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Why the Future of Tesla May Depend on Knowing What Happened to Billy Durant

Steve Blank

If you’re following Tesla, you might be interested to know that Sloan wasn’t the founder of GM. Where are the charitable foundations, business schools, and hospitals named after the founder of GM? The founder of what became General Motors was William (Billy) Durant. What Does GM Have to Do with Tesla And Elon Musk?

Michigan 268
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Innovation, Change and the Rest of Your Life

Steve Blank

I lived through the time when working in my first job in Ann Arbor Michigan we had to get out a map to find out that San Jose was not only in Puerto Rico but there was a city with that same name in California. The founders were simply wrong about their assumptions about customer needs. Founders Need to Run the Company Longer.

Restful 222
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Jason Returns to the 313 for Startup Grind Detroit on April 5th

Feld Thoughts

In case you don’t know about Jason, prior to co-founding Foundry Group, Jason was a co-founder of SRS Acquiom and a Managing Director and General Counsel for Mobius Venture Capital. Early in his career, Jason was a software engineer at Accenture. from the University of Michigan. Prior to this, Jason was an attorney with Cooley.

Detroit 74
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Women 2.0 Partners Google, Extends Founder Friday Events

YoungUpstarts

Both companies will jointly be investing in activities that foster innovation and supporting startups, beginning with Women 2.0 ‘s signature networking event Founder Friday. has held over 200 Founder Friday events in 30 global cities. To date, Women 2.0 “Google is excited to team up with Women 2.0

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Those Beautiful Nest Eggs

Lightspeed Venture Partners

I first met Tony Fadell, co-founder and CEO of Nest, in the summer of 1991. Tony was a fresh U of Michigan grad and part of a small team that worked on low-level software and hardware to develop prototypes of PDAs (the ancient predecessors of what is now an iPhone) that companies like Sony, Panasonic and Motorola would manufacture.

Cofounder 127
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In Silicon Valley, Founders Fight for Control

online.wsj.com

Andreessen Horowitz is telling entrepreneurs it prefers situations where the founders have controlling stakes, reckoning that theyll be better able to resist outside distraction and focus on making great products. One of its champions includes Jason Goldberg, the co-founder and CEO of online design retailer Fab.com Inc., Stock Quotes.

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Clusters, Class, Culture and Unfair Advantages

Steve Blank

Somehow I figured out how to apply to school in Michigan. Pre-infinite information on the Internet about colleges, I picked Michigan because I saw them play football on TV, but I ended up applying to the wrong school in Michigan – my first time around I ended up in Michigan State not the University of Michigan.

San Jose 173