By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker The Interactive portion of SXSW has now ended. We can look back at our own pace on the topics that were introduced, and see how they might fit into our world. Much  food for thought coming out of SXSW has been the ongoing and expanding world of what I'm [...]

By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker The Mona Lisa is frequently described as "priceless." It is a unique and marvelous work, and its value cannot be measured by something as vulgar as currency. (May your work be equally extraordinary.) It was also a labor of love - Da Vinci carried it around for four years [...]

  By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker The Internet has changed the world in so many ways that we can't fully know or appreciate all of them. We are still living in the time of transition - my status as a digital immigrant and my children's as digital natives are testament to that. (If you [...]

  By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker It's an old joke: a little girl asks a New York City policeman, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" He pats her on the head and replies, "Practice, practice, practice!" The joke’s simple humor is based on the ol' switcheroo, but there is more to take from [...]

La Pouce de Cesar at La Défense in Paris By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker The New York Times recently ran article to which I linked on LinkedIn and Twitter, all about the spaces some of the tech giants have created to house themselves and their enterprises (The Monuments of Tech, March 1, [...]

By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker James B. Stewart recently explored the topic of annual bonuses for chief executives in his “Common Sense” column in The New York Times (“A Bonus Is Declined; A Problem Remains”, February 22, 2014). IBM’s chief executive, Virginia Rometty, and members of her “senior team” recommended to the IBM board [...]

By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker Before you start your business, ask yourself: How will you leverage technology to streamline your operations, improve customer service, and open up new revenue lines? Nowadays, it seems that tech startups are the only ones getting media attention. But many entrepreneurs are launching non-tech startups, just as I did. [...]

  By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker As you develop your business model, you need to ask: What will it take to create, manufacture, and deliver your product to your customers? For a manufactured product, this step forces you to think through and learn about your requirements for raw materials, labor, machinery, inventory, and distribution. [...]

By Ed McLaughlin with Wyn Lydecker Before you start your business, ask yourself: What will you charge for your product? The revenue model you choose, your product’s positioning in the marketplace, and your profit target will help you determine your price. Each type of revenue model will most likely have market benchmarks you can research [...]

  By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker It seems fitting that the first gold medal of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics games was awarded to an American, Sage Kotsenberg, in the slopestyle snowboarding event. Snowboarding was born in America, thanks to generations of inventors, tinkerers, sports enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. Snowboarding was added to the Winter [...]