Entrepreneurship Education: Idea Validation

Every Thursday morning, I coach five entrepreneurs with many more listening to the sessions. And like a parrot, I keep asking these entrepreneurs to validate their ideas. I give them a framework with which to do so. I give it to them ahead of time hoping they would use it and come prepared. And yet

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1M/1M: Internships

As I have written in column after column, there is a very serious crisis brewing for our youth. This recession has made it very difficult for young people — students and recent graduates — to find jobs and internships. Last summer, I received about 100 internship applications, and took on about 25 as unpaid interns.

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Next Strategy Roundtable for Entrepreneurs on Thursday, March 25

Sramana Mitra is offering this free online strategy roundtable for entrepreneurs looking to discuss positioning, financing, and other aspects of a startup venture. Up to 1,000 people can attend, but only the first five who register to pitch will be able to present their business ideas. All attendees are able to join in on the

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Entrepreneurship Education: Incubator Business Models

You have read my last Forbes Column, An Underused Tool For Job Recovery. With unemployment soaring, I discussed how incubators can help people move into self-employment–and create jobs. We’ve also discussed the topic of why incubators fail at length here. One of the issues that came up in the incubator discussion as a cause for

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1M/1M: Ambassadors Finalized

I wanted to give you a quick update on 1M/1M. We had an unexpectedly large number of people who applied to become 1M/1M ambassadors. Over the past six weeks, we have worked together, ironed out what we’re going to do with the program, and figured out who is going to do what.

Vision India 2020 Book Review: Balaji S.

From Balaji Sowmyanarayanan’s review of Vision India 2020 by Sramana Mitra for the Fake Geek Limited blog: “Unlike the usual business books that tell the strategy of a success story post facto, Vision India 2020 is an imagined retrospective circa 2020. The book features ideas and strategies that are likely success stories in 2020 – outlined

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Vision India 2020 Book Review: Arjun Malhotra

Arjun Malhotra is the chairman and CEO of Headstrong, a U.S.-based IT services company.  He is also the chairman of TiE Global, the world’s largest not-for-profit organization for entrepreneurs.  In the 1970s, Arjun Malhotra co-founded HCL Technologies, one of the first Indian IT companies.  Here is his review of Vision India 2020 by Sramana Mitra:

Entrepreneur Journeys Book Review: If You’ve The Will, You Will Make The Way

Here is Devesh Dwivedi’s review of Sramana Mitra’s Bootstrapping book for Amazon: “Very inspiring.  It’s a powerhouse of twelve inspirational stories of how aspiring entrepreneurs went from zero (or almost zero) to millions of a stable and sustainable business… Wait a minute, no, not by raising capital from VCs but by bootstrapping their projects and

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