Archive for June, 2008
A Better Traveling Experience
Now that we better understand the concept for the Monolab|Workspace, let’s take a closer look at its benefit for the frequent traveler, defined as someone accumulating over 100,000 qualifying miles per year (1K on United Airlines for example). In fact, let’s go through the main steps of a travel abroad, and identify simple ways to significantly improve the traveler’s overall experience, with a single goal in mind: reducing stress, by eliminating uncertainties. [Continue…]
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Micro Global Business
As we’re further developing the concept for the Monolab|Incubator, we’re starting to realize that our target market is not exactly the one we had in mind initially. While early stage companies remain our customers, we’re slowly expanding our focus from the solo entrepreneur to the already-formed start-up company. And for the later, we’re focusing on what we call Micro Global Businesses (MGB). [Continue…]
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I Love Technology
Nine years ago, on this very day, I was in Tokyo, speaking at what might have been the first local conference on Open Source. Back then, the only way to connect to the Internet on the go was by using a 28 Kbps modem, assuming you could afford the cost of a long-distance call to your home-based ISP, or would know the local dial-up number for AOL or CompuServe. Nine years later, at this very moment, I am writing this blog post sitting in a JR train on the Yamanote Line, connected to the Internet using a brand spanking new EMOBILE 3G modem bought in Akihabara, built by Huawei, and delivering a mind-blowing 7.2 Mbps. 257 times faster, sans wires. I love technology… Many thanks to Nicolas for his help in setting this up.
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Virtual Incubator Concept
Since we announced the creation of the first Monolab|Incubator, many people have asked us whether we will offer drop-in packages or not. We’ve given very serious considerations to this request, and came up with a virtual incubator concept that got the attention of many people, especially from the VC community. [Continue…]
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Lease Signed
May and I just signed the lease on the space we’re renting in Palo Alto downtown for the Monolab|Incubator. The address is 543 Bryant Street, half a block away from both City Hall and University Avenue. Essentially, Palo Alto’s epicenter. We decided to work on this project no earlier than May 25th (less than a month ago), May tendered her resignation on June 4th, and here we are three weeks away from our grand opening. Some people think we’re a bit crazy, and I can totally see why… This is getting fun!
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BPM 2.0 Redux
In about 40 minutes, I will give a presentation on BPM 2.0 at a conference taking place on the Australian Gold Coast (Winter is nice down there). While I was going through my emails and blogs before the event, Google Reader recommended that I take a look at a post titled Do We Really Need BPM 2.0 and authored by Jim Sinur, a former Gartner analyst who recently went to work for Global 360. [Continue…]
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Floor Plan & Launch Party
The Monolab|Incubator project is moving full speed ahead. The floor plan is drafted, all required furniture and equipment are budgeted, and a launch party is scheduled. My Salesforce.com instance shows 61 sub-projects related to it, from setting up an Internet connection, to developing a Return on Investment model. [Continue…]
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Monolab|Incubator
Over the past couple of years, I have worked with a dozen start-ups in an advisory capacity. Through my interactions with entrepreneurs, and my personal experience starting Intalio, I developed a fair understanding for some of the challenges that most founders face when creating a company. Funding and hiring are among the most complex, and there is no substitute for direct experience there. But there is also a class of logistical problems that can be addressed with simple solutions, and can be shared across multiple companies. Here comes the Monolab|Incubator, which my wife May and I are starting together. [Continue…]
