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February 5, 2008

Coca-Cola Buys Honest Tea

The best thing that ever happened to organic tea company Honest Tea or a slow but controlled brand implosion?

Coca-Cola announced today that it is buying 40% of Honest Tea, the nation's largest selling brand of organic bottled tea. Coke's decision to become a majority player in the organic tea brand is in line with earlier decisions to cast its net outside the traditional soda industry with brands like Minute Maid (bought over forty years ago now), Powerade, Nestea, Dasani and most recently vitamin water producer Glaceau.

Coke's decision to invest in Honest Tea, although unforeseen is unsurprising, given the company's strong growth rate and increasing popularity in recent years on the one hand, and a rising demand for beverages outside the traditional soft drinks/soda industry on the other.

"In terms of sales trends, you can see there's a large uptake in health food and beverages. In 2006 for instance, the soda, water, sports and energy drinks sector earned about 35 billion," says Daniel Fabricant, Vice President of Scientific and Regulatory affairs at the Natural Products Association.

In fact, this is a great time to be in natural foods in general -- the industry is experiencing exponential growth, having gone from $2 billion in sales in 1990 to about $55 billion at the end of last year. The explosive growth, fueled by more educated, health conscious consumers and a bigger distribution opportunity, is dragging companies like Honest Tea along with it.

Honest Tea's own acceptance of Coke's investment comes from a desire to reach a broader audience, according to CEO Goldman -- to go from being simply "important" to acting as a "agent of change" by leading "a national shift toward healthier diets."

"Despite our 66 percent annual compound growth rate (70 percent in 2007), we still aren't reaching all the people we want to reach. We want to see Honest be an agent of change, not just through the example it sets but through its own actions as well," he says.

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Posted by Saabira Chaudhuri at 4:45 PM | 2 Comments

January 21, 2008

Ludacris -- Rapper Turned Entrepreneur?

When I overheard an excited murmur about how Chris Bridges was setting up a restaurant in Atlanta, I didn't think anything of it. Neither the name nor the act seemed worthy of much interest. A little while later the name popped up again – this time in the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Apparently Chris Bridges aka, Ludacris (aha), is making his first foray into the restaurant business with plans to open three Atlanta restaurants in conjunction with Bay area restaurateur Chris Yeo, who already owns four California based restaurants.

The 30 year old rapper is reported to be expanding his entrepreneurial activity of late: a few months ago he paid $2.7 million for a building that formerly housed the restaurant Spice, in midtown Atlanta. He is the CEO of his own 8-year-old record label, Disturbing tha Peace Records, which has signed a number of prominent artists, including rapper Chingy.

Now this sounds terrible, but I have to admit I was taken aback at the idea that someone who I know only in context of his desire "to lick you from your head to your toes" and his overly-virile claims about having "a hoe in every area code," could be business savvy enough to be able to delve into the real estate business and make an attempt at being a real entrepreneur.

"I don't generally speak about it… I keep it to myself. I'm definitely into real estate. I'm a silent partner and an entrepreneur outside of music," said Ludacris in an interview with the Chronicle.

Apparently, Ludacris isn't the only rapper/musician who has dabbled in the restaurant business. Moby owns vegan restaurant Teany, Gladys Knight lays claim to Gladys and Ron's Chicken and Waffles, and Robert De Niro owns TriBeCa Grill in New York, Ago in L.A., and Rubicon in Sa. Youngbloodz own a Cuban restaurant at the Atlanta based Wyndham hotel, and Fat Boy Slim co-owns Greenwich Village based restaurant, the Spotted Pig.

More significant than the number of celebs who own restaurants however, are the number who have owned restaurants that have since gone under. Britney Spears's Manhattan based Nyla, closed its glitzy shutters and filed for bankruptcy a mere six months after launch. Wesley Snipes's Hollywood based China One, Puffy's restaurant Justin's, Jim McMahon's eponymous Chicago based restaurant, and J Lo's LA based La Boca del Conga Room, all went down, and hard.

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Posted by Saabira Chaudhuri at 6:49 AM | 11 Comments

December 20, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Britney's Sister Gets Pregnant

Britney Spears' 16 year old sister, a Nickelodeon actress named Jamie-Lynn, is pregnant. Here's why you should care: the sisters, and their mother (who was slated for a book deal) are a textbook case of How To Ruin Your Personal Brand, and watching their deconstruction has become a fascinating look at a case study in mismanagement.

