ModernMagellans: July 2007 Archives

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Jul31	Which Would You Invest In - Biotech or IT? Roger Anderson July 31, 2007 Know More: New Enterprises Which is more important - Biotech or IT? Do we show it by our investments? Do we encourage one over the other by legislation? If there were two stories, two competing headlines, one for the new iPhone and one for the recent advance in diabetes research, which do you read? Which is more important for our future? Perhaps most people consider it sufficient to read about pharmaceuticals in the context of which celebutart (Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, or Nichole Ritchie) has been arrested this week. I was intrigued by Guy Kawasaki's interview with Moira Gunn that he posted yesterday. I'm not sure I care for the title. I think that it might hurt her ability to be taken seriously but that is between Moira and Guy I suppose. My thoughts were piqued by one of the questions he asked? "Just how pervasive is biotech in our everyday lives?" I imagine that very few people realize how pervasive it is. Her answer was very enlightening. (the link above will take you there. I'm not sure it is correct to quote that extensively from Guy's blog without permission.) This got me to thinking about a conversation I had recently with a "Partner" in a medical investment company while on the JFK shuttle... Continue Reading Posted at 6:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul30	Better Sliced Bread But No Takers Roger Anderson July 30, 2007 Last month I wrote an article "Effectiveness - Right Thing, Right Time, Right Place" Recently I have found a new example. I have been working with two small companies; both are about 5 years along. Both companies have some very... Continue Reading Posted at 9:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul29	Getting a better connection Roger Anderson July 29, 2007 On weekends, so that more people can find this blog, I usually try to do a few housekeeping and linking projects. One is joining the Blog Catalog. If you have a blog it may well be worth your time to... Continue Reading Posted at 5:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul27	Genius or Deception? – Selling Something for $1 That Can Be Had for 1 Penny Roger Anderson July 27, 2007 Reuters is reporting to day that Pepsi will begin adding to their Aquafina brand labels that the water comes from a "Public Water Source" but it will not say which. The water is filtered beyond what the public facility provides,... Continue Reading Posted at 12:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul26	Why Don't People Call Back? Roger Anderson July 26, 2007 I have seen too many companies that collect information at trade shows and meetings that then fail to follow through with a call or mailer. Why collect information from people who stop by the booth and then just add it... Continue Reading Posted at 5:56 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul25	Growth Options – Business Development Roger Anderson July 25, 2007 Nerd Guru had a very informative post about growing a business that inspired me to think about looking for more examples of thinking about growth differently. When I developed the "More Cycle" (Chapter 6) I was primarily thinking about businesses... Continue Reading Posted at 2:57 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul24	Mistakes Happen - Prepare Now, Prepare Well Roger Anderson July 24, 2007 People expect a certain level of redundancy from Internet Services companies. Such as backing up all data, backup power, and for larger operations redundant facilities so that the service remains available if the main location is offline. For our own... Continue Reading Posted at 4:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul23	What is Your MTBF? (Mean Time Between Failures) Roger Anderson July 23, 2007 In the world of Information Technology, or manufacturing, MTBF is a measure of reliability. It is a measure of the time you can expect an item to work before it experiences a serious malfunction. Some people see this as another... Continue Reading Posted at 3:54 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul22	The Right Name Makes a Difference Roger Anderson July 22, 2007 This will be a very short post about branding. I was looking at the Sitemeter report that shows the number of visitors to this blog. One of the other reports is Referrals. This shows what pages people were on that... Continue Reading Posted at 9:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul21	Saturday Post - A Very Good Week Roger Anderson July 21, 2007 This past week saw the release of the Age of Conversation anthology. Over 100 authors particiapated in the creation of this book. It has received significant media attention and sales in just one week. AdAgeSocial ComputingMedia Post's Marketing DailyMedia Daily... Continue Reading Posted at 12:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul20	How to Layer Proof your Email – It’s not Lasagna Roger Anderson July 20, 2007 The August 2007 edition of Wired magazine arrived in my mailbox today. As I was flipping through the pages, I spotted a headline that I thought said "How to Layer Proof Your Email". I thought what an important topic -... Continue Reading Posted at 2:51 PM \| Permalink
