Where should start up entrepreneurs live?

From Richard Florida’s Creative Class blog :

Harvard’s Michael Porter has shown how clusters of related industries, customers, and suppliers power innovation and growth. Density makes it easier for people and firms to interact and connect with one another, and it reduces the effort, friction, and energy that’s used to make these connections. Density increases the speed at which new ideas are conceived and diffused across the economy, accelerating the speed with which new enterprises and new industries are created.

Ultimately, the core of Florida’s argument in “On the Numbers” is that networks, collaboration, mentorship, and communities of practice develop at a faster rate where there is a concentration of skills/resources (all things being equal).

Paul Graham also has a noted article on Start up Hubs Its important to recognize the niche advantages of a given area as well as potential expertises can find or outsource from other hubs. For instance, music and health care are advantages of Nashville. Silicon Valley, New York, Boston, Boulder Colorado, and Austin Texas are key social media hubs.

Theres an app for that. A recent article on hyperlocal & See Click Fix in the New York Times points to the advantages of See Click Fix:

SeeClickFix users post a complaint about problems that occur within a set of boundaries on a Google Map, like graffiti at a bus stop or potholes on a busy street, and the site communicates the problem to the appropriate government agency and marks the problem on the map.

Users can comment on the issue or label it resolved. Government agencies can post on the site to respond to residents, and journalists can use the site to communicate with readers and see which issues are most pressing to people.

Ben Berkowitz, the chief executive of SeeClickFix, said the tool went beyond government: “Anyone can be held accountable: a business, nonprofit, even a private citizen.”

The NYT continues:

SeeClickFix is not unique in its hyperlocal focus. Other sites, like EveryBlock.com and CrimeReports.com, post data from government organizations and news outlets. FixMyStreet.com features discussion between residents and government officials, but only in Britain.

Its also a way for newspapers to generate web traffic in a way that improves the community. It can be used to drive information sharing, transparency, and better local government functioning.

Check out See Click Fix, see what it can do for you (and how it works), or read more in the New York Times article (link).

“Babson is committed From Day One to making sure that our students understand that choices do not have to be made between a career for profit or purpose. Whether you choose to create a business, go into one that exists or start or join a not-for-profit, creating both economic and social value is critical to sustainable success,”
Cheryl Y. Kiser, Managing Director, The Lewis Institute, and Executive Director, Babson Social Innovation Lab

From Day One and the Lewis Institute for Social Innovation

Given Babson’s ongoing role as one of the top business programs in entrepreneurship, this is a smart move for both students and the community. Its clear that their president Len Schlesinger and Babson as a whole is really making a move into the social innovation sector in a big, big way.

The New York Times reports

The labor system, for one thing, is clearly unjust. Tenured and tenure-track professors earn most of the money and benefits, but they’re a minority at the top of a pyramid. Nearly two-thirds of all college teachers are non-tenure-track adjuncts like Matt Williams, who told Hacker and Dreifus he had taught a dozen courses at two colleges in the Akron area the previous year, earning the equivalent of about $8.50 an hour by his reckoning. It is foolish that graduate programs are pumping new Ph.D.’s into a world without decent jobs for them. If some programs were phased out, teaching loads might be raised for some on the tenure track, to the benefit of undergraduate education.

And if colleges are ever going to bend the cost curve, to borrow jargon from the health care debate, it might well be time to think about vetoing Olympic-quality athletic ­facilities and trimming the ranks of administrators. At Williams, a small liberal arts college renowned for teaching, 70 percent of employees do something other than teach.

Suggested Resources on Higher Ed Reform by the NYT

Higher Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids — And What We Can Do About It (Times Books, $26)
Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities (Knopf, $24)

Mitch Thrower videos on entrepreneurship.

“No other activity where just do it is more applicable.”

What is the Listening Project?

The Listening Project is a comprehensive and systematic exploration of the ideas and insights of people who live in societies that have been on the recipient end of international assistance efforts (humanitarian assistance, development cooperation, peace-building activities, human rights work, environmental conservation, etc.).

