Everything around us that wasn’t created by God was created by Man (or woman for that matter). Inventors are the life blood of progress and economic growth. Innovation comes to market in two ways:
An existing company creates it or licenses it in order to sell more to an existing customer base or grow their market share by offering an expansion of their product line.
A new company is formed to bring that product to market and through their success, jobs are created and new wealth is generated. Consumers are given an opportunity to buy a solution for an existing problem or enhance their quality of life with this better or more fun way of doing things.
All inventions start with the Germ of an idea…a seed is planted because someone in their course of their day though “I wonder if there is a product that did X” or “I wish I had something to do Y” or “I bet people would buy Z”. To go from idea to an actual product in the marketplace, an entrepreneurs needs to start with assessing the market for the product. Then they conduct a personal assessment of their ability build a company to take that product to market. If the market is validation and their is a real need for this product in the market, then they will determine based on their personal assessment to either license the product to a larger more established company for a portion of the revenues or they will build a team and do all that is necessary to raise capital for manufacturing, distribution and sales/support.
A recent podcast from the Compassionate Capitalist Radio show covered this topic in detail, offering strategies and resources to help inventors take conduct feasibility studies, validation of the marketplace, protection of their intellectual property and the raising of seed capital and first round financing. Entrepreneurs called in with their questions and the Expert on Hand, Karen Rands answered their questions in her usual frank and matter fact manner.
Companies and Links referenced in the podcast for inventors to bootstrap and get to market:
The Federal Government has been diligently trying to provide programs that will help small business owners get back on their feet while at the same time helping the regular folks get back to work and get access to better healthcare. General consensus is that politicians that have little to no experience as business owners themselves often can’t relate to the real challenges a small business owner and an entrepreneur trying to get started in business face. Sometimes it seems that politicians are looking through rose colored glasses and have no idea how the real world works. Capitalism and free markets have served the United States of America well and made us, and I dare say, will continue to make us a power house. It is our collective spirit as Americans to embrace the unknown, take risks, innovate, solve problems, and be pioneers in all manner of ways that differentiates us from the rest of the world. Hopefully, and I say that prayerfully, the financial reform bill, healthcare reform bill, back to work bill, economic recovery act and every other initiative that has been put out by Capital Hill in the last 18 months will help America’s innovative, entrepreneurial spirit not just survive but thrive.
Two good things for business owners have come from recent actions on Capital Hill:
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) better known as the Healthcare Reform Act: Small Business Owners with the number of employees between 50 and 100 well receive credits against their insurance costs and employers with less than 25 employees are eligible for their employees to participate in national insurance pool, effectively evening the playing field for small business owners using benefits as incentives to attract better employees, but also making it easier for business owners to manage the cost of offering such benefits.
Additionally, in an effort to make our country stronger by making it easier for Americans to be healthier and thus avoid the need for extensive health care, wellness initiatives are an integral part of the ACT. Specifically the Act offers grants to small business to start wellness programs that include health education, preventative screening, risk assessments and encouragement to participate in programs the promote healthy lifestyles. $200M has been appropriated for these grants through 2015.
For more information on the programs for small business owners to benefit from the healthcare reform act please visit: http://AmericanWellnessAdvisors.com
Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act: As a general business credit to encourage the creation of new jobs in the marketplace and the retention of workers, this government incentives offers a “tax holiday” on the employer’s payment of social security tax for new hires of 6.2% and a tax credit of $1000 if that employee is retained for 52 weeks. The bill goes along way to encourage small business owners that may have eliminated jobs and laid off workers as part of the economic downturn in 2009 to look optimistically into 2010 and begin to expand again by bringing workers back and creating new jobs.
