Ventures

Gemini Business Group Now Focusing Exclusively on New Venture Development

3Starting September 15, 2015, Gemini Business Group, LLC will focus exclusively on addressing the needs of entrepreneurs and investors and offer a portfolio of new venture development and management support services that have been well received in the market.

The revised Gemini Business Group website provides an overview of the new directions we will be pursuing with clients in coming months.

Look for additional announcements in coming weeks on staff appointments , new developments, and updates on the Gemini Venture Partners Emerging Growth Fund.

I also encourage you to visit my blog www.paulbsilverman.com/blog and also sign up for the complimentary Entrepreneurship Today! e-mail updates which I am using to share new venture developments, management tips, insights on new venture financing trends such as equity crowdfunding, and other topics.

Your comments are always welcomed. Drop me a note anytime at paul@paulbsilverman.com.

Paul B. Silverman

Managing Partner

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Entrepreneurship-Interview-Aug 7th

Untitled design(2)Interview and Book Review published in Ocean City Today – August 7th  issue:

Interview/Review- Ocean City Today Aug 7th

I shared why I wrote the new book- to help entrepreneurs create successful companies, moving beyond basic “start your own your business” guidelines to reach the critical five year survival milestone.

I also shared some key points, such as why clearly defining your business model and strategy up-front, is critical, and discussed what readers are saying.

I emphasized that statistics show entrepreneurs are a major force to spur job creation, and economic growth. New policies/programs to directly help entrepreneurs; proposed new university programs to more tightly link to the business community and leverage university assets and IP; and national entrepreneurship initiatives are my vision that I shared during the interview

I will be expanding on these points in upcoming interviews  and presentations. Stay tuned…comments always welcomed.

 

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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$9 M Google Ventures Funding… And Shows Future of Digital Publishing

Book Pile   BlogRecommend reading the Fast Company article “The Picture Book That Parents Worldwide—And Google Ventures—Can’t Put Down” http://www.fastcocreate.com/3048158/the-picture-book-that-parents-worldwide-and-google-ventures-cant-put-down

Take a good look here and you see where digital publishing is heading as print-on- demand, analytics, creative software, graphics design, and content creation merge to create what looks like a new market sector.

When we here about personalized children’s books we think about a child’s name inserted into the same story and replicated for others. Here we have a new paradigm using algorithms to create customized stories printed with high quality illustrations.

Here is what #Google Ventures says: “We don’t look at them as a book publishing company,” says Avid Larizadeh Duggan, a London-based general partner at Google Ventures. “It’s a platform for the best personalized content for children’s entertainment on multiple platforms. They’re redefining a category.”

When you read this article, I suggest keep the following points in mind:

  • Automated content creation using algorithms and software is a new frontier- as noted “… there are tens of thousands lines of code for each book delivered”
  • This is a technology not a book publishing startup –when you review the article that is clear
  • The team identified a market opportunity, organized a talented team, and then pursued the business. Market opportunity defined first, then technology solution- that is the way it is done to avoid having a creative technology looking for a market, a problem we often see with early stage companies

So where is this heading? Here are may perspectives:

  • The content creation analytics and software will advance quickly- we can envision more powerful and multi-threaded content creation options emerging- I expect these will be driven by start-up firms
  • We will move beyond the children’s book market- what I call ‘adaptive’ content creation will also address other traditional book publishing markets
  • Adaptive, personalized content creation has other applications in education and training. Customizing content to adapt to readers’ learning styles and disabilities, personalizing training content based on readers’ skill level; developing personalized healthcare education materials which adapts based on staff background, experience, their optimum learning approach are some of the many possibilities here.

Bottom line – like 3D printing, this is another disruptive breakthrough that I believe will open many exciting opportunities to create value. Recommend all stay tuned as this develops.

Paul B. Silverman

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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Comments On Richard Branson Post TED Talk

Commented on excellent Richard Branson TED talk How To Hack Into Happiness good messages here.

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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NEW FACEBOOK PAGE

New Facebook Page – will focus on #entrepreneurship, #predictive analytics, #new ventures, #healthcare

More to follow. Check out http://tinyurl.com/m8t5z4g

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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Music Streaming and Analytics-How Spotify is Impacting the Music Business

Excellent New Yorker article about Spotify and how music sector business models are changing- very clear here that the online music market business models are morphing quickly- check out http://tinyurl.com/lw88lkc

The article reinforces my view that analytics, not content, packaging, or other features will be the primary success driver in most of today’s markets, including the music sector. I am looking at analytics-centric healthcare, financial, and business management ventures and clear to me these ventures will reshape current sectors and create new large scale opportunities just as Spotify is doing in online music

To fully understand the possibilities here, consider the following 3 points noted in the article:

  • Note migration from early stage “collaborative filtering” analytics-using what you did before to define what you want in the future – first generation analytics here which provided a competitive edge.
  • Spotify bought Echo Nest-an analytics company and created “Truffle Pig” – result is an artificial music intelligence platform that helps Spotify dissect in detail the music elements (they now look at 50 parameters for all music products) and further tighten ability to meet users’ needs
  • Most significant, Spotify’s analytics are what I call second generation, seeking to use other external personal/ environmental data to improve their ability to meet users’ needs/improve user satisfaction (and of course not switch to iTunes or Pandora). To get a glimpse into what is meant here, check out the following from the article:

Now that the Echo Nest is part of Spotify, its team has access to the enormous amount of data generated by Spotify users which show how they consume music. Spotify knows what time of day users listen to certain songs, and in many cases their location, so programmers can infer what they are probably doing—studying, exercising, driving to work. Brian Whitman, an Echo Nest co-founder, told me that programmers also hope to learn more about listeners by factoring in data such as “what the weather is like, what your relationship status is now on Facebook.”

