When I was first starting as a school teacher, I used to wonder about the reality and impact of technology on education. I know, now, that many schools struggle, not only with having the latest tech but also in being able to make that technology a part of a core curriculum. You have to teach certain skills for students to be able to pass the national tests. The problem with the national tests is that they are the mid-point. Designed to capture the needed skills, but it really can’t. In the book Freakonomics, the author speaks of creating and maintaining economies. Not, the global buying and selling of billions of the dollar, but the economy of an area, of a group of a family.
When you break an economy down to the atomic level, the lowest point is a single person. You are an economy of one. In being that economy of one, you may extend your economy to more people. You may become an economy of two, three, four or more. Either in becoming a larger economy your buying power increases or your limited resources get stretched much thinner. When we consider the reality of crowdfunding we come to this economic problem. A crowdfunding campaign is an economy. Sometimes you are pledging to help a person move forward. They need an operation. They have to pay, or funeral or they want to go to college. Or they want to make something.
All are reasonable; all convey with them a sense of participation. I am helping. Giving at church and other charitable organizations achieves the same thing. I am giving it. What becomes interesting is when you, give to a crowdfunding campaign with the intent of that campaign producing something tangible at the end. Something honestly like the now former crowdfunded, former companies Jibo, Keecker, and other products. Sadly just because a campaign reaches the goal and ships what you were funding, doesn’t mean they are a company. I have a really good friend that says the startup technology market is a crocodile. It moves a lot faster than people think, and if you aren’t careful, you won’t know the crocodile is about to eat you.
No one ever hit a shot in basketball that they didn’t take.
But, no one ever missed a shot they didn’t take.
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Question of
Have you heard the term startup?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Did you know that more startups fail than succeed?
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Yes
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No
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that crocodile analogy is spot on!
well I have my days of lucid thinking. sadly not often.
I suspect you are pulling my leg, sir…
🙂 I suppose I am! Sorry, it is part of the day I had yesterday.
today is a brand new day
Sometimes today is a repeat of yesterday. Sometimes, today is a preview of tomorrow.
if we don’t get our acts together, all our tomorrows will be repeats of our yesterdays, until all we have left is the past
sometimes the light ahead, is the oncoming train 🙂
the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t always a good thing
It is not, sometimes it isn’t a train!
it could be an explosion or any number of unpleasant things
Or, a person with a really bright flashlight 🙂
that’s the most pleasant scenario so far. really depends on the other person, though…
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. ..
sometimes it is, sometimes failure is the end of the line.
Hmmm… Some of the things in your writing have recently become a trending issue for the talk of my country’s people after these things; technology in education, national exams, and especially startups are the material debated by presidential candidates.
It has become a global issue, one that will eventually change the world!
Yes, change is shifting the way the world plays, ready or not, we must adapt and play in it so we don’t fail.
that is very true, it also brings into focus the agony of change!
I think the agony of change happens all the time, even though it may be at different levels.
part of my job is to make the agony less.
That is a noble task, Doc.
sometimes it is less noble, and more simply bailing faster than the boat can take on water.
Your modesty sparkling more…
It’s not easy to set up your own business. I know a lot of people who failed.
It really can be sadly, it is why so many startups fail!
Corporate management is a demanding and responsible task, dear friend
It is and one that drives many companies out of business.
This work probably requires a whole person 25 hours a day … I have such a feeling that you want to be good and that everything works like the sea
I would love it, if everything worked the way it should. It doesn’t but I would like that!
I do not doubt your ability … I want you to do everything OK
Thanks! I appreciate the support!!!
It is a great pleasure for me … you will always find friendly words of support with me, dear friend
You honor me with the kindness. I shall happily return the favor!
I never questioned that, dear friend
For a successful business first, a person must have a very well developed commercial flair. Knowledge of economy and, of course, some capital. Many times I have witnessed the bankruptcy of people who have a lot of money, but they lack the other qualities. There is an old Bulgarian saying: “Every tree can not make a whistle.” It is not from every man that can be a successful businessman.
Literally what I have told so many ambitious startup leaders. Well said!!!
I have heard this term a lot from watching Shark Tank.
yes, hey focus on taking companies to the next level. I think startup makes them all nervous!
Starting a business is hard work. It takes total dedication and still a lot of luck. We have failed and succeeded.
It can be so hard to start a business. success and failure are often less than a micron apart.