Very cool touch technology in a Minority Report sort of way, but it seems like this could slow down the human interface experience a bit. Doesn't speed (which translates to ease) always trump everything else?

[Thanks, Robert]

Having conquered the world of big business, many corporate executives set there sites on small business or a start up as something new. Why? There are many reasons - change of scenery, change of pace, try something new, aim for the big buy out or IPO, etc. The transition is usually more difficult than most former executives are willing to admit. There exists this idea among large company executives that moving into a small business is easier than managing a large business because small businesses are, well, small.  So it must be easier, right?

Unfortunately, the transition from big company executive to entrepreneur is usually a painful one. Here are a couple of examples:

• Inside of a big business if the executive needs a copy, they send their admin down to the company’s internal copy center to do it for them. In the start up, the executive drives down to Kinko’s in the middle of the night to make his own copies.
• Speaking of admins, you usually don’t have one in a start up, which means you do all your own grunt work.  
• At big companies most executives work predictable hours. In a start up you may still be up working at 1 am and have a 6 am meeting that same morning.
• Big company executives stay in nice hotels and fly first class. Entrepreneurs use orbits and stay at the Ramada.
• Big company executives focus on doing one thing (finance, sales, etc). Entrepreneurs have to do many things and must have a wide range of knowledge in many things.
• In big companies opportunities are usually understood and strategy is usually well defined. In start ups opportunities are often made instead of handed to you and strategy usually changes on a constant basis.
• Big company executives spend their time managing momentum. Entrepreneurs create momentum.  
• In big companies you usually have the resources you need to get your job done. In a start up you are constantly fighting to make it work with limited resources.

The list could go on and on. The bottom line is the transition is hard and throws off many unsuspecting former corporate executives.  Start ups are more fluid, which causes anxiety in many former executives. The instability is usually crushing.

I used to work in a big software company. My schedule was very predictable. I always dealt with the same people, I always had the same issues come up, I always knew what to expect. I think this is what a machine would feel like if it could feel.

Last year I was the CEO at 10Speed Media. I went back and looked at my calendar. Here was one of my days last July:

6 am to 7:00 am - check email, review calendar for the day and drive to first appointment

7 am to 8 am - breakfast meeting with a guy I was trying to recruit

8 am to 9:30 am - Sales meeting

9:30 am to 10 am - catch up on email

10 am to Noon - accounting and finance review with accountant

Noon to 1 pm - lunch meeting with new employee

1 pm to 2 pm - call with potential partner

2 pm to 3:30 pm - meeting with outsourced Web development guy to discuss building a new web site.

3:30 to 4 pm - drive to sales call - have phone meeting on the way to the 4 pm meeting with investor.

4 pm to 5 pm - meeting with potential client

7 pm to about midnight - review the business plan, catch up on email for the day, chat with CTO for an hour on development projects and fine tune the investor presentation.

As you can see the diversity of activity is incredible. Because of the narrow skill sets of most executives the learning curve is steep and crushing in a start up. Most executives didn’t want to or need to dive into these types of issues inside their former employers business. Now with so many issues on hand the new CEO is faced with two options: learn it or roll up into a ball and suck your thumb.   

All that said I have never met an executive turned entrepreneur who regretted the move. Entrepreneurship is exciting - it’s a drastic departure from most old school corporate environments. There is nothing like the feeling of blood pumping through your veins again.

Here’s my advice to executives thinking about making the switch to a start up. You need to first get educated. Dump your pride and talk to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Get their advices. Ask a lot of questions. Honestly evaluate your skill set. Ask co-workers to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Figure out your real level of commitment.

Once you’ve got that figured out and once you’ve committed - go to work and get it done.

And let me be the first to welcome you to the jungle.

Arizona State University tracks four key academic finance publications to determine which Universities are publishing the most research.  For the last five years, the Cornell University ranked 15th and the University of Utah tied for 19th.

Personally, having completed a finance degree from the University of Utah (a long time ago) and an MBA at Cornell, I feel pretty good about these rankings.

(In order to see the rankings I'm referring to, you need to choose the years 2002 through 2006 for review). 

 

I attended the first ever Startup Princess Conference on Sat. and was pleasantly surprised at what it turned out to be. I was also impressed with the quality of women that were there. So many already successful with their businesses and also women who are in the process of developing an idea for a business. Kelly Anderson, founder of Startup Princess (www.startupprincess.com), put together the event wonderfully.

These are some of the highlights:

The two guest speakers were Rachael Herrscher from Today’s Mama and Kristen Lamb from Design It Boutique. One of my favorite things Rachael said was that we, as entrepreneurs, should be “risk friendly”. An entrepreneur is not afraid of being poor, making sacrifices, hard work, investing into something they believe in, and lets not forget, doing a whole lot of research. This definitely takes a certain kind of person. Rachael also said, “the best thing about being an entrepreneur is that there isn’t anyone telling you how, when and where you can make money”. In 2006, Today’s Mama received more than a million hits on their website and is now one of Utah’s fastest growing companies.

