Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Social Network soup

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:47:00 +0000

This blog is now located at http://artifexnetwork.blogspot.com/.
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27th Angel Forum (Vancouver) on May 18

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:46:00 +0000

Looking for Angel and /or VC investors (in the Pacific North West)?

First call for Companies seeking up to $1.5 million to present and exhibit to pre-screened 60+ private equity investors at the 27th Angel Forum on May 18 in Vancouver. Nearly 90 investors came to the last Angel Forum, despite the economic crisis.

"Over the past year we have attended a number of Investor/Entrepreneur events and I must tell you that the Vancouver Angel Forum is by far the most effective results oriented event in the country". Bruce Davidsen, Chairman, Protean Software.

Post Presentation: To improve investor co-investment in your company, our Investors-Only discussion right after your presentation, involves investors in starting a term sheet / due diligence team specific to your company. We link you (via deal management software) with those investors who tell us of their interest in your company.

Last time, over 60 companies applied for 30 time slots. Selection closes when we reach maximum capacity.

Are you Investor Ready? Pre-revenue companies should attend a preparation workshop such as Term Sheets & Due Diligence on April 13 - Details here

For presentation / exhibition details, review our Detailed Criteria and submit your Company Profile here

First 10 completed applications save $200 on final fee. Apply / Register here Final deadline is April 30.

Sponsors: Business Development Bank - Venture Capital Fasken Martineau PricewaterhouseCoopers TSX - Venture Exchange

Economist Special report on Social Networks (or not)

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:29:00 +0000

I took a moment to cruise the pile of Economist issues we have in our lobby and stumbled across a Special Report on Social Networks. Just like I see in many conversations I have with others about my research on networks and entrepreneurship, people are quick to generalize in this order:

networks --> social networks --> online social networks

Let's be clear here. Networks are a form of organizing that are neither market nor hierarchy. In business research, networks are arguably not a theory, but a way of looking at social structures and processes. There are of course also computer networks, neural networks, infrastructure networks, etc, but those are topics for other blogs. "Social networks" imply network structures of social relationships, for which most people assume it's all about friendship networks, or at least homophily (the degree to which any two people are similar, whether or not they actually know each other). "Social networks" stops there. It does not refer to a medium of communication, or even impute that there is a medium of communication, or communication. Technically, social networks may exist simply by virtue of similar attributes. Realistically, there is communication, including verbal (face-to-face, phone, voip, ..), written, visual, etc. This is where the word "online" often gets dropped. No one says "Do a search for 'social network research' online." It is simply assumed that because so much of what we do is via computers and the internet, that there's no need to state whether it's online or offline. To be clear though, when I read a special report from the Economist on "Social Networks" I was hoping to read about more than facebook and twitter. Sure they play a role in our lives, but so do networks in the real-o-sphere:

James Fowler at Political Networks 2009 from David Lazer on Vimeo.

Early stage commercialization in Oz

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 06:05:00 +0000

Don't ask me why, but it seems the National Angel Capital Association (NACO) has been blogging about Australia lately. Two things they recently blogged about are:

NACO President W. Daniel Mothersill speaking at Australian Angel Summit: Feb 17-19, 2010, NACO President W. Daniel Mothersill has been invited to make a presentation at the Australian Association of Angel Investors 2010 Conference in Adelaide.

Commercialization Australia is announced: While many have bemoaned the 2008 announcement that the Commercial Ready program was going to be shut down, the Australian government has announced a new program that "assists researchers, entrepreneurs and innovative companies to convert ideas into successful commercial ventures." Looks like they've got three levels of support:

Skills and Knowledge: Support of up to $50,000 for specialist advice and services to help commercialise an idea. Support of up to $200,000 over two years to engage experienced executives.
Proof of Concept: Grants from $50,000 to $250,000 to test the commercial viability of a new product, process or service.
Early Stage Commercialization: Repayable grants from $250,000 to $2 million to undertake activities that enable a new product, process or service to be taken to market.

Unfortunately I don't have the time to poke around and see what the terms and conditions are on the grants, but the fact that they explicitly mention the Early Stage Commercialization ones are repayable, suggests the other ones are not (or else they would have added "repayable" to their descriptions).

