Archive for February, 2008
Class today was great because we had Elliot Brown of Springboard Forward talk to us. He had a very interesting story, which I will highlight below, and then for the last remaining portion we talked about “theories of change” - what they are, what they mean, and the impact they have. Overall a very good class, with a couple of lessons learned highlighted, and one of the better stories told about a nonprofit and their success.
Elliot Brown Background
Elliot is a Stanford graduate who started working at Sun Microsystems corporation in their philanthropic arm to get a feel for the CSR landscape. After working there he worked at an East Palo Alto office running a small program and learned how not to do many things. One of the biggest downfalls was that there wasn’t enough talent in the environment, but one of the major bonuses was getting a view of how about thirty organizations worked. Then, he left that organization and started doing some consulting. One thing he started to notice is that when organizations are looking for manpower, they call temp agencies versus nonprofits that are working to find employment for their constituents. In other words, he was perplexed at why companies would pay temp agencies for workers when certain nonprofit groups were providing the service for free.
The Birth of SpringBoard & SpringBoard Forward
It was at this insight that led to the development of his first company - SpringBoard. The idea was to take the nonprofit people’s and provide them with jobs by being a middle man staffing agency “cover.” After four years, he started SpringBoard Forward, a nonprofit, that focused on helping these unemployed individuals develop the skill and mindset to succeed in the workplace. After running two organizations for six months, he definitely felt taxed and decided to shut down the for-profit and focus on the nonprofit. The reason being is that with a nonprofit you can be market driven, get funding, and have access to resources that regular businesses don’t have access. But, he also admits that he felt he needed to learn how to run a business before jumping to the nonprofit idea.
Where is SpringBoard Forward Today?
Even though traditional nonprofits have problems of scaling (due to lack of resources), he is working to create a much larger organization that can accomplish the vision of the organization. The issue that he has identified is that many of the individuals being placed by these temp agencies are low income and don’t have hope in the process of getting out of poverty and going places. His job is to help them develop and come to the job with a completely different attitude - come in with a passion, belief, and vision for the future. The ideal question he wants the people he’s helping to ask is, “How can I use the position I’m in to get where I want to go?”
While they feel they have some initial results, it hasn’t been in effect long enough to develop the proof of concept they need to scale more effectively. Because the lowest paid employees interact the most with the customers (and are Eliot’s target “client”), companies want these individuals to be engaged and effective. As such, the goal is to cut turnover in half and measure employee engagement in the process to determine effectiveness. They have a small amount of success for the people they help because 44% are promoted and receive a raise within four months of employment. But, this doesn’t do enough to establish much business value. One test he would like to do is perform several projects on a pretty big scale and evaluate the results. Did sales go up in the project group or control group?
Personal Training
This was my favorite part of the talk and stemmed from a question I asked, and that was, what is the process you provide to help these people figure out what they want to do with their lives? Elliot starts out with the amazing insight that the ethic used to be to have a good living and now it is to love what you’re doing. This developed because of the emptyness many felt from monetarily successful jobs. The idea, then, is to provide a 1 on 1 coach that asks you wat you want and what are you going to do about it? Most have the mindset that SpringBoard Forward is going to help them, but the problem is that the individual doesn’t know what to do after the coach is gone. Instead, the coach kicks them in the @ss and keeps them going. They also spend eight hours going through a “9 Step Process to Clarity.”
Getting Managers on Board
A second prong is to work with managers so that they are bought into the value of helping employees. For example, if the employee is interested in being a plumber and is working in a hotel, the manager could hand off all plumbing jobs to that employee. The result is a completely changed relationship, and this relationship is important because the #1 factor for turnover is relationship with the manager.
Lessons Learned
- Build small successes before shooting for huge ones. Prove the concept before trying to score huge deals that would most probably collapse in failure.
- Think outside the box. The idea of creating a for profit placement agency that used the nonprofit’s people was creative and worked to accomplish goals for all parties involved.
- Inspire hope. This is a bit about philosophy, but inspiring hope and meaning into a person’s life provides that individual with a sense of purpose.
- Identify and eliminate biggest impediments to success. If the number one reason for problems that prevent your success aren’t being addressed - like managers in Elliot’s case - then you will never attain the level of success you are looking for.
- Set up metrics to measure progress and maintain accountability. Even though Elliot is the manager, and admits he isn’t very good at it, he is still accountable to his board and the board can fire him if he’s not performing.