When I look at how analytics is shaping all market sectors, we see explosive growth of what I call second generation analytics- this will spawn many exciting new ventures, and some of these will be in new market sectors that don’t even exist today. Exciting times lie ahead here

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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Comments on Business Models at “For Entrepreneurs”

Excellent summary by David Skok on new business models we now see in the entrepreneurial arena. If you are interested in understanding the variety of business models we now see in the market this is a good place to start. I contributed comments on Data Intensity Models or “DIM” which I am looking at for new ventures- very exciting area using analytics. Check out David Skok’s site and my comments at  http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/business-models/    Copy of my comments below:

David
Excellent summary on business models – good work. Glad to
contribute here. I am focusing on a related models in the new venture arena looking at how companies create value based on their customer and ‘community of interest’ data. The Data Intensity Model (“DIM”) goes beyond lead generation models to increase revenue and looks at the value created by understanding customer needs using analytics. Mint.com is the widely quoted example here but other directions are emerging. Sounds far out but the DIM model may shape how you manage your wardrobe- check out http://paulbsilverman.com/2012… Obvious opportunities in finance arena similar to Mint.com but major opportunity I foresee is in healthcare arena. Check out my post/exchange about new business models on Accenture blog http://paulbsilverman.com/2013…. The excellent contribution you are making to educate entrepreneurs is I am sure appreciated by all.

Paul B. Silverman

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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Failure Is Often A Key Driver for Success: Check out “Failing Forward — 3 Tips for Failing Your Way to Success”

Most entrepreneurs are familiar with the story of Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb. To outsiders, looks like a waste of time and effort- we see about 10,000 failures and one success. Thomas Edison saw it differently in his widely quoted views on success and failure: “I have not failed 10,000 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 10,000 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”

I agree with Thomas Edison and always define failures as “Learning Experiences” — this works for me.

I recommend checking out “Failing Forward — 3 Tips for Failing Your Way to Success” – an excellent perspective on success and failure from Marshall Graham, Managing Partner at Indian River Advisor, LLC. Excellent insights here for all entrepreneurs.

 

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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Posted Comments -Ex-Apple CEO Invests in Telemedicine

Health telemonitoring market is moving quickly with many major players including Xerox, Medtronics, others.  Posted comments on Fierce Medical Devices article: Ex-Apple CEO investment in remote health monitoring market. Link to article and comments at http://tinyurl.com/lwchryc

Here is copy of my posted comments:

MDI, Xerox’s Healthspot investment are moving us in the right direction-using internet and telemonitoring technology to improve healthcare and create value. As example, look at one area – prenatal care and chronic conditions treatment in rural areas with 25 percent of population but only 10 percent of physicians- you realize very quickly the benefits offered by these emerging healthcare telemonitoring applications. But we can and should be doing more here. Several observations:

— We need standardized EHRs and adoption now being driven by ACA’s Meaningful Use rules. Integrating EHRs with remote monitoring and analytics, we create exciting new opportunities linking to medications for compliance, drug efficacy, adverse effect tracking, and so on. EHR adoption is over 90% in many countries and we are about 60%- we can do better here. EHRs provide the transactional data to support “big data” analytic solutions.

–No doubt telemonitoring and kiosks will improve healthcare and hopefully achieve the $6B projected healthcare savings. All players should emphasize analytics, how analytics will be used to support clinical care decisions, how patient data to personalize healthcare, develop improved treatment modalities and so on. These analytical tools exist, can make a difference, and help address the 30% of all medical errors due to misdiagnosis. Very high leverage and upside here but I do not hear these discussed- they should be

–New ACA regulations/penalties imposed to reduce readmissions are forcing institutions to establish new processes to address after discharge patient tracking- while the emphasis of these “kiosk centric” ventures has been mostly walk-in users, I see several major hospital related markets such as readmission reduction and others which I believe will be significant.

–Pharma clinical trials demand working with 1,000’s of patients and closely tracking their meds during the Phase I/II trials. Networks of remote kiosks provide an excellent vehicle to support new drug clinical trials more efficiently than done today

No question exciting times and strong growth ahead in the remote telemonitoring and medical monitoring device market – lets do what is needed here to use these new offerings to create value and improve our healthcare system

Paul B. Silverman

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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Comments – NPR: Surprise Medical Bills: ER Is In Network, But Doctor Isn’t

Posted comments today on NPR story about ER billing problems using ER services in Texas. Ironic, as noted in my comments,  Texas is one of the states that has pushed back most strongly on ACA efforts to improve our healthcare system. So if you do have an emergency while traveling in Texas, on the way to the ER in the ambulance, I suggest make sure you check that you are covered for both hospital and doctor costs. Looks like “every doctor  for himself” there- what a way to run a healthcare system. We can fix this and I believe with modifications ACA is the vehicle to accomplish this objective.

You can read my comments and the NPR article at http://tinyurl.com/pfd5zwe

Paul B. Silverman writes about entrepreneurship, healthcare, analytics, and strategy management and serves as Advisor, Speaker, Educator, and Managing Partner of the Gemini Business Group, LLC, a new venture development firm, and author of “8 Building Blocks To Launch, Manage, And Grow A Successful Business.” He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at George Mason University. See more at Paul B. Silverman Blog and sign up for Entrepreneurship Today! email updates to track latest new venture developments.

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