Next Strategy Roundtable for Entrepreneurs on Thursday, February 18

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 conversations via a live chat.  This hour-long session will begin at 8am PST/11am EST/9:30pm IST. 

You can find more details and register here. 

We hope you’ll join us and share with other entrepreneurs who may be interested.

MediaTek (Part 4): In The Smartphone Era

By guest author Nalini Kumar Muppala

Smartphones are selling hot even in this market slump, and handset vendors are moving heaven and earth to get a bigger share of this burgeoning market segment. But the price of a smartphone is still beyond the reach of many price-conscious consumers. Thanks to the recently announced Gphone Nexus One, the idea of paying in full for a phone (instead of getting a subsidy in return for locking oneself into a service agreement with the carrier) might gain greater momentum. >>>

Built To Enjoy: eClinicalWorks CEO Girish Navani (Part 1)

Girish Navani is the CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks, which offers unified electronic medical records and practice management solutions. eClinicalWorks has maintained high profitability and has over 25,000 providers as clients spanning all 50 states. Girish has also worked for Teradyne and Fidelity Investments, and he was part of the founding team of PetroVantage on behalf of Aspen Technologies. He has a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and, from Boston University, a master’s in manufacturing engineering.

SM: What is your personal story? Where do you come from, and what prepared you for this path?

GN: I am originally from India. I moved to the United States in 1988 to pursue higher education. I earned my master’s in manufacturing engineering from Boston University. My bachelor’s in India was in mechanical engineering. >>>

Next Strategy Roundtable For Entrepreneurs On Thursday, February 11

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 conversations via a live chat. This hour-long session will begin at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/9:30 p.m. IST. Sramana will also continue to discuss the EJ Methodology, which listeners all over the world can easily adopt and use to avoid common mistakes.

You can find more details and register here.

Blogosphere on Recession Strategies

I collected an interesting set of posts from the blogosphere on strategies for tiding over the recession. There are many job seekers out there, so here is a summary of some of the best advice from career coaches:

* HUNTERS OR FARMERS – WHO IS GETTING HIRED: Perry Newman says: >>>

Deal Radar 2010: Allegiance, Inc.

Allegiance, Inc. offers feedback management software to help organizations grow and increase profitability through better customer and employee loyalty and engagement.  Through its Allegiance Engage SaaS platform, the company gathers survey responses and unsolicited comments in real time into a centralized online system, saving time, effort, and money. >>>

MediaTek (Part 3): Secret Sauce

By guest author Nalini Kumar Muppala

As its gross margins trail only those of industry leader Qualcomm, MediaTek is well-regarded by analysts and investors alike. Since its listing on the Taiwan exchange in 2001, MediaTek’s gross margin has usually hovered around the high 40s to the mid 50s. These days, it is close to 60%. However, unlike Qualcomm – which has essential IP that enables it to collect royalties on nearly every phone made – MediaTek’s success does not directly correlate to technological excellence or unique IP. Many companies offer similar chipsets; some even have more integrated combo connectivity chipsets. So how did MediaTek find more success than most other handset processor vendors? >>>

Online Tutoring Still In Its Infancy: Sylvan Learning CEO Jeff Cohen (Part 7)

SM: What is your estimate of the 2010 tutoring market?

JC: In dollar terms, the numbers that I have seen suggest that the market is around $4 billion. There are 53 million students in public education in the United States. The real question, which I don’t think anyone can answer, is exactly how many of them need access to tutors? >>>