Why Did The SBA Just Gift Millions To For-Profit Businesses?

The SBA just gave away millions in corporate welfare with no strings attached, to venture- capitalists accelerators. This is wrong on multiple levels.  

The U.S. Small Business Administration just announced the award of millions of dollars in grants to 50 "accelerators," which are designed for venture capitalists to sift through countless startups to find the few they think can make them money. But the rationale, efficacy, and fairness of this program all need to be challenged.

The Rationale--Accelerators Produce More Jobs (NOT)

Over the last decade, the SBA has shifted its focus away from the 98 percent of small businesses with 1-19 employees, to work with very large corporations with up to $36.5 million in revenue and/or 1,500 employees. This accelerator grant program is another example of that shift.

The SBA says accelerators produce a lot of jobs, but the evidence suggests the opposite. Over the last five years, the approximately 200 accelerators in the U.S. have created between3,300 and 4,800 jobs, or a measly 700 to 960 jobs a year, at a cost of $130,000 per job created. Small businesses add around 600,000 businesses and three million jobs every year, or an average of 15 million jobs every five years; all without handouts from the government.

The Efficacy--Accelerators Product High-Growth Companies (NOT)

The SBA says accelerators produce high-growth companies. The evidence suggests otherwise.

The best data on job creation from the Kauffman Foundation shows 100% of net new jobs are created in the first twelve months of a new business. 98% of those will never have more than 19 employees (and don't want more), and less than 00.06% have more than 500. And most importantly, nobody can figure out which startup will be the freak that will grow quickly. Not a single business that has gone through an accelerator program over the last couple decades has become "high-growth", and generated tens of thousands of jobs.

In contrast, McDonalds started as a hot dog stand in 1937, and didn't start growing until eighteen years later. It was not built to be big, "high-growth", or even make hamburgers. Accelerator owners would have laughed at it.

Sara Blakely designed and started selling panty hose from her apartment because she didn't like the way her panty hose fit. In a few short years, Spanx became a billion dollar company without the help of an accelerator, or even a single penny of outside investment. And no one, including Sara Blakely, could have guessed it would become huge.

In 1996, two college kids started a company called Backrub on their college campus server. Three years later they moved out of their garage and renamed it Google, which lived in obscurity in the backwaters of the Internet for another couple years. These kids would have never survived the "pitch deck" process to get into an accelerator.

The accelerators never recognized these or any others like them, and the overwhelming evidence is they never do. The fact is, good ideas don't need to be coddled. 81 percent of the fastest growing businesses in America never took a dime of venture capital, and those that achieved the highest financial return also took no vc money. Not one of the fastest growing businesses in America on anyone's list over the last twenty years has come through an accelerator.

Throwing free money at accelerators in not an effective use of SBA funds. They would be better off lending it to small business owners with interest.

The Fairness Issue

The SBA was formed to help small business owners get interest-bearing loans, not to give free money to wealthy vc's. One recipient of the handout, the Arizona Center for Innovation, is owned by Tech Parks Arizona, which owns 5.2 million square feet of commercial office space producing over $100 million a year in revenue. Do they really need a government handout to make more money?

Just as questionable, many other grant recipients formed their accelerator in the last few months, possibly just to get the grant. Some don't have a website yet. Some haven't even opened. One is a rental kitchen that opens this month and will rotate chefs in their for-profit restaurant area. How is that "high growth"? With no track record at all, the SBA is throwing money at all these, no strings attached. It's mind-boggling and a terrible investment practice that no accelerator with integrity would support.

How does any of this giveaway make sense? This is crony-Industrialism, and an affront to the millions of small businesses slugging it out in the trenches, who are more deserving, but won't see a dime of this giveaway. The SBA has a lot of explaining to do.

by Chuck Blakeman, Author of the #1 Rated Business Book of the Year, Making Money is Killing Your Business and Top 10 business book, Why Employees Are Always A Bad Idea

www.ChuckBlakeman.com

Article as seen on Inc.com

Marissa Mayer, The Old School Manager, vs. Ricardo Semler, The Participation Age Leader

Mayer manages to the Lowest Common Denominator. Semler leads to the Highest Common Denominator. The difference is dramatic. Last year, the CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, created shock waves throughout the tech world by dictating that “work from home” was no longer permitted. She summarily herded everyone back into the Office Day Care Center to be closely supervised like seven year olds. A few years earlier, a large multi-national company headquartered in Brazil named Semco, threw a party for their leader, Ricardo Semler, to commemorate his 10^th anniversary of not making a decision.

