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Here’s a Startup Idea–Sleeping in Airports
Today’s New York Times includes a story by Sharon McDonnell called “Snoozing at the Terminal”: “Sleeping overnight in [the] airport has become enough of a phenomenon that it has inspired one recent novel, Dear American Airlines. The author, Jonathan Miles, said he was spurred to write the book after an unscheduled overnight stay at O’Hare...
By Tim Berry
Up and Running in eBooks
Can you guess a startup that’s based on a product but doesn’t have to carry inventory and creates its own channels of distribution? One whose startup costs are not a lot more than a good computer, and the know-how? One whose time from conception to shipping is a matter of weeks? I’ve never met Scott...
By Tim Berry
BusinessWeek Profiling Startups
BusinessWeek just started a new feature profiling new entrepreneurial companies, in a slide show motif, called Fresh Entrepreneurs – Profiling Startups Around the U.S. It strikes me as a nice way to get quick views of what other people are doing. Stories like … She quit her consulting job at Bain, hired a designer from...
By Tim Berry
Your Present Plans Are Going to Succeed
I met Tricia Kandik at the very first SmartUps Pubtalk in Eugene, Oregon a few months ago. From the very start of our conversation I was struck by her enthusiasm and passion concerning her business and entrepreneurship in general. Her business was so new, she’d just picked up her first batch of business cards. I’m...
By Bplans
Threadless
The June issue of INC Magazine features an article about one of my favorite companies, Threadless. Threadless is technically a T-shirt company, but in actuality it’s much more than that. It’s a community of artists, buyers, and evangelists all committed to and interacting about T-shirts. The description on their website states that Threadless is a...
By Bplans
Startup Success: Real Numbers, Real Voice, Real Help
How’s this for a startup success story? Avaaz.org started 17 months ago. It now has more than 3.2 million registered active members and last week raised $1.5 million in aid for Burmese cyclone victims in three days. Recognizing some problems with flow of aid through normal channels, founder Ricken Patel connected with Burmese monks to...
By Tim Berry
Microsoft Making an Offer
It’s Microsoft, but it also has startup success stories and a story to tell. I collected this video from the Microsoft startup site: This is a six-minute interview with Dan’l Lewin, corporate vice president for Microsoft and its emerging business initiatives. It’s posted on microsoftstartupzone.com, which has some interesting content. Click here for that post...
By Tim Berry
A True Story: Starting Mama Rose’s Naturals
Francesca (the baby on the right) is fine now; “very healthy,” says her mom, Rosetta Thuresson (also on the right). But that’s now, and thank goodness. Four years ago, when she was 3 months old, she caught RSV, which Rosetta describes as “a horrific virus that attacks the respiratory system.” The immune system and lungs...
By Tim Berry