I’ve been having a good deal of conversations lately with students about the concept of the “entrepreneurship” major.  More specifically, whether or not I believe it truly prepares you for start-up life.  I posted my thoughts over on my personal blog.  Feel free to chime in.

Read the full post here.

I’m always happy to read about local companies growing and expanding…even if they’re not a startup anymore.  According to Mashable, “myYearbook Revenue at $20 Million Annually and Growing“.  Certainly fantastic news for CEO Geoff Cook, First Round Capital and New Hope, PA.

Some highlights from the Mashable post:

• 20 million members
• one of the top 30 most trafficked websites in the U.S.
• the company ended 2009 with an annual revenue run rate of $20 million (meaning its revenue for the most recent 12 months) — up 70% from 2008
• in the works is deeper Facebook Connect integration, as well as mobile applications that extend some of the site’s social networking and gaming aspects to iPhone and Android

I heard Geoff speak at the most recent PSL Founder Factory event and remember when they were just starting up.  I’m excited about the company’s growth and thrilled that they’re located in our own back yard.

Join a fantastic early stage, e-commerce company in the Manayunk area that specializes in VoIP and telephony hardware, and the software and services known to interoperate with Asterisk, the Open Source PBX.  more info…

Ryan Meinzer needed to learn Japanese fast. He loved Rosetta Stone’s approach, but like many students he had no money…nor discipline to stay seated more than 5 minutes at a time.

“I wanted to learn Japanese in the many sporadic idle minutes of my day, one word at a time, one minute at a time,” says Meinzer, “…and I didn’t have the $300 for those attractive yellow Rosetta Stone boxes.”

Two years later, and two years more proficient in Japanese, Meinzer now runs his own language learning software company, PlaySay.com, which has served over 10 million digital vocabulary flashcard files to over 4,000 users worldwide. The online business currently offers products to learn Japanese, learn Chinese, and to learn Spanish, with many more languages to come. Many language departments of major universities across the United States are rapidly integrating the products into their curriculums for students. With the ability to trash their paper flashcards, students are raving about PlaySay.com. The Tokyo Metropolis and The Philadelphia Inquirer also seem to enjoy spreading the news of this cool new competitor of Rosetta Stone.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am a firm believer in the Everybody Sells model but sometimes the more technical people in my circle need some convincing. I am a marketer at heart and while technology fascinates me and I like to think that I am knowledgeable enough to be technically “dangerous”, the appreciation of the sales process comes naturally to me. This is especially true in a start-up environment. If you are a technologist like Vivek Wadhwa and you aspire to stretch your wings, consider what he says in his recent post: It’s All About Selling for Survival.

Excellent post by @cdixon reminding us that pitching yourself and your team is more important than pitching your idea. Ideas are all over the place but the credibility of a team with a track record is significantly more valuable to a potential investor. Further, when building that core team, make sure that they have the “it” factor with demonstrated ROI.

Budgets are tight and money is scarce. You need to build an incredibly driven workforce and an incredibly effective sales team. Start-ups and established organizations deal with this reality every day so how do you build the right sales culture?

The answer is to create a viral environment of good tippers.

Read the rest of this post on Max Sobol : Brainwork.