Investing
« Previous EntriesOne Universe
Monday, August 16th, 2010As an astronomer, I sometimes think in expansive terms. So the title of this article could have just as easily been “One World” or something like that. For it is about the limits of where we live.
But in a real sense while we live in just one universe, in a galaxy like this [...]
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 [...]
Singapore Updates
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Things are settling in for SWG in Singapore.
While we still do not have final documents from the National Research Foundation, we are proceeding with a couple of early term sheets and engaged nicely with perhaps 4-5 groups who we hope will come to full fruition.
There is a small interview on a Singapore website that also [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
At the Bottom?
Thursday, March 12th, 2009As I write this, we are still in the turmoil of the largest financial crisis since the great depression of 1929-39. The stock market has lost more than 50% of its peak value and many companies are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Yet somehow I sense things are turning around. There are too many people pressing [...]
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 [...]
America and the World
Saturday, August 9th, 2008As I write this, I am sitting in the lobby on WiFi in the Impiana Casuarina Hotel in Ipoh, Malaysia. I like to say that Ipoh is a lot like Muncie Indiana. A small town atmosphere. Nice people. But there is one big difference, things in Asia are changing extremely rapidly.
On this trip, I will [...]