Business Tips Highlights

In this video Sir Richard Branson outlines how his company has branched out into various industries on the strength of the Virgin brand.

Microsoft's Greg Sullivan talks to Jeremy Glaser about the firm's app-development platform and the impact of Google's direct-sales foray with Nexus One.

In Chapter 9 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, IndieGoGo co-founder and entrepreneur Slava Rubin notes the importance of aligning ambition and goals. Second, he looks for more than money with investors. With finding money getting easier, Rubin looks for investors who have contacts, expertise, and experience that can help the company improve and grow. Rubin is co-founder and CEO of IndieGoGo.com.

Don't let your best employees fall through the cracks. Learn how to keep them motivated and engaged, so they'll stick around.

Palm's Paul Cousineau on the increasing consumer adoption of smartphones, app development on the firm's platform, and carrier vs. unlocked phones.

In Chapter 2 of 12 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, IndieGoGo co-founder and entrepreneur Slava Rubin points to the growth of his company, IndieGoGo, and is now used in over 158 countries by 22,000 users. He notes how four films featured at South By Southwest 2011 were crowd financed on IndieGoGo and how media exposure, including Good Morning America, continues to spread the company's project crowdfunding message. Rubin is co-founder and CEO of IndieGoGo.com.

House of Air co-founder David Schaeffer says people thought he was crazy when he built a trampoline park in an old airplane hangar. They might be right. Learn all about the good, the bad and the ugly of unique business models.

During chocolate company Poco Dolce's first four years, owner Kathy Wiley did just about everything. She believes cold calls were crucial to her company's growth. After hiring staff, however, she had to make tough choices to preserve profit.

In Chapter 17 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, business school professor Ben Hallen, as an educator, considers himself a consultant to his students, helping them use tools and approaches, including network theory, case studies, self-reflection, and relationship building fundamentals, to engage and develop. Hallen is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepren

In Chapter 11 of 21 in her 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, entrepreneur Audrey Parker finds sharing risk and reward enables a team to be fully committed, determined, and focused on the task or initiative at hand. She notes that when going 95% of the way, she ends up there or at a lower level, whereas when she goes 100% she taps into new performance levels not yet seen. Parker co-founded CLEAResult, an energy management consulting firm.