For more information regarding small business owner opportunities for tax breaks and grants, and all things HR, visit http://www.thehumanresourcesfactor.com/
Get Replays of past podcasts from the Compassionate Capitalist Radio show where entrepreneurs and investors tune in to hear the latest on growth strategies for bringing innovation to the market, creating jobs and creating wealth. http://bit.ly/KYRItunes
Karen Rands, on the Compassionate Capitalist Radio Hour will interview companies scheduled to pitch the investors at the upcoming Angel Investor Forum in Atlanta on May 18th. Investors are encouraged to attend: http://launchfn.com/id150.html Entrepreneur companies represent industries: High Tech Computer, Software as a Service, Online Gaming (hot Facebook App), Health Care Management Technology– so Tune In to hear these exciting start up and early stage entrepreneur stories
Karen Rands, on the Compassionate Capitalist radio hour, will interview lawyers from the firm Wagner, Johnston & Rosenthal, PC (www.wjrlaw.com) about areas of interest to entrepreneurs seeking to launch, grow, or exit their business. WJR provides a full range of legal services to entrepreneurs, business owners and corporate executives. Specializing in areas such as securities law, corporate finance & tax issues, employment law & litigation, franchising, acquistions and bankruptcy among many other areas, they firmly believe that the delivery of quality legal services involves practical business judgment as well as excellent technical legal knowledge and skills. Michael Rosenthal will share their unique approach to working with small business owners such that they are referred to as “the entrepreneur’s law firm”. He’ll be joined by Chuck Detling and others from the firm to share their specific area of expertise. So matter what stage of business you are currently in, this show will have something for you. Tune in and tell others to listen in, please. WJR recently sponsored the LAUNCHfn & NBAI investor forum at their offices.
Karen Rands the Compassionate Capitalist, will share the universal truths of building a successful entrepreneurial endeavor as taught by the life and times of William Partington Rands. Experiences gained as Military Officer, AeroSpace Engineer working on first Earth orbiter and Lunar Lander, as an Inventor with multiple patents, and finally in the twilight of his life, as an entrepreneur that became a titan of an industry, all led to the path of his success. Lessons that will ring true for every entrepreneur who is in the midst of launching a business, growing a business, or wondering if he or she has what it takes to start a business.
Tune in to hear these nuggets to see if and how you can apply these timeless truths in order to make your dreams come true as an entrepreneur.
Karen Rands, the Compassionate Capitalist, interviewed selected speakers from the 14th Annual Possible Woman Leadership Conference held April 20th in Atlanta. Linda Wind of Wind Enterprises has been at the forefront of bringing visionary women together to enhance and develop their skills in leadership, strategy, and team-building.
This is 3 part series that provided a sneak peek at the incredible insights shared by the speakers and panelists during this one day conference. Get tips on leadership, strategy, and marketing from thought leaders scheduled to participate in this conference for over 500 business owners and corporate executives held annually in Atlanta. Conference info: http://www.windenterprises.com/2010-conference
During this show we will get to hear from Lisa McLeod, nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and a repeat guest on “Good Morning America,” she is the author of Forget Perfect and Finding Grace When You Can’t Even Find Clean Underwear; Dr. Linda Braddon, A mechanical engineer specializing in the biomed industry; Carol Edelson, founder and president of Speakstyles, a communications company; Dr. Melissa Grill-Peterson, the Wellness Director for Blue MedSpa and owner of Flow Unlimited; Anna Convery, Chief Marketing Officer for ClickFox responsible for global marketing & product strategy; and Barbara Giamanco, a industry recognized Sales and Social Media Consultant; Don’t miss this show and spread the word.
Karen Rands on this Compassionate Capitalist Radio Show will feature the companies that will be participating in the Start-up Round-Up event in Atlanta sponsored by LAUNCHfn, NBAI, and iStanta, a seed stage capital fund. As a special guest, we will feature Matt Oguz of the iStanta Fund to talk about having a VC mentality in the SE Angel Investor Market. We will also hear from a few of the companies that will be showcased at the NBAI Angel Investor Member event the following evening. We’ll explore the difference between investment decisions at the start up and the emerging growth stages.
Karen Rands, the Compassionate Capitalist, will interview selected speakers from the upcoming 14th Annual Possible Woman Leadership Conference scheduled for April 20th in Atlanta.
Linda Wind of Wind Enterprises has been at the forefront of bringing visionary women together to enhance and develop their skills in leadership, strategy, and team-building. We will provide a sneak peek at the incredible insights that will be shared by the speakers and panelists during this one day conference. Get tips on leadership, strategy, and marketing from thought leaders scheduled to participate in this conference for over 1000 business owners in attendance on April 20 in Atlanta. Conference info: http://www.windenterprises.com/2010-conference/ tune in to get bonus code for discount on attendee fee. Special guests will include Melissa Galt, Ruth King, Joyce Bone and more.
