Being a contractor and being an entrepreneur may seem like diverse career choices.

But Brian Sharwood says they have a common thread. “I love building and fixing things, whether it be houses or companies.” It was while renovating his house that he came across Homestars, a startup where he’s now President.

David Barrett is the founder of Expensify, a company that helps people create expense reports that don’t suck. The tool allows users to import expenses and receipts from their credit card and submit PDF expense reports via e-mail. Launched in May 2008, the company recently came out of beta and debuted new tools including international currency support.

Lymbix is a deeper level of sentiment analysis accomplished by a connotative database. The New Brunswick-based company, founded by Matt Eldridge in 2009 and launched in early 2010, specializes in products relating to the emotion of text-based communications. The database powers products like TweetTone and ToneCheck.

Toronto-based Ecobee provides energy conservation solutions, including the Smart Thermostat. This Internet-enabled product allows homeowners to control their thermostat remotely. Ecobee also recently released the Energy Management System commercial solution. The company received $6.73 million in venture capital funding in January 2010.

reQall is a voice-enabled memory aid that integrates your mobile phone, e-mail, text messaging and IM into an organizer, reminder system and productivity assistant. It offers contextually relevant date- and time-based memory assistance in both standard (free) and Pro versions. The company was founded by Rao Machiraju and Sunil Vemuri and launched at DEMO 07.

Being in a band made my business rock

This VentureBeat article is an interview with Andrew Mason, founder of the popular collective buying site Groupon. Mason talks about what being a musician taught him about running a $1 billion-plus company, and how he wants to make Groupon the best source of customers for small businesses. Learn More

Why is business writing so awful?

37signals founder Jason Fried writes in his Get Real column in Inc. magazine about how business writing is banal and filled with jargon. He gives three examples of companies with fun, fresh business writing and shows how it sets them apart from the crowd. Learn More

From zero to a million users

Xobni founder Adam Smith posts the presentation he gave with Dropbox founder Drew Houston at the Web 2.0 Expo. It includes lessons learned while building their member bases, including making something people want and having a simple landing page. Learn More

Where do you find good ideas?

This post on Seth Godin’s blog asks where you find good ideas. He says they come out of misdirection and random collisions, not sitting in a meeting room. He urges people to have fun when brainstorming for ideas. Learn More

Startup CEOs: Delegate responsibility don’t outsource it

Entrepreneur Ben Yoskovitz writes on his Instigator blog about why startup CEOs should hand over non-core work like accounting to others, but draws a clear line between outsourcing work and delegating it. After all, he says, you’re ultimately responsible for the financials. Learn More

Getting the most out of your advisory board

Audrey Watters writes on ReadWriteWeb’s startup channel about why it’s important to have a carefully selected group of people you can turn to for advice. She offers pointers on how to choose an Advisory Board – who to ask, when to seek advice, and how to follow up. Learn More

	Murray Jones
		@murray
		talkmi.com

Murray is a New York-based entrepreneur. He is the founder of Talkmi.com, which offers real-time health support.

	Christie Webb
		@webb
		w-eleven.com

Christie is the co-founder of W-Eleven Strategic Partners, a company that consults with the mining industry. She has over 20 years of experience in the mineral exploration industry.