dipping a toe into the blogosphere
I've been spending many nights surfing the weeb, checking out ideas and advice on kicking off a start-up. That's what I do for fun now. I have found that I get the best ideas when I'm exhausted so I stay up, surf, think, jot down ideas, get a snack and a beer, surf some more. Somehow, I thought it would be cool to chronicle a start-up way before the "start" part. We'll all have a laugh at this one day as we sail around the caribbean.
You see, I quit a great job last spring to dedicate my attention to a start-up ... again. I quit my previous job at Nortel and joined a great start-up 7 years ago. I was fortunate to get there at the start and had such a great time I knew I would do it again. We got acquired a couple of years ago and I stuck with it for a little while but got the itch to do a start-up again. Many of my colleagues and friends seem to think I have vision, great ideas, the ability to see things differently and the business and technical background to make it out there and kept bugging me to go out and do something. I certainly had a great job ... one that many people would dream of. I had just been promoted to Senior Product Marketing Director from Principle Engineer . I was on assignment to the CTO office and part of a small team charged with helping set the company's direction for the next few years. It was a great role, working with some fantastic people and strong leadership but the urge to do my own thing was too strong.
So here I am. What I have done so far? I have complete phase I:
-started the consulting firm Isfan Solutions Inc. together with my wife who is a freelance graphic designer (she's been running her own company for 14 years ... so she's the president:)
-got a couple of great consulting contracts to stay in the loop and feed the mouths at home
-got accepted into "The Gerson Lehrman Group Councils" consulting group www.glgcouncils.com (consulting group)
-started as an "Entrepreneur In Residence" with a local VC firm
-have gotten my head around where various markets are going and have too long a list of ideas
-seriously investigated a few excellent opportunities that came my way ... but decided to stick to my own thing ... no more distractions
-booked a trip to N.Y. to attend Wired NextFest at the end of September to get the juices flowing
So far so good.
So what will this blog be about? Quite frankly, I'm kinda hoping you'll help me. I have many opinions on markets, trends, product ideas that I would like to debate with you. There may even be some good ideas that I'll share in more detail if I decide not to pursue them for a variety of reasons (can't chase everything, may be outside my space, not a VC play ....). I'll share any insights I come across and provide links to other relevant sites that you may find interesting.
So .. check out my profile ... and lets have some fun.
Cheers,
Allan Isfan
Entrepreneur with an Iron Ring
posted by allan isfan at 1:34 AM
6 Comments:
Looks good bro!!! I think we should talk more in-depth about the ideas we've had and maybe come up with a few more!!! What do you say about an offsite meeting at a local pub with a pad of paper, a couple of pens and the President's credit card? I'm up for it!!!!
10:07 AM
I would love to give you some feedback from my view of your ideas.
Tommy B.
10:39 AM
I like the idea of interaction to get chords and lyrics. Sure beats going to guitar tabs and getting pop up'd to death...
later,
Mike
9:31 AM
Peer-to-peer transfers is how the internet is changing our world. It started with music. Then it went to buying/selling goods. Now it's going to people-to-people lending... borrowing money or lending money directly to other people -- bypassing the banks.
You could create a startup group on this website to raise funds for a startup. Or maybe this website has the old banking model in which case you could start up a similar website with a VC model.
http://www.prosper.com/public/welcome/how_it_works.aspx
Ultimately you want to 'securitize' everything: everything is tradeable like a stock or bond. You can buy 200 litres of gasoline at today's price and use it over the next few months or sell it later at a higher price... Or in Rokpig's case, you could buy high and sell low :-)
dan rivaud
1:52 PM
Great cousin !
i say, so. I love also the idea to share our Idea. I'm one of the european cousin. I also start up my company in the new technologies services...
I'll try to take the time to give my vision on "How to become a leader, started from 0". It concerns basicly all what you should do to attack the business in front of leader as Google Inc, Microsoft or Orange (to deal with our french and european dealer). There are so many good Ideas but also so many competitors.
I try to watch out everythings concerning Design, Ergonomy, Business, Technologies, Systems...
My next post will concerning what i figure to be the best pracice to launch a New e-services.
I hope i did not make so mistake in my post.
Deeply, Bestly, Businessly,
Estèphe L.
technology and system personnaly
1:28 PM
I really love the idea about the meeting at a local pub. The Pad of Paper may be overkill.
I'd (adverb) like to talk to you about advertising, marketing, branding, targeting and other "ing" words.
Audibly yours,
Me
7:52 PM
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