Startup & Entrepreneurship
News, opinions and advice on starting and building companies.
What Obama's Nobel Peace Prize and startup capital raising have in common
US President Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize based not on his accomplishments but to “encourage his vision” is not dissimilar to an entrepreneur trying to raise capital for the first time. Kim Wingerei explains.
What Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize and startup capital raising have in common
US President Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize based not on his accomplishments but to “encourage his vision” is not dissimilar to an entrepreneur trying to raise capital for the first time. Kim Wingerei explains.
Murdoch and Calacanis hatch separate plans to shut out Google
Here's an interesting idea from Mahalo founder and Silicon Valley insider, Jason Calacanis. A couple of weeks ago on This Week in Startups, he floated a strategy that would enable Microsoft to seize a chunk of search market share from Google and the big media companies to make more revenue from their digital content.
Negotiation and the ghost of Machiavelli
Whether you prefer to be feared or loved, new research suggests that the important thing at the negotiation table is that you don’t try to be nice.
Australia’s emerging solar power pioneers face a cloudy future
It was the fastest car in its class in the 3,000-kilometre Global Green Challenge, but the engineering students who threw their time and talents into Sunswift IV to win their race to Adelaide face future uncertainty in our fragile renewable-energy sector.
Robert Castaneda, 2009 Anthill 30under30 Winner
When the global recession hit, Robert Castaneda packed his bags and moved his family to California. To him, the financial crisis was a perfect opportunity to launch a USA office for his company, CustomWare, a business integration and collaboration services firm.
Diary of an entrepreneur raising capital: I think, therefore IM
My focus this week has been on drawing up the first draft of our Information Memorandum (IM). Unlike the business plan, I haven't found this particularly easy at all.
Commercialisation Australia and the Valley of Death
Firstly, let's clear up some confusion. Commercialisation Australia is not going to pay for your marketing campaign, help you with advertising or fund you to break into your desired market. CA will help you up to the point that you are ready to go commercial. That is, it will help with pre-commercialisation.
International prosperity index sees Australia plummet to #15 for entrepreneurship and innovation
The Prosperity Index, dubbed the world’s only global assessment of wealth and wellbeing, ranked Australia in the top 10 for categories including economic fundamentals, democratic institutions, education, health, safety and security, personal freedom, governance and social. However, Australia fell to 15th place for entrepreneurship and innovation (page 26 of the report). Despite recent economic woes, the US and UK took the top two spots in that category.
Sammartino and Liubinskas discuss startup momentum
A couple of weeks ago Pollenizer's Mick Liubinskas put in a video call to Rentoid's Steve Sammartino to pick his brain about the concept of startup momentum. Fortunately, Mick recorded it for the benefit of us all. Watch Steve discuss his views on the important role iteration plays in emerging businesses.
Google on Google – The story so far…
Every company should be able to tell its own story in a compelling way. Of course, it helps if that story is compelling to begin with. Check out this slick animated history of Google... according to Google.
Clint Walker, 2009 Anthill 30under30 Winner
As one of this year's 30under30 winners, Clint Walker was instrumental in building, running and selling the enormously successful Rising Sun Research (RSR), which was also named the Coolest of the Cool at Anthill's 2007 Cool Company Awards. He's now in startup round two with his second company, Run with Robots.
Crowdsourcing crisis: Should 'Idea Bounty' be renamed 'Discount Idea Store'?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Here at Anthill, we've taken a particular interest in the evolving concept of crowdsourcing, and specifically the growing practice of companies sourcing creative ideas and designs from the crowd online. Crowdsourcing is a bone of contention in the Anthill community. For yet another view, here we publish the thoughts of Paul Cornwell, Partner at creative agency BCM Partnership, on Unilever's recent use of crowdsourcing website Idea Bounty to source creative ideas for its Peperami brand.
Crowdsourcing crisis: Should ‘Idea Bounty’ be renamed ‘Discount Idea Store’?
EDITOR'S NOTE: Here at Anthill, we've taken a particular interest in the evolving concept of crowdsourcing, and specifically the growing practice of companies sourcing creative ideas and designs from the crowd online. Crowdsourcing is a bone of contention in the Anthill community. For yet another view, here we publish the thoughts of Paul Cornwell, Partner at creative agency BCM Partnership, on Unilever's recent use of crowdsourcing website Idea Bounty to source creative ideas for its Peperami brand.
Young entrepreneurs of the world, unite!
You don't have to be a Vulcan to grok the good stuff that can come out of an international mind-meld as big as Global Entrepreneurship Week. Matthew da Silva sits down with the organisers and profiles some inspiring young entrepreneurial attendees.
Diary of an entrepreneur raising capital: Dealing with rejection
Oodles.com founder Steve Sherlock has set himself the goal of raising a multimillion dollar Series A funding round by the end of January 2010. He is documenting his trials and tribulations and seeking feedback from readers on AnthillOnline.com. This is the third post in his series.
5 reasons I hate logos
Okay, maybe that's a tad on the dramatic side. What I hate is this faffing around with logos as an excuse for not doing other, real, important stuff with your business.
How to put your company into receivership: An extremely candid presentation.
It's a subject that is not often written or spoken about, particularly in the first person, leaving most entrepreneurs with only one option for learning how to shut a company down... the hard way. Special thanks to AIMIA for making this footage available and 'hats off' to Brendan Lewis for this enlightening presentation. To quote the speaker, "You won't find this in any accounting or legal textbook.")
The power of time off – Stefan Sagmeister at TEDGlobal 09
Stefan Sagmeister is New York-based designer with a fresh take on work and inspiration. Every seven years he closes his Manhattan studio for 12 months so he and his team can recharge their creative batteries.
Online events startup takes top honours in 2009 RMIT Business Plan Competition
Online events startup ourevent.info has taken out top honours at RMIT University's prestigious 2009 Business Plan Competition.