Lighter side of VC Best Practice

See Paul Kedrosky's article at PE Week Wire.

Technorati Tags: Kedrosky, VC, PE Week Wire

The BGN Entrepreneur's Minute June 29, 2006

(about a minute)

CVG travels to the Blackfriars Theater, home of exceptional Shakespeare podcasts as well as performances. Many thanks to Blue Moon Galleries.

Dr. Jeffrey Sohl, of the University of New Hampshire, is the first speaker for the AudioBlog series sponsored by the University of Buffalo Capital Formation Institute.

The BGN Entrepreneur's Minute is made possible by the Robins School of Business.

Technorati Tags: Blackfriars, CVG, Blue Moon Galleries, Dr. Jeffrey Sohl, angel investment

New IP Opportunity in Virginia

Doug Koelmay of Qorvis writes that Virginia universities have a new opportunity to develop effective intellectual property licensing and technology commercialization policies in Bacon's Rebellion this week. It's worth a look, even if only for the title we wish we had thought of.

He also points to new research on what works just published by Phillip H. Phan of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Donald S. Siegel of the University of California-Irvine.


Technorati Tags: technology transfer, Virginia, Koelmay, Phan, Siegel, Bacon's Rebellion

Digg on the 26th

On Thursday, Digg announced new topics and features - beyond technology - for its news site. The soft launch of the updated site will be tomorrow ( Monday)

Digg receives 8.5 million unique visitors per month and up to 2,000 news stories daily.
The company has stood firmly by founder and chief architect Kevin Rose’s vision of a democratically run news site.
snippet from Red Herring June 22, 2006.

Technorati Tags: digg, Red Herring

Early Stage Investing and Mashups

Peter Rip of Leapfrog Ventures, talks about mashups and investments in them at
Investing at the Intersection of Opportunity and Serendipity

Come to CVG for Business Models and Plans; his link to the Business Model Drawing Board may go to a ouija Board.

Technorati Tags: mashups, Abgenial, Leapfrog Ventures, CVG

Think BitTorrent and Gnutella

Tom Evslin writes that "Distributed data storage is a PROVEN way to protect data from accidental and deliberate destruction." in his recent piece America’s Antiterrorism Network – Distributed Data Storage.

He quotes professor Yochai Benkler “That system has in fact been in existence for five years, and it has indeed been under the kinds of attacks described over this entire period. It is the peer-to-peer music file sharing system. It is the epitome of a survivable system…” from his paper, Peer Production of Survivable Critical Infrastructures.

Technorati Tags: distributed data storage, Evslin, Benkler

Customer Anthropology

In recent articles on business innovation and knowledge management, Canadian David Pollard writes that Customer Anthropology is one of the hottest research and innovation tools in business today. "I prefer the term 'Customer Anthropology' -- the study of your customers' people and behaviours in their 'natural habitat'."

To entrepreneurs he says "As an entrepreneur, deciding which of the millions of potential customers to observe is part of the iterative process of finding the sweet spot where you and your entrepreneurial partners' talents and passions (your Collective Genius) intersects with what there is an unmet need for. The trick is not getting so enamoured with what your Collective Genius could produce that you don't ensure there is a real, unmet need for it."

The articles can be found here and here.

Technorati Tags: customer anthropology, innovation, entrepreneur, Pollard

The BGN Entrepreneur's Minute June 21, 2006

(about one minute)

Introducing the most recent elections to the Business Growth Network Board of Directors.
The BGN Board of Directors is made up of established entrepreneurs as well as professionals who specialize in working with emerging high growth companies.


David Ferron is a Co-Founder and Managing Director, Financial Markets, of M•CAM in Charlottesville

Elizabeth Pyle is the Founder and President of Pyle and Associates in the Charlottesville area

Thomas Grant, Esq. concentrates on emerging growth businesses at Troutman Sanders in Richmond

Robert Mitchell is a partner in Alpha Omega Capital Partners in Richmond

Thomas Bowden, Esq, is a Shareholder who concentrates on venture capital at Keeler Obenshain in the Richmond area

Richard White, CPA, is a Co-Founder and Partner specializing in technology at Hoffman, White and Kaelber in Charlottesville

The BGN Entrepreneur's Minute is made possible by the Robins School of Business.

Southern Innovation Report

The Southern Growth Policy Board has just released the 2006 report, Innovation with a Southern Accent, which focuses on creating a Southern culture of knowledge, where learning and innovation are primary social values, and essential to the region’s global competitiveness. The report’s recommendations include strategies for building the innovation capacity in the South through the creation, accumulation and application of knowledge.
The report presents the Southern Innovation System (SIS) as a mechanism for individuals, communities, states, and the South to support and cultivate innovation; and outlines several regional initiatives to grow emerging industries in the region.
Innovation with a Southern Accent includes regional and state-level data on educational attainment, venture capital, an overview of state policies on R&D including survey results about the South’s attractiveness for R&D, and profiles of innovative programs.