Theory of Change
The general idea is to identify the major problems that prevent your goal from being implemented. Then, for each of these problems, figure out some action that can be done to take care of this issue, then follow up by measuring your success. Performing case studies on a couple organizations was very helpful in understanding the significance of this process and I think it is a great idea for any mission-driven organization.
Conclusion
Very cool class that provided a lot of insight into the life of a nonprofit. Elliot was very insightful and someone I would like to see in the future to hear how SpringBoard is progressing. The idea of a theory of change is definitely interesting, and I think it is necessary for any nonprofit to use this method of evaluation every six months to keep a hold on what they are doing and whether or not it is furthering their mission.
So, the moment I have been waiting for all quarter - the Entrepreneurship Week Kickoff and world premiere of the movie “Imagine It!”. The video is about entrepreneurship week last year at Stanford and did an absolutely FANTASTIC job at highlighting what entrepreneurship is all about and I highly recommend anyone interested in entrepreneurship to watch it. That said, here’s a quick overview of what’s happening throughout the week… Or check out the website.
Saturday 2/23: “Pump Up Your Creativity” Workshop
Tina Seelig, who I’ve mentioned here, here and here, is hosting this and should be absolutely fantastic. It will be a great workshop for pumping up the creative juices for the Innovation Challenge!
Sunday 2/24: Funding Social Enterprises: Panel & Showcase
There will be four individuals on the panel and they are all involved with social entrepreneurship in different ways. Here’s a quick list of the people.
- Jenny Shilling Stein, Executive Director of the Draper Richards Foundation
- Jessica Jackley Flannery, Co-Founder and Director of Business Development of Kiva.org
- Amy Clark, Ashoka, Global Fellows Program Leader
- Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, Ashoka Fellow and Founder of BUILD
Monday 2/25: Innovating for Health — BYOB! (Bring Your Own Brain)
Interesting looking event in which the audience will help with a brainstorming activity to help solve the problem of child obesity. A panel of experts has been invited to discuss the top five issues in this area, and after the panel there will be a kick off for a three-day competition - the Innovating for Health Challenge. The winner will be announced at the Entrepreneurship Week Closing ceremony.
Tuesday 2/26: Be Careful What You Wish For - Getting Media Attention for Your Company
To develop awareness, many entrepreneurial endeavors look for media coverage. The only problem is that it can be a minefield, and thus requires very careful planning to get the message right to prevent greater problems later on. In this information session, we will find out how to get a journalist’s attention.
Wednesday 2/27: ETL - B-Corporation
This week’s ETL involves Stanford graduates as founders of B Corporation. Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy are the founders and they’re goal is to set standards for corporate responsibility and hold companies to their promises. It should be an extremely interesting presentation and they have a super ambitious goal…
Thursday 2/28: “Startup 101″ Job Fair
Cool job opportunities from a wide range of industries from Web 2.0 to cleantech, medical devices, and biotech. Some cool Stanford startups will be there as well as some “traditional” companies like Google and Facebook.
Friday 2/29: Innovation Tournament Showcase and Closing Ceremony
This is the close of Entrepreneurship Week and we’ll be finding out who won prizes for Most Money, Most Social Value, Most Creative, Biggest Flop and more.
And the surprise item for the week… Rubberbands!
So the goal for this week in the Innovation Challenge is to create the most value - however you define value - with rubberbands. I already have a couple ideas, so it should be really interesting… For the next few days I’ll be working with a team to do what comes to mind!
For individuals interested in starting high tech companies that are related to biology, chemistry, etc., Mir Imran is your man. He has started a number of businesses focusing on the patents he has received and the application of these technologies. While I personally don’t see myself following a similar path as an entrepreneur, it just goes to show the variety and variability in being an entrepreneur. You can listen to his speech here, or read the summary below.
Background
Mir Imran founded InCube Laboratories in 1995 to focus on his passion: creating medical device solutions that change the standard of care in critical healthcare markets. Mir started out with a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers and an MS in Bio-Engineering. From there he’s moved on to having over 200 patents issued in his name, starting over 20 medical device companies, and continuing to be one of the world’s most successful inventors, entrepreneurs, and investors in healthcare. Of his 20+ businesses, nine have been acquired, three went public and then were acquired, and the other eight are in development with one looking to go public.
