Arizona Real Estate Entrepreneur Talks History

Francine Hardaway — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:41:29 -0400

t's lunch in a
Scottsdale restaurant. The attendees are mainly retired scions of
industry, professionals, and business. I came because the group is
having a presentation by one of the largest real estate developers in
Arizona, and I've come to hear the story of a "typical" Arizona
entrepreneur.

Mark Sklar, one of the three original (and still intact) partners at DMB was originally from Wisconsin and studied history. He has the midwesterners' value system and sense of engagement.

EmpowHer.com Books its First Revenue

Francine Hardaway — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:24:51 -0400

It's always a great moment when a company gets its first customer. When EmpowHer.com launched, advertisers lined up to advertise on the site -- in the future. We're talking big advertisers here, who buy on reach and frequency and CPM.

Chemurja is Making a Fuel Cell on a Chip

Francine Hardaway — Sun, 04 May 2008 15:45:36 -0400

Pankaj Sinha comes from a poor province in India that, coincidentally, I have visited (Bihar). But he left a long time ago and came to the US, where he has been, until recently, working at Intel.

Now he's the founder of a startup named Chemurja, which has already self-funded its first two prototypes of a fuel cell on a chip.

His company is in Phoenix, so he's not the recipient of venture capital. In fact, he had the opportunity to take venture capital and turned it down, because the terms were so onerous that he would have been demotivated.

Breaking the Bank

Francine Hardaway — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:32:04 -0400

I've been involved (and invested) in the formation of a new bank holding
company for a while now. It's time for a new bank, because the existing
banks are up to their ears in bad loans and no one who needs a loan can
get one. The concept of the bank was interesting to me from the get-go,
because it is a holding company for a bank that will operate in four
states: California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. This regional concept is
one of the new ideas that attracted me. As an angel investor, I like to

Drupal for Startups? I Don't Think So

Francine Hardaway — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:42:14 -0400

The new favorite tool for startups that want to get up and running quickly is Drupal, an open source content management software platfrom on which you can build social networks. It has become popular because it has lots of possibilities and features,and also because it is free.

The Real Digital Divide

Francine Hardaway — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:56:17 -0400

Geeks live in a dream world -- a world of Twitter-Twhirl-Friendfeed-AlertThingy-Seesmic.
And if you think most people reading this can identify any of those
things, think again. Moreover, if you think there's a chance of any of
those crossing the real chasm in the next ten years, think again.

Why I Love Having My Own Blog

Francine Hardaway — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:57:25 -0400

I just posted this comment to Tyme's blog, but I was the 102nd commentor.I was asleep when this blew up. Who will ever see my comment? So here's what I wrote.

First Experience with Facebook Ads

Francine Hardaway — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:37:13 -0400

What I Learned at Real Self

Francine Hardaway — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:56:22 -0400

What's the value of social media to the creator? Charlene Li at Forrester has a social media "ladder of participation" that points out the small percentage of people who create content compared to the much greater percentage of people who collect it, or consume it.

Getting Attention When You Already Have It

Francine Hardaway — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:12:49 -0400

http://www.Earth911.com has been around for fifteen years. During that time, it has developed an extensive, nationwide database of recycling sites. We know where all the recycling sites are in any zip code, and what kinds of products they accept. It's all user-generated data, coming from municipalities, states, and other organizations who have environmental coordinators. It's up-to-date and accurate.