Managing to The Worst vs. Expecting the Best

LCD Management (lowest common denominator) asks, “What’s the most incompetent or laziest thing somebody could do?”, and then creates an environment to make it hard to get away with it. In contrast, HCD Leadership asks, “If given a clear vision, what is the best possible thing people could do without being managed?” HCD leaders then create the kind of environment that will attract self-motivated, self-managed achievers. Both of them are self-fulfilling prophecies.

LCD Managers create an environment where people will live down to our worst expectations of them. HCD leaders understand that the art of leadership is to know how few decisions the leader should make.

Ricardo Semler is perhaps the best, low-profile CEO leader in business today. Mayer is a high-profile CEO manager, using personal superpowers to hold everything together - for now. As a result, the futures of Yahoo and Semco are going in dramatically different directions.

Centralized Decision-making vs. Everyone is Capable

LCD managers assume they are the most motivated, qualified, committed, invested, and experienced. With all those superstar qualities, it would be foolish to have others making decisions. That’s why they are paid the big bucks. Mayer is infamous for regularly having a few dozen people waiting outside her office for hours, as she solves problems and makes decisions for them one at a time.

HCD Leadership believes most people are inherently motivated, qualified, committed, and invested, and that they make better decisions than someone in a hierarchy.  Semler doesn’t make decisions anymore because decisions are made where they will be lived out. Stakeholders throughout the company are responsible for Semco entering a variety of industries and growing dramatically year after year, from $4 million 29 years ago to $1billion+ today. As an HCD leader, instead of making decisions others can make, Semler is free to ask questions, cast vision, and work with others to build the future of the company.

Superpowers vs. Delegation

Mayer is a supermanager – which allows her to get away with a lot in the short term. But it is not sustainable. When she goes, the energy goes. She has entrenched herself in decision-making, making her nearly indispensable. While at Google, Mayer pulled 250 all-nighters in five years and held up to 70 meetings a week. She sleeps four hours a night. In contrast, Semler trained others to make decisions. There are now six co-CEOs who rotate leadership every six months, allowing Semler to function at the highest levels of leadership and not make decisions. As with any great leader, he has worked hard to get out of the way. He is fully dispensable, while nobody could replace Mayer.

The Results Are In

Semco gets hundreds of unsolicited resumes every month, and no one leaves. In the worst 10-year recession in Brazil’s history, revenues grew 600%, profits were up 500%, and productivity rose 700%. Innovative Stakeholders have taken them into profitable industries they could have never dreamed of entering, and they continue to grow exponentially. And unlike Yahoo, Semco hasn’t told people how or where to work for over three decades.

LCD management may get quick, short-term results, but Yahoo’s future will never look like Semco’s – it’s too reliant on a very high-profile, LCD superhuman manager. Very impressive in the short-term, but very old school.

Two Business Lessons From a Guy Who Ate An Airplane

Two great questions - Is it possible? Should I do it?

Thirty five years ago a Frenchman, Michel Lotito became well-known because he ate a Cessna 150.  Yep, he ate the whole thing; wings, tires, windows, seats, engine - everything.  It took him two years, but he got the whole thing down, and I’m assuming, out.

On a tech forum in 2001, someone recounted the story, and the first response was, “Uh ok… but why an airplane?” Which leads us to two really important business lessons we should learn from eating an airplane.

Business Lesson #1 – Hard stuff is rarely impossible

You can do anything one bite at a time.

Born prematurely at 4.5 lbs, Wilma Rudolph took her first steps at eight years old, after suffering for years from polio. She went on to become the fastest woman alive and the first to win three Olympic gold medals.

At 16, Chris Zane convinced his parents to let him take over a bike shop going out of business, borrowing $23,000 from his grandfather—at 15 percent interest. This year, 30 years later, he expects to bring in $21 million.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses stopped embroidering at age 76 when her hands became too crippled to hold a needle. With no formal training or education, she took up painting and became one of the most famous and acclaimed painters in history, Grandma Moses.

Ray Kroc started franchising McDonalds at the age of 59. Colonel Sanders franchised KFC at 62.

A lot of personal and business accomplishments defy the possible. Stop whining about what you think you can’t do. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.”  Take one step at a time. Keep going. Don’t give up.

Business Lesson #2 – Pick something worth doing before you start

There’s nothing worse than eating an airplane just to have someone ask, “Uh, ok… but why an airplane?” Business is hard enough. Don’t make it harder by continuing to beat your head against the wall to do things that, in the end, won’t matter. Choose wisely. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. Michel Lotito died at the age of 57 of "natural causes". Uh-huh. Eating an airplane is a bad idea.

When setting out to do something, always make sure you ask BOTH the following questions.