Seeking: Entrepreneurs and Undergrads in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:15:00 +0000

We are about to kick off another term at UNSW in Sydney, including my course "STRE2010: Principles & Practice of Innovation & Entrepreneurship" The course textbook is Guy Kawasaki's Art of the Start which is available in most bookstores. Last term, the top reasons that students were interested in the course were because of the guest speaker entrepreneurs and interdisciplinary group work. Guest speakers mean you get the real deal on how companies got off the ground, not just a list of theoretical things to look out for. And, group work resembles the real world, in which a company's performance depends on people with different backgrounds working together.

Undergrads: Take STRE2010. Enrollment is already half-full. It's a Gen Ed course, too! Deliverables are:

4-page business outline
3 and 5 minute business pitch
2 mid-terms

Entrepreneurs:

Be a guest speaker! Meet the next generation of entrepreneurs, coach them, invest in them, hire them as interns, become inspired.
Get a business pitch for your company. This term, I am exploring pairing teams up with entrepreneurs who have a business idea that needs a little more meat on the bones. This will be an option for teams who are struggling to come up with their own idea.

See you in a few weeks.

mbliemel@unsw.edu.au

PS: Already taken STRE2010? Looking for more at UNSW? Check out STRE3001, Managing Business Strategy.

Early exits of tech start-ups reaching new levels

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:47:00 +0000

Over dinner with a CFO friend last week, I heard Google has a 20/20/20 rule. They like to buy companies that are under 20 people, under $20M revenues, and I forget what the other 20 was. An email I got from Basil today, provided a little more background (his post). Apparently this is a trend with fortune 500 companies, that already have all the marketing might they need, but are cutting R&D costs. They aren't interested in buying market share, they want YOU! They want smart people. If the company you're working on (and in) doesn't work out, they know that smart people are able to parlay the motivation and drive into something new. The unspoken story here is that even though M&A's are heading towards tiny pre-revenue companies, you still need more than a single visionary with an idea on a napkin. You need at least a team and a proof of concept.

Clicking around on Basil's blog also pointed me to this great story about Nexus and Parason including handing handing a paper bag of money to someone to leak information to their competitor that Nexus was up for sale.

Conference Board of Canada Report on Cities, Clusters, Labour Mobility and Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:41:00 +0000

Picked up from Brian's blog (with thanks)

The Conference Board of Canada today released the report:
21st Century Cities in Canada: The Geography of Innovation by David A. Wolfe who is the principal investigator of the Innovation Systems Research Network.
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/documents.aspx?did=3311

One of the key ideas I noticed in this report is the distinction between information and knowledge. Information wants to be free, shared and spread around. Knowledge (and creativity), is a little sticky and moves with brains in people. Since innovation is largely a social activity, getting people with diverse perspectives to interact in-person plays a large role. Logically, this needs to be balanced that too much interaction leads to enclaves of homogeneity, but I doubt we run the risk of that.

Media release: Peter Farrell Cup winners 2009

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:07:00 +0000

MEDIARELEASE:
November27,2009
Student entrepreneurs get a chance to take their ideas to the marketplace

'Ad-a-Bottle',a business concept that provides advertising directly on bottled water distributed exclusively to office building food courts, has won first place in an Australian School of Business competition to encourage student entrepreneurism.

The Peter Farrell Challenge Cup entrepreneurship competition offers students the opportunity to bring innovative business ideas to life.

“The Peter Farrell Cup was a catalyst for me to write a business plan and now I'm poised to implement it, and hopefully people will be drinking Ad-a-Bottle by next April,” said winning team member Iris Qi.

Some of the enterprising ideas in this year's Finals included a Wi-Fi based paperless receipt system, an online rental service where parents can order equipment and toys for their children when on holidays, and an electronic display system to eliminate changing price tags.

More than 45 teams from the University of New South Wales and other participating universities entered the competition, hosted by the Innovation, Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship (ICE) Club at the Australian School of Business, with eight teams participating in the Finals held on November19, 2009.

The finalists presented their business plans to a panel of four judges including high profile business founders and venture capitalists.

Teams were judged on criteria including sound risk analysis, financial attractiveness to potential investors and a clear identification of current market need. The written business plan, oral presentation and responses to judge’s questions helped determine the overall winners.

Christopher Witt, Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE)at the Australian School of Business, said the aim of the Peter Farrell Cup is to foster entrepreneurship and instill a passion for research and innovation. More than $40,000 in prizes and scholarships was on offer to the finalists to pursue their business ideas.

