Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Money. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Money. Afficher tous les articles
jeudi 31 mai 2012
How to Pave the Way for Innovative Thinking.
Think Big But Accept Small Successes
As a college student in the early ‘60s, I worked for a company that created programmed learning texts. Out of curiosity, I worked through one of the courses, Introduction to Computing, and had something akin to a religious experience. It quite literally changed my life. I became an evangelical proponent of what computers could do, and sought salvation for my over-drawn bank account as a disciple of IBM.
My plan was to start the first computer service bureau in Albuquerque. I dreamed of leasing a computer, renting a building, and hiring programmers. We’d offer innovative automated accounting services to companies with bookkeepers that punched the keys and yanked the handle on mechanical adding machines.
One major problem: in those days, the cheapest computer I could find cost $2,000 a month. Compared to the $35 a month I was paying for a used Nash Rambler, the cheapest car I could find, that was a fortune.
I had big dreams, but a small success helped me start my first business. I took my newfound computer expertise to a business school, and landed a job teaching programming.
When I asked if I could use their computer during the hours it was idle, management agreed out of nothing more than pure goodness. I lost a lot of sleep writing a payroll program, landed a contract with the Village Inn Pancake House when I figured out how to handle tips, and Business Computer Services was born.
I learned you don’t have to swing for the fence. The arrangement I had with the school wasn’t a base hit, more like an intentional walk, and it was far from my original grandiose plan. But I was in the game.
Don’t Hobble Your Team With Strict Rules
Bill Veeck, twice owner of the White Sox and other teams, is best known for “Grandstand Manager Day” when he gave yes/no cards to fans in the bleachers allowing them to vote on decisions usually reserved for managers—steal, change pitchers, bunt, walk. The team won 5-3, and broke a four-game losing streak.
More than a publicity stunt, giving people control is a huge motivational factor. Conversely, the best way to hobble an innovation opportunity is to follow a policy of “we'll do it the way we've always done it.”
In the ‘80s I took a job as head of an intrapreneurial division of a computer company. We were charged with creating new products that would use a bleeding-edge technology called CD-ROM. HR rounded up an extraordinary selection of existing employees and talented potential hires. Before long, we had a team of brilliant people that could have taken us to the moon if we’d decided that was the direction to go.
But I had two problems: the head of the IT thought I was encroaching on his turf and management didn’t understand that rigid rules stifle the innovation process.
Nevertheless, we prevailed and three of seven new products highlighted in the company’s annual report came out of our division.
Moral of the Story
Innovation needs to be nurtured, encouraged, and protected from politics. A hush-hush division of Lockheed, unknown to everyone else in the company (and the world) and free from the usual corporate rules, built the U-2, the highest-flying aircraft in the world and the SR-71, the fastest aircraft in the world. Today, the Skunk Works is a synonym for innovation.
In a rapidly changing world, innovation is fundamental to business success. Everyone on your team has to be an innovator, and you have to both encourage it and remove obstacles to creativity.
Tom Harnish is a serial entrepreneur. Always on the bleeding edge of technology, he learned what works (and what doesn't) leading projects, products and companies to success (mostly). He can't play a lot of musical instruments.
11:51 2
vendredi 11 mai 2012
Facebook’s New App Center: Everything You Need to Know
Instead of selling apps that integrate with Facebook, the new App Center will refer users to other app stores where they can buy them.
Confused? You’re not the only one. After Facebook announced the new feature on Wednesday, “I don’t get it” was a common response.
We’ve answered below some of the most common questions about how the App Center will work, what apps it will contain and why Facebook built it. Let us know if you have another question we missed.
So Facebook is going to have an app store now?
Yes, but not in the same sense that Google and Apple have app stores. What Facebook has announced is more of an app showcase. In addition to apps built on Facebook, it includes apps that use Facebook Login, regardless of whether they’re iOS, Android or web apps.
Does that mean I can buy iOS and Android apps on Facebook?
No. Though you will find iOS and Android apps in the App Center, you will be directed to Apple’s App Store or Google Play to actually download the apps.
Facebook announced on Wednesday that it will allow developers to charge for “apps built on Facebook” for the first time, but is not clear whether users will purchase apps directly from the App Center.
What are “apps built on Facebook,” and how are they different than iOS and Android apps that integrate with Facebook?
