Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 06 nov 2014

There are varied perspectives regarding the age at which entrepreneurs are most effective regarding their capabilities to generate breakthrough ideas and found successful companies. Famous Silicon Valley investor, Vinod Khosla says, 'People under 35 are the people who make change happen; people over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas.' Referring to the age of entrepreneurs whom venture capitalists fund, investor Paul Graham commented, 'The cutoff in investors' heads is 32; after 32, they start to be a little skeptical.' Considering the power of youth in entrepreneurship, Peter Thiel (Co-founder of PayPal), in 2010 even announced that he would pay US$ 100000 to college students to drop out and develop new technologies and pursue entrepreneurship. But Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Stanford University, based on his research argues that the younger age bias in entrepreneurship most often results in older entrepreneurs not getting much attention and funding, and consequently it is hurting venture-capital system as well as Silicon Valley. According to his research conducted in 2008 regarding successful technology firms that started in garage and reached a revenue of US$ 1 million, it was found that average and median age of their founders was 39. Twice as many were older than 50 as were younger than 25. And twice as many were older than 60 as were younger than 20. Dane Stangler, vice president of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation, built on Dr. Wadhwa's research findings and found in every year from 1996 to 2013, Americans in the 55-to-64 age group started new businesses at a higher rate than those in their twenties and thirties. Dr. Wadhwa and his team's research further revealed that, work and industry experience, and management ability, are what makes entrepreneurs successful. These come with age and therefore immaturity & inexperience of youth is one reason venture capitalist's record of success is so dismal. There are numerous technology companies whose innovators, founders & executives disprove the notion that only young can effect change. Consider for example the case of Qualcomm that was founded by Irwin Jacobs when he was 52 and Andrew Viterbi, who was 50. Professor Benjamin F. Jones, an economist at Northwestern University, analyzed the backgrounds of Nobel Prize winners and other great achievers of the 20th century. He found that the average age at which Nobel laureates performed their prizewinning work and the average age at which inventors had their great achievement was 39. Young entrepreneurs do have an advantage regarding newer technologies like social media and app developing but the technology shifts that are happening will alter the entire entrepreneurial landscape in the coming years. Dr. Wadhwa concludes,'Several technologies - involving medicine, robotics, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology, 3D printing and nanomaterials - are advancing at exponential rates and are converging. These advances are making it possible to solve the global problems of health, energy, education and hunger. These technologies will make it possible to create the next trillion-dollar industries and to better our lives. But they require knowledge of fields such as medicine, biotechnology, engineering and nanotechnology. They require experience, an understanding of the problems people face and cross-disciplinary skills. All of these come with age and experience, which the baby boomers have in abundance. That is why we need to get beyond the stereotypes and realize that baby boomers are going to better the world.' Read on...

The Washington Post: Why baby boomers are an important part of technology's future
Author: Vivek Wadhwa

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 oct 2014

According to 2014 KPMG Global Technology survey of 768 global technology business leaders, the three disruptive technologies - 3D Printing, Internet of Things (IoT) and Biotech/Healthcare IT - have the potential to shape the next three years. While commenting on prospects of these technologies in Ireland, Anna Scally, partner at KPMG Ireland, said 'The good news is that Ireland has big strengths and further potential in these areas.' Survey respondents consider the following as the top barriers to commercialize technology innovation - security (27%), technology complexity (22%) and customer adoption (21%). In the study, technology business leaders globally believed that retail/intelligent shopping (20%) has the greatest potential to generate revenue as a result of adoption of IoT. Moreover it also cited digital currencies like Bitcoin & Blockchain as emerging technologies that might impact specific sectors or industry in particular regions depending upon their adoption. According to Gary Matuszak, global chair of KPMG's Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice, 'The interplay of these emerging technologies is enabling new business models and fuelling innovation in many industries.' Read on...