“The Peter Farrell Cup strives to link research projects and businesses with student teams to produce credible business plans that help all parties. It frames the time period and requirements, and rewards excellence through prizes and scholarships," said Mr Witt.

“Amongst the partners of the CIE is the NSW Enterprise Workshop. This outstanding organisation offers finalists a scholarship to continue in to the Enterprise Workshop three month long business planning program, enabling students to take their business ideas to the next level,” he said.

Ramanan Krishnamoorthy, President of the ICE Club, said the Peter Farrell Cup promoted the reality of business innovation as a real option for graduating MBA students.

“The life of an entrepreneur can be extremely rewarding; you are working for yourself on something that you are passionate about, and there is the opportunity to excel to your fullest potential,” said Mr Krishnamoorthy.

For more information please contact CIE Director, Christopher Witt on 02.9385.5654.

Global Entrepreneurship Week, Peter Farrell Cup and Videos

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:41:00 +0000

Once again, I've waited until I have too much to blog about and will try and cram it all into one blog post.

This week is Global Entrepreneurship Week (video by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation):

Somewhat related, this evening is the Peter Farrell Cup award ceremony. I don't know if the list of the top 10 finalists I received is public knowledge, so I'll err on the side of caution and not post them here. Great to see such a great list of finalists, and I am looking forward to meeting everyone at the event.

Lastly, here are some videos from the National Angel Capital Organization's 2009 Summit:

http://naoangelinvestor.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/2009-national-angel-summit-video-for-panel-1-angels-war-stories/

There are three pages, each with seven 10-minute videos. You can watch them online or download (and any other youtube video) them using the special bookmarklet here. This tool is super handy if you want to use videos offline, like in lecture theatres with spotty internet connections.

Best Paper Award at EuroMOT and podcast on social networks

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:52:00 +0000

Somehow I hardly seem to find the incentive to blog about only one thing. It's only when there's at least two things to blog about that I log on.

Last Month (September), a paper I co-authored with Ian McCarthy and Elicia Maine won the best paper award at the Fourth European Conference on Management of Technology (or EuroMOT 2009 for short). The prestigious award was sponsored by Arthur D. Little, "the world's first and oldest management consulting firm". A copy of the paper, titled "In Search of Entrepreneurial Network Configurations: Using Q-Analysis to Study Network Structures and Flows" is available via SSRN.

The second part of this blog is that I just listened to a CBC Quirks and Quarks podcast over dinner, which featured this book:

I can't quite tell if the authors are rediscovering scale free networks and just analyzing one network at time (by association or behaviour: obesity, smoking, friendship, ..) or if there is more to this book than a new longitudinal dataset. It looks like they have a good publicist, since they're getting good reviews at CNN and NY Times. If I find a copy, I'll give it a read.

Ok, here's a third tidbit to blog about. While Eric Sanderson's TED talk was not very clear on how he crunched his numbers, I am intrigued to see he is overlaying multiple networks of species (animals, plants, humans) and related ecological attributes. This sounds not unlike my research on the interaction between structures and flows (see SSRN link above).

Webinar: Seducing business angels

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Reposted from email.

Please join us one October 20th for “Seducing Business Angels: The Art of Courting Investors”.

Angel and venture capital is hard to come by. According to some sources, only one pitch in 100 is successful. But equity capital is not your only option.

This session looks at the options available for financing a young tech business. Learn what equity investors are looking for and how you can make the very best case for your business. Also learn how to choose the right investor and negotiate a successful deal (and what to do if you’re not successful).

You can register at: http://www.innovationcentre.ca/events

The session takes place on Tuesday October 20 at 12:00 EDT. Sessions are accessible over a standard web-browser. Attendees will receive access to the Ready, Set, Grow Resource Guide, which captures the content of the series.

There is no cost to attend, but space is limited, so don’t miss it - sign-up now!

The Ready Set Grow webinars are intended as a resource for emerging and established Canadian Technology companies to help them accelerate their growth. Each webinar features recognized subject matter experts and Canadian tech industry executives addressing a broad range of the issues facing growing companies.

The series is being presented by the Canadian Innovation Centre and the Technology Marketing Resource Centre in collaboration with the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA). The Ready Set Grow series is sponsored by Export Development Canada (EDC) and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC).

We hope you can join us!
Thank you for your time and please feel free to forward this to others you know who might benefit from attending this event.

