CIE's social media feeds

As mentioned in a recent blog post, we have updated our social media feeds. The aggregated RSS feed (incl twitter, blog, constant contact and google calendar) is now also available via facebook. That means you can follow us using any (combination) of the following:

• @cieunsw (headlines)
• https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=cie@unsw.edu.au (events)
• http://feeds.feedburner.com/all_cie_unsw?format=xml (RSS feed of headlines and events)
• http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=all_cie_unsw (daily email digest of headlines and events, sent ~noon)
• https://www.facebook.com/pages/Centre-for-Innovation-Entrepreneurship/187722841299461 (our RSS feed in facebook)

We had a LinkedIn group, but the interface was clunky, so we shut it down in favor of maintaining the above.

.. And, yes, we will still be sending out invitations to CIE events and newletters via our Constant Contact email list. Subscribe here

Too busy to tell you about what we're busy with

Oh, the irony. We are so busy organizing and coordinating events, that we're too busy to stop for a minute, invite the larger community to upcoming events or draft summaries and press releases about what just happened. by and large our online communication falls into 4 categories:

• Events sponsored by the CIE (handled using constant contact & our email lists)
• News of CIE related initiatives (handled using this blog)
• Events by associated organizations (handled using google calendar)
• News from associated organizations (handled by twitter) 

Each of these channels produces it's own RSS feed, each of which can by 'burned' to daily email digests using Google's feedburner too.

For the last couple months, we have been providing the links to these tools separately (i.e. follow us on twitter, but not google calendar or constant contact; or follow the blog, but not the other channels).

This is just plain confusing. As a result, we aggregated the four RSS feeds into one (using google reader), and burned it to a daily email digest (using feedburner).

To receive an individual RSS update of everything that we (re-)broadcast, please use this link:

•  http://feeds.feedburner.com/all_cie_unsw?format=xml

To receive a daily digest email between 1200-1300 of everything that we (re-)broadcast, please use this link:

•  http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=all_cie_unsw

(If you are on our constant contact email list you will continue to receive personal invitations for events sponsored by the CIE)

Here is a screenshot example of one of our recent daily email digests:

Books and blogs: growth and exits

Here are a few resources I've come across over the last couple weeks.

I visited the facilities of ATP Innovations earlier this week and am impressed with the level of innovation happening there. Along the way, I came across a related blog calles Successful Innovation which emphasizes events and podcasts by ATP Innovations' bizBetClub.

While at the last Angel Forum, I picked up a copy of Basil Peter's latest book: Early Exits.

"This book is about the large number of other exits - the ones that are not driven by the VCs. Exit opportunities have changed dramatically in the past few years. Today, it's more likely that a company will be sold without ever having an investment from a venture capitalist.

Exits are also happening much earlier than before. The largest number of exit transactions today are in the under $30-million valuation range. These exits are often completed when companies are only two or three years from startup.

The goal of this book is to help entrepreneurs and angel investors have more successful, more frequent and more profitable exits."

I also recently had the pleasure to preview and provide a review for Tom McKaskill's latest book: Raising Angel & Venture Capital Finance. In a private email from him, he mentions the book is available free and may be distributed and put on my website, even though it costs $25 on his. Well .. here goes: FREE. Tom writes about his book:

"The objective of this book is to show the entrepreneur how they can create a business which assists the Angel Investor or VC fund to achieve their objectives. In doing so, there is a high probability of raising finance."

Overall, both books provide great overviews of the current state of privately funded startups (read not publicly listed). I highly recommend both for entrepreneurs who want to start companies, keeping in mind how they want to structure their business to attract the support of angels. While the ultimate goal is presented as a successful exit, the intermediate goal is just as clear: build a profitable business with high-growth potential.

PS: I have added a google calendar bar to the blog to highlight upcoming events related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Thankfully the events can easily be imported into other calendars without requiring manual transcription, and there's a separate RSS feed, too.