Silicon Republic: Three disruptive technologies that will shape the next three years
Author: John Kennedy

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 oct 2014

'Digital Natives' (or Generation Z), growing up with technologically intensive environment that includes social, mobile, cloud, multi-media technologies etc will be entering the workforce in the next decade. Unlike the Millennials (or Generation Y), who were raised in 1990's with dial-up networks and monophonic ringtones, Digital Natives are used to super-fast hardware and software readily available on screen. They are more entrepreneurial and probably lack the employer loyalty demonstrated by earlier generations. According to research by Sparks & Honey, people of this generation spend 41% of their free time with computers or mobile devices. So if these expectations are not met by their future employers they might take away their energy, enthusiasm and expertise to someone who does or they might just prefer to create their own start-up. According to Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, self-reliance is another defining difference of the upcoming generation - 'While millennials seek mentors, Generation Z is more about helping themselves.' The Digital Natives (DN) will find the business environment with traditional hierarchical management models as stifling and affecting their creative abilities. With involvement of social media in recruitment process and companies creating 'employer brands' through sharing information about their culture, opportunities and how they treat their employees, the next generation will be more aware of their employers. If companies don't keep their promises, the DNs will not hesitate to switch loyalties. Moreover considering their obsession with social media and sharing opinions on it, they will also make sure that they publicly post negative opinions about a bad employer. As wikia.com study found that 55% of DNs use social networks primarily to share their opinions. The coming of DNs to the workforce will be an opportunity for employers to benefit from their strengths, but at the same time they need to make sure that they provide right combination of engagement strategies and technology tools for better employment experience and utilization of potential. Moreover companies have to invest in user-friendly mobile technologies and collaboration tools not only for the new generation but for all generation of employees to be more productive. Read on...

diginomica: Is your HR strategy ready for the Digital Natives?
Author: Andy Campbell

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 oct 2014

Technology is impacting human resources (HR) function of businesses in big way with the HR software space being a US$ 15 billion market. Innovations in HR technology is leading to investments from venture capital and private equity firms - top 50 HR technology deals this year were above US$ 560 million & top 50 learning and educational technology deals were over US$ 800 million. Some of the areas of interest for startups include social & referral recruiting, talent analytics, assessment science, online learning and mid-market core HR systems. Moreover new tools and applications are also being developed to help manage employee communications, engagement, recognition and workplace wellness. All these innovations and investments in HR technology are creating disruptions and shifts in this space and businesses can't ignore them. Ten significant disruptions are - (1) Shift from Systems of Record to Employee Systems of Engagement (2) Mobile is everything: Build mobile Apps not just 'mobile Versions' (3) Analytics-driven, science based solutions. Data analysis is now the solution, not the product (4) The science of leadership, assessment, and psychology evolves with Big Data (5) Sensing, crowdsourcing, and The Internet of Things. Systems become more real-time (6) Radical changes to recruiting as social and referral based recruiting becomes the norm (7) Dramatic changes to performance management and talent mobility. Agile, transparent practices are a new area of focus (8) Learning Management systems change and market expands (9) HRMS and Talent Management merge: ERP vendors catching up (10) Technology savvy vendors will likely outpace their peers. Read on...

Forbes: The Top 10 Disruptions In HR Technology: Ignore Them At Your Peril
Author: Josh Bersin

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 oct 2014

The high startup failure rate is a common business knowledge and when Google is searched for the keyword phrase 'success rate startups', its very clear from some of the headlines that pop out - "The Venture Capital Secret: 3 Out of 4 Start-Ups Fail", "A Startup's Odds Of Success Are Very Low", "Why 90% of Startups Fail" etc. But this doesn't stop entrepreneurs from pursuing their visions and ideas, and according to the April 2014 Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, 0.28 percent of adults per month started a new business in 2013 in US. In addition to these basic requirements to start a business - hard work, a strong offering and a solid plan of action, Ron Yekutiel (Co-founder & CEO of Kaltura Inc) suggests 5Es of entrepreneurship that should be applied to provide a solid foundation to a new business - (1) Envision (Ideas, Opportunity, Plan) (2) Enlist (People, Human Resources) (3) Embark (Take Initiative) (4) Execute (Action, Manage) (5) Evolve (Embrace Change, Adapt). Read on...

