• Rules from the BABY’s Book on Becoming a Billionaire
  
  

  • Rule #289: Customer service is absolutely critical and is not easy to do well. It needs to be practiced 24x7 and makes all the difference in the world.

  • Rule #10: Negotiation Rules

    1. Negotiators don’t give reasons. They give concessions.

    2. Don’t be afraid to ask. Remember you don’t know what you don’t know.

    3. Nothing is ever wrong with saying "Make me an offer." And then shut up and let the other guy talk.

    4. A pleasant climate works better than a can of McLube.

    5. Identify the decision makers.

• Stepping up to the plate: Listen to four "fast" pitches at the San Diego Tech Coast Angels recent Quick Pitch competition and predict which businesses could be homeruns.

• Play your cards to win: In negotiating, watch for the bluff, be willing to discard, check their raise, and don’t confuse queens with deuces.

• Peachy service: Bad customer service is too often the norm, but Barbara shares how Apple’s sales and technical teams ensured her computer didn’t turn into a lemon.

• Patenting inventions or "inventing" patents? According to attorney Randy Broberg, the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling should boost technology innovation by making it harder to win lawsuits for infringement.

Randy Broberg, recently named one of the best transactional intellectual property attorneys by the San Diego Daily Transcript, is a partner at the law firm of Allen Matkins. His diverse clients have included representing General Atomics in a manufacturing agreement against a Korean company, representing tennis player Serena Williams to acquire the domain name, www.serenawilliams.com, and trademark representation of Directed Electronics which makes the Viper car alarms.

eMolecules is the leading open-access chemistry search engine. The company’s mission is to discover, curate and index all of the public chemical information in the world and make it available to the public for free.

FaceFX provides ubiquitous, easy-to-use, professional-quality photo enhancement. The FaceFX consumer web site will offer free enhancement for images suitable for on-line use and a premium service for subscribers.

Hadronex was formed to address the compelling and costly problems of septic sewer overflows by deploying a turn-key alarm and data logging solution.

Since 1986, Vektrex has applied state of the art technology to test and measurement applications in emerging markets including semiconductors, telecommunications and defense. The company provides standard products along with customized systems and has established key expertise with digital power conversion and instrument communication and control.