Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Marty Zwilling at StartupProfessionals.com has posted 10 Preparation Steps to Win an Angel Investment. Marty's list looks to be a good one, but steps represent a very high bar to win an investment from an angel investor. It would seem that if you accomplished all these step you would likely win an investment from a VC firm.

Mike Mckee at BusinessWeek.com describes Ten Common Marketing Mistakes. Marketing should be targeted, not always rational, not reliant on market studies or data, doesn't always have to be new, not based on concepts that are ideal and can't be lived up to, shouldn't follow anyone, and shouldn't seek committee approval.

Sean Duffy at TalentZoo.com has posted Seven Tips for Aspiring Entrepreneurs. In his posting, he describes what it means to be an entrepreneur, risk, reasons business fail, what it takes to get to market, and what every you do don't call yourself an entrepreneur.

The PARC Forum sponsors talks on entrepreneur and innovation. The talk by Eric Ries on Lean Startups was very interesting and informative. Eric describes a process that minimizes the time to learn what customers want. This is a departure from what most business do, but this method institutes a feedback system that is likely to help a startup survive.

The Globe and Mail web site has posted Ten realities of working for a startup. I agree with all the points. Failure is the likely option. It's a emotional roller coaster and things don't turn out like you planned for at the beginning. It's an interrupt driven life and feels a bit like what I imagine Brownian motion would be like. I wish that we stocked healthier food and drinks for people.

The Entrepreneur.com web site has a list of the 10 secrets of successful leaders. It seems that Captain Kirk is the symbol of a successful leader. I find myself thinking 'what would Captain Kirk' do more often that I'd like to admit is difficult situation. It's probably because he had a fanatical devotion to his ship and crew. His crew was a dedicated group of professions that worked well together to save the day.

Paul Morin at the Company Founder websites wonders if Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?. He describes five traits that entrepreneurs need to learn to be successful.

Rieva Lesonsky reports on the The Freelance Economy: Is This the Future of Work?. Small companies are more likely to contract out work to consultants on a as needed bases to keep expenses low. As a result, startups have formed to help freelances or free agents, and clients find each other. This phenomenon appears to be a long term trend that started in the 1990 as observed by Dannel Pink in his book Free Agent Nation (recommended read).

Carl Gerber at the Social Media Pathways website describes 9 Ways to Use Twitter for Your Business.

The Under 30 CEO website has posed a list of the top 250 CEOs under 30 to follow on twitter. It's a big list, but looks like it could be fun to follow some of the people on the list.