Howie Rhee's Blog

Photos from DukeForward Gala

2012-10-01T06:17:00.002-07:00

I posted my photos (and some quotes) of the DukeForward Gala at Cameron Indoor Stadium on imgur.

http://imgur.com/a/Hwk3e

Thoughts on Wolfram Alpha's Facebook Report

2012-09-04T09:40:00.002-07:00

A few thoughts on Wolfram Alpha's Facebook Report

Screenshot of my report is below (click for full-size).

1) Surprised that the sample sizes for almost all the data was so small. I'm assuming this was a function of the privacy settings for each of the users. But given that the samples are probably not representative, I expect it's hard for me to draw meaningful conclusions

2) I wonder if a future feature might be to compare my stats with people who are similar to me. It'd be interesting to know - do I post more/less photos than average? Not sure if they are able to get these statistics since they report that after one hour, they delete the information from their cache. Are they keep track of information anonymously/aggregated?

3) The user interface was really nicely done. And the system was, perhaps not surprisingly, very fast. The process of getting my results seemed to take only a minute or two. It was impressive.

4) Overall, I really liked the concept behind the report. I'm not sure I learned anything that useful, partly as a function of the small sample sizes, but I would imagine a trained eye might be able to tease out something interesting. Also, I wonder if in future iterations they will have comparative statistics.

Thoughts on LinkedIn InMaps (Social Network Analysis / Mapping)

2012-08-30T09:29:00.001-07:00

I updated my LinkedIn InMap

http://inmaps.linkedinlabs.com/share/Howie_Rhee/22898595407430554300145832048293938267

Great visualization. I love this feature of LinkedIn.

Some analysis on why it looks the way it does.

1) MIT - light network - my hunch is this is probably a result of timing - and true for most people that went to school in the mid-1990s.

I would imagine that if LinkedIn were around then (and it was in the form of MIT startup PlanetAll, acquired by Amazon), then this would be much denser.

Just too many connections fall by the wayside over the years. And so a lot of effort to reconnect with them all. Perhaps social awkward (and maybe takes a lot of work) to reconnect with people you haven't spoken to in 15-20 years.

2) Fuqua 2002-2004

This is when I was in business school, and part of the value of business school, is the network you create.

LinkedIn became somewhat popular in spring 2004 (competed with Plaxo), and I remember making a bet on LinkedIn...and inviting practically all of my classmates to connect.

3) North Carolina 2004-current

My first job out of business school was essentially to network, make good things happen, and get help to startups.

I loved this job. Definitely a fit for my personality, and a great way to build a network (say contrasted with being a service provider, where people's defenses go up).

Not surprisingly, a fairly dense network.

4) Fuqua classes 2007 and up

Started working at Fuqua in 2007.

I think it's interesting to note that each Fuqua class is a fairly tight ball of connections.

Perhaps this is not surprising. Within a class (size of about 450), everyone kinda knows each other.

And then between classes, the connections are much fewer (an order of magnitude. two orders?)

So there's a progression. I haven't looked two closely, but I believe each ball (orange, blue, blue, purple) corresponds to a class.

- Orange is 2008-2009 (class of 2008, class of 2009)

- Blue is 2010

- Blue is 2011

- Purple is 2012

5) Duke connections 2007-current

The light orange section is interesting, it is a mix of Duke administrators and Duke students at other schools (other than Fuqua).

Interesting to see that, yes, they have connections into the various Fuqua classes from 2007-current.

And yes, some of them have connections into North Carolina.

--------
Some interesting thoughts that social network analysis brings to my mind.

1) What can students and aspiring entrepreneurs take from social network analysis?
I think back to Monica Rogati's talk about a DNA of Entrepreneurs.

Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/mrogati/sequencing-the-startup-dna-mrogatis-talk

Blog Post: http://blog.linkedin.com/2011/09/01/entrepreneur-data/

Image that's missing from Blog Post: http://cdn.geekwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/startupdna.jpg

Video: http://box.onvii.com/video/228?single=true&autoplay=false

And she ends her talking saying something like this (my rough transcription)

"-Quit banking

- Move to california

- Then go to stanford business school and study entrepreneurship

- Then convince IIT graduate co-founder to quit yahoo

- Then go to linkedin and connect to VCs and bloggers."

And it strikes me that, yes, if you did this, you'd probably have

1) A strong Silicon Valley network (one phone call away from Google, Apple, partners, suppliers, customers, competitors, talent, etc...)

2) A strong Business School generates entrepreneurs, investors, and people at large companies (partners, suppliers, customers, etc...)

3) A strong technical co-founder brings a separate skillset, obviously, but also a separate network for solving problems

4) Working at a large tech company (like Yahoo), that spawns entrepreneurs builds the network of people who are doing what you are doing.

5) All the while, keep expanding your connections to investors, bloggers, talent.

I believe in academia this is captured in the concept of "Complementary Capabilities (Assets)".

I'd be interested in seeing an example (couldn't find one with a quick google search). Someone that went to Stanford for business school (roughly in 2004), and stayed in Silicon Valley.

2) Why can't you replicate Silicon Valley in other regions?
I remember a talk by Tom Perkins (of Kleiner Perkins) at Duke from Fall 2007.

(Interestingly, he disagreed with the prevailing notion that "teams win", and said that if there was a great idea, he could form a team around the idea to execute)

Someone asked him why North Carolina/Research Triangle (RTP) didn't have the startup success that Silicon Valley did.

He thought North Carolina had all the assets needed, but that is was a difference in "psychology".

Looking at the InMap, and thinking about how quickly culture spreads (and is reinforcing) it is interesting to reflect on his comments.

Specifically, if the giant blue network of densely connected nodes that represents some of the North Carolina startup community, then it seems reasonable to think "we all know each other". By extension, can we then say that, there is probably a "shared psychology" for those of us in the region? Probably. Not that everyone has to share the same psychology, but that we all probably fit on the distribution curve of not being too far from the psychology of the average person in RTP.

Which leads to the question (asked often and by many people) "how does one change culture to be more entrepreneurial"? I've thought about this for a long time. I have some thoughts here (and several of those I've executed on the past eight years).

But overall, I think the strategy to change the culture needs to be to reach a tipping point where the culture turns. Whether that means a highly visible IPO where lots of people get rich, or a very active incubator/accelerator, or a super connected set of investors/mentors, or great events and conferences, or some combination of all of those things (and more), is a subject of debate.

3) What should an MBA (or any) student do to best prepare themselves to be an entrepreneur?

I think my blog posts holds up fairly well on a specific strategy for what to do. It's targeted at Winter Break, but can be thought of more generally: http://blog.howierhee.com/2011/12/what-to-do-over-winter-break-to-get.html

But a few additional ideas come to mind for preparing oneself:
a) It's possible to think of entrepreneurship as a "career" and to prepare for it. You can use Monica Rogati's plan above, or the plan I suggest in my Winter Break blog post. But the important concept is that, over the years, you can do things which will make it easier (i.e. enhance your chances of success) for you to be an entrepreneur.

b) Geography matters. In two ways
i) As Rogati suggests, being in a startup friendly environment, like Silicon Valley, is important.

ii) In addition, you develop your network in a geography over time. I recently saw an article (can't find it) that suggested that an 2nd time entrepreneur from Silicon Valley that moves to Boston, will have a probability of success similar to someone that is a 1st time entrepreneur that starts in Boston.

And perhaps social network analysis helps us understand this. That a large number of the people you know tend to be connected to a region. And if you move to another region, you lose a lot of those "people you can call". Now, if you have a great idea, and can execute without needing those other people (or being able to pull those other people from other geographies) you can overcome this barrier.

c) The quality of your school matters
i) In terms of the quality of people you can access in your network (assuming that better schools tend to mean better networks). Because a lot of those people will be people you may need to tap into for various reasons. An investor to fund you. A business to partner with. A potential customer. A former competitor to get advice from. Another entrepeneur to get mentored by.

ii) And possibly with respect to tapping into other networks. That there is a sort of "status" associated with the quality of your school. (It's important to note this can be trumped by the quality of your experience, or of your abilities). But that, a pairing of people from two high quality schools bring together two potentially strong networks. And that this pairing can also be, perhaps, better able to access the network (again, investors, partners, customers, competitors, mentors)

So, tl;dr for point 3)
"Entrepreneurship is a career (multiple companies), choose a geography wisely and develop deep roots; get into the strongest school possible (all else being equal on the quality of education, skills, fit). "

A couple of startup ideas

2012-08-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

I came up with these ideas recently. I don't believe I've seen them elsewhere.

1) Stolen Item Recover Startup

(Came up with this when a friend's house was broken into)

User enters all serial numbers into one site. When items are stolen, they activate an alerts system that scours craigslist, ebay, etc... for the stolen items. They alert the owner when the item has been found.

2) Synonym Email Generator to Prevent Corporate Leaks

(Came up with this when I saw many corporate leaks)

When a sensitive corporate memo is sent out, this synonym generator inserts synonyms into the email, with a unique set of synonyms for each email. When a leaked memo is identified, the memo can be traced back to a particular user.

Thoughts on Google+ vs. Facebook

2012-05-24T06:01:00.003-07:00

I was reading this Technology Review interview with Google Plus founder Bradley Horowitz http://www.technologyreview.com/web/38855/.

He says that Facebook suffers from conversation targeted at least common denominator (true-ish), so you end up saying drivel (seems false).

It is true there is drivel on Facebook. But, the incentive is to post "high signal" things like "Baby Born" or "Getting Married" or "Moving"

Horowitz may be right on the "least common denominator", but it's not obvious the conclusion to be drawn is "It becomes drivel".

And the immediate counterargument to Google Plus interface is...it's too complex. Two-clicks + mouseover to Follow. Circles labor intensive.

And frankly, Facebook Groups is a decent alternative to Circles. I was able to create a business school classmates group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/fuqua2004/) in a very short time (10 minutes) that included about 100 classmates. And others piled in and grew it to 200. The mechanism for adding people is quite simple and fast. And I like that it's "crowdsourced".

And frankly, it's easy to understand Facebook Groups. I "get" that if I want to post something for my classmates, that's a good place to go. Somehow that seems more satisfying than the Circles, which may or may not be updated or complete.

In contrast, imagine that each of us tried to create our classmates list in our own Circles. Labor intensive and hard.

Two thoughts:
1) It seems to me that a "single-stream" is easier to understand or grok. Multiple streams or circles just feels (way) too complex.

2) Gut reaction is that Google Plus isn't "non-consumer" enough, compared to it's other innovations. I'm reading Christenson's Innovator's Solution, and he talks about how new products can disrupt by targeting non-consumers. Transistors targeting non-consumers of Vacuum Tubes. Angioplasty targeting non-consumers of Heart Surgery.

Google Plus, to me, just seems incrementally better than Facebook. I don't think non-consumers of Facebook/Twitter are going to Google Plus in droves.

Whereas, in contrast, I think other Google innovations were more for non-consumers.
- Search, for those that found Altavista was just a bunch of junk links. Key features: Found what you're looking for!

