and money expert offers this sage piece of advice, "Don't go in under capitalized... that seems to be the number one cause for business failure, more than anything I can think of. Larry asked them both to identify and talk about the top three suggestions for new entrepreneurs. Their backgrounds and business experiences offer a treasury of ideas. It's short and you'll want to listen to it again...and take notes.
Related Links:
Pushing Water Uphill ||
Replin & Rhoades ||
Changing Rules for Raising Capital ||
Mastering Change ||
w3w3.com Blog ||
Keywords: Steve Baker, Steve Replin, Entrepreneurs, Hard Money, Ethics, Change, Capital, Channel: Entrepreneurs 5741299 bytes 7/13/09
LISTEN
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Putting the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Perspective
The Entrepreneurial Week hosted by Silicon Flatirons Center was a smashing success on many fronts. On Thursday session, it was kicked off by Phil Weiser, Professor of Law, Associate Dean for Research & Executive Director of Silicon Flatirons Center and then Brad Bernthal, Associate Clinical Professor of Law Technology Policy, Entrepreneurial Law addressed the issue of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Colorado. Brad said, "My contention is there are three notable factors which underlie these industry sectors with the drive and success or failure of the Front Range Eco System going forward. And they are these; first Creative Class, Critical Mass and third a Heavily Networked Ecosystem. The name "entrepreneurial ecosystem" suggests a place, a location in which people interact and if you are starting a company, where to locate is an important decision. Today more and more this decision is being driven by what region do you want to be in to start your company or want to work for an emerging company. The comparative strength of a region..." Listen there is much more.
Related Links:
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem ||
Silicon Flatirons Home ||
Entrepreneur Channel ||
Find It Archives ||
Photos ||
Keywords: Brad Bernthal, Silicon Flatirons, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Phil
Weiser, Creative Class, Critical Mass > Channel:Entrepreneurs Bytes= 17476548 > 5.4.09
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Colorado Rising: Myth, Miracle or Mystery - What are your thoughts?
Politicians as well as the state and federal governments will either help or hinder during these challenging times. We really feel the people that will help us all turn the corner are the entrepreneurs and other leaders that will be steadfast in their values and goals. Many are focused on the tough times we are facing and the rough road ahead. Others are focused on what they can do to actually capitalize on today's happenings. A key word is, "Innovation" along with "Persistence". At w3w3.com we would like to add the words, "Community Support". In the next few weeks we are launching a new Channel, "Colorado Rising". We will be interviewing startups to seasoned professionals; supportive associations to critical service providers. But we need your input. What do you recommend for the "Colorado Rising" effort? Whether it's interviewing new innovative startups or getting sage advice from serial entrepreneurs or talking to experts that can help in building business in Colorado and a better economy. It's up to us not them. Please send us your ideas.
Related Links:
Email "Colorado Rising Ideas" ||
Economy Builders Channel ||
In the News Channel ||
Mastering Change || ||
Keywords: Colorado Rising, Larry Nelson, Entrepreneurs, Community Support,
Innovation, Startups - 1/26/09
Sam Addoms, The ups & downs growing business 6/28/10 Eric Alexander, The entrepreneur & the challenges 12/27/10 Kelly Burton, InvestorAvenue.com - RVC - CCC 5/12/10 David Cohen, Brad Feld, Do More Faster 10/4/10 David Cohen, TechStars Demo Day 8/16/10 David Cohen, CEO and Founder, TechStars 7/19/10 GearBox, Ian Bernstein & Adam Wilson, TechStars 7/26/10 Guy Cook, Myths and realities of innovation 6/14/10 Brad Feld, Replicating Entrepreneurial Community 10/18/10 Brad Feld, TechStars, Entrepreneurial Revival 8/16/10 Tom Frey, At the Inventor Showcase 2010 - Amazing 11/13/10 Michael Hamers, LightSpeed Commercial Arts 6/1/10 Jeff Hoffman, Value of Mentors - RVC - CCC Jeff Hoffman, Raising Money...5/12/10 J. B. Holston, Newsgator, Colorado Companies to Watch 6/1/10 David Jilk, Standing Cloud, Small Business, 7/19/10 Raymond Johnson, Infinite Power Solutions 10/25/10 Dean Kamen, Could be the FIRST step in Child's Innovation Steve Katsaros, Nokero, Solar powered light... 6/21/10 Steve Knopper, Appetite for Self-Destruction 1/25/10 Greg Maffei, Liberty Media (Entrepreneurs Unplugged) 10/18/10 David Moll, Infield Capital 10/4/10 Krista Marks, Disney Online Kerpoof Studios 3/8/10 Rich Martinez, Young Americans Center 7/19/10 Jason Mendelson, SFC: Crash Course 1/25/10 Larry Nelson, Contradiction of Foucs Larry Nelson, Super Charge Your Business Now 7/26/10 Jared Polis, Washington - Pay Attention 8/16/10 Rally Software, Entrepreneurs Unplugged 2/1/10 Robert Stoll, Commissioner for Patents, USPTO 11/13/10 Theresa Szczurek, Entrepreneurs - Piece of the Action 5/3/10 Brian Tsuchiya, Coaching, Consulting, Mentorship 10/11/10 Brian Tsuchiya, Crowd Funding 5/17/10 Brian Tsuchiya, Startup Factory 1/11/10 VacationRentalPartner Michael Joseph & Tom Feldhusen 7/26/10 Mark Weakley, HRO Boulder, Due Diligence 5/3/10 Mark Weakley, Entrepreneurs Raising Capital 3/25/10 David Wolf, Young Americans Ctr for Financial Education 8/23/10 Michael Zeisser, Liberty Media (Entrepreneurs Unplugged) 10/18/10
