Business Insider is a great source of information. Earlier today I located an interesting article on the site that had summarized 33 startups that failed. The summaries include insight into the reasons each startup failed and includes a link to the full article if one exists.

To succeed in the future, we must learn from the past.

Calling all makers, inventors, and handymen! We have a a post today for you! I want to take the time to introduce a cool project that is in the works by the folks at ShopBot Tools Inc. out of Durham, NC.
I bring to you...HandiBot�! After watching some videos on how it works, I believe this could be a tool for the masses since most industries have gone to mobile application-based products. This project is currently being crowd-funded on Kickstarter. Last I checked, they were around $13,000 away from their $125,000 goal. That's rockin'!
Here I am going to list some of the things the HandiBot� team has initial ideas for the mobile-based apps for this wonderful contraption:

• Cutting varibale size holes in registered positions with pocketing, countersinking, etc.


• Will act as a small CNC mill capable of high precision such as PC boards and capable of working with various materials such as aluminum.


• With a diamond drag, you will be able to create precise etchings on glass and metal and also do small engravi…

Hopefully as an entrepreneur or as a team launching a venture your curiosity is at a high level. Curiosity helps make your venture an adventure, so keep it going. If finding something to learn is puzzling you, perhaps the list below will present a solution to you.

Some options:

• WealthLift - Cost: Free - This is a great place to learn about investing. You choose companies that will out perform or under perform other companies within the market. There are courses that teach different aspects of investing as well as pair it with a forum that has some great discussion and exchange of ideas. I personally use this service and find it to be interesting and thought provoking.
• Duolingo - Cost: Free - This is the best place in my opinion to learn another language. They offer quite a few to learn, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and English. You learn by typing in English and the other language you are learning. You can use your microphone to speak the words in the language you are learning and also tr…

Starting a venture usually means bootstrapping and stretching your dollars. Open source isn't just a great way to save money. It is also a great way to support others creations either by reporting bugs, developing plugins or donating to the creator for future enhancements and support.

Whether you are looking for programs to dabble in yourself or trying to find solutions for your designers and developers, these programs are high quality and will not disappoint.

Design:

• Gimp - This photo editing program is very similar to Adobe's Photoshop. Anyone who has worked with other photo editing programs should feel at home in a short amount of time. This program is pixel/raster based.
• Inkscape - This is a vector graphics based program similar to Adobe's Illustrator. This program is big on the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) format. This format has gained popularity with the rise of responsive web design and high resolution monitors.

Development:

• Notepad++ - This Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is strai…

Let's face the facts. Many of us never or rarely carry cash anymore. This is no different for clients and customers as well. Accepting mobile payments from credit cards opens up opportunities, even if it doesn't fit into the vision of your venture right now, it may in the future. You don't want to miss out on making money simply because the customer wanted to pay with an option you do not support. So where do you begin to find a solution to accepting mobile card payments? Right here.

There are several different companies summarized below. Full disclosure, I do not currently use any of the companies listed. I am also currently researching which provider would be the best fit for my needs. I would suggest you research these and other companies if necessary so you find the best fit for your venture.

Companies:

• Square - Cost: Per Swipe - $0/month 2.75%/swipe - or - "Monthly $275/month 0%/swipe** - The phone dongle is small and sleek. The user interface is clean and easy to use. Square also offers some other…