- GMail, for those who preferred Outlook over Hotmail. Key features: Fast interface, Threading, Labels, Archive
Pre-Gmail, I was a diehard Outlook person. I couldn't imagine using Hotmail as my primary mail client. And now, I love GMail.

- Chrome, so much faster than Internet Explorer (IE). Not so much for "non-consumers". But man was it faster. And I think just this week it passed IE in usage. Who knew IE could be disrupted? When IE won the initial browser wars over Netscape, it seemed they were just good to go for a long time.

10 Books I've Read, and Thoughts on How They Apply to Entrepreneurs

2012-05-18T12:47:00.001-07:00

(still a draft blog post - 5/18/2012)

Thinking, Fast and Slow - Wow, a really dense book, but well written. So many concepts mostly centered around behavioral economics. Many concepts apply to startups, but one of my personal favorites is that people make up causal stories to explain things. Overall framework of three main concepts: System 1 vs System 2, Econs vs. People; Experiencing Self vs. Remembering Self. Concepts include: Anchors, Availability Bias, Regression to the Mean, Errors with Small Sample Sizes, Prospect Theory, Endowment Effect, Broad Framing vs. Narrow framing, Fallibility of Intution.

Entrepreneur Takeaway: It seems to me this is the kind of book an entrepreneur (or any person) could read multiple times, at different times of their lives, and draw big (and different) insights from with each reading. The right concept, at the right time, could lead to an important insight that is relevant to your own business.

Steve Jobs - Commited to what he loved. He saw the future, including the rise of tablet computers, well in advance. He was very contrarian for his focus on simplicity. I wonder if he would have won the PC wars had he been able to price the Apple as he wanted (instead of the $500 more for marketing budget that the CEO wanted).

Entrepreneur Takeaway: I hope the takeaway is not "I can act like Steve Jobs and succeed (sometimes he didn't treat people that well)" but rather focused more on the commitment to simplicity ("Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication") and being tenacious.

Einstein: His World and Universe - Amazing what he did by 24 years old. Reminds me that geniuses can be very effective early in life. He didn't view being an entrepreneur favorably. Didn't want to be focused on "the pursuit of capital".

Entrepreneur Takeaway: He was so tenacious (like Jobs) about finding truth, finding a unified theory. He was still scribbling possible unified theories while on his deathbed. He was also willing (again like Jobs) to come up with his own way of thinking about things, and forego the conventional wisdom.

Nudge - Introduces the concept of Choice Architecture and Libertarian Paternalism. The basic idea is that, design matters. Reminds me a bit of user interface design and Edward Tufte. For example, a default option can make a huge difference, like in the number of donors in a country. One country defaulted "Yes, I'm a donor" and had x% sign up as donors. Another country defaulted "No, I'm not a donor" and had y% sign up as donors. What a difference! Entrepreneurs should know about this to know that their design decisions can make huge impact. It's not just "yeah, the customers will click the box on the sign-up form for receiving email updates". But rather, the default makes a really big difference. Talks about Medicare Part D, which illustrates so much of why government initiatives fail (no competition for designing the system). Like, imagine if Facebook were a government initiative - painful, slow, obtuse, rarely updated.

Entrepreneur Takeaway: So many possible takeaways, but the concept of Choice Architecture and it's influence on the results you achieve, is important. I think Choice Architecture is an important toolkit to use while designing your products, but also one to look at when you are trying to figure out what's going wrong.

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life - A newspaper entrepreneur (and writer and publisher), then, after a partnership deal that provided income but relieve him of day-to-day duties, an experimenter (what color cloth makes snow melt? What is electricity?). Then, later in life a statesman. Then, much later in life a key figure and voice in the founding of our country. And finally, a wise voice the creation of the constitution.

Entrepreneur Takeaway: He secured early success in newspapers and parlayed that into publishing (Almanac). I think the economics concept of "complementary capabilities" and "absorptive capacity" were evident in his ability to write, his understanding of the publishing business, and his ability to take advantage of needs in the marketplace. He parlayed that success into "retiring" and then transitioned into "politics".

Talent is Overrated - You can do it! As long as you deliberately practice for 10,000 hours! Interesting thesis that may explain some of Einstein's success (focus on understanding the world that started at a young age, and a relentless focus on continuing to focus); Steve Jobs (years and years running companies, working in technology); and Franklin (years of analyzing how people worked, how to run a newspaper.

Drunkard's Walk - Randomness is everywhere. And people make up causal stories to explain it (See Thinking, Fast and Slow above). But really, so much is just random. Like the movie producer who has a string of hits ("what skill!"), followed by a string of failures ("out of touch!"), and then after being fired, the movies that he selected end up being successful ("maybe he knew what he was doing after all?"). So, I think about how that applies to entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur succeeds ("what a genius!"), and then fails ("out of touch"). We assign causality, but what if it's just a coin flip? The book ends with "Appreciate the absence of bad luck", and that message resonates with me.

SuperCrunchers - Data! Lots of data! Expert opinions can be outperformed by supercrunching lots of data. We don't want to admit it, but our experts may be fallible. In the future, data will provide a ton of insight. There is power in data, and the ability to analyze it for insights.

Entrepreneurs will be wise to recognize the tidal waves that supercrunching will probably produce for insights. And the advantage it gives to incumbent companies with a lot of data like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Square.

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman - Richard Feynman was an independent thinker and a deep insightful thinker. He didn't care about doing things the "right way", like math problems. Instead, he figure out his own way to come up with the solution. He crushed his high school math competition. He could fix radios just by thinking through the problems. As part of the Manhattan project, he made early parallel computers out of people, working in teams, figuring out problems on color coded cards, passing them around. He challenged a NASA computer to figure out where a rocket would land (Atlantic Ocean) and did it faster than the computer. Rather than just read the solution to problems and accept that as "the way to solve this", he would read just enough about how someone solved a problem to know, generally, what they did, then try to solve the problem on his own, in order to truly understand how to solve the problem.

The Lean Startup - Eric Ries is about putting in a process and culture of doing experiments and learning from those experiments ("Build, Measure, Learn", "Validated Learning"). The book attempts to validate itself for a broad audience (not just entrepreneurs) with examples of large corporations (Intuit) and government using it (gives a nice example of how it could work in government, but a stark contrast to Nudge's Medicare Part D rollout). [still finishing this book as of 5/18/2012]

Information spreading on Facebook vs. Twitter, as # of people I follow increases

2012-05-18T12:46:00.001-07:00

I found the following Facebook Data post: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-data-team/rethinking-information-diversity-in-networks/10150503499618859

As I read this Facebook Data team post on information spreading in a social network, I worry a little about Twitter.

Because, even though I'm not a huge fan of this, Facebook can optimize what shows up in my feed and when it shows up. It can increase the probability that I view a share from a weak tie, even if that share happened at 4am.

Whereas Twitter, as much as I like the chronological stream, cannot (currently) optimize my stream. So the weak tie share at 4am is missed.

Gut reaction. Facebook signal/noise ratio improves with # of people I follow. Twitter signal/noise ratio worsens with # of people I follow.

Put another way, if I follow 100K people on Facebook, the timeline has strong signal (good content). If I follow 100K on Twitter, noise.

On the flip side, I like the control with Twitter. I see all the tweets, in order. Something reassuring about that. Data density is better.

Jeff Stern brings up a good point that Facebook has too much noise. Upon further reflection, I agree. Facebook has too much noise. Theoretically they shouldn't. But in practice they do. Games, Music, Shares. I think they are probably trying to reduce this noise over time (and they let users control this pretty well by "hiding things)

As I think about this more, I wonder if Facebook is can be disrupted from a new entrant w/ high signal. i.e. No apps, games.

Path and Everyme are taking a shot at this. The strength of the Facebook network seems like a lot (too much?) to overcome, at least in the short run (i.e. network size, market awareness, cash in bank, revenue model works). And, if it's true that higher signal leads to user happiness/retention, I think that Facebook can figure that out and adjust.

They have already offered a "Close Friends" option, which kinda mirrors Path/Everyme.

3 Thoughts on a Organizational Model for edX

2012-05-04T08:44:00.002-07:00

I saw the edX announcement and was really impressed. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22290027

It seems the trendy thing to talk about in entrepreneurship & education is how to disrupt higher ed. For example:

- Peter Thiel "Higher Education is a Bubble".

- YCombinator "Things We'd like to fund: Online learning"

- Minerva and Larry Summers "$25M from Benchmark, Can Minerva Build An Online Ivy?"

So what role do MIT and Harvard play? They are the incumbent "firms", and they need to be part of the disruption or be disrupted themselves by newer firms, or other incumbents (like Duke, where I work).

What are some of the assets they have?

- Brand recognition

- Faculty (and the infrastructure to attract and develop high quality faculty)

- Students (and the infrastructure to attract high quality students)

- Infrastructure to support learning

- Learnings from MIT Open Courseware and MITX (120,000 signed up for their first pilot course on Circuits)

- $60M

and the list goes on...

It seems to me that edX has a really good start.

edX also strikes me as having the right mission. Harvard Provost Alan Garber said it was "dedicated to improving learning throughout the world".

And edX seems to have the right posture towards working with other universities. Susan Hockfield said "Harvard & MIT welcome educational institutions to this open source platform, and to help us improve it...fasten your seatbelts".

So, I wonder, what is the right organizational model for edX to engage Duke and other universities?

Not knowing anything about the specific inner workings of edX (or MIT Open Courseware), here are a few thoughts.

1) "Be a network, not a heirarchy"

I recently heard a talk by Brad Feld (who happens to be an MIT alum) and in talking about entrepreneurial communities he said "Be a network, not a heirarchy".

If I overlay this concept onto edX, it strikes me as relevant.

How is it relevant? One example, Metcalfe's law: "A network increases in proportion to the square of the number of nodes in the network". I think part of the power of edX will come from the number of contributors (nodes). edX President Anant Agarwal said something that makes me think he'd agree: "At the end of the day, the more online educators we have, the better off the whole world is." I think he was speaking about both edX and non-edX educators, but the statement may also be in support of edX educators itself.

It'd be easy to fall into heirarchy. "Oh, that professor teaches at [prestigious institution] they should have editorial control". But I think that leaves out the ability for great contributors from lesser-known institutions to contribute (or at least reduces their incentives).

It reminds me of that chapter from Malcom Gladwell's book Outliers called "The Trouble with Geniuses", where the an analysis of Nobel prize winners showed that they didn't all come from prestigious institutions. It also reminds me of Ed Weiland's prediction of Jeremy Lin. Ed Weiland drives for FedEx. But he seems to have a good mind for stats.

We want to give incentives to the Ed Weiland's of the teaching world.

My hunch is that edX should encourage as many nodes "faculty/instructors" as possible to contribute, and structure incentives and heirarchy (or lack of) to optimize their participation.

Recommendation:

- Add someone to the board that is an expert at network design, and can overlay those concepts. What principle of network design should we be thinking of?