Photo: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

The three Spears women are, doubtless, entrepreneurs of an unusual stripe; all entertainers are. But no matter the niche, startup owners have to be almost myopic about preserving the integrity and reliability of their brand. Lose the trust and regard of your customers, and any further efforts your business makes will be laughably disregarded. Here's how the Louisianan Ladies have royally screwed up a multi-million dollar franchise.

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Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:46 AM | 3 Comments

December 12, 2007

Entrepreneurship: The Fuel Of The Future Is Not Wood

Lest you be impressed with oil's potential energy, remember that it requires more and more coaxing to get it out of the ground and into power. Wood, on the other hand, is literally lying all over the place.

That's the economic conclusion arrived at by an Arizona entrepreneur whose new company is looking to use "green waste" like yard clippings and forest detritus to create energy for over a quarter of a million homes in the Southwest. If this could work, wouldn't someone have thought of it already? Is this man an idiot?

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Posted by Chris Dannen at 1:30 PM | 3 Comments

December 5, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Thank Your Attention-Starved Spouse With A New Kind Of Neglect

Let's say you run a web site, and it's so demanding that you run it at the cost of your marital well-being. Now you can say "thank you!" to your Main Squeeze for her patience by, you guessed it, fiddling with another web site.

This one is called Spouse 2.0, and it's a little one-pager set up by the co-founder of Particls, Ashley Angell (who, for your information, is a guy. If you don't believe men should be named "Ashley," consider the mighty Ashley river that traverses South Carolina, or eat some history.) Anyway, the ostensible purpose of Spouse 2.0 is to thank those tirelessly patient souls who are married to people married to web startups. The site advocates you do this (on "Spouse 2.0 day, which is December 7th -- mark your calendar) by following these four steps.

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Posted by Chris Dannen at 2:39 PM | Add Comment

November 16, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Online Dating Gets More Vain?

Online daters live and die by interpreting profile photographs. Sure, interests and hobbies are great, but when it comes to that crucial moment (to contact, or not to contact?) it's the photo that matters. Is it recent? Is it full-body? Is it even real? This week's Startup of the Week award goes to a site that's adding a new dimension to online matchmaking by actually allowing users to search for matches that resemble their favorite celebrities. The best part is: they're using Match.com's database to do it.

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Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:41 AM | 3 Comments

November 7, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Go Ahead, Be A Delicious Curry

Yeah, you read that right: curry, like what the British call a tasty stew you eat with rice. That's the advice of a Glasgow-based entrepreneur who styles himself the "King of Curry" in honor of his chain of popular Indian restaurants. "Like a good curry, becoming an entrepreneur is all about finding the right ingredients," says Charan Gill, 51. And that's why, apparently, he's starting an entrepreneurial competition with a cash prize. More on this nut, and his competition, after the jump.

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Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:12 AM | Add Comment

October 31, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Is Marrying An Entrepreneur a Mistake?

This morning I had the pleasure of disagreeing vehemently with an online column entitled "Pitfalls of Marrying an Entrepreneur." The column's thesis seems to be that spouses of entrepreneurs should be prepared to take a back seat to their mate's business. Here's how they put it [n.b., emphasis is mine]:

[Entrepreneurs] feel they have a mission to create. And something in life normally has to give. That means a partner must be accommodating: willing to sacrifice almost everything for the business and willing to put up with the ego of their ambitious other half.

At one point in the piece, the author refers to entrepreneurs as "empire builders" who are "never satisfied." Empire builders? Are there not plenty of business-owners who a) start a business to sell it quickly or b) establish a successful business and just ride the wave?

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Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:40 AM | 3 Comments

October 24, 2007

Entrepreneurship: What's With Chocolate?

In the last few days, the world has seen a morass of chocolate-related news. The New Yorker has a story on the hippie-go-lucky founders of Dagoba Chocolate, the popularity of which has surged on a reemergence of interest in natural cacao. Artist Cosimo Cavallaro has just opened a gallery show in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York featuring life-size statues of nine religious figures -- in chocolate (witness "My Sweet Lord," a massive chocolate Jesus.) Some teenager in Britain has made news by creating a booming chocolate company out of his house in Shropshire, just by thinking up peculiar flavor combinations.

And yet, the New York Times reports this week that Hershey's profits have plummeted by almost two-thirds, and Cadbury Schweppes has moved its chocolate production from England to Poland, and plans to cut over 7,500 jobs in the process.
What's going on with chocolate? And what does it mean for entrepreneurs like the British teenager?

Continue reading "Entrepreneurship: What's With Chocolate?"

Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:49 AM | 4 Comments

October 17, 2007

Entrepreneurship: "Obama Girl" Aims To Win Hearts & Minds

According to The Hollywood Reporter (and who doesn't love a post that begins like that?), the creator of the viral-video site BarelyPolitical.com has accepted an offer for the purchase of his site by a bigger video startup. BarelyPolitical is best known for its music video "I Have a Crush On Obama," in which a salacious young lady sings an R&B ballad to the Illinois Junior Senator, whilst wearing enough lip gloss to waterproof a pair of gym shorts. If you haven't seen it, please, avail yourself. Then we'll talk.

On its face, this video is, of course, absurd. As with many viral YouTube phenomena (this video got millions of hits), it combines 1) prurience, 2) a silly premise, and 3) amateur production value. Yes, it's funny. Yes, it will pleasurably waste two minutes of your day. But even after the immense success of other YouTube favorites, this is the first news of a real money-making opportunity growing out of viral popularity. So the big question is: who would pay money for this site that made this? And why?

Continue reading "Entrepreneurship: "Obama Girl" Aims To Win Hearts & Minds"

Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:59 AM | 1 Comment

October 10, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Not So Fast, China

This morning the web is abuzz with some news out of Beijing. Apparently the Chinese index of entrepreneurial confidence (which I think needs an acronym) is still soaring in the third quarter of 2007. It registered no statistically significant change since last quarter, when it was at a high of 143 points (100 points is conventionally thought to be the boundary between a bullish or bearish trend).

With the dollar at a humbling low point and our national debt soaring (much of it, by the way, owed to China), good news for our far-eastern industrial counterparts might make for an easy jab at the confidence of American entrepreneurs. But another press release came over the wires today that will hopefully remind Americans that they’re actually living in one of the best entrepreneurial economies in recent memory.

That press release comes from the Princeton Review, which announced today its list of the top 50 graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurship programs at colleges nationwide. While the University of Southern California and Babson College took top honors in the respective categories, that isn’t really the point.

Continue reading "Entrepreneurship: Not So Fast, China"

Posted by Chris Dannen at 12:09 PM | 1 Comment

October 3, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Making Money On The Obese

I'm currently reading economist Tyler Cowen's book, Discover Your Inner Economist, and the first chapter deals with the effectiveness of monetary incentives. Money, he argues, isn't always a useful tool in altering human behavior; anyone who's offered financial rewards to their children for doing chores can tell you that the results are mixed. In passing, he mentions another "bad" use of monetary incentives: paying people to lose weight.

But new research is suggesting that you can indeed use monetary incentives to get people to drop fat. As Fox News reports:

The research published in the September issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that cash incentives can be a success even when the payout is as little as $7 for dropping just a few pounds in three months.

Losing weight is a highly personal, sometimes embarrassing endeavor; to go on a diet is to admit implicitly to your peers that you're not happy with your body. That kind of vulnerability isn't easily allayed, but money can apparently help. So, the question is: does anyone dare make a buck off the obese?

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Posted by Chris Dannen at 11:04 AM | 2 Comments

September 27, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Ashley Qualls Takes Manhattan

Set your Tivo. Ashley Qualls, the 17-year-old wunderkind and founder of Whateverlife.com, is scheduled to appear on The View on Friday (after Diane Sawyer). Since our story on Ashley appeared in the September issue, her already extraordinary life has become even more of a whirlwind.

Let's see, she was legally emancipated from her parents, giving her control of Whateverlife's assets. She signed with a talent agency in Hollywood. She's considering writing a book about how she built her business. She turned down another offer for the site, this time for $2.5 million. Now she's all over the Detroit media. Crain's Detroit. The Free Press. FM 97.1. CNN even ran WXYZ's story. Yes, just your average run-of-the-mill month in the life of this teenager.

On Monday she arrived in New York for the first time, with her mother and Robb Lippitt, her consultant, in tow. Ashley is meeting this week with potential advertisers and attending Ypulse Tween Mashup, a marketing conference on Friday. When she dropped by Fast Company's offices after taping The View, Lippitt was fielding more emails for interviews and speaking engagements even as we were catching up.

I love this detail. She told me did her homework and learned that Barbara Walters' birthday was Tuesday. When Ashley showed up at the studio, she gave Walters a present - a Whateverlife t-shirt. Smart girl. As I keep telling everyone who asks me about her, she's a born entrepreneur.

Posted by Chuck Salter at 6:30 PM | 2 Comments

September 26, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Bill Gross on Atoms and Bits

CNN Money has an interesting Q&A with Bill Gross, the serial entrepreneur whose brain birthed startups like NetZero, CitySearch, eToys, and GoTo.com. While the interview questions aren't particularly hard-hitting, they do encourage Gross to make a few salient statements about what he thinks makes an excellent startup. His first comment is about how his company, Idealab, looked for "disruptive" internet ideas:

... We look for a disruptive opportunity... for a big problem and a way to solve it that no one else was willing to try. I would say we're going much more after white space... We prefer to look for a big itch that isn't being scratched.

Continue reading "Entrepreneurship: Bill Gross on Atoms and Bits"

Posted by Chris Dannen at 1:30 PM | 5 Comments

September 19, 2007

Entrepreneurship: New Economy, New Safety Nets

At the risk of adding to the morass of Facebook-related news coverage floating around the Web, it’s worth mentioning that Facebook announced this week that it is pairing with two prominent VC firms to establish fbFund, a $10 million venture fund specifically for Facebook Platform application developers. The announcement is widely regarded as a response to the Bay Partners’ Facebook-specific venture program called AppFactory and Altura Ventures' Facebook fund, and will offer similar seed-level funding of $25,000 to $250,000.

Obviously, most entrepreneurs out there don’t have any connection to Facebook -- so why is this announcement of wider import? Well, there’s some salient wording in the Bay Partners’ press release; they refer to Facebook platform as a new “operating system,” specifically, a “social operating system.” Put that term to most people, and they think of Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. And then they think of the history of software development for those platforms. And then they realize the billions of dollars of potential that Facebook conceivably has to developers. Will some net-based startups begin integrating Facebook functionality simply to float on the rising tide of venture funds?

Right now, Facebook apps are little more than amateurish widgets that perform negligibly useful services. But as Bay Partners has articulated, new operating systems usually lead to new economies, and in new economies there is, presumably, incredible breadth of opportunity. And when you're dealing with a network that has access to all of its users contact information, there's nary a business in the country that couldn't find some way to utilize that to a meaningful end.

Continue reading "Entrepreneurship: New Economy, New Safety Nets"

Posted by Chris Dannen at 10:22 AM | Add Comment

September 12, 2007

Entrepreneurship: Direct Mail Isn't Dead Yet

A new service called Leadstash is boasting that it can make professional-quality direct mail campaigns that are financially feasible for even the smallest of small businesses. The company claims a database of over 50 million American addresses, with a localized search engine that allows entrepreneurs access to see how many addresses are available in their zip code. The catch: the site looks a little shady.

The service sounds well-conceived in theory; users can use online wizards to create letters, postcards and mailing labels, which are then mailed directly to customers in a designated zip code. For this privilege, small business owners pay a small monthly subscription fee of $50, with no cancellation penalty. Oddly, this fee is collected by PayPal, which (while obviously trustworthy in and of itself) seems amateurish, and doesn't inspire much confidence. To make matters worse, the site (which is rendered in drab Web 1.0) has a generic, clip-art logo of two hands exchanging cash. Does that signify me stupidly forking over my ad budget to some sketchy, faceless entity?

Still, $50 a month is pretty cheap for an entire direct mail campaign. However, they'd be smarter to charge a small fee per address, to make the service more practical for businesses operating in less populated areas, who might see a smaller return than say, a Boston or New York-based business. As the model works now, it would have the best value for city businesses, who can presumably access more addresses -- but who are also likely to have the lowest response rates due to competition and brand confusion, among other factors. In sum, the idea seems a little half-baked.

Continue reading "Entrepreneurship: Direct Mail Isn't Dead Yet"

Posted by Chris Dannen at 7:00 AM | 3 Comments

February 27, 2007

C Is For Cookie

You said it, Cookie Monster. Cookies are a great way to teach kids about literacy. But did you know they are also a great way for the future businesswomen of America to learn about financial and economic literacy?

By buying more than 200 million boxes of Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Do-Si-Dos from enterprising Girl Scouts, Americans help girls build important leadership skills and support the "nation's premier business and economic literacy program," says Girl Scouts CEO Kathy Cloninger.

"Through cookie activities, girls learn how to plan, build teams, speak up, make decisions, solve problems and manage resources. These skills add up, so that ultimately, girls learn to be leaders--in their own lives--and in our communities," she says.

I'd be interested to know if there are any former Girl Scouts reading this blog who attribute their success in the business world to the skills they learned selling cookies.

