Billions Pouring into Sustainable Energy Ideas
Demand is surging among investors for business ideas that will take advantage of changing views and regulations on greenhouse gases. However, at present there are not enough good projects to jump into.
Worldwide investments in sustainable energy (including wind, solar and water power) more than doubled from 2004 to 2006, to 70.9-billion, according to a 2007 report...Venture capital and private equity investments in sustainable energy increased 69% in 2006, to 8.6-billion.
Read the full report from here
Friday, November 9, 2007
Cisco I-prize - Seeking the Next Billion-Dollar Idea
Cisco Seeks Next Billion-Dollar Idea via I-prize
Cisco has launched a contest to find the next billion dollar idea.
The Cisco I-Prize is a global competition the company said is designed to help it find the next billion-dollar opportunity. The main requirement is that teams must use Cisco's collaboration technologies to develop their projects. The winning team will get an employment contract with a $250,000 signing bonus and up to $10 million in funding over three years to develop the business.
...one of the premises of the I-Prize contest is that ideas "have the potential to bring in at least $1 billion revenue to Cisco over a five- to seven-year period, and submissions must use the IP network as a platform."
Full news @ Internet News
Cisco has launched a contest to find the next billion dollar idea.
The Cisco I-Prize is a global competition the company said is designed to help it find the next billion-dollar opportunity. The main requirement is that teams must use Cisco's collaboration technologies to develop their projects. The winning team will get an employment contract with a $250,000 signing bonus and up to $10 million in funding over three years to develop the business.
...one of the premises of the I-Prize contest is that ideas "have the potential to bring in at least $1 billion revenue to Cisco over a five- to seven-year period, and submissions must use the IP network as a platform."
Full news @ Internet News
Sunday, September 2, 2007
How to Profit from the Billion Dollar Debt Crunch?
How to Profit from the Debt Crunch
September 2, 2007, Times Online
One man's problem is another man's opportunity, and this is once again exemplified by an article from Times Online UK.
The article says:
"
Volatility in the financial markets is throwing up good deals. These include repossessed property, pawnbrokers and cheap shares. Clare Francis reports
INVESTORS are being urged to turn this summer’s financial-markets crisis to their advantage as the turmoil has shone the spotlight on ways to profit from the world’s spiralling debt crisis.
As debt levels rise towards the £1,500 billion mark in Britain, firms that profit from borrowers’ desperation, such as pawnbrokers and insolvency specialists, are being tipped for a period of unprecedented success.
Meanwhile, buy-to-let investors have been cashing in on the highest level of house repossessions in five years by picking up properties at huge discounts.
"
Billion dollar problems = at least million dollar opportunity for many?
September 2, 2007, Times Online
One man's problem is another man's opportunity, and this is once again exemplified by an article from Times Online UK.
The article says:
"
Volatility in the financial markets is throwing up good deals. These include repossessed property, pawnbrokers and cheap shares. Clare Francis reports
INVESTORS are being urged to turn this summer’s financial-markets crisis to their advantage as the turmoil has shone the spotlight on ways to profit from the world’s spiralling debt crisis.
As debt levels rise towards the £1,500 billion mark in Britain, firms that profit from borrowers’ desperation, such as pawnbrokers and insolvency specialists, are being tipped for a period of unprecedented success.
Meanwhile, buy-to-let investors have been cashing in on the highest level of house repossessions in five years by picking up properties at huge discounts.
"
Billion dollar problems = at least million dollar opportunity for many?
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Network Computing - Offering More than What I Want?
Network Computing - Offering More than What I Want?
Read an interesting post discussing the importance of network-driven applications and network driven computing, as opposed to client (PC/Laptop) driven computing that is in vogue today.
It is indeed interesting to read some of the latest developments, "Google, Microsoft, and Apple have all announced new online storage offerings...the widening race to stake claims in online storage heralds the impending emergence of a new platform, or paradigm, that has massive disruptive potential." While as an idea network centric computing is nothing new (remember The Network is the Computer slogan from Sun? looks like many years ago!), there is little doubt it can have disruptive potential, most definitely a billion make that multi-multi-billion) dollar idea. My guess is, going by Clayton Christensen's logical description of how disruptive businesses take root, Google and Co will need to try to understand the disruptive process better. If they are able to identify a couple of low-end applications that users will only be too glad to store online and start with these to take the assault to Microsoft, it could work better.
For instance, I'm not too comfortable having all my word processing and spreadsheet and other office applications online. I mean, they are working just fine right now, and the costs are not unaffordable, plus having them on desktops is convenient, need not depend on connectivity. But there are some things I'd like online - mail for one (sadly, an open secret!), whatever application I use to publish my blog (in my case Blogger), my bookmarks, contact details of my friends and relatives (just in case I forgot my diary I can always look it up online from anywhere)...that's all I can think of...for the rest, my desktop applications are doing just fine!
This is I think is the crux - Google and the Bog Boys, in their ever present messianic attitude, try to give us things that we are simply not ready for, or not really keen on...if they instead try to find from folks like me if there are other things I'd love to have online, perhaps that will be a better start for network computing becoming mainstream?
Just some thoughts...
Read an interesting post discussing the importance of network-driven applications and network driven computing, as opposed to client (PC/Laptop) driven computing that is in vogue today.
It is indeed interesting to read some of the latest developments, "Google, Microsoft, and Apple have all announced new online storage offerings...the widening race to stake claims in online storage heralds the impending emergence of a new platform, or paradigm, that has massive disruptive potential." While as an idea network centric computing is nothing new (remember The Network is the Computer slogan from Sun? looks like many years ago!), there is little doubt it can have disruptive potential, most definitely a billion make that multi-multi-billion) dollar idea. My guess is, going by Clayton Christensen's logical description of how disruptive businesses take root, Google and Co will need to try to understand the disruptive process better. If they are able to identify a couple of low-end applications that users will only be too glad to store online and start with these to take the assault to Microsoft, it could work better.
For instance, I'm not too comfortable having all my word processing and spreadsheet and other office applications online. I mean, they are working just fine right now, and the costs are not unaffordable, plus having them on desktops is convenient, need not depend on connectivity. But there are some things I'd like online - mail for one (sadly, an open secret!), whatever application I use to publish my blog (in my case Blogger), my bookmarks, contact details of my friends and relatives (just in case I forgot my diary I can always look it up online from anywhere)...that's all I can think of...for the rest, my desktop applications are doing just fine!
This is I think is the crux - Google and the Bog Boys, in their ever present messianic attitude, try to give us things that we are simply not ready for, or not really keen on...if they instead try to find from folks like me if there are other things I'd love to have online, perhaps that will be a better start for network computing becoming mainstream?
Just some thoughts...
Disruptive Business in the Rock Guitar World
Disruption in the Rock Guitar World
Came across an interesting item on disruptive ideas at The Disruption Group blog.
The author discusses anothe classic case of a disruptor entering established markets with a new product and winning (at least on the way to winning it.
In the case study presented in the post, the disruptor - Line 6 - rather than asking how to beat the incumbents through incremental innovations in electric guitars (almost always a failing strategy), looked at things differently. Using their expertise in digital modeling amplifiers and effects that recreated classic tube sounds via modern DSP (digital signal processing) electronics, Line 6 asked the question that no guitar builder would ever have considered: why not model the guitar itself using the the DSP created classic tube sounds? By dramatically altering the process in which the sounds are created, Line 6 was able to offer an electric guitar that "digitally recreates any of 25 vintage guitar sounds at the touch of a knob, allowing you to use the same instrument to perform with sounds as varied as those of Keith Richards or Bruce Springsteen, who use Telecasters, to Johnny Cash, who used a Martin. Settings include a 1959 Fender Strat, a 1968 Telecaster, a 1961 Gibson Les Paul standard, a Rickenbacker 12 string, a hollow-body Gretsch, a Martin acoustic, a Dobro resonator, an electric sitar, banjo and a dozen other variations."
Line 6, according to the post has been quite successful...
Read more from this interesting post @ The Disruption Group blog
Came across an interesting item on disruptive ideas at The Disruption Group blog.
The author discusses anothe classic case of a disruptor entering established markets with a new product and winning (at least on the way to winning it.
In the case study presented in the post, the disruptor - Line 6 - rather than asking how to beat the incumbents through incremental innovations in electric guitars (almost always a failing strategy), looked at things differently. Using their expertise in digital modeling amplifiers and effects that recreated classic tube sounds via modern DSP (digital signal processing) electronics, Line 6 asked the question that no guitar builder would ever have considered: why not model the guitar itself using the the DSP created classic tube sounds? By dramatically altering the process in which the sounds are created, Line 6 was able to offer an electric guitar that "digitally recreates any of 25 vintage guitar sounds at the touch of a knob, allowing you to use the same instrument to perform with sounds as varied as those of Keith Richards or Bruce Springsteen, who use Telecasters, to Johnny Cash, who used a Martin. Settings include a 1959 Fender Strat, a 1968 Telecaster, a 1961 Gibson Les Paul standard, a Rickenbacker 12 string, a hollow-body Gretsch, a Martin acoustic, a Dobro resonator, an electric sitar, banjo and a dozen other variations."
Line 6, according to the post has been quite successful...
Read more from this interesting post @ The Disruption Group blog
Subscription Model Great Way to Create a Billion Dollar Company
Subscription Model a Great Way to Create a Billion Dollar Company
Read an interesting (though quite old post by Net standards, July 2004) @ Paul Allen (the lesser) blog.
A recurring revenue model, such as the one with a subscription business, is an excellent model to grow big in reveenues in a reasonable amount of time. Why?
As Paul says in the post, "Once you get a customer signed up, and the product is good enough to keep them happy, you generate revenue for months or years. So your marketing pays off long-term."