Canadian Innovation Centre
519 885 5870

26th Angel Forum, Vancouver, BC - Nov 24, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:59:00 +0000

Just a quick reminder that the 26th Angel Forum is coming up.
From http://www.angelforum.org/:

Companies are asked to review selection criteria and for companies pages before submitting their Company Profile. Newer entrepreneurs are encouraged to self rate themselves by taking this Investor Readiness Test. To apply to present click registration. Final registration will close when capacity is reached.

Who: dozens of qualified investors and entrepreneurs
When: Nov 26, 2009
Where: SFU Harbour Centre
Why: to get boardroom presentations and investment
How: 10 minute pitch on stage and networking

Entrepreneur's Week at UNSW and Globally

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:57:00 +0000

Stay tuned for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009:
http://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/global-entrepreneurship-week-2009.aspx

New details from http://www.unswbsoc.com/:

Books and blogs: growth and exits

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 07:52:00 +0000

Here are a few resources I've come across over the last couple weeks.

I visited the facilities of ATP Innovations earlier this week and am impressed with the level of innovation happening there. Along the way, I came across a related blog calles Successful Innovation which emphasizes events and podcasts by ATP Innovations' bizBetClub.

While at the last Angel Forum, I picked up a copy of Basil Peter's latest book: Early Exits.

"This book is about the large number of other exits - the ones that are not driven by the VCs. Exit opportunities have changed dramatically in the past few years. Today, it's more likely that a company will be sold without ever having an investment from a venture capitalist.
Exits are also happening much earlier than before. The largest number of exit transactions today are in the under $30-million valuation range. These exits are often completed when companies are only two or three years from startup.
The goal of this book is to help entrepreneurs and angel investors have more successful, more frequent and more profitable exits."

I also recently had the pleasure to preview and provide a review for Tom McKaskill's latest book: Raising Angel & Venture Capital Finance. In a private email from him, he mentions the book is available free and may be distributed and put on my website, even though it costs $25 on his. Well .. here goes: FREE. Tom writes about his book:

"The objective of this book is to show the entrepreneur how they can create a business which assists the Angel Investor or VC fund to achieve their objectives. In doing so, there is a high probability of raising finance."

Overall, both books provide great overviews of the current state of privately funded startups (read not publicly listed). I highly recommend both for entrepreneurs who want to start companies, keeping in mind how they want to structure their business to attract the support of angels. While the ultimate goal is presented as a successful exit, the intermediate goal is just as clear: build a profitable business with high-growth potential.

PS: I have added a google calendar bar to the blog to highlight upcoming events related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Thankfully the events can easily be imported into other calendars without requiring manual transcription, and there's a separate RSS feed, too.

Now at UNSW, unlocked templates

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:14:00 +0000

As of last month, I have joined UNSW's Strategy and Entrepreneurship faculty (click on UNSW logo to your left). In addition to wrapping up my PhD, I am teaching undergraduates how to plan and launch businesses (STRE2010).

The main reason for this post, though, is to let interested people know that I have re-posted the financial model templates, except this time, they're unlocked.

As mentioned in a previous post:

Input all the info/assumptions ONLY in the Income Statement (IS) tab
You can use the dashboard at the top of the IS tab to take snapshots of the current model, and then compare the results against other versions
Hide and unhide rows in other tabs as appropriate (new in the unlocked version)
Edit anything (new in the unlocked version), just try not to nag me if you broke it

Disclaimer: I am not an accountant or Certified Business Valuator. Use the model at your own risk, and be clear about your assumptions. Lastly, don't spend too much time modeling. Use the model to pace yourself through figuring out the costs and other financial aspects of launching a business, but don't get sucked into analysis paralysis. Get out there and start something.

25th Angel Forum this May 26 in Vancouver

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Sat, 02 May 2009 18:26:00 +0000

-- reposted from an email --

Looking for Investors? 25 investors now registered for 25th Angel Forum on May 26 in Vancouver

Investor Survey: 80 investors responded to our March 15, 2009 survey: Outlook for Private Investing in 2009

78% said they would invest in the right new company in next 3 months and 30% would invest more than $150k
45% said Q2 of 2009 is the best time to invest and only 19% said they would only invest after Q1 of 2010
55% prefer companies with sales less than $1 million and 38% would consider pre-revenue companies
They prefer Pre-Revenue companies to be valued < $1 million and Revenue companies to be valued <>

Angel Forum - where 30+ pre-screened technology, service and manufacturing companies seeking equity funding up to $1.5 million, present to 50+ pre-screened private equity investors. This unique event has been held semi-annually since 1997 and includes companies exhibiting their products during networking breaks and at the closing wine reception. Submit Company Profile here

First 15 applications (save $200) at lowest cost of $490. Selection closes when we reach maximum capacity.

