Origin and originality of ideas

"Make it a practice to keep on the lookout for novel and interesting ideas that others have used successfully. Your idea must be original only in its adaptation to the problem you are working on."

- Thomas Edison

This semester's class of CIMBA entrepreneurship students are developing business plans for food tours, social networks for studying abroad, RFID tracking of personal valuables, and kiosk-based auto rental. While each of these ideas has been implemented before in some shape or form, these students embraced Edison's advice and the challenge of original adaptation. Look for updates here!

What entrepreneur do you admire?

In our ice-breaker introductory session of Entrepreneurial Strategies, students identified entrepreneurs whom they admire. The list included Warren Buffett, Richard Branson, WWE founder Vince McMann (!), Bill Gates, Henry Ford, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Interestingly, several students admired Chris Gardner (the protagonist of The Pursuit of Happyness) as a model entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are quite distinct from managers in the personal practices and mindset they assume: entrepreneurs set the work climate, engage in opportunity-seeking behaviors, and constantly strive for new insights to move their ventures forward (McGrath & MacMillan, 2000). That "venture" can be your team's project, your start-up company, or even your career (Mr. Gardner is the gentleman on the left).

Getting to know you!

I've had the pleasure of meeting most of the new faculty members for the fall 2009 semester and am getting oriented to the Paderno del Grappa campus on the beautiful grounds of the Istituto Fillipin (pictured above). This semester I'm teaching introduction to management and entrepreneurial strategies. Both courses will adopt a strong orientation toward problem-solving (especially Intro to Management, with its incorporation of the Kepner-Tregoe methods of decision-making and problem-solving), and both will be heavily grounded in international contexts.

Perfect your pitch

Brad Feld offers eight mistakes entrepreneurs should avoid when pitching for capital.

Rent a Green Box - Ecopreneuring with Spencer Brown

Using Agents to Help Raise Money

From Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner:

Jason Green, Founding Partner at Emergence Capital, suggests that agents are generally not used to help raise funds in an early stage company although they may be helpful in a late-stage private equity deal. Instead, as Tom Friel, Chairman of Heidrick and Struggles, emphasizes early stage entrepreneurs are connected to VCs through informal networks of advisors who make an introduction for the entrepreneur. [2 minutes, 40 seconds]

David Frankel: What to Expect and Avoid in Term Sheets

From Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner:

David Frankel, Founding Partner at Altirah Capital, offers his advice about what entrepreneurs should expect and what they should avoid in the term sheets offered by VCs when raising money. Frenkel suggests that entrepreneurs should expect VCs to have liquidation preferences, pre-emptive rights, first refusal rights, anti-dilution rights, board member seats, CEO replacement rights and full disclosure. In contrast, Frenkel suggests entrepreneurs should not accept a big valuation from an individual investor who cannot follow on or "traditional terms" that are not adequately explained and justified.

Judy Estrin on the Benefits of Constructive Failure

From Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner:

Nobody wants to fail, but we need to be willing to take that plunge - and self-analyze to learn from our failures, says JLABS CEO Judy Estrin. If not given the opportunity to fall short of new goals, engineers and thinkers will be incapable of setting their sights high. Luckily for the entrepreneurially-minded, Silicon Valley is a forgiving place, and those with great ideas are often given credit just for stretching and broadening new notions into the marketplace.

Vinod Khosla on Problem-Solving

From Stanford's Entrepreneurship Corner:

No, We Really Are Living in a Golden Age of Television

After "dogging" the cable broadcasting offerings yesterday, I found out about a show on MOJO HD called "Start-up Junkies." Watch for free on Hulu.com.

No, We Really Are Living in a Golden Age of Television

After "dogging" the cable broadcasting offerings yesterday, I found out about a show on MOJO HD called "Start-up Junkies." Watch for free on Hulu.com.

University of Alabama Celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week

November 17 through 21 mark important activities in entrepreneurship on the University of Alabama campus. Read more..

University of Alabama Celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week

November 17 through 21 mark important activities in entrepreneurship on the University of Alabama campus. Read more..

University of Alabama Celebrates Global Entrepreneurship Week

November 17 through 21 mark important activities in entrepreneurship on the University of Alabama campus. Read more..

Russell Simmons' Creative Business Plan Contest

Entrepreneur Russell Simmons understands the spiky nature of the creative economy and has launched a new creative industries, ‘bplan like’ contest called the The Race to Be: The Creative Entrepreneurship Contest. The event is the centerpiece of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (Nov. 17- Nov. 23)

The contest has three categories: film, fashion, and music. Applications can be submitted online and the finals of each categories will take place on site in spikes of industry/artistic excellence: film in LA, music in Austin, and fashion in NY. Read more on Campus Entrepreneurship.

Russell Simmons' Creative Business Plan Contest

Entrepreneur Russell Simmons understands the spiky nature of the creative economy and has launched a new creative industries, ‘bplan like’ contest called the The Race to Be: The Creative Entrepreneurship Contest. The event is the centerpiece of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (Nov. 17- Nov. 23)

The contest has three categories: film, fashion, and music. Applications can be submitted online and the finals of each categories will take place on site in spikes of industry/artistic excellence: film in LA, music in Austin, and fashion in NY. Read more on Campus Entrepreneurship.

Russell Simmons' Creative Business Plan Contest

Entrepreneur Russell Simmons understands the spiky nature of the creative economy and has launched a new creative industries, ‘bplan like’ contest called the The Race to Be: The Creative Entrepreneurship Contest. The event is the centerpiece of this year’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (Nov. 17- Nov. 23)

The contest has three categories: film, fashion, and music. Applications can be submitted online and the finals of each categories will take place on site in spikes of industry/artistic excellence: film in LA, music in Austin, and fashion in NY. Read more on Campus Entrepreneurship.

University of Waterloo - Dormitory Incubator

The University of Waterloo is giving over one of its residence halls to Velocity, a new incubator where students can collaborate on Web, mobile, and digital media applications with their fellow budding tech entrepreneurs and perhaps help breathe some life back into the incubator model. Read more...

University of Waterloo - Dormitory Incubator

The University of Waterloo is giving over one of its residence halls to Velocity, a new incubator where students can collaborate on Web, mobile, and digital media applications with their fellow budding tech entrepreneurs and perhaps help breathe some life back into the incubator model. Read more...

University of Waterloo - Dormitory Incubator

The University of Waterloo is giving over one of its residence halls to Velocity, a new incubator where students can collaborate on Web, mobile, and digital media applications with their fellow budding tech entrepreneurs and perhaps help breathe some life back into the incubator model. Read more...