Rod Beckstrom, Starfish and Spider

Coauthor of The Starfish and Spider, Rod Beckstrom, joined the Bootstrap Bookclub to discuss the book and its application for bootstrappers. These and related topics will be discussed in the Community Subgroup.

Kevin Koym: How Will Social Networks Affect Entrepreneurship?

Kevin Koym is the founder of Enterprise Teaming and authors the Enterprise Tribe blog. He explains how the four conceptual shifts, outlined in his upcoming book, offer unprecedented opportunities for bootstrap entrepreneurs to build their businesses using “Enterprise Tribes.” Bootstrap Austin is an example of an Enterprise Tribe.

Barry Thornton on Ideation

Talk to customers, get feedback, and shape your product into something customers will pay for. These were some of the words of motivation that Barry Thornton offered in talking to the Bootstrap Austin Ideation group on July 21, 2008. Thornton, founder of Clear Cube and current owner of startup Austin Medical Research, offered a number of insights into the bootstrap process, one that he has repeated frequently since launching a concert promotion business in college.

Thornton’s philosophy involves starting from wherever you are. He said the startup idea doesn’t have to be perfect. All you need is an idea and a passion to get started. By talking to customers, you will mold the idea into a workable form. Then by injecting passion into the idea, others will follow.

“I don’t ever think of anything myself,” he said. “Ego gets in the way a whole lot. I find the best people to come up with ideas for me are customers, people who will give me money for the idea.”

Read the rest of the article on the Bootstrap Austin Blog.

Broch Evans interviews his grandfather.

As part of an assignment honoring family and grandparents, Broch Evans interviewed his grandfather, Roger Smith.

Born in Chicago in 1937, Roger Smith answers Broch’s questions about life as a child in the 30’s and 40’s, about hobbies and pets, first jobs and cars, favorite subjects in school and family traditions.

A Predictably Irrational Conversation with Dan Ariely

Since spending three years in recovery from severe burns,Dan Ariely has fashioned himself as an observer of human nature, and
especially of how humans are influenced by irrationality when making supposedly “logical” decisions.

Brian Massey interviews Dan to gain his insight into human behavior and help us solve some of the problems we solve every day
as marketers, businessmen and, in general, persuaders trying to influence our prospects decisions.

Dan is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, where he holds a joint appointment between MIG’s Media Laboratory and the
Sloan School of Management. He is also a researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a visiting professor at Duke University,
where he is calling us from. Ariely wrote his book while he was a fellow at the Insitute for Advance Study at Princeton.

In addition to his book, you can read his blog at www.predictablyirrational.com.