The Listening Project has organized over 20 Listening Exercises in various contexts and geographical regions since late 2005, including Aceh (Indonesia), Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, East Timor, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mali, Mindanao, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Thai-Burma border area, US Gulf Coast, and Zimbabwe. More than 130 international and local organizations have participated and contributed more than 400 staff members to the Listening Teams that held conversations with nearly 6,000 people.

For instance a recent Listening Project report highlighted the following two problems of international development projects:

In many cases, the amount of aid and of money is not seen as the problem. Almost everywhere, people talk about the significant amounts of waste and mismanagement of resources in the aid system, for instance: “with all of the aid that has come into Kenya, it should be a heaven!” They suggest that agencies should combine resources to address deeper, systemic problems rather than use individual projects for piecemeal solutions. In several different places, people have described the “water bottle” effect of international assistance being passed from donors to international NGOs or contractors, to local NGOs or sub-contractors, to community-based organizations. As the last in line, the people in communities who are the intended beneficiaries get but a tiny sip.

Some even complained of the “excessive generosity” of agencies. Of much greater concern to people is how aid is given. Many resent “pre-packaged” programs that they see as signals of arrogance and disrespect, as if local people do not have the analytic ability to discuss and find solutions to the major issues affecting their lives. This has raised the question of whether the increased focus on “coherence” and “coordination,” which assumes that a shared overall strategy can bring desired results, is enough without the participation of local people.

Elsewhere the Listening Project found these themes echoed:

People in recipient societies want more ownership and to play a more active role in their own development, saying that they want to “discuss together, decide together, and work together.” In calling for more ownership and effective participation, people in recipient societies want aid providers to be transparent and open to discussing all aspects of their assistance efforts, including: the local context; agendas (external and internal); mutual expectations; theories of change and the assumptions behind different approaches; process and criteria for beneficiary/project selection; constraints/limitations; implementation plans; the changing dynamics/context; and finally, exit strategies. People are also concerned about “who” participates and how they are chosen, saying that selected “representatives” are often not representing local people’s interests or providing information back to people.

Remembering the words of Winston Churchill are powerful:

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

(Note: there is an independent film by the same name, however I don’t think it has any direct link to the Listening Project)

CE Solutions is the leader in the field of micro-consignment, a new-ish business model in social enterprise & development.

Two articles in a recent Innovations: Technology, Governance, and Globalization (MIT Press Journal)

This video I believe was produced in 2009, but the statistics should be relatively true in 2010 and 2011….as its descriptive of larger trends in money, resource, and missions allocation. (only about 1% to 2% of missions budgets are toward unreached peoples)

How should Christians deal with conflict? How can Christians biblically resolve conflicts in Biblical interpretation? Is there a biblical method for resolving these differences in interpretation?

There seem to be five ongoing conflicts in the church:
1) Culture-(near) culture copying vs. cultural engagement vs. isolation vs. some other nebulous fourth alternative
2) Interpretation-letter vs. spirit interpretation (this is what is commonly labeled as liberal vs. conservative interpretation of the bible about 15 to 20 years ago. sorry those words don’t do it justice. and alas it would be nice to have a simpler word than hermeneutics. )
3) Women-role of women in church services and leadership
4) Gays-gays in the church and gay rights
5) Political Activism-the role of church in politics (this one isn’t directly ongoing–it only seems to resurface during election years and occassionally during relevant supreme court decisions)

Interestingly enough these discussions like gays in the church seem to displace larger reflection on personal habits.

1) Humility. Acknowledge partiality.
2) Prayer.
3) Practice patience.
4) Practice forgiveness.
5) Be slow to judge & quick to listen.
6) In sum practice the fruits of the spirit.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22 – 23)

7) Remember the lessons about Christian unity from Ephesians 4:

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

…

16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

…

31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Focus on the commonality of our faith and beliefs.

