Honest Garage: Getting Paid to Keep Mechanics Honest
A couple of weeks ago I read an good paper in experimental economics (http://forum.johnson.cornell.edu/faculty/schneider/ ) and came away with an interesting idea for a small business venture.The paper is about asymmetric information in expert services and talks specifically about the car repair business. The question that is being asked is essentially ‘are car mechanics honest or […]
Living and Eating in IKEA For a Week
Now here is an entrepreneurial idea. Mark Malkoff needed a place to stay for a week while his apartment was fumigated. He couldn’t convince any of his friends to let him crash in their studio apartments and the hotels in New York City are much too expensive. So, he decided to approach IKEA and ask to […]
Ad-Supported Napkins
Giving away things for free has proven to be a profitable business, when the ‘free stuff’ is supported by ads. A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a great new business startup that capitalizes on this idea.
Napads.com gives away free napkins to its approved list of high profile bars, lounges and nightblubs. The napkins […]
Lessons from Steve Jobs: The 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
In 2005 Steve Jobs gave the commencement address at Stanford University and in he told just three stories. It is one of the most insiprational speeches I have ever heard, and it comes from a guy who has changed the way the entire world operates. What is fascinating is not that he made mistakes (like […]
What Billionaire Business Titans are Reading and Why Poets Make Better Leaders
Page one of Today’s Wall Street Journal has a fascinating story about Phil Knight, the founder and now chairman, of Nike, Inc. And what’s so interesting about Mr. Knight has little to do with how he built the industry titan Nike, or about his time as CEO. Last spring, the billionaire businessman nonchalantly sat in […]
Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman of AOL on Entrepreneurship
The latest issue of Knowledge at Wharton talks about Ted Leonsis, the keynote speaker at the recent Wharton Entrepreneurship conference. Leonsis started his first successful company at age 24 and later sold it for $60,000,000 and later he realized money was not the metric to measure success with, but rather how much good you are […]
20 Minutes: What Every City (and everyone online) Needs
Network news demands an hour of your time to get up to speed on the latest happenings, and the local paper takes at a minimum half of that. I don’t usually have that much time, which is exactly why I like the idea of 20 minutes so much. Here is what the company is all about:
“20 minutes is […]
Profile of Sam Zell in the New Yorker
There is a great article of Sam Zell in the New Yorker. Zell, who built and later sold the giant office REIT Equity Office Properties Trust shares many insights into his life. One of my favorites is his humor:
“Sam was the rainmaker, and Bob was the one that took care of all the messes Sam made,’ […]
Kiva.org Microloans
A couple of months ago I made two $25 loans on kiva.org. This week I received notice that both of the entrepreneurs have repaid 10% of the total loan commitment.
I am excited about this for a number of reasons. First, I have become convinced that micro credit is the best way to bring the third […]
Capitalism Cafe: Where there’s no such thing as a free lunch
When I was in college I had a great idea for a supply and demand based restaurant concept. I’m sure I’m not the first one to come up with the idea, but I haven’t ever seen or heard of anything like this.
Imagine this:
You’re an investment banker in New York City or London and you need […]