Jul19	Wall Street Journal - Where Are the Innovators in Health Care? Roger Anderson July 19, 2007 Today, July 19, 2007, the Editorial section of the Wall Street Journal published a commentary by Regina Herzlinger, titled "Where Are the Innovators in Health Care?" Ms. Herzlinger is a professor at Harvard Business School, a senior fellow at the... Continue Reading Posted at 10:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Transformation – Can the boss be a friend with everyone? Roger Anderson July 19, 2007 The short and quick answer: NO.This is not to say that a boss should not be friendly with everyone. However, familiarity breeds contempt. The closer you are to people the more difficult it can be for them to take direction,... Continue Reading Posted at 12:03 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul18	Business Development - What if you cannot be number one? Roger Anderson July 18, 2007 People love to quote Jack Welch, "Be number 1 or number 2, or get out." That's fine for GE and for other fortune 500 companies but that may not be an option for you. You have a business and you... Continue Reading Posted at 12:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul17	Business Models - Who is OpenAds anyway? Roger Anderson July 17, 2007 In light of the previous post, I thought I should clarify who OpenAds is.Openads calls itself the "web's largest ad-space community." Recently they were able to raise $5 million in funding from First Round Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners, O'Reilly Alphatech... Continue Reading Posted at 9:50 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Mistakes - When is shrinkage a good thing? Roger Anderson July 17, 2007 Why would a Venture Capital firm like First Round Capital say something like this on their "Our Focus" page:We love investing in technologies and business models that are able to shrink existing markets. If your company can take $5 of... Continue Reading Posted at 1:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul16	Founder Issues - New wine in an old bottle Part 4 Roger Anderson July 16, 2007 There is usually a sense of excitement and apprehension around the offices of a new company. There is a lot of potential but also a great deal of fear. For all of the planning and preparation that have been put... Continue Reading Posted at 1:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul14	The Age of Conversation - a new book Roger Anderson July 14, 2007 According to an article in the July 14th, 2007 Wall Street Journal (weekend edition, subscription required) the 10th anniversary of blogging will occur in December. The article has a number of lengthy comments on blogs and blogging from a diverse... Continue Reading Posted at 10:57 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul11	Business Mistakes - Sprint and the 1000 Roger Anderson July 11, 2007 A company must see that it is benefiting from its relationships with suppliers and customers. If it is not, it should fix or discontinue those relationships. I have seen companies lose a lot of money because they were afraid to... Continue Reading Posted at 5:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul10	Business Analysis - what is the iPhone? Phone, Computer, or Transformer Roger Anderson July 10, 2007 I had hoped to be done with iPhone blogs but Julie on her blog, The Dozen, made a request for opinions and as I pondered mine I decided it was too much to put in a comment. I also like... Continue Reading Posted at 12:40 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Leading - New wine in an old bottle (Breaking the old rules) Part 3 Roger Anderson July 10, 2007 Establishing new rules and the way they are initially implemented sets the tone for the future. As discussed in the previous two posts a new leader has several challenges when stepping into an existing situation. After the issue of being... Continue Reading Posted at 9:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 9	Leading - New wine in an old bottle (Why was a new leader needed?) Part 2 Roger Anderson July 9, 2007 The reason a new leader is brought in has a big effect on the way the new leader is viewed. The reasons for change can be put in just a few categories. There a million specific reasons, but this is... Continue Reading Posted at 9:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Leading - New wine in an old bottle (Leading an established entity) Part 1 Roger Anderson July 9, 2007 Perhaps the analogy will be lost on those who are not familiar with winemaking. Maybe it should be trying to install a new operating system on an old computer. What about, bringing a Mac into a Windows world. Finally, I... Continue Reading Posted at 1:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 7	Reaction instead of action - usually the wrong move Roger Anderson July 7, 2007 I recently read on the WebMetricsGuru blog, that Squidoo is changing because of complaints not because of a desire to do better. Complaints have been coming, from a limited number of people, that Squidoo is just a spammer, SEO gamer,... Continue Reading Posted at 11:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 5	Why does Rupert Murdoch want the Wall Street Journal? Roger Anderson July 5, 2007 Business is more like chess than checkers. You have to plan your moves several steps ahead. You need to make multiple small steps to setup your big move. If nothing else is to be learned from this current wave of... Continue Reading Posted at 7:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 4	Networking - 8 Random Things About Me Roger Anderson July 4, 2007 Happy 4th of July everyone! Part of having a blog is being a part of the community. When starting out it is best to go along with the flow until you feel comfortable rocking the boat. I am not at... Continue Reading Posted at 12:02 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 3	Karma - Payback Can Be a Good Thing Roger Anderson July 3, 2007 In any business, relationships are a valuable asset. As you seek to grow your business, you need to take time to give back to those who help you along the way. Not everyone will be so kind but those who... Continue Reading Posted at 4:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Launch - Success Rates Roger Anderson July 3, 2007 Success breeds overconfidence is once again proven my Marcus Frind. Marcus is the now famous founder, sole-employee, and current media darling from PlentyofFish.com. His story is a great one. Start a company and build it slowly over time. Google search... Continue Reading Posted at 9:42 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Product Development - Can Your Product Be Like the iPhone? Roger Anderson July 3, 2007 Things the iPhone has that, in most cases, your product does not (not including its functions)1) Raving fans of the company2) A quantity of news coverage that would cost more than most businesses' total annual revenue before expenses, let alone... Continue Reading Posted at 2:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 2	My thoughts on the iPhone as a product Roger Anderson July 2, 2007 I am not a big believer in having all of my eggs in one basket. (alhought B.J. Herbison has a humorous list of reasons to keep your eggs in one basket.) I prefer to have a separate phone, PDA, and... Continue Reading Posted at 10:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Launch Lesson - the iPhone Roger Anderson July 2, 2007 Several people have asked me for my thoughts on the iPhone. My first response, "I don't plan to get one soon." I love trying bleeding edge technology, I just don't feel like paying for it. If I had been asked... Continue Reading Posted at 12:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »

Jul31	Which Would You Invest In - Biotech or IT? Roger Anderson July 31, 2007 Know More: New Enterprises Which is more important - Biotech or IT? Do we show it by our investments? Do we encourage one over the other by legislation? If there were two stories, two competing headlines, one for the new iPhone and one for the recent advance in diabetes research, which do you read? Which is more important for our future? Perhaps most people consider it sufficient to read about pharmaceuticals in the context of which celebutart (Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, or Nichole Ritchie) has been arrested this week. I was intrigued by Guy Kawasaki's interview with Moira Gunn that he posted yesterday. I'm not sure I care for the title. I think that it might hurt her ability to be taken seriously but that is between Moira and Guy I suppose. My thoughts were piqued by one of the questions he asked? "Just how pervasive is biotech in our everyday lives?" I imagine that very few people realize how pervasive it is. Her answer was very enlightening. (the link above will take you there. I'm not sure it is correct to quote that extensively from Guy's blog without permission.) This got me to thinking about a conversation I had recently with a "Partner" in a medical investment company while on the JFK shuttle... Continue Reading Posted at 6:44 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul30	Better Sliced Bread But No Takers Roger Anderson July 30, 2007 Last month I wrote an article "Effectiveness - Right Thing, Right Time, Right Place" Recently I have found a new example. I have been working with two small companies; both are about 5 years along. Both companies have some very... Continue Reading Posted at 9:02 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul29	Getting a better connection Roger Anderson July 29, 2007 On weekends, so that more people can find this blog, I usually try to do a few housekeeping and linking projects. One is joining the Blog Catalog. If you have a blog it may well be worth your time to... Continue Reading Posted at 5:11 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul27	Genius or Deception? – Selling Something for $1 That Can Be Had for 1 Penny Roger Anderson July 27, 2007 Reuters is reporting to day that Pepsi will begin adding to their Aquafina brand labels that the water comes from a "Public Water Source" but it will not say which. The water is filtered beyond what the public facility provides,... Continue Reading Posted at 12:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul26	Why Don't People Call Back? Roger