Restructuring Capitalism

The following was first published as an op-ed by Sramana Mitra for Xconomy:

In the fading months of 2011, we find ourselves in an uncertain world.

On the one hand, America is still reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, and the nation’s faith in free-market capitalism as its guiding principle has been shaken to the core.

On the other hand, Europe is reeling under the burdens of socialism and welfare economics, and the economies of entire countries no longer seem viable.

The emerging markets are growing, but the methods used are complex. China is practicing state-run centralized capitalism that is heavily controlled by policies and bolstered by subsidies, by no means a free market. India, a chaotic democracy, is caught somewhere in between.

The time has come for us to ask the question: Is capitalism still the right answer for the future of our world? >>>

Democratizing Marketing Automation: Act-On CEO Raghu Raghavan (Part 4)

Sramana: Did your conversations with Subrah about that WebEx problem set lead you to start Act-On?

Raghu Raghavan: We talked about starting a company although I was not sure if it would be a big one or a small one. We started talking to a few of the venture firms in the Valley, and after we described the problem set one of them offered us a term sheet. We turned that down because Subrah decided that he would fund us since the problem set was so instrumental to WebEx. WebEx did not have a VC arm, which made things a bit complicated. While we were working through those complexities Cisco came in and bought WebEx. >>>

Catching Up On Readings: Special Conference Call November 8

Entrepreneurs, if you are interested in joining the 1M/1M premium program, Sramana Mitra will be answering your questions during a special conference call on Tuesday, November 8, at 8:00 a.m. PST/11:00 a.m. EST/9:30 p.m. IST. If you can, we would appreciate it if you could call Irina Patterson by phone at 786-301-2456 beforehand to let us know what kinds of questions are still outstanding. We would like the Tuesday conference call to be efficient and brief for all of you. You can register here.To read the rest of the week’s posts, click on the full article. >>>

Ideas For Entrepreneurial Ventures Discussed By Sramana Mitra At TiE Silicon Valley Event On November 9th

If you have felt you lack ideas to start an entrepreneurial venture, or if you want to understand the framework of evaluating ideas, this brainstorming session is for you. Sramana Mitra will present five particular case studies of venture ideas from her Vision India 2020 book, spanning the U.S. and India, and illustrate the do’s and don’ts. In addition, she will emphasize lean, capital efficient, bootstrapped startups. The event will be hosted by TiE Silicon Valley in Santa Clara, California, on Wednesday, November 9, starting at 6:00 p.m. You can find more details and REGISTER HERE.

Catching Up On Readings: TiE Silicon Valley Event Nov. 9

If you have felt you lack ideas to start an entrepreneurial venture, or if you want to understand the framework of evaluating ideas, this brainstorming session is for you. Sramana Mitra will present five case studies of venture ideas from her Vision India 2020 book, spanning the U.S. and India, and illustrate the do’s and don’ts. The emphasis will be on lean, capital efficient, bootstrapped startups. The event will be hosted by TiE Silicon Valley in Santa Clara, California, on Wednesday, November 9, starting at 6:00 p.m. You can find more details and REGISTER HERE. To read the rest of the week’s posts, click on the full article. >>>

Human-Centric Computing

Just as I borrowed the title of a previous post, “The Substance of Style,” from Virginia Postrel, this title draws from Michael Dertouzos and his book, The Unfinished Revolution: Human-Centred Computers and what they can do for us. >>>

The Substance of Style, and Its Prophet

The title of this post is borrowed from Virginia Postrel, who wrote a book by the same name: The Substance of Style. With the passing of Steve Jobs, everyone is pondering his legacy. Undeniably, one of the lasting legacies of Steve Jobs has been to make style and aesthetics matter in business for even the geekiest of the geeks. >>>

Catching Up On Readings: Dealing With The Future

In this week’s guest post, Daniel Burrus returns to discuss How to Future-Proof a Business. To read the rest of the week’s posts, click on the full article. >>>