StartUp Ideas
« Previous EntriesIncubator Fun
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Here is a short XtraNormal video about how to work with our incubator. Fun concept and fun to use. Still working on the creative side of it all.
The Big Picture
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010One of my favorite books is an autobiography of Thomas Edison published around 1934 very near the end of his life. In it, the author relates the observation that the phonograph was perhaps Edison’s most radical invention. You see, at the time, no one even thought it was possible to record people’s voices. The idea [...]
Startups – Focus on the Business Model
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010Small World Group Incubator is now up and running in Singapore. As we go about our formation actions, we keep reminding ourselves that these “businesses” we are starting up are going to have to really discover their own functioning business model during their first year if possible.
So often in Universities and other places the focus [...]
Getting into Business
Sunday, April 11th, 2010A little remembered episode of my past is that I started a company called Netek in 1984. The “plan”, which was formally written down, was essentially the same as that of Finisar.
Except. That the plan called for us to invent, design, develop, manufacture and sell products for fiber optic network that we were certain that [...]
SWG Singapore Incubator
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009About 6 weeks ago I proposed to the Singapore National Research Foundation to start up and operate for an extended period of time an incubator for start up companies focused on CleanTech and optical systems.
You can learn more about this by clicking on the incubator tab above and following links on that new branch of [...]
Solar Thermal
Monday, September 28th, 2009While solar photovoltic panels (PV) receive most of the attention because of their ability to make electricity and enable their owners to sell power back to the grid, the PV panels typically convert about 15% of the sunlight energy that falls upon them into electricity. This means they achieve 15% efficiency.
Solar thermal panels achieve much [...]
Energy Efficiency by Walking Around (EEbWA)
Sunday, May 31st, 2009Lately as I have been traveling I have been stunned by how often people fail to take the most simple of energy efficiency steps. Here are a few vignettes.
When I am in Indianapolis, I often eat at MLC cafeterias with my Dad and brother Paul. They offer home cooking in a simple and low cost [...]
Outliers
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009As related last time, I have been reading more lately. And the best book has been “Outliers”. It is the number 1 bestseller on the New York Times non-fiction list.
The book studies many types of “outliers”. The first group are individuals like Bill Gates. And the book makes the point that these people are not [...]
How to be President (in the future)
Thursday, December 25th, 2008I was particularly struck by this picture and its message -
And it made me think about the previous qualifications we have sought in our presidents and how that might change in the future.
In the past we have selected presidents who -
served in the US military (Bush 2, Bush 1, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Kennedy)
were often [...]
Trust, but Verify!
Monday, December 15th, 2008The quote that makes up the recognized title of this essay comes from Ronald Reagan. Here is the entire quote -
I think I could sum up my position on this with the recitation of a brief Russian proverb “Doveryai no Proveryai.” It means trust but verify. -President Ronald Reagan in the “New [...]