Recession Inspires New Garden Product for Locavores

Francine Hardaway — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:30:23 -0400

While I have been "celebrating" the recession in Silicon Valley, some of my buddies in Arizona have been working on a new product. Long-time friend and client Marc Williams of Bobcat Wizards and a team of trusted advisors will launch Arizona-based Eleanor’s Garden, the only complete home gardening kit on the market, next week at the International Garden Show in Chicago.
Eleanor's Garden is entrepreneurship at its best -- everyone working for equity, bootstrapping the start, and bringing innovation bravely forward during a down time.

User Voice Gets Funding, Grows Customer Base to the Enterprise

Francine Hardaway — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:27:17 -0400

Last fall, I worked a little bit to advise a company called UserVoice, which was (and still is) a way for companies to get direct customer input and feedback about their products.

The founders of UserVoice are serious entrepreneurs; they all live in one home, and work out of a co-working space in Santa Cruz, CA. When I met the company, they already had thousands of users, though their product was free. The founders in the process of monetizing it.

10 Biofuels Companies You Need to Know About

Francine Hardaway — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:58:38 -0400

When I became involved in the American Biofuels Council three years ago, the push for biofuels was at its highest point in the technology hype cycle.

Brian Solis Envisions the New PR

Francine Hardaway — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:45:10 -0400

I'm just finishing Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridges' Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR.

You
will want to read this book. It collated many thoughts I've had about
PR and why it has failed in the past and could succeed in the web-enabled future. Our how it might morph into something completely different, and much more effective.

Good Presentation on Social Media for Brands

Francine Hardaway — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:04:33 -0400

My friend Jeremiah, over at Forrester, really understands social media for brands. Here's a presentation he gave that I think sums it up. Go where the fish are, he says. Too many startups are trying to reinvent the wheel.

Good Presentation on Social Media for Brands

Francine Hardaway — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:56:52 -0400

<img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border=0 width=0 height=0 src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyMzc5MjA3NDg1NjQmcHQ9MTIzNzkyMDgwNTEyNiZwPTEwMTkxJmQ9Jmc9MiZ*PSZvPTM2MjliNDQ*MDQyMDRkOWQ4N2FjOWY3ZmIwOTkwYTJk.gif" /><div style="width:425px;text-align:left" id="__ss_1188919"><a style="font:14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;display:block;margin:12px 0 3px 0;text-decoration:underline;" href="http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/social-media-marketing-1188919?type=powerpoi

What Startups Can Learn from the Dean and Obama Campaigns

Francine Hardaway — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 15:09:38 -0400

In the spirit of avoiding the things everyone else is already telling you from SXSW, I didn't go to hear Dave Morin announce Facebook Connect's availability for iPhone, or Larry Lessig's presentation on how to

Blueprint for Survival

Francine Hardaway — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:02:56 -0500

I've written about this before, but here I go again.

Entrepreneurship will get us out of the recession. Why? Because jobs are a lagging indicator of the economy, and job losses will continue even after the economy improves. And, more important, because structural changes that have been occurring for over twenty years will be accelerated by this downturn.

Tom Friedman's Ideas for Stimulating Innovation are Wrong

Francine Hardaway — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:19:56 -0500

In an op-ed post in Sunday's New York Times, Tom Friedman rightly says we need to quit bailing out the losers and start dedicating resources to the innovators. However, he jumps the track when he says money should be given to venture capitalists to foster innovation. Venture capitalists have access to plenty of money. What they don't have is good, shovel-ready innovative deals.

I have run programs for entrepreneurs through the Kauffman Foundation for ten years.

What Should We Teach in High School for Entrepreneurship

Francine Hardaway — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:01:05 -0500

The Arizona Department of Education has invited me to speak to them today about state standards for teaching high school kids about entrepreneurship. This forces me to think what young entrepreneurs (and their teachers) really need to know.

1) It takes a certain temperament -- a fearlessness --to be an entrepreneur. Young people, especially in high school often have this. They also have little to lose, so they would, in theory, make great entrepreneurs.