Apps built on Facebook are web apps viewed and used within the Facebook site. They get a special page within Facebook where they load. On the other hand, apps with Facebook integrations such as Draw Something and Pinterest are built on external platforms, but they interface with Facebook for login and other social features.
Couldn’t I spend money on apps built on Facebook before?
Yes. Previously, Facebook has allowed in-app purchases within these apps, but it has not allowed developers to charge for apps themselves.
Social game maker Zynga, for example, has previously been able to charge for items like blueberries or game advantages within Farmville. Now it will have the option to charge for Farmville itself.
How will I access Facebook’s App Center?
Facebook’s App Center will launch on the web as well as within the iOS and Android Facebook apps.
What will the App Center Look Like?
It will look a lot like Google Play or the Apple App Store. Each app will have a detail page, which includes a five-star user-rating system. A screenshot of the prototype that Facebook engineer Aaron Brady included in a blog post about the center includes sections for recommended apps, friends’ apps, top apps, trending apps and top-grossing apps.
“We use a variety of signals, such as user ratings and engagement, to determine if an app is listed in the App Center,” Brady wrote.
Hasn’t Facebook launched something like this before?
Sort of. When Facebook first launched Facebook apps in 2007, there was a dedicated applications area where users could browse apps from third-party developers. Users currently locate Facebook apps through the same search bar they use to find people, groups and events.
Why would Facebook launch something like this?
As Brady put it in his blog post, “The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook — whether they’re on iOS, Android or the mobile web.”
Facebook wants developers to build mobile apps that integrate it. Reaching Facebook’s 900 million users through the App Center is another incentive for them to do so.
The showcase also encourages makes it easier to discover apps built on Facebook, many of which integrate Facebook’s payment system Credits. All games built on Facebook are required to use Facebook Credits to accept payments (except when they’re running on iOS), and Facebook takes a takes a 30% cut of all purchases made with Facebook Credits. That’s why as of February Zynga accounted for 12% of the social network’s revenue.
Facebook will also presumably take a 30% cut of the purchase price for upcoming paid apps built on Facebook.
12:12 1
mercredi 9 mai 2012
9 Steps for Getting Kickstarter Dollars
Not to mention, Kickstarter recently reported it has raised $200 million from over 2 million backers.
How does one cash in (literally) on the Kickstarter craze? For starters, it helps to have a unique concept, wicked ambition and one unforgettable pitch. We've read all of Kickstarter's guidelines, FAQs and tips, and have researched testimonials from successful campaign alums to compile a set of tips that will help launch you into the Kickstarter hall of fame.
1. The Scope
Kickstarter projects are just that: projects. And Kickstarter has strict parameters to define a project. It's "something finite with a clear beginning and end." In other words, Kickstarter is not meant to help you earn money to launch a business. Rather, it’s about earning money to complete a finite goal, whether that’s releasing your band’s latest album, completing a book, etc.
Now, if that project just so happens to coincide with the launching of your business, so be it. However, don’t expect to use Kickstarter funds toward anything related to general business–you can use the money towards the development of your project and in paying the necessary people to get your work off the ground. So, set very specific and measurable project goals. Not only will Kickstarter approve your project, but potential backers will have a firmer understanding of what they’re funding.
2. The Timeline
One of the biggest factors to take into account is your project’s timeline. This will dictate how long your Kickstarter campaign should run and how long it will take to deliver the finished product.
You can set a Kickstarter campaign to run anywhere between one and 60 days. Keep in mind, however, that projects lasting 30 days or less have Kickstarter’s highest success rates. A project’s momentum climbs in the beginning and the end, but can lag during a too-long middle time period. Find a happy medium between your timeframe and your audience’s attention span.
A timeline is also important so that you can set mailing dates for your backers’ rewards, another essential piece of the Kickstarter experience. Be sure to give yourself enough time to complete your project once the Kickstarter campaign has been funded; that way, you won’t disappoint your backers with late or rushed rewards.
3. The Money
Once you have a clearly defined project, it should be relatively straightforward to define a funding goal. It’s as simple as putting together a budget.
Take into account the following: production, manufacturing, labor, packaging and shipping costs. Factor in your “salary,” too; if you’re using Kickstarter to help you complete a book, backers are paying for your time. (Just be sure to make that clear in your project description.)
