Networking is Hot, Hot, Hot March 16, 2009

There are some bright lights in the 2009 economic sky. The intensity of B2B networking is increasing at New Business Minnesota, easily outpacing 2009.
Every month we run a networking event for new businesses called a Startup Meetup. In 2008, we averaged 60 to 80 people who would gather at a bar and exchange business cards, talk about each others’ businesses, [...]

How Bad is the Recession? January 19, 2009

During the recession of 1981-82, I was the editor of the Shakopee Valley News, a weekly newspaper just outside the Twin Cities. I wrote many stories about the local jobs that were lost and the businesses that closed. I thought I had done a great job of documenting and opining about the horrible conditions.
One day [...]

A Startup Stimulus Plan? January 12, 2009

A recent letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal pointed out how proposed economic stimulus packages coming out of Washington fail to address the potential of stimulating the startup market.
The letter writer, Eugene Severens of Annapolis, Md., addressed comments made by Sen. Judd Gregg’s , who wrote in a column that most jobs in America [...]

Predicting the Future Through a Rearview Mirror December 2, 2008

The science of economics has broken new ground. Einstein would approve. Time is not what us mortals think it to be. Alfred the great said time can warp and fold in on itself.
It now appears that economist have found the same to be true in their world. As a team of researchers approached light speed, time [...]

Social Neworking for Startups November 21, 2008

You’ve probably heard the phrase “Sales is a numbers game.” Or it’s variations: “Business is a numbers game.” Or “Accounting is a numbers game” (groan).
Only a statistician — or a weak sales person — would literally translate that phrase to mean the number of phone calls per hour or some such mechanistic interpretation. It rightly should [...]

Self-Financing Entrepreneurial Boom November 15, 2008

With unemployment beginning to rise and bank lending anemic at best, leave it to an entrepreneur to point out the upside.
We are about to wittness the unleashing of the largest, best educated, self-funded, graduating class of involuntary entrepreneurs this country has ever seen.
Here’s the scenario: When downsizing and layoffs come, more experienced employees — who also [...]