Book: 'See, Solve, Scale' By Danny Warshay

Book:   Reading now.  Largely about building companies, getting customers and related marketing.   Nicely done, good ideas, breakthroughs and directions.  Lots of real  'Why' examples.    -  FAD

See, Solve, Scale: How Anyone Can Turn an Unsolved Problem into a Breakthrough Success Hardcover – March 22, 2022   by Danny Warshay (Author)

From Amazon:    Inspired by Brown University’s beloved course―The Entrepreneurial Process―Danny Warshay’s See, Solve, Scale is a proven and paradigm-shifting method to unlocking the power of entrepreneurship.

The Entrepreneurial Process, one of Brown University’s highest-rated courses, has empowered thousands of students to start their own ventures. You might assume these ventures started because the founders were born entrepreneurs. You might assume that these folks had technical or finance degrees, or worked at fancy consulting firms, or had some other specialized knowledge. Yet that isn’t the case. Entrepreneurship is not a spirit or a gift. It is a process that anyone can learn, and that anyone can use to turn a problem into a solution with impact.

In See, Solve, Scale, Danny Warshay, the creator of the Entrepreneurial Process course and founding Executive Director of Brown’s Center for Entrepreneurship, shares the same set of tools with aspiring entrepreneurs around the world. He overturns the common misconception that entrepreneurship is a hard-wired trait or the sole province of high-flying MBAs, and provides a proven method to identify consequential problems and an accessible process anyone can learn, master, and apply to solve them.

Combining real-world experience backed by surprising research-based insights, See, Solve, Scale guides the reader through forming a successful startup team and through the three steps of the process: find and validate a problem, develop an initial small-scale solution, and scale a long-term solution. It also details eleven common errors of judgment that entrepreneurs make when they rely on their intuition and provides instruction for how to avoid them.

Leveraging Warshay’s own entrepreneurship successes and his 15 years of experience teaching liberal arts students, See, Solve, Scale debunks common myths about entrepreneurship and empowers everyone, especially those who other entrepreneurship books have ignored and left behind. Its lasting message: Anyone can take a world-changing idea from conception to breakthrough entrepreneurial success.  ...  ' 

US Venture Funding Soars

Following new ventures and their funding.

Venture funding soared to record $64 billion in Q1

By Ari Levy @LEVYNEWS

Venture funding in the U.S. hit $64 billion in the first quarter, according to analysis from Ernst & Young, using data from Crunchbase.

That’s the highest amount ever for a single quarter and equal to 43% of all the venture money raised in 2020.

“A year ago everybody thought we were sliding into the abyss,” said Jeff Grabow, U.S. venture capital leader at Ernst & Young ... " 

Qualcomm Creates Fund for 5G Use Beyond Phones

Being speed, what are the applications in play?  Where can we predict particular useful ventures that we should support?

Qualcomm creates $200 million fund for 5G uses beyond phones in Reuters

Qualcomm Inc on Thursday said it has created a $200 million venture capital fund to invest in startup companies looking to use 5G technology in devices other than smartphones.

(Reuters) - Qualcomm Inc on Thursday said it has created a $200 million venture capital fund to invest in startup companies looking to use 5G technology in devices other than smartphones.

Qualcomm is supplying chips for 5G, the next generation of mobile networks rolling out this year, to phone makers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd The San Diego company is the biggest supplier of chips for mobile phones, but that market has stopped growing.

Qualcomm is looking to invest in companies that will use 5G in other areas, such as connecting industrial and agricultural equipment to the internet or enabling self-driving cars to communicate with infrastructure such as traffic lights and signs.

