Mind-Mapping Tools for College Students & Others

As a hardworking student, you have a lot to organize, including essays, exams, deadlines, and class schedules, not to mention your social and personal life – plus any part-time jobs you may have taken on. For help, see this list of mind-mapping tools that are designed to help you see your ideas more clearly, analyze and outline research papers, become more efficient when you study, and get inspired to be more creative in your work.

See also this post from 12manage for an explanation of mind-mapping.

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The New Rules for Rock Stars

"Here are the new rules to make it in the [music] business:

"The future is DIY. Learn how to use affordable tools, but remember... software won't solve all of your problems... create awareness... don't underestimate the power of giving away your music for free...

"Fans are the new record label. The business now all depends on the relationship between an artist and their fans, most importantly the uber fans, the ones who buy all the merchandise, go to all the shows, and spread the word about their favorite bands.

"The key to staying in touch with your fans is through e-mail... Have a sign-up sheet at every show. Have your audience text their e-mails to a road manager's cell at the end of every show and promise to personally stay in touch... Build an online community by blasting out webcasts, photoshoots, interviews, and even live streaming concerts. Engage with fans in a meaningful way, nothing forced or fake...

"Build a management team to take care of the tools, marketing, and technology. If you're just starting out, enlist a college music lover to build your brand. Sign any deal as long as it's short-term if it's going to get you noticed. Otherwise you're not going to be on the radar.

"Start local, start tribal... Connect with similar bands doing similar music and go on tour with them. Build your own scene and work to break through together..."

Read more in this walletpop.com article from which the preceding was quoted.

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Series AA Equity Financing Documents

"Y Combinator and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati are happy to announce the Series AA Equity Financing Documents. Their goal is to make angel funding rounds for startups easier for both sides.

"These documents were originally created for YC-funded startups to use when raising angel rounds. They seem to have worked well in trial runs so far, so we're open-sourcing them.

While they may not be suitable for all situations, the goal was to make the terms fairly neutral. So while we would of course advise both parties using these documents to have their lawyers look at them, they provide a starting point that we hope can be used in many situations without too many modifications.

"Needless to say, neither YC nor WSGR [nor I] assumes any responsibility for any consequence of using these documents.

Series AA Termsheet
Series AA Stock Purchase Agreement
Series AA Board Consent
Series AA Stockholder Consent
Series AA Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
Series AA Investors' Rights Agreement "

From this Y Combinator post: Series AA Equity Financing Documents

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Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship for College Students

"Becoming an entrepreneur can be one of the most rewarding decisions of your life. Understanding how to separate yourself from the rest of the rat race and put yourself in control of your own life is incredibly empowering. By choosing this path, you are giving yourself the ability to control your own destiny rather than simply choosing to work for someone else...

"You will not and cannot be a “Jack of All Trades” as an entrepreneur – you will need to focus on what you do best and hire, contract and outsource others to do those things that are not your forte. However, that does not dismiss your responsibility to have a well-rounded education and familiarity with various core business topics. You need to be able to effectively and intelligently communicate on those topics if for no other purpose than to properly evaluate those that you hire. If you don’t have the most basic understanding of accounting, how can you possibly search for the proper qualifications for a crucial and strategic business account for your new endeavor?

"The point of this article [How To Become a Great Entrepreneur - Important skills and classes for successful entrepreneurs] is to illustrate that an entrepreneur, while a specialist, must still be very well rounded in his or her education in order be able to see all sides of the issues in front of them. Successful entrepreneurs are able to effectively wear multiple hats and shift from role to role as necessary. They surely won’t be an expert in everything, but they know enough to surround themselves with great talent and know how to evaluate that talent. By leveraging the efforts of others, they can boost their own performance as well as free themselves up to pursue other endeavors as well.

