Steve Jobs Archives - Diane Hamilton

Famous Entrepreneurs Provide Inspiration

There are plenty of examples of entrepreneurs who failed before they became successful. Some of them even explain that failure has taught them their most valuable lessons. While this may be true, many prospective entrepreneurs fear failure. One way to avoid problems is to learn from those who have experienced negative issues and still managed to succeed.

Entrepreneur.com recently published the article 10 Inspirational Leaders Who Turned Around Their Companies. In this article, author Stephanie Vozza explained, “From Apple’s Steve Jobs’ demanding personality to Marvel’s Isaac Perlmutter’s frugal methods, these sometimes-controversial CEOs weren’t always popular with employees, but they earned the respect of shareholders.”

For some unusual entrepreneurial examples, check out the VentureVillage article The Top Ten Startup Founder Blogs Every Entrepreneur Should Follow. These entrepreneurs offer a different perspective and update their blogs on a regular basis.

For more information for how to be a successful entrepreneur check out:

Today’s Organizations Embracing Virtual Business

Traditional brick and mortar businesses may become a thing of the past. Today’s modern workplace has embraced the virtual environment. In Managing Innovation by Tidd and Bessant (2009), the authors explained, “virtual organizations are increasingly a feature of the business landscape.” In the article Virtual Organizations, the author noted, “The ultimate goal of the virtual organization is to provide innovative, high-quality products or services instantaneously in response to customer demands.”

Amazon is an excellent example of an organization that has pioneered virtual business. Other successful organizations include: e-Bay, Zappos, and Netflix. There are some businesses that may not initially seem to be virtual organizations. Jet Blue is one of those companies. In an article by Cisco Press titled, Defining the Virtual Business and Its Benefits, the authors explain how Jet Blue reduced inventory through standardization, reduced real estate expenses, and allowed employees to work from home.

In the book The Virtual Organization by Davidow, the author explained that virtual products may exist before it is even produced. “Its concept, design, and manufacture are stored in the minds of cooperating teams, in computers, and in flexible production lines.”

To find out more about virtual organizations’ background, characteristics, challenges, and future potential, check out Virtual Organizations.

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Big Business Embracing Entrepreneurial Thinking

Wal-Mart recently inspired an unusual entrepreneurial competition. Inventors could submit product ideas, with the hope of having their product available on the stores’ shelves. Wal-Mart is not the first company to recognize the importance of fostering creativity in unusual ways. In college-level innovation and entrepreneurship courses, one of the things students learn is that organizations place a high value on entrepreneurial thinking.

Wal-Mart initially created the entrepreneurial contest to create buzz in social media. The popularity of the promotion led to some creative ideas by inventors who sought attention for their creations. The Wall Street Journal reported that the winner would have the opportunity to sell on Wal-Mart.com as well as in the physical stores.

The idea of organizations recognizing the importance of entrepreneurial talents is becoming more popular. Check out some of the following articles that demonstrate the value of entrepreneurship in the modern workplac

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Entrepreneurs: Funding Options from Kickstarter

Entrepreneurs often find that one of the hardest parts of realizing their dream is to obtain financing. Some have tried microlending sites like Kiva.org. Others have discovered a new lending platform called Kickstarter. The site’s tagline is “a new way to fund and follow creativity.”

Kickstarter describes its site as the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. This unique site allows entrepreneurs to keep ownership and control over their work while tens of thousands of people pledge millions of dollars to help finance their creative ideas. The idea must reach its funding goal or no money changes hands. Entrepreneurs that receive their anticipated funds, can test concepts without risk.

Kickstarter’s Blog offers advice to those interested in creating a new project. The site allows for people to browse current ideas or to create their own. To begin a new project dedicated to film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and more, creators can check out Kickstarter school.

Once a project is listed on the site, it displays timeline and pledge information including: Percent Funded, Amount Pledged, Number of Days Left to Receive Funds. The picture displayed below demonstrates some examples listed on Kickstarter’s site. On the site’s curated page, it lists “projects curated by some of the world’s foremost creative communities.” The site also allows users to view projects by staff picks, most popular, recently launched, ending soon, small projects, most funded, as well as by category and location.

For additional help with the entrepreneurial process, check out the Top 30 Links for the Successful Entrepreneur.

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Could Augmented Reality Technology Inspire the Next Steve Jobs?

One of the biggest obstacles the new entrepreneur faces is coming up with a unique idea. The Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world have raised the creativity bar. By creating augmented reality phone apps, certain companies are getting attention. Autonomy has developed a new technology called Arasmsa that may change how people interact with objects. It works with a smart phone and can reveal some things that are not readily visible to the naked eye. Check out the following video:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBKy-hSedg8&w=560&h=315]

With the popularity of QR codes and now new technologies like Arasmsa, there is potential for some amazing app possibilities. For example, you can now point your phone at a magazine and have an app translate the material from one language to another. There are a variety of augmented reality apps already available on the market. Check out 40 Best Augmented Reality Phone Apps and 2 Augmented Reality Technologies that are about to Change the World.

The question is who will be the next Zuckerberg or Jobs to create an idea that goes above and beyond what is already out there? Perhaps they are listed in the article 8 Important Silicon Valley Innovators Not Named Steve Jobs. Only time will tell.

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