- Add faculty members who understand both the value of faculty heirarchies, but are willing to think heretical thoughts about how those work across organizations.

2) Use best practices from Wikipedia

Related to "Be a network, not a heirarchy" is "How best do you utilize the strength of the network to produce great content?"

I assume there are multiple ways to utilize a network effectively, but it strikes me that Wikipedia has figured out how to meld these together to produce, on average, great content.

I'd be curious to know if Open Courseware (or other models) have figured out how to combine sources into one understandable (and hopefully great) course.

For example, can you take Feynman's lectures on physics and add those as an input on current lectures on physics?

- Add someone to the board from Wikipedia with expertise on how conflicts are resolved between multiple authors.

3) Use best practices from YouTube

One thing Wikipedia doesn't address (to my knowledge) is "How do you have Wikipedia style contributions (combine multiple video authors/sources) in one video?"

I'm not sure that YouTube itself knows how this works, but certainly people seem to use YouTube as the medium for combining multiple authors/sources into one video.

I don't know the research into video learning, but my hunch is that video learning is a powerful method for people to learn. Probably superior to text-only in many ways.

How do you allow multiple video authors to combine their efforts into one, understandable, well-made video?

Combining sources: If we had video of Feynman, could we combine that with video of Einstein. (The recent Tupac hologram at Coachella makes this seem like a possibility).

Combining authors: If we had Michael Bay, Bryan Singer, and Peter Jackson decide they want to author one video, how do they work together? What if Steven Spielberg wants to add in something later, how can we make the video "ever-editable"?

- Add someone that has figured out the way to combine multiple authors/sources, and do be able to continue to edit it over a long timeframe (multiple years).

In conclusion, I'm pretty excited about edX, and the general progression of online education (or just education in general). I think the ultimate goal is for anyone, anywhere, to be able to learn anything, for free. Or to put it slightly differently "lifelong personalized education".

---Some additional thoughts

Will edX win?

It's unclear to me if edX will figure out the right formula for making this work, but they are probably one of the frontrunners (if not the frontrunner) based on their assets and their objectives.

What is the role of another university in edX?

My hunch is that universities should embrace edX. That, or they may risk getting left behind. Maybe not in the next five years, but probably left behind in the next 20-50 years.

What is the role of a "residential university" once edX (or similar) has succeeded?

Susan Hockfield had a great quote "Online education is not an enemy of residential education, but rather a profoundly liberating and inspiring ally." It strikes me as the kind of quote that is the tip of the iceberg. I'd be really interested to know more about any data she has that supports this statement. It'd be fun to look at.

Let's say she is correct. Then what does a residential university look like once edX has succeeded (defining success as having a great online course in a majority of topics covered in universities; where the "average student" can watch the course, comprehend the information, and be able to apply it now and hopefully 5-10 years from now; most likely contributed to by multiple authors from multiple universities).

Or put into terms of Duke University, why will students come to Duke? Why not just stay at home, do all your learning online, and graduate that way?

This is a big, and probably scary, question for most universities.

I'm not sure. There is value created by universities outside of academic learning. Is it enough to justify the cost?

For example, non-academic value includes:

1) Being with peers your age, and developing those intellectual relationships (hard to find comparable physicists in your town that are your age, but easier to find a bunch at a university)

a) Caveat is that you do see some schools taking a "short residential, longer non-residential approach" like "let's spend two weeks together in London and six weeks doing online coursework". Example is Fuqua's Cross-Continent MBA program.

2) Being able to tap into the alumni network (there are great physicists who have graduated from here, and you can get in touch with them a little more easily)

a) Caveat is that, if you have something great to offer, being an alumni or not may not make a difference. (The converse is true if you don't have something great to offer)

3) Lifelong learning (You see this with universities offering lectures for alumni with their faculty. This seems to be threatened as edX develops. Although informal "chat" or small group discussions seems to continue to be something a university can offer)

a) Caveat is that, from the perspective of the faculty, they probably just want to have the most intellectually stimulating audience. So Richard Feynman might not want to talk to a small group of 10 physics newbies who happen to have gone to MIT (his alma mater), but rather would want to talk to 10 physics masters (regardless of school, like a Solvay Conference).

4) Experiences from being on campus (student clubs, events, sports, dating scene)

Youth may be wasted on the young (George Bernard Shaw), but I think those who have undergraduate residential experiences probably waste it in more memorable ways.

a) Caveat is that, for $50,000 a year, an undergraduate could probably do pretty well creating memorable experiences that aren't tied to one location. For example, the Summit Series

Not that the above items are "enough" to justify the cost, but I think those are some of the areas to consider when thinking of justifying the costs of a university separate from the academic learning.

More thinking will have to be put into this, but my hunch is that Universities will have to think of themselves differently. They are "destinations" yes, but I think they will need to amp up their value beyond just the destination. This is done, to some extent, by the Alumni Associations, but I think the scope, depth, and expertise of those groups will probably be expanded. So it's not just that you are joining the Alumni Association and participate occasionally, but that there is constant value being provided by those Alumni Associations. So that once you are a part of the university, it provides you a ton of value throughout your life.

And what about the career center portion of universities?
At least for business schools, this is a big part of the value. MBA students regularly get jobs at great companies like Apple, McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Proctor & Gamble, etc... and I think there is a good argument that this is enabled by being a part of the program.

Is the career portion of universities something which is residential-dependent? Probably not, but how does a company come "on-campus" as most of this recruiting is done, to meet with students. There are some economies of scale from the current model. Can this be replaced by a completely virtual model? Possibly. With advances in telepresence (like Cisco) the barriers for simulating face-to-face interactions are declining.

Monetization
My hunch is that edX should do it's best to forego any sort of monetization, at least in the early stages. I think the mission is so big "education for all, anywhere" that it should be something that can be funded by donors. Also, MIT and Harvard have huge endowments -- if they aren't willing to take a risk and go for the "no monetization" strategy, then not sure who will.

Wikipedia, as I understand it, has a "no monetization" strategy. Do they struggle financially? Yes. But are they doing something amazing we are (mostly) all behind? I think so.

edX should, in my opinion, dream big. Really big. Free education for all, anywhere in the world.

Maybe at some point monetization gets figured out. Ads like Facebook/Google? I could live with that. (Note to wikipedia, I could also live with that for you). Or some sort of micropayment based on how many pages you used (like a penny a page) that is only for geographies where people can afford it? Maybe.

But I want to believe, I think many of us want to believe, that MIT and Harvard can be tremendous "forces for good" and that monetization, while it might be important at some point, isn't important right now.

What about those who would argue that "unless it's sustainable, it's not going to be a success?" I tend to agree with that. However, I would challenge edX to try out every other option (begging for money/endowment, grants, whatever) before pursuing the monetization strategy, particularly if that monetization somehow raises a barrier for people to learn. Let's have learning be first, and monetization be after that.

Twitter snapshot American Idol Season 11 Top 7

2012-04-19T17:41:00.001-07:00

Colton 212,467
Jessica 200,688
Phillip Phillips 193,795
Skylar 82,614
Hollie 65,045
Joshua 59,460
Elise 58,727

Mean 124,685

Std Dev 73,246

10 Thoughts on Entrepreneurship after reading SuperCrunchers

2012-04-11T17:45:00.001-07:00

I finished SuperCrunchers yesterday. Here are some thoughts on how it applies to entrepreneurs.

First, what is SuperCrunching? Basically it's taking large datasets, running regressions, and coming up with insights about what factors matter.

Examples:
- Wine scoring - Economist Ashenfelter started predicting wine scores based on a formula he'd created from a regression. Wines were scored before they were even available to drink. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orley_Ashenfelter
- Book title scoring - Lulu Title Predictions http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/
- Sabermetrics

Thoughts for Startups:

1) Randomized A/B testing is the way to go for understanding what works and doesn’t. Examples: Offermatica, CapitalOne offers (for optimizing what wording/colors will get you to accept an offer), Brooks Bell Interactive (for optimizing your website conversions)

- Read this great primer on A/B testing on Smashing Magazine

2) Owning data, and putting it together in a powerful connected way seems to be both a short and long-term competitive advantage. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Google will be hard to unseat, partly for this reason.

Acxiom, an example of a company that owns a lot of data and sells it

3) “Watson” like systems like Isabel Healthcare are on the horizon for helping people make informed decisions, and will be disruptive. It strikes me that some combination of FitBit data collection with the power to harness and store data like Google, and natural language processing like Siri, will let some startup really advance this space. Same thing for other fields that have yet to be disrupted by SuperCrunching.

4) SuperCrunching tends to beat expert opinions. Much as chess engines have recently surpassed chess experts in ELO ratings, SuperCrunching will probably surpass human experts on many things.

Houdini Chess Engine (ELO is > 3000)
Chess Players Top List (Top grandmasters have ELO of ~ 2800)

5) Can entrepreneurs capitalize on the intersection of SuperCrunching feeding into Choice Architecture (Nudge)? Like Medicare Part D being in a recursively improving Choice Architecture.

"The reason for this low participation rate and the many problems associated with Medicare Part D can be summed up in a single phrase: The plan is far too complicated." - Investopedia

6) The ability to crunch down to a specific number is compelling and easy for people to grasp. Wine scores and Sabermetrics (cited in the book), but also Apgar Scores and Klout come to mind for me.

7) Saying a politician is favored 52% to 48% with a margin of error of 3% is less compelling and understandable than just saying Politician A has a x% chance of winning, which you can get from the same data. Although even probabilities are not that easy for people to grasp (need reference from Kahneman's Thinking Fast and Slow")

8) Bayesian probablities (also mentioned in Drunkards Walk) are really important to understand yet poorly understood. It’s about how one piece of data can give you information about how other probabilities change. The example cited was how doctors, even with test info on Down’s Syndrome likelihoods in babies in the womb, don’t know how to combine info to come up with a “probability that your baby has Down Syndrome”

Bayes' Theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayes'_theorem

P (A|B) = P(B|A) P(A) / P(B)

The math is not hard (multiplication and division) but the intuition eludes most people.

9) “Intuition is an input into SuperCrunching” and “Intuition is still important” both struck me as true. Much as Einstein used intuition to come up with mental leaps. Then, as an example, called on astronomers to test that gravity bends light. Intuition remains important even as SuperCrunching rises.

From Walter Isaacson's book "Einstein: His Life and Universe"

One day during the 1930s, Einstein invited saint-John Perse to Princeton to find out how the poet worked. "How does the idea of a poem come?" Einstein asked. The poet spoke of the role played by intution and imagination. "It's the same for a man of science," Einstein responded with delight. "It is sudden illumination, almost a rapture. Later, to be sure, intelligence analyzes and experiments confirm or invalidate the intuition. But initially there is a great forward leap of the imagination."

10) I have a hypothesis that SuperCrunching will come down in price and be outsourced, much as Amazon Web Services has driven down the price/complexity of web hosting. I think smart entrepreneurs will be able to take advantage of this to move more deftly through the fog of entrepreneurship - what’s right/wrong. I think Bob Gilbreath’s Minimum Viable Concept idea is along these lines.

