Two million employees service 20m transactions a week at over 8,000 stores worldwide in 15 countries which generating a $405 billion in sales.
Now, with the US retail giant's acquisition of broadband entertainment provider Vudu, the effect on delivery of digital video to the masses will be significant.
Read about this trend on my website in my 5th year anniversary column (or click here to go directly to the article).
Business and technology start-ups create jobs, but they need to be nurtured.
Thomas Friedman’s “Start-ups, Not Bailouts” piece this month hit home here in Silicon Valley where early-stage innovation teams are a way of life. Our technology incubator houses over 250 high-tech start-ups, working with 50 Venture Capital groups and another 50 global industry sponsors like Microsoft, eBay, and SingTel, inventing tomorrow’s economy.
The article’s opening “fun fact” is that nearly all new U.S. jobs are created by companies five years old or less. However, it is our experience that it takes a “nutrient rich” culture to accelerate newly formed companies who will in turn staff up their ranks.
Among our early occupants were high-tech stars PayPal, Logitech, and Google. The latter, which grew here from 6 to 60 employees, now has 10,000 people and a market cap around $175B. In the process, search technology has increased productivity for business, research, shopping and countless aspects of our daily work and home lives.
Although many say Silicon Valley has an unfair advantage with its exceptional investors, technology partners, and brainiac entrepreneurs, it is mainly about a frame of mind that doesn’t need to be limited to this area. We believe in the simple power of community.
The same basic ingredients of right resources, teamwork and ingenuity that made the US dominate business productivity in the 20th century will create the renaissance of start-ups to bootstrap the U.S. and the global economy to the next level in this 21st century.
Howard Greenfield
Executive-in-Residence, Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, California
Saeed Amidi
President and CEO, Plug and Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, California