"After presenting at a few events like this, I must say that the Angel Forum is by far the best. Getting people in a room together is the easy part, putting together the follow up process like you have is what sets it apart and really provides the value for both the entrepreneur and the angel investor". Sarath Samarasekera, CEO, Shopster E-Commerce Inc. Tell your colleagues Cost / Registration

For presentation / exhibition details, review our Home, Selection Criteria and For Companies web pages. Final deadline is May 9. Questions? email Bob Chaworth-Musters

-- don't forget to subscribe to subscribe to the National Angel Capital Organization's blog --

Excel Social Network Analysis doohickey now supports matrices!

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:13:00 +0000

I was at INSNA's Sunbelt XXIX last month and enjoyed Marc's presentation on NodeXL. It's a pretty handy tool if you're doing a lot of analysis in Excel and don't want to import/export data between SNA packages. As he promised then, and delivered now, NodeXL has "entered the matrix."

That means no more fiddling with edge-lists, and dumping and adjacency matrix straight into NodeXL. Download your copy of the software here:
http://nodexl.codeplex.com/

Leonardo Summer Institute & VEF on (Online) Social Networks

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 19:23:00 +0000

SFU's Faculty of Applied Science (FAS) and the Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology (CPROST, of which I am a member) are looking for participants for the Technology Management Policy Graduate Consortium, hosted right here at SFU. I attended one of these when it was hosted at MIT and thought it was a great opportunity to meet like minded people and exchange ideas and research about innovation. Below is copy-and-pasted from an email:

FAS and CPROST look forward to presenting the 2009 Leonardo Institute. A full description of the program is attached. Hard copies will also be sent to all grad chairs and grad secretaries. The website can be found at: http://www.fas.sfu.ca/leonardo/ with details at http://fas.sfu.ca/leonardo/leonardo-institute/leonardo-institute-2009.
We hope that you will publicize it among all FAS graduate students. We look forward to a strong Leonardo cohort from FAS, as well as other faculties, This year the Institute will lead-up to the Technology Management Policy Graduate Consortium which will be hosted by CPROST 21 – 24 June, 2009 at Harbour Centre. SFU graduate students, by being part of the 2009 Leonardo program will have the opportunity to participate in the TMP program, which will include opportunities to present the economic and social policy implications of their research for podium presentations and posters. We will also feature posters from previous Leonardo participants. The website for TMP can be found on the Leonardo website at http://fas.sfu.ca/leonardo/technology-and-policy-program/index_html.
This will be an excellent opportunity for students to meet their fellow students, and hopefully future colleagues, from a number of universities around the world. TMP has been running since 2002, alternating between Europe and the US – this year will be the first time TMP has come to Canada.
Should you want further information, please do not hesitate to contact me at jholbroo@sfu.ca. I, or my associate, Dr. Jane McCarthy (jmccarth@sfu.ca), would be happy to come and speak about both programs to groups of students or at faculty meetings.
Adam Holbrook
J.Adam Holbrook, P.Eng.,
Associate Director and Adjunct Professor, Centre for Policy Research on Science and Technology, Simon Fraser University,
515 West Hastings Street,Vancouver, BC, V6B 5K3
CanadaPhone: +1-778-782-5192
Fax: +1-778-782-5239
website: http://www.sfu.ca/cprost/

Students from other faculties and other universities (i.e. UBC, too) are invited to apply.

The VEF is organizing a new topic for their next event:

Social Networking Tools for Business Development
A Panel Discussion on Internet Strategies for Companies and Investors
In a break from our Technology Legends theme, the VEF is presenting a panel discussion on using Social Networking tools for business development. The buzz around social networking technology is at an all-time high due to the popularity of consumer software and social networking services such as Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo, Jigsaw, Twitter and LinkedIn.

I unfortunately won't be able to make this session, but do hope there is ample conversation about how these online networks mesh with offline networks. Too much emphasis on online or virtual networks tends to forget that business and human interaction occurs best in a face to face setting. I remember a time when I tried the online dating scene for a month or two. Online was all it was. Converting online connections into anything more tangible, like actually meeting offline over a hot drink, was like pulling teeth.