Inc Magazine "[The Minimum Viable Concept is] a test that helps identify promising start-ups even before they create that minimum viable product. This saves investors and companies time and money."

---
Let me know your thoughts: hwr2@duke.edu and @howierhee

Review of Path 2.0 - Smart Journal App / Social Network

2011-12-17T11:57:00.000-08:00

(Pardon any typos, grammatical errors, logical errors. I wrote this blog post in one pass and now have to wake up my 2-year old daughter from her nap. Will edit more later. -Howie)

This is a review of Path 2.0, which was released a couple weeks ago.

Like some of you, I signed up for Path 1.0 back in 2010, but didn't do anything with it. It seemed interesting, but I just didn't spend the activation energy to try it out, recruit friends, etc...

As background, I'd say that:
1) I am "fairly social", but not extreme. I post to Facebook maybe a few times a month (950 "Friends"), and have started getting more active with Twitter (600 Followers, 650 Tweets (many of those in the last few weeks)). I have a dormant Google + account which I rarely check, and I have about 2,000 LinkedIn Connections.

2) I would also say I'm a "very active" photographer, I take over 10,000 pictures a year (mostly of my family), though that number is skewed since for any particular shot, I may take 5-15 continuous shots to try to get just the right facial expression from my children, with the intention of only using 1 picture. I shoot with a Canon DSLR (50mm lens), though since I got an iPhone 4S, have started taking of my pictures with that.

So, my conclusion of Path first:

I think Path is an awesome app. I really like their "Smart Journal" tagline, and their sophisticated, yet simple, user interface.

What is the problem it is solving for me?

Two of them
1) Problem finding a good journaling app

I have dabbled with keeping a journal over the years. From handwritten journals (filled 3 books) in college, to using Microsoft OneNote, to keeping notes in GMail, to trying sites like "OhLife" and "IDoneThis". None have stuck.

Path has done a really good job of making it easy to journal. Photos, videos, music you're listening to, who you are with, where you are, and of course "status updates" or "thoughts" as they call it.

It has been simple and fun to journal. I also find that I appreciate some of my "moments" (as Path calls them), more. Somehow the act of journal-ing throughout the day makes me more mindful. If you are a parent of young children, you know how easily it can be to get lost in the fuzziness of minding your children's needs. Seeing my thoughts on path, even just minutes after they have occurred, make me pause and think "wow, that was a great moment". Like a picture of my kids playing in front of our lit Christmas tree. Or us all sitting down to dinner as a family. Small things that go unnoticed.

How many people share this problem of not having a good way to journal? I'm probably in the minority of people that "like to journal" and so I think this is a great feature of the app, but am unclear how widespread a "problem" it is for others.

Summary: Path is a journal app I actually like to use.

2) Problem sharing small moments with my wife, family, and close friends (aka "loved ones")

I think this is a bigger problem that many people have. You want to share a picture with your wife of your kids playing in a puddle. Right now, if you're like me, you probably text that picture to her.

Or, you want your parents to see photos of your kids. You might send an email to a blog (I use a password protected Blogger) and have them look at it.

Before Path, I found that sharing these moments was fragmented and disjointed. After Path, I have found it to be coherent.

You might ask "How is sharing on Path different than Facebook?"
Two ways:
1) Hard to say no to Friend Requests: Facebook, the way I use it, is more than just "loved ones". It's new friends, old friends, acquaintances, work colleagues, and students of mine. So, anything I post on facebook feels like a "big announcement" and I don't think everyone wants to a video of my kids playing in a puddle, or a picture of us all sitting down for dinner. But my loved ones are more likely to appreciate something like that.

I know some people use Facebook to capture all of their daily moments (i.e. use Facebook as a journal), but I find that uncomfortable to see if I'm not close to them, and I usually "hide their posts".

2) Facebook amplifies what you share. Facebook, philosophically, likes to broadcast things as much as it can. Remember that up until recently, Facebook defaulted all posts by new members to be open to all to see. Even now that they have more controls, they still err on the side of getting more people to see what you are posting. You post something thinking just your Facebook Friends will see it, but somewhat mysteriously, your friends of friends will see it. Even with their supposed "simplified settings", I have lost my trust that Facebook is really limiting who sees what from my posts. Also, if I post a photo versus post a status update, I think Facebook applies different filters, and it just leads me to post less and less on Facebook. I tend to save my Facebook posts for "big announcements", like "Our baby arrived" and things like that. I think a lot of other people tend to save Facebook posts for announcements, too.

So how does Path do these two things differently?
1) You only can "friend" 50 people, so that scarcity is meant to have you be more selective. My experience is that it does have that effect. I still feel badly saying no to someone's friend request, but I'm more comfortable with it.

2) Path doesn't amplify things. In fact, their web functionality is so limited that if you see a post on their website, you can't see any other posts from that same person. They are very intent on keeping your trust that only the people you specify will see what you post.

Conclusion of my user experience:
Path helps me feel more connected to my loved ones. I interact with close friends a lot more on Path. It feels like we are having an ongoing conversation. Like I know what they are doing at work, or what they are doing at night. I see things on Path that I would not see them post on Facebook.

Sure, before Path, I already interacted with close friends a lot, maybe sharing a funny link or video, or just plain old getting together and having a beer.

But Path makes it easier for me to have a window into their day on a more consistent basis. For example I know that one friend:
1) Lost a work lottery for an iPad (so close!)
2) Played Rock'em Sock'em Robots
3) Made a smiley face out of his Chick-Fil-A sliders
4) Did a brainstorming white board session for a fundraiser he is helping with
5) Listened to Eye of the Tiger the other morning.

Theoretically, we could talk about all of these things over a beer on Saturday night. But, for me, it's more fun to known about them as they happen.

And then you multiply that times a few friends, and you are keeping tabs on several friends in a more intimate way.

And then you add in friends who are across the country (Seattle) or the world (Singapore), and then you are sharing your life with them in a way that you can't quite accomplish over a beer (even if you have a beer while using Facetime every so often).

Here's some other thoughts I have on Path:

Twitter vs Facebook vs Path

Twitter - public discussion

Facebook - semi-private announcements with a little discussion

Path - private, intimate discussion

Path vs GroupMe

I've only used GroupMe a little, but it feels like it's very synchrounous whereas Path is asynchronous. In other words, if I send something out on GroupMe, it feels like it should be acted on now. Like "we're all heading to the movie." or "meet us at the restaurant". With Path it's more relaxed, like you could not check it for a day and then just see everything your friends posted.

User Acquisition
I'm a little worried about this. Facebook, being so social and amplified, made user acquisition easier. Your mother has heard of Facebook dozens of times before they finally say "ok, I'll try this".

With Path, you're more of a missionary, trying to convince loved ones to try it out (unless you are in Silicon Valley, in which case your close friends probably heard something about it).

Monetization
So far, from what I can see, Path makes money selling some filters for their photos. There was one I bought (The Grid), but I find it a little hard to think this will be scalable enough to pay the bills.

Ads - will people be ok with ads a la Facebook? My hunch is yes.

Freemium - could Path be free for all like Evernote, but with a $45 a year fee for premium stuff? My hunch is yes.

In App purchases (beyond filters) - could Path create In App purchases that are more compelling and bring in more revenue? My 5-year old son was playing a game and I bought him a $14.99 In-App purchase this morning. If a racing game can compel someone to do that, I would hope that a meaningful app like Path, that has all of my personal posts, can do something like that. Maybe something like Blurb or the old version of Pixable (before their recent pivot) where I can print a Year in Review book?

I really like Path. Hope it can get enough money and users to make a sustainable business.

What to do over Winter Break to get an internship with a startup

2011-12-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

I often get asked by students what they need to do to get an internship with a startup. I've listed many of the resources I suggest on the internships page on the DukeGEN website.

I have also seen students work their way into internships over the last few years, and want to share some general strategies that I've seen work. This is targeted at students who are conducting an "off campus" search and want to land in a startup (though it may work just as well for larger companies).

1) Figure out where you want to live.

Brad Feld (Foundry Group, TechStars) gives the advice of first choosing where you want to live, and that advice resonates with me. A lot of students I work with can answer this question pretty well, but some can't.

- For a few of you, it will be plainly obvious. Maybe you want to live near family, or maybe you are enamored with a city.

- For many of you, there will be a few choices. Maybe you could see yourself in San Francisco or New York City. In that case, take the exercises below, and do them for each city.

- For some of you, you have no preference. You could live anywhere. I would then challenge you to do your best to prioritize. Try to select your "top 5" and then do the exercises below for each of them. I will warn you, spreading yourself across 5 cities will be difficult. If possible, whittle it down to 1-2 while you are doing the following exercises.

Undecided? If you want to max out your startup experience, I would highly recommend spending time in Silicon Valley. As I look back on my experiences, this is something I wish I had done. And having spent some time there (a week in 2007) and hosting events there (DukeGEN Angel Pitch events in 2010 and 2011), the vibe and startup culture are really impressive. It feels like almost everyone is starting a company or connected to a startup in some way.

In comparison, Boston (lived there four years), New York City (lived there one year, hosted two Angel Pitch events), and Washington DC (lived there three years). Those are all great places for starting a company, but I don't think the entrepreneurship culture is as prevalent and celebrated there as it is in Silicon Valley.

Of course, there are many other locations to get startup experience. It's probably equally important, if not more important that:

- You are working with someone who will teach you things. Who are you working with? (they should be willing to teach you). Are you going to see important decisions get made or are you just another body to help out? Will you have access to observe important things happen in the startup?

- You are working at a startup you believe in. What is the startup doing? (choose a startup that you think is doing something really interesting).

- You choose a startup that you can reference later in your career. Is it something that builds your experience in an industry you are interested in? Or builds a skillset you are interested in? There is "reputational equity" that you get by working at a startup - try to pick startups that will have a good reputation later. For example, if you interned at Twitter when it was starting, that would have been a good investment. If you interned at a startup that has failed, that may be harder for you to sell.

Regardless, if you have a target location in mind, I would start now to develop your network and experience in that location.

2) Within that location, figure out which startups are on your Bullseye lists.

A Bullseye company list (also may be called an ABC list) is a great piece of advice that the Fuqua Career Management Center (thanks Meg Flournoy) gave to me back when I was an MBA student. It's kinda similar to how a lot of students applying to school will create their "Reach, Match, and Safety" schools that they will apply to.

The goal is to create three sets of companies that you would want to work at, from the most desirable to the least desirable (but still acceptable).

A - Center of the bullseye. These are your ideal companies. Pick 5-10. These are the ones you would love to work at. Basically the idea is, "If you could just choose any company and get the job, what company would it be?".
B - 2nd ring of the bullseye. These are your companies that would be good to work at. Again pick 5-10.
C - Outer ring of the bullseye. These are your "safety" companies. You would be ok working there for a few years, but you aren't thrilled about it.

