Entrepreneur Dysfunctions in Cartoons: Is Race An Issue?

There is a general belief in Silicon Valley that the venture industry is biased against blacks and Hispanics. This week, the media is rife with commentary such as this: Tech creating black, Hispanic underclass.
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Thought Leaders in Online Education: John Miller, Chief Operating Officer of Hands-On Learning (Part 1)

There is a huge gap between industry and academia today. Learn more about the lay of the land and identify opportunities for entrepreneurship.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with giving our audience a bit of context about Hands-On Learning (HOL). What do you do? What major online education industry trends are you aligning with?

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Thought Leaders in Online Education: Sari Factor, CEO of Edgenuity (Part 1)

K-12 has been a challenge for EdTech companies to build businesses in. Typically, buying cycles tend to be very long. See where Edgenuity is getting traction, and what trends are emerging in the space.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to you as well as to your company.

Sari Factor: After a short career in teaching back in 1980, I joined a company to explore technology in education. It was the first electronic publishing division of a major US publisher. I thought technology was going to change the world. I was this young green thing right out of teaching. Here I am many years later and I’m still trying to get technology to change K-12 education.

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Entrepreneur Dysfunctions in Cartoons: Age Bias

Is there an age bias in Silicon Valley? Perhaps.

It is true that all the entrepreneurs who have built major breakthrough technology companies have been very young. Apple, Microsoft, Netscape, Google, Facebook – all were founded by entrepreneurs in their twenties (or teens).

However, if you look closely, a large number of technology companies have actually been founded by entrepreneurs in their forties.

As I studied the issue, the key differentiating factor stared at me: domain knowledge.
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Entrepreneur Dysfunctions in Cartoons: Obsession with FREE

The Internet is full of people who expect that everything should be FREE. In Economics, this phenomenon is referred to as the Free Rider Problem: when people consume value without paying their fair share. Obviously, some people DO pay their fair share. This makes the ‘free riders’ take advantage of those who pay, making the whole equation unsustainable in the long run. Creating value is expensive. Capitalism assumes that value gets created with the understanding that those who consume that value are going to pay for it. If that assumption is violated, the system, eventually, collapses.
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Entrepreneur Dysfunctions in Cartoons: The Silicon Valley Party Scene

There are, really, two Silicon Valleys.

One, that has a rollicking social life, lots of parties, lots of fun.

The second, however, is a relatively tame world where entrepreneurs put their heads down and work. 16 hour days. Juggling large To Do Lists with small teams and limited resources.
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Entrepreneur Dysfunctions in Cartoons: Paradigm Shift

Well, did you Google it?

Definition of ‘Business Model’

The plan implemented by a company to generate revenue and make a profit from operations. The model includes the components and functions of the business, as well as the revenues it generates and the expenses it incurs.

Definition of ‘Exit Strategy’

The method by which a venture capitalist or business owner intends to get out of an investment that he or she has made in the past. In other words, the exit strategy is a way of “cashing out” an investment. Examples include an initial public offering (IPO) or being bought out by a larger player in the industry. Also referred to as a “harvest strategy” or “liquidity event”.

[Source: Investopedia]

My philosophy: You MUST have a business model. An exit strategy is OPTIONAL.

Cartoon: Book by Sramana Mitra and Irina Patterson. Art by Mike Varouhas.

Women Entrepreneurs: Are We Whining Too Much?

I wonder!

In my recent post, Women ARE Raising Venture Capital, I said, there is no bias among Silicon Valley VCs against women.

I got an earful on that one.

What? There are hardly any female VCs. So few female CEOs. So few blah blah blah.

Right. Yes. I know. But it is what it is. How is whining going to help us change any of those factors?

I countered with: >>>

Thought Leaders in Online Education: Peter Hirst, Executive Director of Executive Education, MIT Sloan School of Management (Part 1)

This interview is a great discussion about the various experiments going on in the world of higher education and how online learning is playing out there.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s introduce our audience to yourself as well as to what you’re doing at Sloan vis-à-vis executive education.

Peter Hirst: I’m the Director of the Executive Education program here at the MIT Sloan School. Essentially, what we do is run short, non-degree courses for individual executives and Senior Managers. We also do this for companies in a more customized >>>

Entrepreneur Dysfunctions in Cartoons: How Do You Recruit A Great Mentor?

First, here, meet a great mentor!

Entrepreneurs around the world are searching for great mentors who can show them the ropes of how to short-circuit their entrepreneurial journeys.

Recruiting mentors is a tricky thing. Mentors – unless they have an emotional investment in you (friends, family, former boss) – tend to want to only work with entrepreneurs who have compelling businesses, can score substantial funding, and yield solid exits.

Typically, these are potential advisors who want to be compensated in equity in your business, or potential investors who want to invest in it. Either way, they want to invest time, or money, or both. Let’s call them investors.

Investors, by definition, look for compelling investment opportunities.

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