by Shane Lashley on December 16, 2008
I want to thank each of our contestants in the Innovative Business Contest for participating. It is encouraging to see that people are working so hard to make our world a better place through innovation. So what happens now, you ask?
First, we will review each entry and create a preliminary ranking. Second, the judges we recruited for their expertise in innovation of various kinds will review the entries and give us their feedback. Based on the combined perspectives, a winner will be chosen.
When? Not sure. It would be nice to have this done before the holidays start. However, the schedules of others are involved and some people have really packed schedules, as this is the last full week before Christmas. If we can get all the feedback returned and give it the attention it deserves, we will announce it before the holidays. If not, we will announce it January 5, 2009. I’ll post again later this week to give you an update on the timing.
Stay Tuned!
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by Shane Lashley on December 1, 2008
IP Launch, Inc., a company I co-founded in 2001, is offering its own stimulus package - how does $50,000 of free consulting sound? This isn’t just any old consulting, either. This is a certified valuation of either your business or your technology plus our suggested strategy for making that valuation number become a reality.
On October 10, 2008, Innovative Economy announced an Innovative Business Contest. We thought it would encourage people to recognize those who might inspire us and lead us through this difficult economy by way of innovation. With two weeks to go in the contest, we have one entrant. I’m not buying that is representative of a free world. However, there is strong suspicion it could be related to the lack of a robust prize package.
We talked amongst ourselves and decided the normal prizes were not enough for our goal. Company leaders need to look at their inventory of innovations - even those they may have previously dismissed - and realize all the power that may lie in those innovations to create an economic survival kit for the company. That message needs to sink in at decision-making levels. It’s time to get bold.
We decided to put our money where our mouth is by [click to continue...]
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by Michelle Monroe on December 3, 2008
by Shane Lashley on November 22, 2008
Ever drive through a small town and notice that, just beyond the Dairy Queen sign, there is a sign pointing you to the birthplace of one of our American Presidents? Follow that sign and you eventually arrive at a humble home - small, plain, average or even below average in many ways. It consistently occurs to me, “Wow, at the moment that person was born in this little humble home, no one realized he would be president someday.”
Ideas are like that too. The context we recognize them in when they are fully grown is not the context in which they first began. I have had the privilege of going behind the scenes for some really great innovations that led to millions, hundreds of millions and in a few cases, billions of dollars.
Usually, somewhere off the beaten paths of the offices there is some sort of scrapbook or memorabilia, preserving remnants of the moment when the original idea was scribbled down as it was being born in a moment of spontaneous creative combustion. No fan fare, no investors waiting with checks in hand, no certainty of anything beyond the belief of those in the room at the moment.
There was however a pizza delivery box with enough white space left for the inventor to draw it out before he forgot it. [click to continue...]
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