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The Resource Center has all the info you'll need From content to user feedback, the resource center has the information you need for every level of the entrepreneurial process.
Candace Fleming’s résumé boasts a double major in industrial engineering and English from Stanford, an M.B.A. from Harvard, a management position at Hewlett-Packard and experience as president of a small software company.
But when she was raising money for Crimson Hexagon, a start-up company she co-founded in 2007, she recalls one venture capitalist telling her that it didn’t matter that she didn’t have business cards, because all they would say was “Mom.”
Another potential backer, reports Claire Cain Miller in The New York Times, invited her for a weekend yachting excursion by showing her a picture of himself on the boat — without clothes. When a third financier discovered that her husband was also a biking enthusiast, she says, he spent more time asking if riding affected her husband’s reproductive capabilities than he did focusing on her business plan. Ultimately, none of the 30 venture firms she pitched financed her company. She finally raised $1.8 million in March 2008 from angel investors including Golden Seeds, a fund that emphasizes investing in start-ups led by women.
While every state continues to experience the impacts of the economic downturn and resulting recession, it will be many years before we understand the full nature and causes of the financial crisis. But it appears that one of the contributing factors to both the crisis and the anemic nature of the recovery has been the weakened position of the U.S. economy in global markets. This relatively untold story of the recession and recovery is, in fact, perhaps one of the major developments in the U.S. economy, one that will have significant impacts on state economies for decades into the future—particularly if the nation continues to ignore the issue.
The Ice House Entrepreneurship program is a revolutionary new online learning program desired to inspire and engage participants in the fundamental aspects of an entrepreneurial mindset.
Pulitzer prize nominated author, educator and entrepreneur Taulbert describes the life-changing influence he experienced as a child growing up in the Mississippi Delta. The entire interview will be available soon at elientrepreneur.com.
Recognizing our nation’s need for greater economic participation at all levels of society, the Icehouse Entrepreneurship Program captures and conveys the “mindset” of entrepreneurs who overcame adversity and are now helping lead our economic recovery. The program was created by the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative and Clifton Taulbert’s Building Community Institute.
A culture of fun and respect for customers and employees pervades this family-owned furniture business that has been sold to legendary investor Warren E. Buffett, writes the author. Culture is what can't be taken away, even after a company is sold, as both the author and his brother are still actively involved, he notes.
A startup energy company has received federal and state approval to install a device in the St. Clair River that will create electricity from the flow of water. Vortex Hydro Energy, which has exclusive rights to commercialize atechnology patented at the University of Michigan, will install the device in July. It will be north of the Blue Water Bridge on Dunn Paper's property at 218 Riverview St., Port Huron
Most entrepreneurs at some point experience crises in their businesses, which require crisis communication strategies. The key is developing a crisis management strategy that is up-front about the problem at hand and also focuses on maintaining the firm's long-term viability.
Entrepreneurs confronting the unhappy task of having to downsize when business conditions change need to execute in a way that preserves the dignity of, and, ultimately, the relationship with, the employees, says an entrepreneur who laid off her entire staff in the wake of the dot-com crash. Downsizing well involves throwing away the rulebook and dealing with people on a personal level, she writes.
Instagram Co-Founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger challenge many of the myths surrounding startups and the lives of entrepreneurs. Both former Mayfield Fellows with the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Systrom and Krieger share their first-hand experiences of the entrepreneurial process, including identifying good problems to solve and the value in building simple solutions and minimum viable products. Systrom and Krieger also discuss aspects of their co-founder working relationship and their efforts to maintain a balance between work and life.
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