“Cloud computing” is much more than simply a new set of technologies and business models. It is rapidly emerging as the platform that will underpin the next generation of digital products and services. Cloud Computing is transforming how consumers, companies, and governments store information, how they process and exchange that information, and how they utilize computing power. Consequently, it opens a new set of policy discussions while at the same time underlining the importance of old debates.
Continue ReadingWe’re delighted to announce the publication of a major new paper on Cloud Computing business strategy and public policy issues. The paper was co-authored by two of Innovia Venture’s founders – Jonathan Murray and John Zysman – together with Kenji Kushida and has been published as a working paper under the auspices of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE) at University of California Berkeley.
We’re very interested in receiving feedback, corrections and suggestions for improvements to the paper which can be included before final publication in journal form in a few months time.
When my brother wanted to improve the stability of his new Subaru Outback, he took matters into his own hands: he added a bar that allowed him to corner better at high speeds.
What my clever brother did goes by a fancy name today: user innovation. But, it has been going on since the first caveman opted to stack his logs slightly differently than the first innovator so his fire would burn higher and longer. User innovation. Ugh…
My grandparents called it tinkering. And then academics studied it and called it a “process.” And they almost killed it.
And then a very smart guy named Eric A. von Hippel came along and started writing about user innovation with his colleagues in a way that made it all simple again.
Continue ReadingInvestors.com article on the importance of making your customers feel special. As a customer of one of the referenced companies – JH Audio – I can assure you they do!
Indulge Those Clients – Investors.com.
They also happen to be a case study in the use of social media – Twitter and Facebook – to build community for a small business.
Continue ReadingBased on research by Saras Sarasvathy – at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business – this is one of the best articles I’ve come across on how Entrepreneurs view the world differently from other business people.
… entrepreneurs don’t start out with concrete goals. Instead, they constantly assess how to use their personal strengths and whatever resources they have at hand to develop goals on the fly, while creatively reacting to contingencies. By contrast, corporate executives—those in the study group were also enormously successful in their chosen field—use causal reasoning.
And more words to live by:
People chase investors, but your best investor is your first real customer. And your customers are also your best salesmen.
Thanks to @TheEconomist for the original pointer
Business executives are admitting they have no idea what the recent flood of announcements from Google, Nokia, Telemundo and more mean to the future let alone to their businesses.
What the heck are most business executives to make of the daily news of mobile advances, investment funds targeting new social media firms, global business leaders admitting they have lost their mojo when it comes to innovation. (Nokia). Google announcing that the next frontier in advertising is mobile. And on and on until it is a blur.
Headlines like these are burying most executives because none of them answer a key question for them: What does all this mean for my business?
Continue ReadingVCs are taking a more holistic or “systems” approach to investing than they typically do in developed markets.
What Venture Capital Can Learn from Emerging Markets – Vijay Govindarajan – Harvard Business Review.
Continue ReadingFacebook Officials Keep Quiet on Its Role in Revolts
With Facebook playing a starring role in the revolts that toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt, you might think the company’s top executives would use this historic moment to highlight its role as the platform for democratic change. Instead, they really do not want to talk about it.
via Facebook Officials Keep Quiet on Its Role in Revolts – NYTimes.com.
Continue ReadingThis week’s Economist has a great article about the risk and complexity of doing business in various markets around the world. A great reminder that the world is not flat.
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