Jun
25
Comptuer Tech Startups in Indiana…Not So Much
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This picture was pulled from a new Website that’s a mashup of Google maps and computer tech startups from around the globe. Its primary source of data is from Techcrunch’s crunchbase. If this map is any indication of the computer tech scene in Indiana, then we clearly have a lot of work to do Hoosiers!
Jun
20
Before You Come to Indiana
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Before you come to
Are you doing something that has to do with biotech? No you say? Do you have a patent on something that gives you an unfair sustainable competitive advantage? No you say? Got some farmland? No you say? Do you own a manufacturing firm? No you say? Are you at least selling a physical object that I can feel and touch? No you say? Then you might want to rethink coming to
If you answered “No” to all of the above questions
This fact, in my opinion, plays some role in young people leaving
Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, only certain type of innovation is exalted in
[Note: Even though I am picking on
Jun
18
Compendium Blogging Software For Companies
Filed Under Blogging | 2 Comments
Compendium Blogware software is a company that taking advantage of the importance of blogging. However, Compendium is targeting companies and NOT consumers. I think this is an interesting play. They’ve created a platform that eases a companies ability to blog. The other thing that they’re doing is assigning posts to particular keywords or topics. I’m not exactly sure what this means in concrete terms, but it sounds like a good idea.
I guess was thirsting for more technical details, but I really didn’t have the patience to hunt it down from their Website. After going through a few pages, I gave up. What would be useful, is a demo of exactly what the software is, and exactly what it’s doing. I guess it’s the technical guy in me that wants more concreteness. For example, Compendium claims to help with SEO rankings, but it’s unclear exactly how it does this from reading the Website’s copy.
So I guess my big question is: how are they getting customers? They seem to have a rather long client list. I seriously doubt this long list was obtained through their Website.
May
16
Smaller Indiana: The Movement
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Howdy folks!
It’s been a while, hopefully you’ve been keeping yourself busy! This post is about Smaller Indiana, a great online community that you should be a part of if you’re not already. If you think you’re a Hoosier in the “know,” and you’re not a part of this dynamic community you may want think again about how much you really “know.”
Smaller Indiana recently broke the two thousand member mark. I remember being there when there was less than 1 thousand. This is tremendous growth. You’d be surprised how many “hip” people actually live in Indiana. So you might be asking, why should you join Smaller Indiana.
In short, Smaller Indiana makes meeting other creative, innovative, & entrepreneurial people easier to find. It allows you to build up relationships in organic ways online. Frequently, you’re talking with people who, otherwise, you would have no way of communicating with. That’s powerful. Check out the short video above.
Apr
15
The Burton D. Morgan Curse: More Reasons Why Initial B-Plans Don’t Matter
Filed Under Misc | 2 Comments
In Marc Andreessen’s post, he says the following:
“If Thomas Edison didn’t know what he had when he invented the phonograph while he thought he was trying to create better industrial equipment for telegraph operators…
…what are the odds that you — or any entrepreneur — is going to have it all figured out up front?”
Yet we jam into people’s heads that before they start a business they have to have everything well laid out in business plan. This truly makes no sense for a number of reasons, but I will not delve into them here.
The meat of this post is this: The Burton D. Morgan business plan competition has been in existence for over 21 years now. Where the hell are all the “startups” that win these competitions? Clearly the winners had phenomenal business plans. So what the hell are they doing?!? One reasonable conclusion someone can draw is that their disappearance into the oblivion had NOTHING to do with their business plan. It’s almost as if the winners of the Burton D. Morgan competitions fall into a black hole never to return.
If you’re among the new winners of the latest Burton D. Morgan competition, control your destiny and do not fall victim to the curse. In my humble opinion, the best way to beat the curse is to execute, execute, execute. And when you get tired, execute some more.
Apr
2
We Really Need Help!!!
Filed Under Misc | Leave a Comment
Indiana’s definitely hungry for some entrepreneurship. We just need some guidance. No really, check it out:
We can’t even spell entrepreneurship out here :o(.
Apr
1
So it turns out that ChaCha is dumping their real-time “Search with Guide” chat model in the Web space according to a Techcrunch informant. Apparently their mobile move is growing rapidly and they believe all their resources should be moved toward that. Not very surprising. In a previous post, I essentially said that ChaCha can’t compete with Google on the Web; however, they can make a claim for the mobile search space. Good luck ChaCha!
