I haven’t visiting this blog for some time. Just wanted to say HELLO! and that I’m still in the startup game. ZipProof keeps on running and serving its print shop and design firm customers every day. I’ve been through two mobile software setups and the latest, MyNuMo, is a pretty cool company.
Maybe I’ll go back to this blog more often.
This joke sort of describes it???
A Cajun named Jean Paul moved to Texas and bought a donkey from an old farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
The next day the farmer drove up and said, “Sorry, but I got some bad news. The donkey died.”
“Well then, just give me my money back.”
“Cain’t do that. I went and spent it already.”
“OK then, just unload the donkey.”
“What ya gonna do with em.”
“I’m gonna raffle him off.”
“Ya cain’t raffle off a dead donkey!”
“Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anyone he’s dead.”
A month later the farmer met up with the Cajun and asked, “What happened with the dead donkey?”
“I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at $2.00 apiece and made a profit of $898.00.”
“Didn’t no one complain?”
“Just the guy who won. So I gave him his $2.00 back.”
more…
Kudos for this excellent parody!!!
more…
Saw this:
1. I’m successful because I’m brilliant. Never mind that I sold a money-losing piece of crap to a dot-com at the height of the internet madness. You should listen to me for my brilliant insights.
2. I’m not ësuccessfulí because I happened to be in the right place at the right time. No sir re, that had nothing to do with my success.
3. If you follow my advice, youíll be successful too! Just wait till the next irrational exuberant thing comes along.
4. I never ìdrank the punchî during the dot-com era. I always told everyone that the dot-com bubble was going to burst.
5. Just give me your money and Iíll show you how to raise more. Honest.
6. Oh, I know at least THREE companies that are doing what you are doing. If not, Iíll tell them your ideas so they can get started.
7. You donít need a direct revenue model. Just aggregate eyeballs and youíll find a way to make money.
8. I STRUGGLED to make myself a success. Never mind my wealthy parents and Ivy League education.
9. You have to have BALANCE in your life. Thatís why I divorced my old wife and took up with a young hottie after I sold my company.
10. I so successful I donít need to work. Thatís why I fly all over the country charging business wannabes $1000 to attend my seminars.
Tears to my eyes.
20+ years of Nasa being mis-managed and we end up with a space vehicle we can’t even use, and a space station we need to hitch a ride with the Russians to get to.
These guys take $20m to $40m ??? THE SAME AMOUNT OF $$$ SOME DOT-COM’S SPENT ON THEIR LAUNCH PARTIES ??? and touch the heavens.
It gives me hope for many things. Solar Power Satellites, a real exploration of the solar system, a permanent presense in space.
It’s the Flying Cloud, The Model T, The DC3 ??? it’s a FREAKING REAL START ??? not just “The Demo.”
more…
A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.
On the big day the Japanese won by a mile. Afterward, the American Team became very discouraged and morally depressed. The American management decided the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found.
A Management Team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and one person rowing. So American management hired a consulting company and paid them an incredible amount of money. They advised that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.
To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the rowing team’s management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder.
It was called the Rowing Team Quality First Program, with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. Even new paddles and medical benefit incentives were promised for a winner. We must give the rower the empowerment and enrichments through this quality program. The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.
The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses.
Peter Ireland writes:
I really like this site and Bill’s philosophy.
Here’s something I wrote after a few successful and unsuccessful attempts at raising venture capital.
Warning: Venture Capital Maybe Hazardous to Your Companyís Health
http://www.antiventurecapital.com/shortversion.html
—-
Good stuff, thanks Peter???
more…
I knew Peter from the early days of CD-ROM ??? our paths crossed recently at the LARTA event in 2000. He will be missed???
It is with great sadness that we report on the death of a friend, Peter Black, in Los Angeles last week. Multimedia pioneer, serial entrepreneur and Renaissance man, Peter was also close to larta. His newest company, Etronica, was a featured company at our first venture salon in October 2000.
Great article in LARTA ???
As startup companies struggle to grow and stay afloat in the truly “new economy” of drowned resources, the rules of traditional business sense have never looked more sensible. It isn’t a bad time to start a company, or to grow one, with a solid perspective.
I’d check this out???
“Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense
of fear and no concept of the odds against them.”
– Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik-7, an artificial heart