Really understanding the workings of a free enterprise economy
871_ 7/19/10-
In the recent past we've heard from a number of VC's and successful entrepreneurs that the one thing they wished they would have had was a better financial education.... and Larry wishes he could have had the Young Americans Center in his portfolio! Larry visited with Rich Martinez, President & CEO, Young Americans Center for Financial Education. "Young Americans has been around since the late 80s when Young Americans Bank was founded by the late cable mogul, Bill Daniels, who is well known in this community as a philanthropist. We focus on financial literacy for young people up through the age of 22. We have four content areas that we focus on, banking and personal finance, free enterprise, global economics and entrepreneurship, all for that youth age from 0 to 22. So our flagship programs include Young Americans Bank, of course the world's only bank specifically designed for young people under the age of 22; Our Free Enterprise program 'Young AmeriTowne has been in Colorado schools serving fifth graders for a little over 20 years now. This program is where fifth graders get to run a kid sized town for a day, assuming the roles of consumers and producers, but really understanding the intricate workings of a free enterprise economy. They move on in seventh grade to our Global Economics program called 'International Towne' where those seventh graders get to run the world for a day. Being citizens of 16 different countries and participating in a world economy. Then we have a variety of entrepreneurship programs, starting as young as second grade all the way up through high school. But our flagship program that is embedded in high school, our first non bricks and mortar based program is called "Get Ahead for Business". It is state wide in over 60 schools and just like all our other programs, with a hands-on component where students get to run a real life business in their high school learning those pieces of being an entrepreneur. We serve over 400 schools in the Denver Metro area and throughout Colorado." ...listen for more... Related Links:
Young Americans Center ||
Daniels Fund ||
Economy Builders ||
Podcast Directory ||
Keywords: Rich Martinez, Young Americans Center, Bill Daniels, Financial Education,
Young Americans Bank, Personal Finance, Free Enterprise, Global Economics Entrepreneurship - 7/19/10 bytes: 5162112
Listen to: Rich Martinez, President, Young Americans Center
Small business + Cloud - Avoid lock-ins
861_ 6/21/10 -
Larry interviewed Dave Jilk, CEO & Founder, Standing Cloud. Larry mentioned it was an interesting name. Dave said, "It has a Native American sound to it and seemed very appropriate for what we were trying to do. Which was, build systems that work in the cloud but don't move around all the time. So, that was the basic idea behind the name, Standing Cloud. Dave said, "The definition of cloud keeps expanding to include essentially anything that is software, internet related, so it's lost quite a bit of its meaning. I think that we're still in the tighter definition of 'cloud', which includes some of the newer technologies. Certainly software as a service is reasonably considered a veteran definition of cloud." Larry brought up one of his favorite topics, "We're experiencing amazing growth with the Internet, web and technology, change is racing at us." Dave replied, "Yes, and that's the whole idea behind what we're trying to do. We're creating a stable platform for applications even though the technology is changing quickly. So for Standing Cloud the idea is you wouldn't need to continue using that server and next time it gets out of date, you don't need to buy one! Larry, you talk to start up companies all over and you're probably very aware that most of them don't buy servers anymore. They fire them up on Amazon or other services. And these on demand servers are always available, you pay by the hour and the hourly rate is in the pennies. So in terms of provisioning a data center, a startup company doesn't really need to buy servers or buy cables, or have a rack. They just fire them up on these services and it's tremendously powerful for a startup because you can scale if you need to, but you can keep it small until you grow. What we're adding to that, for the small business, is the ability to deploy applications without technical skills, but retain the flexibility of modifying it or moving it to a different service, thereby avoiding lock-ins." Listen for more details...he also talks about his strong relationship with Brad Feld.
