For more info see these post: Prelaunch of a network of entrepreneurs in Antofagasta (in Spanish) A report of tonight’s activities with support from Leonardo Maldonado, Estuardo Robles, Bijoy Goswami, and Steve Golab            

In the workplace as in many parts of life, I have found that there’s a simple distinction that guides what I tell many a new entrepreneur into their first startup.  This distinction is conformity versus discipline.  Being an employee requires that the individual conforms to someone else’s directions. Day by day activities are directed by [...]

Interesting to read the following article- given that so many young entrepreneurs get press for high flying Internet startups- but quietly in the background older entrepreneurs are building high growth, heavy innovation startups.  See the following for details: According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, people over the age of 35 made up 80 percent of [...]

The following article talks about how certain entrepreneurs affect how “lucky” they are in business success.  Its a really interesting read, with a simple meditation (see the quote below). They are the people who say to themselves: I am humble enough to say I don't know how to make better/perfect happen on my own; I [...]

Doug Erwin, Former Chairman and CEO of The Planet gave the closing keynote today at today’s Rice Alliance 8th Annual Information Technology / Web Venture Forum.  He’s been very successful across multiple ventures over the last 35 years. I felt so compelled by his wisdom that I wanted to share it here. Here’s his 12 [...]

Its hard to ever know how seeds once planted will grow. This and next week represent an exciting reconnection of my work with Chile.  For context, in 2003, I took an early version of what was to become the blueprint of Tech Ranch Austin to Chile.  I was convinced that I needed to open the [...]

A recent discussion around the Bootstrap Austin Network is worthy of sharing here, for it rings true for every entrepreneur trying to make a difference through his/her venture.  An entrepreneur was contemplating legal action on an issue that was not core to his business.  Several entrepreneurs got into the discussion. Barry Thorton, founder of Clear Cube [...]

One of the great things about being a connector is that I get to listen in across many different people- what they are saying, what they are finding interesting, and if there is any correlation among these topics of conversation. Recently, there’s been one meme that has gotten tweeted and talked about by quite a [...]

Looking back to 2009 many great things happened with the concepts that I’ve been calling the Enterprise Tribe, with the most exciting being Tech Ranch Austin.  2009 was all about transition, transitioning from a handful of theories to actual startup success at the Ranch.  2010, though, is about growth.  That is, taking what we have to [...]

Over the last few months, we at the Tech Ranch Austin have been supporting entrepreneurs in launching their ventures.  With the following announcement, we’re taking it to a whole new level.  See details below about the Venture Forth program.  Its time to start the venture that you’ve been thinking about. Do you have an idea [...]

Its interesting to see how knowledge from our past experience prepares us for the future.  Over a year ago I wrote about a complementary currency system coming together to create greater opportunity between entrepreneurs. I never envisioned at the time of that writing that the economic conditions might just present themselves where such a system [...]

As a part of today’s Tech Ranch Austin announcements- We have been selected by Microsoft to administer a program to give access to technology startups to the full suite of Microsoft tools for free.  Read further details here about the program, and apply through the Tech Ranch Austin website.

I just posted over at the new TechRanchAustin blog news an annoucement about taking the startup incubation efforts that I have been doing over the last three years to a whole new level.  Come check out what we are up to, and join us in our efforts to take the technology startup ecosystem here in [...]

Several of my fellow friends that are entrepreneurs were just discussing how we should get together for a happy hour- to share some war stories, reconnect with each other, and informally discuss what we can do to move our businesses forward, even in these troubled times.  Given the number of others that have mentioned interest [...]

Today I was at The Rackspace Cloud Event- Where Rackspace announced several new products, as well as the acquisition of JungleDisk and SliceHost.  Between seeing many good friends that are entrepreneurs at the event, and what I believe to be some smart strategic acquisitions on the part of Rackspace- I felt like I must be [...]

I am honored to be presenting at this year’s Nano Technology Summit in Dallas, Texas- called NanoTX with a number of Nobel Laureates and other technology experts. Following is info on the speech that I will be giving.  Please make sure to call me or twitter me if you happen to be at the event. [...]

As you might know- I spent a good portion of 2003 in Chile, collaborating and learning with some of the best design experts in the world. When I speak of “design” I specifically am meaning “ontological design“- in a few words, that is to say what are the fundamental building blocks, or perhaps even dispositions [...]

Much has been said about Web2.0 about being a “conversation” between parties on the Internet- shifting from the “broadcast” model of radio and TV where listeners were passive receivers of information to listeners being actively engaged in conversation.  Web 2.0 conversations are happening many places, have been enabled by many service providers, including Austin’s own [...]

As I have been writing a section of my book over the last few days, I thought that the following insight was too valuable to hold for the book… and wanted to share it here with an immediate wider audience. The Four Conceptual Shifts that social networks are bringing are going to have profound effects [...]

Despite the recent news about layoffs in Austin, Americans are still thinking about owning their own businesses… Why?  “The most popular was individuals’ desire to be passionate about what they’re doing.” Yahoo Small Business commissioned a national poll showing that “nearly two-thirds of the adults surveyed have thought about owning their own business in the [...]

Tuesday’s blog post has created a number of questions around Austin saying essentially “O.K., but how are loosely organized workers going to replace and compete with companies like Dell? Can hundreds of I-build/support-PCs-in-my-bedroom companies make it in Austin? What other things are these people going to do?” This is a good question, and there is [...]

Today’s news in Austin bemoans the restructuring of the American economy… The following clipping from today’s Austin American Statesman tries to put a happy face on a cold hard fact: 900 people just lost their jobs at Dell. Furthermore, I have heard an early rumor that more jobs are being cut today across a number [...]

We will be holding an Entrepreneur Town Hall Meeting in Austin on March 3rd at 6 pm as part of RiseAustin‘s entrepreneurship week. More details can be found about the event at this link. To take advantage of the conceptual shifts that I have written about my forthcoming book, a number of Austin entrepreneur support [...]

At the Bootstrap Austin blog I have just posted an article about how businesses in Austin are organizing, helping each other build their businesses together- despite whether or not the government steps in to help out startup and small business in the present looming financial downturn.  The secret, which you have heard here before at [...]

As you have heard here before- there is an attitudinal shift that is occurring towards work, largely driven by the Millennial Generation. Here is what Seth said recently on this blog about this new class of jobs and workers: A new class of jobs (and workers) is creating a different sort of worker, though. This [...]