“5G will transform industries and should be viewed as a business strategy for all,” Steve Mollenkopf, Qualcomm’s chief executive, said in a release.  .... " 

On Google Ventures

Another look at Google Ventures.  " ... As it searches for industries to disrupt, Google Ventures is even willing to look at its own. Earlier this year it led a $28 million financing round into AngelList, often described as a Craigslist-like marketplace that matches entrepreneurs and angel investors. AngelList introduced a new funding model called syndicates, in which no-name angels pool their dollars with those of investors with an established track record. The model essentially allows better-known investors to build mini-funds for specific deals ... " 

Mobile Rules Wal-Mart

In VentureBeat:   " ... Mobile rules Walmart: Accounted for 53% of Thanksgiving traffic, new mobile customers up 3X ... "

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DunnHumby Seeks to Invest in Cincinnati Startups

As they progress with their downtown US Headquarters facility:

" ... Look for data analysis firm Dunnhumby’s new seed-stage venture fund to invest in Cincinnati startup companies. Dunnhumby, whose U.S. headquarters are in downtown Cincinnati, announced this week the creation of Dunnhumby Ventures to invest in retail technology. ... "

Press release.

Instant Entrepreneurship

From the Front End of Innovation: Is Instant Entrepreneurship the future?  More importantly, what precisely is it?   Was the first I head of it:

Interview with  Shelby Lee Walsh, Shelby is President at TrendHunter:

" ... This is the notion that making a business to serve a growing niche is becoming easier and easier as a bunch of products and services are being launched to help connected like-minded people with a single click (not to mention that it's easeier to fund these ventures with online platforms such as Kickstarter and RocketHub).  The digital age has revolutionized the accessibility of starting your own business and competing with big brands. .... "

Pentagon as Silicon Value Incubator

In the NYT:  Work by DARPA like the Darpanet and related activities have been happening for a long time.  Part of my graduate education was funded by DOD scholarships.  " ...  For years, the Pentagon has knocked on Silicon Valley’s door in search of programmers to work on its spying technologies. But these days, it’s the Pentagon that is being scouted for expertise. Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are finding it valuable to have an insider’s perspective on the national security apparatus when trying to find or prevent computer vulnerabilities or mine large troves of data. ... " 

Smart Digital Diapers go Mobile

In the NYT: A Digital Diaper that tracks infants health.   Reminds me of the 'smart toilet' idea pioneered in Japan.  Had not heard this specifically talked about in R&D in the diaper space.  The connection to a smartphone App makes it an example of a remote heath monitor.    " .... A New York start-up called Pixie Scientific has developed a diaper that the company says can detect possible urinary tract infections, kidney dysfunctions, and dehydration, accompanied by a smartphone app that can transmit the information to a physician. ... "  Also in Venturebeat.

Creative Mobile Ad Strategies

In Venturebeat:
" ... Engaging mobile brand fans through social channels such as Instagram or by offering mobile games are some of the strategies brands are using to earn consumer attention in a space crowded with banner advertisements that users would prefer to ignore, executives from big brands including Forever 21 and GM say. Speaking at an industry event, representatives from top brands say personalization is key to mobile ad success. "There has to be an elegance to delivering the message because phones are such a personal device," said Jon Nolz of the mobile ad network Hipcricket ... "

Coke is Gamifying the Game

In Adage:  Coke creates a social media game based on a Superbowl ad.   How well will it work for ongoing engagement beyond the event?   Would it have been better to create something that is football related?   Will it depend on the progress of the football game?    An ad is a short 'bite'of interaction that can be forgotten,  an ongoing game requires fun engagement with some effort.  Will this idea perform? " ... On Facebook today, the beverage giant unveiled a teaser video for a spot it calls "Mirage," a 60-second ad showing that depicts three factions --badlanders, cowboys and showgirls -- racing through the desert in pursuit of a bottle of Coke. The ad, created by Wieden & Kennedy, closes with a cliffhanger, as the groups realize the bottle was simply a sign. Another sign points them "50 miles ahead." In a twist reminiscent of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, consumers will sabotage competitors and choose who wins the Coke, ultimately choosing the 30-second spot that will air post game. ... " 

