Comment: We will all be entrepreneurs

Share

The latest news and information for entrepreneurs from across the web universe, brought to you by the Report on Small Business team. Follow us on Twitter @GlobeSmallBiz. Download our app here.

Entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, you say?

It's easier to list the handful of professions and industries that will remain unchanged in the next 20 years than it is to write down the ones that will be radically altered, says writer Paul D. Brown in this Forbes commentary.

The result, he adds, is that you — and anyone else who is unprepared — will be out of a job. Grim, right? So what's likely to happen? In his opinion, everyone will have to become an entrepreneur.

If you buy the argument, you need to be prepared. Mr. Brown doesn't offer up any suggestions, but the number of sources available on that topic are, of course, legion.

Mr. Brown is also compiling a list of industries that have recently died, or soon will (in his opinion). They include:

• Encyclopedias
• Formal wear
• Map makers
• Bricks-and-mortar movie rentals stores
• Personal computers
• Photo finishing
• Publishers

Not 100, but 105 women in investing

Award-winning filmmaker and founder of Pitch Conference, Melissa Pierce, points out in a post for Tech Cocktail that the lack of women in venture capital is a popular topic, but what you rarely read about are articles about women who are involved in the investing community. "I've always been of the opinion that shining a light on what you want will help you find it," she writes. "So instead of shining a light on the lack of women, I looked for women that were venture capitalists or angel investors." Ms. Pierce put together a list of 105 women in the investing world, arguing that "a list over 100 was substantial enough to share with the world."

Toronto taxi company launches app

Toronto-based Beck Taxi now offers a free iPhone app that it claims is the first of its kind in the city (a #TAXI app, already available, uses a smartphone's GPS co-ordinates to connect users by phone to a cab company's dispatch, at a cost between $1.25 and $2.00 a call). The Beck app also uses GPS and provides riders with landmarks where the cab drivers can meet them. According to a post on mobilesyrup.com, pick-ups can be scheduled up to 30 days in advance, and there's an option for inputting favourite locations. Beck sends status updates to confirm orders and indicates when taxis are estimated to arrive. While not mentioned by the company, the move could be seen as a reaction to the Toronto launch earlier this year by San Francisco-based Uber, which has an app designed to connect riders with limousine companies. Cab drivers in the United States have expressed concerns about the service cutting into their markets.

EVENTS AND KEY DATES

Startup Canada tour makes Ontario stops

Startup Canada showcases some of Toronto's top entrepreneurial talent this week as part of a two-week celebration of entrepreneurship in Ontario, and the third stop on its six-month National Tour that launched in March. The first stop in Toronto is to attend Discovery 12, Ontario Centres of Excellence's annual conference, which is bringing together nearly 2,600 industry professionals, innovators, investors, scientists, researchers and government representatives. And on Monday night, Startup Canada co-hosts a special event at the Centre for Social Innovation to explore and prioritize strategies for boosting social innovation and social enterprise in Canada. In addition to Toronto, Startup Canada will visit York Region, Waterloo and Windsor before moving on to New Brunswick at the end of May and heading west to the prairies in June.

America Means Business registration still free

America Means Business, a three-day event in New York that's all about how to become an entrepreneur, features educational, networking, and social elements around starting and growing a business. Sessions include how to finance and staff your business, how to develop your products and services, how to market them, and how to service your customers. Registration for all events at Metropolitan Pavilion, which take place June 13 to 15, are currently free if you register by May 25. Other sessions simultaneously taking place around the city may require separate registration.

EDITOR'S PICKS FROM REPORT ON SMALL BUSINESS

Contracts for the Pan-Am Games

The Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games may be three years away, but of the $700-million earmarked for operating expenses in the Games' budget, about $350-million in procurements will be up for grabs by companies, including small businesses, says Barbara Anderson, chief financial officer of the Games' organizing committee.

FROM THE ROSB ARCHIVES

Small-business Olympic glory

Five years before the Vancouver Winter Olympics, British Columbia's small business ministry launched the 2010 Commerce Centre, an office and website where it posted all Games-related business opportunities. The centre offered resources to assist entrepreneurs in the application process, and for building new skills and developing relationships.

Got a tip on news, events or other timely information related to the small-business community? E-mail us at smallbusiness@globeandmail.com

Join The Globe's Small Business LinkedIn group to network with other entrepreneurs and to discuss topical issues: http://linkd.in/jWWdzT

Our free weekly newsletter is now available. Every Friday a team of editors selects the top picks from our blog posts, features, multimedia and columnists, and delivers them to your inbox. If you have registered for The Globe's website, you can sign up here. Click on the Small Business Briefing checkbox and hit 'save changes.' If you need to register for the site, click here.