Continue reading "C Is For Cookie"

Posted by Alex Pasquariello at 12:58 PM | 6 Comments

February 23, 2007

EntrepreneurshipWeek USA at Stanford

via Guy Kawasaki

The Kauffman Foundation is launching EntrepreneurshipWeek USA from February 23rd to March 3rd. The theme is "What's Your Big Idea? Take it On!" There will be educational programs around the country. Stanford is embracing this program in a big way starting with the kickoff event on Saturday. The schedule for the week is packed with interesting sessions:

2/24 Saturday

OPENING CEREMONY & LAUNCH PARTY, 4:00-6:00 PM, William R. Hewlett Teaching Center, Room 200, Host: Stanford Entrepreneurship Network, Join the National Kickoff of EntrepreneurshipWeek USA with President Hennessy, Carl Schramm, and Steve Jurvetson. Festivities include audience prizes and the unveiling of the campus-wide Innovation Challenge competition.

2/25 Sunday

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: MAKE A DIFFERENCE, 3:00-5:00 PM, Wallenberg Learning Theater, Wallenberg Hall, Hosts: Center for Social Innovation, Graduate School of Business, and Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship Program. Hear leading funders discuss ways to support social ventures, and attend a fair showcasing early-stage social ventures from around the world.

2/26 Monday

INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: TRAILBLAZERS IN CHINA, 4:00-6:00 PM, Bechtel Conference Center, Encina Hall, Hosts: Stanford Project on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) and Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society (ASES). Think global. Meet Stanford entrepreneurs breaking ground in China’s dynamic high-technology industries, from mobile to Web 2.0. Hear their advice, meet in groups, and network over Chinese appetizers.

2/27 Tuesday

ENTREPRENEURSHIP MIXER, 5:00-7:00 PM, Lower Arbuckle Lounge, Graduate School of Business, Host: Graduate School of Business. Network with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, students, and other members of the entrepreneurial community.

2/28 Wednesday

DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Seminar Series:
THE ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN SOLVING WORLD PROBLEMS, 4:30-6:00 PM, William R. Hewlett Teaching Center, Room 200, Hosts: Stanford Technology Ventures Program and Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES). Hear a panel of Stanford University leaders and successful entrepreneurs discuss approaches to solving major world problems related to energy, health sciences, and international security.

STANFORD TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE AND RECEPTION, 6:00-7:30 PM, D. Packard Electrical Engineering Building Atrium, Host: Office of Technology Licensing. Network at a reception following the Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Seminar and see products developed from technologies licensed from Stanford.

3/01 Thursday

BASES START-UP JOB FAIR, 10:00-4:00 PM, White Plaza, Host: Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES). Explore job opportunities with over 100 startups representing a wide range of industries, from Web 2.0 to clean energy. Raffle prizes will be given away throughout the event.

INTERVIEW: SILICON VALLEY’S FAVORITE F-WORD – FAILURE, 5:30-6:30 PM, Wallenberg Learning Theater, Wallenberg Hall, Host: Stanford Graduate Program in Journalism. Listen to Guy Kawasaki of Garage Technology Ventures share his provocative views on risk-taking, failure and success in this live interview with journalism professor Ann Grimes, formerly of The Wall Street Journal.

3/02 Friday

GREEN IS THE NEW RED, WHITE, AND BLUE, Presentation by Thomas Friedman, Author, The World is Flat, 1:00-2:30 PM, Memorial Auditorium, Host: Energy Crossroads Consortium. Hear renowned author and columnist Thomas Friedman address the strategic role of sustainability and conservation for the U.S. and world at large. President Hennessy will give the introduction.

VENTURE CAPITAL SPEED-DATING, 3:30-6:30 PM, Wallenberg Learning Theater, Wallenberg Hall, Host: Asia-Pacific Student Entrepreneurship Society (ASES). Students, pitch your business idea to Silicon Valley venture capitalists. Apply in advance for opportunities to give three-minute pitches and receive feedback. The networking reception at 5:30 PM is open to all members of the Stanford community.

3/03 Saturday

ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK CLOSING CEREMONY, 4:00-5:30 PM, William R. Hewlett Teaching Center, Room 200, Host: Stanford Entrepreneurship Network. Watch an entertaining showcase of the Innovation Challenge results. Prizes will be awarded to teams that make the most money, generate the most social value, are the most creative, and have the biggest flop.

Posted by Lynne d Johnson at 9:00 AM | Add Comment

August 15, 2006

When Customers Create Your Assets

If someone, in 1850, had told PT Barnum that they had a system in which customers worked long hours in their spare time to create the substance of a product which they then gave freely to a business which packaged it and sold it back to them, he might have said "Poppycock!". Surely, even the greatest huckster of all time would see this for the impossibility that it is. And yet, this is the world that we live in, and the economic climate that we are doing business in. Understanding how to harness this grassroots power of value creation is key to survival in the new marketplace created by the information ubiquity of the Internet.

