A while ago we posted the top films for entrepreneurs, we continue today by talking about those TV shows that entrepreneurs should watch.

Aside from general entertainment, they also offer learning value to the up and coming entrepreneur, in no order of priority here they are, and of course should you have any recommendations please let us know.

Reality TV

Dragon’s Den – BBC -  is a series of reality television programs featuring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas in order to secure investment finance from a panel of venture capitalists. In the U.S. this show is called Shark Tank.

American Inventor – ABC – s a reality television series based on a competition to be named America’s best inventor. It was conceived by UK entrepreneur Peter Jones. It was organized as a competition between the various Inventors resulting in one overall winner.

Tycoon – ITV – the show searched for entrepreneurs with ideas that he helped turn into profit-making companies. The winner was chosen by the public.

Shows

While most shows don’t focus strictly on the entrepreneurial lives of their characters, some are definitely more focused on the subject than others.

How to make it in America – HBO –  follows two enterprising twenty-somethings hustling their way through New York City’s fashion scene, determined to achieve their version of the American Dream.

Arrested Development – FOX – While the show focuses on the Bluth family and may oftentimes be seen as simply relating to them, there are a number of underlying business themes that are relevant towards entrepreneurship, or more appropriately “what not to do in business”.

The Kit Curran Radio Show – ITV – Kit Curran does pretty much anything to make some cash, especially in season 2 where the viewer can see many of his entrepreneurial ventures typically fail.

Mad Men – AMC – While Mad Men focuses on the advertising industry of the 1960’s in New York, the new season is gearing up to be very entrepreneurship focused with the entire crew having decided to start their own agency.

Think anything else belongs here? Let us know.

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you’re a Mac or a PC, the truth is that Steve Jobs is a visionary and widely recognized innovator, and in this edition of the Video Series, we present you with the 2005 Stanford University commencement speech by Steve Jobs.

But aside from just the CEO of Apple talking about OS X, or the iPhone, he talks about his life, and what made him the entrepreneur and innovator he is today.

This video comes from the Stanford GSB, in which  a panel of seasoned entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, board members and other professionals discuss the common pitfalls most new entrepreneurs encounter when building their business.

This video is a bit different than others, when discussing learning and failure, in that this video focuses on learning from success other than failure, while having one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel may be great, so is taking the best practices and learning from them. We can after all learn not only from the mistakes of others, but also their successes.

Today’s video comes from the greater talent network, where Seth Godin, serial entrepreneur behind such businesses as Squidoo, Change This, Yoyodine and others, and author discusses what can effectively be called the concept of scalability in business, especially in terms of product advertising and marketing.

Please note that, we’ve provided with you the longer version of the video, the one that doesn’t cut out 1/2 way after eight minutes.

The Wall Street Journal claimed in 2009 that it was a dire time for the biotech industry. New firms had little cash, and the outlook was grim indeed, then come January 2010 and we see a report indicating that the industry raised a record breaking $55.8 bn, yes billion, despite unfriendly capital markets. Why, we’ll cover that later on today but for now, we’d like to introduce you to the Invisible Revolution of Biotechnology.

It’s no big surprise that what you tend to see on a daily basis in the realm of startup blogs, sites and otherwise material focuses on the mobile / the web / and new tech, this is simply due to the fact that these types of products are the most readily accessible by the consumer and therefore have the most mass media appeal.

Notwithstanding this invisible technological revolution is taking place at the same time as the ordinary tech one we see, hear about feel and touch on a daily basis; yet we deal with the invisible as well, where it affects us in ways unseen, it makes our lives better, makes us live longer, and helps not only us, but the environment.

This is Biotechnology. It’s unlike most anything else, not only because it’s “under the hood” of the media spotlight, nor because it can be anything from a geno-engineered microbe to a new form of high ethanol producing crops. It’s in its business model. You see, the web startup, or the software company can get a product to the shelf fairly quickly, with the web, if you have a good idea and some chips time to market can be as little as a few months if that, with biotech however, product development can take years, and oftentimes it will be a decade or more before the firm sees its first customer.

