Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Purpose

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You may have seen a mention somewhere about the nearly 1,300-page PowerPoint presentation that entrepreneur Ryan Allis put together.

I’ve considered myself an entrepreneur ever since I was a teenager, although the only “real” business I started (and sold……..) was Prophet Financial, back in early 2005. Slope of Hope is sort of a business (revenue, profits, tax returns, and all that stuff) but, let’s face it – – Slope is just me – – so it’s not really a “business”, although it does keep bread on the table.

Anyway, I’m skimming this giant presentation, and although a good portion of it consists of obvious notions and values, there are a few gems here and there. I like this slide in particular: (more…)

Casual, Unofficial East Coast Slopefest

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Slopers and Sloperettes, Mrs. Ig and I would like to cordially invite any and all interested friends to come to Carolina Beach, North Carolina, on Friday, October 10, and/or Saturday, October 11. We have a special guest visiting that week all the way from Denver, Colorado… none other than Slope’s very own ‘The Dude’.

Many of you old-timers know Dude, as he’s a veteran of our little community, and we figured we’d open up our recently acquired vacation home to any Slopers who wish to take a mini-vacation and meet other members of our virtual family while he’s visiting the east coast.  And it’s just a good excuse to have a friendly gathering.

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A Decade of Public Google

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Today marks the 10th anniversary of Google’s initial public offering. I kept the newspaper from that day, the San Jose Mercury News, and I distinctly remember Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (of all people…….) loudly proclaming how overpriced Google was. Anyway…….

+ The company has increased over ten-fold in value since the IPO;
+ The stock has never been below its IPO price;
+ There are 52,000 workers at Google now, a twenty-fold increase from the IPO;
+ The firm has gobbled up over 250 smaller companies over the past decade;
+ Only two companies on thet planet – Apple and Exxon – are worth more

Congratulations, Googlers!

0819-goog