I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the Boston entrepreneurial scene and creative economy since commenting on Chase’s blog post in which he discussed the need for “weak ties” in Boston. In a nutshell, I was sharing my experience of getting a degree at Babson College (I’ve also written about how Babson’s curriculum and community work to “breed” entrepreneurs), but not having any idea what was going on at MIT or Harvard or BU or Northeastern for entrepreneurship and startups. I’ve heard the same from students and alumni at these schools about Babson and Olin College of Engineering, which sits right next to Babson. Students want to connect more, and recognize the power in diversity of minds.

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

Every time I read about or return to Babson College I am more impressed by the caliber of  students, faculty, administration, and staff. Yesterday I wrote about a handful of programs Babson has designed that work to “breed” entrepreneurs. Today I am spotlighting how Babson also breeds a network of adopters and supporters of startups at their early and, arguably, most critical stage.

[click to continue…]

{ 2 comments }

This weekend I coached students as part of Babson College’s Coaching for Leadership and Teamwork Program. The program is designed to help first and third year students hone their oral communication, listening, teamwork, leadership, ethics, and decision-making skills. It’s one of the many distinctive programs Babson offers in addition to it’s truly unique, cross-disciplined business education. I’ve recently more keenly appreciated how Babson’s education fosters entrepreneurialism — regardless of if you decide to take specific classes in the entrepreneurship academic division or not.

[click to continue…]

{ 2 comments }

This week I spoke with Lucas Martinez. Lucas first used Pinyadda in it’s early stages in the summer of 2009, and has since watched the platform and user base develop. He now uses the site just about every day. I really enjoyed chatting with Lucas about how Pinyadda fits into his life because he explains it as having truly transformed how he finds and receives information. That’s mission accomplished for us here at Pinyadda.

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, once stated that, “Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.” After Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent comments about the death of privacy, one has to wonder whether Barlow’s statement may be more relevant to the times if phrased: “Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking Facebook to respect the private information of its users.”

While there are plenty of smart people arguing the pros and cons of the effects of Facebook’s new privacy changes and Google Buzz’s auto-following model on users’ private information online, I am more interested in the business implications of these developments.  The industry powers like Facebook and Google seem to be in a mad dash to make more information public; however, I wonder if this push for extended network connectivity is smart for all networks.

[click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }

No User Left Behind: Adam Boone

February 23, 2010

The news junkie
Adam Boone is a news junkie. (Read on: might it be why he’s so da*n smart?) Know that beloved friend who regularly sparks a 25 chain email discussion with you and your friends about an article he found? That’s Adam.
As the Finance Manager of New York for IPC Systems (a leading provider of [...]

Read the full article →

No User Left Behind: Max Silver

February 18, 2010

This week I met with Pinyadda user Max Silver. Max has been using Pinyadda for just a few weeks, but has quickly become one of our most active ‘Power Users’. Max is a senior at Emerson College here in Boston studying Marketing and Communications. A Twitter-aholic, he’s fascinated with the way social products allow him [...]

Read the full article →

No User Left Behind: Rob Gonzalez

February 10, 2010

Each week I’ll be conducting an interview that highlights a different user on our site to better understand who our community is, how Pinyadda fits into their lives, and what they like most and think could be better about the product. It’s part of our customer discovery and validation process, and we’re excited to take [...]

Read the full article →

KISSmetrics vs. Google Analytics

February 8, 2010

Like most other startups using the lean startup methodology, we’ve become pretty obsessed with tracking data. We track all kinds of stuff, from internal product metrics to external referrals to conversions via the various funnels we’ve set up. We rely on these numbers to help us make key product decisions, to tell us where we [...]

Read the full article →

The Power of the Collective Mind in the Workplace

February 5, 2010

We’ve had amazing discussions around article content on Pinyadda this week. The ideas and knowledge being shared is incredible. It underscores how our information system can really advance the power of the collective mind. I also had the pleasure of listening to Mikolaj Jan Piskorski (Misiek) speak this week, who believes there is an unfulfilled [...]

Read the full article →