And he quotes some companies with a subscription model that have billion plus market caps (all 2004 figures):
1. Netflix: 2 million subscribers and is worth $1.86 billion.
2. XM Satellite Radio: 1 million plus subscribers . Market cap: $5.2 billion.
3. RealNetworks reached 1 million subscribers to its content service by April 2003. Market cap: $1.1 billion.
Interesting indeed for anyone wanting to create a billion $ company. Well of course all of us have the same question, and so does Paul: "The question is, is it possible to create new ones that have the potential to generate a million subscribers, or have all the good ideas already been taken?"
Hmmm...
Read an interesting (though quite old post by Net standards, July 2004) @ Paul Allen (the lesser) blog.
A recurring revenue model, such as the one with a subscription business, is an excellent model to grow big in reveenues in a reasonable amount of time. Why?
As Paul says in the post, "Once you get a customer signed up, and the product is good enough to keep them happy, you generate revenue for months or years. So your marketing pays off long-term."
And he quotes some companies with a subscription model that have billion plus market caps (all 2004 figures):
1. Netflix: 2 million subscribers and is worth $1.86 billion.
2. XM Satellite Radio: 1 million plus subscribers . Market cap: $5.2 billion.
3. RealNetworks reached 1 million subscribers to its content service by April 2003. Market cap: $1.1 billion.
Interesting indeed for anyone wanting to create a billion $ company. Well of course all of us have the same question, and so does Paul: "The question is, is it possible to create new ones that have the potential to generate a million subscribers, or have all the good ideas already been taken?"
Hmmm...
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Need a Million Bucks Quick? Sue Google!
Need Big Money Quick? Sue Google!
Interesting post at Wired, by Michael Myser
Certainly not a billion dollar idea, and probably not an idea we would recommend, but who knows, you or your company might be qualified enough to sue Google and make some serious millions (pocket change for the big G)
The post says how companies from all across the spectrum are running to the courthouse to sue Google.
Examples quoted:
Perfect 10 - the porn company is suing over Google helping others to get its pics free!
Universal Tube and Rollform - complaint: trademark infringement and "nuisance traffic" due to the similarities between utube.com and YouTube.com - hmmmph!
iLor - for alleged patent infringement on a hyperlinks idea
American Blind & Wallpaper - for Google allowing its competitors to purchase its name for their AdWords advertisements!
Intertainer - for infringing on its patent for delivering digital video and music over the Internet (and we thought every one on the Net had been delivering video and music last ten years).
Not sure how many of the above and many more who sue will succeed. But one thing is sure: Billion dollar successes sure will bring billion dollar bothers as well.
Read the full post from Wired here
Interesting post at Wired, by Michael Myser
Certainly not a billion dollar idea, and probably not an idea we would recommend, but who knows, you or your company might be qualified enough to sue Google and make some serious millions (pocket change for the big G)
The post says how companies from all across the spectrum are running to the courthouse to sue Google.
Examples quoted:
Perfect 10 - the porn company is suing over Google helping others to get its pics free!
Universal Tube and Rollform - complaint: trademark infringement and "nuisance traffic" due to the similarities between utube.com and YouTube.com - hmmmph!
iLor - for alleged patent infringement on a hyperlinks idea
American Blind & Wallpaper - for Google allowing its competitors to purchase its name for their AdWords advertisements!
Intertainer - for infringing on its patent for delivering digital video and music over the Internet (and we thought every one on the Net had been delivering video and music last ten years).
Not sure how many of the above and many more who sue will succeed. But one thing is sure: Billion dollar successes sure will bring billion dollar bothers as well.
Read the full post from Wired here
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Digital Libraries and Broadband, Micropayments, Distributed Storage...
Disruptive Technologies, Innovation, and Digital Libraries Research - The Case of a Billion-Dollar Business
Yi-Tzuu Chien, World Technology Evaluation Center, Inc
A research paper I came across yesterday provides interesting perspectives on disruptive technologies that could influence the future of digital libraries (and as a result our traditional libraries as well)...not sure when this paper was published, date does not appear anywhere, my guess is sometime in 2004...
I quote excerpts from the paper.
1. Untethered Communications. The capabilities for “untethered communications” usually refer to the union of wireless and mobile technologies. Included here are a variety of personal information appliances and wearable computing devices, which have shown extraordinary growth in the last decade.
2. Broadband Internet - Why is Broadband Internet is disruptive technology for future DL research and innovations? Partly this is because it can provide dramatically new modalities for communication, especially within families and communities. With convergence of video, audio, text, images and so forth, the traditional library materials, plus new Internet resources, all become a digital stream that can be accessed where the high-performance network is.
3. E-payment - Micropayment technology has been in the market place for some time. It is associated with the concept of letting Internet users to buy digital contents and services with digital pocket change – transactions of about a dollar or less. Up until recently, most Internet based businesses still can’t support micropayments because the processing fees from banks and credit card companies erase any profit...Two recent developments have changed this perspective. First, major IT players are beginning to use micropayment technology with clear success...Second, new start-up companies are making renewed efforts to develop the next generation micropayment technologies that are easier to use, more economical, and safer...Why is e-payment a disruptive force that could lead to dramatic innovations for DL?...By charging pennies for the bits one wants or for faster delivery of the bits, we’ll be able to extend the library functions and range of information services far more beyond the traditional libraries have to offer. A second impact is on the supply side of DLs. With micropayment on the Web, we’ll be able nurture a new generation of artists and content innovators who could create, sell and trade their creative works directly to the users with financial rewards.
4. Distributed storage and retrieval - A new technology known as “distributed storage”, still in its infancy, has the potential of storing and retrieving data files in the nooks and crannies of the Internet. The idea is to free data from dependency on specific computers or systems...The technology in its simplest form already exist – music sharing services, for example, which let people down-load and trade songs from Internet-connected PCs, are a crude distributed-storage system. Pushing this technology into including all sorts of data and media forms is one crucial aspect of this new technology.
The full paper (PDF format) is here
Yi-Tzuu Chien, World Technology Evaluation Center, Inc
A research paper I came across yesterday provides interesting perspectives on disruptive technologies that could influence the future of digital libraries (and as a result our traditional libraries as well)...not sure when this paper was published, date does not appear anywhere, my guess is sometime in 2004...
I quote excerpts from the paper.
1. Untethered Communications. The capabilities for “untethered communications” usually refer to the union of wireless and mobile technologies. Included here are a variety of personal information appliances and wearable computing devices, which have shown extraordinary growth in the last decade.
2. Broadband Internet - Why is Broadband Internet is disruptive technology for future DL research and innovations? Partly this is because it can provide dramatically new modalities for communication, especially within families and communities. With convergence of video, audio, text, images and so forth, the traditional library materials, plus new Internet resources, all become a digital stream that can be accessed where the high-performance network is.
3. E-payment - Micropayment technology has been in the market place for some time. It is associated with the concept of letting Internet users to buy digital contents and services with digital pocket change – transactions of about a dollar or less. Up until recently, most Internet based businesses still can’t support micropayments because the processing fees from banks and credit card companies erase any profit...Two recent developments have changed this perspective. First, major IT players are beginning to use micropayment technology with clear success...Second, new start-up companies are making renewed efforts to develop the next generation micropayment technologies that are easier to use, more economical, and safer...Why is e-payment a disruptive force that could lead to dramatic innovations for DL?...By charging pennies for the bits one wants or for faster delivery of the bits, we’ll be able to extend the library functions and range of information services far more beyond the traditional libraries have to offer. A second impact is on the supply side of DLs. With micropayment on the Web, we’ll be able nurture a new generation of artists and content innovators who could create, sell and trade their creative works directly to the users with financial rewards.
4. Distributed storage and retrieval - A new technology known as “distributed storage”, still in its infancy, has the potential of storing and retrieving data files in the nooks and crannies of the Internet. The idea is to free data from dependency on specific computers or systems...The technology in its simplest form already exist – music sharing services, for example, which let people down-load and trade songs from Internet-connected PCs, are a crude distributed-storage system. Pushing this technology into including all sorts of data and media forms is one crucial aspect of this new technology.
The full paper (PDF format) is here
Green & Global Warming now Billion $ Businesses
Businesses see potential profits in joining battle against global warming
By THOMAS WAGNER, The Associated Press | August 15, 2007
LONDON - Big business now views fight against global warming differently: green can be the color of money.
United States, Europe and Japan are locked in a frantic race to cash in on the exploding business, with London becoming the center for the multibillion dollar market in carbon emissions. The city has been attracting investors who trade CO2 allowances.
Silicon Valley is leading the way in attracting venture capital for green technologies whose trends are similar to the dot-com boom of the 1990s. To add another layer of confidence, Japan's Toyota has sold more than a million Prius hybrid models, its cutting-edge eco-friendly car.
Read this article to know what the multi-billion $ companies in the world are doing to cash in on this green boom - from The T and D.
By THOMAS WAGNER, The Associated Press | August 15, 2007
LONDON - Big business now views fight against global warming differently: green can be the color of money.
United States, Europe and Japan are locked in a frantic race to cash in on the exploding business, with London becoming the center for the multibillion dollar market in carbon emissions. The city has been attracting investors who trade CO2 allowances.
Silicon Valley is leading the way in attracting venture capital for green technologies whose trends are similar to the dot-com boom of the 1990s. To add another layer of confidence, Japan's Toyota has sold more than a million Prius hybrid models, its cutting-edge eco-friendly car.
Read this article to know what the multi-billion $ companies in the world are doing to cash in on this green boom - from The T and D.
Bra & Lingerie - A Century of the Billion Dollar Industry
A Century of the Billion Dollar Bra Industry
Came across an interesting article in The Independent UK. The article was celebrating one hundred years of the bra.
