This morning I read a blog post about “the problem with Silicon Valley.”
The author contends that the pace of innovation in the Valley is amazing, but that it is often somewhat insulated from solving problems that “matter.” Clearly much debate can be had about what “matters,” but the topic resonates with me. Two years ago I even presented at the Academy Of Management my own quest to use entrepreneurship for meaningful value creation.
Reading this article motivated me to post it in the facebook group for Houston entrepreneurs with the following exhortation:
Something to think about, people. As we develop Houston’s entrepreneurial community, let’s focus our energies and efforts on solving real problems rather than just stuff we think would be sexy/cool. This is one reason I came to Houston to launch my current venture; Houston has real industry – and I’ll argue that Houston’s biggest industries are some of the most impactful ones in the world: energy, healthcare, aerospace, nano/petro/chemical… What’s “Made In Houston” runs the world – so let’s embrace that and leverage it to foster a unique community for truly value-creating, transformational startups. My wish/goal for 2013 – happy venturing everyone!