1)    Is it possible? (It almost always is) and…

2)    Should I do it? (What is the possible reward?)

Lotito only asked the first one. Don't make that mistake.

Put your hand to what others think is impossible, but make sure it’s worth doing before you start.

article as seen on Inc.com

4 Steps To Hiring People You’ll Never Have To Manage

Resumes Are Nearly Useless

Most of our hiring practices were developed for the Industrial Age. But it turns out resumes are nearly useless and our hiring process is backwards.

#1 - Business Beliefs and Culture

Business Beliefs determine your culture. Beware the picture on the wall of an eagle with a clever saying. You don’t create a culture; you just live out what you believe.

Before you ever look at a resume, test for Business Beliefs. Your best future Stakeholders will believe they should Make Meaning at work, not just money. And they’ll believe that taking ownership of their job, processes, teamwork and results are fundamental responsibilities. Traditional employees believe they trade hours for money. Stakeholders believe they go to work to create Significance in the world around them.

Business Beliefs and Culture are everything, and you don’t find these on a resume.

#2 - Talent

Unlike skills, talents are those innate abilities that can’t be taught; a sense of urgency, attention to detail, silver-tongued communicator, ability to work alone or in teams, etc. Every job requires unique talents. Figure out what those are and hire second for talent, before you look at their resume. You don’t find talent on a resume.

#3 – Skills (Demonstrated)

Resumes are a terrible place to find talents, too.  You don’t test for skills by sitting across from someone asking them if their resume is true. Have the person demonstrate whatever they are being hired to do. If they are good at it, they have the skills. If they don’t, you have to decide if training them makes sense. My company focuses on hiring talented people, because you can teach skills, but talent can’t be taught. People who are highly skilled but untalented will never be great contributors.

#4 Experience.

If someone passes the first four tests, only then should you bother to glance (yes, glance) at their resume. Resumes are just obituaries about what someone used to do, and like obituaries, they are always embellished while downplaying shortcomings. Use resumes at the end of the hiring process to see if someone is a job-hopper, and to help you talk to their references.

We have it all backwards.

So to hire someone who you’ll never have to manage, who will take ownership and become a contributing Stakeholder, interview for these four things, always in this order:

1. Business Beliefs and Culture

2. Talent

3. Skills (test for them, don’t look at the resume)

4. Experience

But how does the traditional Industrial Age process do it? Backwards:

1. Experience - “We need someone fast. We won’t have time to train.”

2. Skills - “Their resume says they’re good. They must be good.”

3. Talent – Rarely looked at

4. Business Beliefs and Culture – At best, an afterthought

Is it any wonder we end up hiring Industrial Age style employees who need to be herded into office day care centers and supervised like seven year olds?

Key-Word Searches Are The Worst Possible Hiring Practice

Using software to do key-word searches as the first step is broken. The rationale is that there are always too many candidates and it eliminates the 90% who won’t be a fit. But what it eliminates is great people who could be a perfect cultural fit, with all the right talents and possibly even the right skills. Instead it selects BS’rs who wrote the best, and possibly most exaggerated obituaries.

Reboot

If you want to hire people you won’t have to manage, throw out most of what you’ve been taught about hiring. Hire first for Business Beliefs and Culture, second for talent, third for demonstrated skills, and use experience as a tiebreaker. You, and the people who you hire, will all be happier and more productive.

Article as seen on Inc.com

by Chuck Blakeman, Author of the #1 Rated Business Book of the Year, Making Money is Killing Your Business and Top 10 business book, Why Employees Are Always A Bad Idea

www.ChuckBlakeman.com

Why You Should Hire Stakeholders, Not Employees

Let's retire the idea of an employee. These days, your company needs something different.

The Factory System gave us cool toys and a cushy life, but it also came with business diseases, and one of them is the Industrial Age concept of the employee. That version is a very new idea in the history of man, and one that needs to go away. Let's replace them with Stakeholders.

Employees Are Silent

The Industrial Age recreated people as extensions of machines. If people left the messy, creative human part at home, they fit into the Factory System much better. Sadly, people adapted, to the point that the generation that entered the work force at the very peak of the Industrial Age (1945-1965ish) was given the worst generational label in history--The Silent Generation. They understood the Factory System mantra, "Be loyal to the company. Do what you're told. Show up early, leave late. Shut up, sit down, don't make waves, live invisibly, and go out quietly. The company will take care of you, from cradle to grave." They bought the promise hook, line and sinker.

Employees Are Children

This view of work (and life) turned adults back into children. The most respected person was one who obediently took orders, did what they were told, didn't question authority, was blindly loyal to those in charge, and lived passively as others directed their life. Pretty much what we want a five-year-old to do.

