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Entrepreneurship Corner: Stanford University’s free podcasts and video clips of entrepreneurial thought leaders and innovators from Silicon Valley.
March 5th, 2010 by David No comments »This is a great resource everyone should know about:
The Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) Entrepreneurship Corner is a free online archive of entrepreneurship resources for teaching and learning. The mission of the project is to support and encourage faculty around the world who teach entrepreneurship to future scientists and engineers, as well as those in management and other disciplines. The site has been developed by a dynamic team of educators, entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP). The project has been financially supported by Stanford University and a number of generous sponsors. Other collaborators in its creation include the Stanford Center for Professional Development and Stanford Video.
Short film shot entirely on Pentax k-x digital SLR camera
February 13th, 2010 by David No comments »This is an amazing work of art – shot entirely on a digital SLR by Pentax and Pentax lenses, this short film showcases what is possible with today’s digital cameras.
Shot in downtown Denver entirely at night, the film keeps you rooting for a troubled character with a big heart. UNCLE JACK was filmed with the smc PENTAX DA Star 16-50mm F2.8 ED AL (IF) SDM, the smc PENTAX DA 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 ED (IF) Fish-Eye and the smc PENTAX DA Star 60-250mm F4 ED (IF) SDM lenses
The Founder Institute’s Adeo Ressi on his plans to leave no entrepreneur behind | VentureBeat
February 10th, 2010 by David No comments »Found a great article on VentureBeat on a new “incubator” program: The Founder Institute:
The vision of the whole institute is to launch 1,000 companies a year. I set out with a macroeconomic goal, which was to help get us out of recession and go back to innovation by forming hundreds of companies in different geographies. Of course, when you model it out, you have to assume failure. You have to assume that not everyone who applies will get in, and you have to assume some people who get in won’t graduate, and you have to assume some people who graduate will fail. The model calls for maybe two companies out of 50 being wildly successful.
What’s interesting is, my whole mindset shifted when the sessions started. The rallying cry of the whole program is now, “Leave no founder behind!” If you go into the program assuming a failure rate, it would be like teaching a high school class and saying, “Well, you know a lot of my kids are going to be drug addicts. I can’t do anything about it.” You want to enter with belief and the vision that 100 percent will be successful. My view is, I will not stop at anything until 100 percent of everyone who finishes the program is successful. I don’t see failure as an option or an acceptable outcome.
via VentureBeat: The Founder Institute’s Adeo Ressi on his plans to leave no entrepreneur behind | VentureBeat.
TheFunded.com: The Resource for Entrepreneurs.
February 10th, 2010 by David No comments »Found an interesting resource online for entrepreneurs looking for info on VCs:
TheFunded.com is an online community of entrepreneurs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide. In addition, TheFunded.com allows entrepreneurs to view and share term sheets, to assist one another finding good investors, and to discuss the many facets of operating a business. Enjoy!
Off the Shelf: The Retail & CPG Blog: Can the grocery store provide an Amazon experience?
February 9th, 2010 by David No comments »Found an interesting post on Infosys website:
It is possible to create a unique shopping experience for grocery shoppers in the brick & mortar world. I believe this will create a unique differentiation in the minds of shoppers who are looking for a better shopping experience in the grocery stores. This will create loyalty resulting in the Grocers ability to command higher prices leading to better profitability in the long run.
via Off the Shelf: The Retail & CPG Blog: Can the grocery store provide an Amazon experience?.
via Mashable: How Social Gaming is Improving Education
February 9th, 2010 by David No comments »For decades, educators have been scrambling to find better ways to prepare students for the real world. It began with the mildly apocalyptic government report, A Nation at Risk, which warned that an outdated school system was unwittingly sabotaging America’s economic superiority. … Audits of the U.S. educational system have revealed that the highest hurdle to adopting skills-based teaching practices is the lack of an easily implementable curriculum.
Enter social video games as a solution — immersive environments that simulate real-world problems. Today, technologically eager schools are replacing textbook learning with social video games, and improving learning outcomes in the process. Here’s how they’re doing it.
via Mashable & Slashdot -> How Social Gaming is Improving Education.
Mashable’s list of top 15 iPhone apps for the kids
Within the article, the following NYC school is mentioned, Question 2 Learn… a school that puts “social gaming” in the classroom:
Design and innovation are at the heart of Quest to Learn (Q2L), a school committed to helping every student to achieve excellence in the skills and literacies necessary for college and career readiness. We believe that students today can and do learn in different ways, often through interaction with digital media and games. Q2L builds on this belief to create a nurturing and vibrant 6th-12th grade school environment that supports all students in the pursuit of academic excellence, social responsibility, respect for others, and a passion for lifelong learning.
From Google’s blog: Moms Give Up High Heeled Shoes and Lipstick For Search
February 8th, 2010 by David No comments »Interesting article on Google’s CPG blog about how mothers increasingly rely on search, suggesting how CPG companies should rethink their ad search campaign spend to take advantage of this trend. Key takeaways from a recent study include:
- Mothers conduct nearly twice as many searches as non-mothers: the study showed that before becoming a Mother, participants averaged 11 searches per week — while Mothers averaged 21 searches per week
- 3 out of 4 Moms believe that they have become better at searching versus a year ago
- Moms use search engines throughout their purchase decision making process
- Moms most often delegate activities like finding recipes, reviews of products/services and finding coupons/deal to search engines
Read more at: Official Google CPG Blog: Moms Give Up High Heeled Shoes and Lipstick For Search.
Alice.com – cutting out the middleman for all your household needs
February 8th, 2010 by David No comments »Alice provides you a better way to manage all of your household essentials online. You tell Alice what you buy—choosing from great deals on 1000’s of products—and Alice goes to work. We organize all of your products, find coupons and deals for you, remind you when you might be running low, and help you order just the items you need so you can avoid that trip to the corner drugstore or the big-box store. And all this convenience comes direct to your door with free shipping included
via Alice.com.
The co-founders state the value proposition on their blog over at their Digital CPG Blog.
We’re taking a different approach at Alice.com, which like the marketplaces mentioned above, is open for manufacturers to sell direct to consumer. But instead of consumers getting multiple boxes, they receive one Alice box of bundled goods from multiple manufacturers shipped free to their door. By sharing the box and shipping costs (rather than drop shipping), the manufacturers can offer consumers the convenience and free shipping they demand.
Bottom line for CPG manufacturers? The lines of what it means to be a manufacturer and a retailer are blurring online, and opportunities abound to innovate in how you get your goods into the hands of the consumer.
Free Stanford course on developing software for iPhone and iPod
February 7th, 2010 by David No comments »This is a great resource:
Want to know how to write programs for the iPhone and iPod touch? Beginning this week, a Stanford computer science class on that buzzworthy topic will be available online to the general public for free. The 10-week course, iPhone Application Programming, is a hot ticket. It begins today and videos of the classes will be posted at Stanford on iTunes U two days after each class meeting (http://itunes.stanford.edu). Copies of the slides shown in class will be available there as well.
