New startups from Stanford

Forbes just released a documentary about how Stanford University is promoting entrepreneurial initiatives among its students.

Stanford has played a crucial role in the creation and development of Silicon Valley. The secret: having a strong connection with the startups that are born in-campus, so when they become large corporations they pay back.

I hope this example of collaboration inspires many other Universities to promote entrepreneurial thought leaders in their cities.

Creating environments that promote happiness

Today Jennifer Aaker was the guest speaker of the ETL class. She is a Marketing Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, but today she talked about happiness throughout social networks which is one of her favorite topics.

Among the ideas that she talked about, I’d like to point out the huge impact  social networks have to create environments that promote happiness. She mentioned several cases in which these Internet tools were crucial to engage people around a common goal, like the case of Sameer and Vinay who died due to a severe leukemia.

Aaker explained her change of mind on social networks. Some years ago she was actually skeptical like most of the people, while now she defends that they are tools for effectively communicating and spreading happiness.

The dragonfly has the ability to fly in all directions by flapping its 4 wings at the same time. Similarly, entrepreneurs, visionaries and influencers can create ideas that build momentum by taking care of 4 wings:

• Focus on a single goal which has to be humanistic, happy, actionable, clear.
• Grab attention: personal, unexpected, visceral, visual.
• Engage: tell a story, empathize, authenticity, match media.
• Take action: get things done and evaluate results.

Thanks Jennifer for sharing your insights!
http://ecorner.stanford.edu/swf/player-ec.swf

Getting to know Mark Suster

I had the chance to attend Mark Suster‘s lecture yesterday at Stanford. Mark has been a successful serial entrepreneur and now he’s on the investor side.

I loved his talk. I found it very encouraging. He went through a list of advices mentioning clear and practical examples in each case.

Here you’ll find the podcast (thanks Ecorner!) and below you’ll find my notes on some of the main topics.

GETTING STARTED

• You don’t have to be a genius but you need to get started.
• Being an entrepreneur is not sexy. It’s actually awful!  lots of responsibility, lots of hours,…
• You need to be passionate about it.
• You need to do research. Silicon Valley is lazy. They say you don’t have to do market research but you do!
• Get a prototype built and show it.

THE TEAM

• Assemble a diverse team. Get outside your box. People tend to get along well with people like them. Get out!
• Huge premium for those colleagues who are taking the first leap.
• Make sure technology is part of your DNA.
• Investors want you and your team, the business idea comes later.

RAISING CAPITAL

• Raise capital, but not too much. You’ll have time to become fat once you have product/market fit clear.
• If possible, avoid the 3 Fs. Your business is likely going to fail and you don’t want to have business issues with your acquaintances..
• Angels or VCs? Raise VC money when you ready to get on a rocket ship. Think that being funded by a VCs is like getting married.
• How do you access investors? Via other Entrepreneurs
• You need an anchor investor: invite him to be an advisor. If you show results, normally everyone follows.

Thanks Mark for the great advices!

Entrepreneurship: nature or nurture?

After almost 3 years without being in a classroom, I decided to sign up for a course at Stanford University: Starting and Growing Technology Ventures. Taking the viewpoint of a founder who must lead the company, the goal of this course is to cover the critical issues entrepreneurs face in launching a technology venture.

It’s great to be back at University and have a break to learn and formulate some of the issues that I am facing on my daily life. And I am especially happy to (slightly) take part of the Stanford student life.

The first session was about being an entrepreneur and whether entrepreneurship can be taught or has to be part of our genes. It’s tough to get a consensus on this topic due to the variety of factors that define an “entrepreneurial personality”.

There are certainly some aspects that can be learned and developed along the way. We can think about the ability of coping with uncertainty; we can develop a special sensitiveness for business opportunities, and of course, we can learn about management, leadership and communication, which are fundamental skills to start up a business.

Some studies affirm that 30% to 40% of entrepreneurial attitudes come from our DNA (read the articles I mention below). They say that there’s people that naturally feel uncomfortable with the comfortable and are willing to take risks in their daily lives.

However, I believe that the impact of  nurture is much higher than nature. Having close examples of entrepreneurs arounds is the best tool to develop our own entrepreneurial spirit. If your parents have started a business you’ll more easily consider this path in your professional career.

This is actually my case. My parents didn’t start technology ventures but they both created their own businesses (an industrial project management company and a law boutique) and I am sure their example has influenced me. Moreover, my education at the ETH was crucial, since I took a subject that opened my eyes: New Enterprises for Engineers.

Thus, I’d like to finish my post pointing out the responsibility that Universities have, not only as a source of knowledge but also as a factory of professionals who are willing to take risks and make an impact on society.

More about this topic:

Entrepreneurship: is it in the genes? Article from Entrepreneur.com

Can Entrepreneurship be taught? Article from Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Nature vs. nurture in Entrepreneurship. Panel organized by BASES (Thanks @Ecorner!)