Is There a Business Model for Open Source?
A New York Times article questioning the business model for open source. MySQL, RedHat, SpringSource are some of the company names mentioned in the article.
There’s only one company making real money out of open source, and that’s Red Hat
— Simon Crosby, CTO Citrix Systems
Makes you think twice in case you were planning to go with the open source business model.
Startups, You Need to Find Your Niche
Dare Obasanjo has an interesting post about identifying ☞ underserved markets and focus your startup efforts towards these. He goes on and writes that even if some will feel like
Finding an underserved market sounds like getting the winning ticket in a lottery
, still the signs are out there and you just need to pay attention to them.
The first pattern is looking for activities people like doing where the technology has been stagnant for a while.
Another patterns is looking for an activity or task that people hate doing but assume is a fact of life or a necessary aspect of using a product.
Now if you agree with his points (and if you don’t) go and read the whole ☞ article.
Starting Your Own Business Does Not Have To Be Risky
A little bit of optimism is good for the time you are preparing to create your startup.
People looking for VC funding instead of bootstrapping might disagree though with advise like: You don’t have to hit a home run or Don’t Quit Your Job Until You Are Ready, but others ☞ will still agree.
"
The process of producing a film, especially an independent one, is by its nature very entrepreneurial. You have to create the script, which is like the business plan, you have to hire the directors and producers, who are like your staff, you have to actually produce the film, which is like execution and all the operations, you have to raise the money and make a budget, and then you have to market it. You have to get it out there in festivals and get people to see it. Literally everything we learned in film school we could apply to launching a business.
There’s another thing we discovered, and this almost gave us a psychological advantage going in. When you are producing a movie, you don’t ever just say, “Oh, this script is bad. Let’s stop and pack up.” You just don’t have the luxury to do that. When something goes wrong, which something always will, you try to save it in post-production, redo the shoot, or rewrite the script or do something else. As a [filmmaker], you’re actually built and trained to constantly problem solve and invent.
☞ David Liu, the co-founder and CEO of The Knot""
You must treat delegation of authority as an investment.
If You Want Something Done, Practice Your Patience"London VC: European Startups Need To Work Much Harder
BS
The things mentioned in the article are just effects and not causes. Plus it is completely wrong to compare an area (or some distinct spots) with the culture of a continent.
On the other hand, I do agree that Europe should change quite a few things before being too late.
Your Startup: Bootstrapping or Venture Funding?
In some parts of the world (f.e. Silicon Valley, London, Israel, etc.) the question of bootstrapping or venture funding comes up pretty soon in the life cycle of a startup. Anyway, answering this question is one of the most important decisions that entrepreneurs must make and as the startup environment is expanding fast the same question will have to be answered by entrepreneurs in areas with a younger startup culture.
As a SeedMoney adviser, people might expect me to explain why and how getting venture funding will benefit their startup. But, as others, I don’t think that VC funding is always the answer. I was really happy to find a ☞ post by Mark Peter Davis in which he provides a very simple algorithm for determining the financing strategy:
I couldn’t probably say it better than Mark:
Picking the right fundraising strategy is often as significant of an indicator of the founder’s payout as selecting the right business strategy. Take the time to understand what type of company you are building and finance it properly.
Learning from the experience of Mint.com CEO Aaron Patzer
You will definitely find a ton of useful information for a startup founder. You’ll find references about hiring and initial organization, equity distribution, funding process dos and don’ts, funding myths, personal details, etc.
Legal Documents For Your Startup
Thanks to Sillicon Alley Insider and law firm Cooley Godward Kronish, you can get now samples of the documents needed for your next startup: Employee Non-Disclosure (with Non-Compete), Employee Non-Disclosure (without Non-Compete), Action of Sole Incorporator, Certificate of Incorporation, By-Laws, Initial Board Resolutions, Choosing a Name
Launching a start-up and having a family life: It’s possible!
I couldn’t imagine someone jotting down these principles of a healthy entrepreneur’s family life. Black on white.
And I am darn happy to discover so many common ideas that we’ve been following in our family. But there is so much more to learn and improve!
- We would have a family dinner at home most nights of the week.
- Put the kids to bed.
- Act and be engaged.
- Back to work after the kids were in bed.
- Weekends were with and for my kids.
- Half a day work on Saturday
- …
Achievable goals: Everybody Else and The Entrepreneur
Seth Godin wrote about achievable goals in one of his recent posts:
That’s what your team wants. Your employees, your investors, your boss. They’re willing to put in the time and the energy and the work if they think:
- The outcome might be an avalanche of attention, new business and growth, and
- Their work makes that outcome achievable, even likely.
— Seth Godin: Achievable avalanche opportunities ☞
I think there is another category of people that’s seeing things a bit different: the entrepreneurs. They are visionaries. They are dreaming to change the world. They think the evolution in quantum leaps. This is both their strongest and weakest point.
