Tips & Advice
Tip of the day: Self Motivation
You must take the initiative to start a business and keep moving every day. Self-motivation helps you make your product, upgrade your technical skills and develop improved promotional techniques, even when business is slow. Self-motivation gives you the tenacity and confidence to call on a new client after you’ve already heard “No” four times [...]
National Technology Transfer Centre, Technology transfer for the second economy
The National Technology Transfer Centre (NTTC), an initiative by the dti to facilitate technology transfer and diffusion to SMMEs with a specific focus on the Second Economy. They aim to be a Centre of Technology Transfer Excellence for the SA industry, primarily focusing on SMMEs, contributing to growth, equity and employment.
The NTTC promotes and facilitates [...]
Business networking for entrepreneurs around Africa
Blue Catalyst
Bluecatalyst is an initiative in Gauteng South Africa, part of the Blue IQ project. The website and project aims to:
Increase the number of sustainable start-up technology- and knowledge-intensive businesses in Gauteng and South Africa - smart entrepreneurs.
Assist in the transfer of technology from innovators to organisations who can commercially utilise the innovations.
Assist smart entrepreneurs [...]
Business tips for the day
Self Awarenes
Know who you are, what you are good at and what you like to do. Start a business that is based on your expertise in a specific field or an area that you thoroughly enjoy.
Know the level of stress you can handle and start your business at a speed and scope that is right [...]
Stop being a Wannabepreneur!
Dharmesh Shah from on Startups the guy behind hubspot has an extremely relevant post on taking that leap to become an entrepreneur. I believe there are two kinds of people, those who talk about doing things and watch other people do it and those that actually take action. Wannabeprenuers are those people who always wanted [...]
Insights on startups, (David Lawee, Google)
David Lawee, VP of Corporate Development at Google, shares his insight on setting up a company.
Key Takeaways & Notes
Top 3 Lessons
Be Passionate
Partnerships are amazing but hard
Speed is everything
Things to think about for partnerships
Do you want flip? Grow? IPO?
Fianancing, How much and from where? (Angels, VC, Equity, Friends)
People
Culture
The ability to move quickly is your best competitive [...]
Startup School 08, Greg McAdoo, Sequoia Capital
Greg McAdoo discusses evaluating startup companies for investment at Sequoia Capital and how to create a great company.
Key Takeaways & Notes
Elements of a sustainable company
Clarity of purpose
Spectacular market
Alleviate customer pain
Team DNA
Incredible Product focus
Real operating margins
Frugality
Inferno with a single match
Common Mistakes
Cluttered Markets
Too much money
Too early or too late
Not addressing a true pain
A feature and not a [...]
The art of bootstrapping (Guy Kawasaki)
Guy Kawasaki author of The art of the start, has a must read post on his blog, called the art of bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is what you do when you are starting your business, You fund the project yourself by a variety of means to avoid external investors until absolutely required. Here’s a summary of [...]
Startup School 08, Creating a successful startup (Paul Graham)
Paul Graham, founder of YCombinator, speaks at Startup School 08 about how to create a successful startup.
Key Takeaways and Notes
Make something people want and do not worry too much about the money
There are parallels between a non profit and a startup, especially at the beginning stages (i.e craiglist)
Benevolent startups often turn into great companies
Benevolence increases [...]
Startup School 08, Start a business (David Heinemeier Hansson)
In a talk called the secret to making money online David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of the Ruby on Rails framework and Partner at 37Signals gives insight into creating a profitable startup company.
