Can You Do It All? BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker (Part 3)

SM: After you gave up freelance programming, did you find a job?

TT: I received a job offer from ADS Associates, but I was five months pregnant. My mother told me that I had to tell them I was pregnant; otherwise, they would never trust me. >>>

Next 1M/1M Strategy Roundtable For Cloud Computing Entrepreneurs On September 16

Entrepreneurs working in the cloud computing space will be given priority to pitch during the FREE online 1M/1M strategy roundtable on Thursday, September 16, 2010, starting at: 11 a.m. EDT/8 a.m. PDT/8:30 p.m. IST. We hope you will join us and let other entrepreneurs know. You can find more details and register here.

Can You Do It All? BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker (Part 2)

SM: What year was that?

TT: That was in 1981. I fell in love with programming. The very first computer program I wrote was a blinking Christmas tree with asterisks. That was the only computer course that Wesleyan offered; however, the University of Illinois was a couple of hours away. They have a very good computer science program, so I transferred there to study computer science and math. >>>

Can You Do It All? BlackLine CEO Therese Tucker (Part 1)

Therese Tucker is the CEO and founder of BlackLine Systems, an account reconciliation and financial close software provider. Prior to that she served as CTO at SunGard Treasury Systems. Therese was comfortably retired from SunGard – and had two school-age children at home – when she decided to merge her two talents, technology and finance, into a successful business endeavor of her own in 2001. With just sixty employees BlackLine boasts a client roster that includes AT&T, Boeing, Costco, eBay, Northrop Grumman, and United Airlines.

SM: Therese, let’s start at the beginning of your story. What is your background?

TT: I grew up on a farm in Illinois. I am the youngest of four girls. My parents did not have much money. My father was a factory worker and farmer. >>>

Catching Up On Readings: A Nation Of (Virtual) Shopkeepers

In describing England as “a nation of shopkeepers,” Napoleon meant to highlight that nation’s unpreparedness for war against France. But England’s larger tax base and ability to supply iron, wood, and cloth more efficiently than France proved to be to Napoleon’s disadvantage. Fast forward to the twenty-first century, and we see that the joining of commerce and the Internet has been a source of great opportunity and wealth creation for entrepreneurs around the world. I again draw your attention to the potential of e-commerce with From Niche E-Commerce To Web 3.0. Click on the full article to read the rest of this week’s posts. [Note: “A nation of shopkeepers” first appeared in Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” (1776). This brief introduction necessarily leaves out much of the context of Smith’s idea, and interested readers should refer to his work.]

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A Real-Time, Multimedia Social Network You Might Not Know: Paltalk CEO Jason Katz (Part 7)

SM: Why did you buy your shares back from Softbank, and why did Softbank allow you to do that?

JK: When VCs invest in a business, the have an expectation of a profitable exit. By 2009, Softbank had been invested for five years and we were profitable, but they had not received a return on their money. >>>

“Work With Marty Nemko” Radio Interview

Sramana Mitra recently shared some lessons from India on becoming an entrepreneur and discussed her book Vision India 2020 with Marty Nemko on KALW Radio (NPR San Francisco). To hear or download the show, click HERE.

Vision India 2020 by Sramana Mitra is available from Amazon.com and Flipkart.com.

Starting Successful In The Social Gaming Industry: A Perspective From China

By guest author Cindy Weng

Social gaming has shown no signs of slowing down, and there are many who want to capitalize on this multimillion-dollar market. Google, in an effort to offer more socially aware services, recently purchased social entertainment company Slide Inc. for an estimated $200 million. If this price didn’t shock you, maybe this will: Disney purchased the fourth-largest game developer on Facebook, Playdom, for $700 million at the end of July. Playdom’s total funding is a mere $75 million. >>>