The Venture Edge

If you've been reading this blog for more than a month or two, you've probably noticed that I'm a big fan of contests for entrepreneurs. Not only do I think they're fun, but they can be a good source of cash -- and what entrepreneur can't use a little extra cash? Entrepreneur magazine recently ran a contest roundup, including a UPS Store Facebook contest (deadline = August 31, 2011), 2011 Avaya Small Business Innovators contest (deadline = August 30, 2011), Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur contest (deadline = September 9, 2011), and Cleantech Open Global Ideas competition ( deadline = September 30, 2011). 

I’m in the middle of preparing some materials for a three-day corporate seminar I’m giving in June on innovation and technology commercialization and I’m trying to decide on the key concepts I want to focus on. One of those concepts is definitely the idea that we should worry less about the competition and focus more on how we position ourselves uniquely, so that in the customer’s mind we stand out from the crowd.