Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship and Social Change VC NYC panel March 4, 2010

by Fred Abramson on February 27, 2010

On July 4, we celebrate the entrepreneurs who were our founding fathers who made a difference by bringing social change to America. Unlike July 4, there is nothing particularly unique about the date of March 4.  On that date back in 2006 final contact was attempted with Pioneer 10 by the Deep Space Network. Unfortunately, no response was received.

NYConvergance recently noted that the New York Tech scene has matured. One sign of its maturity is the bevy of tech events in the New York City area.

What could be better than making March 4, 2010 special by spending the evening celebrating the power of entrepreneurs to change the world.  According to the press release:

The event will feature a panel that brings together the nation’s most prominent advocates for both early stage investment and social enterprise.  Fred Wilson, founder of Union Square Ventures, is an advocate for early stage investment and the single most read blogger in the venture capital community.  Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder of the Acumen Fund, a global nonprofit venture philanthropy fund that hat uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty.  They are joined by Roger Ehrenberg, founder of IA Venture Strategies and one of the most active angel investors in New York and Jacob Gray, partner at Murex Investments. The panel will be moderated by Scott Edward Anderson, founder of the greenskeptic.com and a frequent commentator on the FOx Business Netowrk. This rare combination of finance and philanthropy leadership reflects GoodCompany Ventures’ unique mission to help social entrepreneurs develop scalable, for-profit businesses to address unmet social needs.

Here are the details:

Date:   March 4, 2010

Time:  6-8 PM

Location:

Green Spaces NY
394 Broadway
5th Floor
New York, NY 10013

Cost: $35

For more information: GoodCompany Ventures

Drop me a line and let me know if you are planning to attend.  I would love to meet up with you!

The Law Office of Frederic R. Abramson is not affiliated with the above event.  If you have any questions regarding legal issues concerning entrepreneurship, contact the Law Office of Frederic R. Abramson at 212-233-0666.

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What you can learn from Jim Collins approach to life.

by Fred Abramson on May 24, 2009

Jim Collins

Jim Collins

As per my Sunday ritual of reading the New York Times, with a mug of coffee in hand, I came across this great profile of Jim Collins in today’s business section.  Jim Collins, along with Seth Godin, are the two business writers that have most influenced my thinking.  Mr. Collins has published a new book, titled “How the Mighty Fall:  And Why Some Companies Never Get In.”

Part of Jim Collins method is borrow from other hypersuccessful people.  Here’s what you can learn from how Mr. Collin’s approaches life:

1.  Mr. Collins keeps a stopwatch with three separate timers in his pocket at all times, stopping and starting them as he switches activities.  He analyzes every moment so that he uses every moment to its maximum effectiveness.

2.  He has an overarching goal for himself:  to produce a lasting and distinctive body of work.  We all need to have overarching goals and we should relentlessly pursue them.

3.  He approaches every aspect of his life with purpose and intensity.

4.  He is relentless about self-improvement.  Whether he is trying to sleep more or climb more effectively,  Mr. Collins is always working towards improving himself.

5.  He has a willingness to say no and focus on what not to do as much as what to do. He is quite practiced at saying no.  He turns down speaking lucrative speaking engagements because he wants to build ideas first and foremost.

6.  He believes small is beautiful.  Mr. Collins has only five employees.  He believes a lean company intensely focused on its goals is better than a large scattered company.

7.  He is picky about whom he hires.  He prefers to learn as much as possible before he meets them.  He looks for four intangibles:  smart, curious, willing to debate and some spark of irreverence. We should all do the same.