Got a great idea?

There's never been a better time to turn it into a great company. Here's a 16-step guide to help you do it right and build a bulletproof startup.

Phase One Establish a Company
Step 1. Stress-Test Your Big Idea
Step 2. Build Your Founding Team
Step 3. Draft a Business Plan
Step 4. Play the Name Game
Step 5. Incorporate Thyself

Phase Two Prototype the Product
Step 1. Stake Out Intellectual Property
Step 2. Create an Advisory Board
Step 3. Build Your Prototype

Phase Three Develop the Beta Product
Step 1. Start Staffing Up
Step 2. Assemble Your Back Office
Step 3. Launch Your Beta Test
Step 4. Revisit the Business Plan

Phase Four Launch the Product
Step 1. Build a New Board of Directors
Step 2. Develop the Sales and Marketing Plan
Step 3. Open an Office
Step 4. Hit the Market

Read the entire article by Michael V. Copeland and Om Malik on Cnn Money.

America's Money Crisis

CNN has a nice bailout scorecard on the economy rescue: Adding up the dollars

The government is engaged in an unprecedented - and expensive - effort to rescue the economy. Here are all the elements of the bailouts.

Click here to read about it.


Also, read about 'The crisis': A timeline
A shocking series of events that forever changed the financial markets.

Innovate

Recently came across 'Innocentive' covered in NYTimes.

InnoCentive is an online open innovation marketplace - a "problem solving" web site - that rewards smart people for good ideas. Companies and organizations (seekers) post problems (challenges) that they are unable to solve within their organization to people all over the world (solvers) who win cash prizes for resolving them. It is free to join and if your solution is chosen - you win. Awards range from $5,000 to $1,000,000.

You can use your knowledge and expertise to make a real difference and get paid for solving these problems too. Considering the vast pool of brilliant and creative people with varied expertise available to passionately solve real life problems in the world the success rate is bound to be good. I heard in the Business Week podcast that 40% of the problems are solved which is an exceptional number for the cost and resources.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican nominee for president, has proposed that the government offer $300 million to whoever invents a battery compact enough, powerful enough and cheap enough to replace fossil fuels. (something similar to Innocentive)

To see the details of available Challenges and register with InnoCentive click here:
Join Innocentive

If you have the world's brightest minds solving your problem what more do you want?
Concepts like these will definitely help the world become a better place for all of us to live.

A Two-part Rule for Naming Your Startup

Use a compound name, with 2 components: one word that relates to the product and a second word that represents a metaphorical adjective that evokes the characteristic of the company's product. Some examples, PayPal, IronPort or Brightmail.


Read more about it here.

Talk about Compound Interest

"During the 20th century, the Dow advanced from 66 to 11,497. This gain, though it appears huge, shrinks to 5.3% when compounded annually ... For investors to merely match that 5.3% market-value gain, the Dow--recently below 13,000--would need to close at about 2,000,000 on Dec. 31, 2099." - Warren Buffet

Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world

The son of a Mexico City shopkeeper has built a staggering $59 billion fortune. Fortune's Stephanie Mehta tells the inside story of how he made it to the top.

Click here to read the story

Electric Orange

I am personally a loyal customer and a strong advocate of ING Direct and hence when I came across this today and thought of posting it here as well. The account seems to be a mix between the ING savings account and the regular checking account. Sounds good to me ! Click here to go to ING Direct.

Here is the low down on the same:

America's first all–electronic, paperless checking account is going to change the way you do your banking. Earn a great rate and get great features like online Free Bill Pay, easy access to cash, an Electric Orange MasterCard® debit card and more – Electric Orange provides the access and convenience of checking with the earning power of savings.

Make money while managing your money.
With Electric Orange, you'll earn high interest on all balances.

Electric Orange Balance	Interest Rate	APY	Effective Date
$0-$49,999.99	2.96%	3.00%	11/29/2006
$50,000.00-$99,999.99	4.94%	5.05%	11/29/2006
$100,000.00 or more	5.18%	5.30%	11/29/2006

For example, if your balance is $55,000, you earn a great 5.05% APY on the entire balance.

MasterCard® Debit Card convenience.
With your Electric Orange MasterCard® Debit Card you can make secure purchases anywhere MasterCard® is accepted – sign the receipt or enter your Card PIN and go.

Free ATM access at more than 32,000 ATMs nationwide.
Make free cash withdrawals at ATM locations in all 50 states through the Allpoint™ Network – America's largest Surcharge–Free ATM Network.

Send money securely for free with Electric Checks.
With Electric Orange, you can send money to an individual's bank account with Electric Checks for free. Simply enter the person's information, the details of the payment, and an email will be sent to the recipient. The person can click on the link within the email to go to a secure page to enter their account information and the money is transferred!

Automatic protection with your Overdraft Line of Credit.
Say goodbye to excessive NSF fees charged by other banks. When you open your Electric Orange, you'll automatically get an Overdraft Line of Credit that's connected right to your Electric Orange and is accessed anytime your balance goes below $0.00. There's no fee to use the line of credit – you'll just pay a competitive interest rate on the money you need to borrow.

Safe, Secure and Smart.
You can rest easy knowing the money in your Electric Orange is FDIC-insured . It's also protected by our unique and innovative PIN Guard PIN entry process. Plus, you can set up secure Email Notifications to tell you if a card transaction is over a certain amount, or if your balance drops below a certain level.