entrepreneurship posts, articles, and infographics

College Is Like A Sandbox

November 19, 2011 by Brad Feld with 22 views

“College is like a sandbox if you are an entrepreneur. Falling down doesn’t hurt much...” [read more]

Exposure to Entrepreneurship in School Matters

June 27, 2011 by Jeff Cornwall with 47 views

The findings of a recent study by Babson College suggests that exposure to entrepreneurship in school increases the intention to become an entrepreneur.This is consistent with preliminary findings we are seeing in data we have gathered here at Belmont.Increasing exposure to entrepreneurship is a driving force behind our inclusion of... [read more]

Do You Have a Back-up Plan?

April 22, 2011 by Andrew Hunt with 270 views

Great entrepreneurs and business executives live their life with no plan B. Great achievement often happens when our backs are against the wall. Pressure can actually enhance your performance. When you have to meet payroll, or are scared to death that the check you cut for those desperately needed supplies will bounce, you know pressure. When this heat is on, you find ways to make things happen. [read more]

The Bad Job Correlation: How Bad Companies Encourage New Business

April 15, 2011 by Rajeev Malik with 158 views

This post is by KikScore Co-Founder, Mike Mauseth.College is a time for learning and really bad jobs. Some of us work at Subway, while others (me) had to participate in a parade of horrible jobs. I worked for my father and he had a wide range of business endeavors – commercial real estate, mini-storage and estate auctions... [read more]

Little Book of Leadership Development Review

April 13, 2011 by Jim Estill with 58 views

First an errata. I wrongly gave credit to the procrastination log yesterday to the wrong author (perhaps I read too many time management books). The audio program I as listening to was The Now Habit - A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play.I like reading but I also like short books. Perhaps... [read more]

Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?

March 29, 2011 by Skip Reardon with 356 views

A prior issue of the Harvard Business Review included an article entitled "Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?" Their premise? "Can you summarize your company’s strategy in 35 words or less? If so, would your colleagues put it the same way?" Their conclusion? "Very few executives can honestly answer these simple questions in the... [read more]

You Can’t Eat Truth Either … But it Still Matters- Paying Bloggers, Entrepreneurship and Business Models

March 28, 2011 by Tim Berry with 114 views

As blogger, former full-time journalist, and long-term entrepreneur, I’m offended from all three sides by journalists complaining that bloggers don’t get paid on the Huffington Post. I’m offended by the envy. The money Arianna Huffington and her investors made on the sale of Huffington Post to AOL was classic entrepreneurship, earned... [read more]

Do You Do This At Meetings? I Hope Not.

March 25, 2011 by Tim Berry with 22 views

It’s been such a delight these last four years since I focused on blogging and escaped from most of the business meetings. I openly confess. I don’t like meetings. Sure, there’s the rare exception, when a group of like-minded people discuss interesting ideas. I’ve been in meetings where people are excited, ideas bouncing about, lively... [read more]

The Grateful Dead, Startups, and Controlled Chaos

March 24, 2011 by Len Ostroff with 84 views

What working backstage at a Grateful Dead concert can teach entrepreneurs: be passionate, and create beauty out of controlled chaos. [read more]

Understanding Uncertainty is Vital to an Entrepreneur

March 18, 2011 by Tim Berry with 13 views

Pop quiz: what’s relationship factor is the single most common trait in the successful entrepreneur? My answer: the relationship with uncertainty. Why? First let me say that I’m not sure. Second, that I might change my mind tomorrow. (Irony intended.) Third, that I know there are seemingly endless lists of traits of the entrepreneur,... [read more]

The Joy of Reading

March 14, 2011 by Jim Estill with 506 views

I love reading. I view as a privilege. I am not sure why. Perhaps it is for the recreation value. Perhaps the intellectual stimulation. Perhaps memories of my mom reading to my brothers and I when I was little. Reading stimulates innovative thoughts and for some reason, I value those highly. Perhaps it is because "leaders are... [read more]

Real Business Planning Thrives on Uncertainty

March 3, 2011 by Tim Berry with 369 views

How do business plans and business planning relate to maps and navigations and getting somewhere? What about the difference between a business plan, business planning process, and extensive planning? Why would you care? Consider this quote: That is not to say entrepreneurs don’t have goals, only that those goals are broad and—like... [read more]

Entrepreneurship Is …

February 28, 2011 by Tim Berry with 344 views

I caught this on twitter, a tweet by @hrtools, and it started me thinking. No disrespect to Peter Drucker, because of course he’s right; he always is, by definition. Still, I can’t resist asking. Is it a practice, or … … a way of life? Ask the serial entrepreneur, or the lifestyle entrepreneur. Ask a business owner whose business... [read more]

7 Questions An Entrepreneur or Startup Should Ask Themselves Every Day

February 23, 2011 by Rajeev Malik with 569 views

I like to talk. I like to talk a lot, especially when I have had a few really good margaritas. And my wife, my family and friends can all attest to that fact. That is all except for where I may have had too much to drink and then I have an uncanny tendency to just fall asleep in mid-sentence sometimes even at a... [read more]

Partners- You Can't Serve Two Masters

February 15, 2011 by Albert Wenger with 606 views

In looking at consumer web services we often run across companies that are trying to please too many parties. A frequent pattern sounds like “we will partner with xyz for distribution | for content | for revenues” where xyz is a legacy company whose business model is being disrupted. Or should be disrupted by the startup in... [read more]

The Entrepreneur Equation by Carol Roth

February 14, 2011 by Andrew Marshall with 626 views

Are you ready? It’s such a simple question. When asked of the would-be entrepreneur inevitably the answer is an enthusiastic, “Sure!”, or, at the very least a more tempered, “I think so.” Contained within that one question is a whole universe of variables that business strategist Carol Roth seeks to unfold and hold up to the scrutiny of... [read more]

Managing Priorities

February 10, 2011 by Brad Feld with 558 views

I’m at the end of day three of another very intense, but enjoyable and satisfying week. I’ve been in Seattle the past two days and am headed to LA for the next two days before finally making it home after being on the road for the past two weeks. As I was getting ready to go to bed in order to wake up in time to make my 6:40am flight, I... [read more]

Your Business: From Hopes and Dreams to The Real Thing

May 12, 2010 by Fred Wilson with 303 views

Companies start out as hopes and dreams and stay there for at least a little while. Even after the product has been launched and users are jumping aboard, the company is still in hopes and dreams mode. But eventually one of three things happens to a company; it goes out of business, it gets sold, or it becomes a real business. And one... [read more]

Is the Entrepreneurial Generation Willing?

February 23, 2010 by Jeff Cornwall with 159 views

"So are you seeing more students interested in entrepreneurship given the depths of this recession?" I get this question a lot. And it is a good question because historically we saw a small upswing in student interest in entrepreneurship when the economy and job market softens. But this is a much deeper recession and more... [read more]

Entrepreneurship as Community Builder

February 15, 2010 by Jeff Cornwall with 217 views

Entrepreneurship is more than just a driver of economic development. It can help build communities. Two recent examples from Tennessee universities help illustrate this important lesson. The first one comes from Jackson. In fall 2007, a group of entrepreneurially minded students at Union University came together to create a vision for... [read more]