Mar
9
2010

Written by:
Danny Wong

Entrepreneur Journal: Bootstrapping Marketing

Blank Label was a really neat idea that Fan Bi and I decided to make reality. But with a great idea – creating dress shirts that consumers designed themselves with our dress shirt design platform – you have nothing unless you had a team to support it, which for us included Graphic Design, Programming and Marketing.

Marketing is where I come in, and is an integral part of our business. How could we sell our dress shirts if no one knows about our product and our platform? But how could we market with no cash flowing into our pockets?

I had a few (relatively free) solutions which I manage every day:

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)– ranking your website higher in the Search Results for targeted terms
Mar
8
2010

Written by:
Jimmy Connolly

Rolling Application. Final Applications Due Saturday, March 13th

Are you a college student and an aspiring entrepreneur? Then you shouldn’t miss the National Entrepreneurial Bootcamp sponsored by Princeton’s BT and Stanford’s BASES to learn what it takes to develop an idea into a successful venture!

With dozens of executive and entrepreneurial speakers, the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp is a 3-day intensive program that provides participants with an intimate knowledge of the tasks and challenges that all entrepreneurs face. In the process, you will acquire the management and leadership skills needed to excel in a business environment.

Surrounded by a dynamic group of peer student leaders from universities around the nation, experience the innovative culture of Silicon Valley, Venture Capitalists, and mentors. The Entrepreneurial Bootcamp provides you with the tools to get your business idea off the ground and into the world.

Mar
7
2010

Written by:
Sandeep Gautam

Is Google playing hardball with Google Buzz?

One of the major hardball strategies in business often adopted by top companies to overwhelm the competition is to plagiarize with pride. Hardball players, who play to win, do not merely take ideas directly from other companies, but also improve on them to launch attacks on their competitors. Google, in introducing Google Buzz, seems to be playing a game just as such.

Mar
6
2010

Written by:
Savil Gupta

Intersection of Students and Business: An Indian Perspective

In the very first of my articles for Business today, I thought being an Indian student entrepreneur, it would make sense to write about the Indian perspective of how is student-business relationship viewed and its future going ahead.

India is home to a significant portion of today`s world youth population and the country itself has 51% of its population under 25. Such a substantial proportion of potential consumers and future business leaders and entrepreneurs is hard to neglect due to which businesses have lately tried to go an extra mile to tap the potential for out-of-box innovation and next big consumer market.

Mar
5
2010

Written by:
Wade Senti

The Changing Landscape for Venture Capital

The traditional business model for venture capital (VC) firms has been to develop a portfolio of superstars along with long-shots. This idea that nine failures will breed one success may be somewhat ‘prehistoric’ following one of the greatest economic downturns since the Great Depression.

Across the board, the mere size and number of deals have declined since 2008. This past year marked one of the lowest years for VC funding in the last fourteen years, with a decrease of almost 20%. Notably, Biotechnology, with ‘$3.5 billion’ going to over 400 deals, is one of the few strong areas for venture capital investments (According to PwC Money Tree).

Regardless, to be successful in this post-recession era, venture capital may need to take on a new approach, a value-added ‘Business Model.’ Traditionally, the formula has been to invest, grow, and exit, all within 2-4 years, after achieving fairytale-like growth (10x; $10M to 100M).

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