Braintree Founder Bryan Johnson is Launching a $100M Fund to Invest in Startups

Chicago companies in order to create repeat entrepreneurs who replenish the tech ecosystem. You've seen it with Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell at Lightbank, GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney, and Trunk Club c0-founder Brian Spaly, who have all used their success to keep the tech community thriving.

Braintree Founder Bryan Johnson, another one of Chicago's early tech successes, announced Monday that he's investing back into the tech ecosystem, and his plans are much grander than an investment here or there in the next hot digital startup. Johnson has launched a $100 million fund to find companies who are tackling big problems with truly innovative solutions.

The OS Fund is "dedicated to investing in inventors and scientists who aim to benefit humanity by developing quantum leap discoveries at the operating system, or OS, level," Johnson wrote in a Medium post.

Johnson is using his own capital for the OS Fund, which plans to invest in companies that, among other things, "redefine medical discovery and cure aging; recreate the biological toolset of our existence; become a multi-planetary species; reinvent global transportation infrastructure; enhance our minds; safely create advanced machine intelligence; and produce abundant clean energy."
Johnson, who led Braintree to a successful $800 million exit in 2013 when the company was bought by PayPal, has brought on Chicagoan Jeff Klunzinger as the OS Fund's managing director. Klunzinger was a founding member and CFO of West Family Investments.

Companies the OS Fund currently invests in include Human Longevity Inc. that's revolutionizing healthcare to increase lifespans, Matternet, which uses drones to deliver food and medicine to poor areas, and Vicarious, which is creating artificial intelligence software that's capable of the same kind of thinking and learning as mammals.


“I want to get a company from ‘crazy’ to ‘viable,'” Johnson said in an interview with Fortune. “With today’s technology, we can now create in days, weeks or months what previous generations couldn’t do in a lifetime. Where DaVinci could sketch, we can build. Yet, we don’t have sufficient resources and people pursuing these goals.”

Hot Low cost Startup Idea 2016

Catering

What is it? Providing and delivering food and drinks to the customer’s premises in return for a fee. This will usually be for corporate clients that need food for board meetings, events, training courses conferences etc. Private sector clients might include special occasion catering such as weddings, funerals, anniversaries and so on

What’s the appeal? It’s a chance to work more flexibly and independently than you would be able to in a restaurant or café and obviously to be the boss

What skills do I need? As well as being interested in catering you really need a background in food so you have a feel for the basics such as supply and costing. And high food safety standards are a must – you and all staff need at least basic food hygiene and food handlers awareness certificates

What does it cost? It’s possible to trade from home if your kitchen has been modified but you will need catering equipment including large fridge/freezer (£1000), commercial microwave (£900), vegetable preparation units (£1000) as well as trays, utensils, knives etc. To transport food you need to keep it less than 8°C which means you should be able to manage with insulated food containers for short journeys

What can I earn? Clients are charged by the head according to the type of food they require. A cold buffet might be anything from £6 to £10 a head rising to up to £20 for a more substantial fork buffet. Full meals might be £30 and upwards – depending on what’s involved

Any red tape? You must register with the local authority before starting to trade and be inspected by Environmental Health (for non-porous services and separate areas for hot/cold and raw/cooked food). With premises not previously used for catering, you need planning permission and must comply with numerous food safety regulations

Prospects for growth To grow the business you will need to go out and sell it. This means
advertising, good word of mouth and cold calling – there are a lot of small firms which will be competition to you

Tips for success If you lose a client that could simply be that they want to try someone new – this can happen. But make sure you know why and alter the menu regularly to guard against it

Pros A truly independent business, which can grow and grow with the assistance of favourable word of mouth recommendation

Cons Stringent rules and regulations must be observed at all times – you could be spot checked by environmental health at any time and potentially immediately closed down
Useful contacts Your Local Authority to register the business The Mobile and Outside Caterers

Association (MOCA) for advise and training courses http://www.moca.org.uk/
Ready to get started? Find out everything you need to know about how to start your own business here.