Continue reading "When Customers Create Your Assets"

Posted by Dominic Muren at 9:27 PM | Add Comment

April 5, 2006

Lessons from Behind the Red Velvet Rope

Writers search for stories in the darkest, most unlikely places. Here’s my Dr. Livingston moment from Monday night: I saw that a party girl linked in print to Lindsay Lohan almost as much as Wilmer Valderrama actually had some lessons to offer about business. The femme in question was Amy Sacco, a club owner/restaurateur who caters to the Clooney set, fielded questions at the behest of Glasshouse, a sort of social club for entrepreneurs.

Sacco was the night's speaker, sharing tales from the trenches of the night club business. Here’s a lesson on how knowing your market is only half the battle: Sacco’s challenge from the beginning was to get celebs in the door -- unlike baseball-playing ghosts, building it isn’t always enough. To get them there, she mailed out “quasi-membership” cards (a promotion, not a necessity) to A-lister homebodies who she knew wouldn’t come out often. The hope, she said, was to get them to make those rare appearances at her venue. “The backfire was everyone thought it was the only way to get in,” resulting in a less than stellar opening. Clarity, it appears, is valuable. Another way that point was illustrated was with her recently sold club, Lot 61. It was meant to be a restaurant, but she launched the intended tapas spot with only a quarter of the menu, planning to add dozens of dishes later. Too late -- the Lot 61 brand already strayed from its intended “eatery” label because of such a small menu on opening night. “That’s how it became a nightclub,” she lamented.

She was also candid about the blessings and perils of attracting investors as a woman, noting that it “never hurt me to be six-foot tall and blonde,” as well as, “It’s a vanity investment” for people looking buy entrance to a trendy club or score with the beautiful and rich. Of course the Q&A steered predictably towards the later. Sacco was quick to paint her celebrity patrons as a group of entrepreneurs -- a distinction that didn’t evade some of the audience -- as if Richard Branson and Paris Hilton had more in common than primetime.

Posted by Joseph Manez at 3:50 PM | Add Comment

February 3, 2006

It's Hard to Compete With "Free"

I can't remember who said, "writing's the price I pay for hanging out," but here's the bill I ran up last night hearing Craig's List CEO Jim Buckmaster field questions from a mix of American and British members of Glasshouse, a cross-sector society of entrepreneurs.

The most popular line of questioning was about the competition. And to the amazement of many attendees, that's something Jim doesn't think much about. "We don't think in terms of competition. We don't have the staff to mount a reaction. We just try to keep up with the user traffic." Instead, their plan consists of "trying not to sell out their users in any way." He poked fun at the rash of businesses that tried to adapt Craig's List's model (only job listings in NYC, LA, and San Fransisco cost, and New York apartment brokers will be added to that next month) to charge in more areas, pointing out "It's hard to compete with 'free.'"

One of the high points of the evening was when one guest wanted to know what he thought of listings seeking "skiing" partners on Manhattan's Upper West Side, i.e. cocaine connections. Jim laughed and mentioned his obligation to cooperate in police inquiries.

Most surprising revelation of the night? References to sex workers (3) out numbered those to Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point (2).

Posted by Joseph Manez at 3:58 PM | Add Comment

August 9, 2005

How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience: Part 2

This may sound like the beginning of a bad joke: What do you get when you combine:

• A nuclear engineer
• A rap artist
• An FBI agent
• An AOL / Time Warner executive
• A professional stand-up comedian

How about a church leadership team? As an experience architect, I've been exploring ways that innovative leadership is imprinted on customer experience. New Life Christian Church is a great case study. It's one of those unique places where the customer experience definitely reflects the drive and innovation of its leaders... and there's something to be learned for all.

Continue reading "How Innovative Leadership Impacts Customer Experience: Part 2"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 7:39 PM | Add Comment

Differentiation That Works?

Mark Northern asked in his previous post about differentiators that work. Here's .02 cents from someone in the trenches with folks engineering new products and messages every day.

The differentiators that work are the differentiators that matter most. The differentiators that matter most depend on the individual. Individuals in today's marketplace don't always know what they want, and are conditioned to be more fickle, discontent and less patient.

Delivering differentiation messaging effectively is unquestionably more complex today than it ever has been. This isn't just because our customers are now more educated than ever. We're also dealing with online and offline channel proliferation, a lack of data standards, systems integration, and a shortage of seasoned quantitative analytics staff who can make sense out of mounting customer information...