Current Projects
Of his projects he is working on right now, 1/2 involve implantable devices. The breadth of fields include obesity, chronic pain, fibrillation, epilepsy, and the creation of an artificial colon. While on the surface it seems like he could be an expert in all thes fields, he really isn’t. When he notices a problem, Mir generally conducts his own research does and figures out what’s being done, what’s working, and what’s not working. As he digs deeper, for some of the problems he finds solutions and for some he doesn’t.
What is a project?
Each project is inspired by ideas, which come in random and multiple ways, and is the testing stages before becoming an official company. As an example for one project, at one time in his past, Mir had a couple friends affected by a specific problem. He talked to some doctors that said the problem shouldn’t be a problem with the right steps taken. As such, he did some research, found some inspiration for a solution, and created the project around it. Another key thing is to keep every project or company Mir starts separate because it prevents each project from interfering with one another. The result is that one project doesn’t hog resources because it is doing well and another doesn’t drag everything else down when it is performing poorly. When implementing an idea, it is a long and tough road. Ideas are cheap, but it’s all about implementing and executing these ideas that takes time. Another thing is that he’s willing to kill a project if it doesn’t meet the guidelines he sets up - which prevents a lot of the hardships if he pursues a bad idea into the company phase.
Thoughts on FDA approval?
Mir thought is that it is an absolutely necessary part of the process. It forces you to think about the impact that will result for patients. The regulations are good because you have to document things, follow procedures, and in general keep track of what’s going on. There is a level of accountability and replicability that makes for consistent (and hopefully successful) performance.
Have any failures occurred and what have you learned?
At first glance, it appears that Mir has an amazing success rate, but that it sonly because he is willing to kill the project before it launches if it is bad. Even with his level of success though, he has had two companies fail. One was a dot-com launched in 1999, which he acknowledges as a bad idea. The other is a failed business, even though the technology is still being used in many of his businesses. A great insight Mir provides is that it is much more painful - for everyone involved - to kill a company or fix a failing one than to kill the project.
It’s all about the team (and the people)…
Mir has a history of creating successful teams - which he describes as the hardest part - and reminisces about one company he started around a specific person. In fact, he offered this individual a cubicle and $1000 a month just to brainstorm with him. After a while, this individual took a position as senior engineer, and then went to CTO. Just this last year, this company did $30 million in revenue and is getting ready to go public. Lesson learned: When you find great people, hold on to them!
What motivates you?
Mir is like most entrepreneurs in that he is not in the business of making money but rather solving problems. And to have a theoretical “could be” answer is not enough - he has to bring them to life and commercialize them if they’re that good. The idea of creating something out of nothing fascinates him.
What’s each day like?
In short, every day is different. This morning, for example, he spent in a design review. Most of his time, though, is spent in the lab. Also, he has a very hands on approach to hiring people, brainstorming session, planning studies, and developing a regulatory strategy. He is intimately involved with all of the companies at an operations level, and spends more times with the less stable companies to get them to the point where they are more stable and he can move on to other projects.
Conflict of interest?
Because Mir found the fundraising process difficult, he started his own and partnered with Draper Fisher Jurvetson. This, of course, begs the question of whether or not a conflict of interest develops. As a humorous remark, he says that if there isn’t a conflict of interest, you aren’t doing anything interesting. As a more serious follow up, though, he states that to deal with conflict of interest, you have to be incredibly transparent and have a high level of disclosure.
What do you wish you had learned earlier in your career?
Through college, Mir developed a strong technical and scientific background and wishes he had had the opportunity to take business courses. Courses in marketing, accounting, sales, etc. would have been really helpful, especially in just getting a simple understanding. Learn enough to know who to bring in, how to get things done, etc. One key to his education has been to develop a broad understanding of things and develop a depth of understanding in at least one area.
Question: What other advice would you want to give to students?
- Be a good listener. Because one person can’t have all of the right answers, you have to listen to and communicate effectively with others to find the right answers.
- Don’t fall in love with your ideas. A lot of times your first idea not necessarily right idea, and instead it is further revisions of the idea that make it successful.
- Failure is almost a necessary and humbling experience. If you haven’t failed, you aren’t stepping outside your comfort zone and trying something truly innovative.
- Surround yourself with experienced people. This works well with being a good listener because experienced people are much more likely to help develop the right answers to the problems you are facing.
- Businesses aren’t always the solution. If you make small improvements, think about licensing the technology versus starting a company.