Are you having trouble figuring out what kind of startup interests you? Then you might do what Duke alum Liz Reaves Walker did. She read the Wall Street Journal each day and noted the things that were personally interesting to her.

3) How do you find these startup companies?

First of all, check out our list of internship resources on the DukeGEN website.

More generally, I think your best bets are:

1) Portfolio companies of venture capital firms that are local to that community. You can also look at Angel Groups/Funds in that community.

2) Local venture conferences where startup companies demo (look at the listings from the last few years, as some of the companies that pitched a few years ago are now ready to hire if they've raised money).

3) Porftolio companies of local incubators (TechStars, Y Combinator, etc...).

Here is a good listing of incubators.

Duke has alumni at MuckerLabs (LA), TechStars NYC, DreamIt Ventures (Philadelphia), Shotput Ventures (Atlanta), Joystick Labs (RTP, NC) and Dogpatch Labs (Palo Alto, CA).

Duke has also had some alumni that have recently gone through:

TechStars Boulder (Yoav Lurie, Justin Segall of SimpleEnergy)
Y Combinator (Howie Liu of Etacts, Jason Freedman of FlightCaster, with Kathryn Minshew of The Daily Muse, and Chris Morton about to start)
TechStars NYC (David Goldberg, Contently)

4) Start looking at the tech journals and business journals from that local region.
- For example, in North Carolina, there is the WRAL Local TechWire, and TechJournal South.
- More generally you might start to read TechCrunch and Mashable, which are the big names in the larger techsphere. GigaOM is also great (sign up for their daily newsletter).

5) If there is a local non-profit that focuses on startups, get connected to them.
- For example, in North Carolina we have the Council for Entrepreneurial Development.
- In Silicon Valley, there is Joint Venture Silicon Valley
- In New York City, check out the New York Tech Meetup

And of course, join the Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network (DukeGEN) on LinkedIn, with over 3,000 Duke members.

4) Start Networking

Personally, I used to think that "networking" was a bad word. Like it was the equivalent of "using someone". Just before starting my MBA in 2002, I heard someone talk about networking, and I had a strong negative reaction to it.

Networking is important. And for many in the business world, it is common and accepted. As a student, you may not have networked before, but you should take the time now to try it out. Even if you make some mistakes, it's important to understand how networking works.

Why is networking important? There is a highly cited concept that Mark Granovetter published on called the "Strength of Weak Ties". Basically it says that there's a lot of value in "weak ties", or the friends of friends.

In accordance with this research, many believe that you get a job, not through a good friend (a "strong tie"), but through a friend of a friend ("weak ties"). The takeaway? You need to identify, build, and reach out to these weak ties, or else they won't know that you exist.

I think the key to networking is to find those people that are willing to help you, develop a real relationship with them (one that you could see continuing for years) as opposed to thinking of it as a transaction (just help me get a job right now), and do your best to provide some value to them.

Why network? I would argue that there is a strong correlation between the amount of networking you do, and the number of job opportunities you will see. How many startups are out there? Thousands. How many will come to recruit on campus? Maybe a few dozen. Unless you are out there looking around, networking with folks, how will you find the thousands that are out there but not visible to you? You need to talk to people.

As an example, one of my students recently used on-campus recruiting to get an interview with at Top 5 consulting firm. He didn't get it.

He really wanted to get into a consulting firm (not a terrible choice for an undergraduate that wants to build a skillset to eventually jump into a startup).

So, I asked him how many consultants he had spoken to (aka How much networking have you done?). It was a small number, maybe 2-3.

I told him that he needs to really grow that number, to 10-20, and that the more consultants he speaks to, the more opportunities he will find.

It's his senior year. He only has about five months until he graduates. This winter break it will be important for him to reach out to people, to lay the groundwork for finding opportunities and developing relationships with people. Unfortunately, with the time pressure, it will be difficult.

The takeaway: Don't find yourself in the same situation. Start to network before you need it. It's much easier to network when you aren't stressed about "needing to find a job".

DISCLAIMER. You could bypass steps 4 through 8 and just reach out to the startup you are interested and say "I'm interested in interning with you. I like what you are doing and I'd be willing to work for free. I'm available June - August". In other words, it's possible a cold email will work. Startups are often looking for help, and (depending on their size) don't have much in the way of resources (time, money) to find people. If you reach out to them, there's a possibility they may say "yes".

5) How do you get the meeting?

So the next question is "How do you get the meeting"?

There's a few parts to this.

First, think of it like a key in a keyhole. There are several tumblers, and you need to set each of the tumblers correctly to unlock the door. (Thanks to Peter Johnson for this analogy).

I think this analogy works for thinking of networking. The people you are reaching out to are generally very busy. They want to find a reason to say no to you. They have their own priorities, and helping a student is usually not high on their list. Or even if they want to help a student, they've been contacted by a few students already, so why should they help you?

Ways to get the meeting:

a) Warm intro: This is most important and hardest to get. Do you know someone that knows them? Can they vouch for you? Will they write an email intro for you? If so, that may be the "master key" that unlocks the door all by itself.

Example of a warm intro email:

I want to introduce you to Jodie Smithson, a fellow Dukie '05. She just started at Company X as manager for their technology programs. She is trying to get an idea of what resources are already available, and what their company could do better for Duke students. It would be great if you guys could connect over the phone or a cup of coffee.

Hope to see you soon, and in the meantime I leave you two connected.

This warm intro makes it difficult to say no to this request. It also turns out that the topic is one I am interested in, so the "key tripped all of the tumblers" and the door opened. Meeting request accepted.

b) Same school: People from your alma mater or from the school you are at are generally more receptive.

c) Informational interview: You want to learn more about the industry (as opposed to just wanting a job). You are "seeking advice". These are things that people feel they can help with, without overcommitting themselves.

d) In person is better (see below): They "may" take you up on a phone call, but it's better if you can come to their office. This makes it easiest for them. I wouldn't suggest you invite them to coffee or lunch (but if they offer, then you can accept), because that takes more time out of their day.

e) Be "politely persistent". I can't remember who coined this phrase, but it's a great one. If you send one email and give up, then you almost shouldn't have tried. I would suggest you send at least a few emails, maybe spaced about two weeks apart. You might try a service like Boomerang to remind you of when you need to send an email.

f) Say something about yourself that is interesting enough/impressive enough that they will want to meet with you. Perhaps you won an award at some competition? Perhaps you are a fellow of some sort? Perhaps you already did a summer internship at a startup?

g) Be working on a school project that could use their input. Maybe it's a survey of all startups in the mobile sharing space? Maybe it's a startup you have conceived of in the travel technology space?

Here's an example email:

My name is Fred Sampson. My teammate, Melissa Proctor and I are currently enrolled in Duke's Program for Entrepreneur's class at Fuqua and are testing a new media business idea we call JetSetter. JetSetter is a travel startup that seeks to make vacation booking simple for families looking for family friendly locations and deals.

Given your experience in the travel industry, Howie thought you would have some particularly valuable insight into our project.

Would you be available for a brief phone call to discuss the following questions?

What is your personal opinion of the travel industry and it's future?
What are the vacation destination companies thinking/planning? How are they dealing with the “crisis”?
What are their strategies for dealing with the apparent decline in vacation travel? How are they managing the transition to digital?
What revenue models are they considering? How do the structural changes affect vacation travel?
What new partnerships/joint ventures are they entertaining?
What potential issues to do you see with our current business model?

If email is more convenient for you, that works for us too.

We appreciate any help and perspective you can offer!

h) Ultimately, I think you need to do your research. Especially for your first few attempts, spend more time trying to figure out why they should talk to you.

6) Create your own "recruiting trip" in the city you want to live in.

This is something I think most students under-perform on.

It's easy to think of Fall Break, Winter Break and Spring Break, and even Summer Break as "down time". But I have seen some students effectively utilize these as opportunities to create a "recruiting trip" to their target city.

For example: J. was a student who was really intent on landing in San Francisco. He took the lead on organizing the "official" student trips (called "Week-in-Cities" trips at Fuqua) to San Francisco, which also meant he got to email all of the companies he wanted to visit, and also got to set the agenda for which companies to visit.

In addition, he made additional trips back to San Francisco over Spring Break, Fall Break, and the summer, to reach out to more people.

By the time he was looking for a full-time position, he knew the landscape pretty well. When he got an interview for a position, not only did he know the industry, but he also knew some of the players. He credits his ability to land the job to the groundwork he laid with his trips.

7) How do you stay connected with your network?

This is hard to do. You want to be adding value without taking up too much time.

First of all, and unlikely, is that you find some way to work with the person. Perhaps you are volunteering on some project that they need help with. With some of my own students, the ones I work with the most (and therefore develop the strongest relationships with) are the ones that volunteer for the Duke Start-Up Challenge, for DukeGEN, or for the Program for Entrepreneurs.

There's a high opportunity cost for volunteering for someone, so make sure you are truly passionate about what you are doing, or that you really want to help this person.

Second, assuming you aren't volunteering for them, I think it's reasonable to write a once or twice a year update. I love to get these. Something that says where you are, what you've been doing, what you're learning. It's so easy to lose track of people that I want to keep in touch with. When a student writes back with an update, it is really a wonderful thing.

Third, I find that some students do a good job of sending articles. I do this myself, I will be on Twitter, find an article, and forward it to someone that I think it is relevant to. I maybe do this once a week. I just write a note at the beginning like "thought this would be of interest to you". I try to only send stuff if I think it really would be valuable (as opposed to just sending marginally interesting articles). I also try to send them directly to the person (not send the article to a whole bunch of people).

Fourth, and this is obvious, connect on LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Facebook (some people will welcome this, some prefer to keep Facebook more for personal contacts).

Ultimately, I think for you to stay connected to your network it needs to be a mutually beneficial connection. I've heard others describe it as a "authentic" or "real" relationship. This has been true in my experience. I won't feel connected to someone "just because" they're sending me articles once in a while, but I will feel connected if we have shared some good experiences (shared successes like running a great Duke Start-Up Challenge or DukeGEN Angel Pitch Event or great analysis in Program for Entrepeneurs).

A lot of networking relationships tend to fade away over time, but the ones where you are helping each other out and "in it together", those seem to stick around.

Back in 2005 I wrote down a list of my "top 250" contacts. (I had read an article that suggested this). As of now, about 6 years later, I'd say that
- 80% are people I'd feel comfortable reaching out to now (have kept good relationships, or built enough of a relationship at the time that they would remember me)
- 20% are people that I can only barely remember (I met them once, but haven't had significant follow up since then). Some have moved away, or aren't in this space/industry any more.

Of the 80%, I'd say that:
- 20-50% I work with on a fairly regular basis (quarterly)
- maybe 20% I work with very regularly.

The takeaway: Find real reasons to be in a relationship with this person. And find ways to add value for that person.

8) How do you tap into your network to find an internship with a startup?

