Business news takes a back seat to political news today as voters, candidates, and pundits gear up for the mid-terms. But tomorrow’s results will have tremendous ramifications for business owners. Mark Thoma worries that a (likely) Republican takeover of the House will lead to political gridlock that will be bad for the economy. But Michael [...]
You may be crazy about your family members (or your family members may just be crazy), but should board meetings resemble Thanksgiving dinners? The Los Angeles Times examines when it is (and definitely is not) a good idea to go into business with blood relatives. Good news and bad news on the economy: The good [...]
The Intelligent Reader, 10/26/2010 Even babies have brands these days, but contrary to conventional wisdom, a personal brand might not be the best thing for a business owner to have. Mega-branded entrepreneur Tim Ferris explains to Inc magazine why he doesn’t use his celebrity to promote his business. You never forget your “first” – your [...]
A moment of silence, please, for the Sony Walkman. First envisioned as a way to allow Sony’s co-chairman to listen to opera on long plane rides, first marketed in the United States in 1979 as the “Soundabout,” the Walkman changed the way we listen to music. If you don’t remember the early 1980s, it might be [...]
The Intelligent Reader, 10/25 Is President Obama bad for small business? The White House says it’s been a friend to entrepreneurs, but some owners say health care reform and a strict regulatory regime are going to make it more expensive to start and grow companies. Kiva is known for making microloans available to impoverished overseas [...]
Family farming has been a tough business since—well, at least since before John Mellencamp’s time. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at how smaller farmers transform into entrepreneurs each fall by transforming their family farms into pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and haunted houses. They used to say retirement was when you “got the gold [...]
Who wouldn’t love a little free advertising? The Wall Street Journal explains a tricky – but totally ethical – way to take advantage of shuttered competitors’ ads. It’s easy to lose yourself to your start-up with 100-hour work weeks and regular all-nighters, but remember that Rule Number 10 says you need to find balance in your [...]
Rule Number 2 says successful entrepreneurs usually understand the problem before they create the solution, and the Wall Street Journal agrees. The Journal profiles Brian Sharples, an avid traveler who created HomeAway.com when he couldn’t find a website that listed vacation rentals rentals worldwide. Now his site lists half a million properties in 120 countries [...]
Jason Richelson is a serial entrepreneur. His first business (an award-winning wine store) led to a second business (another wine store), which led to a third (a gourmet grocery store). Problems he experienced at all three stores inspired him to start a fourth new venture, ShopKeep (a web-based Point of Sale system that allows retailers [...]
Is another tech bubble building? The Wall Street Journal reports that some funds are offering their investors a way to get their hands on shares of high-profile shares of companies – think Facebook, Twitter – that are heading for an IPO. But experts say they the offerings may be riskier than investors realize. Harvard grad [...]
Lots of women (like Marla Malcolm Beck) start incredibly successful companies, but female entrepreneurs sometimes face different challenges than their male counterparts. The New York Times’ small business blog reports from the Women’s Forum for Economy and Society, where female entrepreneurs from around the world discussed their challenges and opportunities. Want to know exactly how [...]
For decades, professional sports have featured different games but the same business model. Whether it was the NFL or NASCAR, owners sold the fans tickets, then sold them food and beer, and then maybe hoped to throw in an overpriced t-shirt. It was a model that worked well during the boom years, but the 2009 [...]
When some people are courted by potential business partners, they get golf outings or fancy dinners. Jeff and Amelia Jeffers got quilts. The Jeffers were friends with Tom and Carolyn Porter, an older couple that owned Garth’s, an antiques auction house in Ohio. Tom and Carolyn had first met know Jeff as a college student, [...]
Rick Heitzmann, managing director at FirstMark Capital, turns down almost all of the hundreds of pitches for new ventures he sees every year. So, what makes him occasionally say “yes”? The entrepreneurs most likely to get the green light, Heitzmann says, are whose who got so fed up by the lack of a certain product [...]
Bank of America is expanding its offerings for small businesses with the hiring of 1,000 specialized small-business staffers the LA Times reports. But that doesn’t mean credit is going to be easier to come by. “They are not loan officers,” a BOA exec said. Instead, the new employees will help small business owners manage things [...]
Only 1,117 small businesses were sold in the U.S. in the third quarter, as owners confront the “harsh reality” that their businesses aren’t worth what they used to be. The Wall Street Journal says “a combination of tight credit, skittish buyers and business owners unwilling to sell at rock-bottom prices” have thrown sand into the [...]
Kris Kaplan has a half-marathon coming up, but it’s going to be a walk (ok, run) in the park. The founder and CEO of the Massachusetts-based sales company Kris & Co. is a triathlete who once “did the Boston Marathon as a warm-up.” In July, he competed in the Lake Placid Ironman triathlon and finished [...]
Tom Heath writes the Value Added column for The Washington Post business section. He says it was at the suggestion of “a chatty Washington investor who dabbles in local startups” that he wrote about The Intelligent Entrepreneur author Bill Murphy Jr. and bluemercury founder Marla Malcolm Beck. Murphy was bugging me over the past few [...]
Entrepreneurs are too busy to read everything, so The Intelligent Entrepreneur scans the Web daily to bring you the best news and information about startups, small businesses, and entrepreneurship. · Silicon Valley may get all the attention, but according to the Wall Street Journal, neighboring San Francisco is actually the hottest spot for start-ups [...]
Get the Cheech and Chong references out of your head. Chris Michel, founder of Military.com and Affinity Labs, says his #1 goal these days—after having sold two companies for a total of more than $100 million—is to spend his time working with interesting people on problems that matter. The navy officer-turned HBS student-turned entrepreneur took [...]
