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This article originally appeared on Forbes HERE. Philo Farnsworth created a technology which underlies one of the 20th Century’s most ubiquitous products, yet he died a man of modest means and is relatively unknown today. Philo was an inventor, not an innovator. He was primarily motivated by the educational potential of his invention, not the wealth it might generate. He freely shared his ideas and technology with others in the hopes that such openness would advance his scientific field of study. Philo’s fellow researchers were not the only people who benefitted from his discoveries. Numerous innovators capitalized upon them as well, creating dozens of multi-billion-dollar enterprises.

This article originally appeared on Forbes HERE. According to a January 2012 Forbes article, nearly 16% of the 400 most affluent Americans do not have a college degree. When one considers the 400 richest people on the entire planet, the percentage of non-college graduates doubles. Shocking? Hardly. PayPal Co-founder Peter Thiel has granted 24 people under 21 years old $100,000 each, with plans to allocate additional scholarships in coming years. The primary stipulation is that each Thiel Fellow must drop out of college, for at least two years, and pursue their “entrepreneurial ventures, research and self-education.” For many entrepreneurs, college has little appeal. Academia’s arbitrary, bureaucratic structure, combined with its predominant focus on theoretical issues, causes many entrepreneurs to depart college early. Others, such as Walt Disney and Richard Branson never even enroll.

“Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” Eleanor Roosevelt - US Diplomat & Wife of President Franklin Roosevelt As an entrepreneur, I helped create companies which achieved two IPOs and two trade sales totaling $385 million. During those same 15-years, I made innumerable mistakes. Entrepreneurship is best learned experientially, both directly and through the experiences of others. Hopefully this article and the accompanying six-minute video will help you avoid learning these mission-critical lessons the hard way.

Because Your Big Break May Start As A Little One This article originally appeared on Forbes HERE. Ever heard of the band “Five Cool What?” No? I am not surprised. When opportunity knocked, rather than busting open the door, they first asked, “What do you want?” In 1987 the band was discovered by Ron Fair, a rising executive at Chrysalis Records. Ron brought the band into Chrysalis’ headquarters and introduced them to his staff. According to one of the band members, “They were swooning over us.” Once the tour concluded, the group returned to Ron’s office where he notified them that he would initially sign them to a development deal. He made it clear that this approach would allow the band to re-cut a few of their demos, which he would use to persuade the label to sign the band to a full-fledged recording contract. Without consulting anyone else in the group, one of the members leaned forward and dramatically delivered a line that would haunt each band member for the remainder of their musical careers, “Ron. That deal sounds like a field goal. We’re looking for a touchdown.” Not surprisingly, Five Cool What never spoke with Ron again and failed to score a safety, let alone a touchdown.

During my tenure at Expertcity (creator of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting), one of my responsibilities was leading our online marketing, a role I retained until our eventual acquisition by Citrix. When we launched GoToMyPC in 2001, the rules of online marketing were still being written. Along with GoToMyPC, companies like Netflix, Classmates and ZoneLabs were learning from each other. Since then, the craft of advertising online has matured from an art to a science.

In his book Enchantment , Guy Kawasaki encourages entrepreneurs to immerse their audience in their “cause”, in order to enchant them. One of the immersion techniques Guy promotes is to offer a hands-on trial, in which the prospective customer can touch, feel and experience your product before purchasing it. If you care to learn more about the enchantment process, you may want to watch my interview with Guy HERE, in which he provides a number of enchanting tips and tricks.

Note: This is Part VI in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE, Part II HERE, Part III HERE, Part IV HERE and Part V HERE. Two bands, both heralding from Liverpool. Each with a unique look, hip contemporary sound and significant initial success. Why did A Flock of Seagulls crash soon after their initial hit while the Beatles’ career has spanned nearly 40-years, including a number one CD (“Love”) as recently as 2007? This dichotomy is not merely reflective of the groups’ respective musical talents. The Beatles longevity and success was largely the result of their group dynamics, which are identical to those present in successful startups.

Article first published as 10 Reasons To Start A Company In An Economic Downturn on Technorati. There has recently been a common theme among the entrepreneurs I have interviewed and the conferences I have attended: despite the relatively weak state of the world economy, now is a great time to create a high-tech startup. As Guy Kawasaki pointed out in our recent conversation, “…it is cheaper than ever to start a company. People are free or cheap because of the recession. Marketing is free or cheap because of social media. You don’t really buy servers anymore…the tools are all open source. Basically, everything is free. If there was ever a time to start a company, this is it.” Marten Mickos, Founder of MySQL and current CEO of Eucalyptus Systems echoed Guy’s sentiment in this interview by saying, “We who are entrepreneurs say, ‘This is the best time ever to start a company.’ We always say it and I believe it.”