Related Links:
Standing Cloud ||
Foundry Group ||
Brad Feld Blog ||
In the News ||
Podcast Directory ||
Keywords: Dave Jilk, Standing Cloud, Brad Feld, MIT, Cloud, SaaS, Server, Entrepreneurs,
Small Business, 7/19/10 bytes: 6667705 Listen to:
Dave Jilk, CEO and Founder, Standing Cloud
751_
The Contradiction of Focus When Building a Business
When you ask successful entrepreneurs, "What are the keys to building a successful, sustaining business?" Among other words, they'll say, "Passion, A+ Team, Commitment, Innovation, Focus." While all have substance, the successful entrepreneurs have fascinating stories that support those descriptions, I would like to point out that 'Focus' is a double-edged sword. Let’s be clear, focus is a critical element for building a successful business. It's true that if you don't know where you are going any road will take you there. Then again, if you are so focused on where you are going, you could get side-swiped because you didn't see it coming. So what does this all mean? In my book, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos, Chapter 12, "Ground Swells of Change - Prepare, capitalize or fall victim, he discusses five different examples of landscapes and their ground swells of change. I also write about trends of both the past and the future. Trends have an impact on the landscape; however it's the groundswell that will often determine the success or failure of an endeavor, personal or professional. ‘The greatest difficulties lie where we are not looking for them.’ said Johann Wolfgang Goethe. A ‘ground swell of change’ is never a solo effort; it takes many active forces to build up a head of steam. Examples include: innovations, inventions, laws, events, in/out of favor fads, something that is displaced or replaced, cultural changes, local events, controversy, fiscal changes, mergers, movements, etc. There's more... Related Links:
Amazon ||
Entrepreneurs Channel ||
w3w3.com Home ||
Mastering Change Blog ||
Keywords: Mastering Change, Chaos, Larry Nelson, Entrepreneurs, Focus, Ground Swells
of Change, Landscape, Trends > Channel: Change 4014776 bytes 12/7/09
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864_ 6/28/10 - The ups and downs of growing a business The Bard Center Business Plan Competition hit another home run in 2010. Samuel Addoms, former chairman of Frontier Airlines' Board of Directors was the luncheon keynote speaker. He served as executive vice president, treasurer and a director for Frontier during its pre-startup phase from 1993 until 1994. During that period, Addoms provided financial expertise and helped develop a comprehensive business plan for Frontier. From September 1994 until August 2001, Addoms served as the airline's president and, in January 1995, he was named chief executive officer. He served in that role through his retirement in 2002. Prior to his work with Frontier, Addoms served as an officer, director and consultant with more than 15 early stage companies in a variety of industries. In addition, he spent a year as an instructor at the University of Northern Colorado's Business School. Sam said, "In 1985 I set out on my entrepreneurial career, we started modestly and in 1989 I started my first 'at risk venture', the Rio Grande Produce Farm. And really before I tell you about the Rio Grande, I want to tell you my wife and I agreed to live on $25,000 a year, as long as we were entrepreneurs." He also went through some tough financial times. His inspiring story of Frontier Airlines combined intellect, humor and great stories as he shared the ups and downs of growing a business in an industry significantly affected by 9-11, while raising capital along with the real story behind one of the most successful ad campaigns in America. Sam opened up saying, “The Bard Center Business Plan Competition is serious business. I'm here, maybe as entertainment. But I'm about to tell you my personal reflections, over 50 years, on business planning or the lack thereof.” There's much more...listen now... Related Links: Bard Business Plan Competition || rontier Airlines || Competition Photos || Blog || Keywords: Samuel Addoms, Frontier Airlines, Bard Center, Business Plan Competition,
Catherine Kunst, Entrepreneurs 6/28/10 Chnl: Entrepreneurs bytes: 9415265
Listen to: Sam Addoms
723_ The Making of an Entrepreneur with Larry Nelson and Dr. Stanley Feld Built on Promises Stanley Feld turns the table on Larry Nelson. Dr. Feld was intrigued with Larry’s success with their w3w3® Internet Talk Radio Show, which began as an on-air live business talk show in Denver back in 1996 and went digital on the Internet in 1998 - obviously Larry is an 'early adopter'. Stanley delves into Larry’s past to see 'what makes him tick - why he insists on the entrepreneur’s route. It all began with a tragic illness. Polio struck early after claiming the life of Larry's second grade teacher and at least temporarily cripling Larry. Never a quitter, Larry Nelson taps into the past, the drive and the passion for success. Dr. Stanley Feld continues to drill down on Larry Nelson in this interview. Larry turned his childhood stamp & coin collection into a thriving business (with the help of a $50,000 SBA loan) when he was 21 years old. He then went from coins to cosmetics to consulting. When things get tough, the tough don’t cave in. Related Links: About Page || Blog || PodCast Directory || Mastering Change || Keywords: Dr. Stanley Feld, Larry Nelson, Entrepreneurs, w3w3® Internet Talk
Radio Show, Mastering Change Change > Channel: About - 10/12/09 LISTEN
698_ Ground Swell of Change - Technology and Communication Article We would really appreciate your input; comments, suggestions, additions. We are in the process of building a platform that allows everyone to interact and be an integral part of the ‘changes’ that are important to us personally and professionally. When leading workshops and seminars, there’s plenty of two-way interaction and this is how we can do it virtually. Related Links: Mastering Change Book || Mastering Change Blog || Order Book || About Us || Keywords: Ground Swell of Change, Technology, Communication, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos, Larry Nelson, Social Networks - 7/27/09
841_ 5/17/10 - Changes in market deals and capital availability
From the floor of the Colorado Capital Conference (CCC), Larry Nelson talks with Kelly Burton, founder and CEO of InvestorAvenue.com. RVC's Colorado Capital Conference is Kelly's favorite. The reason for that is she likes the educational aspect and this year RVC really executed well in delivering a variety of tracks, not to mention the names that they're attracting to deliver the content on some extremely valuable topics. Timely topics, things that I'm thinking about, things that I know my peers are thinking about, things that the entrepreneurs are definitely faced with. Larry asked, "What are some of the changes you've noticed in terms of market deals and capital availability?" Kelly replied, "Investors want to get to a more mature deal. For example in the last forum I looked at ten criteria that I had not looked at as closely and it had to do with maturity. Not only maturity of the opportunity, maturity of the financials, maturity of the product, the entrepreneur. The audience responded to that extremely well because it is what they are investing in. We're not seeing prototypes getting funded like we used to. It is more about how close are they to revenue and/or what are their revenue numbers, burn rates, cap rates, of course. Also looking at the entrepreneur's track record maturity and at the end of the day 'can I hang my hat on that team - the management team, the founder, the CEO'. So I've definitely seen a longer harder look by the investor to the team and also the maturity of the product. We're in the A+ Game now." There's more great advice...
