Blog – Page 5 – Helge Seetzen

Entrepreneurship , People

Why Employee Equity is an Investment like Any Other: Entrepreneurship and ethics

There’s been a flurry of articles and a Hacker News Poll, highlighting entrepreneurs who despite, or maybe because of their success, turn around and screw their employees, collaborators, partners. Just look at the last few big deals this year: Zynga and its CEO (personally worth billions at the expected...

December 8, 2011July 7, 2017

How To Spot Technology Trends , Technology

How to Spot Technology Trends II: Replacing ‘Impossible’ with ‘Never Before Possible’

This is part 2 of a post on spotting technology trends. In the last post I explained that the best place to look for technology trends is my mother’s demographic (a mainstream demographic, with disposable income, that is not very technologically savvy). In this post, I describe the mindset required...

December 6, 2011July 6, 2017

How To Spot Technology Trends , Technology

How to Spot Technology Trends I: Mother Knows Best

Spotting technology trends is a subject that is at the forefront of our minds at TandemLaunch. While I can’t offer any silver bullet solutions, this will be the first of a 2 post series on the subject. I look forward to some good discussion on the topic. When you...

December 1, 2011July 6, 2017

Diversity , Tech Entrepreneurship

Confronting our Prejudices to Drive Innovation

A couple of weekends ago I witnessed a lively debate around the issue of racism in Silicon Valley (ok, ‘lively’ is an understatement). I’m a firm believer that racism has a devastating effect on innovation, but I think we are all prone to these kinds of biases, and need...

November 15, 2011July 7, 2017

Startups & Economic Development

A case for Startup Visas

Recently there’s been a lot of discussion in both Canada and the US about an initiative called Startup Visa. The core of the initiative is a change to immigration policy that would allow entrepreneurs to be classified as a labour class and give them the ability to enter the...

November 8, 2011July 7, 2017

IP & Tech Transfer

Five Steps for University Inventors

For researchers working in technical fields, inventions are to be expected. Unfortunately, many university inventors receive little, if any, training on what to do once they have an invention on their hands. Our team has put together a handy FAQ to help orient inventors to the world of university-industry...

November 3, 2011July 7, 2017

Entrepreneurship , Tech Entrepreneurship

Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Different processes, different people

Invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship are words frequently thrown around by politicians, theorists, and entrepreneurs alike to generally describe the act of bringing a product or idea into the world. While easy to confuse, each concept is distinct and requires specific skills. When it’s time to choose the right...

October 25, 2011July 7, 2017

Entrepreneurship , Tech Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a Profession, Not a Cool Pastime

While traveling in the Valley I had a chance to catch up with a few local entrepreneurs and accelerators. Many of them are doing interesting work, but I noticed a disturbing trend: entrepreneurship has become “cool” for a whole generation. As a an entrepreneur who had gone through several...

October 18, 2011July 4, 2017

IP & Tech Transfer

Why ‘First-to-File’ works for University Inventors

There have been mixed reactions to the new America Invents Act. While the bill may be far from perfect, some of the concerns U.S. universities have had over the change to a First-to-File system are overstated in my opinion. Some are claiming that the conversion from First-to-Invent to First-to-File...

October 12, 2011July 7, 2017

Entrepreneurship

Five Essential Courses for Technology Entrepreneurs

Five Essential Courses for Technology Entrepreneurs Students who are interested in technology entrepreneurship are likely taking plenty of engineering, physical sciences, or computer science courses. But there are a few non-technical courses that I would strongly recommend to anybody aspiring to be an entrepreneur. Even as a technical founder,...

September 27, 2011July 7, 2017