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It is tough to be an entrepreneur. Both risks and the rewards can be very profound. Some make it, many others don't.

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Entrepreneurial Life and Death

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Even if you are not an aspiring chef, there are considerable relevant business lessons that can be derived from watching Food Network's entertaining cooking competition, "Cutthroat Kitchen".

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Cutthroat Kitchen Lessons

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The worldwide web is enabling the growth of online service marketplaces that leverage the power of crowds to generate viable solutions for technical challenges. Crowd sourced contests, like most endeavors, have strengths and limitations.

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Do Innovators Love Crowds?

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We all want and need strong ideas to create opportunities and solve problems. Yet, most group ideation sessions fall far short of expectations because they aren't engineered to produce better outcomes. Whether the creative inputs come from an in-house team or from an online "crowd" (as discussed last week), the approach we take to tackle problems can be critical to the effort's success.

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Want Better Ideas? Here's How!

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Recently, I saw a television commercial depicting a situation that I considered implausible, until I experienced a version of it in real life. In my case, the stakes were not as high as the one depicted in the TV spot, but the situation was sufficiently similar that it made an impression. Allow me to share...

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Taking Care of (Your) Business

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Every few months, I introduce readers to a new innovation that I am representing to potential customers. You might be curious as to the current status of some of these candidates. Even if they aren't relevant to you or your business, this update can provide a glimpse into the (new business development) world in which I live.

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Prospective clients and I often have very different views on the financial terms for service engagements. Should we?

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An Offer I Can Refuse

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In previous newsletters, I've discussed the differences, relative advantages and limitations of technology scouting versus networked intermediaries...often casting the two problem solving approaches as alternatives. For certain types of problems, they can be. For others, they should be highly complementary. With this in mind, I propose a tantalizing hybrid.

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Corporate innovators may need to gather information on prospective external technology and service partners without prematurely revealing their company's identity and possible strategic interests. So, what do they do? They mobilize their Cyrano De Bergerac.

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Have a Nose for Info Gathering?

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There are few things in life stronger than an entrepreneur's passion for his fledgling business idea. While this commitment is admirable and often essential in order to persevere through a new venture's trials and tribulations, alone it is an insufficient success determinant.

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