The most important thing to remember is that Kickstarter uses an all-or-nothing funding model. If your project doesn’t reach its financial goal within the specified time period, you’ll receive no money. Therefore, don’t set the bar unreasonably high. On the other hand, if you’ve accurately budgeted the project and are fully transparent to potential backers, you should see healthy returns.
4. The Tiers
Hand-in-hand with your budget, you’ll need to determine the proper rewards to return to backers once the project is completed. Rewards are tangible returns for a backer’s money, and can vary widely from project to project. A popular example is rewarding your backers with something made by the project itself, like a copy of a newly recorded album.
Rewards are determined by different funding tiers. Let’s take the CD example: You might estimate that a backer who pledges $20 deserves a copy of the CD. However, if a backer pledges $50, maybe he or she receives a signed copy of the CD. And if he pledges $100, it’s two signed copies plus a concert ticket.
Kickstarter data shows that the most popular pledge is $25, but the average pledge is around $70. Kickstarter also shares that projects with no reward succeed 35% of the time, while projects with a reward less than $20 succeed 54% of the time. Don’t be afraid to vary your pledge tiers widely to accommodate all budgets.
5. The Video
Kickstarter projects with a video component succeed at a significantly higher rate than those without (50 percent vs. 30 percent). So yes, a video is important. According to Kickstarter, this is what makes a killer vid:
- Tell us who you are.
- Tell us the story behind your project. Where'd you get the idea? What stage is it at now? How are you feeling about it?
- Come out and ask for people's support, explaining why you need it and what you'll do with their money.
- Talk about how awesome your rewards are, using any images you can.
- Explain that if you don't reach your goal, you'll get nothing, and everyone will be sad.
- Thank everyone!
6. The Project Page
Now that you’ve defined your project’s parameters, it’s time to communicate them to potential backers and supporters. Kickstarter emphasizes the most important thing to remember is to be transparent at all times.
That means clearly defining your project’s scope and how you will achieve your goal. It’s also imperative that you explain precisely how you plan to use backers’ money.
Then, explain why you are the best person, company or group to complete this project. Why is your team qualified? What are your past experiences and accolades? Also, create a sense of urgency and timeliness–why do people need this project right now?
Remember to be concise but thorough. Ask yourself, "What questions would people have about my project before pledging money and support?"
7. The Community
Now that you’re ready to launch your project, it’s time to call on your community. Kickstarter recommends tapping your social media followers, but advises a gentle approach. Don’t spam your friends and goad your followers with self-promotion. Consider several different kinds of outreach so as not to overload one network.
And remember: Your community isn’t enough. Consider drafting a pitch document for media coverage, no matter how small the outlet. And ask for help from your local community so they can share in the success–pass out fliers in local businesses and make nice with your town’s radio DJs.
An often overlooked tactic is to tap your backers’ networks, too. Once a person supports your project, he or she is obviously invested in its completion. So ask backers to share the project among their communities.
8. The Updates
Your backers are the lifeblood of your project. They deserve to be updated frequently and thoroughly, as if they were on the team alongside you.
You may choose to either make updates public, or share them privately to backers. To make them feel invested, consider e-mailing updates that include video and photos of your progress, important milestones and team events.
9. The Rewards
A project’s completion means you need to start mailing backers their rewards. You’ll be able to send backers a survey upon completion of your Kickstarter campaign, in which you can ask them to provide their contact information and other requests (T-shirt size, color preference, mailing address, etc.) Kickstarter offers a spreadsheet tool to help you keep all of this information organized.
Staying organized is key. Many Kickstarter alums share that the most challenging part of the process was meeting the mailing dates for rewards. But the process should be pretty straightforward, as long as you account for every step of the process: collecting surveys, calculating shipping costs based on package weight and backer location, purchasing supplies, printing shipping labels, packaging, transporting and finally mailing your rewards.
08:01 0
5 Lessons Your Mother Taught You About Business
1. “You can do anything.” Not many mothers probably told their children a generation ago that they should grow up to be an entrepreneur. The typical “reach” goal was a doctor or maybe even president. These days, more mothers would probably tell their children to grow up to be Steve Jobs than to be President Obama. However, your mother’s insistence that you could accomplish anything and were “destined for success” was the essential ingredient in building your confidence to start a company. There simply is no other way to explain setting a goal that is so difficult to achieve as starting a company.
