Blogs

William Goldman, the famous Hollywood screenwriter, got so tired of people coming up to him and telling him they had a great idea for a movie. When a doctor at a party said “I have a wonderful movie idea. Someone just has to write it,” he replied “That’s funny, I have a great idea for a surgery, someone just has

I’m a big believer in the open movement.   It’s both inevitable and beneficial. Open Source EZ Numbers?  I’m working on it. Meanwhile, the paper I wrote on how Open Science, juiced up with Prizes, can serve as a valuable addition to patents for innovation in medical research (and beyond) has now been published by Rejuvenation Research. There are a lot

Sometimes a downturn /crisis /depression /recession /deflation /stagnation /stagflation /panic can be the best time to start a new company. Yes, bank credit is tight, but companies of all kinds are giving discounts on their products and services.  Employees are easier to come by.  Have you posted a job opening lately?  You better have a big inbox. Here are five

This is a good post on CNN Money on alternative places to get money – alternative meaning not banks. Virgin Money (used to be Circle Lending) is a cool idea – it helps structure deals you do with friends and family.  That’s where most early stage money comes from anyway, and I know too many families and friendships that suffered

As attributed to George W. Bush.  Did he misunderestimate as well? Check out this article in Newsweek.  Having lived and worked in France, I’ve always said it’s not a place to work, but a place to get laid off, and retire.  But now the government has just dramatically reduced the financial requirements on starting a new business.  They estimated 200,000

I just finished scoring the my five entries in this year’s PennVention contest.  (http://tinyurl.com/abud5n) PennVention is a really cool competition put on by the Weiss Tech House at the University of Pennsylvania, and over the years I’ve found the teams to be savvy both from a tech and business point of view. My entries this time around were a new

The SBA announced it’s making $255 million available in interest-free emergency loans to small businesses. I expect we’ll see more of this sort of thing. These loans only apply if you already have bank-issued business loans, but the cool thing is that for the first time, the SBA will guarantee the loans, making them risk-free for the banks. The SBA

It’s not ready for prime time on the site yet, but I wanted to mention it here for the time being. I’ve been working on a version of EZ Numbers that’s not in Excel, and have a pretty cool option for it.  I’ve got a rough pass up now, and you’re free to use it if you like.  You’ll need

What’s the most important thing when you start a new business? Experienced management team? Adequate capitalization? Differentiated solution to an important and growing market “problem?” Profitable business model? A killer idea? While all of those certainly help, they’re far from the most important aspect of a new business – any business. Sure, a bad management team can and most often