The topic Kristen Lamb, of Design It Boutique, gave was “Do you need it? Can you afford it? Can you do without it?”. She said these three questions are important when deciding to start a business or not. Kristen was Mrs. Utah 2003, had one of the most successful  spa distributing businesses in the United States and now owns Design It Boutique. Her 6000 sq. ft. showroom in the basement of her house is worth seeing, and like she says, “worth the drive too”.

Kelly Anderson hopes to have another Startup Princess conference in the spring of 2007 and I strongly suggest that if you want to be surrounded by inspiring, fun, women entrepreneurs, you make an effort to go.

I am look for all information on small business creation, failure, growth, etc - anything that is referencible for a project I am currently working on. If you can provide any relevant numbers or can point me to a good source for relevant information on small businesses, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Deadspin opines on the recent $250 million contract signed by David Beckham to play in America: "So let's call like it is: Beckham coming to America is great for LA clubs and restaurants, US Weekly and The Star, Adidas, Victoria Beckham (can a slot on "Dancing With The Stars" be far off?) and, of course, the haircare industry. As for the MLS, he will clearly put [fans] in the seats, at least in his first season, but will he actually raise the level of play? Not by himself."

Not with a bunch of other soccer professionals either (think Pele and Co. in the late 70's that came to play in America for the NASL). Soccer won't take hold in America until it can award its athletes with fame, money, and respect, none of which it currently can. I like the sport, but so long as baseball, football, and basketball do a better job in providing said economic incentives, athletes who play soccer early on will soon jump ship to a more enticing sport. Oh, and you gotta kill the "soccer mom" if you ever want any cred.

Here are six wrong reasons for starting a business. If you disagree or have one to add then sound off in the comments.  

I Hate My Boss.  Sorry but everybody, even the one man small business owner, has a boss.

I Hate My Job.  That’s not a reason to start a company. Have you considered just finding a new job?

So and So told me it was a good idea. Is “so and so” Bill Gates or the persona of Bill Gates in your industry?  If not, then proceed with caution and do your own homework.

I want to get rich so I’ll start a business.  While many people obtain wealth through entrepreneurial activities, entrepreneurship is not a guaranteed road to wealth. Ever considered a career in sales?

It’s my hobby so I am going to make a business out of it.  You could also call this the “do what you love” myth.  Just because it’s your hobby doesn’t mean it will make a great business. It also doesn’t mean that you will love the work of that hobby.  

If I start my own company I can do anything I want. If you start your own business you will be subject to long hours, customer demands and deadlines. You should also plan on not taking a paycheck for a very long time.

These are some of the most common reasons why people start businesses and they are all bad reasons. So what are some of the real reasons people should start a business? How about creating value where none currently exists? What about solving a social problem? How about filling a real market need?  What about creating a better life for you and your family?

Fight Club's been holding our entrepreneur networking & eating for about 10 months now and if anything, it's gaining popularity. It's amazing to see how a horizontal network like Fight Club works. I'll post more on that since I've had a number of 'oh so deep' conversations on the topic that are worth posting. (BTW, we're completely female friendly as long as you meet the criteria.) But I digress. I'm looking for some input on potential new Fight Club venues. Here's what we're looking for:

• Location: SL valley that's fairly close to the freeways.
• Decent food: We've chosen 'pub' food so far so everyone can find something they want.
• Relatively quiet: I need to hear Ryan Money (who's blog is now up again) complaining about my 'porn hair'.
• Large area where we could pull a few tables together. The last lunch we had 17 and we're overflowing.

If you have any suggestions that approximate at least a few of these criteria, comment on this post or email me at jeffbarson 'at' gmail.com. If you're not a member and we choose you're venue, you're getting an invite.

Check out the Deer Valley World Cup Ski Event on Rocky Mountain Voices. You can also catch the video action on YouTube and PodTech.net.

I’ve heard, and I can’t remember where, that the reason businesses don’t last is that someone doesn’t keep them in business long enough to make it.

A business is very much like any investment that accrues compounding interest over time. Skills, networks, clients… all of these gather momentum and aggregate over time. You know better what you’re doing. You make better decisions. Your staff is trained. You don’t waste as much money. Clients refer other clients that ad to your sales…

Josh (here’s his entrepreneur fight) has written more commentary on MWI’s 2006 financials on his Don Loper blog.

It’s interesting to have a business publish it’s income. I’d be surprised if it hurts him in any way but I’m sure he’ll let us know if it ever comes up when talking to a client.
Here’s what Josh feels he’s learned lately:

In looking over the financials for the last year, I started thinking to myself “Ok, if I hadn’t done that, I could have saved $20K, and if I hadn’t hired that person I could have saved another $50K and we probably would have gotten by ok…” etc. When I totaled everything up, there was probably $120K worth of expenses that were a total loss as far as return on investment, or could at least be debated as being a total loss. What else could I have done with that $120K?

When I was in college we used to play Risk (the board game) as marathon sessions with two boards. The games would take 8-10 hours with tiny incremental position changes. When someone looked to be gaining an advantage the other players would team up and take turns attacking the leading player.

But then a change would come. A subtle shift would benefit a player and advantages would multiply until, after hours of playing, it was a completely one sided affair that ended in minutes.

Perhaps I stretch the analogy a little but the point is that tiny shifts can equate to dramatic benefits over time.

It might even mean that Josh gets a pay check this year.