In conducting my research on social networks I find I often have to remind people that I'm NOT explicitly studying these online tools. I'm studying the social dynamics of business, and letting entrepreneurs tell me whether that happens on- or off-line. No surprise there, but the vast majority of it does not actually happen online. Nonetheless, I wish I could make this VEF event..

New workshop announced

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:29:00 +0000

I just found this recent video post at BBC on "Starting a business in a downturn". Much like David's findings in my last post, the entrepreneur interviewed reflects that "the key to starting a business at a difficult time, is making sure that you're positive, driven, and want to deliver your services to your client."

I digress. This post is supposed to be about a new workshop being offered by Basil Peters and the Angel Forum.

Exit Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Investors
a unique first-time workshop - March 9 - downtown Vancouver.

Companies need an exit strategy first, which in combination with their capital requirements, drives their financing strategy. Ask yourself:

What is my exit strategy and why do I need one before I look for investors?
What type of investor best matches my exit strategy and capital requirements?
What are the four major steps I should be doing now to plan for a successful exit?
What about the timeline, valuation and legal process? - case study: Parasun exit.

If you think this Exit Strategies workshop would be valuable to someone you know, please forward this email.

This all day March 9 workshop will be presented by Basil Peters, Axel Christiansen, Thomas Hellman, Steven MacDonald, Steven Lukas, Bob Chaworth-Musters and other experts to be announced. It will be a blend of presentations and war stories with local experts, with lots of time for Q&A and networking.

First 15 seats at $270 each = 30% off final fee. Bring a qualified friend (approx. 10% lower). Questions to bob@ANGELforum.org

Exclusively sponsored by: Vancity Capital, Fasken Martineau lawyers, a major accounting firm and a boutique investment banking firm.

Reporting from the streets of Vancouver, the new (temporary) office I have looks straight out at the renovations above Moore's. It looks like the developer is preparing the place for some more office space. Hopefully it'll be as sucessful and stimulating as what Bill MacEwan's doing a block away at http://455granville.wordpress.com/

11 things to do in a recession

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:38:00 +0000

David Greer just sent out the results to his survey to the business leaders in his network about what to do in times like these. There are some great words of advice to any entrepreneur in his report, as well some direct quotes, including this one:

Karen Luniw, founder of the Law of Attraction Center says it well. "The most crucial area of focus for entrepreneurs is on keeping a positive mindset. This is not just about positive thinking but really about believing in yourself and your product or service. It's important to keep asking 'what's the opportunity' as opposed to 'how am I going to survive'. These are two completely different mindsets that will create different outcomes in one's business. If you can keep your eye towards opportunity - you can see it and create it."

Overall, this reads like a handbook to strategic planning. There are 11 things to keep in mind, all of which can be interrelated. This term, I also helped mark exams for an MBA level strategy course which was based on a similar framework:

A. Boardman, D. Shapiro & A. Vining, (2004) A Framework for Comprehensive Strategic Analysis, Journal of Strategic Management Education, 1(2) 2004, 307-342

I'm glad to see there's agreement between what the veterans in the industry are saying and what we're teaching students.

To help promote better management and propagate his review, David enclosed the following paragraph in his email:

Please feel free to share this article. I am happy to come and give a one hour
presentation to any company that would like to explore the strategies in the
article and how they can be applied to their situation. I am also looking for
events, trade associations, industry shows, and other venues where I could
present this article in 2009. Please let me know if you know of anyone that
could benefit from a presentation on how to make your company boom in 2009.

I hope you take him up on his offer.

NodeXL' Excel SNA template for matrix data

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:42:00 +0000

I finally got a chance to test drive the latest version of .NetMap, now called NodeXL. I have to admit, after reading the list of key features, my expectations were set too high and I had some issues.

I found the menu through which to import data from other open Excel workbooks clunky. My other data are in UCINet format, which it won't import. Needless to say, I created a NEW matrix form NodeXL template (available here), since the old one was incompatible. I thought it was really wierd that the Matrix tab could only be at the end of the list of tabs, not the beginning.

According to the list of key features you can analyze email data. All I saw was a way to import your own personal Outlook email, not, say, import the email database of someone else who you'd like to do research on.

