My short comments re Using crowdfunding sites could destroy your nascent business idea | Media Network | Guardian Professional

Using crowdfunding sites could destroy your nascent business idea | Media Network | Guardian Professional:


IP, "barrier to entry" and sustainable & "win-win" business models are key things to consider. Ideally, viable "to market strategy" need to be formed and put in place before telling the world... inc. "trade mark" & other things as mentioned in the article, given limited budget (for most startups) it also make sense to self educate and using mostly free resources so far online to "Do-it-yourself".

key is get going, but with eye wide open, and adapt.  Do not use too many consultants or advisers, especially blood suckers who focus on fees you pay, sadly I personally got stung by a few lawyers also when I registered my Community Trade Mark via even major lawyer firms in and outside of UK.

good luck, it is a sea full of sharks.

@GarethWong

My comments re British Banks’ Comedy of Terrors by Simon Johnson - Project Syndicate

British Banks’ Comedy of Terrors by Simon Johnson - Project Syndicate:

good piece of commentary, thanks Prof Simon

IMHO, Prof Anat book is brilliant and highlighted (now seems obvious) very important facts, too much leveraged is not sustainable and should retained more profit to bulk up the balance sheet (hope I understood & paraphrased it ok? totally recommend the book!). Bankers are playing key role for sure, but are they alone in the party? 

To that end, I would also like to highlight wider capital market behaviour/cultural problems of short-term rent seeking/trading vs value creating negative culture (since we are in book recommendation mode), argued eloquently by Jack Bogle's book on "The Clash of the Cultures: Investment vs. Speculation".

of course, EVERYone might also be at fault, culturally, as the essence of 'shareholder value' maximisation might need to be 're-define' and re-adjusted..  long term goals setting with some punishment if need, please see the brilliant book by Prof. Colin Mayer on Firm Commitment. 

I do not see Basel III any better, surely by 2019 our economies might not be in any fixable states, and that is only looking at  7% of risk-weighted assets .. I am not expert, even 10% is low! and due to multitude of accounting/reporting standards/recognitions, and fact that everything is backward looking (definition of accounting!), some might argue that all these is meaningless as by the time we know about it, the company might fail anyway!!! 

It is sadly not fixable by one regulator, or even IMF/WorldBank/G8/G20 (please tell me if I am wrong! sincerely hope I am!) none of the key guys are in job long enough to understand enough and be able to put in the key 'long term' solution.. hence we keep hearing from ex-this and ex-that saying how it should be done!? 

To be frank, I would hate to be head of PRA/FCA/SEC.. as they are also faced with a stark challenge, as NO one country can legislate for the world, but what they do do, might affect how the big firms (with more money than the governments) might decide how they divert their operations/money and thus would affect their market adversely... therefore, "game theory of the whole trillion market" need also be considered very carefully also. 

WE have to learn from history, even the best intended policies might not work out as planned, see how TARP turned out!

NOT as simple as black & white as you might have put in your short and brilliant article. 

My take?? our financial world need a real pervasive solution: (Car mechanic analogy) not just monitor and oil the gears better. Indeed, it might be time to change the gears and indeed the gearbox!! Anyone thinking/working on that?? We have and sadly world does not want to be changed as 'efficient use of capital' is still defined by all as DEBT!  go figure! 

@GarethWong

Watch_Dogs WeAreData great example of how "big data" is used (mostly for visualisation so far) but we can do more (for good) I hope!

Watch_Dogs WeAreData:

this is a brilliant example of how "big data" can be used .. from a games company!

well done. (in Paris, picture above, you can even follow the trains!)

(mostly for visualisation so far) but being an ever optimist.. no doubt we can do more (for good).

now, everyone one else need to figure out how to protect/use the data for good!

thanks for @domdelport 's tweet..

@GarethWong

John Mescall on making shareable advertising on Vimeo, RT @GarethWong Well deserved! @McCann_WW #CannesLions #DumbWaystoDie scoops top award http://bit.ly/14Qs5wm @guardian @JohnMescall1 http://bit.ly/14Qs5wn

John Mescall on making shareable advertising on Vimeo:

RT @GarethWong Well deserved! @McCann_WW #CannesLions #DumbWaystoDie http://dumbwaystodie.com/ scoops top award http://bit.ly/14Qs5wm @guardian @JohnMescall1 http://bit.ly/14Qs5wn




Key question is how we can harness such creativity to encourage/incentivise people to better themselves and make things happen rather than complaining without providing solutions!?



John Mescall on making shareable advertising from Warc on Vimeo.

Learn from Chris Hadfield's Snapshots from Space - YouTube

Chris Hadfield's Snapshots from Space - YouTube:

Link to a few top pictures by him: Chris Hadfield performs David Bowie's Space Oddity - on The @Independent http://bit.ly/11DrVTC

I particularly like the one on London:

brilliant advice from Michael Lazerow... (but...) Offbeat Advice I Wish I Was Given in School | LinkedIn

Offbeat Advice I Wish I Was Given in School | LinkedIn:

Reality is that turning back the clock, if we were given the advice, would we have listened? I've doing that now and my next generation is pretending to listen.. maybe by showing Michael's post, they finally will.. key is everyone should!

must read full list suggest you click through and read it or follow him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lazerow 

"Sit in row 1 or 2. Perception matters. Sitting up close tells the teacher you care.

Doodle often. It's your brain on auto drive. You never know where it will take you.

Do your homework. The stress of telling your teacher you didn't do it isn't worth it.

Do what you love. Then master it so you can do it much better than anyone else you know. Happiness is where interests and capabilities intersect.

Ask out someone at least two grades above you. And expect to be rejected. Rejection is the muscle that will power your future success. (And if you actually succeed, even better! Grab the Drakkar. Game on!).