Mar
23
This entry is going to give a “real”analysis of the entrepreneurship bootcamp elevator pitch contest that took place in
The elevator pitch competition allegedly had the 10 biggest ideas there were in the room that night where selected hopefuls had the opportunity to win cash prizes (1st place $1K, 2nd place $500, 3rd place $250).
So here are the 10 biggest ideas of the 350 plus students that were in attendance (not everyone submitted ideas):
1) Pooyou.com. This is a website where you can send non-smelly biodegradable “poo” to people electronically or in real life. This isn’t a big idea, it’s a big @ss gimmick. This is a Facebook Zombie application in real life. And this bad boy won the whole elevator pitch contest. Are you kidding me? Ask me if
2) Dinner plate attachment. You can attach some type of material to dinner plates to turn them into bowls. The guy who pitched it wasn’t really sure of how to do this, so this reflected sort of bad on him. Nonetheless, this is hardly life changing.
3) Video game for I-Step. This is a video game for Nintendo DS to help
4)
5) Electronic Receipts. Whenever you purchase something with a credit card, you get an electronic receipt. Doesn’t your online credit card statement tell you this information? Let’s ignore all the technical and practical challenges (e.g., getting the big credit companies to cooperate) . Can somebody explain to me why this electronic receipt idea even makes sense–I mean doesn’t your online credit card account include your purchase information? After much thinking I’m guessing that itemization of what was bought may be useful to folks, but then this introduces privacy concerns. She wins 2nd place.
6) Freelectric. Essentially the idea is to create exercise equipment that can power appliances in your house. He claims that he can get this built (mass production level I’m assuming) for about $1K. If this is true, this could be disruption on the scale of Henry Ford. I liken the presenter’s idea to Henry Ford, because, currently rich people already have exercise equipment that can power their homes. If this technology could be made available to the masses, then that would be a HUGE disruptive innovation.
7) Soy-based Play-doh. Now children can ingest play-doh. This is a big idea…period.
8 ) Web Video for Doctors to communicate with patients. I didn’t really get this one. Doctors will talk in general terms to patients about the common problems? WTF?
9) Enagewear. Using flash-based games for education. Without a demo, the presenter really couldn’t “change my pulse” in the words of Bill Joos.
10) After school program for robotics. Okay, I’ll be honest, I couldn’t listen to this one. Apparently it was good enough to get 3rd place.
There were some big ideas in the bunch, but there’s no reason why they all shouldn’t have been big ideas. And if all the ideas presented, if the judges are going to be pick pooyou.com to be potentially be the biggest thing to come out of Indiana, Indiana is in some serious trouble.
Mar
17
V3DM: Virtual Events Anyone?
Filed Under Virtual World | Leave a Comment
V3DM.com is a virtual events creator that’s based in Indiana. So if you need a training session for your team members, a job fair, a trade show, whatever, they got you covered. Definitely a neat thing they’re doing & it’s totally cool that this type of company is in Indiana…BUT. What separates these guys from the Sequoia Capital backed unisfair.com? Or how about the IL-based inxpo.com? These are the just the companies I could come up with off the top of my head.
Based solely on V3DM’s website, it’s unclear what their point of difference is in comparison to others. Then been in business for at least a year or so, so maybe the market is nascent enough that it can support everyone, but sooner or later a leader will emerge, if one hasn’t already.
Mar
14
Got any friends that constantly pester you about checking out their performance? Yeah, me either, but do you support the underdog?! Heck yeah! Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock, the music industry is undergoing some huge changes. One of which is DRM-free music offerings. The industry is actively looking for new ways to monetize music.
Fanfound intends to capitalize on tides of change currently sweeping the music community. A company coming out of the Purdue Technology Center in Merrillville, IN and led by Chris Bauman, is a Website dedicated to helping fans connect with their favorite artists. In turn this site allow artists to connect with their fans more directly. This also offers rich information for venues. If fanfound becomes large enough, venues could make decisions about what artists to bring based on an artist’s fanfound fan base.
When I visit the Fanfound pages, I’m reminded of Facebook mixed in with some Myspace. This then begs the question, why isn’t this Website a Facebook application? There should definitely be a Myspace widget. Is there any famous music artists associated with Fanfound? If so, I think it would do Fanfound some good to flaunt that person (e.g., have a video of them saying how much Fanfound rocks on the homepage).
In short, I wish the folks at Fanfound the best. The concept definitely makes sense. The right people need to find out about it. If anybody has any suggestions do leave comments. Now Fanfound…get those widgets built!!