Entrepreneur: The 5 Pillars, or 'Fingers,' of Successful Entrepreneurship
Author: Ron Yekutiel

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 oct 2014

According to Cisco, a networking solutions company, venture capital firms are expected to invest US$ 1.6 billion on 'Internet Of Things' (IoT) technologies this year. While speaking at the IoT World Forum, Cisco's chief globalization officer, Wim Elfrink, said, '13.69 billion things are connected virtually by October 2014 and it is estimated that 50 billion objects to be connected by 2020.' With IoT consumers are looking for intelligence from connected devices, equipment and infrastructure. The startups in IoT continues to grow from just 13 in 2013 to 189 this year. At present nearly 300000 people are involved in jobs related to IoT. As IoT is evolving and billions of devices are getting connected to each other there are issues and challenges related to security and availability of skilled & educated workforce in the area of networking. Read on...

The Times of India: VC firms likely to invest over $1.6 billion in Internet of Things in 2014
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 sep 2014

Market research, empowered by technology, is now within the reach of even small companies and startups as cost has come down considerably. There are numerous tools and services that are considerably within the budget to do essential marketing research to test ideas, collect data & perform analytics. Customer-centric approach helps companies provide better products & services. Use of right information assists to structure business model, shape marketing campaigns, design products and markets, in a way that efficiently serves customers and grows the business. Here are some of the ways in which market research helps businesses - How market research intersects with content & SEO: In the online world, analytics & traditional market research are converging to provide data-driven business decision making; Launching a market research initiative to support your digital marketing campaign: Two main focus (Decoding your audience's most urgent concern. Focusing your content). Important information gathering techniques (Keyword Research. Website analytics. PPC-based research. Auditing existing buyer data. A/B testing); What's the role of competitor research: Understand competition's positioning and unique selling proposition. In SEO, it is about understanding competitor's online presence, content strategy, target keywords, link porfolio, social media presence etc; Market research impacts your product or service mix: Concept testing the product ideas with public before investing in it. Determine purchase intent and market potential; Optimal use of data collection and analysis: Take a lean approach to data collection advocated by Eric Ries in 'The Lean Startup' to perform the right amount of data analytics based on the requirement. Read on...

Forbes: Why Knowing Your Audience Is The Key To Success
Author: Jayson DeMers

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 sep 2014

Technology's potential to transform healthcare is accepted by all the stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem. Stanford MedX is one of the conference where thought leaders, physicians, academics and entrepreneurs participate to discuss this technology facilitated transformation and the related issues and challenges. Dr. Robert Pearl, the CEO of The Permanente Medical Group & a Stanford University professor, shares his views on slow adoption of some healthcare technologies in American healthcare system - (1) Many New Technologies Don't Address The Real Problem: Entrepreneurs & innovators should focus on goals of the end-users; Few of the currently available wearable devices & apps have demonstrated that they solve major health problems (2) No One Wants To Pay For New Technologies: Financial difficulties are inherent in the currently used fee-for-service payment model. Doctors & hospitals will resist the adoption of technologies that lowers costs or reduce patient visits as they are rewarded for volume & cost of provided services; Pay-for-value model would be more conducive for faster technology adoption (3) Physicians Are Reluctant to Show Patients Their Medical Information: In past most doctors believed that sharing information with patients could be harmful. But this is changing with EHR (Electronic Health Records) and information technology. But most exam-rooms still don't have user-friendly computers to easily share information with patients; The solution could be tablet computers with fast data entry & mobility alongwith providing easy access to sharing data with patients (4) Technology Slows Down Many Physicians: Data entry in structured format of EHR is helpful in the long run as it prevents medical errors but at present it is adding to physician's time; Effective approach would be to reduce physician's data entry time by creating software applications that include macros & smart lists and medical errors can by reduced through apps with alerts (5) Many Physicians See Technology As Impersonal: Baby boomer physicians still consider 'human-touch' & 'personalized-care' as synonymous; Personalized-care' from a patient's perspective is about being able to decide how, when and where they obtain information and treatment and today's busy and working people seek healthcare through technology enabled alternatives that saves both time & money. Read on...