"
The bra was invented by an engineer of German extraction called Onto Titzling. He was living in a New York boarding house, and one of his neighbours, a voluptuous opera singer called Swanhilda Olafson, complained that she needed a garment to hoist her vast bosom aloft every evening – so Titzling obliged, using some cotton, elastic and metal struts. Unfortunately, he failed to patent the device and, a Frenchman named Philippe de Brassière began making a suspiciously similar object. Titzling took him to court, but the unscrupulous Frenchman won the day. And that's why the garment all the ladies are wearing is called a brassiere, not a titzling.
In 1907, Vogue coined the term 'brassiere', and launched a billion-dollar industry that changed the way women dress for ever."
Celebrating its hundredth year, lingerie lover John Walsh provides a timeline and history of the undergarment – and dwells on its role in today's world at this article at The Independent, UK
Published: 15 August 2007
Came across an interesting article in The Independent UK. The article was celebrating one hundred years of the bra.
"
The bra was invented by an engineer of German extraction called Onto Titzling. He was living in a New York boarding house, and one of his neighbours, a voluptuous opera singer called Swanhilda Olafson, complained that she needed a garment to hoist her vast bosom aloft every evening – so Titzling obliged, using some cotton, elastic and metal struts. Unfortunately, he failed to patent the device and, a Frenchman named Philippe de Brassière began making a suspiciously similar object. Titzling took him to court, but the unscrupulous Frenchman won the day. And that's why the garment all the ladies are wearing is called a brassiere, not a titzling.
In 1907, Vogue coined the term 'brassiere', and launched a billion-dollar industry that changed the way women dress for ever."
Celebrating its hundredth year, lingerie lover John Walsh provides a timeline and history of the undergarment – and dwells on its role in today's world at this article at The Independent, UK
Published: 15 August 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
More than a Billion to Suffer from High BP (Blood Pressure)
More than a Billion to Suffer from High BP
Aug 07
The number of people suffering from high BP around the world will exceed over a billion within 20 years. Unhealthy modern lifestyles, involving a salt-rich diet and physical inactivity, are fuelling the rise in high BP, which could reach 1.56 billion by 2025!
Currently, a person in the Western world has a greater than 90 per cent lifetime risk of developing high BP or hypertension.
Source: Healthcare Republic
Aug 07
The number of people suffering from high BP around the world will exceed over a billion within 20 years. Unhealthy modern lifestyles, involving a salt-rich diet and physical inactivity, are fuelling the rise in high BP, which could reach 1.56 billion by 2025!
Currently, a person in the Western world has a greater than 90 per cent lifetime risk of developing high BP or hypertension.
Source: Healthcare Republic
Fantasy Football Costs US Employers Billions in Employee Time
Fantasy Football Costs US Employers Billions
"Fantasy football is one of many potential online distractions that can reduce workplace productivity. But its rapid rise in popularity, labor experts said, makes it a growing concern.
A recent study by Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based business consulting firm, reported nearly 37 million people nationwide spend almost one hour a week at work managing their fantasy teams, costing employers as much as $1.1 billion a week in lost productivity.
The 17-week NFL regular season stretching from September through December, according to the study, results in a fourth-quarter $18.7 billion productivity loss." Source
Whoa! 18 billion $ cost for a virtual pastime? Smart entrepreneurs will no doubt come up with good ideas to cash in on this trend...
Via: AOL Sports Blog
"Fantasy football is one of many potential online distractions that can reduce workplace productivity. But its rapid rise in popularity, labor experts said, makes it a growing concern.
A recent study by Challenger Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based business consulting firm, reported nearly 37 million people nationwide spend almost one hour a week at work managing their fantasy teams, costing employers as much as $1.1 billion a week in lost productivity.
The 17-week NFL regular season stretching from September through December, according to the study, results in a fourth-quarter $18.7 billion productivity loss." Source
Whoa! 18 billion $ cost for a virtual pastime? Smart entrepreneurs will no doubt come up with good ideas to cash in on this trend...
Via: AOL Sports Blog
Quirky Ideas -> Creativity -> Fantastic Business Ideas
Quirky Business Ideas -> Fantastic Businesses
Thriving enterprises such as Netflix, Cold Stone Creamery, and Geeks On Call all began as "quirky" ideas, says this interesting article from MSN Encarta.
The article goes on to provide anecdotal narration of how three quirky ideas made it big.
1. NetFlix - Reed Hastings came up with the concept after a trip to his local video store. Like so many of us have, he forgot to return a movie on time, and was informed that he owed a $40 late fee. Hastings thought to himself that there got to be a better way. And with that thought, Netflix was born. Toda, Netflix is a household name that offers access to more than 55,000 movie titles for a flat monthly fee - and no late charges! Now, that's a cool way to turn a grumpy day into a million $ business!
2. Cold Stone Creamery - What began as Donald and Susan Sutherland's quest for the perfect frozen dessert has evolved into one of the top franchises in the United States. Cold Stone now has more than 1,200 locations. The success of the business is attributed to the passion its franchisees have for the product. To build on that momentum and provide a solid foundation for its franchisees, Cold Stone sends them to Ice Cream University--a training facility located at its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. Now, that sure is a sign of passion!
3. Geeks on Call - Richard Cole, founder and CEO of Geeks On Call, who was growing frustrated with his PC's antics, was tired of long wait times on telephone help lines - and the mediocre service at the end of it! He began to wonder about how convenient it would be to have personal computer support available on call - and founded G o C. Today, Geeks on Call averages about 10,000 computre fixes per month. Key to the operation's success is the training of the company's technicians. All Geeks On Call employees are required to have A+ certification. They must also pass the Geek Test.
Read the full report from here @ MSN Encarta
Thriving enterprises such as Netflix, Cold Stone Creamery, and Geeks On Call all began as "quirky" ideas, says this interesting article from MSN Encarta.
The article goes on to provide anecdotal narration of how three quirky ideas made it big.
1. NetFlix - Reed Hastings came up with the concept after a trip to his local video store. Like so many of us have, he forgot to return a movie on time, and was informed that he owed a $40 late fee. Hastings thought to himself that there got to be a better way. And with that thought, Netflix was born. Toda, Netflix is a household name that offers access to more than 55,000 movie titles for a flat monthly fee - and no late charges! Now, that's a cool way to turn a grumpy day into a million $ business!
2. Cold Stone Creamery - What began as Donald and Susan Sutherland's quest for the perfect frozen dessert has evolved into one of the top franchises in the United States. Cold Stone now has more than 1,200 locations. The success of the business is attributed to the passion its franchisees have for the product. To build on that momentum and provide a solid foundation for its franchisees, Cold Stone sends them to Ice Cream University--a training facility located at its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. Now, that sure is a sign of passion!
3. Geeks on Call - Richard Cole, founder and CEO of Geeks On Call, who was growing frustrated with his PC's antics, was tired of long wait times on telephone help lines - and the mediocre service at the end of it! He began to wonder about how convenient it would be to have personal computer support available on call - and founded G o C. Today, Geeks on Call averages about 10,000 computre fixes per month. Key to the operation's success is the training of the company's technicians. All Geeks On Call employees are required to have A+ certification. They must also pass the Geek Test.
Read the full report from here @ MSN Encarta
Billion Dollar Formula - 5 Ways To Build Billion $ Businesses
Five Ways To Build Billion-Dollar Businesses
Forbes, Sep 2006 - by Hannah Clark
David G. Thomson thinks there is a secet formula to build billion dollar businesses. In his book, Blueprint to a Billion, Thomson identifies traits that fast-growing companies share. This book is based on hard evidence.
Thomson identified the 387 firms that have gone public since 1980 and grown to $1 billion in revenue. It's a select group; only 5% of the companies that have gone public in the last 26 years fit his criteria. But those firms have influence far beyond their numbers.
These companies, after hitting a certain point, grew at an exponential rate, reaching the billion mark in four to 12 years. How did they do it?
The following are the five traits that Thomson identifies:
1. Get a big idea - while it never is easy to get a big idea that also makes business sense in a practical way, the good news is, there are three different types of billion-dollar ideas. You have to start with one of them.
2. Find a marquee customer - your marquee customers don't have to be billion-dollar companies, but they need to be influencers.
3. Embrace Big Brother - When a small fry teams up with a big guy, both companies benefit.
4. Master the inside/outside dynamic - Great companies are built by great teams, and preferably one key team member should focus on the outside (marketing, sales...), while another focused on the inside - operations and innovation...
5. Put billion-dollar experts on your board - Companies that succeeded put customers and alliance partners on their boards. They also looked to CEOs who had built billion-dollar companies before.
Read the full story from Forbes
Forbes, Sep 2006 - by Hannah Clark
David G. Thomson thinks there is a secet formula to build billion dollar businesses. In his book, Blueprint to a Billion, Thomson identifies traits that fast-growing companies share. This book is based on hard evidence.
Thomson identified the 387 firms that have gone public since 1980 and grown to $1 billion in revenue. It's a select group; only 5% of the companies that have gone public in the last 26 years fit his criteria. But those firms have influence far beyond their numbers.
These companies, after hitting a certain point, grew at an exponential rate, reaching the billion mark in four to 12 years. How did they do it?
The following are the five traits that Thomson identifies:
1. Get a big idea - while it never is easy to get a big idea that also makes business sense in a practical way, the good news is, there are three different types of billion-dollar ideas. You have to start with one of them.
2. Find a marquee customer - your marquee customers don't have to be billion-dollar companies, but they need to be influencers.
3. Embrace Big Brother - When a small fry teams up with a big guy, both companies benefit.
4. Master the inside/outside dynamic - Great companies are built by great teams, and preferably one key team member should focus on the outside (marketing, sales...), while another focused on the inside - operations and innovation...
