Nirvana in 3D

06/17/18 • 38 min

Additive manufacturing will forever shift the concept of supply and demand, moving businesses and consumers from a mindset of “best fit” to “my fit.” UPS’s Alan Amling and Fast Radius founder Rick Smith explain why 3D printing is nothing short of nirvana for businesses plagued by mounting warehouse inventories and profit-draining inefficiencies.They imagine a world where we can make whatever we want whenever we want it.

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Passion Alone Is Not Enough

Starting your own business is hard – no, it’s really hard.Just ask the millions of aspiring small business owners whose “big idea” never made headway in the real world. It’s not that these entrepreneurs didn’t care or work hard enough, argues Gene Marks, a columnist, author and small business owner who writes for The Washington Post, Forbes, Entrepreneur.com and other publications.It’s that they didn’t realize what it would really take to get their business off the ground and running.In the launch of Season Two of Longitudes Radio, Gene provides a checklist for anybody looking to start a small business (he learned these lessons the hard way) and dispels many of the romanticized myths about entrepreneurship.To be clear, passion is important, and failure is valuable – when channeled correctly. But you must also know whether there’s a market for your product and if you’re adding something of value to that marketplace, Gene says. And can you really make the investment in time and money to see your idea through? Do you know how to correctly gauge risk? Are you tapping into the right technologies?Gene answers these questions against the backdrop of National Small Business Week in the United States, an annual event designed to showcase the small businesses that create roughly two of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.He also assesses the landscape for small business today and explores how companies like UPS can help small business owners compete with more established players in their industries.And if you have business ideas, they’re probably better than failed concepts Gene highlights ... a flip-up toilet seat for men and crafts for turtles? Seriously?

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Richard Branson Dreams of a New Day for Transportation

Richard Branson jokes that he rarely says no to much of anything, which has earned him the nickname Doctor Yes among his peers. Perhaps that explains the ocean-spanning hot air balloon rides and kitesurfing across the English Channel – or as he calls it, his “insatiable interest in life.”The founder of the Virgin Group says such a mindset fueled his well-known success in the airline and music businesses, among other ventures, as well as his philanthropy around the world. It’s also the driving force as Virgin pushes the boundaries of space exploration and transportation here on Earth with technologies like the Hyperloop.But should business leaders embrace their own versions of Doctor Yes?To answer this question and more, Branson recently sat down with UPS Chief Information and Engineering Officer Juan Perez and Rimas Kapeskas, who managed UPS’s Strategic Enterprise Fund, the company’s venture capital unit.The conversation, recorded during Branson’s visit to UPS’s Global Headquarters, centers on how Branson puts innovative ideas into action, the importance of business leaders who really listen and technologies that could transform the movement of people – and packages – in an ever-shrinking world.Branson also explains why his life pursuits amount to the “one, long university education that I never had” and breaks down his recipe for a people-first company culture.Lastly, he answers the most important question of them all: What’s next?