This past weekend we went down to Newport, RI for my wife’s birthday.  Kathleen and I love Rhode Island.  Both of us spent a fair amount of time there after high school, and eventually we ended up getting married in Newport.  What a beautiful place.
Although it rained on Friday & Saturday, we still had an amazing time.  Sunday was in the high 50’s with not a cloud in the sky and a nice breeze.  We went down to the beach and the girls got to play in the sand.  It was one of those trips that I know we will [...]

When there were old-school parking meters in New York, quarters were precious.
One day, I’m walking down the street and I guy comes up to me and says, “Do you have a dollar for four quarters?” He held out his hand with four quarters in it.
Curious, I engaged with him. I took out a dollar bill and took the four quarters.
Then he turned to me and said, “can you spare a quarter?”
What a fascinating interaction.
First, he engaged me. A fair trade, one that perhaps even benefited me, not him.
Now, we have a relationship. Now, he knows I have a quarter (in [...]

Entrepreneurs don’t need degrees like lawyers and doctors do. They are credentialed by virtue of their track record. The first startup is hard but if they make that one work, they end up with something much better than a college degree. They have a notch in their belt. They’ve got a track record of success. Even if the first one is a failure, I’d say that they’ve got something more than a degree. They’ve shown they can start something from nothing, build a team, a product, and maybe even a business.
Fred Wilson – principal of Union Square Ventures / (Read [...]

I just finished reading the text of the Startup Riot 2009 keynote presented by Chris Wanstrath, one of the co-founders of GitHub & FamSpam.  If you have an entrepreneurial mind, you will really enjoy reading it.
You can read the 2009 Startup Riot keynote text here
Chris emphasizes the importance of loving the work that you do and the role that plays in the success of an endeavor.  Passion for your own product or service may be the number one factor in the success of a start-up.  So many entrepreneurs are completely focused on developing ideas that they think will make a [...]