Topics

Could You Fall in Love with a $300 Robotic Dinosaur?
A decade ago, Caleb Chung helped create Furby, the six-inch-tall robot whose personality evolved as its owner interacted with it. Now he's about to launch his latest creation, Pleo, a $300 robotic dinosaur engineered to relate to an owner on a more personal level.

The Idea
Almost any successful entrepreneur will tell you there are many great ideas. The real problem is identifying the right one and making it happen. A lot of effort goes into finding an idea that can succeed and is right for you.

The Mistake of Generation Y: Lessons Learned by a Young Entrepreneur
A generation Y entrepreneur replies to the inquiries of a budding next-generation entrepreneur with business and life lessons. The chief lesson: Take a longer-term view and instead of pursuing quick cash opportunities look instead to gain in knowledge, experience, friends, and business relationships.

Social Networking Sites: Friendster or Foe?
You're sitting across the conference table from the prospect of a lifetime. Snagging her business would be a major coup for your start-up. You're eager to show her that even though you're fresh out of school, you know your stuff.

The Mistake of Generation Y: Lessons Learned by a Young Entrepreneur
A generation Y entrepreneur replies to the inquiries of a budding next-generation entrepreneur with business and life lessons. The chief lesson: Take a longer-term view and instead of pursuing quick cash opportunities look instead to gain in knowledge, experience, friends, and business relationships.

The Personal Characteristics?
Are entrepreneurs born or made? It's hard to say. But to embark on this journey, you had better understand whether you really want it.

Leadership
Many entrepreneurial educational programs focus on leadership training - as they should. Leadership skills will go a long way toward helping you accomplish your goals. Yet, one person's great leader might be someone else's Public Enemy No. 1.

Budget Your Way to Profits
Every successful business owner understands that a business needs to stand on two legs: the cash flow management leg and the profit management leg. These two legs are equally important to the business. There must always be a strategic balance between these two processes. Ignore one of them and you will risk losing your business.

Do You Have the Money?
It can often take just as long to find the money to fund your business as it does to start the business itself. Unless you have family, friends, or contacts with money, strong professional credentials and contacts, or have tremendous determination, your best shot is to sell yourself into business.

Social Networking Sites: Friendster or Foe?
You're sitting across the conference table from the prospect of a lifetime. Snagging her business would be a major coup for your start-up. You're eager to show her that even though you're fresh out of school, you know your stuff.

VenturePORT Series: Cash Flow Equals Profits!
Over the years I have interviewed thousands of business owners looking for financing. The vast majority of business owners were very good technicians going about their business.

Could You Fall in Love with a $300 Robotic Dinosaur?
A decade ago, Caleb Chung helped create Furby, the six-inch-tall robot whose personality evolved as its owner interacted with it. Now he's about to launch his latest creation, Pleo, a $300 robotic dinosaur engineered to relate to an owner on a more personal level.

The Business Plan
Many great businesses have launched without a formal business plan. Those who "sell their way" into business often do it from an idea in their head and may never end up implementing any kind of strategic process.

Use SWOT to Kick-start Your Planning
A SWOT analysis - a look at your business idea's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats - is a good way to kick-start your business planning. Using SWOT to brainstorm in a small business can be a valuable way of "generating new ideas and breaking through standing assumptions."

Legal Matters
Depending upon the type of business you want to start, the U.S. has a relatively friendly legal environment. Unless your business involves food items, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, health care, wines and liquors, transportation, children, or any kind of regulated product or service, you will not face much in the way of government burdens.

Building Your Support Team
This article offers advice on putting together a "safety net" of individuals that an entrepreneur can trust to advise, teach, and assist. Best advice: Don't just "go with your gut"; talk out your ideas, challenges and opportunities, discuss these with a potential advisor, listen to what they have to say, and then go with your gut.

Staffing and Management
Many organizations fail to realize people play a critical role in organizational success. Great partners and employees do not come easily, and they don't stay easily. The people who can really make a difference for your organization generally have choices, if not at the stage of their lives when they meet you, then later.

Business Development
Almost nothing counts more in business than Business Development. This is the emerging term used to describe the field of sales and marketing, or the process of getting business. (The term is also used in financial circles to describe a company's acquisition strategy.)

Can a Trade Show Boost Your Small Business?
Trade show exhibiting can be hit or miss for a small business. This how-to article discusses some of the basics, including how to choose the right show, pre-show marketing, Do's and Don'ts, and post-show follow-up.

Could You Fall in Love with a $300 Robotic Dinosaur?
A decade ago, Caleb Chung helped create Furby, the six-inch-tall robot whose personality evolved as its owner interacted with it. Now he's about to launch his latest creation, Pleo, a $300 robotic dinosaur engineered to relate to an owner on a more personal level.

How Do I Build Customer Rapport?
This article looks at the importance of first impressions in establishing initial rapport with customers and potential customers. It also suggests a few techniques for closing sales.

Social Networking Sites: Friendster or Foe?
You're sitting across the conference table from the prospect of a lifetime. Snagging her business would be a major coup for your start-up. You're eager to show her that even though you're fresh out of school, you know your stuff.

Your Location
Many entrepreneurs dream of having a terrific office or retail location designed by the finest architect, and hopefully you'll get your dream. Depending on what type of business you intend to start, this is also one of the first places you can cut corners in order to sell your way into business.

Accounting and Billing
No matter how much or little money you have to launch your business, accounting is critical. Even if you have the luxury of some kind of accounting person to help with key issues, it helps to understand the basic principals - especially those that affect the survival of your business.

Budget Your Way to Profits
Every successful business owner understands that a business needs to stand on two legs: the cash flow management leg and the profit management leg. These two legs are equally important to the business. There must always be a strategic balance between these two processes. Ignore one of them and you will risk losing your business.

Running Your Business
So now you're in business. You have crystallized your concept and assessed your personal characteristics and leadership abilities to take on the challenge. You've named your company, created a Business Plan, estimated how much money you will need and have found the source of it. You've developed a Business Development plan, decided on an accounting system, and found a location. You now have to run your business.

Young Hollywood's Top 5 Tips for Young Entrepreneurs
Think you can't learn anything from celebrities about entrepreneurial life? Take a closer look. Business (and life) lessons abound in the blunders of Young Hollywood.

Vendors
Entrepreneurs sometimes overlook the importance of their suppliers to their eventual success. People trying to sell you often use the term partnerships when touting the relationship their company wants to have with yours, because in fact you will often depend upon outside suppliers whose performance can have a major impact on your customer satisfaction and profitability.

Technology
The proliferation of low-cost technology has effectively leveled the playing field in many industries. You will not need much money to look like a Fortune 500 player, so make sure you don't cut corners in a way that will tip off your small size to people who don't know you.

Scaling Your Business
Your business has taken off. Sales are growing rapidly. You have begun to make money. It's clear that you could grow even faster if you could open new offices, expand marketing, improve distribution, enhance technology. This is when it really gets interesting.