2. “Failure not an option.” Although there is failure in every entrepreneur’s future (many times more than once), the non-quitting spirit your mother repeatedly taught formed the basis for not giving up when your business hits a pothole. You can thank your mother for helping you form the key entrepreneur gene: resiliency.
3. “Patience is a virtue.” The lesson of patience is an essential characteristic that small business owners need to learn. Most "overnight successes" took 7 to 10 years. The rapid rise to financial fortune is only a fairy tale that is primarily realized only after the exit event. By their very nature, entrepreneurs are not a patient group, but they need to take a longer-term view in order to be successful. Most entrepreneurs are not successful on their first try (or second).
4. “Don’t be late.” Punctuality and getting tasks done on time are critical skills for small business owners, because what you do, your employees will also do. In other words, if you are never on time or don’t complete tasks in a timely manner, your staff won’t either.
5. “Stop complaining.” Your mother taught you to stop “bellyaching.” In business, while you can’t control the outcome, you can control your response. Learn what you can from the current result, but then move on by taking an action that gives another chance of success.
Although my mother taught me well, she did give me two pieces of advice that ended up not being true in the world of business:
1. "Good things come to those who wait." Most small business owners get tired of just waiting. They go out there and make things happen. To be successful, value proactivity over reactivity.
2. "Do what you love and the money will follow." Mothers got this one mixed up as well. It should be, "do what you love and it does not matter if the money follows." To be successful in building a company, an entrepreneur needs to be driven by passion, not financial reward. While making money is a way we keep score (and is important), most small business owners find a way to be “happily” successful.
As you can tell, I didn’t always listen. My mother told me I should also marry someone rich.
07:39 0
lundi 19 mars 2012
Why Apple Is Giving Cash Back to Shareholders
There are several reasons Apple is giving dividends, but the primary one is that investors feel they have a right to some of Apple’s $100 billion. “People expect a return on their investment,” says Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “If you can’t do anything with the money, then you should give it back.”
Elson says that Apple is not the only company to deal with this issue. At some point, every successful public company will get pressure to give money back. (Before the recession, Exxon Mobil, Dell and Pfizer, among others, got the same kind of pressure from investors to give back their cash or find a way to invest it.) In Apple’s case, closing in on $100 billion seems to have triggered a call to launch a dividend for investors, but there’s usually no benchmark for such decisions. “It’s all up to the judgment of the board,” says Elson.
Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, says $100 billion is way more than Apple needs, so it doesn’t make sense to keep all that money on hand. He points out that even after the company pays out its $45 billion in dividends, Apple will still have more than $50 billion in cash plus whatever it puts aside in the future. “They’ll always have cash for even big acquisitions if it enhances their position,” says Bajarin, who expects Apple to start buying more companies.
During the call with analysts Monday morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook repeatedly stressed that the dividend would also attract new investors. With a share price of $600, drawing new shareholders doesn’t seem like an issue, but Bajarin notes that there’s a type of investor that is primarily concerned with dividends. “Most of the guys buying [Apple stock] today are buying on a holding basis,” says Bajarin, who notes that such investors believe Apple is a good long-term buy. “But there are a lot of people who buy stock only on a monthly basis.”
Another point Bajarin emphasized is that some 65% of of Apple’s cash is based outside the U.S. Merely bringing that money — now housed in foreign banks — back to the U.S. would force Apple to lose cash in taxes and other fees. “Apple’s not the only one,” he says. “No corporation wants to bring money back to the U.S.”
Known for its dramatic product introductions, Apple’s Monday morning announcement will probably seem ho-hum for non-investors. But, based on Apple’s stock performance Monday morning, the company has at least prompted a squib of excitement among its intended audience: At press time, the company’s stock was up about $6 or 1% at the iDividend news.
The New iPad Details Hit Apple.com
The new 9.7-inch iPad
has 2048 x 1536-pixel retina display, 5-megapixel camera (with the same
optics sensor from the iPhone 4S) and 1080p video recording. It is
available March 16 in black and white, powered by A5X chip (with
quad-core graphics) and supports 4G LTE networks. It's 9.4 millimeters
thick and 1.4 pounds.Wi-Fi only iPads cost $499 for 16 GB, $599 32 GB and $699 for 64 GB, while 4G versions cost $629 for 16 GB, $729 32 GB and $829 for 64 GB. Pre-orders start today, and the devices will be in stores March 16 in these 10 countries: U.S., UK, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.