5. Put billion-dollar experts on your board - Companies that succeeded put customers and alliance partners on their boards. They also looked to CEOs who had built billion-dollar companies before.
Read the full story from Forbes
Thursday, August 16, 2007
CIO Can Help Disruptive Businesses - Clayton Christensen
CIO Can Help Disruptive Businesses - Clayton Christensen
CIOs at established companies can help identify and foster disruptive innovation to ensure future growth in existing and emerging markets, say Clayton Christensen, Mark Johnson, and Jeremy Dann in this article @ Optimize Mag(November 2002 issue)
Disruptive innovations have proven to be the genesis of major waves of growth in a wide array of industries, from information technology to transportation. For established companies to become successful at disruptive innovation, they'll need to develop robust, repeatable processes aimed at identifying, screening, and shaping disruptive-business ideas into growth engines.
As executives trained in both technology and strategy, CIOs are uniquely positioned to be change agents and aid in the business optimization required to achieve this type of innovation. CIOs can play a key role in developing and effectively applying the critical processes necessary to embrace and prosper from disruptive innovation.
Read more from this insightful article here @ Optimize Mag
CIOs at established companies can help identify and foster disruptive innovation to ensure future growth in existing and emerging markets, say Clayton Christensen, Mark Johnson, and Jeremy Dann in this article @ Optimize Mag(November 2002 issue)
Disruptive innovations have proven to be the genesis of major waves of growth in a wide array of industries, from information technology to transportation. For established companies to become successful at disruptive innovation, they'll need to develop robust, repeatable processes aimed at identifying, screening, and shaping disruptive-business ideas into growth engines.
As executives trained in both technology and strategy, CIOs are uniquely positioned to be change agents and aid in the business optimization required to achieve this type of innovation. CIOs can play a key role in developing and effectively applying the critical processes necessary to embrace and prosper from disruptive innovation.
Read more from this insightful article here @ Optimize Mag
Taking Disruptive Ideas to Market and to Scale
Disruptive ideas are very threatening to the establishment, or whoever owned that marketspace before. They may be products or technology like the iPOD, catheter surgery in the case of Boston Scientific, or they can be processes or services like Amazon or eBay. They can lead to dramatic changes in the field to which the idea applies. That can mean different people will use and control it.
So how do you overcome the resistance of the establishment (could be academia, professional societies, big companies, the government, etc.)? Hire PR? Most of the PR and advertising guys are great if the idea is accepted, lousy if the idea is not accepted. Your goal is to get it accepted. And that to me is the fun part of business. New ideas grow best with viral approaches and that’s all about relationships and reputation.
John Abele describes more of his strategy for taking disruptive ideas to market in this interesting blog post (Jul 2007) - @ Xconomy blog
So how do you overcome the resistance of the establishment (could be academia, professional societies, big companies, the government, etc.)? Hire PR? Most of the PR and advertising guys are great if the idea is accepted, lousy if the idea is not accepted. Your goal is to get it accepted. And that to me is the fun part of business. New ideas grow best with viral approaches and that’s all about relationships and reputation.
John Abele describes more of his strategy for taking disruptive ideas to market in this interesting blog post (Jul 2007) - @ Xconomy blog
Breakthrough Ideas for 2007 - Harvard Business Review
February’s issue of Harvard Business Review included 20 essays exploring Breakthrough Ideas for 2007. The Disruptive Thoughts blog has provided a nice 6-word story format of each of these essays at this post
Topics discussed (and the lovely 6-word stories, thanks to Disruptive Thoughts blog) - and the executive summary provided by HBR, wherever I was able to get it!
1. The Accidental Influentials - Gladwell’s wrong. Epidemics created by many - In his best seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell argues that “social epidemics” are driven in large part by the actions of a tiny minority of special individuals. The idea seems intuitively right—we think we see it happening all the time. Nevertheless, this isn’t actually how ideas spread. It’s better to focus on getting enough plain, ordinary people to sign on.
2. Entrepreneurial Japan - Not an oxymoron; catalyzing the rebound - Japan’s economic rebound is generally attributed to the turnaround of corporate giants and to industry consolidation. But it is also fueled by the emergence of new companies led by entrepreneurs in their twenties and thirties. An entrepreneurial Japan—no longer an oxymoron—may ultimately overshadow the much touted start-up cultures of China and India.
3. Brand Magic: Harry Potter Marketing - Mutual Maturation: brands and their customers - Most brands target a specific age group. The big problem with this approach is that it positively discourages customer loyalty—and, as we all know, it’s a lot cheaper to keep customers than to find new ones. To get around this problem, companies should consider creating brands that mature with their customers.
4. Algorithms in the Attic - Businesses future found in math’s past - For a powerful perspective on future business, take a hard look at mathematics past: the old equations collecting dust on academics’ shelves. Just as big firms need the keen eye of an intellectual property curator to appreciate the value of old patents and know-how, they will need savvy mathematicians to resurrect long-forgotten equations that, because of advancing technology, can finally be applied to business.
5. The Leader From Hope - In tumultuous times lead with hope
6. An Emerging Hotbed of User-Centered Innovation - User-Centered Innovation holds potential. Ask Denmark.
7. Living With Continuous Partial Attention - To miss nothing, constantly scan everything.
8. Borrowing from the PE Playbook - PE’s M&A lesson: be very selective.
9. When to Sleep on It - Consciously collect info. Unconsciously make decisions.
10. Here comes XBRL - XML-based standard will revolutionize financial tools.
11. Innovation and Growth: Size Matters - Innovation ’superlinearly’ scales with population growth.
12. Conflicted Consumers - If alternatives exist ‘loyal’ customers leave.
13. What Sells When Father Knows Best - Conservatism rising. ‘Values’ matter. Businesses adapt.
14. Business in the Nanocosm - Nanotechnology changing society in big ways.
15. Act Globally, Think Locally - Maximize global returns: aggregate local knowledge.
16. Seeing Is Treating - Imaging technology and biotechnology improve care.
17. The Best Networks Are Really Worknets - Build networks after defining desired outcomes.
18. Why U.S. Health Care Costs Aren’t Too High - Health costs aren’t rising. Spending is.
19. In Defense of “Ready, Fire, Aim” - Good innovation: fail fast, fix faster.
20. The Folly of Accountabalism - Bureaucratizing morality solves little, sacrifices innovation.
Topics discussed (and the lovely 6-word stories, thanks to Disruptive Thoughts blog) - and the executive summary provided by HBR, wherever I was able to get it!
1. The Accidental Influentials - Gladwell’s wrong. Epidemics created by many - In his best seller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell argues that “social epidemics” are driven in large part by the actions of a tiny minority of special individuals. The idea seems intuitively right—we think we see it happening all the time. Nevertheless, this isn’t actually how ideas spread. It’s better to focus on getting enough plain, ordinary people to sign on.
2. Entrepreneurial Japan - Not an oxymoron; catalyzing the rebound - Japan’s economic rebound is generally attributed to the turnaround of corporate giants and to industry consolidation. But it is also fueled by the emergence of new companies led by entrepreneurs in their twenties and thirties. An entrepreneurial Japan—no longer an oxymoron—may ultimately overshadow the much touted start-up cultures of China and India.
3. Brand Magic: Harry Potter Marketing - Mutual Maturation: brands and their customers - Most brands target a specific age group. The big problem with this approach is that it positively discourages customer loyalty—and, as we all know, it’s a lot cheaper to keep customers than to find new ones. To get around this problem, companies should consider creating brands that mature with their customers.
4. Algorithms in the Attic - Businesses future found in math’s past - For a powerful perspective on future business, take a hard look at mathematics past: the old equations collecting dust on academics’ shelves. Just as big firms need the keen eye of an intellectual property curator to appreciate the value of old patents and know-how, they will need savvy mathematicians to resurrect long-forgotten equations that, because of advancing technology, can finally be applied to business.
5. The Leader From Hope - In tumultuous times lead with hope
6. An Emerging Hotbed of User-Centered Innovation - User-Centered Innovation holds potential. Ask Denmark.
7. Living With Continuous Partial Attention - To miss nothing, constantly scan everything.
8. Borrowing from the PE Playbook - PE’s M&A lesson: be very selective.
9. When to Sleep on It - Consciously collect info. Unconsciously make decisions.
10. Here comes XBRL - XML-based standard will revolutionize financial tools.
11. Innovation and Growth: Size Matters - Innovation ’superlinearly’ scales with population growth.
12. Conflicted Consumers - If alternatives exist ‘loyal’ customers leave.
13. What Sells When Father Knows Best - Conservatism rising. ‘Values’ matter. Businesses adapt.
14. Business in the Nanocosm - Nanotechnology changing society in big ways.
15. Act Globally, Think Locally - Maximize global returns: aggregate local knowledge.
16. Seeing Is Treating - Imaging technology and biotechnology improve care.
17. The Best Networks Are Really Worknets - Build networks after defining desired outcomes.
18. Why U.S. Health Care Costs Aren’t Too High - Health costs aren’t rising. Spending is.
19. In Defense of “Ready, Fire, Aim” - Good innovation: fail fast, fix faster.
20. The Folly of Accountabalism - Bureaucratizing morality solves little, sacrifices innovation.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
A Simple but Powerful Productivity Tip - from Jerry Seinfeld
A Simple but Powerful Productivity Tip - from Jerry Seinfeld
This is not exactly a billion dollar idea, or perhaps it is, who knows!
Read this while browsing through the posts at Business Opportunities Weblog - Dane Carlson shares a simple trick (which was in turn told him by Jerry Seinfeld), on how to make sure you did something (in this case, writing) continuously:
"
Here’s how it worked.
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.
He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”
“Don’t break the chain.” He said again for emphasis.
"
Dane says he has used this simple technique for many activities of his over the years, successfully. What a simple idea.