To keep the children from ruining the house, the Industrial Age herded people into company day care centers, penned them in with clear and narrow rules on performance and hours, and endless limitations on being human and adult at work. Machines didn't need them to ask why, or to create, or to solve problems. Machines just needed them to "do".

Childlike Employees Are Replaced By Adult Stakeholders

The notion of an employee is a business disease which turns people back into children, and it should be eradicated. Some companies can't even use the word anymore. They don't want to hire children who need to be supervised so that they don't run into the street. They want adults. Enter the Stakeholder.

Stakeholders bring the whole, messy, creative person to work. They can think, take initiative, make decisions, carry responsibility, take ownership, be creative, and solve problems. And they incessantly ask the most human of questions, "Why?" They are self-directed and creative, and they solve problems. They don't expect the company or other adults to take care of them.

Stakeholders Are Owners

Ownership is the most powerful motivator in business. Adults own stuff. Even if they don't own a piece of the company, Stakeholders own their work. And as Stakeholders, they receive profit sharing, just like an owner should. To create ownership, Stakeholders in Participation Age companies own some of the fruit of their labor.

Stakeholders Require Leadership, Not Adult Supervision (Management)

If you hire adult Stakeholders instead of childlike employees, it changes the way you lead people. Participation Age companies with Stakeholders don't have office hours, vacation time, or personal days. They're not interested in whose car was in the parking lot first or who left last. In these companies, Stakeholders don't need adult supervision, they need leadership.

Stakeholders Make Meaning and Money At Work, and More of Both

Industrial Age employees traded time for money, and then went home to Make Meaning. Stakeholders won't settle for a j-o-b that just pays the bills. They want to be able to go home at the end of the day knowing they made a difference, not just a product. And everyone is a lot happier because they all work with adults who contribute and pull their own weight.

In the Participation Age, employees are always a bad idea. Stakeholders will replace them. There is a growing wave of companies looking to replace employees with Stakeholders. Don't settle. Find one you can join, or build one yourself.

Come join us in the Participation Age.

by Chuck Blakeman, Author of the #1 Rated Business Book of the Year, Making Money is Killing Your Business and Top 10 business book, Why Employees Are Always A Bad Idea

www.ChuckBlakeman.com

Article as seen on Inc.com

Dealing with the Patent Trolls

Start-ups face a lot of adversity in their quest to become profitable companies and, in fact, most don't make it.  One large factor in preventing start-ups from moving forward is the intervention of the dreaded "patent troll."   Patent troll is a derogatory term for a business that produces no products or services, yet obtains patents and uses them to launch a plethora of law-suits against other companies.  A patent troll uses the threat of a lawsuit against businesses in order to extort settlement money without having to go to trial.  What set these trolls apart from companies that legitimately license out thier patented ideas, is that the trolls have no interest in developing the idea, only using it for threat purposes.  They don't want to lease the idea out, and they don't care about the benefits of the final product. Patent trolls are a pain in the butt for not just start-ups but many other businesses as well.  Adam Corolla, a comedian and owner of Lotzi Digital Inc, a podcasting company, is being sued by a company called Personal Audio, a company that claims to own the rights to the idea of a podcast.  When it realized that there wasn't much money to be made in suing podcasters, Personal Audio moved to dismiss the suit, a dismissal that Carolla refused.  Carolla wants to see the suit through to the end, in the hopes of getting Personal Audio's patent revoked, a move which would free other podcasters from the fear of an absurd suit showing up on their front doorstep.  This trend, the trend of taking the fight to the trolls, seems to finally be making some headway and others have started to follow suit.

In 2011 patent trolls were estimated to have cost businesses over $29 billion in legal fees and settlements costs, and creating legislation to curb their suits is hard to create.  Any move to abolish software patents would work, but this would also harm legitimate research companies, companies like Toyota which has software patents on the device that controls the hybrid engine in their Prius.  So what can be done?

In June of 2014 the Supreme Court gave those fighting the trolls a great new weapon for their arsenal.  The case of Alice Corp. v CLS Bank made huge waves when the supreme court ruled that “merely requiring generic computer implementation fails to transform that abstract idea into a patent-eligible invention.”  This means when dealing with computer software, simply having the idea for something is no longer patentable, and only becomes patentable when implemented.  Even then, only your particular version of the implementation is patentable, and not the idea as a whole.  For trolls, who rely on not implementing to protect them from similarly absurd suits, this is a striking blow.  Fresh on the heels of this Supreme Court decision, another trend is making the trolls take notice.