Related Links:
Investor Avenue ||
Colorado Capital Conference ||
Rockies Venture Club ||
Mastering Change ||
Colo Capital Conf Photos ||
Keywords: Kelly Burton, Investor Avenue, Colorado Capital Conference, Rockies Venture Club, Raising Capital, Entrepreneurs, Investing, Market Deals > 5/17/10 Bytes: 5603163 LISTEN to
Kelly Burton, founder and CEO of InvestorAvenue.com
712_ Servicing your constituents by going global with rapidly changing markets Larry sat down with Hunt Lambert, Associate Provost, Colorado State University Continuing, Education, CEO, CSU Global Campus to talk about CSU's new project. Hunt explained, "The global campus idea started about 3 or 4 years ago when a bunch of us said, 'Is CSU, as the states land grant, still serving all of the students we were designed to serve?' Well we did some research and discovered about 500,000 people in the state who aspired to complete their undergraduate degree or earn a Master's degree, and the reason they aren't is not about tuition - it's about location, their geography and their schedule keeps them from going back to school. So we took a hard look at what the privates have done on online education; We took a hard look at our mission; and we said, We ought to find a way to serve this market in Colorado. And that was the genesis of the CSU Global Campus. It's amazing how the students have responded. We now exist as a third campus within the Colorado State System. In the first 11 months from funding, we went from nothing at all - no employees, no students, no courses, to having a fully functional online public university. Nine months after we taught the first course, we had a thousand students! Hunt has been part of 40 startups in 12 countries - he has a very broad entrepreneurial experience. Envirofit.org is one of many he is very proud of. Hunt is also on a panel at a RVC program on 9/8/09, Social Entrepreneurship: A Giant Step for Mankind and Profits. Related Links: CSU Global || CSU Continuing Education || Envirofit || Mastering Change || Social Entrepreneurship || Keywords: Hunt Lambert, CSU Global Campus, Colorado State University,
Continuing Education, Social Entrepreneurship .. Channel: Entrepreneurs/Soc.Enterprise >> Bytes= 7311258 > 8.31.09 LISTEN
746_ Benjamin Franklin in His Own Words We met Benjamin Franklin and his manager, Christopher Lowell, at the RVC Angel Capital Summit. I'm sure you're all familiar with Ben Franklin, you can find out more on his website www.benfranklinlive.org. Larry spoke to Ben at length and he had great advice for today's entrepreneur. Ben said, "Mr. Lowell is acting as my manager and my guide to the 21st Century because he has me speaking at a variety of interesting organizations across the country and in Europe. One of the things I would say is to expect failure along the path to success. Because you cannot, or I have not found it possible to tinker with new ideas, with the end goal being to create something of use for society without creating, at the same time, a number of mistakes and errors as an inevitable part of the process. And not to consider yourself a failure for the failure of different parts of your invention to perform as you wished. I certainly had much failure when I was studying one of the most fascinating things that I ever encountered, which was electricity. I was first given some electrical equipment back in the 1740s and I was fascinated with the concept that lightening, so dangerous to man, could be nothing more than a more dramatic form of static electricity. In trying to prove that, well I must admit I knocked myself unconscious three times, occasions. But I was not discouraged, I was a little bit shaken, but I kept my eye on the end that I was intending to prove. The other thing I would encourage inventors to consider is that like anybody who is interested..." There's more... Related Links: Ben Franklin Live || Angel Capital Summit || RVC Events || Summit Photos || Entrepreneurs Channel || Keywords: Benjamin Franklin, Christopher Lowell, Inventions, Entrepreneurs, RVC,
Angel Capital Summit, Electricity, Economy . Channel: Entrepreneurs 8838609 bytes - 11/30/09 LISTEN
