While good business ideas are a dime a dozen, great ones are as common as a 1965 silver dime.
Just a fraction of new businesses last more than two years. So what makes a successful venture? From uniqueness to the ease of scaling the concept up or down, entrepreneurs say a number of things should be considered when trying to establish whether an idea is just good or really great. Here are 10 factors to contemplate:
Bas van Abel wanted a phone that worked well enough, but avoided the conflict mineral issues and harsh working practices built into mainstream devices. So two years ago, he created the Fairphone, a phone that would be adequate in its functionality but exemplary in its supply chain.
Since we last spoke to him, he seems to have succeeded. The Dutch company has sold 60,000 units and established a string of direct and traceable relationships with mineral suppliers around the world. Now it’s launching a wholly new version, one that considers not only the phone’s pre-life but its longevity and afterlife as well.
As you can imagine, building a phone from scratch isn’t easy, especially when you have ethical expectations. “We had a lot of people expecting us to kind of create world peace at the same time as making a phone,” Van Abel says. “I felt a little bipolar. Sometimes I felt like dying. At other times, I felt on top of the world.”
Do you have some vague plans to go back to school at some point, and get more education? Can’t go wrong with another degree, right?
Well, no. In fact, that’s actually a pretty dangerous assumption.
Getting an expensive degree without knowing exactly what you’ll be getting out of it is a quick way to rack up debt that won’t necessarily help you achieve your goals. So, before you (possibly) get yourself in a lot of trouble, here are five questions to consider before applying to school, again.
1. What are the requirements, and do they seem interesting to me?
First things first, are you even interested in additional studies? You never want to get a graduate degree solely because you don’t like what you’re doing now or because you don’t know what you want to do next.
Facebook’s photo-sharing app Moments will not be made available in Europe due to concerns about its use of facial recognition, it has been revealed.
The app, which allows users to share mobile-phone photos with friends without posting them publicly, was launched in the US this week.
The Irish data regulator said that users must be given a choice about whether they want it, with an opt-in.
There is currently no timetable for such a feature, said Facebook.
Richard Allen, Facebook’s head of policy in Europe said: “We don’t have an opt-in mechanism so it is turned off until we develop one.”
Moments arranges the photos on someone’s mobile phone into groups, based on when they were taken. The facial recognition technology can identify Facebook friends to whom users can then forward the photos.
The best things in life may be free, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take time, sweat, and perseverance to acquire.
That’s especially the case when it comes to learning important life skills.
In an effort to ascertain which talents are worth the investment, one Quora reader posed the question: What are the hardest and most useful skills to learn?
We’ve highlighted our favorite takeaways.
California’s labor commissioner said an Uber Technologies Inc. driver who connects with customers through the company’s app must be considered an employee, a decision that strikes at the heart of its business model.
San Francisco-based Uber, like other “sharing economy” startups, has built a business around a flexible car fleet piloted by people it contends are independent contractors. If Uber’s drivers were treated as employees, the company would be required to guarantee them a minimum wage, compensate them for mileage and pay into social security.
“We see this as a problem that’s growing larger with each year, with employees lacking security and even basic rights when they are treated as independent contractors,” said Steve Smith, spokesman for the California Labor Federation, which has backed tougher regulations on ridesharing companies.
Given the many problems small business owners encounter every day, recording and understanding the sales and expenses and other basic business data should be easy enough. But understanding the accounting needs of a business is not always so easy. Consider the difference between bookkeeping and accounting. Is there even a difference?
There is, and the difference is simple: bookkeepers record a company’s day-to-day transactions; accountants tell them how to do it, and then the accountants periodically make sense of all the information by turning it into useful reports .
Plastic water bottles are a divisive issue for many consumers, but not for Sarah Kauss.
The defining moment happened at Kauss’ five-year business school reunion in 2009.
“A professor did a presentation about the global water crisis and the impact on the planet from plastic waste,” said Kauss. “I knew then that my bottle idea had to happen.”
Before then, Kauss would carry other metal water bottles with her but wasn’t happy with their look.
In 2010, Kauss launched her startup S’well, a line of insulated reusable stainless steel bottles that are designed to keep drinks cold for 24 hours and hot for 12 hours.
Since then, the New York-based firm has sold 4 million bottles. The business is profitable and saw revenue surge 400% between 2013 and 2014 — hitting $10 million last year. “We expect revenue to grow exponentially again this year,” she said.
Imagine you hire some employees, show them to their workstations, and leave them to it. What do you think their chances of success would be? I’m thinking pretty low. And yet, this kind of thing happens every day.
Employers hire people mostly for skill set. With this practice can come the belief that the person is ready to roll on day one.
So, once they’ve filled out all of their paperwork and been shown where the bathrooms are they are let loose to do their job. The result is usually less than stellar performance and everyone ends up unhappy.
Hiring is the first step to future success. The second, and equally important, step is onboarding. Onboarding should include a couple of activities that set the new employee up for success.
v.19 n. 25 – Released June 16, 2015