Patent Trolls make a large portion of their money from settlements outside of lawsuits.  The cost of fighting a lawsuit is high, and rather than pay giant legal fees, many companies choose to pay what amounts to blackmail, often having to close down the company to do so.  When one NYC startup was faced with a similar decision, they reached out to Brooklyn Law students for help.  The students quickly realized that this was an opportunity for the best real-world practice that they could find, and put the troll on notice.  With an unlimited number of hours of legal representation by third-year law students available to the defendant, the patent troll had no option but to tuck his tail and run.  This free legal support drastically changes the game against the trolls, and could seriously impact many companies who make their money this way.

Leaders and Managers Have Nothing In Common

Manage Stuff. Lead People.

Managers are one of the core business diseases of the Industrial Age. They are sacred cows who have been around only for a little over a century, but who should go away as quickly as possible. Few things are as disruptive, unhelpful, and unproductive in the workplace as managers.

Solve and Decide, or Become Less Important?

The manager’s worst habits are to a) solve things and b) decide things. No other actions are as debilitating to others. When a manager solves and decides, the only thing left is to delegate tasks to be executed—“put this nut on that bolt, at this rate.” But when we delegate tasks, people feel used. Managers who solve and decide things are fundamental in the dehumanizing of the workplace, because tasks are for machines.

Leaders do it quite differently. They train others to solve problems and make decisions, and then they get out of the way. If you’re becoming less and less important in your position, you’re leading.

The Best Business Leader Makes the Fewest Decisions

The art of traditional management involves planning, organizing, staffing, controlling, and manipulating human capital. In the awful assumption of traditional management model, people are “capital” to be manipulated and controlled.

In contrast, the art of leadership is to know how few decisions the leader needs to make.

Ricardo Semler, the architect behind Semco, an $800 million Brazilian Participation Age company (with 3,000 stakeholders, but no managers), just celebrated his 10th anniversary of not making a decision. That is tremendous leadership, the kind we should all aspire to by training others to “solve and decide” and then, by getting out their way.

It works because Semler and other Semco leaders have trained others to solve problems and make decisions. Having gotten out of the way, the leaders are now free to stop solving and deciding, and instead to ask questions and think about the future. If you’re making decisions for others, you’re managing. If you’re just asking questions, you’re leading.

What Are You Delegating; Tasks or Responsibility?

We said earlier that when managers delegate tasks (“put this nut on that bolt”), people feel used, because tasks are for machines. But leaders delegate responsibility (“make a great product”)—a much broader request that requires thinking, solving, and deciding. When given responsibility, people take ownership, and ownership is the most powerful motivator in business. Are you delegating tasks, which simply require action, or delegating responsibility, which requires the whole messy, creative person to show up? Management Is Not Leadership; Leadership Is Not Management Management is a very recently invented construct, but leadership has been around for centuries. We’ve conflated the two. Here’s a simple reference for pulling them back apart:

Manage Stuff. Lead People.

The traditional business model we inherited from the factory system of the Industrial Age made the flawed assumption that people need to be managed like stuff. They don’t. They need to be led, and the difference is not semantic, it is gigantic.

Stuff needs to be managed. People don’t. The factory system reinvented people as extensions of machines, and when people are extensions of machines, they are “stuff” to be managed. But if they are fully human, they require leadership, not management.

In our company, we only manage stuff; computers, numbers, software, processes, systems, delivery of goods and services, accounting, marketing, sales, etc. These are all “things” to be managed, and everyone in our business manages stuff. But we don’t need someone with the title of “manager” to hover over any of us to ensure the stuff will get managed. People manage the stuff, and we lead each other by vision, guidance, training and support, and then, most important, by getting out of the way.

The manager’s quest is to be as helpful as possible for as long as possible. The leader’s quest is to relentlessly train others to solve and decide, and become less necessary every day.

It’s important enough to say twice: the art of leadership is to know how few decisions the leader needs to make. Become a leader—stop solving and deciding, and focus instead on asking questions. Everyone will be better off if you do.

Article as seen on Inc.com

by Chuck Blakeman, Author of the #1 Rated Business Book of the Year, Making Money is Killing Your Business and Top 10 business book, Why Employees Are Always A Bad Idea

www.ChuckBlakeman.com

Companies Without Managers Do Better By Every Metric

Participate and Share

Last week we described Participation Age companies - Stakeholders, who work in self-managed teams, replace employees; Leaders replace managers; there is profit-sharing for everyone, no work hours, etc.  But how do they perform against traditional, management-centric companies with Industrial Age hierarchies?

Quite well, it turns out. They don’t just hold their own; they blow the lid off! Let’s start with tiny companies and work our way up to huge.

