Archive for May 2009
Ensuring A Product Lives Long After A Start-Up Dies
As the number of start-ups shutting down continues to grow, consumers are wary of investing their money and time on products and services that have the risk of being discontinued. So how does a start-up ensure customers that its product will live on if the company doesn’t?
Read full article: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2009/05/13/ensuring-a-product-lives-long-after-a-start-up-dies/
ITWeb :FNB banks MXit
[ Johannesburg, 12 May 2009 ] - First National Bank (FNB) and MXit have teamed up to release a mobile banking solution geared towards more than 13 million youths. The bank’s customers will now be able to purchase MXit Moola for themselves and others, using cellphone banking.
“As the youth is becoming more aware of cellphone banking and the ease of using virtual credits, like Moola, we’ve focused our attention on the banking sector,” says MXit CEO and founder Herman Heunis.
Read full article: ITWeb :FNB banks MXit
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ITWeb :Ministers who impact on the ICT sector
[ Johannesburg, 11 May 2009 ] - Apart from communications there are a number of other cabinet ministers who will have some impact on the ICT sector as their departments either control large IT budgets or are responsible for formulating policy that does. These include Public Enterprises, Public Service and Administration, Science and Technologyand Trade and Industry…
Read full article: ITWeb :Ministers who impact on the ICT sector
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When Bankruptcy Gives A Start-Up New Life
After seeing the company he helped found, Recordant Inc., slide into bankruptcy, Marc Wallenstein has purchased its assets and plans to restart the company – but differently this time. Wallenstein, one of the first four employees and former vice president of sales at Recordant, a provider of sales analytics technology, said he purchased the company’s patents, software and trademarks at a bankruptcy auction last month for $1,000…
Read full article: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2009/05/11/when-bankruptcy-gives-a-start-up-new-life/?mod=rss_WSJBlog
Entrepreneurs learn the art of the 60-second pitch
…Martin says a good pitch starts with talking about the problem the company is trying to solve.
“I’m amazed by how many people start out talking about their product,” he says. “After you tell the problem, then tell me about your product, but only a little about it. Focus more on the benefit and less on the features.”
Next comes explaining why anyone should care. Is it a large market? Do you have a different approach than everyone else? Next, explain why you’re competitively better than anyone else…
Entrepreneurs learn the art of the 60-second pitch
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Women entrepreneurship benefits society, country: vice premier – Taiwan News Online
Taipei, May 9 (CNA) In a celebration of Mother’s Day and to help women become more self-reliant, the Cabinet-level National Youth Commission (NYC) opened a two-day Women Entrepreneurship Expo Saturday that Vice Premier Chiu Cheng-hsiung said will also benefit society and the country as a whole.
“Women entrepreneurship has become a new trend since gender equality has improved greatly in Taiwan. It not only helps women to stand on their own feet, but also benefits society and the country by creating jobs, ” Chiu said at the opening of the expo on the eve of Mother’s Day, which falls on the second Sunday of May each year.
Women entrepreneurship benefits society, country: vice premier – Taiwan News Online
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Data, Not Design, Is King in the Age of Google
Can a company blunt its innovation edge if it listens to its customers too closely? Can its products become dull if they are tailored to match exactly what users say they want? These questions surfaced recently when Douglas Bowman, a top visual designer, left Google.
Should Design Be Held Back by a Tyranny of Data? – NYTimes.com
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MXit aims to improve teen literacy
MXit has launched Africa’s first instant messaging book in what it says is a bid to encourage literacy and a love of reading among youth. The book will cost a fraction of what readers would pay in “traditional” bookstores.
From today, MXit users will be able to download an entire book on the MXit network for just R13.50 – or 50 Moola per chapter.
Full story: http://www.it-online.co.za/content/view/906715/142/
Here Be Dragons To Invest Up To R50m – 2009-05-06
Mark Shuttleworth’s Cape Town venture capital company, Here Be Dragons (HBD), is looking to make at least one more investment of between R10m and R25m in local, early stage businesses this year.
The focus will be companies with innovative ideas with the potential to expand internationally.
Here Be Dragons To Invest Up To R50m – 2009-05-06
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