How to Create Business Model Canvas?

A 2 minute overview of the Business Model Canvas, a tool for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. This method from the bestselling management book Business Model Generation is applied in leading organizations and start-ups worldwide.

How to Set Up a Mobile and Virtual Office

Imagine the day when printers, desks, staplers, whiteboards, and even office walls don't exist. Wouldn't that be great?



Well we're almost there thankfully. Today, a laptop, or smartphone and an Internet connection are all we need.

Everything else can be done online. That's what I'm working on with my quest for virtual freedom.

I write extensively about this in The Suitcase Entrepreneur book, especially in Chapter 7 where I did my research to bring you the most valuable resources and online tools to run your business from anywhere.





When you set up a physical office, you probably ask yourself questions likes:

Do we need to get a landline?
How many phones should we install?
How much does new office furniture cost?
Do we need filing cabinets?

You can see your costs adding up before your eyes and it's scary, especially if you're not turning a profit yet.

As a virtual business owner with no office though, you save big time on your set up costs, especially when you use online tools that act as faxes and your local post office.

All your activities, meetings and projects can be virtual and you can set up systems to manage your business and team that can be accessed anywhere and anytime, transcending time zones and international borders.

So what tools do you really need? Well, you can look at a physical office and translate it into a virtual office pretty easily. Keep in mind too that with tools and a mobile office, less is always more.

In this video, you'll learn:

Which two services to use to make your business appear to have a landline phone connection
How to combat the issue of needing a mailing address and receiving/sending out physical mail
Which suite of tools to always use for ease and optimal integration with other tools
How to keep your receipts, documents, and business cards organized online
What tool is best to manage your entire accounting system
The easiest and fastest way to manage contracts with clients and partners

Tools mentioned:

Skype Personal Number
Google Voice
Google Everything — Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Apps -- emails, online shared documents, drafts, forms, and scheduling
Shoeboxed
Freshbooks
Hello Fax
OurDeal
PC2Paper
Earth Class Mail
Also, check out this article for more tips:


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From Homeless to Millionaire - 3 Success Lessons from Chris Gardner

Today we're going to look at how a high school dropout and homeless man would go from living on the streets and bathing in public restrooms to building one of the most successful stock brokerage firms in America. This is the story of multi-millionaire Chris Gardner and the top 3 lessons that you can learn from his success.

"Find something that you love. Something that gets you so excited you can't wait to get out of bed in the morning. Forget about money. Be happy." - Chris Gardner




Chris Gardner (born on February 9, 1954) was the only son of 12 children that was being raised by a single mother. His single mother was trained as a schoolteacher, but wound up taking on numerous part-time jobs in order to provide for her family. Gardner and his siblings were transferred back and forth between relatives and foster homes. His mother had been imprisoned twice; once, for allegedly receiving welfare while working, and the second time for attempting to burn down the house of Gardner's abusive stepfather. Gardner's prospects were narrow coming from an environment such as this.

While on a sales call, Gardner met a man who was impeccably dressed and drove a red Ferrari. As fate would have it, the driver of the Ferrari was a stockbroker. When Gardner heard that the man was earning over $80,000 a month, he decided that his future lied in investments. He had no education, no experience, and no connections, but that was not about to stop Gardner from achieving his new dream. Once he had decided to become a stockbroker, Gardner immediately set out to find an investment firm that would give him a chance. In one brokerage firm, Gardner finally found a manager of a training program who was willing to give him a shot. However, when Gardner showed up for his first day of work, the manager who had hired him had been fired and no one else had ever heard of Gardner or his new position. He left with his hopes disappointed.

Action Item #1: Get Excited About Something

Action Item #2: Be the Best You Can Be

Action Item #3: Remember Your Roots

Quotes

"Baby steps count, as long as you are going forward. You add them all up, and one day you look back and you'll be surprised at where you might get to."