Crankset Group

Our little seven-year old company, Crankset Group, with 20+ full and part-time people grew 704% in the last five years, and growth is accelerating. Nobody reports to anybody; everybody is a Chief (Relationship Officer, Results Officer, Transformation Officer, Connecting Officer, etc.). Everyone leads in their area of expertise, and we all know exactly what result we are supposed to produce, and if you get the result agreed upon, nobody cares WHERE you are or WHEN you are. And everyone has the ability to grow, learn, start things, and make more money by expanding their impact.

Menlo Innovations

Menlo Innovations, a software company with over 100 Stakeholders, has a manager-less Participation Age culture, and is well known because its founder, Richard Sheridan, wrote a book called, Joy, Inc., that tells how they built a company with almost no hierarchy. They now have courses teaching other companies how to do it.

Valve Corporation

Valve, a software/game company has 300 Stakeholders. There are no managers.  People transfer to other projects without “permission,” choose what to work on, decide each other's pay, and go on vacation for a week together every year (Hawaii last year). Valve is significantly more profitable per Stakeholder than either Apple or Google.

Semco Partners

Semco, a Brazilian company with 3,000 Stakeholders, made washing machines in 1951, but is now in multiple industries including real estate, banking, and web services. In a 10-year recessionary period in Brazil, Semco’s revenues still grew 600%, profits were up 500%, productivity was up 700%, and for the last 20+ years, employee turnover remains at an incredibly low 1-2% per year. They have no managers, no HR department, no written policies (just a few written beliefs) and no office hours. Everyone works in small, self-motivated, self-managed work teams who make their own decisions regarding salary, hiring, firing, and who leads the team for the next six months. There are no managers to involve in the process.

 W. L. Gore, Inc.

W. L. Gore (Gore-Tex), with 10,000 employees has been a Participation Age pioneer, functioning without managers since the 1960’s. Stakeholders at Gore say it takes 6-12 months for new hires to believe there will be no manager looking over their shoulder. One Stakeholder said, “If anyone here ever told someone else what to do, no one would work with them again.”

Fortune 500s and Internationals

Thirty Fortune 500’s are also moving aggressively in the direction of being Participation Age companies and are growing an average of ten times faster than the average S&P 500 company over ten years. Forty-one other international companies and organizations comprise the WorldBlu list of “most democratic” manager-less companies.

A Big Duh

These examples just scratch the surface. The Participation Age company isn’t a fringe idea, but is the wave of the present. In ten years, this will all be a big “duh”. And those that don’t embrace the Participation Age will be left behind.

The results are in. If you want to make a bucket-load of money going forward, you will want to join the Participation Age, and replace managers with exponentially fewer leaders.

Next week we’ll look at the radical difference between the two, and how most companies that think they have leaders, actually have managers.

Article as seen on Inc.com

ICOSA Hosts City of Denver Community Planning and Development Workshop

On July 30th, ICOSA played host to the City of Denver Community Planning and Development department and Urban Land Institute.  That morning a variety of city planners and volunteers spent their day at the ICOSA facilities touring the area and working on plans to revitalize the 40th station area.  The 1/2 mile area surrounding the station includes portions of the Swansea, Northeast Park Hill and Clayton neighborhoods. The evening event was open to public, and was attended by roughly 100 neighbors, community leaders and business owners.  The meeting's agenda focused on what the neighborhood could be like in 5,10 and 20 years and what type of housing, employment or neighborhood amenities could be implemented. The group also discussed how can the area can be improved with foot, bike and vehicle or bus routes and the positive and negative health impacts could be.

Presenters discuss possibilities for the future of the area

The morning brainstorm sessions were the focus of the evening meeting, making residents aware of the possibilities in the area and gathering feedback on what the area residents would like to see happen.

The RTD's East Rail Line, otherwise known as the Eagle P3 Project will connect Downtown Denver to Denver International Airport and is scheduled to open in 2016.  In a report from TRD FasTracks, released for July-October 2014 the Eagle P3 project has added more than $954 million to the Colorado Economy.  Since groundbreaking, the Eagle P3 Project team's contractor, Denver Transit Partners, has also employed 4,800 employees.

Presenting to the community about the proposed future

The next public meeting will be held at ICOSA (4100 Jackson Street) on Wednesday, August 13th from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.  At this meeting it will focus on community design around the 40th and Colorado station. Discussion will include proposed land uses, connectivity, station access, building heights, storm water quality and other important considerations.

