In Boston Today

I’m in Boston today speaking at the Women in Technology WITI conference on Web 2.0… WITI Presents: Web 2.0 Digital Business & Digital Media Economy - How to Run Your Business Using Web 2.0 Applications and Services (Part 2)
Chantal Le Claire, Creative Marketing Solutions, Managing Director
Brian J. Friedman, Spectrum Group, Managing Partner
Ryan Allis, CEO & Founder, Broadwick Corporation
Martha Collins, VP Advertising, Helium
Kathleen Gilroy, CEO, The Otter Group
Thursday, 3:45pm - 4:45pm

Join WITI-Web 2.0 Digital Business & Digital Media Economy series as we present our panel of experts to discuss how we are just starting to see the profound effects of how the Internet impacts the way we interact and how we conduct our day-to-day business processes. Web 2.0 has generated the emergence of Enterprise 2.0 and produced sustainable business models that have facilitated mass adoption of business Internet applications.

Key Business Web 2.0 Market Trends to be discussed:

• Tagging, Podcasting, Blogging, Wikis
• User experience & peer review/rating
• Marketing software for enterprise
• Surveys, RSS feeds
• SaS-software as Service
• Collaboration software

We’re Teaching the Machine

Great video on web 2.0… best encapsulation I’ve seen yet.

Southern Capitol Ventures Open Doors for the Day…

Jason Caplain at Southeast VC is opening his doors on April 20th to any entrepreneur that wants to meet them–to help reduce the perception that VCs are difficult to reach…

“I still keep hearing from entrepreneurs that VCs are hard to reach. It’s time to make an even stronger attempt to change that perception with a new idea that I had earlier today. I’m always looking for ways to help entrepreneurs. So, let’s try this once and see how it works:

On Friday, April 20, I would like to invite ANY person that wants to meet to come by our office in Raleigh. You can have just an idea all the way to a well run business doing millions in revenue. It doesn’t matter. And all the typical venture capital BS that you may hear is removed - you won’t be screened out in advance, you don’t need to know someone to “get in” and there are no secret handshakes required. Everyone is welcome and I’ll plan to be in the office all day.

Just some very simple criteria: your idea or company has to be technology related. That’s it!

Let’s try this - in case there is overwhelming interest, I’ll meet anyone that wants to come over in 15 minute time blocks. You can present your idea or company in 10 minutes and leave 5 minutes for Q&A.

I don’t know anyone else that has ever tried this. I’m not sure this is going to work or that the format is the best, but I wanted to try something new, something different. But it is really important to me that our firm is always accessible to everyone. This is for the entrepreneurs that may be in hiding - quietly working on code building the next great company, the people with rapidly scaling companies, students, faculty members, former/current entrepreneurs, people even dreaming of an idea, people working in one of those “big companies” locally or…. everyone in between.

Please e-mail me in advance to schedule a time that works for both of us and we will make this happen. First come, first serve.

I hope all of this makes sense. If you’re reading this and have input, please leave comments or questions. I want to keep this real open. And for those that meet with me and go through this, please give me feedback. If it works out really well for everyone involved, I’ll keep doing it. But of course, I’m open to changes, whatever they may be.”

Warren Buffet on Taxes

Berkshire will pay about $4.4 billion in federal income tax on its 2006 earnings. In its last fiscal year the U.S. Government spent $2.6 trillion, or about $7 billion per day. Thus, for more than half of one day, Berkshire picked up the tab for all federal expenditures, ranging from Social Security and Medicare payments to the cost of our armed services. Had there been only 600 taxpayers like Berkshire, no one else in America would have needed to pay any federal income or payroll taxes. * * * * * * * * * * * * Our federal return last year, we should add, ran to 9,386 pages. To handle this filing, state and foreign tax returns, a myriad of SEC requirements, and all of the other matters involved in running Berkshire, we have gone all the way up to 19 employees at World Headquarters.

Warren Buffet on Finding His Replacement

Warren Buffet released his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. Anyone in business should read it. An interesting excerpt: “Under this plan, I intend to hire a younger man or woman with the potential to manage a very large portfolio, who we hope will succeed me as Berkshire

Response #2: The Most Important Lessons I’ve Learned as an Entrepreneur

Here’s the second video response to questions sent in by aspiring entrepreneurs. The question was: What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?

(If video doesn’t play yet, come back after 12am ET, youtube takes a couple hours usually)

Response #1: What Drives Me

Two weeks ago I sent out a request to aspiring entrepreneurs for questions they wanted me to answer for inclusion in the updated version of my book, Zero to One Million, which will be coming out in January from McGraw-Hill. I will be making videos of the responses to these questions for transcription for easy inclusion in the book. I’ll be posting some of the responses here on the blog. So here’s the first video response to the question: What Drives Me…

13 Reasons The Triangle is the Best Place For Entrepreneurs in the United States

Driving back home from Northern Virginia in mid-February I got into an accident on I-95 Southbound when my car spun out in the snow. I ended up spinning 180 degrees and the front of my car was hit by the front of another car. The car ended up amazingly with just a minor scratch (which was helped by the fact everyone was going slow due to just coming out of a toll area). But nonetheless, the next morning when I pulled into my driveway on a 67 degree day in Durham I truly felt home. This feeling inspired me to think a bit about why I love being in this area and why it’s such a great place to build a company. We might not have as many companies as D.C., as many people as New York, or as developed of a capital network as Silicon Valley. But our homes aren’t $800,000, there’s not terrible traffic, we’re not at risk of an earthquake anytime soon, and it’s not freezing most of the year. After coming to the area five years ago to go to UNC, here’s why I feel central North Carolina is the best place in the United States to build a business.