It enhances and accelerates the entrepreneurial spirit 890_ 10/18/10- Larry sat down with Brad Feld, managing partner of Foundry Group, to talk about the technology community that has developed here in Boulder and Denver. Larry noted that when he arrived in Boulder back in 1984 this community support didn't exist. Now of course, we have a very strong community with support to and from the University of Colorado and the exemplary Tech Transfer Office at CU, the University of Denver and organizations like TechStars, Boulder Innovation Center, and of course all of this enhances and accelerates the entrepreneurial spirit. The question is, "Can this be replicated in other cities?" If you know Brad at all, you know there was no hesitation in his reply. "Absolutely it can. It's been very interesting to me over the last three or four years reflecting on what drives entrepreneurial communities. I invest all over the country and spend time in different places and I've seen a lot of other entrepreneurial communities ebb and flow. So I see lots of excitement around entrepreneurship, reinvigoration around early stage investing and angel investing, and lots of new companies starting. Those tend to have 3 to 5 year cycles... you know something happened and the momentum stalls out. I've seen this across the U.S., in a number of places, time and time again. When I look at Boulder, I moved here in 1995 so I'm 15 years into living in Boulder. I really believe that Boulder is in a place today where it has a long term sustainable entrepreneurial system and culture." Larry asked, "What is necessary to create or develop this culture?" Brad replied, "You need to be willing to take a 20+ year view vs. Here's something I'm interested in doing for the next 3 or 4 years..." Listen now, there's much more... Related Links: Foundry Group || Brad's Blog || Venture Capital Channel || Amazon || Mastering Change || Do More Faster Book Home || Venture Capital Panel || Keywords: Brad Feld, Foundry Group, Author, Do More Faster, Entrepreneurs, Venture Capital, Angel Investors, CU Tech Transfer Office, University of Denver, TechStars, Boulder Innovation Center, Culture
10/18/10 bytes: 7340097 Listen to: Brad Feld, Foundry Group
834_ 5/3/10 - Profile of a Leader: Persistence and Partners For the Profile of a Leader Series Larry talked with Bob Ogdon, Founder and CEO of SwiftPage. Larry heard him speak before Swiftpage was launched and knew he was a winner. Bob pointed out how important partners are and highlighted Frank Johnson, Tom Lopez and Matt Showalter. He went onto say, "I have the philosophy that you can't be an entrepreneur without partners, it's too hard. You need somebody's shoulder to cry on, someone to encourage you and you encourage them and you go fight the battle together. That whole understanding of partnership is what Tom taught me and I really feel lucky that I had him as a partner for so many years." Larry got into: What influenced the formation of your values?; What was a challenge you couldn't overcome and had to live with?; A major turning point in your career? And then he asked one of his favorite questions, "What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?" Bob's reply is very insightful. "I think the biggest advice would be to never give up. What an entrepreneur does and brings to the table is really the energy and the vision but not necessarily the answer. I think people get hung up thinking they have to have the answer when they start. Really what you want to do is get yourself in play, in the market and then let the market tell you your path. You do that, you listen and you live long enough, you'll eventually get a really valuable company. You have to have the legs to live long enough, to have the willingness to listen and, I think if you can accomplish those two things, there's no reason you can't build the business you want." By the way, all three of Bob's children are part of the Swiftpage family. Check it out... Related Links: Swiftpage || Profile of a Leader Portal || Economy Builders || Podcast Directory || Keywords: Bob Ogdon, Swiftpage, Profile of a Leader, Entrepreneur, Frank
Johnson, Tom Lopez, Persistence, Vision > 5/3/10 Chnl: Profiles bytes: 10138439 Listen to Bob Ogdon, Founder and CEO, SwiftPage
614_ Entrepreneurs - Make Your Venture Mighty! "Rules for Renegades" "What’s a renegade?" asked Larry. Christine Comaford, founder of Mighty Ventures and author of 'Rules for Renegades' replied, "A renegade is a person with an exceptional degree or passion and commitment. A renegade is someone who wants to achieve great things without sacrificing their personal life. A renegade knows they have a mighty core and wants to live according to it." Larry asked Christine if she would share her 10 Rules for Renegades. You need to listen for the details, but here is a listing. Rule 1.) Everything’s an Illusion, So Pick One That’s Empowering Rule 2.) An MBA is Optional, A GSD (Gets Stuff Done) is Essential Rule 3.): Problems + Pain = Profit Rule 4.) Build Power Instead of Borrowing It Rule 5.) Rock Rejection and Finesse Failure Rule 6.) Learn to Love Networking Rule 7.) Only You Can Lead Your Life Rule 8.) Work Your Money Mojo Rule 9.) Resign as General Manager of the Universe Rule 10.) Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There. - In each case, Christine defines each rule and gives some specific tips for implementing them. Larry asked, "Who is the book for?" Christine replied,"• Entrepreneurs with their own companies, or within someone else’s • People who want to be entrepreneurs: moms or anyone returning to the workforce, kids fresh from college, people who want to be more entrepreneurial in their lives and businesses • People who want to recruit and retain entrepreneurs. She is the keynote speaker at a special event in Ft. Collins on 2/4/09 - Beet Street presents Thought Leaders: Christine Comaford. It bound to be a great program...listen now... Related Links: Beet Street Thought Leaders Series || Mighty Ventures || Rules for Renegades || Find It Page || Keywords: Christine Comaford, Mighty Ventures, Rules for Renegades,