Children in the Hot Seat

We've all heard the tragic stories of a child being left in a hot car, and the horrifying results. On average in the United States, 40 children die each year, left in hot cars. Due to the combination of hot summer temperatures, and the notorious lack of shade in most parking lots - the temperature inside a car can heat up from a safe temperature to 94.3 in just two minutes. After an hour, the inside of a car could be 123 degrees, on just an 80 degree day. Albuquerque, New Mexico high school student Alissa Chavez (17), has invented a device to alert parents if their baby is left in the car. Heartbroken over news of children left to die in their car seats, Alissa set out to create an effective warning system. Her design includes a pad that slips into the seat of an infant or child car seat, which detects both the weight of a child and increased heat levels. If the seat starts to get hot, an alarm goes off on a key fob, on your cell phone via a related app, and in your car to alert passersby.

The project started as an eighth grade science fair project that took her to regional and state level competitions. Since then she's been working with engineers to perfect the design, and now a prototype for the product she calls the "Hot Seat".

Funds for development are being raised with crowdfunding source, Indigogo, which as of this writing, has well-exceeded the $5,000 goal with a total of nearly $14,000. Alissa hopes to launch the prototype by the end of this summer.

Watch a brief video of Alissa's presentation here.

For some, it's hard to believe that a parent or caregiver could forget about their child inside a car, but something as simple as a change in one's daily routine can throw off simple memory cues, like dropping of your child at day care. Until the Hot Seat is available nation wide, it's recommended to put something you need, like the left shoe you're wearing, or purse or cell phone in the back seat with the baby so you'll always be reminded.

Starto- The Exit Episode

Today on Starto- You've lost that lovin' feeling, How to Plan a Wake and Death Panels for Your Failed Startup. Stuff  We Talked About on Today’s Show:

People are getting ruder on social media- http://www.today.com/tech/friendships-go-south-facebook-people-get-ruder-survey-1C9290627

Startup Wakes - http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2012/07/have-a-wake-for-failed-startups.html

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Send us your suggestions for upcoming episodes- [email protected]

Starto-Growing the Business Episode

Today on Starto..... Growing the Sucker! Guerilla Marketing, Let's Get Loud, Epic Failure on Social Media, (you're not you when you act like a douche), The Anti-Malcom Gladwell (he's not a douche) all that and much more!

Resources:

Mailbox App - http://mailboxapp.tumblr.com/

New Study says Good News Beats Bad on Social Networks-

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/science/good-news-spreads-faster-on-twitter-and-facebook.html?_r=1&

Twitter Fails- http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/01/28/brands-may-be-paying-celebrities-for-tweets-but-whos-paying-twitter/

Fifty Percent Of 'The Tipping Point' Is Wrong. It’s Jonah Berger's  job to show You Which Half-

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/174/jonah-berger-versus-malcolm-gladwell

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Send us your suggestions for upcoming episodes- [email protected]

Starto-The Launch Episode

Today on Starto-- the do's & don'ts of launching your product. Should you launch at SXSW? Chris says "Just launch ugly baby!"  How to find the influencers, all that and lots more....

RESOURCES:

Uber Rally at Galvanize- http://www.icosa.co/2013/03/uber-rally-at-galvanize/

Both Sides of the Table article - http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2013/02/02/how-should-you-best-launch-your-product-at-sxsw/

6 Successful SXSW Launches - http://mashable.com/2011/03/05/sxsw-launches/

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Subscribe to us on iTunes Starto-The Show for the Worldwide Entrepreneur

Send us your suggestions for upcoming episodes- [email protected]

StartUp Life Interview Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor

Brad Feld & Amy Batchelor talk about their new book: Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur.

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Send us your suggestions for upcoming episodes- [email protected]

Starto-The Ideation Episode

This week on Starto....  Work from Home Woes, Find the Pain, Ideation!, Trendmapping

all that and more....

Here are the resources we mentioned on this episode:

Does Innovation Only Happen In The Office? http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/02/26/4-reasons-marissa-mayers-no-at-home-work-policy-is-an-epic-fail/

Yahoo responds to controversy over work-at-home ban

http://mashable.com/2013/02/27/yahoo-work-at-home/

Trendmapping

http://www.icosa.co/2012/10/how-to-predict-the-next-big-start-up-trend/

FIND THE PAIN http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2012/09/28/how-to-find-a-million-dollar-business-idea-in-minutes/

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Subscribe to us on iTunes Starto-The Show for the Worldwide Entrepreneur

Send us your suggestions for upcoming episodes- [email protected]

A Very Special Starto Holiday Special... It's Special!

It's our 1st Annual StartoTV Holiday Spectacular!  

Today, Joel Wishkovsky, co-founder and CEO of CardGnome.com joins Chris Franks & Sandy Grason in the Starto studios to talk about the latest news start-ups need to know this holiday season.