Technorati Tags: Southern Growth Policies Board, innovation, economic development

E & O Entrepreneurs of the Year

The 2006 regional winners are available at Ernst & Young as they are announced, and the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame is online now.


Technorati Tags: Ernst & Young, Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame, entrepreneurs

Texas Spur

Here's a group of VCs who decided to become entrepreneurs.

Their new venture is Texas Spur

Technorati Tags: entrepreneurs, startup, Texas Spur

Paul Graham on start-ups

Paul Graham on why start-ups condense in Silicon Valley and in America generally. May 2006

He begins ... "Startups happen in clusters. ... If you set up those conditions within the US, startups will form as inevitably as water droplets condense on a cold piece of metal."

Graham continues with How to be Silicon Valley.

Technorati Tags: Paul Graham, start-ups, entrepreneurs

The BGN Entrepreneur's Minute June 12, 2006

(About one minute)

Effectuation.org addresses this theory of entrepreneurial expertise being developed by researchers at a dozen universities.

c3va.org is the home of the Creative Change Center of Richmond, a space for entrepreneurs and free agents in the Richmond area.

The BGN Entrepreneur's Minute is made possible by the Robins School of Business.

Technorati Tags: entrepreneurship, effectuation, collaboration, Sarasvathy, c3, Richmond

Darden's Dean Bruner wins European Case Award

Robert F. Bruner, has won an ecch 2006 European Case Award in the category of finance, accounting and control, for his case on the Boeing 777 that was published in 1994.

"This case has been a bestseller on the lists of Darden Business Publishing for some time,” says Bruner. “A group of students and I developed it in a collaborative effort, characteristic of the way many cases have been written at Darden."

Dedicated to promoting the case method of learning, the ecch is an independent, non-profit, membership-based organization. The award will be presented in London in September.

Technorati Tags: Darden, ecch, Robert Bruner

Stoneyfield blogs

Toby Bloomberg's profile of Stoneyfield Yoghurt's Chief Blogger, Christine Halvorson, is a concise illustration of blogging as an effective way to stay connected with customers.

Although Halvorson maintains four Stoneyfield blogs, this is her first lesson:
Have something to say! Don’t do it because everybody’s doing it and you feel you have to.

Here is a snippet from Diva Marketing's take on blog strategy for business marketing:

Yes, we believe that blogs are exciting, powerful marketing tools. Yes, we believe in the Trinity of Blogs: Honesty. Transparency. Passion.
We also believe that to be effective, business/marketing blogs must integrate into your marketing plan. Blogs must support your brand as well as, your positioning.

Technorati Tags: Stoneyfield Yoghurt, blogging, Diva Marketing

Wireless at Virginia Tech

On June 2, Virginia Tech announced that wireless communication research, which has long been an area of strength at the school, has become a major focus with the creation of one of the largest wireless research groups in the United States, Wireless @ Virginia Tech.

Technorati Tags: wireless research, Virginia Tech

UVA Faculty Patents

David Hendrick reports in The Daily Progress that UVA Faculty Patents are on the Rise.

The Patent Foundation’s longtime executive director, Robert MacWright, said ... the rise of an entrepreneurial bent among faculty members “has really moved from being a fad to a national movement.” Snippet from Hendrick's article, published June 5, 2006.



Technorati Tags: UVA, Charlottesville, Robert MacWright, entrepreneurs

High Tech Employment, Virginia

Virginia Business notes that "Virginia has long been touted to be one of the country’s best locations for high-tech workers. State officials now have hard information to back up that claim. ... That was the conclusion of Cyberstates 2006, an annual report by AeA ..." June 2006

See BGNonline, May 9, for a link to the Cyberstates 2006 report.

Technorati Tags: Virginia, Cyberstates 2006, high tech employment

Educating Engineers in Virginia

In the June issue of Virginia Business, Heather B. Hayes, in Bridging the Gap, addresses innovative strategies in training engineers in Virginia.

One example she cites: VCU is building a second engineering building largely with private donations. Situated next to a new business school building, the facility will allow total engineering enrollment to grow 68 percent to 2,000 students. Russ Jamison, the engineering school’s incoming dean, wants to develop programs with VCU’s business school, medical school and Center for Life Sciences Education.


Technorati Tags: Virginia Business, engineering, VCU, Heather B. Hayes

Watch the BGN site bloom!

For this web log, represented as an emerging network graph, see HTML Graph and give Sala a big Thank You for this applet.

Technorati Tags: HTML Graph, Sala

The BGN Entrepreneurs Minute June 5

(About a minute)

CVG at Blackfriars Theater!
University of Richmond graduates receive National Science Foundation graduate fellowships.

The BGN Entrepreneur's Minute is made possible by the generous support of the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond.


Technorati Tags: Blackfriars, CVG, University of Richmond