The biotech startup model is a complexly woven web which more than deserves its own analysis, and at the same time, and from the point of view of startup aficionados as ourselves it’s something breathtakingly beautiful.

So in the event you’re familiar with the industry, have a watch and enjoy, and if not, then welcome to the world which is Biotechnology. And a big thanks to the people at Europa Bio for putting this video together.

Another video this week, this one is from a “did you know” series and talks about the currently somewhat exponential growth in the way that technology is augmenting communication and how the world just keeps on getting smaller. It’s quite interesting and cool to see the way that our world and our species is evolving, and how we’re all working in commonality towards “something”. And notwithstanding, just think about your lifetime, and how much has changes since you were a kid, and where we’ll be in 20-30-50-100 years.

This video comes from the May 18, 2005 presentation by Jeff Hawkins for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program Entrepreneurship Corner in the School of Engineering at Stanford University.

Jeff Hawkins is the founder of Palm Co. and in this video he speaks about having fun, keeping your eye on your goals, prioritizing and work life balance, and dealing with those little crises that happen all too often to entrepreneurs.

In all it’s a great and quick video that we believe everyone should see as it gives some really good insights.

In any case, enjoy.

How do you change the world? Through Entrepreneurship

Oftentimes when we think of entrepreneurship we think only of what’s coming out of Silicon Valley, we look at the new Spotify, or another product that pushes the boundaries of technology. However, innovation is not only applicable to the web, or technology but to anything, it’s after all taking something and making it better.

That’s why in this video series, we’re looking at social entrepreneurship, a movement within the Entreprenruship community that focuses on social change and making this world a better place.

The video we’re about to put up is by the Skoll Foundation, and talks about Muhammad Yunus who founded the Grameen Bank and in 2006 won the Nobel peace prize, as well as other social entrepreneurs who are tackling education, health care, clean water, the environment.

As entrepreneurs we’re here to make the world a better place, and no other area needs as much innovation as social causes.

We are currently living in some of the if not the most exciting times of humanity. In comparison with previous decades wars are fewer, globalization is increasing communication among all off us us irrelevant of where we are living. Technology is encroaching into, or has already encroached into every tiny little aspect of our lives, sometimes we forget about it, it’s natural we’re living, but for many of us in our 30’s and older, welcome to the future. Did you imagine that we’d have iPhones, Blackberrys, eBook Readers etc… by 2010? I for one always thought we’d have hover boards by now, but aside from my disappointment, it seems that Back to the Future II wasn’t factually accurate.

This video shows how the world is changing and where we’re heading, and how technology is changing the face of our planet.

The More you know 4.0 by Xplane

What do you think? Let us know.

“As entrepreneurs we strive to make the world a better place, we drive innovation, and we lead, though sometimes we haven’t a clue as to where we’re going” so said the entrepreneur.

Today’s video series is about leadership, and how it affects the world, it’s more a think piece than anything else, and we hope you’ll very much like it. We did, and it’s one of our favorite video series so far.

However, as much as we would like to take credit for such an absolutely amazing video we cannot, it comes from the good people at XPLANE a company that specializes in visual communication, and with clients such as the Economist, BASF, UNICEF, Vodafone, etc…, you know there’s something to them.

This video however, comes from a more academic background and was put together in collaboration with Nitin Nohria and Amanda Pepper of Harvard Business School’s Leadership Initiative in order to get people talking about leadership, and what is specifically interesting to us, and the wider entrepreneurship community out there is that the majority of leaders presented in the video were / are entreprenerus.

We as entrepreneurs work every day, to change and make the world a better place, we do this because we see possibilities, and because we love it and have an undying passion for it, and if you do it just for the money, I’ll tell you now, save your breath, you’ll fail. You have to enjoy it.

And with that ladies and gentlemen of the wider internets entrepreneurial and otherwise community, we at f3fundit.com present you with Imagine Leadership

BEFORE YOU SKIP AWAY – THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING.

• Am I a leader? And was I born this way or made? What are my strengths, weaknesses?
• Does an entrepreneur have to be a leader, or a leader an entrepreneur?
• What is the defining difference between a leader and a manager? After all managers can start companies can’t they?

We’d love to hear your thoughts?