Entrepreneurship & Innovation

There is a wonderful interview with Intuit founder Scott Cook. Scott describes how he learned to hire talented A-players. He was looking for four key attributes:

• Intelligence
• Learning ability
• Cares about quality work and satisfying customers
• Gets things done

Scott would ask the candidate's references to rank the candidate on their performance on a scale of 1 to 10. Most responded with a rank of 7. Then Scott would ask the references what was keeping the candidate from being a 9 or a 10. He got the best information at that point. He would ask the reference for another person to interview about the candidate. He would also ask how effective the candidate was at getting things done.

Aleksandr Yampolskiy has posted a hand list of NY VCs, Incubators, and Accelerators.

The Kauffman Foundations has posted a short article on the 6 myths of Venture Capital (VC). It does not look good for VC.

• VC is not the primary source of most startup funding
• VC really does not take a big risk investing in your company
• Founders should determine the value of their company to get the best valuation from VC
• VC has under performing returns compared to other investments
• VC lacks innovation and has for a long time.

Google has created the Google for Entrepreneurs website to support entrepreneurs in building new innovative companies world wide. Google has partnered with Startup Weekend and the international version Startup Weekend Next as part of this effort. For more details see Google's blog.

Ilya Pozin, founder of Ciplex, describes 15 Things Successful People Do. These include:

• Fail
• Set goals
• Don't rely on luck
• Track progress
• Act
• Connect the dots
• Display realistic optimism
• Continued improvement
• Commit
• Be alert
• Persevere
• Communicate with confidence
• Display humility
• Be flexible
• Make connections

I'm a long time IEEE member and was surprised to learn about the IEEE Entrepreneur's Network (ENET). The group is based in Boston and provides support to its members to start new business, pitching startup plans, and raising money from VCs. The archive provides the presentations of many very interesting and useful talks.

Two IEEE groups, the Consultants Network and the Entrepreneur's Network, held a joint event in Boston recently to discuss issue to help its members better succeed at consulting or starting a business. Several key factors to success include:

• Incorporate the business properly at the start
• Protect inventions with patents

It's important to have the proper corporate structure and to consult with lawyers to submit IP for patent properly as the patent system is complex and the rules change often.

Steve Blank provides some useful advice on deciding whether or not to get an MBA. The answer boils down to several simple questions.

• If you prefer the startup phase, then pursue a entrepreneurship program.
• If you prefer the stability of a large company, then pursue a MBA or a engineering management graduate degree.

The Funded is a website that posts reviews on investors. Founders and entrepreneurs discuss fund raising issues and their experience with VCs. The website also posts the top VC of the week. We raised funds in 2002 and some of the companies that I felt were quite good are still on the list in the top 30 but the names have changed. It looks to be a useful guide to VCs.

Lockheed Martin has created a website to promote partnerships to work with small business on SBIR and STTR solicitations. Small businesses can create an account and express interest in responding to open SBIRs and STTRs solicitations. Lockheed Martin provides connections to their internal subject matter experts to support the proposals. On the up site, small business could really benefit from working with Lockheed Martin on such proposals given their expertise in government project. On the downside, such a large organization may not be able to keep up with a small business. It's not clear how this will work out but it is very interesting and hopefully will be beneficial to all involved.