"That's when I learned in this business, it's not a black thing, it's not a white thing, it's a green thing. If you can make me money, I don't care what color you are. So that's how I deal with that to this day."

"I was Chris Gardner, father of a son who deserved better than what my daddy could do for me, son of Betty Jean Gardner who said that if I wanted to win I could win."


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Meet the man, a fraudster who owns 150 cars, 3,078 bank accounts, 700 acres land and much more

In what could be termed as the biggest revelation on an Indian businessman who has been named as a fraudster. As per an Economic Times report, Rose Valley Group's CMD Gautam Kundu has a total of 700 acres land spread across 12 states, 23 hotels, 150-odd cars, including a dozen imported luxury vehicles, 900 branch offices and 3,078 bank accounts.

The businesses are spread across the nation; and include states like West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan, MP, Tripura, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

The directorate, however, has started listing the properties and assets but investigators have alleged possibility of more possessions. They claim that the quantum of land Kundu owns could be over 1,000 acres.

The group, in the past few years, has gained a wealth of Rs 15,400 crore- six times higher than what the redundant Saradha group collected from people in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.

The investigating agency, ED which is now looking into the complaints against the group, has accessed the software and bank data of the company. The bank details of the firm revealed that the group returned only Rs 900 crore to its investors on maturity. Yogesh Gupta, special director, ED, east confirmed to ET that it has filed a charge sheet in the matter.

The list of Kundu's property, prepared by the investigating company claims that Kundu owns 15 acres in Assam, 10 acres in Madhya Pradesh, 110 acres in Tripura and around 100 acres in West Bengal. Also, it says that he invested in East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Burdwan, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri , Howrah, Bankura, North and South 24 Paraganas districts.

In East Midnapore alone, he has 12 plots. The group had also claimed to have bought property in Kolkata, Port Blair, North Lakhimpur, Ranchi, Durgapur, Siliguri, Mondarmani, Lataguri, Falakata, Midnapore, Tarapith, Old Digha, Silchar, Haridwar, Goa, Gaya, Jaipur and New Delhi.

Not just this, but some 23-odd hotels across the country, which includes luxury properties in Jaipur, Jalpaiguri, East Midnapore, Siliguri and Kolkata, were also listed. It has seven premium residencies at the northern fringes of Kolkata; a 6,000 square feet villa in Ranchi and a gold and diamond jewellery mall. The group has 900 branches spread over West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.

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How to make one million dollars?

Forget the myths­­—and other misinformation—about what it takes to succeed in the quest for a seven-figure net worth. Let this guide help keep you on the road to real wealth.

Look around. The stock market is back to setting all-time highs. The housing market is percolating again, at least in most parts of the country. The economy is picking up, while unemployment is falling. That means raises and outside job offers can’t be too far behind. And small-­business owners are about as confident as they’ve been in six years, with plans to hire and expand.

Not surprisingly, with all this wind at their backs, millionaire households are on the rise. In fact, for the first time ever, the number of seven-figure households in the U.S. is approaching the 10 million mark, according to the Spectrem Group.

While the financial barriers to joining this exclusive club have been coming down lately, though, the psychological hurdles persist. You know the ones we’re talking about. Like the widely held myth—­perpetuated by the personal financial industrial complex—that if you didn’t start saving aggressively right after college, you’re now behind the eight ball.
Or that you’ll have to learn to invest like the best pros to make your portfolio grow fast enough. Or that the only way to create a million-dollar business is to come up with a million-dollar idea.

In reality, you don’t have to invent the next Twitter or invest like Warren Buffett. Those skills are required only if you want to become a billionaire.

As hard as it is to accumulate $1 million by the time you retire, there are plenty of steps you can take—by saving, investing, owning real estate, managing your career, or starting a business—to help you get there. Some of those moves, which are laid out on the pages that follow, simply require time, while others require planning. The biggest myth, however, is that the work is too hard and the sacrifices too big to make it worth reaching for your goals.