Thursday, March 26, 2009

Mompreneurs

OK…we all know that entrepreneurship is hot, but now a word on that subject that I had not heard before has entered my dictionary. The word is…mompreneur. Take a look at the item below which comes from our friends at Ask the VC . The advice provided below works for all entrepreneurs, not just mompreneurs.

This is a guest post by Lucy Sanders, the CEO of the National Center for Women & Information Technology.

Q: When evaluating a start-up by a mompreneur (or to go broader female first-timer) what do you typically see as the weakest link (in supporting roles, research, presentation, concept etc). With respect to this, if you could give mompreneurs or female first-timers advice on building their support system or fine-tuning their concept before asking for funding, what would it be?

A: (Lucy) In the course of my work at NCWIT and as a technology enthusiast, I speak to many people who have started and/or funded technology companies. The advice they offer would-be entrepreneurs is pretty consistent, and genderless. First, is your idea compelling? Does it address a current or future market need? You must be excited about the potential and that passion needs to be conveyed confidently, not just in formal funding presentations, but in the numerous conversations you have as you build your business. So, brush up your communication skills and ask others to critique your efforts. Your first pitch for funding should definitely not be your "first" pitch - practice makes perfect. Your business case will really come together the more times you tell others about it. You should also take the time to create a one page business brief that contains company details, the market need, market projections, revenue stream, potential products, management team and potential competition. Fitting all this information on one page will force you to hone your pitch, making it far more concise and easy to understand.
Next, be prepared to work hard. I love the excitement and risk taking involved with startup organizations, but it often requires long hours. Some entrepreneurs find that they let their personal lives slide when faced with such demands. But I am convinced from many years of experience that one can successfully integrate personal pursuits with demanding career endeavors. Since you asked explicitly about "mompreneurs", I assume you are wondering specifically about balancing family and entrepreneurial pursuits. Take heart - it is possible. You can hear successful women IT entrepreneurs talk about integrating work and family by listening to the
NCWIT podcast series.

One final thing you asked about is building your support system. Heidi Roizen has achieved success as an entrepreneur, a corporate executive, a corporate director and venture capitalist. In this interview she talks about how
networking is a key component of launching a company, and how people can build successful networks. Her secret? "Be a friend", "Get a friend" - in that order. If you look at networking as relationship building and nurture those ties like you would the others in your life, you'll be on your way to building a strong entrepreneurial support system.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Innovation is the Answer

If you’re looking for a quick version of what the heck happened in the economic meltdown and where we go from here, take a look at the article in the current issue of Fortune written by Glenn Hutchins (Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Silver Lake Partners) titled, After the Panic of ’08. He begins the piece simply…“It is axiomatic that to solve a problem, one must first understand it.” He goes on from there to spell out his timeline and reasoning for the collapse. While he has the government clearly in his sights as one of the key offending parties, he adds that it is much more than that.

For a generation, the American consumer over-spent, under-saved while running up large personal debts. People purchased homes they couldn't afford with mortgages they couldn't support. The U.S. government ran unsustainable budget deficits, and neglected massive trade deficits - all of which required gargantuan amounts of foreign financing. The Bush administration pushed through lower taxes but lacked the resolve to cut spending. Politicians across the spectrum pressed the government-sponsored mortgage lenders to heedlessly over-expand home ownership - distorting incentives and diminishing discipline in the mortgage markets.

Main Street banks facilitated this binge with generous consumer loans of all flavors - mortgages, home equity lines, credit cards, auto, tuition, etc. Wall Street firms - egged on by generous compensation schemes - packaged these securities into complex products that were distributed worldwide. The rating agencies debased the AAA rating and the regulators lost sight of the forest for the bark on the trees. From its lofty perch, the Fed abetted all of this with cheap money and a deregulatory bias.


The denouement came when the consumer rolled over and began to default on mortgages - particularly of the subprime variety. This triggered a cascade of consequences that we are only now beginning to understand. But to really grasp what happened and why, we have to begin at the beginning.

His solution…innovation will set us free.

So, the real question is "what's next"? The answer resides where it has always been - in innovation and entrepreneurship. Lost in the fog of today's economic storm is the fact that this is an exciting time to be a technology investor and entrepreneur. The way out of the doom and gloom of the seventies - which was a period much like today - was a wave of technology innovation that spurred a generation of company formation, job creation, productivity gains, wealth accumulation and GDP growth.

Today's opportunities are every bit as big if not bigger. For instance, we stand on the cusp of perhaps one of the mightiest technology trends of our lifetime in the field of wireless broadband mobility. The innovation and opportunity in all corners of that ecosystem - devices, components, semiconductors, network gear, operating systems, applications software, content and services - are nothing short of game-changing.