As a student, I didn't quite understand how to utilize the network I had. I remember as a first year MBA student, I reached out to someone I had met once before and I basically asked "Do you have an internship spot available for this summer?". That's really forward of me (too forward). Try not to do that.

Instead, I think the way to work with your network is to subtly put out there what you are doing. It might be an update like.

"I have had a great time at Duke, and am about to complete my Fall Semester. I recently interned with a startup in Silicon Valley called XYXYXY and had an excellent experience. I got to see the ZUZUZU IPO first hand and how it affected our industry.

I'm currently looking at opportunities in the startup scene in Silicon Valley and wondered if you have 15-30 minutes to help give me some advice."

They will be able to read between the lines and understand that you are available for positions. They can then tell you if something is available.

Occasionally, I think you can, in fact, ask for the job. I think this should probably be with someone who you have a good relationship, and I would be somewhat gentle about it. "Hey, I realize this may put you in an awkward spot, but I really like what your company is doing and it'd be great if I could work with you more. Are there any job opportunities that you think might be available for someone like me?"

In contrast, I've had some people call me, with whom I don't have much of a relationship and, without small talk, just said "I need referrals to people in the industry that are hiring. Who do you know?" I begrudgingly helped them (it had come in through a warm intro, and I was already on the phone with them), but I don't plan to help them again in the future. Interestingly, he also said "I'm really interested in helping you out with what you are doing, maybe in a future call", but he hasn't reached out to me to help.

Here's an email exchange I had with one startup CEO that I had referred in a student for:

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Startup CEO
Date: Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 5:06 PM
Subject: RE: quick reference
To: Howie Rhee

Perfect – thanks. I’ll formally offer it to him

From: Howie Rhee [mailto:hwr2@duke.edu]
Sent: Thursday, April 1, 2011 5:03 PM
To: Startup CEO
Subject: Re: quick reference

Worked very very closely with Franklin Jones. I think he's fantastic. He would do well for you guys.

Tenacity - yes

Attention to detail - yes

Organizational skills - yes

Let me know if you want more info.

Howie

On Thu, Apr 14, 2011 at 5:01 PM, Startup CEO wrote:

Howie,

Am thinking of getting Franklin Jones to do an internship for me this summer on a special project that involves doing lots of market research. Do you know him and how would you characterize his tenacity & attention to detail & organizational skills?

Thanks for any informal feedback you can provide.

In summary
In summary, networking is important in your job search, and takes time and effort to cultivate. As a student, you may not have much experience with networking. Now is a good time to try it out. People will give you more leeway as a student, so it's ok to fall. As someone recently tweeted "School is a nice place to try new things because it's like a sandbox. Even if you make a mistake, the fall doesn't hurt that much".

Thanks and good luck!

--
Howie Rhee (Duke/Fuqua '04, MIT '97) is the Managing Director for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Fuqua. He is working on helping Duke be one of the best environments for students interested in entrepreneurship. More at www.howierhee.com. And you can follow him on Twitter @howierhee.

Final Presentations in Duke's Program for Entrepreneurs (P4E)

2011-12-09T09:40:00.001-08:00

The goal of the Program for Entrepreneurs (P4E) is to assist entrepreneurs in launching new businesses.

This initiative is the capstone of Fuqua’s entrepreneurship educational offerings. It leverages Fuqua’s academic research, courses and broad community of practitioners to work with entrepreneurs to define, plan, establish and finance new ventures.

More info at: http://www.dukep4e.org/

Teams in New Ventures 3
Syllabus

K Kane

K Kane is a fine jewelry line whose pieces are as unique as the individuals who wear them.

HyTower Energy Storage

HyTower develops distributed pumped hydro energy storage for merchant participation in electricity markets

Epistem^Logic

Patent database and smart search engine based on artificial intelligence algorithm

Teams in New Ventures 1
Syllabus

BAMmarketplace.com

BAMmarketplace is an online and app research platform for socially driven people. We provide customers a way to use the power of their purchases towards the causes they care about most. Search by cause, by brand or by item and discover through a user-friendly, icon based platform how mainstream products and products from 3rd world entrepreneurs are creating social and environmental impact.

Connect

Our current idea is to provide platform for people with health problems to connect. We will be providing a chat/text like application on phone for people to get real time feedback from other users having similar problems. For example, a diabetic person eating at a restaurant not sure of the food he is eating, can ask for advice from other diabetic users on our service. All these users will be subscribed to the same group - "Diabetes". This idea can be later scaled to different verticals.

ConnectUs

A new social network that aims to facilitate connections between young professionals.

FlexRegistry

FlexRegistry is a location and time aware registry on-the-go for maintaining and sharing wish lists and recommendations among friends. The offering will have 2 components - an App and a backing website. The key features are listed below:

FundyPeople

A new peer-to-peer platform aimed at connecting entrepreneurs and any population wiling to invest capital.

MBAApp

MBAApp is an online platform intended to solve the many inherent inefficiencies in the current MBA application process. Via an easy-to-use online interface which would be accompanied by mobile apps, the MBA applicant would be able to manage the entire process, from writing essays, to finding schools and clubs or managing deadlines and recommendation letter requests. Rather than replace existing systems in place, it would augment them from an end-user's perspective, and feed information to them once applications are complete.

Polymags

Polymags offers magazine readers ultimate flexibility and cost-savings. Users pay one low, annual subscription fee and can make monthly magazine selections via their web or mobile account. A vast array of options is available to cater to the broad and evolving interests of readers; for example, one month a subscriber might receive Architectural Digest and the next month Women’s Fitness. Readers are able save lots of money avoiding multiple subscriptions, and they no longer have to feel guilty for letting all of those untouched magazines stack up.

Project Pineapple

Project Pineapple offers students a radically different way of finding and choosing their academic courses - courses that are relevant to both their career and personal pursuits. Through our product, they can navigate the curriculum in innovative ways such as viewing classes based on course content rather than department, or finding students who have taken similar courses and connecting with them. Eventually, through a student's personal interests and academic history, we want to connect the student to internships and other non-curricular activities that actually draw upon and augment their classroom experiences.

Scene-ster

Scene-ster is for professional or socially motivated individuals who desire to interact with a particular subset of people instantly through mobile interface. The Scene-ster smartphone app is a mobile, GPS-based, real-time social connectivity software that facilitates locating a group of people relevant to your social or professional interests by allowing you to search for people based upon characteristics and receiving real-time results on a map display. It is unlike other social media tools that require “logging in”, building a “profile”, or “checking-in”. Our product does not require logging in or building a profile while it amasses data anonymously based on user-defined characteristics to bring people together instantaneously.

Take Back the Trail

Take back your heart, health, and community

Equal parts social initiative and fitness apparel brand, the sale of all Take Back The Trail fitness apparel will support local initiatives to empower minority women in low-income neighborhoods to take back their hearts, health, and communities. Through purchasing the Take Back The Trail brand, consumers who live a life dedicated to health and fitness will be connected with women who aspire to do the same but who are yet to have the resources to do so.

www.takebackthetrail.com

Clinical Vest

Clinical Vest is designed to be a portable, non-invasive measurement system to monitor biological parameters in a non-clinical setting. The system is capable of collecting and storing biologically relevant data (e.g. abdominal sounds, maternal/fetal heart rate and respiratory sounds) that are not normally collected in current systems. Usage of the vest eliminates the need for subjects/patients to stay in clinics for evaluation and allows them to live as they normally would, and also enhances the measurement of the effectiveness of drug treatments by identifying outlier subjects in pharmacokinetic studies.

F.I.M. - Fighting the Impulsiveness Monster

The business idea is the creation of a serious health game aimed at training three specific aspects of cognitive function among adolescents with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) facing issues with inhibitory control.

Okulife

Okulife is a prospective company that will focalize in the production, sale and distribution of ornamental plants through a Japanese technique call Kokedama (“Koke” = moss, “Dama” = ball). The project includes the creation of a detailed website with high quality pictures and a shopping cart.

PEGnacea

A reliable, high quality, low cost manufacturing technology of a biomedical material, PEG. Specialty polyethylene glycol (PEG) is widely used by research institutes and pharmaceutical companies. But the market lacks a specialized and reliable PEG provider that offers high quality PEG. We will fill this gap with 5 patentable technology by providing superior PEG product and after sales\ services to our clients.

Rent the Room

"Rent the Room” is a high quality rental service for home staging accessories (art, lamps, linens etc.). It builds on the momentum of the rent-by-mail success of Netflix and Rent the Runway to provide do-it-yourself homeowners and real estate agents with an alternative to expensive home staging services. Rent the Room allows budget saavy customers access to the simple, modern styles that appeal to home buyers without having to invest in accessories they don't want. When the home sells, they simply send their items back to us...and we send them on to another customer.

The Monday Life

The Monday Life is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that improves the environments inside children's hospitals by asking people to donate $1, every Monday. We are currently working solely with Duke Children's Hospital yet plan to expand to children's hospitals around the world throughout our time in P4E.

TrustyEarnings

Web-based services for detecting deception in corporate financial statements: TrustyEarnings aims to use psychological and linguistic models to assess the information conveyed by executives during earnings conference calls about their affective states that, in turn, help users predict future profitability and returns.

Winter Update 2011 - Entrepreneurship at Duke

2011-12-02T13:40:00.001-08:00

There's a lot to report.

It's been a great Fall here in Durham, for entrepreneurship activities at Duke.

Over 100 Duke student teams competed in the 6th Annual Elevator Pitch Competition (part of the Duke Start-Up Challenge and DukeGEN). That's a new record (previous high was around 70 teams). Great spread of years (from Freshmen to Medical School Residents), and schools (Pratt, Fuqua, Trinity, Nicholas, Law, Medicine, Graduate School).

Will Pearson '01 of mental_floss, gave a great talk at the Elevator Pitch Finals, where our 19 finalists pitched in Reynolds Theater of the Bryan Center (a new venue for us).

DukeGEN held it's 4th DukeGEN Angel Pitch Event, our second in New York City. (We also held our 3rd event in San Francisco in June). Summing the 3rd and 4th events, about 80 Duke startups applied to pitch, and 12 actually pitched to investors.

The Program for Entrepreneurs (P4E) started it's fourth cohort with 16 teams (a new record). They started the first course, New Ventures 1, in mid-October. About 8 of the teams were IT/Internet/App based.

InCube got off the ground and the students have moved in. Congrats to Sid and everyone involved.
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Task Force (led by Kimberly Jenkins) has formed, met twice, and put together some recommendations on entrepreneurship at Duke going forward. The response to join the Task Force was really positive, and things are looking bright for Duke's future.

