Here is something new for me. Let’s call it a core dump. For the none geeks, a core dump is what happens when a computer encounters an ABEND, or abnormal end. Any one who has ever witnessed a “blue screen of death” is familiar with a core dump. In the unfortunate event that this happens, the computer will list all of the contents of the registers and the call stack (”the memory”) to aid in troubleshooting the problem. In short, this is just a random dump of things that I’ve been meaning to blog further on, but probably won’t get the chance to expand on. So I want to share (document?) them while these thoughts are still relatively fresh.
Huh?
The other day driving to work I saw a work truck from the water and sewer authority with the following slogan in bumper sticker form: “Work is sacred, Don’t touch it!” Some one once asked me if I was a linguist, because I get upset when words are used incorrectly. This was slightly confirmed by a Tickle test that I once did that was for my Intellectual Type, an “Insightful Linguist”. The driver of the vehicle is most obviously a member of a water workers union or whatever, so I know what he means. However, in our short, sweet lives there are many things that are sacred, but I don’t believe that “your job” is one of them.
Woo Hoo
I saw today that the Director of the El Nuevo Dia, Luis Alberto Ferré Rangel, has started what he calls “el primer blog de cualquier medio de prensa en Puerto Rico”, the first blog from any news media in Puerto Rico. The blog is featured under a banner that states that “El periodismo es una conversación”, journalism is a conversation. All I have to say is “welcome to the conversation! Your voice has been long over due.” I hope that this helps build momentum for our conversation and we see many other businesses, government officials, and leaders join with us.
It’s not every day that a smart group of people get together and share ideas for companies that they would like to see built, so they can give them money (invest in them). The current issue lists 11 different ideas that a group of venture capitalists will fund if they receive the right business plans. Here are the ideas:
- Mobile ID for Credit Card Purchases
- Back-Office Bank Syndicate
- The Ultimate Online Upsell
- Subscription PCS for Seniors
- An even Smarter Smartphone
- Open-Source IT Center
- Social Networks Meet The Town Crier
- Customer Service Over IP
- Plug-And-Play Mobile Services
- Home Patient Monitoring
- A Killer App for Convergence
For me, the product recommendation, open-source IT management, and the social networking opportunities seem very achievable and realistic. What I also like this list is that it is written from the investors perspective which is invaluable, especially for non-business oriented innovators.
I feel really fortunate for believing in Grupo Guayacan and participating in the current Business Plan Competition workshops. Today I attended the latest workshop Technology Entrepreneurship: A Silicon Valley Perspective with Henry Sang Jr., from HP Palo Alto, California. I’m sure that what I learned today will help guide me as I begin ramping up my entrepreneurial activities. HP is offering up their IP backlog for entrepreneurs to develop the ideas. A couple of eye-openers from the session. If an opportunity does not represent a business capable of generating more than $860 million, HP is not interested. Don’t try and hit the $1 billion dollar grand slam start-up, go for one hundred $10 million singles. I think you can continue to scale this down until it becomes achievable. Wanna have a million dollar company? Try creating 10 $100 K businesses.
…begins with the first step!
Finally, tonight I took my very first step towards becoming a Web 2.0 entrepreneur. I bought a few new domains, secured a new web host, and installed Mambo, courtesy of GoDaddy, my apologies to 1 and 1 hosting. For free, they have been decent hosts. I would of preferred Drupal, but installing Mambo was just a click away. I guess we’ll see if it is up to the challenge. Within the next year I’ll probably have to deal with leaving or moving x-cito.com and snapplatform.org. So far, all I have to say is that it will be hard to beat GoDaddy’s prices and convenience.