I worry sometimes that our methods of conflict resolution resemble academic, legal, and media pundit-like methods of conflict resolution, which don’t actually resolve conflict but instead feed the fire.

This is a mini case study of New York state’s open government project by Noel Hidalgo.

(FYI: the presentation is probably PG-13)

You can check up on what New York is doing to encourage open state government here. You can read Noel Hidalgo’s blog at No Neck.

You can learn more about government 2.0 and open government initiatives at Gov Loop.

Here are three of the best (in my humble opinion) Church of Christ preacher blogs (technically not all the bloggers at Wineskins are preachers and I think Mike Cope stepped down as preacher):

Mike Cope

Joshua Graves

Wade Hodges

Max Lucado

New Wineskins

Here is a list of top 25 Church of Christ bloggers list. I should add Randy Harris and Jonathon Storment to the list–although I haven’t really had a chance to dig into their writing much.

Your favorite Church of Christ preacher/pastor blogs? (this list I created was before I found the post by Matt Dabbs and is limited by my the breadth of research on the topic)

Check out this crowd sourcing project at Open IDEO

(This adds to the crowd sourcing social change including the Pepsi Fresh Project as well as that done in the Goverment 2.0 application space)

I realize the Bible was written in Greek, but I fail to understand why its necessary to know, understand, and study Greek to get a degree in Theology. Thats silly.

Let me be clear: Knowing Greek won’t help anyone get to heaven.

How can you justify 6 hours spent on Greek. Should it be in the curriculum? Sure. But there are tons of subjects that should be in the curriculum and preachers would be better empowered as teachers to connect with their layity by knowing, understanding, and practicing those theories.

Learning psychology, education (the learning process), management/leadership, social change, media analysis and public speaking would ALL be more effective. In fact, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic, if connected to mission field experience would ALL be more effective.

Moreover, in the age of computers and globalization–Greek tranlations and dictionaries are a mouse click away.

If it is the belief of professors of theology that certain Biblical interpretations lack an understanding of Greek–fix the problem and write an edition of the bible (or a short pamphlet with your amendments).

Finally, the need to take Greek & the fear of Greek is probably a deterrent for people to get a graduate degree.

Speaking of Faith is an intellectually stimulating podcast.

Read the Corporate Philanthrophy Resource Guide here.

From Unite for Sight:

The New Commons approach addresses many of the hot-button issues in BoP social marketing today. It focuses on targeting aggregated communities rather than individuals. It develops products by rooting product development in local communities rather than imposing a product from the top-down.(25) It ensures that the products address the specific needs of the BoP and that the potential for improving the well-being of customers is maximized.(26) Furthermore, this approach recognizes that communities themselves can be drivers of change.(27) A study conducted by the Acumen Fund found that extensive training, as is seen in the New Commons approach, is correlated with meeting at least 75% of sales targets.(28)

The approach has also been proven successful. The Solae Company followed the New Commons approach to establish a project in an Indian slum in Hyderabad. The project team settled on the idea to create a “Culinary Park Network,” which included converting slum rooftops into green spaces and sites that sold affordable, high-protein food products. The business was also designed to educate villagers about balanced diets, teaching them how to prepare nutritious meals at home. Community “expos” helped to widely market the project. The project proved economically and socially successful and quickly spread to two dozens of small villages within five miles of the initial site.(29)

Another successful organization that follows the logic and practices of the New Commons approach is the Grameen Bank, an Indian organization that provides small monetary loans to the rural poor. Despite some criticisms of the microlending system, the Grameen bank is generally held to be a developmental and commercial success.

(link)

I’m interested in the challenges and paradoxes and questions which Christian entrepreneurs face. This search indirectly pointed to “The Theology of Business” which pointed to the following list of conflicts, questions, and challenges for Christian business people:

Treat or affect people in a manner inconsistent with human dignity;
Fail to pay employees just compensation;
Require that employees work under unreasonably dangerous conditions;
Be inconsistent with the long-term sustainability of the created order;
Fail to comply with all duly adopted and applicable laws;
Mislead people;
Preclude people from keeping the Sabbath or disrupt God’s intended rhythm of rest and
work;
Fail to reflect God’s intended balance of beauty and function.