Anderson July 26, 2007 I have seen too many companies that collect information at trade shows and meetings that then fail to follow through with a call or mailer. Why collect information from people who stop by the booth and then just add it... Continue Reading Posted at 5:56 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul25	Growth Options – Business Development Roger Anderson July 25, 2007 Nerd Guru had a very informative post about growing a business that inspired me to think about looking for more examples of thinking about growth differently. When I developed the "More Cycle" (Chapter 6) I was primarily thinking about businesses... Continue Reading Posted at 2:57 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul24	Mistakes Happen - Prepare Now, Prepare Well Roger Anderson July 24, 2007 People expect a certain level of redundancy from Internet Services companies. Such as backing up all data, backup power, and for larger operations redundant facilities so that the service remains available if the main location is offline. For our own... Continue Reading Posted at 4:23 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul23	What is Your MTBF? (Mean Time Between Failures) Roger Anderson July 23, 2007 In the world of Information Technology, or manufacturing, MTBF is a measure of reliability. It is a measure of the time you can expect an item to work before it experiences a serious malfunction. Some people see this as another... Continue Reading Posted at 3:54 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul22	The Right Name Makes a Difference Roger Anderson July 22, 2007 This will be a very short post about branding. I was looking at the Sitemeter report that shows the number of visitors to this blog. One of the other reports is Referrals. This shows what pages people were on that... Continue Reading Posted at 9:13 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul21	Saturday Post - A Very Good Week Roger Anderson July 21, 2007 This past week saw the release of the Age of Conversation anthology. Over 100 authors particiapated in the creation of this book. It has received significant media attention and sales in just one week. AdAgeSocial ComputingMedia Post's Marketing DailyMedia Daily... Continue Reading Posted at 12:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul20	How to Layer Proof your Email – It’s not Lasagna Roger Anderson July 20, 2007 The August 2007 edition of Wired magazine arrived in my mailbox today. As I was flipping through the pages, I spotted a headline that I thought said "How to Layer Proof Your Email". I thought what an important topic -... Continue Reading Posted at 2:51 PM \| Permalink
Jul19	Wall Street Journal - Where Are the Innovators in Health Care? Roger Anderson July 19, 2007 Today, July 19, 2007, the Editorial section of the Wall Street Journal published a commentary by Regina Herzlinger, titled "Where Are the Innovators in Health Care?" Ms. Herzlinger is a professor at Harvard Business School, a senior fellow at the... Continue Reading Posted at 10:48 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Transformation – Can the boss be a friend with everyone? Roger Anderson July 19, 2007 The short and quick answer: NO.This is not to say that a boss should not be friendly with everyone. However, familiarity breeds contempt. The closer you are to people the more difficult it can be for them to take direction,... Continue Reading Posted at 12:03 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul18	Business Development - What if you cannot be number one? Roger Anderson July 18, 2007 People love to quote Jack Welch, "Be number 1 or number 2, or get out." That's fine for GE and for other fortune 500 companies but that may not be an option for you. You have a business and you... Continue Reading Posted at 12:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul17	Business Models - Who is OpenAds anyway? Roger Anderson July 17, 2007 In light of the previous post, I thought I should clarify who OpenAds is.Openads calls itself the "web's largest ad-space community." Recently they were able to raise $5 million in funding from First Round Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners, O'Reilly Alphatech... Continue Reading Posted at 9:50 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Mistakes - When is shrinkage a good thing? Roger Anderson July 17, 2007 Why would a Venture Capital firm like First Round Capital say something like this on their "Our Focus" page:We love investing in technologies and business models that are able to shrink existing markets. If your company can take $5 of... Continue Reading Posted at 1:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul16	Founder Issues - New wine in an old bottle Part 4 Roger Anderson July 16, 2007 There is usually a sense of excitement and apprehension around the offices of a new company. There is a lot of potential but also a great deal of fear. For all of the planning and preparation that have been put... Continue Reading Posted at 1:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul14	The Age of Conversation - a new book Roger Anderson July 14, 2007 According to an article in the July 14th, 2007 Wall Street Journal (weekend