The time has come..

To launch the website we've been working on for quite some time: http://www.aboutro.com/

It was a long but rewarding work - and we have learned a lot of interesting things along the way. It is our very first step towards online entrepreneurship, so we'll be very grateful for any kind of support people will offer us in the following months. The idea is to create a useful website that any traveler can consult whenever planning to visit places from Romania.

The work is far from over and I doubt we'll be able to say - anytime soon - that we've reached the end of it :)

We've just started and there are many useful features already in the works (English translation for example). So, expect some new updates on this matter.

The feedback received while still in Closed Beta was extremely useful, especially since the "testers" and their opinion came from various places on the planet - thank you Couchsurfing!

Also, some special thanks are in order to the entire team working on this project! ..and - why not  - to future members :)

Learn and Share - Weekly Sum Up.

Well well.., the previous week has been a busy one for me.
Because I had some medical issues, I couldn't go to work; but the time was used productively to learn some new stuff about the business environment.
I haven't yet reached the point where I can easily synthesize or create my own ideas, so we'll have to postpone this subject until my knowledge matures.

Still, there are a few basic things that can be shared at this point:
It becomes obvious from the first attempt to enter the business environment, that one needs to have (or to acquire) the followings:
- up to date information about trends, people needs and current implemented solutions;
- connectors: people that can easily introduce you to other people already activating in this medium;
- people skill and initiative in talking to others, proactive/positive/constructive attitude;
- reputation: this should be the first one on the list for an entrepreneur; but for those that are just starting, reputation is one of the major goals. This will help you to get closer to angel investors and VC.
- and...almost everyone says that it's prefferable to visit Silicon Valley :) ..before starting a serious online business.

Switching to other topics:
- There's a different approach to making presentations: http://prezi.com (maybe it's already old news for some, but I've just discovered it).
I played a bit and made my first presentation here: http://prezi.com/iokkjkwlwfwz/ (check other ones for some clear insights about the potential of this tool).
You control the animation with the arrows, and you can also zoom in with them - to show/see details.
It's quite refreshing after so many years with power point and slides.

- Picasa desktop application. At first, I found it annoyingly different than what I was used to, but different is good especially when it is customizable to some degree.
It's a great tool for organizing your pictures, easily uploading them to picasa web albums, making collages, adding tags, identifying and organizing by people inside the pictures (face recognition).

- Books for personal development.
This area is widely covered by many other sites, but a vast majority recommends books that have very similar topics or the same information iterated differently.
I have found an old book that breaks the rules and feeds you information rather than telling you what to do and how to act: "Think and grow rich" by Napoleon Hill.
I'm not praising books too easy, but this one..it is that good and different.