"While not all may be cut out for the entrepreneurial lifestyle, for those that are, it can be extremely rewarding and provide freedom and flexibility far beyond the cubicle walls of any corporate job. It will, however, take discipline and a great deal of self-control in order to keep yourself on the right track and focused on the target. You will have to shuffle between a lot of different skill sets and responsibilities and using your college education to create a strong foundation is clearly your best bet for long term success."

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Bocce : Everything You Always Wanted to Know

My friend and classmate, Matt Flournoy and wife Joanne host the Annual Marietta Kiwanis Club Bocce Party at their home in Marietta, Georgia. Here are their rules and related instructional videos for all you bocce enthusiasts or curiousts out there.

Bocce Rules and Definitions/ Non Uniform Local Rules of Flournoy Bocce , and Bocce Instructional Videos by Joanne Flournoy (Joanne R. Flournoy) and Matt Flournoy (Matthew C. Flournoy) in Marietta Cobb County Georgia


Joanne Flournoy ( Joanne R. Flournoy)and Matt Flournoy ( Matthew C. Flournoy) have a lighted out door Bocce Ball Court in their back yard in Marietta Cobb County Georgia. The Bocce Court is 60 feet long and 12 feet wide. The surface is granite dust.

We recommend that you read the Bocce Rules and Definitions, and then watch the 21 short Bocce Instructional Videos linked below before you play. The 21 short Bocce Instructional videos average only 13 seconds in time. The total time of all 21 videos is only 265 seconds or 4.4 minutes.

21 Short Bocce Instructional Videos created by Joanne Flournoy ( Joanne R. Flournoy) and Matt Flournoy (Matthew C. Flournoy) on September 3, 2006 in Marietta Cobb County Georgia.
(Click on each to view):
1. Introduction to Bocce (18 seconds).
2. Bocce Court (11 seconds).
3. Bocce Balls (22 seconds).
4. Palino, the target ball (7 seconds).
5. Object of Bocce Ball (11 seconds).
6. Foot fault line (10 seconds).
7. Bowling the Palino (12 seconds).
8. Bowling the first Bocce Ball (9 seconds).
9. Bowling the second Bocce Ball (13 seconds).
10. In Team versus Out Team (17 seconds).
11. Bowling the third Bocce Ball (16 seconds).
12. Green Team is In and Red Team is Out (10 seconds).
13. Ok to hit the Palino with Bocce Balls (10 seconds).
14. Ok to hit Bocce Balls with other Bocce Balls (15 seconds).
15. Red Team is In and Green Team is Out (8 seconds).
16. One point frame scoring (20 seconds).
17. Two point frame scoring (13 seconds).
18. Three point frame scoring (9 seconds).
19. Four point frame scoring, the maximum points possible per frame (10 seconds).
20. Scoring after each frame (12 seconds).
21. Scoreboard, first team to score 11 points wins the Bocce game (12 seconds).

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What I Wish I Knew When I Was Twenty

Stanford Technology Ventures Program's Executive Director Tina Seelig shares rich insights in creative thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset. Her talk, based on her 2009 book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, cites numerous classroom successes of applied problem-solving and the lessons of failure. The Art of Teaching Entrepreneurship and Innovation

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Sample Board Meeting Minutes

This Brad Feld post provides a good template for a sample set of board meeting minutes following the wise lawyer's advice to keep it light, stating:

"I go to a lot of board meetings. As a result, I’ve reviewed a lot of board meeting minutes. In general, the philosophy among most VC-backed companies – promulgated by the law firms for these companies – is to keep the board minutes “light.” They should cover the substance of the meeting and have any specific votes, option grants, or board level issues documented, but they should not contain extensive details about the presentations giving in the board meeting.

"I regularly get asked for “sample board meeting minutes”, especially among newly funded companies that are just starting to have board meetings and might not have their outside counsel present at the meeting (although most outside counsel’s that are credible and used to working with early stage companies will attend board meetings at no charge – just ask as part of your initial interview process with the firm – it’s very useful to them to be there so they can stay up to speed on what is happening at the company.)"

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