This weekend’s release of the cinematic adaptation of Ender’s Game (and rereading the novel before going to see the movie) got me thinking about how many of Ender’s experiences can be translated into lessons on entrepreneurship. As I stated in my TEDx talk: we can take MANY lessons on entrepreneurship from popular myths and IContinue reading “Enderpreneurship: What Andrew Wiggin Can Teach Us About Winning the Game of Entrepreneurship”
Category Archives: Leadership & Entrepreneurship
Rice Named Top University Incubator
Rice University has been selected as having the top university business incubator in the world according to a just-released study by UBI. I have been working for more than a year now to support/enhance/catalyze entrepreneurship at Rice by teaching, mentoring, and helping to launch the OwlSpark Accelerator, which received special mention in the announcement. ItContinue reading “Rice Named Top University Incubator”
A Spark of Entrepreneurship at Rice
Although I haven’t posted much about it on this blog, many of you know that I have spent the last year and a half helping to foster more/better entrepreneurship at my alma mater, Rice University. Six months ago I officially accepted the role of Entrepreneur in Residence at the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership, anContinue reading “A Spark of Entrepreneurship at Rice”
TEDx Talk About Entrepreneurship
Last year I was honored to be asked to speak about entrepreneurship at Rice’s “Unconvention” in celebration of its centennial year. Instead of talking about lean startup, customer development, fundraising, or many of the other very well covered topics out there, I chose to focus on a framework for entrepreneurship that is, well, unconventional. MyContinue reading “TEDx Talk About Entrepreneurship”
Secure Base In the Office and Gym
As I’ve posted before, I’m a big fan of IMD Professor George Kohlrieser‘s advocacy of secure base leadership. Quick summary: as children we gain confidence to take risks (like learning to walk) because we have secure bases (like Mom) to pick us up if we fail (like falling down). We carry this pattern with usContinue reading “Secure Base In the Office and Gym”
Entrepreneurship for Value Creation
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 yearsContinue reading “Entrepreneurship for Value Creation”
How Do Entrepreneurs Face Their Fears?
Someone asked the following question on LinkedIn: “Everyone has a fear of something. Being an entrepreneur there are so many unknowns and big risks that have to be taken in order to grow. How have you been able to take the leap of faith?” My response: “Many of the answers so far are quite rational,Continue reading “How Do Entrepreneurs Face Their Fears?”
Sales Forecasting For a Mobile Startup
I recently answered a LinkedIn question about sales forecasting for a mobile startup. The question: “Mobile Start-ups are not as easy to forecast, at least in my opinion, as some other types of businesses. Obviously VCs and investors understand your projections are essentially fabricated and pure guesses, but how would you go about forecasting salesContinue reading “Sales Forecasting For a Mobile Startup”
Entrepreneurship: Full-time or Part-time?
Someone asked the following question on LinkedIn: “Is it possible to successfully start-up a company while working on a full-time job?” Here’s what I said – what do you think? “Although we have this mythology built up about “all in” startups that raise venture capital and work 20+ hour days, most “successful” startups (that is,Continue reading “Entrepreneurship: Full-time or Part-time?”
Recommended Entrepreneurship Books
I made the following entrepreneurship book recommendations on Quora, so thought I’d share them here as well: I use the following two books as course texts in my entrepreneurship course: Effectual Entrepreneurship – Real data and evidence-based research on successful entrepreneurs The Startup Owner’s Manual – Steve Blank’s step-by-step guide to launching a venture (annoyinglyContinue reading “Recommended Entrepreneurship Books”