Entrepreneurs, Beet Street, Thought Leaders > Channel:Entrepreneurs Bytes=11581965 > 2/2/09 LISTEN
612_ Building a company while building a bridge to the future This is no surprise. Most startups face a great number of challenges. Some make it...most don't. Larry sat down with Tom and Deb Frey they talked about the past, present and future of the DaVinci Institute. This is an entrepreneurial story with a number of lessons. Tom is a world-renown 'futurist' and gives persentations about the future in many countries...from Canada, to Dubai to Spain to Mexico. Tom went onto explain, "Any startup has its rough times up front and certainly the DaVinci Institute was no exception. We changed our business model several times trying to determine what we were good at and what made sense. So it wasn’t until 2002 when we started doing events, and that’s when Deb started helping and things started coming together and made more sense. We were looking to do more of an online type business and then the dot com world started falling apart, and we had to rework our business plan at that point. But with the events we're doing now, we’re trying to create events around things that seem to be of interest at that time – hot technologies, new styles of doing business, whatever seems to be of interest to our members in the region. We try to stick with those types of events. Deb said, "I’m on Twitter all the time and we do a lot of marketing on there letting people know about the events that are coming up and I post the link back so they know where and how to find us. I think that has a lot to do with it. I have a very large following there and I think it helps because people are becoming aware of who we are and where we are. We’ve also noticed a trend with people getting laid off. You know it’s pretty bleak when you don’t know what you’re going to do next and I think they may want to start their own business." There's more... Related Links: DaVinci Institute || Night with a Futurist || Twitter Boot Camp || PodCast Directory || Keywords: Tom Frey, Deb Frey, DaVinci Institute, Night with a Futurist,
Twitter Boot Camp, Entrepreneurs, Futurist > Channel:Entrepreneurs Bytes=8899921 - 2/2/09 LISTEN
705_ Here is some advice for entrepreneurs in today's challenging environment Larry considers Dave Taylor a multi-entrepreneur. He asked "What are your companies?" Dave smiled and said, "The umbrella company is Intuitive Systems, then under that is Ask Dave Taylor and now, my new one is Dave on Film, I'm doing film reviews. And actually Boulder Weekly is publishing my reviews as well as ColoradoBIZ Magazine. I also have a parenting blog." Then they got into the nitty-gritty, "Dave you've been around so many entrepreneurs what would be some advice that you would give today in this challenging environment?" Dave replied, "My two pieces of advice are, follow your dream, but stay focused. The biggest challenge I see entrepreneurs have is that they don't stay focused. Too many entrepreneurs have creeping featurism. For example, where they're going to release a piece of hardware or an application or a piece of software, something like that, and they can't just stick with a feature set and ship. It's always, 'that would be good, let's add that'. And so what happens is they sort of run out of money, run out of steam, burn out the developers, they burn out the marketing team that they've built and it never actually ships and the company goes under. Unfortunately a lot of entrepreneurial companies never actually ship, they never get out of beta, because they just can't stay focused." Dave gave some other important advice to entrepreneurs, "Have fun! Try to structure a situation where there is fun as part of it because otherwise you will burn out and you won't want to go any further. It's remarkable to me how many organizations are just really a grind and it's just really...listen for more...Dave also talks about savvy and nimble companies in Larry's book, Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos. Related Links: Intuitive.com || Ask Dave Taylor || Mastering Change || w3w3.com Blog || Keywords: Dave Taylor, Intuitive.com, Ask Dave Taylor, Entrepreneurs, Blog, Change > Channels:Entrepreneurs - 8/24/09 LISTEN
779_
The fall of the record industry in the digital age.
