Today, Seth Godin linked to a venture capital company’s anti-portfolio. Most people (and companies) are eager to tell you about their success stories. BVP, the VC firm, created an anti-portfolio to show some of the investment opportunities they missed. They had listened to the proposal and said, “no thanks.”
BVP’s anti-portfolio contains an amazing list of [...]
Archive for May, 2006
Recognizing Opportunities
Written by: Bill Sherman on Wednesday, 31 May 2006, 11:16 PM







Why Make Your Customers Do Homework?
Written by: Bill Sherman on Monday, 29 May 2006, 4:11 PM
In the United States, Memorial Day marks the start of the summer-vacation mindset. Many families take trips and visit amusement parks. This quote, from a recent AP article caught my attention today:
“Any guest paying full price at our parks is probably not doing their homework,” said Steve Brown, vice president for ticket strategy and sales [...]







Your Lawnmowing Pitch
Written by: Bill Sherman on Monday, 29 May 2006, 3:18 PM
While I was outside this weekend, one of the neighbors’ children walked over to me and made a compelling offer. The young boy, named Justin, is about seven years old, and he said, “Would you like me to mow your yard every Saturday for you?” I smiled warmly, and I asked him how much he [...]







Spark more aha-moments by communicating clearly
Written by: Bill Sherman on Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 3:42 AM
When we communicate, through speech and writing, we often present our ideas from our current perspective rather than the perspective of our readers and listeners.
If you want to guide someone to an aha-moment, you can’t start with the conclusions that seem so obvious to you. You need to guide them from their present position to [...]







2008/09/25: Layoffs, Loneliness, and the Decay of Social Capital
by Bill Sherman
2008/09/24: Globalization Mindsets: Investing in Social Capital
by Bill Sherman
2008/09/22: Smart Phones vs. People
by Bill Sherman
2008/09/19: Recovering from a Break-In: A Social Capital Story
by Bill Sherman
2008/09/18: Crises of Confidence and Social Capital
by Bill Sherman

