Ramit Sethi (via Dane Carlson):
One of the most rookie mistakes young entrepreneurs make is keeping their ideas secret. It goes something like this:
You: “So what are you working on?”
Rookie: “Oh, sorry. I can’t really talk about it.”Really! Your idea is so grand that you can’t share it with even your close friend? Wow, I want to invest in you right now!!!
Since the 1960s, judicial activism has long exercised the patience of many Americans with their judges. Normally this is associated with concerns about courts identifying and promoting various “rights”—such as an alleged constitutional right to privacy—that even some of their most passionate supporters freely concede cannot be derived from the American Constitution.
Judicial activism, however, took a new step on June 23, 2005, when the United States Supreme Court decided in Kelo v. City of New London to expand the definition of what is known as “eminent domain.”
Via Jeff Cornwall, who writes:
Over time, Kelo will become known as the sharpest blow to free enterprise and entrepreneurship since this country was founded.
I think that there are a number of good reasons why a startup would find the need to be covert about its plans. Alternatively, there are many motivations why a startup would pursue a clear, articulate, and open communication policy to their strategy and intentions.
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The first Summer Founders Program has just finished. We were surprised how well it went. Overall only about 10% of startups succeed, but if I had to guess now, I’d predict three or four of the eight startups we funded will make it.
Ellen McGirt, Janet Paskin and Donna Rosato (via Dane Carlson):
If you dream of launching your own private enterprise, a stealth plan can be the key to freedom.
By the time we were ready to start development, we had enough ideas for improvement to occupy 1700 programmers for a few decades. Unfortunately, all we have is three programmers, and we wanted to be shipping next fall, so there had to be some prioritization.
Red Herring (via Jeff Cornwall):
Angel investors are funding more early-stage startups this year than at any point since the Internet boom, a sign this informal breed of venture capitalists may be stepping in to fill a role traditionally played by venture capital firms.
Before we got started I did quite a bit of research. I talked to people who’d done something similar and asked for advice. I read books, articles and blog posts on the topics of small business, entrepreneurship, taxes, LLCs, LLPs, etc.
I tried to prepare myself as best I could. In the main, this stuff helped, but there is so much you just have to experience (and hopefully learn from) on your own
I imagine many of you have heard about the whole “doing big things with small teams” idea. The first time I’d heard of it was during Jason Fried’s presentation at SXSW. It’s a concept that we at Blue Flavor are behind 100%.
However, we’re finding that, at times anyway, it can be much easier said then done. Especially when it comes to getting our business up and running.
Ken Dyck 