Here are some discussion and reflection questions which might also prove helpful:

1. Although profit is not a focal point in the proposed “purpose of business” statement, we are not anti-profit. What, then, is the proper role of profit? How much profit is enough? How should profits be distributed?
2. How does a stewardship orientation inform our understanding of property and ownership?
3. Can a redemptive approach to business model actually be implemented in a marketplace
where most competitors play by the traditional approach (i.e. profit maximization and
property acquisition)?

If you would like to read the original article “Theology of Business” you can do so by clicking on this Business as Missions library of articles.

Additional principles to consider from the Lausanne Occassional Paper (some of these are adaptions of those principles):

• Strives to be profitable and sustainable in the long term
• Kingdom motivation, plan, and purpose that is shared and embraced by the senior management and owners.
• Systems of accountability & stewardship. Strives for integrity and excellence.
• Considering the holistic welfare of employees
• Maximizes kingdom impact of its financial and non-financial resources
• Models Christ-like, servant leadership, and develops it in others.
• Seeks to harness the power of networking with like-minded organizations.

I would add something about mentoring for leadership and developing their talents (although some of the above concepts may cover those two concepts)

(editorial note: I made an editorial change to fix god to God in one of the above sentences in the first section)

To learn more about this application which helps with advocacy and education for missionaries, check out the JP Mobile Application. To learn more about the Joshua Project, visit their website. Great project. Very cool.

(I’m curious if you need to get reception for any of the features to work….something to test out)

I found these tips for using internet applications and smart decisions to help you boot strap your business:

Go To Swap/Exchange Websites for Business Books

“Read business books by renting them or swapping them: bookcrossing.com, bookins.com, bookmooch.com, novelaction.com, and PaperBackSwap.com.”

Host Virtual Events

“Because of recent budget cuts, getting prospects to attend an event has become a real challenge. It’s costly for the attendee and it’s costly for the small business owner. Hosting an event online is fast, easy, requires less preparation, and costs very little. But what most small business owners don’t realize is that online events can be more than webinars and teleseminars. Business owners might also want to consider U-streaming, chat, and live Tweeting.”

Follow Up With Your Customers and Prospects

“The greatest resource a small business owner has is their existing database. When you follow up consistently and effectively with your contacts, you build better, more profitable relationships with them. By reconnecting and marketing to your existing database, you save yourself from spending more time and money generating new leads. Plus, with the right technology, follow-up can be fast, effective, and completely automated.”

Set Up Payment Plans

“If you’re not providing customers with more than one payment option, you’re losing sales. When budgets get tight, a payment plan can provide customers with the leniency they need to afford the purchase. Most shopping carts provide small business owners with an easy system for dividing payments and calculating interest.”

Use A Cost Effective Backup Service

“Carbonite is only $50 a year and not only saves my data but I also have remote access to all my backed up files.”

More from tips for saving money and ultimately bootstrapping your start up at Small Biz Trends. You might also check out the opportunities in mobile marketing and pay for lead/pay for conversion/pay per click management services (that does require some shopping around in all four areas).

Sitepoint offers web design courses (HTML, CSS, and PHP). The courses range from 2 weeks to 4 weeks and are about $20 to $30 a piece. This seems like the ideal way to learn because they send you daily lessons, so you learn progressively. (They also offer many books in this area)

Tuts Plus offers free and premium (their premium lessons are only $10 a month). I would begin with the free and progress to the paid options.

O Reily is a popular web design publisher.

Other Graphic Design and Photo shop Resources
Teach Yourself Graphic Design resource at Tuts.

Getting Real from 37 Signals is a very popular book about web design. Here are some other free downloadable books on web design.

Of course “Dont Make Me Think” is a popular book on creating simple to understand websites. (You can buy it for $1 used on Amazon)