I just announced the launch of the Carnival of Entrepreneurship a week ago, and the response has already been fantastic. I received some excellent and varied submissions for the first edition, and already have several people signed up to host future editions.

So let's get right to it:

• Adventures in Money Making offers a tips on what to look at when buying a dry cleaner business. Some of the advice is specific to the dry-cleaning business, but much of it is just good, sound advice if you're considering buying any type of business, like making sure the seller doesn't own another similar business that you're going to be competing against.
• Matt Johnston at Going to the Mat takes a look at the State of the Union address and small business health care benefits. One of the principle reasons so many people in the U.S. don't have healthcare is because so many are employed by small businesses, and the costs are so high that small businesses can't afford it. Matt shows how bill HR 525 may offer a solution, or at least an improvement.
• David Daniels at Business & Technology Reinvention asks, 'Where are the turnaround products?" He says that simply generating new products constantly doesn't turn a struggling company (or industry) around, e.g., U.S. auto manufacturers. He says it takes a product that actually creates a new product category, like the iPod or the Blackberry, to create a turnaround. I agree with his point, but question iPod as an example. MP3 players were around long before the iPod. Apple just built a better (smaller box, bigger storage) mousetrap and a brilliant ad campaign. How much of iPod's innovation is really technological and how much is marketing? Food for thought.
• Anthony Cerminaro at BizzBangBuzz says that introductions are key to obtaining VC financing. Of course, a solid business plan, great management, and meeting the basic investment criteria of the fund are all "musts", but particularly given the challenge of learning about an unproven management team, "referrals from trusted sources...can be crucial".
• Martin Neumann over at Home Office Voice exposes the sad truth about profitable blogging: "If you want to get anywhere (and I mean make some real money) with AdSense then it’s all about quantity."
• At The Entrepreneurial Mind, Jeff Cornwall explains why sometimes it's just time to pull the trigger. Entrepreneurs can easily get caught up in trying to "perfect" their plan, and miss their opportunity in the process. Part of being a good steward of the human and financial resources invested in your business is making good use of them. As Cornwall says, "Entrepreneurship will always have some risk. Plan for as much as you can, and then forge ahead."
• And in the token podcast for the week, Guy Kingston of Mind Your Own Business Podcast talks with John Richards about Management Accounts - Cashflow, Profit & Loss and Balance Sheets. This is a must-listen for every entrepreneur not well-versed in business accounting.

What a great way to kick this off! Thanks to all who submitted posts and to those who volunteered to host future editions. You can see a list of upcoming hosts, submit for next week's edition, or learn more about hosting and posting on the Carnival of Entrepreneurship Home Page.

One final thing... thanks to BlogCarnival.com, there's an RSS feed available for the carnival so you can add it to your blog reader. I'll also post a link to it each week in my newsletter.