Innovation backed by entrepreneurial capital is also rampant in green technologies, biotechnology and stem cell research, nanotechnology, and other information technologies such as VOIP, virtualization, cloud computing, collaboration, software as a service and social networking. The economic and social benefits that will flow from this tsunami of innovation stand to propel another quarter century of prosperity.

Given the pessimism in the marketplace, it’s nice to see a story that leaves us with real hope. Now let’s just hope that the government doesn’t get in the way of making this happy ending a reality.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Students Starting Businesses

One of the many reasons I love my job working on a college campus is because I get to attend meetings like I did last night. This meeting was not something that was created by a faculty person and it wasn’t created by someone in the administration of the school trying to start a club. Rather, it was a gathering of students from across Syracuse University who are interested in starting a business. The meeting itself was the idea of students and was promoted by students to our students. The four of us who attended who were over age 22 were there as helpers to the process and to pay for the pizza.

The group is calling itself iVenture and the event will be the first of many such gatherings to help students from the business school meet students from the “I” school, help students from engineering meet students in the sciences, etc. On a campus, there is an incredible collection of talent, both from the faculty and administrative side, but more importantly from the student side. All too often however, we get caught up in the “silo syndrome” which makes it hard for students to meet their counterparts who can certainly help them.

As I was talking to one of the students, I saw the incredible power of this process. One of the students was talking to me about an idea he had, but had hit a technical roadblock. He wasn’t sure where to go with it, but standing next to me and listening was another student. The second student had the expertise to solve the first student’s problem and after a quick introduction, the two of them stepped aside to talk. As for me, all I did was smile. Great stuff happening on a campus and I get to be a part of it. Is this a great job or what!

The End of the Free Lunch (again)

Take a look at this from Allen Kupetz on Web 2.0 and the end of free.

The Future of Less: Internet Companies: The end of the free lunch (again)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Groundswell

When I wanted to learn more about social media, I sought out someone to teach me about it. Fortunately for me, Mark Carbone was interested in answering all of my stupid questions about all things Web 2.0. But if you don’t have a local “Mark” then you might want to read Groundswell by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li. Orlando-based author and friend Dwain Deville suggested I read it, and I liked it so much that I bought copies for all of the judges for the business plan competition that we’ll be running here at Syracuse University. I also came across the blog written by the authors of Groundswell and that too is something worthwhile to add to your Google Reader.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Be Relentlessly Resourceful

Nasir Ali, the president of the Technology Garden in Syracuse, sent me a great piece by Paul Graham ( a writer, entrepreneur and one of the partners in Y Combinator) called Be Relentlessly Resourceful. According to Mr. Graham, he “finally got being a good startup founder down to two words: relentlessly resourceful.”

By that he means a founder of a company must be “Not merely relentless. That's not enough to make things go your way except in a few mostly uninteresting domains. In any interesting domain, the difficulties will be novel. Which means you can't simply plow through them, because you don't know initially how hard they are; you don't know whether you're about to plow through a block of foam or granite. So you have to be resourceful. You have to have keep trying new things.”

For those really interested in starting up a business, take a look at Mr. Graham’s summer project.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

It's All About the Espresso

For a bit of fun, read the article from CNBC.com about espresso makers and the executive office of the European Union. The economy must be much better over there if this is what they have time to worry about.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Building Buzz

An entrepreneur in California passed along this article from the Los Angeles Times: Building Buzz for An Eco-Boutique by Cyndia Zwahlen. While my entrepreneur friend agreed that this particular business may not be the best to launch in this marketplace (unless you happen to be in California), the notion of “Building Buzz” is something that we need to consider. In the article, take particular note of establishing your on-line presence in a way that’s much more than just a “me-too” website. Also give real energy to networking and partnership development; two areas of opportunity for small companies.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Trust

People trust business less this year…now that’s a surprise, right? Edelman PR has come out with their annual 10th Annual Trust Barometer, and it appears that the world is trusting everyone less these days. Trust in corporations is down, trust in information sources is down and as a result, this lack of trust is triggering a desire for more government regulation. In their global sample of 25 to 64 year olds, “by a three to one margin respondents say that government should intervene to regulate industry.” They go on to add that “in the United States, not even half (49%) say that the free market should be allowed to function independently.

In a related piece, today’s Wall Street Journal, one of my favorite writers, Daniel Henninger, deals in his opinion column with the lack of optimism in the US.

This week's NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds President Obama with a 60% approval. That's high alright, as in high anxiety: 44% say the nation is "off on the wrong track," 41% see it headed in the right direction, and 15% of respondents are in a gray fog.
I have a poll question: Has anyone in America had a single upbeat conversation about anything the past three weeks?


So how do we change this mindset in the country? This is starting to remind me of the Jimmy Carter days of “malaise.” This change won’t come from the government and goodness knows it won’t come from the big companies…so where will it come from? To me, it will come from us…the entrepreneurs who have been and will be the engine of growth for our country.