edition, subscription required) the 10th anniversary of blogging will occur in December. The article has a number of lengthy comments on blogs and blogging from a diverse... Continue Reading Posted at 10:57 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul11	Business Mistakes - Sprint and the 1000 Roger Anderson July 11, 2007 A company must see that it is benefiting from its relationships with suppliers and customers. If it is not, it should fix or discontinue those relationships. I have seen companies lose a lot of money because they were afraid to... Continue Reading Posted at 5:38 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul10	Business Analysis - what is the iPhone? Phone, Computer, or Transformer Roger Anderson July 10, 2007 I had hoped to be done with iPhone blogs but Julie on her blog, The Dozen, made a request for opinions and as I pondered mine I decided it was too much to put in a comment. I also like... Continue Reading Posted at 12:40 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Leading - New wine in an old bottle (Breaking the old rules) Part 3 Roger Anderson July 10, 2007 Establishing new rules and the way they are initially implemented sets the tone for the future. As discussed in the previous two posts a new leader has several challenges when stepping into an existing situation. After the issue of being... Continue Reading Posted at 9:10 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 9	Leading - New wine in an old bottle (Why was a new leader needed?) Part 2 Roger Anderson July 9, 2007 The reason a new leader is brought in has a big effect on the way the new leader is viewed. The reasons for change can be put in just a few categories. There a million specific reasons, but this is... Continue Reading Posted at 9:49 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Leading - New wine in an old bottle (Leading an established entity) Part 1 Roger Anderson July 9, 2007 Perhaps the analogy will be lost on those who are not familiar with winemaking. Maybe it should be trying to install a new operating system on an old computer. What about, bringing a Mac into a Windows world. Finally, I... Continue Reading Posted at 1:14 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 7	Reaction instead of action - usually the wrong move Roger Anderson July 7, 2007 I recently read on the WebMetricsGuru blog, that Squidoo is changing because of complaints not because of a desire to do better. Complaints have been coming, from a limited number of people, that Squidoo is just a spammer, SEO gamer,... Continue Reading Posted at 11:01 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 5	Why does Rupert Murdoch want the Wall Street Journal? Roger Anderson July 5, 2007 Business is more like chess than checkers. You have to plan your moves several steps ahead. You need to make multiple small steps to setup your big move. If nothing else is to be learned from this current wave of... Continue Reading Posted at 7:35 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 4	Networking - 8 Random Things About Me Roger Anderson July 4, 2007 Happy 4th of July everyone! Part of having a blog is being a part of the community. When starting out it is best to go along with the flow until you feel comfortable rocking the boat. I am not at... Continue Reading Posted at 12:02 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 3	Karma - Payback Can Be a Good Thing Roger Anderson July 3, 2007 In any business, relationships are a valuable asset. As you seek to grow your business, you need to take time to give back to those who help you along the way. Not everyone will be so kind but those who... Continue Reading Posted at 4:30 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Business Launch - Success Rates Roger Anderson July 3, 2007 Success breeds overconfidence is once again proven my Marcus Frind. Marcus is the now famous founder, sole-employee, and current media darling from PlentyofFish.com. His story is a great one. Start a company and build it slowly over time. Google search... Continue Reading Posted at 9:42 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Product Development - Can Your Product Be Like the iPhone? Roger Anderson July 3, 2007 Things the iPhone has that, in most cases, your product does not (not including its functions)1) Raving fans of the company2) A quantity of news coverage that would cost more than most businesses' total annual revenue before expenses, let alone... Continue Reading Posted at 2:00 AM \| Permalink \| Comments
Jul 2	My thoughts on the iPhone as a product Roger Anderson July 2, 2007 I am not a big believer in having all of my eggs in one basket. (alhought B.J. Herbison has a humorous list of reasons to keep your eggs in one basket.) I prefer to have a separate phone, PDA, and... Continue Reading Posted at 10:58 PM \| Permalink \| Comments
	Launch Lesson - the iPhone Roger Anderson July 2, 2007 Several people have asked me for my thoughts on the iPhone. My first response, "I don't plan to get one soon." I love trying bleeding edge technology, I just don't feel like paying for it. If I had been asked... Continue Reading Posted at 12:39 PM \| Permalink \| Comments

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