Episode description

http:/www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/ofb.s3.amazonaws.com/OFB63_TheTalkingStick.mp3

On this edition of OFB Brian, Tommy and Ken take a crowd sourced funded trip to Vegas, visit another innovative online retailer, and explore how collaboration works in Silicon Valley, but doesn’t work in Washington.

HOT POTATO NEWS:

Crowd sourced funding is still wide open because the SEC has not acted yet. But they will. CrowdTilt (another Kickstarter funding site) tapped their crowd while the getting was good. They got $62,000 in crowd funding for a killer private jet, limo laden New Year’s Eve trip and party in Vegas. Cynical, smart, or just too drunk to care. You decide.

http://www.businessinsider.com/crowdtilt-new-years-eve-party-2013-1

Hall and Madden make custom clothing for men. They saw in today’s Mad Men dress up era $1,000+ suits teamed up with off-the-rack ill fitting shirts. Another innovative online retailer is born. Order a custom fitted shirt online for $50. Over 1,000 paid subscribers in just the first few months.

http://www.businessinsider.com/hall-and-madden-business-story-2013-1

Tom Friedman in his latest NY Times column talks about collaboration. He highlights how collaboration works in the one of the most competitive arenas in the world -- Silicon Valley. He contrasts that with Washington DC where the word collaboration is considered treasonous. Friedman notes that if Congress were a start-up it would fail and the investors would be left with nothing. Why -- the inability of the partners to collaborate.

We dive deep on the power of collaboration, blasting Congress for the power grab and exploring why collaboration works and how it enables 1+1=4.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/friedman-collaborate-vs-collaborate.html?hp

Open for Business #63 – more great information than you could hope for in less than an hour.