Category: Uncategorized

BEWARE APPLES AND ORANGES: SOME BUSINESSES REALLY CANNOT BE BOOTSTRAPPED. These are the R&D intensive ventures like Biopharma and CleanTech, in particular, where a huge windfall of income only (sometimes) comes after years of super-expensive clinical or field studies. It is important not to confuse this with ventures in other fields that actually do earn early (customer) revenues, and in these instances bootstrapping is a real and important option to consider. http://lnkd.in/csK3p8 View in LinkedIn

CULTURAL QUIRKS ARE TRULY FASCINATING, and volumes have been written on this superb topic. I have been fortunate to live in many places as an adult, including Sussex, London, Boston, San Francisco, and Catalunya, and have traveled widely. Each place has been quite unique. I have found that observing these quirks for what they are, rather than leaping to judgement, can open the mind to curiosity about the historical reasons for cultural differences, and ultimately, greater tolerance, respect and enjoyment of the diversity that makes geography wonderfully spicy. http://lnkd.in/VUwCjK View in LinkedIn

CATALUNYA TECH COMPANIES ARE AT A TIPPING POINT fir explosive visibility. The huge economic investment in the Knowledge Revolution by Dr Mas-Colell et al., reaching a billion euros per year at its recent peak, has spawned hundreds of vibrant and optimistic young tech companies. This first part of the social experiment has worked. Now these young companies must seek international partners to fuel their growth. They are under-valued and have not been picked over. Worldwide alliances have to be the logical next phase of the extraordinary social experiment called Catalan's Knowledge Revolution. View in LinkedIn

ENTREPRENEURS AND INVESTORS TRULY ROCK! I have spent most of my adult life meeting many hundreds entrepreneurs and investors, from the US, Japan, UK, Europe, and China. These extraordinary people dream about doing the difficult, and sometimes impossible, against all contrary advice from friends and family. They create new vibrant economic engines which cumulatively are powerful. They are forces of optimism in a sea of grey pessimism, and I have been truly privileged to have the experience of this community. View in LinkedIn

ENTREPRENEURING DURING THE CRISIS. I am a contrarian because I think that the Crisis has a silver lining. It creates discipline in businesses. It jolts societies out of complacency to sometimes do the right thing. And for companies seeking capital it makes the search global not local. International partners bring fresh ideas, talent and markets. For some sectors, and especially emerging companies, unless the capital search is global, the company will die for lack of fuel. Darwinism rules by eliminating the weakest. So bah humbug to the pessimists and nay-sayers: the imaginative will survive. View in LinkedIn

GOOGLE-X IS THE SKUNK WORKS FOR THE IMPROBABLE IDEA, and has earned a reputation for delivering ideas like driverless cars and Google Glass. The difference from many Skunk Works is that it is very well financed. Except for eccentrics like J Craig Venter, most funded biological science projects tend to be orderly, logical and, for the most part, within the box thinking. Imagine a well funded Google-X for the life sciences, and what remarkable wild possibilities could emerge. Live in hope! http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-22/inside-googles-secret-lab View in LinkedIn

A FDA POSITION PAPER ON GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANIMALS. The current state of regulatory approval of GE animals. http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/GeneticEngineering/GeneticallyEngineeredAnimals/ucm113605.htm View in LinkedIn

ARTIFICIALLY GROWN NEURONS AS A BIOCOMPUTER. Radical work directing the in vitro growth of neurons using infrared light. This pushes the parameters of the mind-computer interface to new levels. It also has applications in medicine for peripheral nerve repair. Exciting stuff. http://lnkd.in/QxJBkU View in LinkedIn

A TREMENDOUS GUIDE TO HOW TO NETWORK. After all, it's a big part of why we use LinkedIn, but the reality is that most of us have rather primitive networking skills, and Dale Carnegie's (ancient) book simply made it worse. Use this very helpful modern outline. http://lnkd.in/yDj6iv View in LinkedIn

A TED LECTURE SPEAKER COACH gives pithy insights about how to give a great presentation. If anybody should know the best and worst ways to present, this person does. A MUST READ. http://lnkd.in/_cCGEu View in LinkedIn