Infotrade

It was a great search engine but a money-losing business—until it borrowed an idea from its biggest rival. The idea that made Google the world’s greatest search engine was all Larry Page and Sergey Brin. But the idea that set it on the path to becoming the world’s greatest  company  wasn’t theirs originally. It was borrowed, with some key modifications, from their biggest early rival. In September 1998, Page and Brin founded Google based on an algorithm called PageRank that they had developed as Stanford Ph.D. students. Other search engines ranked pages based on the relevance of the text they contained, which allowed spammers to game the system by filling their pages with commonly searched keywords. PageRank dived much deeper, evaluating sites’ authority and influence based on the number of other authoritative and influential sites that linked to them. Suddenly a search for “Honda” turned up Honda.com instead of, say, a porn site that had copied the word ...

Have a cool startup idea, and want to get it funded? You could go the traditional route, blindly sending your pitch deck to every VC in Silicon Valley. Or you could follow investors on Twitter, hoping that through casual badinage you can win the hearts (and eventually, the wallets) of your startup's money source.  Or maybe, just maybe, you should drive for Uber. UberX Lowers The Bar Yes, Uber, the popular mobile app that connects drivers with people who need a lift. Founded in 2009 as UberCab, Uber has become the go-to app for hailing a sedan in markets like San Francisco, New York City and London. And while historically Uber operators have been commercial sedan drivers filling time between jobs their employer provides them, Uber's introduction of UberX in July 2012 has opened the service to cars and drivers of all kinds. This means that not only will you be picked up in a Toyota Prius or Volkswagen Jetta instead of a Lincoln Town Car, but you're also going...

People If you can’t get to ramen profitability with a team of 2 – 4 within six months to a year, something’s wrong. (You can choose not to be profitable, but it must be your choice, not something forced on you by the market). Split the stock between the founding team evenly. Always have a vesting schedule. Make most decisions by consensus, but have a single  CEO  whose decisions are final. Make it clear from day one. Your authority as  CEO  is earned. You start with a non-zero baseline. It grows if you have victories and dwindles if you don’t. Don’t try to use authority you didn’t earn. Morale is very real and self-perpetuating. If you work too long without victories, your investors, employees, family, and you yourself will lose faith. Work like hell not to get yourself into this position. Pick the initial team  very  carefully. Everyone should be pleasant to work with, have at least one skill relevant to the business they’re spectacular at, be e...

In the past I have written up posts about tools designed to help a blogger, but now I am focusing on business oriented tools. These tools are great for those looking to start their own business or to improve on an existing one. Almostmeet Almostmeet, by the folks at Dabbleboard (see below), is a great way for teams to meet online and collaborate together. Perhaps not as good as working in person, it is ‘Almost’ as good. With a text box in addition to the audio/video chatting as well as the whiteboard teams can really work well together. Constant Contact Constant Contact is a very well known email marketing, online survey and event marketing resource. ConstantContact has a very professional look and feel. It is great for sending email newsletters, online surveys and managing email lists. ContractPal ContractPal is a great way to take care of all your formal contracts and forms online. In their own words, it is an “electronic contracting platform.” Cu...

We’ve recently looked at ocean-based energy storage system concepts from  MIT  and  Subhydro AS  that are designed to overcome the intermittency problems of renewable energy sources like wind and solar by pumping water out of large tanks and using gravity to let it back in and generate electricity when needed. Santa Barbara, California-based company Advanced Rail Energy Storage (ARES) has come up with a land-based alternative that would provide grid scale energy storage using electric locomotives. ARES’ technology uses heavy rail cars that are pushed to the top of a grade using excess power from renewable energy plants or when electricity demand is low. Then, when the wind drops, the sun stops shining, or electricity demand rises, the rail cars are released back down the hill, generating electricity through regenerative braking. Because the system doesn’t rely on the use of water like the aforementioned ocean-based systems, the company says the technology is...

Day 1 Finding Your Passion. You want to own a business. Why?  I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun. Thomas A. Edison To find your business passion, answer the following questions; What you would do even if no money were involved?  What activities have you done over the past month? Was it something you could do for someone? How? What product/ service was involved? Who would use your product or service?  My business should provide          because I enjoy doing         . Day 2 Define Your Business What type of business, who’s your customer and how do you make money? Businesses are make money because of one thing...customers! Before you do anything else, you must first decide who are your customers and how you will find them. Simply put, it’s revenue before expense! My business provides what? Who would buy that ? How would they find me? … Do...