We hosted five Duke speakers for DukeGEN: Live from Silicon Valley. This was a departure from our previous years' Education Series, and all speakers joined us live via Skype. We tested Skype as an experiment, and the feedback was overall positive. Videos of their talks are available on YouTube. Speakers included:

Jason Freedman (Flightcaster, Y Combinator)
Howie Liu (Etacts, Y Combinator)
Ryan Spoon (Polaris Ventures, Dogpatch Labs, beRecruited)
Matt Koidin (Read It Later, TeamRankings)

Congrats to Duke alumni Jesse Lipson (ShareFile), Justin Segall & Yoav Lurie (SimpleEnergy), Kathryn Minshew (The Daily Muse), David Goldberg (Contently). All had exits or closed on funding.
Published DukeGEN interviews, at www.dukegen.com/profiles, with:

Jeff Kovick '11 - Co-founder and CEO of Medici Medical Technologies
Evan McCormick '11 - Founder and CEO of Investors Mosaic
Brian Hamilton '90 - Co-founder of Sageworks
Vikas Narula '07 - Co-founder of Keyhubs
Glen Caplan '02 - Co-founder of Joystick Labs
David Mauney '90 - Co-founder and Managing Director of De Novo Ventures
Brooks Bell '02 - Founder and CEO of Brooks Bell Interactive
Liz Reaves Walker '05 - Senior Product Manager at LinkedIn

Over 300 Duke students joined the DukeGEN Startup Matchmaker Directory

Looking forward to having a great Spring. Each semester we get a little better, and the goal is to continue to improve, and at the same time, continue at a sustainable pace.

-Howie Rhee '04

Blue Devil Weekend 2011 - Entrepreneurship Schedule at Fuqua

2011-04-16T05:17:00.000-07:00

Slightly different schedule this year

1) Entrepreneurship Presentation at 5pm in the 4th Floor Conference Room of Admissions.

If you missed it, here is the presentation.

2) Activities Fair - 7-9pm

Check out the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club / Duke Start-Up Challenge Table

I'll be there along with student volunteers

Ted Getten

Interning for angel investor firm in San Francisco
Interning for investor in Los Angeles
Participated in the Program for Entrepreneurs

Nikin Shah

Incoming co-president of the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club
Participated in the Program for Entrepreneurs
Intern at venture capital firm

Fernando Trueba

Founder of Futfield.com, soccer website for rising soccer stars
In the Program for Entrepreneurs.

Kate Kane

Founder of K Kane, high end jewelry line
In the Program for Entrepreneurs.

Olgun Kukrer

Incoming co-president of the Duke Start-Up Challenge
In the Program for Entrepreneurs.
Founder of Golf & Fly, golf simulators in airports

3) Available Saturday from 10am - 1pm

I'll be around tomorrow to answer questions from 10am - 1pm

If you miss me and you have questions, let me know. hwr2@duke.edu

Welcome to all the admitted Fuqua students! Enjoy Blue Devil Weekend 2011.

For an overview of everything going on in entrepreneurship at Duke, check out www.entrepreneurshipatduke.com

Howie

Lots of Spring 2011 updates in one post

2011-04-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

We've had a ton of things going on in Spring 2011.
Here's one post that summarizes a lot of things:

1) Duke Start-Up Challenge - 110 teams, 7 great finalists, 1 $50,000 winner.

I post these updates on the official EntrepreneurshipAtDuke Blog.

Breakdown of the competitors - http://entrepreneurshipatduke.blogspot.com/2011/02/update-on-duke-start-up-challenge-110.html
Investor Pitch Finals with Melissa Bernstein '87 - http://entrepreneurshipatduke.blogspot.com/2011/03/investor-pitch-finals-event-summary_31.html
Grand Finale with J.B. Pritzker '87 - http://entrepreneurshipatduke.blogspot.com/2011/04/11th-annual-duke-start-up-challenge.html

2) An Evening with David Rubenstein '70, part of the Entrepreneurship At Duke Education Series

Pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/hwr2duke/AnEveningWithDavidRubenstein70#

3) Program for Entrepreneurs - kicking off recruiting for our fourth cohort - the Class of 2013!

www.dukeP4E.org

4) DukeGEN Profiles - interviews with Duke alumni entrepreneurs

A bunch of new profiles - check them out here: http://www.dukegen.com/profiles
Some of the new ones listed here:

David Johnson '98 - Founder and CEO of Atlas Digital Solutions
Ana Homayoun '01 - Founder and Director of Green Ivy Educational Consulting
Mark Rampolla ‘97 - Founder and CEO of ZICO
Corey Cleek '00 - Founder and CEO of Uloop
Douglas Hanna '13 - CEO of A Small Orange
Jesse Lipson '00 - Founder and CEO of ShareFile
Chuck Eesley '02 - Co-author of Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT
Melissa Bernstein '87 - Co-founder/Co-Owner ofMelissa & Doug
Shaan Puri '10, Trevor Ragan '10, and Daniel Certner '10 - Founders of Sabi Sushi
Eduardo Hauser ’03 – Founder and CEO of DailyMe
Basil Enan ‘03 – Founder and CEO of CoverHound

5) 6th DukeGEN Multi-city Networking Event in 13 cities on March 2nd, 2011

See the pictures here: http://www.dukegen.com/events/asuccessful6throundofdukegenmulti-citynetworkingevents

6) The 1st Duke Start-Up Challenge: Alumni Track

50 alumni teams! Check it out here: http://www.dukegen.com/alumni-track

Startup Resources for finding a job with a startup, or raising money for your startup

2010-12-08T08:22:00.001-08:00

Hello Duke students,

I often get asked by students about potential job leads at startups. What I've found works best is pointing students to some of the best aggregated lists of startups online, and suggesting that the students reach out to Duke alumni at those startups (or contact the companies directly if there are no Duke alumni). As a Duke entrepreneur told me "I like it when a student finds us, and explains why they'd like to work with us".

So for those of you in a similar situation, I'd suggest you look at some of the resources below, try to find the startups that are a really good fit for you both industry-wise and geographically (as Brad Feld of TechStars likes to say, first figure out where you'd like to live).

Since many of you are going to spend significant time on this during the upcoming winter break, I thought I'd pull together some resources and make them available to you. This is not meant to be comprehensive, but hopefully will highlight a few things that will be helpful to you.

Finally, some of you may enjoy trying out JobKatch to organize your job search, created by a local entrepreneur. Check it out: http://www.jobkatch.com/

Best of luck.

Howie

Local Startup Job Resources

1) Downtown Durham Startups - http://www.downtowndurhamstartups.com/ (put together by Taylor Mingos '07, CEO of Shoeboxed.com)

2) Council for Entrepreneurial Development - http://www.cednc.org/ (check out the presenters at their venture conference)

3) LaunchBox Digital - http://www.launchboxdigital.com/ - local IT incubator

4) JoyStick Labs - http://www.joysticklabs.com/ - local gaming incubator

5) Synecor - http://www.synecor.com/ - a combination of a local life science incubator / venture fund (though mostly they do their own in-house developed projects)
6) Local VC firm portfolios

Intersouth Partners - http://www.intersouth.com/

Hatteras - http://www.hatterasvp.com/

Aurora Funds - http://www.aurorafunds.com/

Southern Capital Ventures - http://www.southcap.com/

IDEA Fund Partners - http://www.ideafundpartners.com/

SJF Ventures - http://www.sjfventures.com/

7) Research Triangle Foundation - http://www.rtp.org/main/index.php?pid=166&sec=1 - see the listing of companies in Research Triangle Park

8) Join the Entrepreneurship At Duke - Startup Matchmaker Google Group - http://groups.google.com/group/entrepreneurship-at-duke---startup-matchmaker/ - students post their startup needs here.

9) Southeast TechInventures - http://www.southeasttechinventures.com/index.php - spins companies out of universities

10) Listing of Duke Startups on DukeGEN (several local) - http://www.dukegen.com/dukestartups

11) First Flight Venture Center - http://www.ffvcnc.org/tenant_directory.cfm - local incubator

Non-Local Startup Job Resources

1) Join DukeGEN - with over 2500 members from Duke's entrepreneurial community

2) VentureLoop - http://www.ventureloop.com (see VC portfolio companies that are hiring)

3) DEMO - http://www.demo.com/ - check out the companies that pitched here

4) TechCrunch Disrupt - http://disrupt.techcrunch.com/2010-sf/ - check out the companies that pitched here

5) YCombinator Jobs - http://news.ycombinator.com/jobs - job listings at graduate companies of YCombinator

6) TechStars Jobs - http://www.techstars.org/jobs/ - job listings at graduate companies of TechStars

7) Search Capita IQ for recently funded companies - https://www.capitaliq.com/index.aspx - very good database on private fundings, access available at Fuqua's Library

8) Early Stage East - http://www.earlystageeast.org/ - check out the companies that pitched here

9) Florida Venture Fourm - http://www.floridaventureforum.org/subpage.asp?id=33 - check out the companies that pitched here

10) Southeast Venture Conference- http://www.seventure.org/ - check out the companies that pitched here

11) midVenturesLAUNCH - http://midventureslaunch.com/ - check out the companies that pitched here

12) Check out the Inc. 500 - http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2010/index.html - good way to identify growing companies in your area of interest / geography of interest

Resources for Raising Money

1) KickStarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/ - post a project to raise money directly from people

2) AngelList - http://angel.co/ - very active angel network

3) Angel Capital Association Directory - http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/directory/ - listing of many angel groups, funds, networks

4) DukeGEN Investors - http://www.dukegen.com/duke-vcs - listing of Duke alumnus who are venture capitalists

5) AngelSoft - http://angelsoft.net/ - software that powers many angel groups - you can search for investors

6) Guide to Seed Fund Incubators - http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/guide_to_seed_fund_incubators.php

7) goBIGnetwork - http://www.gobignetwork.com

8) ChubbyBrain - http://www.chubbybrain.com

9) YouNoodle - http://www.younoodle.com

10) Guy Kawasaki's thoughts on raising Angel Capital - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/03/the_art_of_rais.html#axzz17XLFpHZB

11) NVCA Venture Capital Directory - http://www.nvca.org/index.php?option=com_mtree&Itemid=173

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 Google Voice / Mobile
919-660-1929 Office

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 Google Voice / Mobile
919-660-1929 Office

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

Great 2nd DukeGEN Investor Pitch Event

2010-10-20T12:00:00.001-07:00

The full set of pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/eshipatduke/DukeGEN2ndInvestorPitchEvent#

We held a successful DukeGEN Investor Event last night, hosted at DogPatch Labs (thanks Peter Flint) and sponsored by SNR Denton (thanks Chip Korn, Law '96).

The room was packed, the audience was energetic, the pitches were great, and the panel did an excellent job.

About 100 Duke alumni came and filled up the room at DogPatch Labs.

