Author: stevewoda Page 2 of 13

The death this weekend of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, who ruled the country with an iron fist since his father’s death in 1994, had immediate repercussions throughout Asia and beyond.

The New York Times reports that South Korea — which has been at war with North Korea since the early 1950s — immediately put its military on alert, “boosting surveillance along the 155-mile border between the two countries, one of the world’s most heavily armed frontiers.” The tension between the two countries escalated during the past several years after North Korea demonstrated nuclear capability.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Asian stock markets took a dive in response to the news, “with South Korea’s stock market and the won tumbling to multiweek lows…. With markets already reeling from the European debt crisis and global growth concerns, Kim’s death has added a dangerous layer of instability to the Korean peninsula,” the Journal noted, adding that “many Asian neighbors [are] uneasy about the leadership transition phase in one of the world’s most reclusive regimes.”

That unease was further heightened by the announcement that Kim’s son, Kim Jong-un, has been named the country’s new leader, despite his youth (he is in his twenties), lack of experience and isolation from other governments.

via knowledgetoday.wharton.upenn.edu

A 27 year old kid with nukes. Pretty scary stuff.

We all know how important trust is.

Some guy in a clean uniform and a firm handshake approaches you, you feel pretty good. Some creep in a sloppy uniform, tangled hair and blood dripping from a meat knife makes you cringe.

Your web site is no different. (See Ramon’s – 10WebSiteMusts.com )

When customers or prospective customers visit your web site they want to feel that they can trust what they are buying (or even just reading) from your web site. The more information you have online about your business the more comfortable shoppers will feel in buying from you. If you’re not a brand (an already trusted brand) like Amazon.com, WalMart or some other retailer – you’ll need to do a LOT to build trust, with each mouse click, with new visitors.

KikScore , a service which provides a reputation score to web sites, in a recent survey, found the following insight from the survey:

With the substantial increase over the last few years in online shopping, consumers have become aware of the constant threat of hackers, scammers, and identity thieves that operate online. Now consumers are increasingly searching for and hiring local service businesses such as contractors, lawyers, plumbers and landscapers. These shoppers and consumers that perform local searches raise growing concerns about the trustworthiness of the businesses that they find online. Increasingly, if shoppers and browsers visit a website and feel that it is not trustworthy, consumers will simply leave and go to another website. According to findings from the KikScore survey, the fear of being defrauded or being a victim of an online scam has led more than 90% of consumers that shop online not to complete a transaction.

via www.businessinsider.com

I founded buySAFE, the world's leading ecommerce trust and safety company, and so I have a deep appreciation for the high correlation between trust perceptions / conversion rates. KikScore's research illustrates this crucial ecommerce concept.

Well done guys.

For early stage companies, angel investment can be an attractive funding option, says James Hunt, angel investor and adjunct professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. Hunt specializes in early stage funding and has holdings in about two dozen companies. Here, he shares the secrets to getting a blessing–and funding–from an angel.

via www.entrepreneur.com

Good advice for entrepreneurs from an experienced Washington, DC angel, James Hunt.

In 2009, Steve Woda and his brother Tim dreamed up a new company: an Internet-based service that would help inform parents about how to protect their children in today's high-tech world. The motivation was personal: In early 2009, a child predator had been caught stalking one of Tim's children via social media.

An experienced entrepreneur, Steve planned to seek seed funding in stages while he and his brother worked out the company's early kinks. The happy results so far: Since late 2009, their Arlington, Va., company, uKnow.com, has already attracted about $1 million from a progression of about 20 "angel" investors (individuals and groups who invest in start-up companies).

"Timing was on our side," says Steve, uKnow.com's chief executive officer. "Unfortunately, there's a rising risk for kids online. But fortunately, we found a growing number of angels available to help us address this problem."

While the venture-capital industry continues to consolidate, making it hard for some entrepreneurs to get investment capital, angel investments are on the rise. Angel investors are typically wealthy individuals who, like venture capitalists, make high-risk investments in fledgling companies in hopes of reaping exceptional returns. The difference is that the money they typically provide is much less than what venture capitalists offer, so angels usually have funded very early stages of new businesses. But even that is changing.

via www.csmonitor.com

An interesting article about angel investors as well a bit of uKnow.com's history.

Enjoy.

"At what age should I let my child join Facebook?" This is a question that countless parents have asked my collaborators and me. Often, it's followed by the following: "I know that 13 is the minimum age to join Facebook, but is it really so bad that my 12-year-old is on the site?"

While parents are struggling to determine what social media sites are appropriate for their children, government tries to help parents by regulating what data internet companies can collect about children without parental permission. Yet, as has been the case for the last decade, this often backfires. Many general-purpose communication platforms and social media sites restrict access to only those 13+ in response to a law meant to empower parents: the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This forces parents to make a difficult choice: help uphold the minimum age requirements and limit their children's access to services that let kids connect with family and friends OR help their children lie about their age to circumvent the age-based restrictions and eschew the protections that COPPA is meant to provide.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

This is a very interesting article about parents' attitudes towards the federal government's age restrictions on the Web. As we all know, the restrictions turn out to be meaningless, and of little value. We are better off giving parents the tools they need to parent verus somehow convincing ourselves that an unenforceable age restriction is going to be of any assistance to the challenges of keeping kids safe online.