[youtube width="610" height="343" video_id="n07Kz_E97bY?rel=0"]

Special Thanks to:

Joel Wishkovsky- he is the co-founder and CEO of CardGnome.com, a startup in Boulder, Colo. that offers thousands of independently designed greeting cards for any occasion. Joel blogs about startups, (http://joelwish.com/), builds businesses, solves problems, and thinks creatively about the world around him. He loves mountaineering and traveling off the beaten track. Reach Joel via email [email protected] or on twitter via @JoelWish.

** Aksels.com - for Chris Franks' awesome wardrobe **

Here are the links to the stories we covered on this episode:

Are You Ready for the Digital Holiday Shopping Rush? (Infographic) http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225046#

Fast Company- 20 Tech Trends that will define 2013 http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671397/20-tech-trends-that-will-define-2013-selected-by-frog#1

Google's Top Search Terms of 2012: What's in It for Business Owners http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225278

Forbes- 7 Tech Gifts from Rising Startups http://www.forbes.com/sites/caroltice/2012/12/13/the-entrepreneurs-holiday-shopping-guide-7-tech-gifts-from-rising-startups/

3 Tips for Safe Holiday Shopping Over Mobile Devices http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/225229

Gift Simple http://www.dailydealmedia.com/976new-group-buying-start-ups-for-holiday-shoppers-giftsimple-presentify-me-barkbox/

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook page “StartoTV” and follow us on Twitter @startotv-

Happy Holidays from the entire StartoTV Family!

What Exactly Is Social Entrepreneurship & Why Does It Matter?

Terrance Roberts from The Prodigal Son Initiative stops by the StartoTV studio to chat with Chris Franks and Sandy Grason about Social Entrepreneurship.

"Social entrepreneurs identify resources where people only see problems. They view the villagers as the solution, not the passive beneficiary. They begin with the assumption of competence and unleash resources in the communities they're serving."  -David Bornstein, author of How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas

Resources:

What is a Social Entrepreneur?

Real Food Justice: From Black Panther to Hip Hop Activism

Common Mistakes Social Entrepreneurs Make

6 Things Silicon Valley Can Teach Social Entrepreneurs

** Special Thanks to Dane at Aksels.com for today’s fabulous wardrobe **

David Cohen on Tech Stars, Mentors & Life

The Starto TV team got a behind-the-scenes tour of the Tech Stars facility and met some of this year's founders.  David Cohen sat down with Sandy Grason and Chris Franks to share some wisdom, tips & advice and a few laughs. We talked about:

• the last time he was afraid
• what his average work day looks like
• how to tell if you're an entrepreneur or a wantrepreneur
• graceful failure
• how to choose a mentor

Some of my favorite quotes from David are:

You learn more from your failures than from your successes, for sure.

A lot of what Tech Stars is doing is teaching companies how to be better entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs do stuff and Wantrepreneurs talk about doing stuff.

Entrepreneurs run through walls.

Do what you love.

Stop Pitching and Start Connecting

Recently, GNIP hosted the Big Boulder Conference in Boulder, Colorado and Sandy Grason got a behind-the-scenes look at what the conference was all about. In this video, Sandy talks with Foundry Group and Tech Stars co-founder, Brad Feld about what Big Boulder Conference means to entrepreneurial communities like Boulder and what YOU can do to foster this kind of support and excitement in your community too.

This invite only event brought together the top publishers, industry leaders and consumers of publicly-available social data to discuss trends, best practices and how this data is changing industries of all kinds.

Brad said the main event is really what happens around the event, beyond people just pitching each other their sh*%, the conversation gets to "how are we going to solve this problem".

How To Build A Startup Community with Brad Feld

So you want to make your town the next  Silicon Valley? In Brad Feld's new book Startup Communities, Brad gives us mere mortals a glimpse in to how to form, build and grow a startup scene in your town. Brad explains, "I was convinced to move to Boulder when my wife Amy said that she was moving there and I was welcome to join her, or not. She made a convincing argument!"

The problem, for a burgeoning technology tycoon like Brad, Boulder was a backwater. Sure there was a great university. Sure there were interesting people doing interesting things but there was no SCENE!

Fast forward to 2012 and Boulder is one of the hottest place  to start a high growth company in the world. So what changed?

According to Brad, it was a group of a committed entrepreneurs, It was not the VCs, not the professors, not the service providers. They all had a role to play but the formation of a booming startup community was lead by the entrepreneurs themselves.

So how did they do it? Sorry, you'll have to buy the book! But for a sneak peak I got a chance to sit down with the Jedi Master and rap about his new book, how the machines are already in control and much more.