But that's a topic for another day... Here's the good news: In this era of tight competition and commoditization, the differentiator that matters most may have less to do with your product than you think.

Continue reading "Differentiation That Works?"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 2:46 PM | Add Comment

Small + Disruptive = Powerful

I live a stone's throw from Apple headquarters in Cupertino, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Apple is hiring.

But it's not the Apples, Oracles, Intels or Ciscos that make the economy hum here. "Historically, it is start-ups, not established companies, that create the bulk of new jobs here," says the San Jose Mercury News this past Sunday.

And there's lots of venture capital money flowing into innovative start-ups (far higher than any year before 1999). Yet the question remains, "So Why Isn't the Valley Booming?" (San Jose Mercury News, August 7, 2005).

Continue reading "Small + Disruptive = Powerful"

Posted by Evelyn Rodriguez at 2:20 PM | Add Comment

August 8, 2005

Social Impact and Profit

In a world where non-profits are urged to thrive using enterprise, and corporations are cajoled to build customer loyalty by demonstrating social responsibility... who's playing in the middle ground?

One little operation of note is San Diego-based Orijiro (o-re-JEE-roh). The company is "on a mission to be a conduit for giving." They create custom-designed products that increase awareness of, and support for, charitable initiatives.

For example, the company has a small line of greeting cards that are sold through independent coffee retailers in San Diego (and expanding across the US). The cards feature photography by artists in coffee-growing countries. Proceeds from the sale of the cards go to Orijiro's non-profit partner, New Mexico based, Coffee Kids.

Interestingly Orijiro is working to be a second-generation social enterprise by entwining social impact and profit.

Posted by Peter Rees at 8:30 PM | 4 Comments

Innovative Leadership - A Definition and Roll Call

Thanks for inviting me to BlogJam, heath. As I geared up for the main topic: innovative leadership, I began to think about the nature of leadership and innovation. I thought thought it'd be interesting to start a collaborative roll call of innovative leaders. We've all got our own definitions, so to start on a level field, I started my exploration by looking up two definitions on Dictionary.com (shortened and reformatted for display purposes):

Innovate (Word Net definition: n 1: to create (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation [syn: invention] 2: to create something in the mind [syn: invention, excogitation, conception, design] 3: the act of starting something for the first time; introducing something new...

Lead: 1: To show the way to by going in advance; 2: To guide or direct in a course [syn: guide]; 3: a) To serve as a route for; b) To be a channel or conduit for; 4: To guide the behavior or opinion of; to induce; 5: a) To direct the performance or activities of; b) To inspire the conduct of; 6: To play a principal or guiding role in; 7: a) To go or be at the head of...

By definition Innovation is a creative act that has implicit leadership characteristics. Leadership itself does not necessarily require innovation.

Continue reading "Innovative Leadership - A Definition and Roll Call"

Posted by Leigh from LivePath.net at 4:19 PM | 4 Comments

The Future of Mentors

Last week's Women's Leadership Exchange featured a panel of successful women: leading women's rights attorney Gloria Allred; founder and CEO of Global Smarts and former Undersecretary of Commerce for Technology Dr. Cheryl Shavers; and founder of the newest Berkshire Hathaway sweetheart, The Pampered Chef, Doris Christopher. Given the importance of mentoring in entrepreneurial success, the moderator asked who each panelist would consider her most influential mentor. And none picked a former boss, colleague, or even anyone in her field.

Continue reading "The Future of Mentors"

Posted by Jennifer Warwick at 2:50 PM | Add Comment

February 24, 2005

Is Silicon Valley Back?

Caution: This post contains no actual facts. But so far this week I've had at least four well-placed people tell me--with an uncharacteristic quiver of excitement in their voices--that Silicon Valley is back. Not on its way back. Right here, right now, it's back. Sure, people have been saying that since, oh, the day after the NASDAQ irrevocably tanked in April 2000. The big difference is that the people I've talked to this week actually seem to believe what they're saying.

But there's a catch: 1999 isn't back (nor is the IPO market). It's more like 1994, when techies were quietly leaving places like H-P or Microsoft to grab their own piece of entrepreneurial fame and fortune. The other big caveat: customers and profits (not a "dot-com" in your company name) have become the must-haves of any new venture. And Google has replaced Netscape, circa 1995, as the business model to imitate.

Is there anything to these rumors of a Silicon Valley resurrection? Or has my week simply been filled with coincidences? What's going on?