Do your kids use the “invitation” feature on Facebook to spread the word about parties and events with their friends? If so, make sure they know how to use the feature properly – or they could be putting themselves at risk.

Facebook invitations are fairly simple to use, and can be sent to anyone with a Facebook account or email address. Click “events” from your home account page and fill in the date and location, upload an optional picture, and customize the privacy level of your event (public or private.) The important part is this: don’t forget to triple-check the privacy level!

Last month a German teen identified as Thessa invited friends to her 16th birthday party using Facebook, but she forgot to mark the invitation as “private.” The result? The invitation went viral, causing 1,600 people to flood her street on the day of the party – even though Thessa later realized her mistake and cancelled the event. The police were called in to handle the crowd, and Thessa (who was nowhere to be found) had a very unhappy birthday.

Thessa’s real-life faux pas was preceded by a similar occurrence last year in Australia (which luckily turned out to be a hoax.) Facebook invitations for Kate Miller’s birthday went viral and Facebook ended up closing down the event after over 60,000 people RSVP’d.

via timwoda.com

A good article about how to safely use Facebook and protect your privacy online.

If you read the Wall Street Journal, you could be forgiven for thinking that the venture-capital market is starting to crack at the seams. It's a striking premise, all right. Just one problem: it's wrong.

Earlier today, the WSJ reported that argued startups are now having more trouble raising cash than in the not-so distant past. The Journal pointed to Naval Ravikant, an entrepreneur and operator of AngelList, a site that lets nascent companies ask VCs for capital, who said that even though 50 to 100 startups are applying for funding each day, "only one to two are getting financing."

What's more, the Journal says, the trouble appears to be spreading across the entire industry, and could have a profound impact on the ability for any startup to raise the cash it needs to build its business.

Dire stuff, if true. But VCs were quick to cry foul, insisting that they're not seeing the same trouble the Journal is.

via news.cnet.com

The WSJ is suggesting things are getting bad for startups. I am not sure if that is true or not, but here is a counter argument.

Good read.

Is it ever ok to fire your customers?

Netflix increased price increased price by 60%. They are projected 1 million losses of customers beyond what they had expected: 200,000 from streaming and 800,000 from their traditional DVD mailing business.

Is this suicide? Is it ever a good idea to “fire” your customers?

via www.aonetwork.com

This is a great article about customer segmentation that you really should read.

Yes. It is okay to fire your customers! I just finished doing some of that in my business. It is great have folks willing to pay you, but you have to be able to grow and expand your business profitably, and if some customers are getting your way of that mission, you need to fire them so that you can find more profitable customers… or change your model to make your current customers more profitable.

The concept of innovation has been especially trendy at business school over the last decade, with business schools launching everything from design labs to classes devoted to the topic. The Wharton School has been part of this wave of interest, hosting events like the Wharton Sports Innovation Conference and creating the Mack Center for Technological Innovation. They’re now adding to their offerings in this field this fall with the launch of the new Wharton Innovation Fund, an initiative to encourage students, faculty and staff to come up with inventions or services that “show promise for making a substantial impact on business or society as a whole,” according to a Wharton press release. Alberto Vitale, a Wharton alum and former CEO of Random House, has provided the seed money for the fund, which will provide approximately $125,000 worth of grant money each year for projects. Vitale says he views the fund as “a catalyst to stimulate innovation at the school and to surface the brainpower of its students.”

Wharton Professor Karl Ulrich, also the school’s vice dean of innovation, will head the innovation initiative. “This fund will enable our work to have an even greater impact in so many arenas,” says Ulrich, who co-authored a best-selling book on innovation tournaments.

The fund’s advisory board will consider both student-led proposals and those that involve faculty, students and staff, the school says. Students who come up with new ideas will be allowed to retain control of the intellectual property of their ideas. However, if a team uses inventions or ventures that are part of the school’s intellectual property, proceeds that result from the project will be shared among the inventers, the school and the university, the school says.

via www.businessweek.com

My first business, buySAFE, was essentially a Wharton class project that I eventually turned into a business. I can't adequately describe how much I benefited from my Wharton experience in starting buySAFE. Without Wharton, there would have been no buySAFE.

Having said that, I really would have loved this new Wharton Innovation Fund. It is a great idea, and if you are an aspiring entrepreneur thinking about going to business school, this should make your decision very simple.

Wharton is the best business school in the world, and if you can turn your class project into a viable business idea, you might just get funding from Wharton to help you make the venture a reality. Does it get any better than that?

Well done Wharton!