The slideshare (embedded, below) from Netflix titled “Reference Guide on our Freedom & Responsibility Culture” has had half-a-million views, 1500 “favorites” and ~120 comments in the past two years. It’s hardly new. But does it identify Netflix as a sustainable venture?
For those of you less likely to flip through 128 slides (which you can do in about 10 minutes), here are some highlights, followed by observations and a couple big questions: Continue reading
In just ten minutes, this video creatively and convincingly demonstrates the utter folly demonstrated by our common modern understanding of compensation and incentives in the workplace. (Thanks to new acquaintance Guillaume Gautherau for the recommendation!) Highlighting research done by economists from MIT, Carnegie Mellon and University of Chicago (hardly bastions of progressive thought), the video debunks the concept that more money makes people work harder. Leveraging the example of Linux, the thesis points to three primary motivations for the best and brightest people of our generation: autonomy, mastery and purpose.
The work is a collaboration between Daniel Pink, renown author and authority on modern workstyle, and RSAnimate, a division of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), a multidisciplinary cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress in the UK.
Progressives, social entrepreneurs, free-lancers, creatives and anyone else mindful of cultural transformation will find the video a great investment of 10 minutes (and if you haven’t seen the RSAnimate’s unique style, you’re in for a double treat).
The trend is based on what many entreprenurial thought leaders — from investors to serial entrepreneurs to the lawyers and PR pros who live through the cycles — recognize as sectors that will thrive, even during a predictably rough national economic period. These sectors are technology (and in Colorado, especially IT and web 2.0), energy and other CleanTech / GreenTech / Sustainability companies.
In the CoBiz column, I propose a few potential results of the current Wall St. banking crisis:
Many investing “truths” have forever changed. The question is: which ones? We suspect — and a quick query of investors this week has quasi-confirmed — that core investing principles are intact, but the situational realities as to who will be an interesting funding candidate are likely to be quite different.
Intuition suggests that fewer wealthy people will be making investments, but with the investment banking sector suddenly and irreversibly (lets’ check that assumption in a few months) extinct, more money and talent could focus on growth sectors like green tech.
It’s also possible that money will re-localize. Investors will want their money to be a bit more tied to tangible nearby investments as a backlash to the ideological bankruptcy of radical derivatives. Further, as investors take a deep stock of their values, the evolution toward a more holistic investing approach will amplify.
But that’s all speculation. What’s real is that on November 21st, forty of the strongest Colorado start-up businesses will present to hundreds of venture capitalists and angel investors at the annual Angel Capital Summit. And at the end of that day, we will present a once-in-a-generation opportunity to “not only learn about but participate in the co-creation the future of our regional business ecology.”
With Anita Burke telling us all how to measure sustainable business practices at lunch, and the as-yet-uncomfirmed special appearance by one of Colorado’s favorite political leaders open the day, it promises to be an exciting “first day of the rest of your career” type of experience.
One conclusion is that there are at least two major categories of angels — professional, accredited angels who number roughly 5,000 nationally and made just shy of 1,000 investments in 2006; and casual, unaccredited angels, who may number as many as 600,000 nationally, and could account for $20 billion injected into the US entrepreneurial economy.
In short, nobody does a good job tracking this data, because the activity is so distributed. And while contradictions continue, we have yet to see any more comprehensive report.
Well, it took me a while. I came off my game for almost two weeks.
But on a drive home from an inspiring meeting with Kevin (Johansen, my Business Catapult business partner and long time co-consipirator), I fully and completely transcended (and included, as the integral school teaches) the financial crisis. That is to say, the crisis is a moment in time, and will be over sometime soon. The future will have to include the history and (future) present of the impact of the crisis, but we will move beyond it. So I am THERE.
As supporting partners, Business Catapult provides our entire suite of tools, and provide many new features to what would otherwise be a typical investor fair. For instance:
Investors can review deals prior to the conference, and participate in a collective intelligence process that identifies the best companies to present.
Entrepreneurs use our Benchmark Survey as one component of the nomination process, and are able to refine their plan, based on the results of the business logic we build into the Benchmark Report.
Trusted Advisors can contribute to the deal screening process, and gain an insight into the strongest new companies in the region.
Organizations, including Business Schools, Small Business Development Center (SBDCs), incubators, angel investor networks and entrepreneurial meetup groups can each organize a group on the system, nominate their entrepreneurs and, after the conference is open, see the entirety of the pool of entrepreneurs who nominated themselves.
Entrepreneurs can apply now. Investors can learn about unusual benefits. Coloradans can look forward to what we’re calling an Entrepreneurial Renaissance, for as usual, the independently minded (seen the polls?) folks in the Centennial State are thinking differently.
What recession? The Colorado small business economy is vibrant and growing, with a more dynamic mix of industries and sectors than we have seen in decades. From biotech to energy, web 2.0 to nano, and an overriding mindset towards sustainability, there is a counter-cyclical boom in small business growth happening here on the Front Range.
If you want to learn more, you should really come check it out. Here are some of the many ways to connect into this thriving community:
New Tech Meetup. Hundreds of geeks, entrepreneurs and cool new companies every month.
Clean Tech Meetup. Cool ideas and innovative solutions for energy, transportation and more.
Founders Meetup. Entrepreneurs coming together to help create great businesses.
Colorado Capital Conference. Hosted by the Rockies Venture Club next week, you can meet some of the best up-and-comers across a variety of sectors.
TechStars. Cool summer program for aspiring web jockeys aspiring to become business people.
Business Catapult. Online matching service for entrepreneurs and investors. Note: I’m one of four owners here, which makes it even cooler
Angel Capital Summit. Annual fall investing fair, although their site has not been updated since last fall. Look for more information in coming weeks.
And there’s more. Much more. Comment here if you’ve got questions, thoughts or other interest in connecting into Colorado’s great entrepreneurial scene.
He highlights how the tools at the core of the Entreprenurial Standards Forum provide a statistically-based gap analysis for entrepreneurs.
Data generally finds its way into a database through the application of a mix of archival, collective and “swarm” intelligence. Archival intelligence is about what worked in the past. History, which we are doomed to repeat if we don’t study it, is archival intelligence. Collective intelligence is about what worked today. Collective intelligence is best-practices sharing. “Swarm” intelligence is about problem solving and making things work better.
Building a database–a knowledge archive–of almost any sort is an investment the builders hope to see pay off. In the case of the Angel Capital Summit, a community-wide event hosted by the Rockies Venture Club on Nov. 13, the Entrepreneurial Standards Forum, a Colorado-based nonprofit, made this investment. They did it for entrepreneurs in specific and investors in general. For the ACS, it paid off well.
It sure did.
What’s the nuance? Our tools radically improved the fundamental performance of this annual conference where entrepreneurs pitch potential investors, which had been staid for over a decade. Not only was the Rockies Venture Club (RVC) able to review more than 4 times as many applicants, but they saw more companies present, and a much higher percentage (probably a 7x multiplier) receive funding, making it both qualitatively AND quantitatively the best of these events in Colorado in at least 15 years.
