Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google and Hewlett Packard all started in one.  The garage is a uniquely American icon, and metaphor – and it has happened too many times to ignore. Some of my earliest experiences in design, innovation, materials and fabrication occurred in the family garage under the mentorship of my father and uncles.  Between them, they [...]

The funding model of our roads and other transit infrastructure is broken — what happens now? Background: An unexpected side-effect of increased fuel efficiency and fewer miles driven in personal vehicles is that government is collecting (much!) less fuel tax revenue — withering the coffers at state and federal levels. This means that our government [...]

Last week we talked about how large, medium & small firms differed in their challenges and approaches to innovation.  This week I want to give you four key elements that must be present for success – regardless of what size firm you are in. 1) Line of Sight In his book Great by Choice, Jim [...]

Finding funding is supposed to be a huge challenge for startup ventures.  Entire courses are taught on the subject, and entrepreneurs are taught to believe that they need to impress a venture capitalist or angel investor to have a chance at getting their idea off the ground. But I was just in Chicago with members [...]