Admit your mistakes. Don't lie. Take your punishment. And move on. The mistake won't hurt you. The coverup will. Flawed, vulnerable people are likable. Liars aren't."

Brilliantly funny The 21th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony - YouTube, Chemistry Themed.. & Miss Sweetie Poo that is needed in most conferences!

The 21th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony - YouTube:

best song on all elements

worthwhile if you fancy watching the whole lot, much better than all the useless reality show!!




Potential best contribution to conference sector by the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony for the wider conference world (if they dare) is Miss Sweetie Poo!!:



thanks for @HarryDavies 's tweet, as I would not have found this!

Touching! Must watch Chinese short nature documentary "Lost" filmed over 5yrs in 12mins 《迷失的家园》—纪录片 bit.ly/16Pa05q

迷失的家园—在线播放—《迷失的家园》—纪录片—优酷网，视频高清在线观看:

Touching! Must watch Chinese short nature documentary "Lost" filmed over 5yrs in 12mins 《迷失的家园》—纪录片 bit.ly/16Pa05q

Short blog re we need a challenge between the Billionaires!? Pierre Omidyar, Steve Case And Mike Milken On The Business Case For Impact Investing - Forbes

Pierre Omidyar, Steve Case And Mike Milken On The Business Case For Impact Investing - Forbes:


Brilliant work indeed, and also the giving pledge,

this might be a stupid question, surely if all the billionaires work together on a few big issues, the impact would surely be even greater, right?? why let each decide in their leisure and most likely without urgency!?

IMHO seems like this is opportunity lost, as turning up for events and charity fund raising is much easier.. lets do a "solution pledge' for the second phase!??  we really need solution for Food, water, MRSA & world financial market..etc.

We have a challenge of lack of "intelligent giving" at present sadly.. see @Quora question Charities: How best to do "intelligent giving"? http://bit.ly/16hmbaJ 

What do you think? we need a challenge between the Billionaires!?

My blog re how to challenge the offshore UHNWs to creat community of "intelligent capital" for europe? re Hipsters Flocking to Silicon Roundabout as Bankers Fade - Bloomberg

Must read article:
Hipsters Flocking to Silicon Roundabout as Bankers Fade - Bloomberg:



 

Great event, great insights shared+, great people on and off panel.. really hope the panel discussion video can be shared. (some pictures I took: #WhiteFlat Buzz panel at Bloomberg 19May13 http://flic.kr/s/aHsjF6TRQ2 )

Brilliant to have such vibrant & exciting ecosystem/community success so far in the last few years, and well on our way to address "density of network" issue.. (mentioned often by Eze, quoting Reid hoffman)

One of the key challenge as highlighted by Jeremy was that there is not yet many major billion pounds exit yet (IMHO, that is only one measure and most don't end well except for founders & selected early investors, look at Autonomy furore, Bebo that just gone bankrupted after further sell off.. who is to say Skype has done better!?) 

Hopefully in 2013, we will have more startups with "to be proven sustainable business model" in mind rather than short term eyeball gains and exits to bigger player as ultimate goals, Groupon? (some might argue that is the reason why we have no major Internet Tech firms from Europe yet) 

some of the panel mentioned that the Major problem the ecosystem faced with now is apparently lack of startup with real ambition and lack of decent follow on funding  (range of US$500k+ was mentioned) (need verification of the video, sadly I didn't take notes!)

As I asked during the event,  it would be great if panel & others can attempt to address "quality of and competitions between investors" challenge.. (hopefully they are also intelligent also)

IMHO, knowing quite a few of the top investors and many of the well heeled exited and now offshore UHNWs (tax wise, non dom), quite a few of them are still active in business/deals but sadly they are not as 'hungry' any more (can't blame them! & not talking about career fund managers/VCs) and nor they have or need to be under any 'social proof' pressure, as the offshore /anonymity offered by jurisdictions means most are surrounding themselves with yes-men or people wanting their time/resources (& friends/colleagues they trusted) and rarely they see many peers that are much more successful than them (well, it is intrinsically impossible, because they are offshore! they might meet them in local functions but people don't mingle, like at private members club, unless you own the club of course).. 

Further complex the issue is that most UHNWs are in the "linkedOUT" phase and most prefer anonymity,  hence you may have noticed that its same tens of 'big names' guys in the same conferences all over europe.. etc. where in fact many other top UHNWs guys who might be richer but are less active. 

my off the cuff suggestion then was for UK policy maker to consider creating a "density of network" between such off-shored and well heeled potential investors/typically exited mid-cap entrepreneurs/UHNWs (to meet on or offshore 1/2days per year with each other & pre-qualified entrepreneurs with decent firms/ideas).  this should ensure some social proof between the exited successful potential investors so they can see behind close door how some others are doing better from other sectors (very much like in Silicon Valley), this should provide some competitive incentives for the newly formed UHNWs to invest time to meet/listen and thus maybe more likely to take some risk and invest in the next Apple of UK/Europe??  

In return, maybe government can give them few more days to visit friends & family on shore if they have invested based on certain criteria? that might also promote further bragging rights (e.g. how many extra days they get this year..)  the real scale and effect might be much greater than 100s of EIS/SEIS combined!? (have no numbers nor resources to research, please do tell me if I am wrong, keen to learn more!)

Another issue is that the supply of quality entrepreneurs also need to be addressed (not most of the dragons den type but serious well thought out guys please), .. hopefully with intelligent/prequalified capital we will also have intelligent/pre-qualified entrepreneurs... I hope this all make sense, but probably I have written away my invitation now! ;-)  maybe some food for thought? 

BR

@GarethWong