If the dot.com era taught us anything it should have been the difference between a financing scheme and starting a real business. A real business has legs. A real business lasts, endures, grows, adapts and prospers.
Sadly, I still see countless examples of people confusing simply raising a bunch of money and launching a business that creates real economic development.
Andy Tabar sent along this link to a posting from the blog written by the company 37signals.

Suggesting startups — specifically tech startups — don’t need to look for revenue opportunities now is akin to spoiling a child and shielding them from the outside world: They’re far less prepared when they eventually have to leave the house for the first time.
A poorly run startup is a poorly run business. A wonderfully run startup is a wonderfully run business. I don’t believe there are many great startups that are bad businesses. Maybe less than 1%. If the business is bad the startup is bad. A great idea, maybe, but a great business, no.
So if you start something up, start a business, don’t start a startup.

I’ve been told that I have a face for radio and a voice for newspaper……
That being said, you can hear an interview I did for the podcast Patrons of Change here.
For those of you who are technology challenged just click the “play” button directly under the title. I say this only because it took this Luddite blogger about 10 minutes to figure out how to make it play….

Last evening we went to hear a group of songwriters at the Bluebird Cafe here in Nashville as part of the Folk Alliance (their website is folk.org, which seems to be down this morning as I write this post). One of them performing last night, James Lee Stanley, is one we first heard over thirty years ago — I blogged about him a couple of months ago.
What a wonderful evening of music and an affirmation that the music industry is alive and well. The three featured songwriters had all been writing and performing since the 1970s. Are they rich and famous? No. Have they been making a living pursuing what gives them passion? Absolutely.
There is a good lesson here for entrepreneurs in any industry.
Too much attention is given to celebrity and fame. We see it in entertainment and more and more we see it in the world of entrepreneurship. The vast majority of our economic growth is coming from order topamax online entrepreneurs working in small businesses across the country. It is hard work. It is not very glamorous. But, it has created economic independence for these entrepreneurs and the people working with them.
The same is true in music. There are thousands of songwriters and performers toiling away out there. Many are fortunate and have become successful enough to make a living at it.
The vast majority of entrepreneurs will not reach the heights of Gates, Dell, Jobs, and others whose little ventures grew into empires. In fact, most won’t even make their local list of “leading entrepreneurs” in their community.
But, most entrepreneurs don’t really care about fame and recognition. That is not what drives them. That is not how they measure their success.
What a blessing it is to be able to share in real success — the songwriters who continue to hone their craft — the entrepreneurs who pursue their passion and find fulfillment in the businesses they create.

The New York Times has a story that shows just how far entrepreneurship has come in the past twenty-five years.

Undergraduate courses in how to start and run a small business are becoming as ubiquitous as Economics 101. Gone is the conventional wisdom that running a small business cannot be learned by sitting in a classroom.
According to the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., more than 2,000 colleges and universities now offer at least a class and often an entire course of study in entrepreneurship. That is up from 253 institutions offering such courses in 1985. More than 200,000 students are enrolled in such courses, compared with 16,000 in 1985.

I first started teaching as a graduate student in 1981 and had my first full-time teaching position in 1982. Although I helped to launch an entrepreneurship program where I taught, it met with significant resistance from faculty, parents and even many students. I left in teaching in 1988 in part because I was frustrated by how resistant business schools were to teaching entrepreneurship and small business.
Entrepreneurship education come a long way in a short time when you consider the glacial pace of change in academia.
(Thanks to soon to be alumnae of Belmont and aspiring social entrepreneur, Janice Dotti, for passing this along).

My column in this week’s Tennessean looks at the ins and outs of niche markets.

Generally, a niche strategy is a good way to enter the market for a new business. It usually takes fewer resources for the startup because of lower marketing costs and the ability to start on a smaller scale.
Success rates tend to be higher for niche businesses since they have less direct competition.
Without much competition, niche businesses often can charge higher prices, which allows for quicker positive cash flow during startup and better margins once the company is profitable.
But, entrepreneurs also should be cautious when picking a niche. Here are some things to consider.

My column offers five key tips for finding success in a niche market.

Ideablob.com attracts a large number of ideas for social ventures. This one caught my attention as continue as guest advisor for this week. Seeding Labs reclaims and refurbishes laboratory equipment from universities, hospitals and biotechnology companies in order to equip talented scientists and clinicians living and working in the developing world.

Seeding Labs aims to transform the global map of scientific innovation hubs. By refurbishing laboratory equipment from universities and biotechnology companies in the United States, we equip talented scientists working in the developing world and reduce the environmental burden in the U.S. We believe that talent is everywhere, and that scientific research is the key to improvements in education, healthcare, environmental stewardship and a thriving modern economy. Our goal is to help our colleagues pursue the issues that matter most to them, at the same time connecting scientific communities across international borders. Visit us at www.seedinglabs.org.

My advice:

I would build partnerships with universities through their new interest in social entrepreneurship and service learning. Rather than just plug into their research labs, also tie into their academic programs dedicated to either social entrepreneurship and/or service learning.
Social entrepreneurship is popping up all over the country. Some schools have developed single courses, while others have developed full programs (for example, here at Belmont University we will be launching a Social Entrepreneurship major this coming fall).
Service learning is more established in academia. Using this pedagogy professors add service projects to classes that apply what students are learning to real situations that are tied to social issues in the community or around the world. Some schools have campus wide requirements for students to get involved in service learning (Duke just got millions of dollars for such an initiative).
Don’t assume that the research labs on campus interact with social entrepreneurship and service learning programs on their campuses. Universities are notorious for creating academic silos. You may need to create the bridge for them. Once you do, you will not only have access to the laboratory equipment, but to a ready army of skilled and talented volunteers. There is a good chance that they also have access to funding to help with each project.