Who wants to go into business with me? I’ve got a super-cool storage company idea. Load up a metric buttload of cubesats with radiation-hardened {{SSD}} storage, solar power, and [relatively] simple communicaton stacks (secured by {{SSH}} or {{SSL}}, of course), and launch them into orbit. You think cloud storage is cool? What about above-the-cloud storage? Pros: …
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Tag:business
35 great questions, part 5
Part 5 of 5 in my condensed reprint of Inc’s article, “35 Great Questions” from the April 2014 issue. (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) Who have we, as a company, historically been when we’ve been at our best? –{{Keith Yamashita}} What do we stand for – and what are we against? –{{Scott Goodson}} …
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35 great questions, part 4
Part 4 of 5 in my condensed reprint of Inc’s article, “35 Great Questions” from the April 2014 issue. (part 1, part 2, part 3) Did my employees make progress today? –{{Teresa Amabile}} What one word do we want to own in the minds of our customers, employees, and partners? –{{Matthew May}} What should we stop …
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35 great questions, part 3
Part 3 of 5 in my condensed reprint of Inc’s article, “35 Great Questions” from the April 2014 issue. (part 1, part 2) Are we changing as fast as the world around us? –{{Gary Hamel}} If no one would ever find out about my accomplishments, how would I lead differently? –{{Adam Grant}} Which customers can’t participate …
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print-at-home plans
Someone needs to start a business selling print-at-home furniture/home-improvement plans that include parts lists (and, ideally, costs) from their local Lowes / Home Depot / TrueValue / Ace / etc. Most folks who want to tackle small projects don’t want to buy books or magazines that may (or may not) include what they’re interested in …
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35 great questions, part 2
Part 2 of 5 in my condensed reprint of Inc’s article, “35 Great Questions” from the April 2014 issue. (part 1) What counts that we are not counting? –{{Chip Conley}} In the past few months, what is the smallest change we have made that has had the biggest positive result? What was it about that small …
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you don’t need ideas – you need questions
Paul Graham asserts that startup ideas aren’t what’s important – and, in fact, think you need an “idea” is a major roadblock. Convert your thinking from “idea” to “question”, and you have a potential curiosity to explore, tweak, develop, and deliver. Your best work is going to come when you’ve thought about the problem but didn’t …
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35 great questions, part 1
Part 1 of 5 in my condensed reprint of Inc’s article, “35 Great Questions” from the April 2014 issue. How can we become the company that would put us out of business? –{{Danny Meyer}} Are we relevant? Will we be relevant five years from now? Ten? –{{Debra Kaye}} If energy were free, what would we …
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what viability would a subscription-based social networking service have?
You see stories like this one, and you wonder how Facebook is continuing to make it. So many people I know are either leaving, or reducing their involvement (including myself), that is seems it is destined to be the next MySpace. Over the past couple years, I have seen companies advertise themselves by giving links …
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the “best” industries for starting a business?
I generally really like Inc magazine. But this article is kinda ridiculous: “The Eight Best Industries for Starting a Business.” By the time an industry has landed on a list like this, the odds that you’re really going to be able to capitalize on it are super slim. There’s nothing “wrong” with starting a business …
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passive income is not a business plan
Shortcuts. Shortcuts are great. But only when you know the long way. Without hard work, the short cut will seem hard. Passive income seems to fall into this category. Some people think panhandling is a form of passive income. It’s not. The panhandler works for his money – he talks to people, shakes a cup, whatever: he …
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finding your niche
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” You’ve probably been asked that questions hundreds of times in your life – parents, friends, teachers, yourself, movies. It’s a common theme. For most of us, the decision gets made sometime in our late teens or during college: doctor, mom, lawyer, electrician, plumber, teacher, policeman, …
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establishing a data haven cloud
In {{Neal Stephenson}}’s seminal book, {{Cryptonomicon}}, he describes the creation of a “data haven” in the fictional Sultanate of Kinakuta. Why has no-one started building such a service (or, at least not in a public way) on existing cloud services (eg {{AWS}} or Rackspace) and/or create their own global network? Data backup and replication is not …
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