Curious Rami

Today I was very disappointed to learn that my evil plan to get rid of over 1,000 pennies is going to fail miserably. Over the past few years, I collected over 1,000 pennies. My plan was to take all the pennies and buy something with them and enjoy the look on the cashier’s face while attempting to count the pennies. I thought that cashiers are obligated to take all the pennies. Well, I was wrong, according to a CBC article titled Save the penny or leave the penny?

In Canada, the Currency Act says, “A payment in coins … is a legal tender for no more than … twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.” No one is legally obligated to accept more than 25 pennies at a time.

Here you can find the Royal Canadian Mint Act and the Currency Act and the limits on all coins.

There goes my evil plan

I look forward to a Canada without the penny.

What do you think?

In last week’s financial management class we discussed funding options for new startups.

There are five funding options for new startups: family and friends, angel investors, venture capitalists, private placements, and public debt equity.

For a web startup, the first three options are the most common ones. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of the first three funding options:

Family and friends:

Advantages:
- You get to run your own company without any interference into the management of the company.
- You don’t have to give up equity in the company.
- Cheaper to setup, if you choose to structure the company as a proprietorship.

Disadvantages:
- You get less than $50,000 to invest.
- Investing with your family’s and friends’ money carries an emotional burden. To get around this, make sure you invest as much money as they can afford to lose. It is ok to invest your parents’ vacation money. However, it is not ok to invest your grandmother’s savings.

Angel investors:

Advantages:
- You get between $50,000 and $150,000 to invest.
- You get to run your own company without any interference into the management of the company.
- Angel investors are usually a good resource for help and guidance.
- Using angel investors’ money is usually less emotional.

Disadvantages:
- You have to give up some equity in the company (usually less than 10%).
- You have to incorporate the company and invest in legal and accounting services.

Venture capitalist:

Advantages:
- You get over $150,000 to invest.
- Using venture capitalists’ money is usually less emotional.
- You get legal and accounting assistance.
- You get management assistance.

Disadvantages:
- Venture capitalists are very much involved in the management, vision and operation of your company.
- You have to give up some equity in the company (usually more than 10%).

Did I miss anything? Let me know what you think.

Since I started my MBA, I have been working toward improving my project management skills. I always take notes on what works and what doesn’t. I ended up compiling a list of high level tips (in a presentation format) covering:

1. Project’s Time
2. Project’s Cost
3. Project’s Scope
4. Requirements Change
5. Risks
6. Design Stage
7. Documentation
8. Communication
9. Productivity
10. Team Work
11. Asking For Help
12. Developer Testing
13. Lessons Learned

Download the presentation and leave a comment with your tips and suggestions. Project Management Tips For Developers

I started studying for my final exam in Business Economics. The professor recommended using investopedia.com to look up definitions. It is a great reference, and it goes next to dictionary.com on my links bar. Here are some examples:

Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns:

A law of economics stating that, as the number of new employees increases, the marginal product of an additional employee will at some point be less than the marginal product of the previous employee.

Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility:

A law of economics stating that as a person increases consumption of a product - while keeping consumption of other products constant - there is a decline in the marginal utility that person derives from consuming each additional unit of that product.

If you have other business references, leave a comment with a link.

Here is an interesting interview with Milton Friedman (died on November 16, 2006). In the interview, Friedman argues against government control in many areas including:

• Minimum wage
• Social security
• Welfare
• Public health, housing and education
• Rent control
• etc…

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6813529239937418232

More on Friedman can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman