Anatomy of an Entrepreneur

Anatomy of an Entrepreneur

PS: You can save this to your computer too- click on "more" and then "save".

Entrepreneurship, alla BBC

Heard of the Dragon's Den?

HINT: It has nothing to do with Harry Potter.

It's a BBC show about average people with entrepreneurial aspirations, who are challenged to "pitch" their ideas to 5 millionaires.

According to the website:

"The pressure of the pitch can get very personal, but the Dragons can sniff out a diamond in the rough and recognize an idea with that extra something special. They have the power to make dreams come true, and if they like the idea they'll invest money from their own pockets."

I'm not sure how I feel about the term "dragons", but regardless... the show seems to have a few interesting lessons in it. The feedback on venture ideas is harsh, and flat out mean at times, but why endure that kind of criticism when you can learn from others... (even if it is over-dramatized for mass-consumption).

The website also offers "Tips for the Pitch" , and a few Q&A sessions with professionals.

Here's a clip:

Green Jeddah!

The final presentations have begun, and one of the groups already has a blog up for their project!

http://www.greenjeddah.blogspot.com/

Congratulations on a job well-done!

Students solidify their projects

We are more than half-way through the 2-week Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship at Babson College, and I am happy to say the impact is definitely visible.

Student groups have been working hard on their ventures, and are putting together their action plans. Yesterday we held a "nay-sayers" workshop in which facilitators of the program challenged assumptions, needs-assessments, etc... While it was challenging for students to have to backup and explain their ideas and plans, the projects have emerged stronger than before.

The program will continue to focus today on "Action Plans" and "Business Plans", in preparation for the final two days of the Symposium, which will be focused on finalizing plans and "pitching" projects to the faculty and facilitators.

We are all very excited to hear the final projects!

*Photo courtesy of Emily Tavoulareas, ICF International

Virgance

A great model, and resource!

About:

Virgance is a company that seeks to promote campaigns using market-based methods that are effective, transparent, profitable, and scalable. They do online organizing to create offline positive change that is direct and tangible.

website - http://www.virgance.com/
blog - http://blog.virgance.com/

I'm adding both of these to our "related links & resources" section.

Social Earth

Great site and resource!

http://www.socialearth.org/

And the Forum is on the front of their website!

Should all business be ethical or socially focused?

As a follow-up to the debate that we had today on whether or not all entrepreneurship was SOCIAL... see the video below, done by ClearlySo (referenced in an earlier post today), in the U.K.