Older posts
Older posts
The Antipreneurial Revolution
June 23, 2008
Grease is not the word. The word is antipreneur!
This is the word we have been lacking at NotanMBA...Antipreneurs are pro-business but anti BigCo. We are pro-competition but anti-conglomerate. We are keen on local, community-based businesses that are sustainable and lead to balance between work and home. Above all, we see a business landscape where people [...]
Type 2 Session Experiment
June 14, 2008
InnovationCamp #1 is two weeks from today! Being a first, there will inevitably be loose ends, chaos, and some pesky problems on the day. Without risk, though, there is no reward...
One of the ways that InnovationCamp will differ from other camps will be in the differentiated sessions. We will run two types of sessions. One will [...]
InnovationCamp Update
June 9, 2008
We will continue to post updates on our progress towards InnovationCamp, which will be on Saturday, June 28, at GSD&M Idea City, in Austin. More details and info coming soon.
As we get closer, I want to periodically remind folks what we are up to. There are now several different places to dial in to iCamp. [...]
Creative is as Creative Does
May 27, 2008
In the current issue of Inc. magazine, Leigh Buchanan writes about several interesting small firms focused on helping big companies innovate. While each of the firms she discusses is different from the next- Ziba, InnovationLabs, Maddock Douglas, Brighthouse (not that Brighthouse)- they are similar in some important ways. Each company has put into play practices [...]
Designing the Future
May 19, 2008
The world has only one Steve Jobs. Apple is one of the only companies in the world that designs what it thinks the world wants (which it somehow divines through mysterious religious rituals), then sells it to the world knowing it will eat it up.
For most companies, though, design is not so easy. Good, useful design [...]
Design This!
May 14, 2008
Bandit and I are now deep into the writing part of our book project, and every now and then I surface to look down on what it is we are doing.
We are trying to make sense of the unfolding relationships (plural, because there will be many) between independent/independent-minded Millennial technologists and creatives, on the one [...]
X/MediaLab
May 6, 2008
(Picture from XMediaLab 2006, Singapore)
Reading through a past issue of Fast Thinking magazine recently, I came across the Australian-based XMediaLab concept. It is an open-space creative incubator event, held a couple of times a year, where teams of creatives from different digital media industries bring forth issues, problems and possible new businesses (yes, for investing) for brainstorming and [...]
Westside Studio, a Co-Company
May 1, 2008
In the research for our book we are constantly looking out for emerging business models that might help guide independents and entrepreneurs by example. One really intriguing and promising model that has recently come online is Conjunctured, the Austin-based co-company. Conjunctured was founded on the idea that participants can remain self-employed within their individual businesses, but can be brought [...]
Communication Across Borders
April 29, 2008
The Irish Times' weekly business magazine, Innovation (pp.48-50) finally published an interview that I did with them a few weeks ago. I was talking with them about my book, The Innovation Acid Test and, interestingly, the conversation quickly moved beyond that to our (Butcher and Bandit) current book about the rapidly emerging ecology of innovation among independents [...]
Austin Inc.
April 26, 2008
(photo from Nick Mehl Architecture)
Reflections on Jellying in Austin yesterday... My instinct is to echo what Bandit said yesterday in his Biz Hacker piece, where he suggests that, like Mary, There's Something About Austin (too).
There has been, and continues to be, a distinct style or signature to the way businesses develop in Austin. The culture [...]