Read the full post from here
This is not exactly a billion dollar idea, or perhaps it is, who knows!
Read this while browsing through the posts at Business Opportunities Weblog - Dane Carlson shares a simple trick (which was in turn told him by Jerry Seinfeld), on how to make sure you did something (in this case, writing) continuously:
"
Here’s how it worked.
He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.
He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.”
“Don’t break the chain.” He said again for emphasis.
"
Dane says he has used this simple technique for many activities of his over the years, successfully. What a simple idea.
Read the full post from here
11 Disruptive & Innovative Businesses - CNN Money
11 Disruptive & Innovative Businesses - CNN Money
An excellent list of 11 disruptive ideas that were compiled by CNN Money in Sep 2006. I know I'm a bit late in reporting it, but have no doubt that the ideas put forth will still make great reading.
Am providing a summary of the 11 disruptive business ideas.
1. The Disruptor: Netvibes
The Innovation: Highly customizable Web start pages
Co Name: Netvibes
Headquarters: Paris
CEO: Tariq Krim - Krim aims to stomp established portals with his easily customizable Web start pages.
The Disrupted: My Yahoo and other leading personalized portal pages
2. Google gets a new ad-versary - BlueLithium innovates online advertising by tracking user clickstreams.
The Disruptor: BlueLithium
The Innovation: Serving highly targeted ads on the Web by monitoring everyone's clickstreams
The Disrupted: Google and plain-vanilla CPM ad networks like ValueClick and 24/7 Real Media
3. Former Oracle exec: 'We will destroy Oracle' - Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff unleashes a new enterprise software technology.
The Disruptor: Salesforce.com
The Innovation: AppExchange 2.0 fills the gap between Web-based and traditional enterprise apps
The Disrupted: Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and other enterprise software incumbents
4. Coghead's DIY approach could trample the software giants
The software's user-friendly tools take the programmer out of building custom business apps.
The Disruptor: Coghead
The Innovation: Easy-to-use tools for building customized business applications
5. Goodbye Wi-Fi: wireless signals get maximized - Clearwire founder Craig McCaw shakes up the telecom industry again.
The Disruptor: Clearwire
The Innovation: National Wi-Max broadband wireless service
The Disrupted: Telecom and cable companies
6. Totally free and hassle-free phone calls - Jajah trumps traditional telecom and VOIP by allowing free calls without the accoutrements
The Disruptor: Jajah
The Innovation: Free phone calls over the Web with no downloads, headsets, or adapters
The Disrupted: Telecoms and existing VOIP services such as Skype
7. The anti-Tivo: Product placement beats the 30-second spot - NextMedium's founder Hamet Watt has figured out that automated product placement is the next big thing in advertising.
The Disruptor: NextMedium
The Innovation: Automated product placement in movies and TV shows through an online exchange
The Disrupted: The 30-second spot, producers of TV commercials, and advertising agencies
8. Gentlemen, stop your engines - EEStor's new automotive power source could eliminate the need for the combustion engine - and for oil.
The Disruptor: EEStor
The Innovation: A ceramic power source for electric cars that could blow away the combustion engine
The Disrupted: Oil companies and carmakers that don't climb aboard
9. Social networking for dollars - Zopa matches up borrowers and lenders in a peer-to-peer online lending service.
The Disruptor: Zopa
The Innovation: Peer-to-peer lending
The Disrupted: Traditional banks
10. Disrupting death
NanoLife Sciences generates buzz over its use of antiproton therapy to fight cancer.
The Disruptor: NanoLife Sciences
The Innovation: More precise cancer treatment that's less destructive to healthy tissue
The Disrupted: Conventional cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy
11. Big Brother hits the highway - Applied Location's new satellite technology could ease congestion, lower auto insurance premiums and more.
The Disruptor: Applied Location
The Innovation: A satellite-based system for toll collection, traffic congestion management, and pay-as-you-drive insuranceThe Disrupted: Traffic congestion, toll collectors, parking meters, and RFID-based systems like E-ZPass
Please see the CNN Money Business 2.0 section on disruptors for more
Hope you find this list useful.
An excellent list of 11 disruptive ideas that were compiled by CNN Money in Sep 2006. I know I'm a bit late in reporting it, but have no doubt that the ideas put forth will still make great reading.
Am providing a summary of the 11 disruptive business ideas.
1. The Disruptor: Netvibes
The Innovation: Highly customizable Web start pages
Co Name: Netvibes
Headquarters: Paris
CEO: Tariq Krim - Krim aims to stomp established portals with his easily customizable Web start pages.
The Disrupted: My Yahoo and other leading personalized portal pages
2. Google gets a new ad-versary - BlueLithium innovates online advertising by tracking user clickstreams.
The Disruptor: BlueLithium
The Innovation: Serving highly targeted ads on the Web by monitoring everyone's clickstreams
The Disrupted: Google and plain-vanilla CPM ad networks like ValueClick and 24/7 Real Media
3. Former Oracle exec: 'We will destroy Oracle' - Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff unleashes a new enterprise software technology.
The Disruptor: Salesforce.com
The Innovation: AppExchange 2.0 fills the gap between Web-based and traditional enterprise apps
The Disrupted: Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and other enterprise software incumbents
4. Coghead's DIY approach could trample the software giants
The software's user-friendly tools take the programmer out of building custom business apps.
The Disruptor: Coghead
The Innovation: Easy-to-use tools for building customized business applications
5. Goodbye Wi-Fi: wireless signals get maximized - Clearwire founder Craig McCaw shakes up the telecom industry again.
The Disruptor: Clearwire
The Innovation: National Wi-Max broadband wireless service
The Disrupted: Telecom and cable companies
6. Totally free and hassle-free phone calls - Jajah trumps traditional telecom and VOIP by allowing free calls without the accoutrements
The Disruptor: Jajah
The Innovation: Free phone calls over the Web with no downloads, headsets, or adapters
The Disrupted: Telecoms and existing VOIP services such as Skype
7. The anti-Tivo: Product placement beats the 30-second spot - NextMedium's founder Hamet Watt has figured out that automated product placement is the next big thing in advertising.
The Disruptor: NextMedium
The Innovation: Automated product placement in movies and TV shows through an online exchange
The Disrupted: The 30-second spot, producers of TV commercials, and advertising agencies
8. Gentlemen, stop your engines - EEStor's new automotive power source could eliminate the need for the combustion engine - and for oil.
The Disruptor: EEStor
The Innovation: A ceramic power source for electric cars that could blow away the combustion engine
The Disrupted: Oil companies and carmakers that don't climb aboard
9. Social networking for dollars - Zopa matches up borrowers and lenders in a peer-to-peer online lending service.
The Disruptor: Zopa
The Innovation: Peer-to-peer lending
The Disrupted: Traditional banks
10. Disrupting death
NanoLife Sciences generates buzz over its use of antiproton therapy to fight cancer.
The Disruptor: NanoLife Sciences
The Innovation: More precise cancer treatment that's less destructive to healthy tissue
The Disrupted: Conventional cancer treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy
11. Big Brother hits the highway - Applied Location's new satellite technology could ease congestion, lower auto insurance premiums and more.
The Disruptor: Applied Location
The Innovation: A satellite-based system for toll collection, traffic congestion management, and pay-as-you-drive insuranceThe Disrupted: Traffic congestion, toll collectors, parking meters, and RFID-based systems like E-ZPass
Please see the CNN Money Business 2.0 section on disruptors for more
Hope you find this list useful.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Cool, New Business Ideas - Innovations, Big Ideas
Cool, New Business Ideas - Innovations, Big Ideas
CoolBusinessIdeas.com is a blog about brand new promising business ideas around the world you wish you'd thought of.
Read more from the blog
CoolBusinessIdeas.com is a blog about brand new promising business ideas around the world you wish you'd thought of.
Read more from the blog
10 Attractive Small Business Ideas - AOL Small Biz
10 Attractive Small Business Ideas - AOL Small Biz
Unique business ideas don't just grow on trees. However, they do grow in the fertile imaginations of innovative entrepreneurs. Here are the 10 most compelling small business ideas launching in 2007.
read the full report from AOL Small Business
Unique business ideas don't just grow on trees. However, they do grow in the fertile imaginations of innovative entrepreneurs. Here are the 10 most compelling small business ideas launching in 2007.
read the full report from AOL Small Business
12 Big Ideas - Great Start-up Business Ideas - Business 2.0 / CNN
12 Best Start-up Business Ideas - Business 2.0 / CNN
In 10 nations on four continents, Business 2.0 Magazine (part of CNN) uncovered a dozen of the most intriguing new business opportunities in the world today.
By Michael V. Copeland, Paul Kaihla and Paul Sloan, Business 2.0 Magazine
September 8 2006
1. Build cheap Wi-Fi networks for Brazilian resorts.
2. Become a biodiesel producer in Argentina.
3. Create an ad network for India's mobile content developers.
4. Launch an exclusive social network for Russian millionaires.
5. Open an American-style restaurant in one of China's fast-growing cities.
6. Remodel homes for China's burgeoning middle class.
7. Flip mining claims in Bolivia.
8. Export the planet's next great wines - from Greece.
9. Import fine wines to upscale restaurants - in India.
10. Export gourmet coffee from Rwanda.
11. Become a social entrepreneur in South Africa.
12. Be among the first to invest in the new Libya.
Read the full report from here @ Business 2.0
In 10 nations on four continents, Business 2.0 Magazine (part of CNN) uncovered a dozen of the most intriguing new business opportunities in the world today.
