Lessons from Startups !
These start up lessons are among the most valuable! Did you know that the top 4 startup lessons make up 80% of struggles that startups have?
I love the fact that being an entrepreneur is a club -- sharing is part of it. And that makes the startup nation lessons even more powerful and drives all boats to rise !
Let me know what you think of these lessons or others that have taught you!
New IBM CSuite Study - Flourishing in an era of continuous disruption
I am loving the new C Suite study on flourishing in this world of disruption! Here's my favorite top AHAs from the study!
Prepare for digital invaders: Competitors are emerging to digitally disrupt business models and re-shape industries. Airbnb, Fitbit and Uber exemplify the new digital invaders and “ankle-biters” – focused competitors with the lethal combination of no legacy costs and the superior value to rapidly amass market share.
New competitors also are emerging through industry convergence, with traditional boundaries eroding as expertise from one sector is applied to another - for example, defense contractor Lockheed Martin partnering to develop personalized health and wellness solutions. C-suite executives see this trend rising above all others in the next three to five years.
Create a panoramic perspective: All business strategy is technology strategy. Most C-suite executives interviewed believe cloud computing, mobile solutions, the Internet of Things and cognitive computing will dominate the strategic business agenda in the near future with the confluence of these different technologies holding the greatest promise.
Be first, be best, or be nowhere: To create differentiation, C-suite executives are experimenting with alternative business models, collaborating across industries or exploring a new customer base./
Fashion and Technology: 2 Ways to Engage Introducing Ta Dah Built on IBM Cloud
Johannesberg and Madrid SmartCamp Winners Drive Job Creation, Gaming Innovation and Mobile Business Solutions!
I have loved the IBM SmartCamps, which are pitch competitions with incredible talent!
These camps brought a huge talent pool of startups to showcase to judges worldwide, thank you to all the startups who participated! Today we're taking a look at a few exciting innovations coming from Johannesberg and Madrid before announcing our ten finalists, at the end of the week, who will move on to the next stage of IBM SmartCamps.
Congratulations to M4Jam from Johannesberg and both Jugo and Visualtis from Madrid. All three of these startups very much deserved their winner status for the solutions that they bring to the market.
About the startups:
1. M4Jam (Johannesberg) is a micro jobbing platform. They launched their solution as a platform as a service model taking the concept of EARN to existing communities and enabling people to earn extra cash while going about their daily routine by using apps that they are already using most.
2. Jugo (Madrid) believes that play will become the dominant way of human interaction within the next five years. By bringing game elements into everyday activities of organizations and individuals around the world, Jugo introduces a whole new level of purpose and passion to the workplace.
3. Visualtis helps “mobilize ” existing information systems to manage them from a smartphone and further help clients manage any aspect of their business from their smartphone or tablet.
To learn more about these exciting companies, follow them on Twitter: @visualtis, @m4jam and @playjugo.
Please continue to follow my blog to read more about the ten startups who will move on to the next stage of IBM SmartCamp 2015!
Congrats to Macrolynk and Saul Haro, the President and CEO on their award from CNN!
![Macrolynk_Social-Tile-[V1]](http://advanced911.inmotionhosting.com/~socialbusinesssa/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/macrolynk_social-tile-v1.png)
Congrats to Macrolynk and Saul Haro, the President and CEO on their award from CNN!
They just won the CNN Expansion Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2015,!
We recognize their work in "How Combining Social and Supply Chain Led to Exceptional Management.".
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Back to school! Note in a lunch box - Is Twitter your note to your followers?
When school starts, and I pack my kid's lunches, I always finish them off with a special note to encourage them in the day.
For instance, with my youngest Kassie I did a bunch of K's that I think are special for her!
- K is for Kisses!
- K is for Krazy special -- for the special girl that you are!
- K is for Kind - be kind to your friends today -- for they are precious!
My kids say that it is a moment in the day -- among hard work, getting teased, and questioning their confidence --- that they pause to know that someone really cares for them!
As I was thinking about how my oldest daughter carefully folds and saves each note, I wondered how much we all need that encouragement.
- How could I place a "virtual note in each of my team's lunch box" ?
- What would it say?
- Would they appreciate it like my kids?
- And what would I want my note to say if someone left one for me!
But then I thought -- do we do this each day -- through Twitter? For instance, when I share quotes or welcome the beautiful sunrise, is that the same?
Is that the new form of the lunch box note?
What do you think?
IBM proudly supports the next generation of Technology Professionals
Grand Central Tech (GCT) had their inaugural Innovation Night following their new successful 6 weeks internship program. The innovative program is meant to facilitate technology education by offering high school and college students real work experience at real startups. The startups were from GCT's second year class, which has already raised 7 million USD in venture funding. NYC currently has 300,000 technology positions and in the next 5 years, it is estimated the US will have 1 million open tech jobs, so training the next generation of technology professionals will be critical to continued growth. With these dynamics in mind, Eddie Cullen (previously at Fordham University's accelerator), set out to design the GCT internship program.
On Innovation night, the Goldman Sachs auditorium was packed with interns, startups, and proud family. Interns were matched up with GCT startups based on skills and interests. The intern's backgrounds ranged from high school students with interests in technology, to college computer science majors. Students created projects that spanned from non-profit shoe donations, IoT data stream (IOBeam), payment platforms (Arthur) to 3D printing projects (Source3). However, the real outcome of these 19 startups and 33 students were the indelible memories and valuable real life work experience.
Words like creativity, perseverance, innovation, and great code were used to describe the outcomes of the program. Nurturing the next generation of tech entrepreneurs benefits NYC, the economy and creates better lives for all. Most of the students started the program with fledgling technical skills. However at the event most interns prided themselves to have learned HTML, CSS and JavaScript, creating web forms and simple mobile applications. A few students even went above and beyond, chasing leads and customer, successfully demonstrating mastery of advanced tech skills, and thriving in the fast paced reality of a genuine startup.
IBM is a corporate sponsor of GCT. IBM Cloud Ecosystem Development makes available business and technical support to GCT startups and offers Bluemix for cloud apps and services. IBM is also part of Digital.NYC initiative, a unique public/private partnership between the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Gust, and over a dozen leading NYC-based technology and media companies..