A great series on China’s Rise on Hulu, video/link below. Watch Episode 5,2, and 1 (in that order).
http://www.hulu.com/china-rises
Episode 5 below follows 3 British entrepreneurs making their millions in China. They experience immense opportunity, unique challenges, and obscure environments. Also interesting to see entire cities dedicated to one product like zippers, underwear, or faucet taps.
There is an excellent recent Wall Street Journal article interviewing Ron Shaich, co-founder of Au Bon Pain and Panera Bread Co.
Despite the whole carb conscious world, the chain with the word “Bread” in it is doing pretty well. Panera Bread has revenue of $1.3 Billion, and Business Week also listed it in its list of Hot Growth Companies.
In the interview, Ron discusses the ways he financed his first store, and most importantly how he specifically noticed opportunity various times.
Shaich’s advice to entrepreneurs:
“It’s not about starting a business. It’s about solving problems. That’s what being an entrepreneur is. Find a problem that there’s a better way to solve. Get a vision of how it could work better, and stick with it.”
Ron Shaich Interview located HERE.
Similar to my earlier post on franchises, Panera can be franchised (yet at a hefty sum) for anyone fitting the criteria of “Net worth of $7.5 million / Liquid assets of $3 million”
Everyone has heard of Zuckerberg and Gates, but not as much is known about the wealthiest man in the world, Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim. In the links below I have included an excellent Wall Street Journal profile, and another link which has an extensive interview on Slim.
In the interview, Carlos explains his business model, reasons for success, and how to deal with mistakes that are outside one’s control.
Slim is primarily the Mexican telecommunications king, but also owns many various other businesses from hotels [Read more...]
This article by Worth.com in the link below is a MUST SEE! The top 100 most influential people in finance are listed with a description of their path to power. Also listed are some of the power moves they made to propel their influence. Profiles include Lloyd Blankfeind, Angela Merkel, Warren Buffet, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Rupert [...]
Wanted to share this very interesting article from MSN MONEY. It highlights the entry level positions that some of the wealthiest and most influential people had at the beginning of their careers. Interesting to notice that Buffett took a tax deduction during his teens on his bicycle for running his newspaper delivery business. Also, Bloomberg [...]
The fate of Borders Bookstore will be determined this Sunday, July 17th (the deadline for them to either find a new buyer or face liquidation). With this being the case I wanted to illustrate the rise and fall of this brand name and found this great article located HERE. Additional information below:
With everyone being in debt these days it must be nice to be the CEO of American Express. Ken Chenault’s post however is well deserved. Below is a great interview in which Chenault describes the ways he defines and teaches leadership, and also offers detailed guidelines on how to “stay liquid” in business. Towards the [...]
Thanks to the recession, one of the best investments I have made to date was buying GE stock at $8 a share, simply because I knew that Warren Buffett had bought 4 billion dollars worth of stock at approximately $12 a share. Always interested in seeking opportunities like this I was pleasantly surprised to witness [...]
Ever wondered what Richard Branson’s business life is like. Check out this behind the scenes look below.
Guest Lecture at Yale by Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone. This video is over 1 hour in length but very informational, and Stephen describes some of his previous experiences in the Private Equity business (as well as the basic principles of leverage). Stephen’s net worth is approximately $4 billion.
