Why networking is more important than financial assistance for a startup

“When your only surrounded by people who speak the same vocabulary as you or share the same set of assumptions as you, you start to think that that’s reality”
– Emily Levine, TEDTalks 2002

Is entrepreneurship really glamorous?

Is entrepreneurship really as glamorous as people make it out to be? I ask this question because all too often when I hear someone talk about starting a business or advocating entrepreneurship, they make it sound as if entrepreneurship or starting one’s own business is THE utopia all of us are looking for.
But is it? [...]

Entrepreneurial gatherings in Davao

How many entrepreneurial gatherings do we have in Davao? I’m talking about those types of gatherings where individuals meet up and try to share ideas that can potentially lead to new ventures. How often do they happen and where? I’d like to try and take stock of all these events to get an understanding of [...]

Pleasure-seeking creatures

I was watching Peter Reinhart deliver a talk at TED about the art of baking bread and was struck by one thing that he said about people wanting to eat healthfully but not liking very much the act of eating healthful foods because it feels more of an obligation rather than the pursuit of one’s [...]

Be like Aspirin

Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix:
Target a specific niche. When there’s an ache, you want to be like Aspirin, not vitamins. Aspirin solves a very particular problem someone has, whereas vitamins are a general “nice to have market” [The Netflix idea] was certainly Aspirin.
(from Fortune Magazine vol 159, number 2)

Innovation in reruns

It’s interesting how one finds innovation in forms as unlikely as reruns in the Disney channel. I was accompanying my son in our living area earlier when I remarked that they showed one episode of a cartoon twice in a row. My wife was quick to point out that it was “spot the difference” night!
Imagine [...]