Image via CrunchBase

This is the best piece I have seen written on breaking down the different types of startups.  In an article titled “What Every Government (Except One) Doesn’t Get About Startups“, on the Atlantic Mobile site, the author, Steve Blank, defines the six types of startups as:

1. Lifestyle Startups: Work to Live their Passion
2. Small Business Startups: Work to Feed the Family
3. Scalable Startups: Born to Be Big
4. Buyable Startups: Born to Flip
5. Large Company Startups: Innovate or Evaporate
6. Social Startups: Driven to Make a Difference

Mr Blank goes on to provide five basic lessons for government organizations on how to support these.  I will leave it to you to click through and read the rest yourself.  They are worth reading. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

With the impending implementation of the largest changes in United States patent law and the recent headlines around cyber piracy legislation, Emily Harris, (Intellectual Property lawyer of the Davis Brown Law Firm) delivers a presentation that highlights the challenges start-ups will face going forward.

Get the presentation slides (pdf file)

Connect with Emily

Beyond the building of the drones, several ideas came to min right away:

• Overhead inspection of homes and buildings for sale
• Checking on livestock
• Private investigator services
• Searching for missing pets
• Inspection of large machines

What else can you think of? 

Anyway using Torsion Mobile’s Mojaba tool my friends at McLellan Marketing Group put up a whole new BIZ mobile site without writing any code and better yet without having to deal with all the issues of different mobile phone browsers, operating systems, screens or other variations.  Better yet, when new phones and phone versions are released I don’t have to worry about my website being updated.  The Mojaba tool takes care of it for me! 

This may sound like a commercial but it is not.  I talk endlessly about solving real problems.  Well that is what the Mojaba tool does.  It solves the problem of dealing with multiple Smart Phone and Feature Phone browsers, operating systems and all the rest of the uniqueness that exists in the mobile world.  They went a step further and made their tool so easy to use that content developers like marketing agencies and designers can do the work necessary to implement a mobile version of the site. 

Now when someone with a mobile surfs to the BIZ site, they get a clean menu with the items they most likely need at a single touch.   Check it out:

LunaTik Kickstarter Backer Edition (Photo credit: icedsoul photography .:teymur madjderey)

 I have been through several  creativity training programs in my past.  Every one of them ended up being worth the time and cost.   Several people from the local community have gotten together to present the IowaCreativity Summit.  Doug Lewis, Justin Brady, Zachery Mannheimer, David Slinker, Renda Lutz, Pete Jones, and Mike Gerrish are the team.  The event is on Thursday March 1st.  Check it out!

Image via Wikipedia

There have been some very significant changes to the patent law in the U.S.   These changes are not going to be good for startup and smaller established companies.  You need to know what your options are.  Join us for a very important BIZ Luncheon on February 15. 

“The changes in legislation significantly impact start-ups,” advises Intellectual Property (IP) attorney Emily Harris of the Davis Brown Law Firm.   “It is the most sweeping change to patent law that has taken place in the last 150 years,” says Harris, speaking of the Leahy-Smith American Invention Act signed into law September 16, 2011. “The goal was to stimulate innovation,” she says. But Harris fears the results will be quite different for small businesses. Noting that the old system was a “first to invent” system, Harris explains that the changes will result in the U.S. Patent Office now operating under a “first to file” system. 

Noting that the most common mistake she sees among start-ups, as it relates to IP issues, is thinking that they can wait, Harris is concerned that the Leahy-Smith legislation will serve to exacerbate the difficulties faced by a startup that has failed to get its legal ducks in a row prior to launch. “If you don’t deal with it up front,” she warns, “you can get that cease and desist letter. I’ll talk about strategies for dealing with the patent law and what you can do to prepare for the pending legislation, as well as how to make your objections heard before it becomes law.”

$15 admission fee (includes lunch)

11: 30 a.m.
February 15, 2012
The Greater Des Moines Partnership
700 Locust St., Suite 100 (map it)

To register or for more information, contact the BIZ at events@bizci.com. RSVP cancellations need to be made at least 24 hours before the event.

We now accept Dwolla! Contact us at events@bizci.com for more information.