Posts

Does Agile Methodology Give IT Entrepreneurs an Edge?

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   Source:   http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/../../tony-fish/does-agile-methodology-gives-it-entrepreneurs-an-edge_b_2321892.html "Agile" is, in essence, a method of software development based on iterative and incremental improvements. Requirements and solutions evolve over time through collaboration. At its best, “Agile” is actually an attitude, an understanding, a way of life, a philosophy.   Entrepreneurs can turn great ideas into even greater businesses with a good understanding of this iteration driven philosophy, however when combined with latest management thinking – the combination is explosive! purpose over profit…. Harvard Business Review has been exploring a change in business drivers over the past 18 months. It is a move from an organisation focus on profit to a focus on purpose .  This may sound artificial at some levels, but it is deeply important. A profit focus often drives management teams down a dark alley of cost control and maximisation of profit for shor

Crowd Funding: Where should you invest?

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Whilst the obvious answer is in a good business, good idea and a good team; this blog explores that this is an obvious trap. The simple answer to where to invest is follow the team and whilst this is the stable advise from any venture and PE house, should and does the same apply for those looking at using their hard earned money to invest in emergent, early or growth businesses using a crowd funding platform? The pragmatic approach is YES. So what next after you have filtered through CrowdCube, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Fundable, Crowdfunder, EarlyShares, SeedInvest, GetFunded, WeFunder and RelayFund for starters (yes I know this is a mix of equity and other funding models) This is where it is time to think differently. As in the diagram below I want you to image three circles which overlap and are labeled good Idea, good business and bad idea. Let’s jump straight past the notion that you will invest in a bad business (whatever one on those is) and that you, like I, like anyone e

Mary Meeker has just published her latest huge deck of amazingly useful data, the "2012 Internet Trends Year-End Update."

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Mary Meeker , a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, has just published her latest huge deck of amazingly useful data, the “2012 Internet Trends Year-End Update.” http://kpcb.com/insights/2012-internet-trends-update full deck http://www.scribd.com/doc/115395317/2012-KPCB-Internet-Trends-Year-End-Update This is an update to a   http://www.kpcb.com/file/kpcb-internet-trends-2012  

more data about us and what does it tell us about ourselves?

Who hasn’t sent a text message saying “I’m on my way” when it wasn’t true or fudged the truth a touch in their online dating profile? But Jeff Hancock doesn’t believe that the anonymity of the internet encourages dishonesty. In fact, he says the searchability and permanence of information online may even keep us honest. Jeff Hancock studies how we interact by email, text message and social media blips, seeking to understand how technology mediates communication.

Daphne Bavelier: Your brain on video games

How do fast-paced video games affect the brain? Study that means that data provides insights that some in the media may not like

Change of terms on FaceBook - most want to keep existing terms....

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So this is the email from Facebook and above are the results on 5th December - however I expect that the vote is slow low that FB will ignore them facebook Facebook, Inc. and Facebook Ireland Ltd., which together operate the Facebook service worldwide, recently posted some proposed updates to our Data Use Policy and our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities for your review and feedback. Those updates provided more detailed information about our practices, reflected changes to our products, and modified how we conduct our site governance process. The period for submitting your comments has ended, but you can still provide feedback on those proposals by taking part in our site governance vote. To learn more about our proposed updates (which include additional clarifications based on your comments) and the vote, please visit our Site Governance Page . Voting will end on 10 December 2012 at 12 (PST) / 10 December 2012 at 20 (GMT). We encourage you to review and vote on the proposed v

John Wilbanks: Let's pool our medical data