Thoughts on Innovation

Ahlstrom Family Summer Startup Story #3.5 – Field of Dreams!

In 1989, Kevin Costner starred in a movie called Field of Dreams, where Costner was a farmer who heard voices that inspired him with a "crazy idea" to turn his cornfield into a baseball field. The voice said "if you build it they will come". In my book Nail It Then Scale It - For The [...]

Ahlstrom Family Summer Startup Story #3:  Solar Eclipse Camp 2017 Team Megan, Clark, Josh & Allyse

Neal’s early success with the Lemonade stand motivated the other kids to get going on their own startups. A comment from our friend Brian Bertha, sparked an idea to create a startup experience around the upcoming solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, 2017. The last time the US saw a coast-to-coast solar eclipse was 99 years [...]

Ahlstrom Family Startup Story # 2: World’s Best Lemonade

During the summer of 1972 I felt the need to make some money. The cash flow options available to a 9 year old in the 70’s were limited so I settled in on the idea of a lemonade stand. By the time my hyperactive imagination was done designing the ultimate lemonade stand, I was driven [...]

The Ahlstrom Family Summer Accelerator Series Begins: Startup Story #1

Ahlstrom Family Startup Story # 1: A few months before this summer started, we went as a family to our favorite Saturday breakfast place , The Egg and I, and I shared a thought with Jenny and our six children. I thought it would be fun if we spent our summer working on business ideas [...]

Thoughts on Innovation

I like solving problems. This site is dedicated to problems worth solving and creative thinking that drives new solutions - in short, disruptive innovation.