As a young man growing up in the Northern Cape I learnt early on that by observing customers you can learn a lot regarding what problems they have. It just so happened that a friend of my father was manufacturing leather belts. At the time I thought it wise to try and sell these belts. So on a cold yet
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As you prepare your value map, consider how you can create an antibiotic against harmful organisms. Antibiotics have long existed in the biological world before Alexander Fleming’s work on penicillin in 1928. They are chemicals produced by one microorganism in order to prevent another organism from competing against it. Building a castle is difficult. Defending and maintaining it is harder
Read moreThe entrepreneurs who launched Netflix, Instagram, and others explain what they learned on the way up. Stanford faculty, students, and alumni have founded more than 39,000 companies and nonprofits since the 1930s, ranging from tech giants like Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems to retailers like the Gap, and much newer nonprofits such as Noora Health and Embrace. How does Stanford foster
Read morePutting value on the roles of company partners can get personal. One of the toughest challenges for founders of a young company is deciding how to split the equity among the founders and early hires, says venture capitalist Peter Ziebelman. This is especially complex when cofounders are inexperienced or have a friendship as well as business partnership. Putting value on
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Many would-be entrepreneurs aim to bring the next great idea to the market, but those dreams rarely come to fruition without the know-how to navigate the entrepreneurial system. As a former venture capitalist, Warren Packard, now founder and CEO of Thuuz Sports, knows this firsthand. He and his startup team formulated a very intentional strategy to test their idea, acquire
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Prime UC Invites UC Startups to Compete for Chance at $300,000 in Award Money Applications are due by September 25, 2015 Startup companies from the University of California are invited to compete for a total of $300,000 in award money during the first Prime UC competition, part of President Janet Napolitano’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative. In what is hoped will
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It is not easy to be the boss if you have never been one, and the mistakes you make early on can come back to haunt you. In fact, the first-time entrepreneur faces perhaps no challenge greater than learning how to be the boss. But there is more. Conducting an internal self-assessment is the hardest thing for entrepreneurs to do,
Read moreYou had identified a solid problem in your industry space. Now it is time to turn your focus on creating the perfect solution. In his book, A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs, Rob Adams argues that you never really know your customers as well as you think you do because, “All you have is a
Read moreUnderstanding the environment of the industry is most important when planting the seeds of a new business venture. The environment is defined as all elements outside the boundary of an organization including the industry, government, customers, suppliers, the financial community, and other business ventures. Discussions of Industry Dynamics and Risk Analysis In the late 1970s, Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter introduced
Read moreHigh rates of new business creation are the sign of a dynamic economy in which barriers to entrepreneurship are low. Business regulations, licensing fees, and regular renewal fees are barriers for start-ups. According to a new study prepared by the Kauffman Foundation, increasing licensing regulations in certain professions have the effect of building barriers to innovations and opening new businesses.
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