By Michael V. Copeland, Paul Kaihla and Paul Sloan, Business 2.0 Magazine
September 8 2006
1. Build cheap Wi-Fi networks for Brazilian resorts.
2. Become a biodiesel producer in Argentina.
3. Create an ad network for India's mobile content developers.
4. Launch an exclusive social network for Russian millionaires.
5. Open an American-style restaurant in one of China's fast-growing cities.
6. Remodel homes for China's burgeoning middle class.
7. Flip mining claims in Bolivia.
8. Export the planet's next great wines - from Greece.
9. Import fine wines to upscale restaurants - in India.
10. Export gourmet coffee from Rwanda.
11. Become a social entrepreneur in South Africa.
12. Be among the first to invest in the new Libya.
Read the full report from here @ Business 2.0
Import of Fine Wine to India a Big Business Idea
August, 2006
Import of fine wine to India could well become a big business idea for global entrepreneurs as the tastes of the country's fast-growing middle class are growing beyond swanky cars and jazzy mobiles and now include a bottle of Chardonnay.
Import of fine wine to the country has emerged as one of the ‘12 best new business opportunities in the world’ compiled by a Fortune group magazine.
Read the full report from here @ Express India
Import of fine wine to India could well become a big business idea for global entrepreneurs as the tastes of the country's fast-growing middle class are growing beyond swanky cars and jazzy mobiles and now include a bottle of Chardonnay.
Import of fine wine to the country has emerged as one of the ‘12 best new business opportunities in the world’ compiled by a Fortune group magazine.
Read the full report from here @ Express India
Make Time for Strategy - Michael Porter's Big Ideas
Make Time for Strategy - Michael Porter's Big Ideas
The world's most famous business-school professor is fed up with CEOs who claim that the world changes too fast for their companies to have a long-term strategy. If you want to make a difference as a leader, you've got to make time for strategy.
Read his interesting and useful interview at Fast Company (2001 February).
Some of the ideas I wish to take away with me, from the interview:
1. There's a fundamental distinction between strategy and operational effectiveness. Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different. Operational effectiveness is about what's good for everybody and about what every business should be doing.
2. Whether you're on the Net or not, your profitability is still determined by the structure of your industry. If there are no barriers to entry, if customers have all the power, and if rivalry is based on price, then the Net doesn't matter -- you won't be very profitable.
3. Southwest Airlines has focused on a strategy of serving price-minded customers who want to go from place to place on relatively short, frequently offered flights without much service. That has stayed consistent over the years. But Southwest has been extremely aggressive about assimilating every new idea possible to deliver on that strategy.
4. A couple of years ago we would have read that the Internet was an incredibly disruptive technology, that industry after industry was going to be transformed. Well, guess what? It's not an incredibly disruptive technology for all parts of the value chain. In many cases, Internet technology is actually complementary to traditional technologies.
5. Most successful companies get two or three or four of the pieces right at the start, and then they elucidate their strategy over time. It's the kernel of things that is essential, that's the antidote to complexity.
6. Strategy used to be thought of as some mystical vision that only the people at the top understood. But that violated the most fundamental purpose of a strategy, which is to inform each of the many thousands of things that get done in an organization every day, and to make sure that those things are all aligned in the same basic direction....The best CEOs are teachers, and at the core they teach strategy, by going out to employees, to suppliers, and to customers, and repeating, "This is what we stand for, this is what we stand for."
Great reading...read the full interview from here @ Fast Company
The world's most famous business-school professor is fed up with CEOs who claim that the world changes too fast for their companies to have a long-term strategy. If you want to make a difference as a leader, you've got to make time for strategy.
Read his interesting and useful interview at Fast Company (2001 February).
Some of the ideas I wish to take away with me, from the interview:
1. There's a fundamental distinction between strategy and operational effectiveness. Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different. Operational effectiveness is about what's good for everybody and about what every business should be doing.
2. Whether you're on the Net or not, your profitability is still determined by the structure of your industry. If there are no barriers to entry, if customers have all the power, and if rivalry is based on price, then the Net doesn't matter -- you won't be very profitable.
3. Southwest Airlines has focused on a strategy of serving price-minded customers who want to go from place to place on relatively short, frequently offered flights without much service. That has stayed consistent over the years. But Southwest has been extremely aggressive about assimilating every new idea possible to deliver on that strategy.
4. A couple of years ago we would have read that the Internet was an incredibly disruptive technology, that industry after industry was going to be transformed. Well, guess what? It's not an incredibly disruptive technology for all parts of the value chain. In many cases, Internet technology is actually complementary to traditional technologies.
5. Most successful companies get two or three or four of the pieces right at the start, and then they elucidate their strategy over time. It's the kernel of things that is essential, that's the antidote to complexity.
6. Strategy used to be thought of as some mystical vision that only the people at the top understood. But that violated the most fundamental purpose of a strategy, which is to inform each of the many thousands of things that get done in an organization every day, and to make sure that those things are all aligned in the same basic direction....The best CEOs are teachers, and at the core they teach strategy, by going out to employees, to suppliers, and to customers, and repeating, "This is what we stand for, this is what we stand for."
Great reading...read the full interview from here @ Fast Company
Solutions to Tackle Global Warming - Branson's Next Bet
Solutions to Tackle Global Warming - Branson's Next Bet
Richard Branson, entrepreneurial icon, shares his freshest ideas - like a Virgin superfuel that will let us jet around the world guilt-free.
By Carleen Hawn, Business 2.0 Magazine - October 2006
Where others see disaster, Richard Branson sees opportunity. The founder of Virgin Group has business interests on six continents, including airlines, express trains, and limousine services, so his company's contribution to global warming worries him.
In this interview, Branson talks about his newfound conviction that global warming is a real menace ("CO2 is like a bushfire that gets bigger and bigger every year"), and alternative fuels ("Virgin Fuel, yes! ...We think this fuel will work in cars and trucks and trains within a year. And we're hoping that it might work in commercial jet engines within five years")...
He talks about a few other things as well...
Talking of alternative energy, that is one area anyone interested in billion dollar ideas should continuously keep an eye on. By some estimates, alternative energy as an industry will be so large in the next few years that it will look the information technology explosion in the last three decades look like small change. And they could be right. Energy industry is a 4-5 trillion $ industry - that is about 10% of the entire world economy, and the main fuel of this industry, oil, will start running out (not really exhausted, but in the sense of becoming simply unaffordable) in the next 40-50 years...which means folks got to start figuring out solutions now...just try to think about how big an industry that could be...
To whet your appetite even further, just consider these numbers: every day, the world uses about 10 million T of oil, and even if you take that one T of oil (gasoline, diesel etc) costs about 500 $ (it is a lot higher in many parts of the world), everyday, it is a market that is worth 5 billion $ per day, at the bare minimum - that is about 2 Trillion $ per year. And this resource is running out. As a shrewd businessman, wouldn't you to care to keep an eye open for this industry?
Richard Branson, entrepreneurial icon, shares his freshest ideas - like a Virgin superfuel that will let us jet around the world guilt-free.
By Carleen Hawn, Business 2.0 Magazine - October 2006
Where others see disaster, Richard Branson sees opportunity. The founder of Virgin Group has business interests on six continents, including airlines, express trains, and limousine services, so his company's contribution to global warming worries him.
In this interview, Branson talks about his newfound conviction that global warming is a real menace ("CO2 is like a bushfire that gets bigger and bigger every year"), and alternative fuels ("Virgin Fuel, yes! ...We think this fuel will work in cars and trucks and trains within a year. And we're hoping that it might work in commercial jet engines within five years")...
He talks about a few other things as well...
Talking of alternative energy, that is one area anyone interested in billion dollar ideas should continuously keep an eye on. By some estimates, alternative energy as an industry will be so large in the next few years that it will look the information technology explosion in the last three decades look like small change. And they could be right. Energy industry is a 4-5 trillion $ industry - that is about 10% of the entire world economy, and the main fuel of this industry, oil, will start running out (not really exhausted, but in the sense of becoming simply unaffordable) in the next 40-50 years...which means folks got to start figuring out solutions now...just try to think about how big an industry that could be...
To whet your appetite even further, just consider these numbers: every day, the world uses about 10 million T of oil, and even if you take that one T of oil (gasoline, diesel etc) costs about 500 $ (it is a lot higher in many parts of the world), everyday, it is a market that is worth 5 billion $ per day, at the bare minimum - that is about 2 Trillion $ per year. And this resource is running out. As a shrewd businessman, wouldn't you to care to keep an eye open for this industry?
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation
Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation
Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, and Scott D. Anthony
The best 30 minutes I spent in the last one year. A must read for any entrepreneur.
From Harvard Business School press, Mar 2003 issue
Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, and Scott D. Anthony
The best 30 minutes I spent in the last one year. A must read for any entrepreneur.
From Harvard Business School press, Mar 2003 issue
Biopolymers & Bioplastics - A High-growth industry?
Biopolymers - will they take the world by storm?
If you have not heard of biopolymers, you will, soon.
What are biopolymers, or in simplistic language (though not precise) bioplastics?
Biopolymers are polymers generated from renewable natural sources. Biopolymers are often biodegradable, and not toxic to produce. The polymers and plastics that we use today are mostly made from synthetic sources such as petroleum. In addition to the fact that petroleum is a non-renewable source ( we will run out of oil in the next about 100 years), most synthetic plastics are not biodegradable, thus causing a lot of harm to the environment.
Biopolymers can be produced by biological systems (i.e. micro-organisms, plants and animals), or chemically synthesized from biological starting materials (e.g. sugars, starch, natural fats or oils, etc.).
As an alternative to petroleum-based polymers, biopolmers have properties similar to traditional polymers and plastics.
With the world becoming increasingly green-conscious, anyone looking for big opportunities will do well to keep an eye on the biopolymer industry's growth.
If you have not heard of biopolymers, you will, soon.
What are biopolymers, or in simplistic language (though not precise) bioplastics?
