This story is quite interesting. The founder solved a problem through his business, which is attracting investors.

http://fortune.com/2017/04/11/simple-contacts-venture-capital-raise/

This article is quite useful to building a business that customers love. The first point hits home as to design thinking. “It’s not what you want to sell; it’s what your customers want to buy. The best ideas (if you are listening carefully) come from your best customers.”

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290684

This article shows how one company solved a problem, remained competitive, and scored because of it. Finding solutions to business problems can make the difference between life and death for a venture.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290450

This article highlights the idea of knowing how to get a business to make money. What might be right for larger companies might not be right for a smaller business.

Their design thinking was not wrong, but they had to change the manner in which they exposed customers to their product. They landed a great deal that has a lot of marketing impact and it makes sense for them.
They additionally have a charitable initiative within their business.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290454

This is an interesting article that walks us through what it believes to be 7 principles for a strong SME business plan. Throughout this class we’ve been focused on how entrepreneurs start their businesses but I don’t think we ever went through the specifics of how they design business plans to attract the requisite funding that helps them start their businesses. I think the article does a nice job of creating a backdrop for audiences who may not be familiar of the inner workings of the business world.

Social media has become a key part of advertising for companies. This article gives some direction as to how to get good engagement on Instagram, particularly through aesthetics.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/290541

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/education/edlife/where-non-techies-computer-programming-coding.html

I was reading the New York Times this past weekend and came across this article which I thought was interesting. The article notes that the tech revolution has led to an explosion in the demand for computer science courses among college students and that coding is essentially becoming part of the larger liberal-arts education.

Interestingly, even law schools are getting in the mix. The article notes that Georgetown Law teaches a class in coding. It seems particularly interesting because it so different that a traditional law school course. I feel like that type of course would be valuable, specifically in the case of dealing with sophisticated clients. Knowing the lingo and having a base understanding for some of the more technical nuances of what some of our clients may do in that space would be beneficial to both parties. I wonder, as lawyers begin to represent more clients in the startup and tech space, whether the demand in law schools for computer science classes will follow suit.

This article addresses a question we have discussed many times in class – whether entrepreneurs can be created. This article suggests that it’s not as impossible as some suggest, but that some steps need to be taken in order to modify the way that entrepreneurship is currently taught. Some of these things include eliminating traditional grading systems, “gamifying” entrepreneurial education (allowing professors to create game-like levels within the educational program to track the student’s progress), teaching “entrepreneurial qualities” through the use of simulations, encouraging mock businesses, and collaborating with other successful entrepreneurs. I agree that students can learn to be entrepreneurial, even if they aren’t typically geared this way, through more innovative classroom techniques. I was happy to read that instructors are pushing for these changes and look forward to seeing these techniques in action.

http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2017-04-10/designing-education-for-entrepreneurs.html

This article highlights the 5 most pressing issues in biotechnology medicine:

1. Protecting Human Subjects in Clinical Trials
2. Affordability
3. Privacy
4. Stem Cell Research
5. Defending the United States Against Bioterrorism

A similar article came out in 2004. This current article was published in 2017, with the categories remaining the same. It is interesting that more than a decade later biotech medicine continues to have the same hot topics.

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-5-most-pressing-ethical-issues-in-biotechnology-medicine

The words “company culture” have been buzzwords in the last few decades, probably most notably in reference to Silicon Valley-type (former) startup companies–their websites abound with pictures of their quirky offices and other perks. However, this article discusses some of the potential downsides in an over-emphasis on company culture. I think that the article raises some good points–I would also add that entrepreneurs should probably avoid an overly-prescribed culture, as this could seem ‘imported’. Overall, companies should strive for a positive culture, but I think that entrepreneurs should not try to copy solutions from others. Instead, they should strive to foster a culture unique to their small business.