Entrepreneurship
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12 lessons for entrepreneurs that Steve Jobs taught Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is well-known in the entrepreneurial world as an author and speaker, and he often seasons his speeches and texts with stories about his times at Apple. I say "times" because Kawasaki often claims that he's one of the only people who ever worked for Steve Jobs twice and survived. Inc. posted an article today a speech that Kawasaki gave the day after Steve Jobs died -- he was supposed to talk about "enchanting customers" at the Silicon Valley Bank's CEO Summit, but changed the topic to "12 Lessons I Learned From Steve Jobs that Can Be Applied to Entrepreneurs". The speech is well worth watching, and we've included it below. But if you only have time to quickly scan a list of bullet points, here are the dozen points that Steve Jobs taught Guy Kawasaki that should be picked up on by entrepreneurs: Experts are useless Customers cannot tell you what they need Biggest challenges beget the best work Design counts Big graphics. Big font. Jump curves, not better sameness "Work" or "Doesn't Work" is all that matters (or "Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence") "Value" is different from "Price" A players hire A players Real CEOs demo Real entrepreneurs ship Some things need to be believed to be seen Inc's Justin Bariso added his comments to these points in the original article, and I found both those comments and the original video to be well worth viewing to gain a bit more insight into the brain of Steve Jobs and the philosophies that still govern the way that Apple does work.
Microsoft startup incubator yields real-world Kinect ideas
Microsoft's Kinect accelerator program, furnished by entrepreneurship incubator TechStars, recently gave 11 teams 13 weeks and $20,000 each to polish their motion-sensing ideas and present them to a team of investors this Thursday in Seattle. The startups range from a system that allows surgeons to navigate MRI and CT scans in the operating room, to an in-store camera system that tracks shoppers' behavior. Another turns any surface into a 3D, multi-touch screen for Windows.Many of the startup ideas offer an attempt to bring Kinect into the wider, physical world, rather than limit it to living rooms and virtual baby tigers. Of the final creations, three are made for the medical field, four are based in tracking or innovating consumer behavior, two are animation-based, one can help athletes train and one is that awesome 3D surface app.Microsoft is accepting applications for its fall 2012 accelerator class, Windows Azure and cloud-based startups, right here. Below check out the full descriptions of all 11 entrants, as provided by Microsoft.
O'Reilly iPhoneLive Event on November 18th
O'Reilly has announced a new event for iPhone developers, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts. The iPhoneLive conference is scheduled for November 18, 2008 at the Holiday Inn in San Jose, CA. Described as "a gathering of the brightest and best participants in the iPhone ecosystem today," iPhoneLive is a one-day event highlighting iPhone development, the emerging iPhone market, and how businesses can capitalize on the success of the platform. iPhoneLive is co-chaired by Raven Zachary of iPhoneDevCamp fame and Bill Dudney, who will be hosting Cocoa Studio in Denver October 28-30. Space is limited, so be sure to sign up soon if you're interested in attending.
Leadership in EVE Online applicable to real-world ventures
EVE Online has been getting increased mainstream media coverage. Recently the New York Times covered EVE's Council of Stellar Management (CSM) summit in Reykjavik, as well as the self-styled 'bad guy' alliance Band of Brother's initiative to annihilate their rivals in New Eden, wiping them from New Eden's star maps. A new MMO article at Forbes takes a close look at the corporate paradigm of EVE Online, both in-game and out. The piece touches on the views of Goonswarm alliance leader and CSM delegate Sean Conover (aka Darius Johnson, CEO of Goonfleet) and the real-world CEO of CCP Games, Hilmar Veigar Petursson. The Icelandic CEO states: "There isn't a lot of difference between what you can apply within the game and out of it... It's more about social skills than gaming skills. It's very hard to stay on top."
