Peer Cruelty

Also from Taleb’s Black Swan is this discourse on peer-cruelty, something entrepreneurs and innovators working on long term projects with big goals would resonate with. “You work on a project that does not deliver immediate or steady results; all the while, people around you work on projects that do. You are in trouble. Such is

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Kiva Needs Businesses to Fund

This holiday season, if you are looking to make a contribution, find a micro-entrepreneur to fund through Kiva. Kiva brings together microlenders with microentrepreneurs at 0% interest. MFI’s can access this debt capital to finance businesses in their portfolio. Watch this video. Or if you need someone really persuasive explain the concept to you, listen

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Building Tech Startups in India: Summary

The Good It is a matter of time The local market for technology products is nascent; the VC model for financing startups fairly new and some issues will work themselves out over time. The current vicious circle – relatively inexperienced entrepreneurs and risk-averse VCs – needs just a few hits to break the cycle.

Building Tech Startups in India: Observations (Contd)

· Mentors Entrepreneurs, especially first-timers, gain much from having access to experienced executives and academic experts either as informal advisors or as members of a formal board. Entrepreneurs I have talked to have either 1) tapped into US/Silicon Valley entrepreneur networks they were previously part of, 2) leveraged their connections with previous companies, universities and

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Building Tech Startups in India: Observations

In my conversations, I focused on the interaction between entrepreneurs and the external environment. i.e., primarily around the activities of reaching customers, hiring employees, seeking advice and raising funds. Accordingly, the key issues center on the following four factors: Market Money Mentors Manpower

Are We Risk Averse?

Michael Arrington’s blog is normally a News venue. It doesn’t carry a lot of thoughtful analysis. However, he wrote an article recently called The Twice Shy Entrepreneur which is thought provoking. His core question is, are the entrepreneurs who were around before the dotcom crash risk averse compared to those that came after the crash?

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eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 8)

SM: How does the entrepreneur network in Latin America work? Are there many entrepreneurs in Latin America now? MG: Yes, there is a foundation called Endeavor Foundation. They select entrepreneurs in their region and then supports them. This foundation was founded by Linda Rosenburg and Peter Kelner, two Harvard graduates. They got the big private

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eBay of Latin America: Mercado Libre CEO Marcos Galperin (Part 7)

SM: Does PayPal operate in South America? MG: You can withdraw money but you cannot fund a PayPal account. They do not have a Spanish speaking site either. SM: What is your dynamic with eBay today? Competitive or collaborative?