Business News Roundup

James Patterson is making grants to 81 independent bookstores, and Left Bank Books is one of them (via St Louis Business Journal).


Do you speak Start Up? A glossary of terms, via Tech Crunch.


UP Global is hosting a Startup Weekend Education in January 2015 that will focus on fostering ideas to improve education in the St Louis region (via Tech Cocktail St Louis)


Interesting people doing interesting things in St. Louis - are you listening to the Strange House Podcast (a collaboration between Strange Donuts and Treehouse Networkshop) yet?

Book Review: Think Twice

Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition by Michael J. Mauboussin, 190 pages

Everybody makes hundreds of little decisions every day, and a lot of times everything pans out just fine, whether the decisions are good or bad. But sometimes there are big decisions, with major consequences. In Think Twice, Mauboussin urges us to look at these big decisions in ways that are against our natural instincts. Don't think that just because someone has been winning it's safe to bet on them winning again; nor is it necessarily a good idea to ditch a stock of a company that's performing poorly.

Unlike most business books, Mauboussin avoids offering up a formula of how to succeed. Instead, he focuses on critical thinking, often times illustrating his points with non-business situations, including sports and psychological studies. Occasionally, he veers a bit too far toward the academic, but in general, Mauboussin offers up an engaging read. Fans of Malcolm Gladwell (who is cited several times in this book) will appreciate this one.

The St Louis Business Ecosystem

There really are a ton of resources in St Louis if you're looking to start a business. Here's a terrific visualization of the St Louis community partners in the field of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and how they relate to immigrant entrepreneurs, used with permission from the St Louis Mosaic Project

Intellectual Property - What is it?

Intellectual property is often a mist, something that the non-attorney person frequently does not understand. So we ask ourselves, what exactly is intellectual property? After talking to several patent and trademark attorneys, and checking legal dictionaries, I discovered that an excellent definition of intellectual property can be found at the web site of the World Intellectual Property Organization.

According to World Intellectual Property Organization:

"Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

IP is protected in law by, for example, patents, copyright and trademarks, which enable people to earn recognition or financial benefit from what they invent or create. By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish."

Inventors know that only a handful of people know the chemical formula of the popular drink Coca-Cola. By keeping this formula a secret, much money can be saved. Attorneys are not needed. This secrecy of an invention is called a trade secret.

To learn more about intellectual property, take a look of the web site for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). 

Visit our Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC), which is located in the Central Library,  to learn more about free workshops offered throughout the year at our Central Library. Guest attorneys lecture at these workshops, thus, offering free legal advice. To see when workshops are offered, check the events link on the PTRC blog or phone our PTRC at (314) 539-0390.

Local Business News Roundup

Feds reveal another site in the running for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency - this time in Metro-East (via St Louis Business Journal)


Missouri Bill has been filed that could protect employee social media passwords from employers (via Columbia Tribune)


Samuel A Wickline, MD, selected to receive the Washington University Chancellors Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for his work with nanomedicine (via Washington University Newsroom)

Entrepreneurship and Incubators

Are you looking to start a business? Not sure of how to begin? A good place to start is the Science and Technology Room / Patent and Trademark Resource Center. In this Central Library room, entrepreneurs can discover several resources that are valuable.  The Handbook of Business Plans offers a twenty-five volume series of completed business plans. By checking the index of the last volume produced, you most likely can find the type of business you are keen to start. Find the volume, then go to it and discover a completed business plan. This is the most useful.

The Anatomy of a Business Plan is another helpful book for the entrepreneur. Inside you will discover the steps required to prepare a basic business plan.  An old-fashioned method of editing a previously written plan can help you get started.  The heading required to "sell" your idea is usually you 3-year and -year plan, your competitors, and your expenses and assets.  No doubt having your numbers in order before you approach a bank o a philanthropist will help to sell you idea and get start-up money.

Access to the Reference USA database is also found in the Science / Technology room, besides forty other reference computers found within Central Library.  This database should be used to learn who you competitors are. By putting in the zip codes of the neighborhood where you plan to have you new business, will help you learn not only company names of you competitors, bu also their sales figure, location, management names, and number of employees.

While you might already have you business as a start-up, you might need to find a few books on leadership, advertising, and marketing.  A Complete Guide to Google Adwords, Google+ for Business, Facebook Marketing, Pininterest Marketing,  andB2B Social Media Book are just a few books that you can to check out from the Science and Technology / Patent and Trademark Resource Center room.

If you are not certain what you are looking for, do not hesitate to give our Science / Technology staff a call at (314)539-0390. We will be happy to help you get started!

Local Business News

Local Startup Aisle411 is getting a national client with Toys R Us, by Brian Feldt (St Louis Business Journal)


NurseWise, a subsidiary of Centene Corporation, recently received a Gold Stevie Award for Women in Business (Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year: Internal Communications).


A conversation with Maxine Clark, founder of Build-A-Bear, by Edward Domain (Techli)


A personal reflection on protests in the South Grand Business District by Thomas Crone (St Louis Magazine)