green business
sort by: Relevancy | Title try advanced search for more options
-
How should an aspiring entrepreneur choose an angel investor? And, more importantly, how will an angel investor select you? Entrepreneurs need to gain access to the right angel - one that will add value to their growing enterprise. The top angels in the business, says investor Mike Maples, are seeking ideas that have been tested for market viability - an essential criteria before they'll consider cutting a check.
-
Dr Gibson-Smith assesses the challenges that Europe faces in competing with the New Economies, and identifies four key areas in which the European economy must be strengthened to meet the challenges of the post-crisis world.
-
A solid business model can't survive long-term if it just draws traffic. Serial entrepreneur Mitch Kapor points out that a concrete business plan must truly offer a solution to a well-worn market conundrum. While a flash-in-the-pan Facebook app may draw millions of users in minutes, without staying power it's not viable long term.
-
The major market for the AIDS vaccine is in the developing world, says Francis, but there is significant demand in the United States with 40,000 new cases a year. There are a lot of unknowns in the business climate in the United States affecting the profitability of a vaccine. It is difficult to encourage investment when a blockbuster drugs would have a much higher rate of return, he adds.
-
Smith explains that a theory of change in the social sector is roughly equivalent to a combination of the business model and strategy in the for-profit world. You need to identify a change and have a hypothesis about how to make it happen, she says. This is more complex in the social sector because, in additional to market forces, you have to deal with regulatory forces, emotional forces, social forces, and political forces, she adds. A se...more
-
Seligmann affirms that there are many business leaders interested in sustainability who understand the importance of sustainability for resource-related businesses.
-
Thompson talks about how Symantec was looking at changing from a software business to a content business. He shares the history about the marriage between Symantec and other companies that they have acquired over the years.
-
Dan Springer, CEO of Responsys, offers advice on how to raise venture money. Springer suggests that raising money depends on three factors: 1) What you have to offer, 2) The state of the venture market, and 3) An entrepreneurs long term goals. Springer argues that it is challenging for an entrepreneur with little experience or just an idea, as opposed to a business, to raise money and advises that entrepreneurs might be well served to rais...more
-
A million dollars should last any new venture at least a year. And companies are most productive when they're less than ten people strong. These business axioms are good advice for any enterprise, says Ron Conway, investor in over 500 companies, and fellow investor Mike Maples. A lean and mean staff gets the most accomplished, and a low burn rate and ample experimentation are nearly always a calibrator for success. In addition, simultaneou...more
-
When Yahoo! was a small company sorting through websites, says President Sue Decker, it was easy to stay close to the customer through the three legs of their business; advertisers, users, and content publishers. But as they began their upward scale to 500 million users, the systems they had in place could not hold. Their size and focus, Decker reflects, blinded them to the needs of their customer for many years.
-
Bloom describes how he has been able to magnetize his company, Podshow, to advertisers by allowing only global brands, to the audience by allowing user-generated content, to producers by allowing the top level producers to make most money, and finally to the engineers by providing them with the right leadership. He also talks about the importance of user generated content, especially for advertisements.
-
The numbers are stacked against the inspired business owner-to-be. Seasoned angel investors Ron Conway and Mike Maples talk about how many ideas they receive, how many executive summaries they peruse, how many meetings they call, and the shockingly few ventures - roughly one out of 150 - that end up receiving their investment of time and money. Also, Conway points out that investing is a risky business, with an even split between those t...more
