The Venture Edge

I have been a fan of the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform for some time -- it seems to me to be a great way for entrepreneurs with good product ideas to raise the funding they need to get their ideas off the ground. However, while crowdfunding holds great potential for entrepreneurs, the appeal to date is I'm sure limited by the amount of money that platforms such as Kickstarter have actually generated for their clients. A quick look at the Kickstarter "Discover Projects" page, for example, shows several projects hovering at just a few thousand dollars, with some under $1,000. 

I recently read an article on dailyfinance.com about the 10 biggest brand disasters of 2010. As I read through the article, I realized that entrepreneurs and small-business owners and execs can learn some important lessons from the missteps of these global giants.  

If you happen to have an Apple iPhone, you probably very well know the power of the app -- those little software programs that allow you to do things with your phone that you never imagined you'd ever do with a phone. On my own iPhone, I have apps that let me check my bank accounts (BofA), view weather radars anywhere in the country (Accuweather), track all my airplane flights in real time when I'm traveling (FlightTrack), view and download (or email) any file I choose on my desktop computer -- from anywhere in the world (SugarSync) -- find a taxicab (Taxi Magic), get recommendations for local restaurants (Yelp), book reservations at local restaurants (OpenTable), and much, much more. It's truly amazing what iPhone apps allow you to do, and it's the reason why I'll never switch to another phone -- at least until something better comes along. However, with more than 185,000 different apps currently available -- and more being added each day to Apple's iPhone arsenal -- I personally believe it's going to be a very long time before something better does come along.

Today I fired up the Wall Street Journal app on my iPhone and was greeted with the following message: "Your trial period to subscriber access ends next week." You see, I have enjoyed reading the WSJ on my iPhone for free ever since I downloaded the app nine months ago. Unfortunately, that little pleasure will soon end, as Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation have decided that their bottom line needs a boost. However, I am not willing to pony up $50 a yearfor the privilege of reading this particular newspaper on my phone, so they will not be getting a boost from me anytime soon.