Credit: Apple.com
Apple.com Touts New iPad Features
"Pick
up the new iPad and suddenly, it’s clear. You’re actually touching your
photos, reading a book, playing the piano. Nothing comes between you
and what you love. To make that hands-on experience even better, we made
the fundamental elements of iPad better — the display, the camera, the
wireless connection. All of which makes the new, third-generation iPad
capable of so much more than you ever imagined."Credit: Apple.com
09:15 0
4 Things Apple Should Have Done With Its Billions
The Cupertino company’s decision was an obvious one — its $97 billion cash hoard was becoming a burden, and a combination of a dividend and a stock buyback program is a simple way to keep shareholders happy.
However, Apple was in a unique position: it had zero debt and an unheard of amount of cash, which gave it an unprecedented freedom of choice.
With the world coming out of one of the worst recessions in recent history, and Apple being on the forefront of a smartphone/post-PC revolution, one can’t help but wonder whether there were other — braver, perhaps — ways in which the world’s most valuable company could have spent that money.
Green Energy
Apple has invested in green energy before — its new data center in Maiden, N.C., for example, will have the largest end user–owned, onsite solar array in the U.S. Also, Apple’s new “Spaceship” campus will be one of the most environmentally friendly buildings of its kind.
However, while Apple was only investing in green energy for its own purposes (all that positive PR doesn’t hurt, either), Google has gone a step further, making green energy its business.
In 2011, Google invested an astounding $880 million in a variety of renewable energy projects — an amount that sounds trivial compared to the approximately $2.5 billion Apple will spend only on its first quarterly dividend in July 2012.
Philanthropy
Steve Jobs was often criticized for not being particularly philanthropic. Though he was a multi-billionaire, Jobs rarely donated money, and he stopped all philanthropic efforts in Apple as well when he returned to the company in 1997.
Tim Cook has had (he still does) a unique chance to completely turn this stance around. Of course, donating a large sum of money to a philanthropic foundation would probably be frowned upon by shareholders, but there are many ways to donate to a good cause: giving away smartphones and tablets to children in poor countries, or helping them get better Internet access, for example. Such efforts might benefit a multinational giant like Apple in the years to come.
iPads for Schools and Universities
Apple recently announced a big play into the textbook business. For this business to thrive, kids in schools and universities need to have iPads, and the simplest possible solution is to just give them away.
Equipping every kid in the U.S. with an iPad is no cheap task. As of late 2011, there were more than 49.4 million students attending public elementary and secondary schools, and 19.7 million students were attending U.S. colleges and universities.
If you count the cost of iPad at $499 (it costs Apple less to make it, but we’ll use the retail price for simplicity’s sake), it would cost approximately $35 billion to give an iPad to every student in every classroom in America. It would be a very bold move, but also one that would revolutionize the U.S. education system, with Apple sitting firmly at the forefront.
And if you think such a move would be mere squandering of Apple’s cash, just think how much money Apple would get when all those kids start buying iPad apps.
A Major Acquisition
Forty-five billion dollars can buy you a lot of things. When we talk about companies as big as Apple, I’m not a fan of major mergers and acquisitions, because it’s really hard to integrate the visions of two different IT companies (remember Sony Ericsson and Benq-Siemens?) into one.
As far as acquiring smaller companies — Tim Cook pointed this out in today’s announcement — Apple still has more than enough cash to buy pretty much whatever company it fancies.
However, with so much money on its hands, Apple could even afford to buy its way into a completely different industry. The aforementioned green energy comes to mind, but there are other options, as well. With today’s electric cars becoming more and more intertwined with the IT industry, an iCar becomes closer to reality. So why not buy your way into the auto-industry?
08:38 0
dimanche 18 mars 2012
New Ways to Fund Your Startup [VIDEO]
MSNBC's Your Business:
Where's the Money?
It's not easy to go to the bank and get a loan these days.
If you're looking to secure some funding for your startup, there are
some options you may not have considered. Venture attorney Jennifer Hill
has tips for new ways to find money.
08:06 0
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