How would you like to have a crystal ball that may predict success in your industry? Even better what if you had a way of knowing when you were heading in the wrong direction? Chris Carosella, principle of Carosella & Company and the programming chair for TiE Rockies speaks with TiE Rockies guest speaker, Steve Knopper, author of 'An Appetite for Self-Destruction: The spectacular crash of the record industry in the digital age.' Steve is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone Magazine, he writes the stories at the beginning of the magazine, about the music business, ticket scalpers, concert promoters, basically how people make money in the industry, he tends to write the behind the scenes stories. The shortened version of how Steve came to write this book begins with a piece he did for Wired Magazine about how to kill your computer with viruses. A literary agent from New York called Steve and said he liked the story, did he have any book ideas? Originally it was going to be about the entire history of the music business going back to Thomas Edison, but he narrowed the scope to digital music beginning with the adoption of the CD and that led to a prolonged boom in the music industry where everyone got filthy rich for a long time. Then there was this technological disruption, the Internet, Napster, mp3s, basically people pirating music files illegally, by people in their own homes, and the music industry responded to that in all the wrong ways. Steve is speaking at a special TiE Rockies event at the Liberty Media, Starz building in the Meridian Office Park on the NE corner of C-470 and I-225, January 28 beginning at 5:30pm - 8:00. Listen for more... Related Links: Steve Knopper Home || Special Event || TiE Rockies Home || Mastering Change || Keywords: Steve Knopper, Appetite for Self-Destruction: The spectacular crash
of the record industry in the digital age, Chris Carosella, TiE Rockies, Change > Channel: Entrepreneurs 10948546 bytes - 1/25/10 LISTEN to Steve Knopper,
author Appetite for Self-Destruction
points. The special guest on this Silicon Flatirons 'Entrepreneurs Unplugged' is Ted Turner. David H. Getches, Dean, University of Colorado Law School introduced Ted and shared some historical information that will open many eyes. Ted Turner lives his 21st Century life of giving and advocating to make things right and it is for that reason the University of Colorado Law School and the Silicon Flatirons Center for Entrepreneurship has created 'the Entrepreneur for Good Prize' and today we are presenting the 'Inaugural Prize' to Ted Turner. Then the Entrepreneurs Unplugged
discussion was led by Brad Bernthal, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, CU Law School, and Entrepreneurship Initiative Director, Silicon Flatirons Center. Brad said, "Let's start out with the early days, 1963 and the bill board business. You're 24 years old, pressed into running the business under the most difficult circumstances I can imagine as your father passed away. Can you talk about growing Turner Advertising and your first entrepreneurial venture?" Turner is co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; chairman of the Turner Foundation, Inc., which supports efforts for improving air and water quality, developing a sustainable energy future to protect the earth's climate, safeguarding environmental health, maintaining wildlife habitat protection, and developing practices and policies to curb population growth rates; chairman of the United Nations Foundation, which promotes a more peaceful, prosperous and just world; and a partner in the Ted's Montana Grill restaurant chain, which operates more than 55 locations nationwide. Listen for more...
genuine. We wrap up an interesting, hilariously funny session with the usual one-on-on audience generated Q&A, of course with a special emphasis on student participation. Ted doesn't disappoint. And next time you get a chance, be sure to make a point of seeing Mr. Ted Turner, although he'll tell you to,
years and I was a prosecutor before becoming Governor, and I used to tell folks, as a prosecutor, if someone would have said to me, "We need ubiquitous broadband", I would have arrested them, I didn't know what it meant. These guys really helped me, about this issue, make sense of this industry. Phil is really gifted in his own right as a law professor, but also about how he developed this eco system that we're a part of. We are working in this state so that we can emerge from this economic downturn in a way that is faster, stronger, that we are better positioned for the future because together we've established a strategy to get there." Ritter went onto talk about the economy and Colorado's Entrepreneur EcoSystem.
is Senior Vice President of Liberty Media Corporation, a leading media holding company. Michael oversees Liberty Media's activities in eCommerce, interactive gaming and digital media. At Liberty Media, Michael has led numerous M&A transactions and oversees Liberty's eCommerce Group of companies. Michael has served on the boards of IAC/InterActiveCorp.(Nasdaq:IACI), Fun Technologies (TSX:FUN), OpenTV (Nasdaq:OPTV), QVC Inc., Provide Commerce, BuySeasons Inc., Backcountry.com, BodyBuilding.com, CommerceHub, GSN/The Network for Games, GoPets Ltd, and SlingMedia. Prior to joining Liberty Media in 2003, Michael was a partner at McKinsey & Company in New York, where he co-founded McKinsey's Internet Practice, and was a member of McKinsey's Media & Entertainment and Private Equity practices. Fascinating discussion about entrepreneurs and large companies...Listen now...
powerful, how exciting and how fun and satisfying it is to build an entrepreneurial company. When Jared and I met David, in 2006, we hoped it would be something great for the entrepreneurial community. We figured we'd lose whatever money we invested, thought that's the way it works, and it would be fun. It's been incredibly gratifying to see what's come of it. It's just a good example of how resilient entrepreneurs are and how important it is." Listen for more from Brad at the link below... Brad then introduced Nicole Glaros, General Manager of TechStars. After her review of the event, she introduces Liam Davis-Mead and Shane Taylor cofounders of ScriptPad...listen for more...
