Denver, CO the Mile High City
It has always been undisputed that Silicon Valley has been the start-up capital of the world because it is overflowing with investors, mentors, and start-ups in every stage of development. But an affordable and laid-back alternative to Silicon Valley, the Mile-High City is building a vibrant start-up community.
Continue reading… “Top 5 reasons Denver is a great place for startups”
Taiwanese entrepreneurs have begun to seek market opportunities outside the U.S. in the phenomenon called the reverse brain drain.
Many foreign entrepreneurs clamor at America’s gates to get a piece of the innovation incubator of Silicon Valley. But Jerry Chang, a serial entrepreneur and Taiwanese immigrant, has done what most hopeful incomers would consider the unthinkable and taken his business offshore. In 2009, he established mobile payment company Mobile Radius. Rather than found the company in the U.S., let alone his native Taiwan, Chang decided to take his business to China. To many, his decision is a surprising one. Chang does not face the typical obstacles most immigrant entrepreneurs encounter. He acquired U.S. citizenship over two decades ago and has significant experience in the tech field. His first company, Clarent Corp., had boasted a client list of big-named companies like AT&T Worldnet, China Telecom, and Telstra.
If there is anything that the Silicon Valley worships it is the network effect. Startups are plucked from obscurity and elevated to fame and fortune. The list includes nearly every technology success story of the past 15 years. Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, eBay, and PayPal. Each have soared to multi-billion-dollar valuations on the power of the network effect.
Continue reading… “The network effect is not what it used to be”
Airbnb is a social website that connects people who have space to spare with those who are looking for a place to stay.
We have gotten pretty used to the disruption that the rise of the social web has created in the media industry, where it has upended traditional business models and allowed creators of content to connect directly with their audience. But that same wave of socially-driven disruption is now moving through the rest of the economy too — particularly in services that can be easily socialized, such as the hotel business, the taxi industry or the education market. As that wave progresses, we’re seeing companies like Airbnb and Uber and Coursera run into more and more regulatory hurdles, but the writing is already on the wall: service businesses that don’t use social features to lower barriers and increase efficiency will likely not survive long.
Companies need to focus on making this big data fast, intuitive and easy to manipulate.
In the past year big data has become one of the most buzzed about topics, and potentially overhyped, phrases of the year. Big data has huge disruptive potential and the flood of attention should be no surprise. A recent IDC report stated that the business analytics software market grew by 14.1 percent in 2011 and will continue to grow to reach $50.7 billion in 2016, all driven by the focus on big data.
Continue reading… “Big data needs to be fast and diverse or it’s useless”
Obama signs the JOBS Act
Poyan Rajamand faced a choice when he completed his degree from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business in 2008. Would he look for work in the United States or relocate abroad? Rajamand explained in a report written by the Partnership for a New America Economy and the Partnership for New York City, that he and his fiancé arrived at their decision easil. They would move to Singapore, where obtaining a visa was simpler for high-skilled immigrants than here in the United States. In his new home, Rajamand has founded a startup called Barghest Partners that invests in new businesses.
Continue reading… “If you want more jobs in America, you need more immigrants”
Republicans and Democrats will agree on little during this years elections, including how to get the U.S. economy growing. Will it take higher taxes or smaller government to get the economy growing again? One path to growth that is widely agreed upon is technological innovation, which has historically been closely associated with the American venture-capital-backed startup company.
Continue reading… “The limitations of venture capital on true innovation”
It’s already well-known that San Francisco, including Silicon Valley, is the technology capital of the world. Seven of the top 10 most-visited websites are based there, including Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Ask. But how does the rest of the USA fare for tech start-ups?
Continue reading… “Top 10 cities for technology startups”
With the arrival of the big smartphone platforms, we’ve reverted back to 1999.
Mobile app startups are failing like it’s 1999 with the long cycle times for developing the apps. It’s like we’ve forgotten all the agile and rapid iteration stuff that we learned over the last 10 years.
Continue reading… “Mobile app startup failures look more like 1999”
The decision to finish an MBA can be difficult.
Twenty-seven year old Natasha Pecor just finished her first year in the MBA program at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. But after interning this summer at Freestyle Capital, a San Francisco venture capital firm that finances early-stage startups, she may not pursue a second year.
Continue reading… “Would-be-MBA’s dropping out in favor of work”
Growing startups in the digital babysitting space allow parents to book, review, and often pay babysitters online.
There are few areas of life that haven’t been changed by the mobile and Internet revolutions for the young, urban smartphone owner. We can book restaurant reservations through OpenTable, take a cab without swiping a credit card on Uber, or crash at someone’s house in a foreign city through AirBnB. Life has moved online, and commerce is moving with it.
Continue reading… “Babysitting goes digital with credit card payments and online bookings”
The amount of capital available for entrepreneurs when you count the customer market is much larger.
The startup community gave itself a high five in April when the JOBS Act was signed. Crowdfunding would enable startups to reach out to the whole world to get access to funding, not just a small cabal of investors living in a 20-mile radius of Menlo Park.
Continue reading… “Crowdfunding from customers – new class of investors for startup capital”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.