Food Network Starts an Analytical Partnership

With my food and retail background and interests I found an interesting mention in this AdAge article.  It is rare to see plays regarding the food industry using analytical methods.  The article describes how Food Genius is partnering with the Food network.  What do they do?  " .... pitched a vision of using big data to make all of Food Network's digital properties smarter, creating a more personally-relevant experience for consumers looking for recipes, ingredients or restaurants. The Chicago-based company closed a $1.2 million financing round in July with funding from Hyde Park Venture Partners, New World Ventures, Amicus Capital and IDEO ... "    " ... Using Food Genius Reports, you can explore ingredient trends and discover deep context about how those ingredients, as well as preparation methods, and sensory language are utilized with the most comprehensive database of restaurant menus ... " 

What Parc Learned

On what Xerox spinoff Parc learned about open innovation.   We visited Parc many times  and they us, always interesting.  " ... The concept of open innovation has moved from business phrase to business reality over the last ten years. When PARC became a for-profit subsidiary of Xerox to practice open innovation in 2002, Henry Chesbrough had not yet published his book Open Innovation and the concept was not well understood. Companies knew how to engage a design firm, license IP, and form joint ventures, but few knew how to truly co-develop innovations with external partners, such as PARC. ... " 

On the Dark Side of Teams

In Knowledge@Wharton:

Research Roundup: The 'Dark Side' of Teams; the Risks of Social Comparisons; and the Transfer of Entrepreneurial Skills

Does working in teams make people less receptive to outside input? How can social comparisons determine trust in working relationships? How do the training and technical knowledge of entrepreneurs take from previous employers impact the success of their new ventures? ... "

SAP Seeking to Work With Startups

In the WSJ:   An article about how SAP is trying to promote its HANA methods with big data startups.   It is naturally difficult for large enterprises to work with startups.  A large company works in different time frames, and with different expectations than a small company.   In my own experience I worked with many innovation oriented startups, and had to continually remind them that the tail will have a hard time wagging the dog.  Further the large company had to be treated as a collection of silos, and you had to find the right part to fund and understand your work.   If anyone, SAP should know this dynamic, they pioneered a top down approach for getting inside the big enterprise, where they have been very successful.    An article worth reading for enterprise and startups.

" .. This week the company hosted 26 start-ups, along with several venture capitalists, at its campus in Palo Alto, Calif., to discuss “big data” and how it will change the world. SAP contacted the start-ups just three weeks ago—the company is now working in what SAP Senior Vice President Aiaz Kazi called “HANA time”—and has no investments in any of them, although it is working on a developer program and on other new programs for start-ups, including one called “Powered by SAP HANA,” that it hasn’t announced...." 

Will follow this further to see what more I can find out about this effort and report back.

SpaceCurve and Complex Location Data

In GigaOM:  Metadata linked to location.

SpaceCurve, a Seattle-based startup pushing a database designed for location data, has raised $2.7 million on the promise it can help application developers better leverage the Internet of things. The money, which comes from Reed Elsevier Ventures, Divergent Ventures and Musea Ventures, will help SpaceCurve educate the market on its unique database ....

A Community of Startups

Just pointed to: AngelList:   AngelList is a community of startups—started by the dudes who do Venture Hacks. Meet the team. Browse startups and investors.   More to follow.

10X Accelerator at Ohio State

Just brought to my attention:   10-xelerator or "10x" is the newest New Venture Accelerator in Columbus, Ohio. 10x is a mentorship-driven investment program designed for energetic and game-changing entrepreneurs. 10x is partnering with Ohio’s New Entrepreneurs (ONE) Fund, an innovative business accelerator designed to attract and retain the best and brightest talent... "

SAP and the Cloud

When I was a fellow at the SNCR we saw a presentation by SAP about their planned use of social and Cloud systems.  It was an impressive plan for next steps.    I was surprised by their lack of work in the following several years in this area.  About the same time we saw similar plans by IBM that did end up in actual results.   ComputerWorld has written about this here.  Recent acquisitions appear to indicate that they are getting serious. Cloud-Social ventures are spreading broadly.