When developing a business it’s important to remain honest with yourself and the team that surrounds you.   I’ll be the first to say, in the long run, I probably will not be CEO of the resulting company.   The skill set needed to run a $100M company is quite different from what is needed to run a few million dollar start-up.  I personally have never labeled myself as true business man, I think that comes with more than the 10 years of experience I have.

I’ve always felt more comfortable with labels entrepreneur and visionary.   In the past, I have worked with teams to bring innovative products to market, but this is the first time I will have put my “businessman hat” on to devise an innovative revenue model.    So while I am still learning, and plan to continue steps towards the label … businessman, I believe my long term role with Motown Initiative, and its resulting business venture, will remain in the thought innovation department.  Developing new product features, strategic alliances and market strategy, those are my specialties.

Who know’s, I could be wrong about myself.  Maybe I will continuously grow and develop into the person that the company needs at the helm.  We will see, only time will tell.  I think I prefer that a seasoned CEO step in though, that will let me stick to the fun stuff haha.

With that said, I recommend that you perform a self-assessment and ask yourself, would you take the CEO position in the company you started?

June  11th, 2009….Earlier on last week one of my partners brought a pitch opportunity to my attention, but it wasn’t the ordinary gig.  Not to my surprise, America is adopting another rip off of a British reality show.  This time it’s the Dragon’s Den, but the show here will be called “The Shark Tank”.   Its funny I had so much trouble coming up with a pitch line for MI, cause for this I can easily describe it as “American idol of Entrepreneurs”.   While I didn’t know who I would be pitching to, I did know casting call was June 6th and I only had a few days to get myself together. (follow the jump)

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March 29, 2009…As the digital realm expands in reach and capability, there are some other businesses suffering, specifically brick-and-mortar retail stores.  Unless the store is selling a product that is exclusive or can satisfy an immediate need, online shopping is often the better alternative.  We all remember the first time we stepped into a Circuit City.  I thought it was one of the coolest stores ever just 10 years ago and now it’s gone.  Where did they go wrong? They failed to continuously refine their business model and innovate within their industry.   One company in this industry that i know is not going to suffer the same fate is Best Buy.

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I think I got something here guys, please comment and let me know what you think…
Here’s the concept

“The only online video experience you can call you own”

I really still do like “The iPhone for Broadband video”, but it doesn’t instantly draw the conclusions or curiosity from people that I thought it would. Not to my surprise, I found that there are too many different opinions on what the iPhone is and represents. Oh well, I’ll keep that one in my back pocket.

April 29th, 2009…..As I learn more about business development, pitches, strategy, etc I just keeping thinking…”man I should really get my MBA”. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to justify the opportunity cost, considering I probably wouldn’t get a full ride.I’ve decided that I will be learning through the MBA programs that my friends attend, without actually being enrolled in school haha. Yes, I have been sitting in on random classes, and even participating in them. I am actually going to enroll a class at some point, but for now no one has said anything about my presence in class. They kinda look at me funny sometimes, probably thinking to themselves “who is this guy”? but o well, what can you do? haha

With the help of all my friends and business partners, who are getting MBA’s at the top schools in the nation, I hope to gain the knowledge that will help my latest venture be even more successful.

For those of you who don’t know my friends, and can’t sneak into classes, don’t fret. There are some great resources online, and as the blog continues I’ll definitely be talking about them. One of the most recent finds one of my friends put me on to is Venture Hacks. Great start-up info there. Check out this Stanford class that was posted on their blog…

http://venturehacks.com/articles/customer-development-course

I’ll be reviewing this all week for sure.