Posted by Ryan Underwood at 12:27 PM | 7 Comments

October 25, 2004

Freelance Friendly

Working Today's Freelancers Union recently surveyed its New York-based members about which companies treat freelancers best. Here are the top 10 results:

• Time Warner
• BBC
• Conde Nast Publications
• HBO
• MTV Networks
• Ogilvy & Mather
• The New York Times
• Thirteen (WNET)
• Time Inc.
• Viacom

And the definition of best? Getting paid well -- and on time. That's it? If you work as a free agent, what do you look for when working with a client? What contributes to your most successful freelance projects?

Posted by Heath Row at 12:44 PM | 1 Comment

October 13, 2004

Casting Call

If you work for a small business or startup -- and you'd like to pursue an organizational makeover -- TLC's upcoming reality TV program Taking Care of Business might be a perfect fit. The producers are currently seeking a small business interested in working with the show's team of gurus "equipped with fresh ideas and plenty of inspiration."

[Thanks, Nick!]

Posted by Heath Row at 3:38 PM | 1 Comment

August 13, 2004

Lemonade Stands and Entrepreneurship

In response to Angie's question, yes I had several Kool-Aid stands as a kid. I also used to sell my old toys to other kids. Was it the seed for entrepreneurship? I don't know. Going into college I wanted to be an engineer, and figured I would work for a big company. But after 4 years in the "real world" I couldn't take it anymore and started something on my own. For me, yes I hope to be a millionaire by age 30, but more importantly I am having fun and learning every day. Everyone wants to be rich, but I really think that entrepreneurs are driven as much by the desire to be challenged and the desire to be different as they are by money. Was my Kool-Aid stand a predictor of a future path? In part. But my curiosity and love of problem solving were probably predictors as well. What were you like growing up? And did it sow the seed for what you are today?

Posted by Rob May at 10:38 AM | 1 Comment

On Lemonade Stands

I ran across a story this morning that made me laugh, and then got me to thinking. I'll share the laugh first:

Apology Given for Lemonade Stand Closing

The tagline says it all, doesn't it? Two young girls (ages 10 and 12) set up a lemonade stand every summer. This summer, they're hoping to make enough money to buy laptops before school starts. A health inspector with an overachiever complex shut them down, saying they "didn't have the proper business licenses and were selling unsafe ice cubes." After a kind neighbour complained to the city about the (ahem) unrealistic shutdown, the girls were allowed to reopen their lemonade stand.

But the whole lemonade stand thing got me thinking, as well. There are millions of kids and only a few hundred of them likely ever open up lemonade stands. Are these the entrepreneurs of the future? Are the seeds sown that early in life, and how can we contribute to and encourage this attitude in our kids?

Did you have a lemonade stand as a kid, or some other kind of money-making enterprise? Do you think it was reflective of how you are in business today?

Posted by Angie McKaig at 9:51 AM | 3 Comments

August 12, 2004

On Doing What You Love

There is a commonly held nugget of wisdom that says "Do what you love, and the rest will follow." Frankly, it's always been one of my favourite phrases. In fact, I'd say it comes close to being a mantra for me. Who wants to spend a third of their life or more doing something that they can't even feel a passion for?

While this doesn't refer specifically to entrepreneurship and starting a small business, it's most definitely how I've always taken it. My own business is an extension of one of my interests. I've been lucky (or perhaps stubborn) enough to be able to make a buck at it.

However, there are several business books I've read recently that hasten to warn the budding entrepreneur against doing that very thing. One example that comes to mind immediately:

You Need to Be A Little Crazy by Barry Moltz says it straight out: "Be very careful about starting a business to pursue a hobby you love. Very few people can make a living from a their hobby or a favorite interest. I cringe sometimes when I ask people why they started a particular business and they say, 'Well, I love to eat out, and I always wanted to own a restaurant.' I tell them that they can have a lot of fun keeping their day job and eating at restaurants instead of starting one!"

Sometimes, in this age of information overload, it can seem like we're bombarded with advice - pro and con - about just about everything, but particularly about how to start or run a business (at least, that's how it seems to this entrepreneur!).

My personal advice: listen to all of it, remember some of it, ignore most of it. And go with your gut.

What do you think?

Posted by Angie McKaig at 8:30 AM | 4 Comments

October 16, 2003

Free Agency? Free Love!

Warrillow Weekly, a newsletter targeting small business owners, recently reported that -- get this -- entrepreneurs and small business owners have better love lives than business people working for companies. Roughly 20 percent of entrepreneurs claim to have a more satisfying love life than they did when they worked for someone else.

I'm not quite sure what to do with that information.

Posted by Heath Row at 3:36 PM | 4 Comments