startup

Choosing an investor: 5 tips from 5 entrepreneurs

Investors rarely make or break a startup, but they can make life a hell of a lot easier or harder for an entrepreneur. That's why entrepreneurs need to put some thought into who they want to add to their team, instead of taking the first money that's offered to them.

But how do you choose the right investors for your startup?

There are hundreds of factors to consider, but some stand out more than others. While anybody can give you money, only a few can give you the sage-like advice you need to succeed. And while adding a … Read more

Innovation and re-invention at the Stanford Cool Product Expo

STANFORD, Calif. -- Finding a new product idea is never easy. You have to understand your target audience and test the market. But not every new product comes from a new idea -- sometimes the best products are simply new ways of viewing the world, or new approaches to old problems.

At the Cool Product Expo held at Stanford University this week, a few of the designs on hand are re-imagining some classic products -- in ways you might never have thought possible.

One company, Impossible, is hoping to revive instant photography, and dozens of other companies -- 11 of … Read more

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said to launch mobile startup

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is rumored to be adding a new mobile company to his line of startups, according to AllThingsD.

Apparently the name of the new company is Jelly and it will most likely be a product featured on smartphones and tablets. According to AllThingsD, Stone has already hired a handful of people to work on the Jelly team.

After leaving Twitter, Stone partnered with another Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and former Twitter product chief Jason Goldman to work on an incubator called The Obvious Corporation. Using Obvious funding the trio has launched other startups, including Lift, Branch, and … Read more

Second act for the unorthodox Steve Case

When F. Scott Fitzgerald claimed that "there are no second acts in American life," he clearly didn't foresee the resilient career of the man who once headed America Online. Rita Braver reports:

He was the Boy Wonder of computing, co-founding the pioneering Internet service America Online while still in his twenties, and then helping make it the top-earning stock of the 1990s -- trying, he told CBS News back in 1997, "to build an interactive medium to inspire people's lives."

And if you've ever wondered what happened to Steve Case, look no further. … Read more

DoorJamz replaces doorbell with custom tunes

If you've ever been rudely interrupted by a doorbell because someone was dropping by your house at an inconvenient time, this prototype doorbell will make a lot of sense.

DoorJamz from KMN Home is a touchless, customizable doorbell that lets you adjust the ring volume, as well as set the ring to a favorite tune, just like the Swann MP3 DJ Doorbell.

As suggested in the promo video below (warning: it features a half-naked guy dancing in white socks, a la "Risky Business"), you can choose MP3s for different days of the week or for any occasion, such as "Thriller" on Halloween.

I'd definitely choose "Harlem Shake." … Read more

High-tech software for retailers discreetly tracks customers

Imagine that you're the proud owner of a good old-fashioned brick-and-mortar shop. Now imagine a software service that gives you a snapshot of what's hot and what's not in your store. That's what Prism Skylabs offers.

The San Francisco startup has developed technology that uses video captured by security cameras to track customers' movements and create "heatmaps." The images represent an aggregate of all the shoppers' whereabouts in the store and which items they touched. For retailers, it's a valuable tool for making decisions about product placement and floor layout.

Prism Skylabs also … Read more

Control the system startup for your device using Startup Manager Free for Android

Tired of having all those undesired applications start up automatically after booting your smartphone or tablet? Can't find a way to add an application you want to your system startup simply because this option is not supported in the settings? Startup Manager Free for Android does a good job of dealing with these issues. However, for this app to function properly your phone needs to be rooted.

Because smartphones don't tend to be restarted very often, this app will be more useful for tablet owners because they usually shut the device down after every use. Startup Manager Free … Read more

PayPal co-founder Levchin launches e-commerce startup

PayPal co-founder Max Levchin is bringing his e-commerce business smarts to a mobile-payments startup he's launching called Affirm, according to AllThingsD.

What's different about Affirm from other mobile-payment companies, like Square and Stripe, is that it's goal is to make payments happen with as few clicks as possible -- similar to how buying something on a desktop computer works.

"We are trying to get as close as possible to one-click, which has always been the case on the desktop," Levchin told AllThingsD. "In mobile, it has become an imperative to be able to buy … Read more

How to find and get the most out of an entrepreneurial mentor

I don't know where I'd be today without my entrepreneurial mentors. A lot of successful entrepreneurs will tell you the same thing.

Every 20-something entering the job market should have a mentor that can help her navigate the business world, but the bond between an entrepreneur and her mentor is unique. There aren't a lot of tougher mountains to climb than starting a company from scratch, and the emotional stress of a startup can be overwhelming. Being able to learn from somebody who's gone through the ups and downs is invaluable.

"Mentorship is a critical … Read more

PR2 maker Willow Garage turns to commercial robotics

Things are changing over at robotics startup Willow Garage, the open-source powerhouse known for its very adaptable domestic bot PR2.

Following an IEEE Spectrum report earlier today saying Willow Garage would shut down in the next few months, the company announced on its blog that it "has decided to enter the world of commercial opportunities with an eye to becoming a self-sustaining company."

"This is an important change to our funding model," it added.

Founded in 2006 by Google search engine co-designer Scott Hassan, Willow Garage has been committed to developing open-source robots such as PR2 … Read more