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For a start-up company, being able to partner with an established brand is the ultimate in validating your product, and building credibility. But its not necessarily always a no lose situation. This blog article on the WSJ site describes one particular case of a child-friendly gym partnering with Disney as part of the “Enchanted” movie release.

Several points are brought up which I thought are interesting to a start-up looking for additional exposure. Even though it may appear like a can’t lose situation, remember that the larger company sees value in the relationship as well, and this company will be looking to leverage what you bring to enhance their own product offering. What happens when the product being cross-promoted is not up to par with your own customer’s expectations? Can your fledgling brand and relationship with your existing customers be harmed by the execution of the larger partner? Unfortunately, when partnering with larger companies, you often times have to give up some control over the delivery of service or product quality. The question is, what’s the right mix of giving up control without harming your own brand? Of course, that depends on the individual company and partnership.

Mark Averitt from Okapi Venture Capital has an interesting article on his blog about finders, and the issues with using them.  Averitt is based in Orange County, California, so your mileage may vary on whether most finders are registered with the SEC.  Still, as Averitt explains, you do have to wonder what finders really bring to the table.  On the one hand, VC’s see many, many companies throughout the year, and so every entrepreneur looking for funding feels they need an edge to rise above the fray.  However, if the entrepreneur has established even a rudimentary network of people who are already plugged-in, a finder seems unnecessary.  If your idea has merit, traversing your own network should eventually get the exposure you need to present your company.

I thought that communication, delegation, and thinking strategic were important CEO behavior traits, as opposed to your line supervisor, which has to be good at attention to detail,  quick decisions, and other things associated with mass production.  Well, this blog at the Wall Street Journal site, which sites three professors from the University of Chicago, seem to disagree.  Go check out what they say.  What do you think?

Entrepreneurship isn’t just for young people.  This Inc Magazine article highlights several people in their 80’s who are active and successful entrepreneurs today.  In fact, age has significant advantages, the most significant is a vast experience.  So let this be a lesson to everybody who thinks that entrepreneurs have to be under 40.

Entrepreneurs often get caught up in trying to find a truely original idea.  This is especially true for technology/internet entrepreneurs.  I often fall into the same trap, as the first thing I do after conceiving of a new product or service is to search Google.  If someone has already done it, I move on.  Unfortunately, there is always something that looks/sounds/tastes similar to my idea.  As this article asks, does it ultimately matters if someone has already done what you are looking to do?

To answer this question, I recall one of the speakers in my Cases in New Venture Management course at USC.  The speaker discussed his internet venture, and how he went up against company’s with much greater funding and brand awareness.  He wasn’t first, or second, or even third to market.  Despite being last to market, he succeeded, and was bought out by a major media company for millions of dollars.  According to the entrepreneur, his successful formula was discovered when he broke down each of his competitors, and identified where he could create a differentiating advantage.  For his venture, he found that being more responsive than his competitors by using analytics allowed him to operate much cheaper.  So, even though his revenue per customer was much lower than his competitors, his margins were much greater.

So, its not about being first to market.  The key is to define yourself as unique in some way where customers see an advantage to choosing you over the competition.  It can be through better technology, more efficient operations, or better marketing.  The differentiating opportunities are almost endless.

Inc.com has a piece which discusses the growing use of online resumes.  If individuals can do this, why can’t start-up’s do the same for their company in the form of a “YouTubed” online commercial?

The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine has named the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business as the nation’s top graduate program for 2007.  Here is a link to the press release announcing the ranking, and here is an article from the school’s newspaper, The Daily Trojan, with more information.

As a student at the school, I can attest to the program’s strength.  The combination of outstanding curriculum and faculty, and motivated students, creates a very enabling environment.

A Wall Street Journal article about one family’s experience, and advice, on handling the transition of the company to the next generation.  Good tips for those who are in a family business.

Wil Schroler’s Blog has an article that discusses one of the biggest mistakes that would-be entrepreneurs make. People so often spend enormous amounts of time in the design phase of a new product. The vision might be crystal clear, and as development proceeds, even more opportunities reveal themselves to make the product even more compelling. Unfortunately, this cycle can go on until the entrepreneur loses focus, runs out of money, or develops a product that nobody actually wants. What the article reveals is that your best product development source are the actual customers who buy your product. To tap this source, rather than spending time and money on something that may not actually be desired, an entrepreneur should get the product to market as soon as possible, and let the customers help drive the direction. The chances are your customers know better about what they want than you do, and being responsive to their voice is what will ultimately find a compelling product.

Here is a fresh perspective for the entrepreneur striving for “success”.  I like the author’s view of success, and how its not a destination, but instead a series of milestones that mark the journey of the entrepreneurial experience.  I’d love to hear your own stories, or what you thought of the article.