Forbes: 5 Things Preventing Technology Adoption In Health Care
Author: Robert Pearl

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 sep 2014

Entrepreneurship requires diverse sets of inherent talents and acquired skills in individuals to successfully navigate through a journey of developing ideas & concepts into practical and workable solutions for the betterment of society. And sometimes entrepreneurs fail in their uncharted endeavors for myriad of reasons that might or might not be in their control. These failures often become their learning experiences that finally better equip them to pursue another idea and launch another startup. But entrepreneurs can also hedge their risks by knowing and understanding what others in the field have been through. They can interact with founders, VCs and CEOs, if they have a chance and access to them. But if not, then there are a number of books written by these experts that new or even experienced entrepreneurs can read to better navigate their entrepreneurial voyage - (1) Business Adventures (John Brooks) (2) Business Model Generation (Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur) (3) The Start-Up of You (Reid Hoffman & Ben Casnocha) (4) Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell) (5) The Four Steps To The Epiphany (Steven Gary Blank) (6) #GIRLBOSS (Sophia Amoruso) (7) From Resource Allocation To Strategy (Joseph L. Bower & Clark G. Gilbert) (8) Rework (Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson) (9) My Years With General Motors (Alfred P. Sloan) (10) The Practice Of Management (Peter F. Drucker) (11) Losing My Virginity: How I Survived, Had Fun, And Made A Fortune Doing Business My Way (Richard Branson) (12) Founders At Work (Jessica Livingston) (13) How To Win Friends & Influence People (Dale Carnegie) (14) The Zigzag Principle (Rich Christiansen) (15) Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely) (16) Good To Great (Jim Collins) (17) How To Win At The Sport Of Business (Mark Cuban) (18) Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises (Timothy F. Geithner) (19) The Smartest Guys In The Room: The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron (Bethany McLean & Peter Elkind) (20) The Startup Game (William H. Draper) (21) Playing to Win (Alan G. Lafley & Roger Martin) (22) Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Peter F. Drucker) (23) The Ascent Of Money: A Financial History Of The World (Niall Ferguson) (24) The Lean Startup (Eric Ries) (25) The Signal And The Noise (Nate Silver) (26) So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love (Cal Newport) (27) All Marketers Are Liars (Seth Godin) (28) The 48 Laws of Power (Robert Greene) (29) The Innovator's Dilemma (Clayton Christensen) (30) Delivering Happiness (Tony Hsieh) (31) Steal Like an Artist (Austin Kleon) (32) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig) (33) Start With Why (Simon Sinek). Read on...

Business Insider: 33 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read
Authors: Aimee Groth, Emmie Martin, Max Nisen

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 18 sep 2014

Public relations (PR) is an effective marketing tool that creates and manages perception and reputation of companies, organizations, governments and individuals through the use of various media. Over the years PR has evolved as a result of technological advancements and other socio-economic drivers. So it becomes imperative for both startups and established companies to understand and effectively face & manage this ever changing PR landscape. Rebekah Iliff, Chief Strategy Officer of AirPR, identifies 7 important shifts that have transfromed PR and continue to impact PR industry - (1) Every aspect of PR is driven by data: Big data to craft a compelling narrative (2) The evolution of pitching: No more mass emailing pitches (3) The numbers rule: Measurement & analytics driven PR (4) The definition of "influence": Use of digital influencers & well-trusted & connected people on social media (5) PR's trans-functional role: Publicity is only one aspect of PR (6) Reading remains fundamentally important: Reading & research for intelligent & informed recommendations (7) Strategic content targeting is mandatory: Understand the significance of great writing and visually compelling & engaging content alongwith right placement. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 7 Big Changes in the PR Landscape Every Business Should Know About
Author: Rebekah Iliff

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