OEN Online Community : Unanswered Threads - General Discussion Area

Business Concept Review Template?

jason.zaslaw@agilesoftworks.com — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:20:39 GMT

Hello,

I have noticed that many of the business concept review requests follow a standardized format. Is there a template locate on this site that is used for these requests? I have searched all over, but have not been able to find anything. Any help?

Thank you,

Jason

Do Non-Competes Curtail Startup Investments?

larryw@oen.org — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:47:56 GMT

Brownsberger and Rowe Do A Data Dive and Kick Off A Deeper Discussion

http://www.xconomy.com/tag/non-competes/

Robert Buderi wrote:

The argument over non-compete clauses in employment agreements is front and center in most discussions over ways Massachusetts can square up better against Silicon Valley. Proponents of getting rid of non-competes argue that they curtail innovation. Fearful of getting sued when they leave their employers, so the theory goes, would-be entrepreneurs either forego starting their own companies or move to places like California where the courts don’t enforce non-competes.

Read the rest of the article and let us know what you think?

That's Why We Need More Entrepreneurs

larryw@oen.org — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:53:03 GMT

Scott Shane recently joined the New York Times as a blogger for the site's new You're the Boss blog and in his most recent post used a series of charts to show that the United States is actually becoming less entrepreneurial than we would like to pretend.Professor Shane, a professor of entrepreneurship, has been an outspoken skeptic of entrepreneurial capitalism, casting doubt on the extent and benefits of entrepreneurship. His latest line of research concerns genetics and entrepreneurship, identifying "the influence of genetic factors on the variation across people in opportunity recognition." This, Professor Shane purports to demonstrate, is heritable and independent of environment, as are occupational choices in general, such as teacher or manager or self-employment. Notwithstanding potential sampling errors, the heritability of personality traits is a breeding ground for questionable claims. As the eminent Samuel Bowles has pointed out, "data from modern economies suggest that personality influences individual success, but the effects are quite modest." Moreover, "the correlations between parental and offspring measures of personality are strikingly low." The world periodically endures genetic determinism fads, and they rarely end well.

How Much Would a Protester in Iran Pay to Have a Twitter or Facebook Account?

larryw@oen.org — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:28:23 GMT

I read this article yesterday on the Media Post Social Insider How Much Would a Protester in Iran Pay to Have a Twitter or Facebook Account?. The author talks about the value of social media platforms in society, especially in social movements like protesting in Iran for example. The interesting point she brings up is the fact that all social media platforms seem to give everything away for free and rely on the advertising model.

I am interested in finding out what the feelings are regarding the value of social media to you? Would you pay to have a Twitter or Facebook account?

Will innovation save American jobs?

larryw@oen.org — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:53:38 GMT

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to present this week at the National Summit in Detroit, MI. The purpose: to define America's way forward in a challenging global economny. In his presentation he will Push Innovation as the way that America has succeeded in the past. He asserts that the US has found success with a system that where entrepreneurship and innovation are supported by quality education. Now the world is right their with us in trying to leverage their respective technology braintrusts and he asserts that for us to maintain a lead, government, universities and the private sector are going to have to work together. Read the article, let us know what you think?

Live chat recap: The Portland startup scene

larryw@oen.org — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:48:15 GMT

Check out Mike Rogoway's blog that provides an overview of the Portland Startup Scene

http://blog.oregonlive.com/siliconforest/2009/05/live_chat_noon_tuesday_the_por.html

OEN Programming - What can we do for you?

mitch@morangedesign.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:19:11 GMT

As the chair of the Skill Building committee that oversees programs like PubTalk, Webinars and one off topical programs, I would like to start a discussion on what type of programming the OEN community would like to see us do in the future. This can be a discussion on what type of events you would like to see at PubTalk, educational programs that you see value in, and also potential presenting companies.

We strive to deliver the best and most topical programming we can to the OEN members and entrepreneurial community as a whole. Events like Off the Record with a CEO are great chances to talk one and one with local CEO's, so tell us what CEOs you would like to have the chance to meet at this event. If you have been to a SwapMeet - what did you think? Have you participated in one of the OEN Entrepreneur Service programs - let us know the feedback.

Thanks in advance for providing some feedback.

Opinion: State Unemployment Benefits, The State's Economic Stimulus Package, and High Tech

larryw@oen.org — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:54:40 GMT

I moved to what was called the "Silicon Forest" for a reason: the job market and its entrepreneurial spirit. With the growing number of high tech workers in the state of Oregon being laid-off each week from their jobs I'd like to propose this idea to the State of Oregon: Encourage the newly unemployed in high tech to be entrepreneurs.

Every day more and more Oregon high tech workers are being impacted as their companies have to downsize to weather the current economic storm. I believe that one area the State of Oregon could help would be to look at unemployment benefits for those in high tech and provide a grants program that supplements this insurance program to encourage groups of the newly unemployed to seek new opportunities that can thrive as the economy turns around. I'm not talking about a lot of angel level funding or even larger funding requirements that would compete with what is left of the venture capital community. I'm talking about very small grants to groups of 3 or more newly unemployed high tech workers who band together to forge forward to try to create new opportunities to supplement their unemployment insurance. I may be an entrenched part of the commercial software segment of this industry, but I wouldn't care if these groups dedicated all of their work to Open Source projects as that would also be a huge contribution in the long run vs. the alternative.

My rational is the following: 1) These unfortunate are highly skilled; 2) They will be collecting unemployment benefits anyways; 3) finding work will be very difficult in the months ahead as companies continue to watch their spend and perhaps continue to cut costs or worst yet fold; 4) a modest kicker on top of the current unemployment benefit would encourage many of these folks to work together to try to create new solutions for problems that still need to be solved; 5) it will create an environment with little investment that will help the downstream economy; 6) as the economy turns around a handful of these organic investment cells will thrive and will be the new high tech startups that help to grow the economy and the software industry in Oregon as we come out of this.

Call me crazy, but if the State can fund public works projects that costs millions of dollars, adding some more $ on top of the unemployment benefit that these displaced high tech workers will already be collecting seems like cheap money well spent...