Communications coach Bert Decker just named the ten best and worst communicators of 2006. To whet your appetite, here is the ten worst list: Nancy Grace Barry Bonds Mel Gibson Ray Tillerson Lindsay, Paris, Britney, and Nicole Senator George Allen OJ Simpson Shaquille O’Neal Rosie, Katie, and Meredith George Bush Check out his ten best [...]
Here’s a New Year’s resolution for entrepreneurs: ”I will fix my pitch.“ And here’s a suggestion on how to do this written by Bill Reichert, my colleague at Garage Technology Ventures. Endless articles, books, and blogs have been written on the topic of business plan presentations and pitching to investors. In spite of this wealth [...]
Marti Nyman is “director of global innovation networks” for Best Buy. This means that his job is to find leading-edge, cool stuff for Best Buy—and yes, he gets paid to do this. Marti has held a diverse array of positions in strategic alliances, business development, mergers and acquisitions, business-unit leadership, sales and marketing, manufacturing, and [...]
In the spirit of Christmas, this entry is dedicated to the gift of giving. I’ve come across a couple of very interesting ways to change the world through philanthropy: First, Unitus. The purpose of Unitus is to fight global poverty by increasing access to microfinance. It accelerates the growth of the world’s highest-potential emerging microfinance [...]
A little known story: When I was writing Selling the Dream—How to Promote Your Product, Company, or Idea—and Make a Difference Using Everyday Evangelism, I attended the Billy Graham School of Evangelism to learn from the best. It was a very interesting experience. Some of the finest speakers that I’ve seen (and tried to copy) [...]
I added a “Recent Jobs” section to the sidebar on the right side of this blog—I know: monetization is so “Web 1.0.” :-) If you want to advertise a position in this jobs board, it’s only $49 for thirty days (this is an introductory special). I have a highly-qualified readership of people with entrepreneurial, evangelistic, [...]
Jajah will provide free global phone service between consumers in eighty countries on Christmas Day. Registered Jajah users will be able to make free calls, conference calls, scheduled calls, and text messages to anyone in the eighty countries even if the recipients are not in registered Jajah users. For example, families can use Jajah to [...]
I love vertical-markets companies and recently learned of one. Airspun, Inc. offers commercial radio airtime to bands and songwriters for the purpose of showcasing their music to genre-targeted radio listeners around the world. Here’s how it works: Bands browse sixty-second airtime slots on radio stations by genre and city. After booking their slot (at prices [...]
What’s the most inspiring story of entrepreneurship that you’ve heard in 2006? My answer does not involve two guys in a garage who sell their company to Google for $1.6 billion. No way...my answer is a woman who runs a soccer-ball factory in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her name is Aziza Mohmmand, and she told me what [...]
It’s been two years since The Art of the Start hit the streets, and I’m ready to write another book. I have some ideas, but I'd like to tap the “wisdom of the crowd” in order to ensure that it appeals to “the long tail” in this “Web 2.0” world. :-) So...I’ve created a wiki [...]
Check out this great article in the San Jose Mercury News entitled “Venture Capitalists Switch to Startups—Many Are Surprised By Type of Work.” My two favorite lines from the story are: “I had no idea of the number of details that I’d have to deal with every day...” “I used to sit and nod and [...]
Pretty soon everyone on the planet will have an iPod. My buddy John Hawbaker of Clarity (part of Plantronics) pointed out this study to me. It’s probably a good thing to read for iPod owners. I have significant hearing loss in one ear (not because of an iPod), and it’s a pain in the ass, [...]
Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell are the co-authors of Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message. Their first book was called Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force. As business advisors and speakers, McConnell and Huba have worked with Starbucks, Microsoft, Whirlpool, Discovery Education, PBS, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. [...]
For the longest time, the only United Kingdom company that I wished was in the United States was Wagamama because I love noodles. (Alas, it’s finally coming to Boston, but I go to London more often than Boston.) My list of UK-envy companies has doubled because SpinVox gave me an account. This company’s service converts [...]
A blog called “This is going to be BIG!” contains a provocative counterpoint to my VCAT. Basically, the person scored Mike Moritz of Sequoia (ie, the guy who invested in Google) within the framework of my test. This proves that you can always find an example to prove or disprove anything. But as mother used [...]
If you want additional proof that we’re in a bubble, here it is: young people are trying to get into the venture capital business again. I get several emails a week along these lines: I’m about to graduate from college where I majored in economics. I’ve always been interested [what does “always” mean for a [...]
I recently read a great explanation of Digg by Neil Patel of Pronet Advertising. It’s called the Beginner’s Guide to Digg. If you’re a blogger and want to increase page views, you should read it...I learned a lot, anyway. This cool image, by the way, is from Urlyart.
A new organization for technology evangelists has just been formed in Silicon Valley. (Secular evangelism has arrived!) The organization’s first conference is coming up on December 4th. Here is the agenda. Network Meeting Center 5201 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 408-562-6111 12/4/2006, 11:30 am - 6:00 pm I hope to see you there!
Check out this study by Prof. Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota (Go Gophers!). She tested the hypothesis that thinking about money can create social barriers. Here is a description of what she did: “To examine this idea in a more controlled setting, Vohs, now at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues [...]
Scott Kirsner wrote a great article called “12 Guidelines for Great Panels.” Check it out here. If you read "How to Be a Great Moderator" and "How to Kick Butt on a Panel," you’d have panels down to a science. I have an additional insight regarding panels. Most panels have audiences of 100 to 250 [...]