Biopolymers are polymers generated from renewable natural sources. Biopolymers are often biodegradable, and not toxic to produce. The polymers and plastics that we use today are mostly made from synthetic sources such as petroleum. In addition to the fact that petroleum is a non-renewable source ( we will run out of oil in the next about 100 years), most synthetic plastics are not biodegradable, thus causing a lot of harm to the environment.
Biopolymers can be produced by biological systems (i.e. micro-organisms, plants and animals), or chemically synthesized from biological starting materials (e.g. sugars, starch, natural fats or oils, etc.).
As an alternative to petroleum-based polymers, biopolmers have properties similar to traditional polymers and plastics.
With the world becoming increasingly green-conscious, anyone looking for big opportunities will do well to keep an eye on the biopolymer industry's growth.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
From Halle to Angelina, Famous Body Parts in Demand
From Halle to Angelina, Famous Body Parts in Demand
March 13, 2007, Fox News
By Hollie McKay - Fox News - Many Americans are taking extreme measures to look like their favorite stars, says Dr. Robert Rey, star surgeon of the E! reality show Dr. 90210. Many of his patients request celebrity features when coming in for a particular procedure. Some of the celebrities who are most frequently mentioned are Jessica Biel, Courteney Cox, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Carmen Electra, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba, Gisele Bundchen and Halle Berry
Americans spent nearly $12.5 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2005 leading some to worry that society is being saturated by celebrity worshippers.
Read more from this Fox News report
March 13, 2007, Fox News
By Hollie McKay - Fox News - Many Americans are taking extreme measures to look like their favorite stars, says Dr. Robert Rey, star surgeon of the E! reality show Dr. 90210. Many of his patients request celebrity features when coming in for a particular procedure. Some of the celebrities who are most frequently mentioned are Jessica Biel, Courteney Cox, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Carmen Electra, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba, Gisele Bundchen and Halle Berry
Americans spent nearly $12.5 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2005 leading some to worry that society is being saturated by celebrity worshippers.
Read more from this Fox News report
Bt maize versus the billion-dollar bug
Bt maize versus the billion-dollar bug
The Western corn rootworm, introduced to Europe just 10 years ago, causes immense damage in the USA and has been steadily extending its domain ever since.
It is said that the Western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera) causes one billion dollars worth of damage annually in the maize-growing areas of the USA.
A new genetically modified maize aims to provide new control strategies. How best to prevent the development of resistance in this beetle, however, remains controversial.
Read more from this report @ GMO Safety
The Western corn rootworm, introduced to Europe just 10 years ago, causes immense damage in the USA and has been steadily extending its domain ever since.
It is said that the Western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera) causes one billion dollars worth of damage annually in the maize-growing areas of the USA.
A new genetically modified maize aims to provide new control strategies. How best to prevent the development of resistance in this beetle, however, remains controversial.
Read more from this report @ GMO Safety
The 15 billion dollar question for manufacturing tools
The 15 billion dollar question!
09/11/2005
Mike Abberley
President, Sandvik Coromant
In the United States, the manufacturing industry could save 15 billion dollars by using the right tools from the start, even if companies paid more for the tools, says this article.
The cost of the tools themselves is negligible (about 3% ) when compared to the total cost of production cost. Instead there are other, more profitable ways of doing business. The article goes on to say that the significant cost savings are achieved when we address the issue of use of these tools. Rather than concentrating on the tool alone, if a purchase focuses on a better performing tool and speeds up by increasing cutting data then he can reduce the cost of the component by 15 percent, goes on this analysis.
Read more from this 2005 article from American Machinist
09/11/2005
Mike Abberley
President, Sandvik Coromant
In the United States, the manufacturing industry could save 15 billion dollars by using the right tools from the start, even if companies paid more for the tools, says this article.
The cost of the tools themselves is negligible (about 3% ) when compared to the total cost of production cost. Instead there are other, more profitable ways of doing business. The article goes on to say that the significant cost savings are achieved when we address the issue of use of these tools. Rather than concentrating on the tool alone, if a purchase focuses on a better performing tool and speeds up by increasing cutting data then he can reduce the cost of the component by 15 percent, goes on this analysis.
Read more from this 2005 article from American Machinist
Friday, March 16, 2007
He Sold Over A Billion Dollars Worth Of Stuff, and Tells How He Did It
A Person Who Sold Over A Billion Dollars Worth Of Stuff Tells How He Did It.
The Ron Popeil Story @ Uncommon Business Ideas that Work blog
US Entrepreneur Ron Popeil, the inventor of products such as the Pocket Fisherman and the Food Dehydrator, introduced the Showtime Rotisserie BBQ. Marketed in the seductive TV infomercial format he pioneered, Popeil demonstrated the durability, versatility, and appeal of the oven -- a contraption equally adept at producing a "scrumptious, flavorful rib roast" as it was a "mouthwatering pork-loin roast", and made it a hit. He is said to have sold iver 7 million of pieces, generating a billion dollar plus revenues.
Read more about how he did it at the blog post here , written in May 2006
The Ron Popeil Story @ Uncommon Business Ideas that Work blog
US Entrepreneur Ron Popeil, the inventor of products such as the Pocket Fisherman and the Food Dehydrator, introduced the Showtime Rotisserie BBQ. Marketed in the seductive TV infomercial format he pioneered, Popeil demonstrated the durability, versatility, and appeal of the oven -- a contraption equally adept at producing a "scrumptious, flavorful rib roast" as it was a "mouthwatering pork-loin roast", and made it a hit. He is said to have sold iver 7 million of pieces, generating a billion dollar plus revenues.
Read more about how he did it at the blog post here , written in May 2006
Multi-billion Dollar Seniors Industry in Singapore
Cashing in on the silver age - Philip Yeo heads committee in Singapore to tap a multi-billion dollar industry catering to seniors
Loh Chee Kong
Mr Philip Yeo — who will soon relinquish the helm of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research to head Spring Singapore — will now start turning the challenge of an ageing population into a billion-dollar opportunity. He will head a 14-man committee to recommend national policies to develop the silver industry here.
In 2005, Singapore's senior citizens spent about US$1.95 billion ($3 billion). This rapidly greying population should fuel a boom in businesses catering to the elderly, such as healthcare and wellness...
Read more from this report @ Today Online (Mar 9, 2007)
Loh Chee Kong
Mr Philip Yeo — who will soon relinquish the helm of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research to head Spring Singapore — will now start turning the challenge of an ageing population into a billion-dollar opportunity. He will head a 14-man committee to recommend national policies to develop the silver industry here.
In 2005, Singapore's senior citizens spent about US$1.95 billion ($3 billion). This rapidly greying population should fuel a boom in businesses catering to the elderly, such as healthcare and wellness...
Read more from this report @ Today Online (Mar 9, 2007)
The $50 Billion Dollar Challenges for Issues Facing Humanity
The $50 Billion Dollar Challenges for Issues Facing Humanity
A report by Great Dane Consulting
Executive Summary
Great Dane Consulting was commissioned by Roger Pielke Jr. to allocate $50 billion to address the twelve largest issues facing humanity. The twelve challenges include climate change, communicable diseases, conflicts and arms proliferation, access to education, financial instability, governance and corruption, malnutrition and hunger, migration, sanitation and access to clean water, subsidies and trade barriers, energy and land degradation.
Our firm approached this task by developing an explicit goal statement: to allocate a total of $50 billion to projects that provide immediate and lasting maximum net positive human benefits to developing countries. We define human benefit as an improvement in the quality of human life through protection and enhancement of basic human needs. Basic human needs include, but are not limited to, access to adequate food, water, and shelter, and health, as well as protection from violence and discrimination.
Using our goal statement as a guiding principle, we evaluated the applicability of 61
opportunities to solve the 12 global crises. We used 11 criteria1 to guide our decision making process and eliminated all but 16 of the opportunities. Presented in the table below are the opportunities selected, the ranking they received, and the dollar amounts allocated. It is important to note that the dollar amount allocated to each project does not reflect the value of the project, rather it is the estimated cost of funding the project for one year.
Read more from this report ( in PDF format)
A report by Great Dane Consulting
Executive Summary
Great Dane Consulting was commissioned by Roger Pielke Jr. to allocate $50 billion to address the twelve largest issues facing humanity. The twelve challenges include climate change, communicable diseases, conflicts and arms proliferation, access to education, financial instability, governance and corruption, malnutrition and hunger, migration, sanitation and access to clean water, subsidies and trade barriers, energy and land degradation.
Our firm approached this task by developing an explicit goal statement: to allocate a total of $50 billion to projects that provide immediate and lasting maximum net positive human benefits to developing countries. We define human benefit as an improvement in the quality of human life through protection and enhancement of basic human needs. Basic human needs include, but are not limited to, access to adequate food, water, and shelter, and health, as well as protection from violence and discrimination.
Using our goal statement as a guiding principle, we evaluated the applicability of 61
opportunities to solve the 12 global crises. We used 11 criteria1 to guide our decision making process and eliminated all but 16 of the opportunities. Presented in the table below are the opportunities selected, the ranking they received, and the dollar amounts allocated. It is important to note that the dollar amount allocated to each project does not reflect the value of the project, rather it is the estimated cost of funding the project for one year.
Read more from this report ( in PDF format)
Multi-Billion Dollar South African Infrastructure Projects
Exporters to Learn Details of Multi-Billion Dollar African Infrastructure Projects, Hear From U.S. Trade Rep, China Eximbank President, at April Conference in D.C.
Feb 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. exporters attending the 29th
annual conference of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im
Bank) will gain useful information about billions of dollars in potential
export opportunities, including nearly $25 billion dollars in planned
infrastructure improvements in South Africa.
Read the full report from the PR News wire report
Feb 2007
WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. exporters attending the 29th
annual conference of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im
Bank) will gain useful information about billions of dollars in potential
export opportunities, including nearly $25 billion dollars in planned
infrastructure improvements in South Africa.
