Feb
6
ETL - Christine Benninger
February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment
ETL today was very different from the ones I have had in the past. Today’s guest was Christine Benninger of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley (HSSV), and is very different because she isn’t part of some crazy startup or investment circle. While the HSSV appears to be very boring, I assure you the things [...]
Feb
1
Discovering Entrepreneurship - Class Three
February 1, 2008 | 1 Comment
Today we had Professor Tina Seelig come to our class and talk about brainstorming, as well as a guest from Europe talking about human nature. Most of the class was taken up by an activity by Professor Seelig, with some random bits of discussion thrown in to the mix. Overall, the class was very fun, and although there were some take-away lessons, I didn’t particularly enlightened. Instead, I was fired up and ready to start the business we came up with during our activity with Professor Seelig.
Jan
30
ETL - Jesse Fink and Steve Blank
January 30, 2008 | 1 Comment
The speakers for today’s talk were interesting, although Jesse Fink was the only one talking while Steve Blank asked the questions (I would have preferred that both talk). The two have a long history together and actually met on family vacations to the Galapagos. The discussion mostly focused on green investments as well as utilizing all financial markets (other than VCs) to create change. You can listen to the clip here or catch the notes below.
Jan
25
Discovering Entrepreneurship - Class Two
January 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The focus of this week’s class was leadership and team building, and I was surprised and impressed by the presentation we had today. Our guest visitor was Mike Rothenberg, a former Stanford student who is now working at Bain as a consultant. Before class we had to read Colin Powell’s article titled A Leadership Primer, and another selection from Kouzes, Posner, and Peters titled The Leadership Challenge. I personally liked Mr. Powell’s article better, and a quick Google search will yield the 18 lessons he outlines. For the most part of this post, though, I would like to highlight the lessons from Mr. Rothenberg’s presentation on leading a team.
Jan
23
ETL - Ron Conway & Mike Maples
January 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Today’s speakers were absolutely phenomenal. I talked with some of the head people at ETL, and they personally agree that it was one of the top five presentations in the history of the program. Both Ron Conway and Mike Maples are angel investors and have somewhat different focuses in terms of what they invest in and why. I’ll dive more into their backgrounds below, but because this talk was so insightful, I highly recommend listening to it as well as reading this post.