- Learn the fundamentals. Once you have a strong foundation, in whatever the subject, you can build all kinds of things on top of it.
- View problems as opportunities. Such a reversal in perception opens the doors to solutions that wouldn’t come any other way.
Wired to be an entrepreneur and engineer
As a kid, his mother bought two toys for him - one to take apart, and one to play with. He built toys and then took them to school and sold them. Right now he has ten companies buzzing around in his head and wants to start them soon before other people start them.
Conclusion
Mir Imran is an amazing entrepreneur in his own right, and one many students thinking about an extremely technical background could learn from. The most important takeaway from Mir, to me, is the idea of developing a general background in everything and drilling down to being an expert in something. Combining this with a passion to view problems as opportunities creates a powerful force in developing innovative technologies in specific industries.
Today’s class wasn’t extremely exciting or eventful. For the most part, we discussed how we could make class better, one weird item that was particular to each of us, the Innovation Tournament (main event of E-Week), and brainstorming. Because most of the stuff didn’t have much practical value, I will discuss brainstorming in this post.
Rules for Brainstorming
- Throw out all ideas, even if they aren’t fully formed.
- Be willing to run with wild ideas. Don’t critique or shoot down ideas.
- Build on the ideas of others.
- Go for volume. Shoot for 100 ideas an hour
- Focus on one conversation at a time.
- Headline ideas - get essence of idea then move on.
- Bring props to facilitate creative thinking.
- Brainstorm for only 45-60 minutes.
- Provide snacks.
- Have FUN!
Crazy Ideas
- Have a Post Secret on Post It notes
- Have Post It pledged to “reduce garbage” or “recycle more.”
- Gummy bear reward cup for fulfilling goals.
- Housing project made out of garbage.
- Clothing line made out of garbage.
- Write messages to others on candy wrappers
- Post It tree much like a Christmas gift tree.
- Gummy bear ice cream social fundraiser.
- Gummy bear sculpture that everyone can eat
Conclusion
The class period was interesting in terms of wrapping up part of the necessary portions of class, and the brainstorming activity was fun. Even though the rules for brainstorming seem small and somewhat unnecessary, there are many times I realized their significance because someone broke a rule and experiencing the detriment that resulted. Overall, it was a fun experience.
Today, for class, we went to Plug and Play Tech Center (PnP) for a field trip. For startups in the Silicon Valley area, this is a really cool place to go and get all the resources you need to get going. I have personally enjoyed the idea of an incubator since I lived in South Dakota, but in order to fully appreciate the benefits, you have to be from a place that has a bunch of startups so that the place can be utilized (unlike South Dakota right now…) Here’s a quick run down of what we did.
What’s the Story?
The first center was opened in 2006 in Sunnyvale and is host to 130 startups. They range from one person teams all the way up to 50 person teams. In October of 2007, another center opened in Redwood City and sometime this March a Palo Alto center should open. The great thing about these places is that they offer all of the services a startup would need in terms of office space and provide the flexibility of month to month leasing that a startup would like to see. They have raised over $350 million in venture capital for their businesses and acts as the one-stop-shop for entrepreneurs and investors.
University Entrepreneurs Welcome
One of the really exciting things about this place is that they have a startup bootcamp for college entrepreneurs where they can try out their business idea with all of the resources PnP has to offer. They have connections with Stanford, UC-Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, and Cornell. In order to test your business, there is an application on the website to fill out. Very cool and something I will look at for the future… 
Midomi
While at PnP, we had a presentation done by one of the startups called Midomi. They have developed an amazing technology that allows people to sing/hum parts of a song into a microphone and then figure out the name of the song (for those who have something stuck in their head but can’t remember who sang the song, this is for you.) They have two former Stanford Ph. D. students on the team and from their graduate work they learned and developed this phenomenal speech and music recognition technology. It was so good that they even won the BASES business plan competition! If you want to check out their website and see if you can find a song yourself, go here.
Conclusion
This trip was pretty cool and I learned a lot about one particular resource available to startups. If I had a business that would benefit from an incubator, I would definitely consider a facility like PnP. The idea of putting a bunch of startups really makes sense and provides value for everyone involved. The startups have all the resources they need in terms of writing a better plan, executing their idea, IT resources, building a board, and even getting financing. For investors, having a central hub that decides which startups are worthy of incubating and having a close relationship with those startups proves invaluable to the investors because they can receive all of the necessary information to find good investment choices.