Midventures

I am an entrepreneur. I live off of Ideas, and when that’s not working I am borrowing money, arguing about why I am not pulling weight in financial responsibilities with my fiancé and eating noodles. In my short-lived entrepreneurial experience I have found that idea’s don’t really work in my head. I cannot live off of an idea and wishful thinking does not pay out in dividends. What has come to my attention is that as an entrepreneur I live in the middle of ideas and reality on a bridge called inspiration. The only way to cross this bridge is by leaving nothing unsaid in sharing my ideas as if I were a living, breathing example of them.

This may seem detrimental to some as it did to me in the beginning. I was concerned that by giving up too much, the idea would be stolen. So I wasn’t straight with people and I would tell myself that I didn’t know what I was talking about when it came to details. I thought that I couldn’t trust people because of this concern, but really what was running the show, was that I didn’t trust myself.

I just didn’t want people to know that I didn’t know, which meant that my idea didn’t work, which meant that I was a lousy entrepreneur and that I should find a day job and succumb to a life sentence of noodles.

So I was dancing around in my presentations and pitches avoiding people telling me that my project was unworkable, and usually this happened anyway because it was obvious that I wasn’t being straight. The moment I got that this was an ordinary fear that I was avoiding and that it wasn’t anymore or less real than the project idea in my head, I got to choose between my passion and my fear.

I am now free to deliver presentations and pitch to anyone inside of what I am committed to, building projects that enhance and connect people’s experience of their life through the Internet. Its only by giving everything away, Including your reasons for not sharing, that you are a living, breathing example of the project that you have created; indispensable and invaluable.

-Jonathan Houle
Midventures Consultant

Innovation in Africa

Princess Zindaba’s ornate gown glistened jade under movie grade lighting while each attendee gaped intently, enraptured by the discussion. “My sisters and brothers lives were claimed by AID’s and I will not allow myself to return to Zambia, without a solution.” What transpired on Friday the 19th was African royalty speaking directly with each individual member of this ad hoc discussion panel comprised of young entrepreneurs in a business casual loft on the top floor of a Chicago skyscraper.

Home to the newest community of Midwest based .com entrepreneurs, 63 E. Lake street is now the birthplace of a new breed of start-up, based in Africa. The developing collaboration between the Princess and the solar powered company that attended the event, is indicative of several other projects in Sudan and Nigeria that the Nile International Connection is supporting. Sunflower inc. is proposing to extrapolate fresh water from aquifers using solar power, to support a village of more than 450,000 people. “I don’t want to leave this room without a plan!” asserted Dar of Sunflower Inc., while captivated by the opportunity that the Princess proposed to the group, was determined that promising’s of this collaboration were not left up to chance.

Coupled with a project proposals, Princess Zindaba, will relay the footage of this event to the President of Zambia as one of the founders of the Nile International Connection and as Shaka Zulu’s great granddaughter. She is an avid supporter of innovation in Africa and the Nile Connection will continue to have soirees as hosts connecting innovative companies and intrepid African Leaders, speaking for the people of Africa. Princess Zindaba has a new book coming out in February, Tears for Africa, that she is promoting, which articulates a compelling view of United Africa.

Transition to Automation

The Linda Day Interview

Technology can be elusive, in that you never quite know if you are on track with the latest developments or if transitioning to automation would curtail your bottom line.  Linda Day, a seasoned Commercial Property Manager, closes the gap between traditional business and automation and she declares that bearing the cost of this transition is essential to survival and will directly implicate the bottom line.

Speaking from over 25 years of commercial property management experience, Linda states that, “the banking industry and even the antiquated legal and medical industries have passed up the property management industry as far as embracing technology.” She implores that every Aspect of the Commercial Property Management business can benefit directly from this technological infusion.  When I asked her about how to specify how this industry would benefit she said, “Why are managers dredging through NCR forms when this entire process can be automated?” She warns that buildings have to cut back on overhead in order to survive and that it doesn’t have to equate to downsizing.

The challenge of automating any business is calculating the cost/benefits before transition.  She claims that companies who are open to learning and wiling to test drive innovative new operational software’s will quickly discover the benefits of automation.  Although many industries are adopting technology into their business to stay competitive, Linda claims that on many corporate financial statements, technology still has not been recognized as a key and essential business expense or line item. Commercial Property Management companies, who transition to automated systems, experience ROI’s in the form of reduced overhead and new business opportunities, which ultimately impact the bottom line.   Linda Day proclaims, that there is no choice but to adapt and embrace technology now.

For more information see Linda Day on LinkedIn.

Evolution, Opportunity and Execution

The Ted Greene Interview

When I asked Ted Greene, CEO of skatingcircle.com, what he wanted to innovate about his business he said, “I’m not out to innovate. If you came up with an innovative idea you are probably too early for the commercial market. Ninety percent of being an entrepreneur is in execution.”

Ted’s illustrious career as an entrepreneur has been a gradual evolution from the romanticized grandiose dreams of a second Google coming to methodical and calculating executions. “If it was that easy to be ‘you tube’ successful, and 70% of the industry was, then we wouldn’t be talking about them.” For Ted, it’s not so much identifying innovative idea as it is executing.

A veteran in developing Web solutions for net clueless companies in the later part of the last decade, Ted has a unique familiarity with the technological landscape of the early 21st century. Old Willow Partners, an acquisition firm founded by Ted and 4 other partners, is an “opportunity” to take existing ventures and grow them in lieu of having a vested interest in one single venture. Boutique ventures rule the day and this style of entrepreneurial activity afforded Ted a direct role as the CEO of Rainbo Sports.

Rainbo Sports is a leader in multi-channel retail and womens skating accessories and the segue for Ted’s insight into the evolution of an under served market. Ted’s interest sprang not only from growing something that he has a large stake in, but also from capitalizing on a shift in the lifestyle dynamics of women’s sports. Ted asserts that there has been a fundamental shift in the way that women participate in sports. He used an example of how his daughter, despite the lack of agreement from the boys on the team and the coaches, persisted in trying out for league 1 hockey, a sport dominated by men. This determination markedly different than 20 years earlier is synonymous with a shift in woman’s relationship to sports, which is now recognized by popular media and is still clearly under served. One could simply walk into a sporting goods store and observe the staggering disparity of men’s apparel and accessories to women’s.

“I like to call it the bottom of the triangle”… Teds latest project, The skatingcircle.com, utilizes film production and original content to engage the largest proportion of women active in sports. The skatingCircle.com, allows young women to participate directly by uploading their own original sports stories and video’s. “What connects them is their passion for the sport not just the level competition.” Ted is committed to expanding the circles coverage to all woman’s sports. Using Web 2.0 and video, combined with retail e-commerce, the Circle highlights woman’s sports on the purest level and it defines a potential economy around fostering sports lifestyle’s.

“We are moving into lifestyle communication systems such that you can go on to retail website and meet people with similar interests. The lines between retail brands and lifestyle are blurring and where you shop says something about you.” Hyper diversifying mediums of communication makes possible an evolution of young sportiest’s interaction and a sporting market confluence. “We don’t want to be a leader. We want too identify the evolutionary path and position ourselves in front of it.” For Ted Greene, innovation happens inside of evolution that is forwarded by technology and this has been his experience successfully operating as an entrepreneur.