1. The Great Universities - UNC, Duke, and NC State. All research universities and all world class institutions generating thousands of smart graduates for the workforce every year and tremendous technology transfer opportunities.
2. The Great Companies in the Research Triangle and Durham - Home to Sony Ericson, Cisco, Nortel, Quintiles, SAS, and IBM, as well as great entrepreneurial companies like Motricity, Channel Advisor, rPath, Broadwick, StrikeIron, Visitar, Metabolon, Near-Time, Taproot Systems, Innerpulse, Brightdoor Systems, Bright View, Radarfind, Therasim, 6th Sense Analytics, Integrian, Covelight, Overture Networks, Ziptronix, SciQuest, Argos Therepeutics, and Inspire Pharmaceuticals.
3. The Friendly Business Community - People are willing to help you here. Organizations like the Council for Entrepreneurial Development help aspiring entrepreneurs learn the ropes and get access to help and capital and the Durham, Chapel Hill and Raleigh Chambers of Commerce are developed and active. Groups like the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and The Indus Entrepreneurs provide lots of great networking opportunities, and we have great law firms that understand entrepreneurs like Hutchinson Law Group, Smith Anderson, Kennedy Covington, Daniels Daniels and Verdonik, and Wyrick Robbins.
4. The Weather - It’s warm nine months per year, but there are still seasons. It snows twice a year, but it’s in the 70s by mid-March. And there’s very little humidity in the summer.
5. The Talented & Experienced Workforce - We have experience executives from larger corporations, and lots of people with start-up experience who have a balanced perspective to building companies
6. The Location - The Triangle is the only place in the world within 1 hour flight of: D.C, New York, Atlanta, and Tampa. We’ve got an international airport with direct flights to every major city in the country.
7. The Access to Capital - We have some great venture firms here in the Triangle including Intersouth, Aurora, Southern Capitol Ventures, NC IDEA, Wakefield Group, River Cities Capital as well as access to the firms in Atlanta (Noro Moseley and HIG) and the firms in D.C. (Novak Biddle, Core Capital, Valhalla, JMI Equity, and Updata). We also have some great venture banks in the Triangle like Square One Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.
8. Three Cities in One - We have one metropolis, but three distinct areas (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) each with their own feel, events, cultural activities, parks and rec facilities, and great restaurants.
9. The Great Primary & Secondary Education - We have some of the best public primary and secondary schools in the country, let alone in North Carolina. At the secondary level, Chapel Hill High, East Chapel Hill, Green Hope, Cary High, Enloe, and Broughton are some of the best in the State.
10. The Relative Lack of Traffic Delays - While we may sometimes complain about I40 westbound at 8:30am and I40 eastbound at 5:30pm, really the worst delays the traffic might ever cause is 15 minutes. In comparison to other major areas in the Southeast (Atlanta and D.C.) and California, this is nothing.
11. ACC Basketball - There truly is nothing like March in the Triangle. Not only are the trees in bloom and the weather in the 70s, but Duke and UNC are playing in the NCAA tournament. With three ACC teams within 15 miles of one another, we have some of the best rivalries in the world.
12. World Class Health Care - Between Duke, UNC, and Wake Med in Raleigh, we have some of the best health care facilities in the world.
13. The Balanced Lifestyle - People here work hard and smart, but they generally don’t work more than 60 hours per week. Even the people in venture backed companies for the most part aren’t working 80+ hour weeks like they do in NY, Boston, Atlanta, and California. This sense of balance is important to a healthy life. It seems the people here are able to build great companies and do other things like raise a family and participate in the community. I think this makes us generally happier people and allows us to burn out a lot less and work more consistently over time, critical factors to a company’s success.

So if you’re looking to start a company or work for an entrepreneurial venture while being in a dynamic and engaging community and having a great lifestyle for yourself and your family, check out the Triangle area of North Carolina.

RTP 2.0 Social April 4 at Tylers in Durham

RTP 2.0 and the Council for Entrepreneurial Development are proud to present the first RTP 2.0 Social. Sponsored by RTP 2.0, CED, and Broadwick, makers of IntelliContact, this event will be held Wednesday, April 4, from 7-9PM at Tyler

ETHL Poverty Discussion at Broadwick Offices

On April 3rd, the Emerging Tar Heel Leaders (ETHL) will be having a discussion on Poverty and Economic Opportunity in North Carolina at the Broadwick offices from 6:30pm to 8pm. All young professionals in the area are welcome to attend. If you’d like to come RSVP to registration@ethl.org.

We’ll be talking a bit about the report, “The Changing Face of Poverty in NC”

More info from the ETHL Blog

Next Page »