EmpowHer Soft Launches its Health Events Database

Francine Hardaway — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 19:51:28 -0400

I'm on the way to join a group of women at BlogHer2008, and among them will be Tina Tran of EmpowHer.

Social Media Club Announces Interim Board

Francine Hardaway — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:33:27 -0400

The Social Media Club announced today
its newly formed interim Board of Directors. The board boasts a roster
of highly-regarded industry leaders; a truly amazing group of people
that I am honored to be a part of.

Do Things Happen for a Reason?

Francine Hardaway — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:09:38 -0400

Web of Fate, a semantic analysis engine that
extracts meaning from historical, present and future events and draws

38 Minutes Matches Truckers and Shippers--Finally

Francine Hardaway — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:44:46 -0400

In about 1999 or 2000, I met a neat Canadian guy, former Citibanker, who was starting a company during the dotcom boom. At the time, the company was called VR Solutions, a software solution in the model of the exchanges that were popular at the time (Anybody remember Verticalnet?) It was for truckers and shippers with loads to ship. He knew that these weren't Internet savvy people, but he thought Dan could attract them with a cost-effective piece of technoogy.

Full Disclosure

Francine Hardaway — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:41:06 -0400

Every once in a while, people ask me what Stealthmode does. Simple: we incubate early stage companies. What does that mean? Well, it can mean many things, but in my own case (Ed's involvements are separate for the most part) I'm usually involved in one of three ways.

RIP Scott Coles

Francine Hardaway — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:02:17 -0400

My friend Scott Coles apparently committed suicide yesterday, apparently seeing no way out
of the disastrous Arizona mortgage market, in which he was the largest
private lender. He had purchased the business from his father, and made
private loans funded by individual investors. Many of the investors

Entrepreneurs Can Solve World Problems

Francine Hardaway — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:44:45 -0400

Not everybody becomes an entrepreneur to make money. In fact, most young entrepreneurs seem to be focused on saving the world, rather than on the bucks. Best case scenario is that both happen. But for Phil Lillienthal, there's no chance, because his newest ventures is a 501(c)3.

Doc Searls, The Cluetrain Manifesto, and the Call of the Wild Customer

Francine Hardaway — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:01:23 -0400

Actually, today I am in Silicon Valley. I'm at The Conversation Group's celebration of the tenth anniversary of "The Cluetrain Manifesto," and Doc Searls, one of the authors of the original manifesto is here to lead a conversation on where the manifesto stands now.

He's talking about what happens when buyer reach exceeds seller grasp, which is an unfinished question from the Manifesto. This was the Call of the Wild Customer: we are not seats or eyeballs or endusers or consuers. We are human beings, and our reach exceeds your grasp -- deal with it.

Planning an Entrepreneurship Conference In Phoenix

Francine Hardaway — Wed, 21 May 2008 17:40:37 -0400

I'm knee-deep in the planning of the Third Annual Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference, to be held Nov. 19th in Phoenix. The conference does three things: 1) Provide high quality content about starting and growing a "gazelle" business to entrepreneurs; 2) raise money for my foundation, the Opportunity for Entrepreneurship Foundation, which trains disadvantaged populations in entrepreneurship skills; and 3) show people from outside the Valley of the Sun that we're more than golf and retirement.

Encouraging Readers to Generate Content

Francine Hardaway — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:47:14 -0400

For about six months, I've been happily participating in the Beauty Cred blog on Seattle-based RealSelf.com, a site on which readers and professionals talk about beauty treatments and cosmetics.