In September 2002, CSIA invited Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST Robotics and President of DEKA Research
and Development to talk about innovation. While Dean is too humble to claim this, many call him the the father of innovation spirit. At the event, Dean Kamen entered the Seawell Ballroom in what looked like a motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair proceeded to 'walk' up the stairs of the stage, over to the podium and then the wheelchair proceeded to lift Dean at a level that would be comparable to a 6' 6" person. The audience was amazed and listened to his humorous and insightful talk. After a little discussion, one of Dean's teammates brought up on stage what is now widely known as the Segway. The first few seconds of this unedited recording you'll hear Dean on his high-tech wheelchair climbing the stairs of the stage onto the podium. Dean goes onto point out that, "Many youth are inspired to be a Michael Jordan, but it's more likely they will end up flipping hamburgers." That's a tough sentence for parents and grandparents to hear, but unless there is a change, you know the rest of the story. Dean Kamen and FIRST offer an exciting alternative...and now we have Colorado FIRST. Larry and Pat along with their grandchildren (and hundreds of others) recently attended the Colorado FIRST Regional Competition held at DU. It was the most exciting and uplifting event they have attended in decades. Listen to Dean Kamen's talk, take a look at the photos and visit their site...if you don't know what to do next, give us a call. 
1- Try to identify and describe the ground swell of change impacting your organization but be willing to modify it a number of times as you go through the process. Your customers, suppliers and other associates are dealing with the same challenges. 
Mayor Barkat's early success as Mayor, significantly, is rooted in the business methods and entrepreneurial approach which he brings to City Hall. Mayor Barkat's roots are firmly in entrepreneurship. In 1988, Mayor Barkat co-founded BRM Technologies, a pioneering software house and later venture cap9ital firm that developed and marketed ground-breaking anti-virus software now standard on personal computers throughout the world. His leadership and business acumen brought him to the position of global chairman of one of BRMs largest venture projects. Mayor Barkat's early success as Mayor, significantly, is rooted in the business methods and entrepreneurial approach which he brings to City Hall. Mayor Barkat's roots are firmly in entrepreneurship. In 1988, Mayor Barkat co-founded BRM Technologies, a pioneering software house and later venture capital firm that developed and marketed ground-breaking anti-virus software now standard on personal computers throughout the world. His leadership and business acumen brought him to the position of global chairman of one of BRMs largest venture projects.
Politicians as well as the state and federal governments will either help or hinder during these challenging times. We really feel the people that will help us all turn the corner are the entrepreneurs and other leaders that will be steadfast in their values and goals. Many are focused on the tough times we are facing and the rough road ahead. Others are focused on what they can do to actually capitalize on today's happenings. A key word is, "Innovation" along with "Persistence". At w3w3.com we would like to add the words, "Community Support". In the next few weeks we are launching a new Channel, "Colorado Rising". We will be interviewing startups to seasoned professionals; supportive associations to critical service providers. But we need your input. What do you recommend for the "Colorado Rising" effort? Whether it's interviewing new innovative startups or getting sage advice from serial entrepreneurs or talking to experts that can help in building business in Colorado and a better economy. It's up to us not them. Please send us your ideas.
Built on Promises Stanley Feld turns the table on Larry Nelson. Dr. Feld was intrigued with Larry’s success with their w3w3® Internet Talk Radio Show, which began as an on-air live business talk show in Denver back in 1996 and went digital on the Internet in 1998 - obviously Larry is an 'early adopter'. Stanley delves into Larry’s past to see 'what makes him tick - why he insists on the entrepreneur’s route. It all began with a tragic illness. Polio struck early after claiming the life of Larry's second grade teacher and at least temporarily cripling Larry. Never a quitter, Larry Nelson taps into the past, the drive and the passion for success. Dr. Stanley Feld continues to drill down on Larry Nelson in this interview. Larry turned his childhood stamp & coin collection into a thriving business (with the help of a $50,000 SBA loan) when he was 21 years old. He then went from coins to cosmetics to consulting. When things get tough, the tough don’t cave in.
This is no surprise. Most startups face a great number of challenges. Some make it...most don't. Larry sat down with Tom and Deb Frey they talked about the past, present and future of the DaVinci Institute. This is an entrepreneurial story with a number of lessons. Tom is a world-renown 'futurist' and gives persentations about the future in many countries...from Canada, to Dubai to Spain to Mexico. Tom went onto explain, "Any startup has its rough times up front and certainly the DaVinci Institute was no exception. We changed our business model several times trying to determine what we were good at and what made sense. So it wasn’t until 2002 when we started doing events, and that’s when Deb started helping and things started coming together and made more sense. We were looking to do more of an online type business and then the dot com world started falling apart, and we had to rework our business plan at that point. But with the events we're doing now, we’re trying to create events around things that seem to be of interest at that time – hot technologies, new styles of doing business, whatever seems to be of interest to our members in the region. We try to stick with those types of events. Deb said, "I’m on Twitter all the time and we do a lot of marketing on there letting people know about the events that are coming up and I post the link back so they know where and how to find us. I think that has a lot to do with it. I have a very large following there and I think it helps because people are becoming aware of who we are and where we are. We’ve also noticed a trend with people getting laid off. You know it’s pretty bleak when you don’t know what you’re going to do next and I think they may want to start their own business." There's more...