Read the full report from the PR News wire report
Singapore to tap into multi-billion dollar carbon trading market
Singapore to tap into multi-billion dollar carbon trading market
Singapore aims to be a key player in trading unused greenhouse gas quotas, estimated to be worth at least US$25 billion last year.
Under the Kyoto international agreement to reduce harmful emissions by 2012, some countries can buy extra greenhouse gas allowances from developing countries under a scheme called Clean Development Mechanism credits, or CDM.
Read more from this Yahoo news report, Jan 2007
Singapore aims to be a key player in trading unused greenhouse gas quotas, estimated to be worth at least US$25 billion last year.
Under the Kyoto international agreement to reduce harmful emissions by 2012, some countries can buy extra greenhouse gas allowances from developing countries under a scheme called Clean Development Mechanism credits, or CDM.
Read more from this Yahoo news report, Jan 2007
Halal Food Market A Multi-billion Dollar Global Opportunity
Halal Food Market A Multi-billion Dollar Global Opportunity
US$150 billion global market, says a forum
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Feb 07, 2007
The increasing regional and global importance of the Halal food market will be highlighted at this year’s Gulfood, a food, drink, food-service and hospitality equipment exhibition.
With Muslims making up around 1.79 billion of the world’s population, the rapid expansion in the Halal food sector has become a key area of opportunity across the industry, according to senior executives from the World Halal Forum (WHF).
Read more from this news release @ DWTC
US$150 billion global market, says a forum
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Feb 07, 2007
The increasing regional and global importance of the Halal food market will be highlighted at this year’s Gulfood, a food, drink, food-service and hospitality equipment exhibition.
With Muslims making up around 1.79 billion of the world’s population, the rapid expansion in the Halal food sector has become a key area of opportunity across the industry, according to senior executives from the World Halal Forum (WHF).
Read more from this news release @ DWTC
Wildlife Recreation: Rural America's Newest Billion Dollar Industry
Wildlife Recreation: Rural America's Newest Billion Dollar Industry
by Jason R. Henderson, Economist, Center for the Study of Rural America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
"In today's search for the next billion dollar industry to revitalize Main Streets, many rural leaders are again pinning their hopes on nature. New opportunities are not arising from traditional sources commodity industries like agriculture or mining. Tomorrow's opportunity may well be wildlife related recreation - already a $108 billion industry nationwide" - states this news letter article from the Iowa State University web site (Jan 2005)
by Jason R. Henderson, Economist, Center for the Study of Rural America, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
"In today's search for the next billion dollar industry to revitalize Main Streets, many rural leaders are again pinning their hopes on nature. New opportunities are not arising from traditional sources commodity industries like agriculture or mining. Tomorrow's opportunity may well be wildlife related recreation - already a $108 billion industry nationwide" - states this news letter article from the Iowa State University web site (Jan 2005)
Antipsychotics - From Blockbuster Brands to Billion Dollar Generics
Antipsychotics - From Blockbuster Brands to Billion Dollar Generics
A report review
This page at Lead Discovery web site reviews an industry report on Second Generation Antipsychotics.
In sum, it says, "Second Generation Antipsychotics (SGAs) continue to drive the antipsychotic market with a growth rate of 27.2% between 2002-2003, yielding revenues of over $9.5 billion in 2003 responsible for a 93.3% share of the market. However, several patent expiries and product launches are set to send the market through a period of change."
Read more of the report review from here
A report review
This page at Lead Discovery web site reviews an industry report on Second Generation Antipsychotics.
In sum, it says, "Second Generation Antipsychotics (SGAs) continue to drive the antipsychotic market with a growth rate of 27.2% between 2002-2003, yielding revenues of over $9.5 billion in 2003 responsible for a 93.3% share of the market. However, several patent expiries and product launches are set to send the market through a period of change."
Read more of the report review from here
The 9 billion dollar self-development boom?
While reading a classified, my eye caught an interesting factoid - The title read - Capitalize on the 8.9 Billion Dollar Self Development Boom!; the classified went on to say - "The easiest thing in the world to sell is opportunity. From the moment people wake up to the time they go to bed, they are thinking of how they can work less and make more." Quite true, I'd say, at least for most ordinary folks like me.
So is there an opportunity out here? The classified in question was touting a rather sketchy looking scheme, so I won't trouble re-touting that here, but if the overall assumption (work less, earn more and the need for self-development) is true - and I think it is - then there ought to be a number of opportunities clever entrepreneurs can come up with.
So is there an opportunity out here? The classified in question was touting a rather sketchy looking scheme, so I won't trouble re-touting that here, but if the overall assumption (work less, earn more and the need for self-development) is true - and I think it is - then there ought to be a number of opportunities clever entrepreneurs can come up with.
The next billion-dollar opportunity in gaming
The next billion-dollar opportunity in gaming
Keynote address at game investor conference suggests the industry is due for a major overhaul - By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot, Posted Jun 22, 2006
Stewart Alsop and Gilman Louie, head partners of venture-capital firm Alsop Louie, shared some of their views about the next big thing in the gaming industry. While they mentioned mobile and casual gaming, massively multiplayer titles, immersive worlds, dedicated game devices (like Nokia's N-Gage), and games for girls, they felt that none of these have achieved the status of the next billion-dollar opportunity. According to them, the real next billion-dollar opportunity is the Internet. Not exactly a eye popping surprise, but they have more to add to this. Read more at the GameSpot news story here
Found this story via this Game Producer blog post
Keynote address at game investor conference suggests the industry is due for a major overhaul - By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot, Posted Jun 22, 2006
Stewart Alsop and Gilman Louie, head partners of venture-capital firm Alsop Louie, shared some of their views about the next big thing in the gaming industry. While they mentioned mobile and casual gaming, massively multiplayer titles, immersive worlds, dedicated game devices (like Nokia's N-Gage), and games for girls, they felt that none of these have achieved the status of the next billion-dollar opportunity. According to them, the real next billion-dollar opportunity is the Internet. Not exactly a eye popping surprise, but they have more to add to this. Read more at the GameSpot news story here
Found this story via this Game Producer blog post
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Future of IT - Emerging Trends in IT & Software
See an interesting and useful web page at eIT.in on the big business trends emerging in IT & software. See The Future of IT & Software @ eIT.in .
It is quite a comprehensive listing.
It is quite a comprehensive listing.
Blog Maverick - Billionaire Mark Cuban's Blog
If you have not heard of the Blog Maverick, well, firstly, it will be a surprise, secondly, just go have a look at it!
Blog Maverick is a blog run by the billionaire Mark Cuban, and you don't have to read it just because it is written by a very wealthy man. Mark does a good job of giving numerous ideas on the blog, as well as his favourite rants, the latest of which is of course Gootube, sorry YouTube.
Blog Maverick
Blog Maverick is a blog run by the billionaire Mark Cuban, and you don't have to read it just because it is written by a very wealthy man. Mark does a good job of giving numerous ideas on the blog, as well as his favourite rants, the latest of which is of course Gootube, sorry YouTube.
Blog Maverick
Saturday, March 10, 2007
How to Build a Billion Dollar Business? article at Forbes
How to Build a Billion Dollar Business? an article at Forbes.com - Sep 2006
Five Ways - How To Build A Billion-Dollar Business
Hannah Clark, 09.28.06
There's no secret formula that will make your company the next Google. Or is there?
David G. Thomson thinks there is. In his book, Blueprint to a Billion, Thomson identifies traits that fast-growing companies share. But this book isn't based on a theory, or even on Thomson's experience as a management consultant and sales executive. It's based on hard evidence.
The five ways mentioned by Thomson
1. Get a big idea - sounds difficult, but perhaps not so difficult, says the author
2. Find a marquee customer - always helps to have one big account that acts as a growth propellor
3. Embrace Big Brother - hitching your wagon to a star helps
4. Master the inside/outside dynamic - have a team focus on operations while another at marketing and outside world.
5. Put billion-dollar experts on your board - makes sense, doesn't it?
Full article here @ Forbes
Five Ways - How To Build A Billion-Dollar Business
Hannah Clark, 09.28.06
There's no secret formula that will make your company the next Google. Or is there?
David G. Thomson thinks there is. In his book, Blueprint to a Billion, Thomson identifies traits that fast-growing companies share. But this book isn't based on a theory, or even on Thomson's experience as a management consultant and sales executive. It's based on hard evidence.
The five ways mentioned by Thomson
1. Get a big idea - sounds difficult, but perhaps not so difficult, says the author
2. Find a marquee customer - always helps to have one big account that acts as a growth propellor
3. Embrace Big Brother - hitching your wagon to a star helps
4. Master the inside/outside dynamic - have a team focus on operations while another at marketing and outside world.
5. Put billion-dollar experts on your board - makes sense, doesn't it?
Full article here @ Forbes
Thursday, March 8, 2007
The Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug
The Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug - by Barry Werth
Review from Amazon - From test tubes to the Wall Street IPO and beyond, this is the riveting true story of a start-up pharmaceutical company working to create an anti-AIDS drug. Scientifically accurate, yet written with an attention to plot, timing, dialogue, and development of character more characteristic of the best thrillers. This intriguing looks at the nexus of biotechnology and high finance.
Book Details
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (March 1, 1995)
See more details and ordering info from Amazon
Review from Amazon - From test tubes to the Wall Street IPO and beyond, this is the riveting true story of a start-up pharmaceutical company working to create an anti-AIDS drug. Scientifically accurate, yet written with an attention to plot, timing, dialogue, and development of character more characteristic of the best thrillers. This intriguing looks at the nexus of biotechnology and high finance.
Book Details
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (March 1, 1995)
See more details and ordering info from Amazon
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