I haven't successfully tried out the "calculate graph metrics" button because it still has issues with the modified template I created. The add-in supposedly can calculate degree, clustering, and betweenness measures, but all I saw in the ouput metrics was density. I think I'll add my own tab of metrics to the template before clicking the "publish post" button. Once sec ... done.

Some things to know about my modified template:

Node names, sizes and relationships are all entered in the 'Matrix' tab
Node and Edge colors are selected in the 'Vertices' and 'Edges' tabs
If you want to remove self-referencing relationships, you can toggle that in cell J1 in the 'Edges' tab.
BEFORE Reading the workbook, it helps to hide the zero width (aka non-existent) edges by filtering them in the 'Edge' tab. This might take unfiltering them and then reapplyng the filter.

With any luck, you should easily be able to create a graph like this:

If I can make it to Sunbelt next year, I'll try and make the NodeXL session and learn how to master this add-in.

Codeplex (re-)releases (rebranded) SNA tool for Excel

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:50:00 +0000

The network mapping tool for Excel, formerly known as .NetMap is back! I just got this email via the SOCNet email list. The list of new features looks fantastic. It's no longer just about visualization, but aslo integration with data sources and some analysis, too:

Hello!
I am pleased to announce the return of our network overview, discovery andexploration add-in for Excel 2007 now called NodeXL.

Please visit http://www.codeplex.com/nodexl for the add-in and the sourcecode for the application.

Key features in NodeXL:

Import data from existing spreadsheets and other network analysis application file formats
Import data from email reply networks on systems with Windows Search and local stores of email
Twitter API: pull twitter networks into NodeXL for exploration
Merge duplicate edges from imported edge lists
Calculate degree, clustering, and betweenness measures
Generate subgraph images for every node
Create clusters for collections of nodes
Decorate graphs with control over location, color, size, shape or image,and opacity of each edge or vertex
Dynamic filters: use sliders to filter the graph by multiple dimensions ofyour data about each edge or vertex

We welcome your comments, suggestions and best examples of NodeXL graphs onthe Codeplex NodeXL discussionboard.

The NodeXL Project Team includes:
Natasa Milic-Frayling (Microsoft Research Cambridge)
Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues (Microsoft Research Cambridge)
Tony Capone (Microsoft Research Redmond)
Dan Fay (Microsoft Research Redmond)
Ben Shneiderman (University of Maryland)
Adam Perer (University of Maryland)
Cody Dunne (University of Maryland)
Marc Smith (Telligent Systems)
Vladimir Barash (Cornell)
Eric Gleave (University of Washington)

.NetMap access closed off by Codeplex

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:04:00 +0000

Codeplex has temporaroly closed access to .NetMap, the Excel network visualization plug-in until they find a less ambiguous name. According to one of the team members:

We regret that the project formerly known as .NetMap is being renamed to avoid any confusion with any other products or projects with the same or similar names.

Once approved we will have a new name but retain the ease of use and powerful directed graph visualization and analysis tools.

Look for a return of the project in the next weeks.

Thanks for the interest in the Excel network overview, discovery and exploration tool we have been developing!

If anyone (eg SOCNET'ers) want a copy until then, I can probably dig up the version I downloaded and email it, permitting that various firewalls and anti-virus packages don't kill the email because it has an application or files with macros attached. Sigh.

OMG my investments are under-water. What do I do?

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:09:00 +0000

Last week's angel forum went well. It was inspiring to see so many investors and entrepreneurs still interested in shopping for good deals. Having spoken with a few investors, it sounds like nonetheless many are more interested in maintaining their current investments than getting into something new. The question is, what does it mean to maintain an investment? Is it just making sure the company doesn't close their doors? A recent email from Stirling Mercantile pointed to research from CASS in the UK, that suggests now is a great time to buy (not just invest in, but buy) undervalued companies and merge them.

24th Angel Forum on Nov 17th

noreply@blogger.com (mbliemel) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:53:00 +0000

The line-up for the 24th Angel Forum is almost complete. It's great to see that in these volatile times people are still interested in finding ways to build businesses and challenge adversity. This might even be THE best time to leap-frog others who are waiting at the side-lines and maintaining their current portfolios.

In terms of their presentations, I just hope they presenters are following the Angel Forum's presentation tips, or Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 rule. As for being able to explain their business model and finacial projections to investors (not just the product/service features their technology enables), I hope to see a few simple models (get a template here). I really hate yanking presenters off stage before they get to the part of the presentation their audience is really interested in.