Expand Your Mind: What’s with That?
by Miki SaxonOne size doesn’t fit all when it comes to entrepreneurs and innovation isn’t always what it seems.
How rich should you get for creating software that changed the world? Linus Torvalds created Linux and the open source revolution, which got him around a million dollars and an incredibly cool job.
Does he have any regrets? “Not at all,” he says. “Quite the opposite, actually. I’m very happy with feeling that I’ve done the right thing.” He adds: “I mean, if I’d started a company, that wouldn’t have been because I wanted to start a company. I concentrated on the technical side because that’s what I wanted to do.”
Entrepreneurs of all types are hyped as the solution to every country’s economic ills, so you might assume that the more dire the economy the more a government would facilitate startups—but you would be wrong. Consider Greece, which needs all the help it can get…
It took him 10 months — crisscrossing the city to collect dozens of forms and stamps of approval, including proof that he was up to date on his pension contributions — before he could get started. But even that was not enough. In perhaps the strangest twist of all, his board members were required by the Health Department to submit lung X-rays — and stool samples — since this was a food company.
Are you a sucker for kitchen gadgets designed to do one thing? I admit I succumb on occasion to their cool allure and the usefulness they seem to offer—if only that vision translated to my reality.
Just as often, the buyer is to blame, a victim of unrealistic expectations. The kitchen can be a realm of fantasy, after all, and even seasoned professionals can be seduced by a sexy piece of equipment, especially if it has an exotic accent.
For all the talk about the importance of marriage to long-term happiness and health it gets shorter-term all the time. Enter a couple of single entrepreneurs who believe they have the answer to keeping the romance, and therefore the marriage, alive.
Later this year, Mr. Schechter and Mr. Schildkrout will release their answer to these questions: a new dating portal focused on committed couples. It will seek to get them out of their routines, off their feet and on the town for frequent dates.
Everything is social these days and everyone seems to think that peer opinions are the ones that really count. I often ask one or two trusted friends what they think, but I’m not all that interested in sites like Yelp, because the posting are not only strangers, but also anonymous, unlike Angie’s List. But it would be a cold day in hell before I’d use this newest social site.
So that’s what MeARKET does. When you sign up, you enter the stocks that you own. Then you’re connected with your Facebook and LinkedIn friends, you can see their portfolios, and as they buy and sell, you get updated.
Flickr image credit: pedroelcarvalho