Archive for July 7th, 2004
Jeremy Wright and I are both Startup Sally’s (whatever that is.) What are you? Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur?
Paying More for Better Medical Care
The wife and I took our son to see his doctor for a checkup this afternoon. His doctor is a family practice physician in a small two doctor office. He was the only doctor working today and covering the entire patient load, so we had to wait more than fifty-five minutes to even get into [...]
Microsoft Says “Blog is a Four-Letter Word”
Microsoft: “What do George Bush and John Kerry, IBM, and thousands of small businesses have in common? They all use a Web log—or ‘blog’ for short—to reach potential customers and get them interested in their products. But not all do so with equal success.”
→ spaghettiicecream.com Spaghetti Ice Cream is a derivation of a traditional European dessert, served at many European ice cream shops. There is no actual pasta in Spaghetti Ice Cream, just vanilla ice cream (the spaghetti), blended strawberries (the sauce) and grated white chocolate and grated almonds (the cheese). If you are looking for an inexpensive [...]
Choosing an Attorney That Understands Entrepreneurs
Jeff Cornwall: Understand the advantages and disadvantages of large vs. small firms. Large firms have specialized expertise that can become critical as you grow. Small firms can offer a more personal touch and can be more efficient. Most entrepreneurs need something in between. Understand your needs (e.g., intellectual property, environmental law, employment law, etc.) and [...]
Paul Boutin: “Ok, ok, so a few of my bloggerati pals saw Dave’s post below and went: Whoa, are you saying there were 100,000 clickthroughs to Dave’s blog from one MSN article? Yes, it’s the norm. The msn.com domain pulls something like 10 million unique visitors every day. Sure, some of that is due to [...]
J.C. Penney’s Performance Clothing
You thought they just sold clothing, but J.C. Penney has their own research and development facilities! From the New York Post: ” J.C. Penney is at the forefront of an explosion in so-called performance clothing, a category dominated by wrinkle-free and stain-resistant fabrics that slash dry-cleaning bills and appeal to time-strapped consumers.” It gets better: [...]
Fred Wilson, the venture capitalist, explained valuation today on A VC: The question is what is the fair value of the business? This supposedly establishes how much of the company the venture capitalists will own for their investment. But I think the concept of valuation is often misunderstood by the people engaged in this process. [...]
Free Loaner Cars for Reapir Shops
Listen up, car dealers! Ross at Strategize has an idea, that I think, will sell cars! If I was a car manufacturer, I would find the non-dealer body shop that did the highest volume business in fixing cars manufactured by my main competitor — if I were BMW, I’d go find the high volume Mercedes [...]
Small Business Trends: “The Kiplinger Letter, in its latest edition (subscription required), reports that small towns in the United States are attracting more college graduates. Kiplinger says that is ‘good news for small-business employers in those areas. Young adults are shunning metropolitan areas for quieter towns and cities that offer cheaper housing, easier commutes, good [...]
Evelyn Rodriguez: Did you know in spoken conversation or public speaking, people respond to you more than the words (and therefore concepts) you mouth? Professor Albert Mehrabian of UCLA’s research determined which factors influenced listener impressions the most and they were: 55% non-verbal (facial expressions, body language) 38% voice (quality, tone, pitch, variation, volume) 7% [...]
Steve Pilgrim pointed me to James Lileks’s entry today about his trouble with a DirectTV installation: One service call turned into seven. One three-hour wait window turned into 21 hours. I can still see the original installer who screwed everything up — scrawny, nervy, tar-stained teeth, a lummox associate whom you expected to say “I [...]