Here's who pitched:

CoverHound (San Francisco, CA) - Basil Enan, Trinity '03 – basil@coverhound.com

Americans spend over $180 billion a year on car insurance, but shopping for car insurance sucks - CoverHound is changing that. We give smart recommendations based on each shopper's unique needs and preferences, provide all the information needed to make an informed buying decision, and make getting quotes easy -- online or over the phone.
Foodably (Palo Alto, CA) - Brian Schwartz, Trinity '09 - brian@foodably.com

Foodably finds the best local food based on your dietary needs. Foodably enables restaurants and grocery stores to engage with their patrons who have dietary needs.
FriendCal (Durham, NC and New York, NY) - Andrew Brown, Trinity '11 and Lauren Gundrum, Trinity '09 - andrew.brown@duke.edu

FriendCal is a social calendaring application that simplifies group planning by allowing users to share and make plans on a common calendar. FriendCal will use these future plans to offer discounts to related venues and events.
Medical Learning Games (Durham, NC) - Peter Lamar, Fuqua '12 – peter.lamar@fuqua.duke.edu

Learning games for Health Professionals
MoxMe! (Mansfield Center, CT) - Danny Briere, Trinity '83, Fuqua '85 – dbriere@moxme.com

MoxMe! is a SuperGroup platform that powers an interconnected group experience across social media. MoxMe! overlays the existing social media group experience with higher level privacy, policies and programs, and enables a feature-rich group to exist simultaneously across a broad range of social sites, devices and web sites.
PhySmart (Springfield, VA) - Rachel Greenberg, Fuqua '99 - rcgreenberg71@yahoo.com

PhySmart is an online marketplace connecting medical professionals with the vendors that have the products and services they need. By integrating the efficiency of a basic user profile with the capability to do anonymous searches, PhySmart helps medical professionals make smart choices and ensures vendors get qualified leads.
Republic of Fun (Durham, NC) - Mike Rasmussen, Fuqua '03- mike.rasmussen@repfun.com

Republic of Fun is re-inventing games publishing in the digital download age. Using a patent pending "Fan-Sourcing" technology and methodology, Republic of Fun runs game IDEA contests among its fans for games on smart phones, XBLA, PSN and WiiWare. Winning ideas are then produced by Republic of Fun with ongoing involvement from the community, top contributors are rewarded with prizes, ranks, and acheivements. This creates a marketing and merchandising channel outside the vertically integrated platform owners, and gives Republic of Fun a measurable advantage in the games they release.
WingTips Interactive (New York, NY) - Kimberly Karpf Skelton, Trinity '03 - kimberly@wingtip.it

WingTips is a product sharing and storing platform that enables consumers to assemble products in a digital closet from their favorite retailers online and get instant feedback from their friends. Simply put, WingTips is Wingmen and Wingwomen sending tips.

And here's who was on the panel:

Chris Fralic, First Round Capital (thanks to Josh Felser T'86, B '90 for the introduction)
Chris Fralic is a Partner at First Round Capital, an early stage venture capital firm with offices in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York. Chris has 25 years of technology industry experience, with significant Internet business development roles since 1996. Prior to joining First Round in early 2006, Chris was VP of Business Development at social bookmarking and tagging company del.icio.us through the Yahoo! acquisition. Chris was also one of the early employees and VP of Business Development at Half.com starting in 1999, and after the eBay acquisition spent six years with eBay in a variety of entertainment, business development and media roles. Chris earned his BS in Finance from Villanova University and his MBA from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.
Rob Go '01, NextView Ventures

Rob is a co-founder of NextView Ventures, a micro-VC firm focused on Internet-enabled innovation. He was previously a venture capitalist at Spark Capital and was the product lead for search and discovery for EBay. Blog: www.robgo.org. Twitter: @robgo
Mark Peter Davis '01, DFJ Gotham

Mark is a NY based venture capitalist at DFJ Gotham Ventures. In addition to being a VC, he is the author of a blog (markpeterdavis.com) that addresses industry topics and offers guidance to entrepreneurs on how to raise venture capital. He is also an active community organizer and founded the NY Venture Community and the Columbia Venture Community.
Kal Vepuri '03, The Trisiras Group

Kal is the founder of The Trisiras Group, a holding company he formed in 2009 to manage his investing activities and operating companies. A software engineer turned entrepreneur, Kal bootstrapped a few technology and telecom businesses during and after his time at Duke, where he received a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Economics. He spends much of his time working with founders and management teams of high-growth companies.
Peter Flint, Polaris Ventures and Dogpatch Labs

Peter joined Polaris Venture Partners in 2003 and invests in early stage companies focused on consumer internet and mobile applications and infrastructure. He currently sits on the Boards of stickybits, JIBE and BlackArrow. In December 2009 Peter opened Dogpatch Labs NY which currently has 14 companies and 37 entrepreneurs in residence. Prior to joining Polaris Peter had a very successful operating career with MTV Networks, New England Sports Network and QVC. Peter was also a Managing Director with Ramsey Beirne Assocaites, one of the most highly regarded executive search firms in technology.

And here's who attended: http://events.linkedin.com/DukeGEN-Angel-Pitch-Event-NYC/pub/390023

After the pitches, the judges convened, and the audience had a Q&A with the teams.
Then, the audience voted:

The Audience Choice prize went to: Republic of Fun!

Then, the judges came back, gave feedback to each team (in front of the audience), and then announced their results.
Judges 2nd Runner Up:
FriendCal

Judges 1st Runner Up:

Republic of Fun

Winner:

CoverHound

Congrats to Basil Enan, Trinity '03!

Basil will get a call with Vicki Levine BSE '00 of Lightbank, a 100mm fund.

Thanks again to DogPatch Labs and to SNR Denton.
And thanks to Tom Powell '09 (lead organizer) for making it all happen. And to Jozef Krakora '10, Shalav Gupta '10, and others who helped volunteer and make things happen.

Posted by Howie Rhee '04, Co-chair of DukeGEN

The fourth banner

2010-10-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

Brief documentation of my current workflow

2010-08-13T11:26:00.001-07:00

Some folks have asked me about my workflow, so here are some brief notes.

1) I use GMail for all email. I believe in just having one email inbox for all my email.

2) Use "Multiple Inboxes" (part of Labs) within GMail. Huge help to have starred items appear at the top (search query: has:red-bang OR has:blue-star OR has:yellow-star). I also have drafts appear in the middle (and the regular Inbox on the bottom).

3) Post to blogs using email address shortcuts (so I don't have to go to the website to post) - have about 4 blogs I post to

4) Have a yellow legal (long) notepad on a clipboard - write down the key items to do (usually a new sheet every day or so). The only things that go on here are things I need to do today (or at least in the next day or so).

5) One voicemail inbox, using Google Voice. My cell phone and office phone forward to this voicemail. I receive those voicemails as transcribed emails in GMail.

6) In GMail, I focus on accomplishing my starred items. I let unstarred items fall to the bottom of the inbox. I star things with a Blue-star (another Google Labs feature) if they are "Waiting For" (a la GTD).

7) I am not a fan of zero inbox (or "inbox zero"), I think the time and effort to zero out your inbox is too much. It strikes me as busy work to just archive/delete unimportant items. Occasionally I'll do a mass purge where I verify that none of those items are "star" worthy, and then I select "Unstarred" items and then "Archive", en masse.

8) I have "ticklers" at the 1st of each month (a la GTD) in my Google Calendar (again, just use one calendar), which renew annually. Usually they are notes about how best to approach that month based on previous years.

9) After events I do an "After Action Review" in Google Docs, so that I can review it the next time I do that event

10) I have "Preflight Checklists" before events, to make sure I get things done. I am considering printing a couple of my regular ones and laminating (a la LifeHacker's recent article on "Procedure Checklists").

11) I do Feedback surveys after most events, using the same 7 point scale.

12) Have two Fan pages on Facebook, one for "Entrepreneurship At Duke" (mostly on-campus, target: students), one for "Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network" (mostly off-campus, target: alumni). These posts automatically post to their twitter accounts.

13) I have GMail autoforward some of my email receipts to my assistant for filing (recurring receipts from Facebook Ads)

14) I put brainstorms for various events into a Google Doc, just for that event

15) I use Google Sites for all websites (DukeGEN, EshipAtDuke, P4E, DukeDEES). Google Sites is very easy.

16) Use Google Forms extensively (instead of SurveyMonkey) to get RSVPs and for Feedback, and other things

17) Use Canned Responses in GMail for answering recurring email queries.

18) Take my laptop with me most places to take notes (faster than handwriting, and you can look the person in the eye). I take notes at most meetings I am at, and email them out afterwards. Usually I put the Action Items at the top of the email.

19) When I delegate a task, I like to create a Job Description for the task (if it's recurring) and come up with a Checklist (on Google Docs) that we can both be held accountable to.

20) When I have a job to hire for, I use a Google Form with fairly specific questions. I make notes on questions for them to ask by email. I then score the applicants and contact the ones with the highest scores and ask them the questions by email (before an interview). I only interview if I believe there is a good shot this person could be a fit, and I've asked all the questions I can ask by email (within reason).

21) I used to use OneNote for all of my meeting notes, but my installation was corrupted and attempts to fix it have failed. Since then, I've been storing my meeting notes in GMail with the subject "Notes from..." and that has been fairly successful. I'm hoping that OneNote 2010 will let me easily put things on the cloud. I may try Evernote some time.

22) I use Jott from my phone to send myself notes/ideas/reminders while I am driving. I have a shortcut on my Android phone.

23) I use the "Email to Self" app on my Android phone (Android Market: search "Email To Self") to send myself quick notes. This is a huge timesaver. A single click and there is an email composition window with my own email address pre-populated. I probably use this 5-20 times a day.

24) Like most people, I have Google Alerts set for various things like "Duke Entrepreneurship" and "Fuqua School of Business"

25) I have a 12-month At-a-Glance Yearly Planner up on my wall for looking at key dates (holidays, vacations, important academic calendar dates, events I'm hosting). I find this is helpful and complements my Google Calender.

26) I have two large whiteboards, one is for the Duke Start-Up Challenge (org structure, to-dos) and the other is for the EVCC (student club) and my event brainstorming. I'm a big fan of using whiteboards to discuss things, brainstorm, and capture decisions so we remember them from meeting to meeting.

27) I have my annual goals printed and on taped on the top of my laptop.

28) I have post-it notes on my computer monitor of recurring checklists I need. Like "marketing channels" for when I send out a marketing message (with 12 different channels listed). Or "email marketing partners" (with 21 different partners). Or "Advisory board" (with 23 names of people to contact when we send an update).

29) I tack up handwritten thank-you notes from students on a board behind my desk, as a reminder for key relationships I've developed at work, and the main gratitude for doing my job.

The Business Model Canvas

2010-08-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

Just got pointed to this guy and this slideshow.

There may be something interesting here for P4E.

Look at slide 99 of this show: http://www.slideshare.net/Alex.Osterwalder/business-model-innovation-matter?from=ss_embed

Click here: http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/ - Check out the "book" in the middle.

Here's the guy: http://alexosterwalder.com/

Howie

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 Google Voice / Mobile
919-660-1929 Office

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

At orientation

2010-08-02T06:54:00.001-07:00

Section 4 has t-shirts that say "If you bang, we bang"

I guess some things don't change.

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 Google Voice / Mobile
919-660-1929 Office

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

Gmail productivity experiments

2010-07-12T07:05:00.001-07:00

I'm experimenting with "Multiple Inboxes" in GMail Labs by Vivi.

In particular, combining it with "Superstars".

Basically it lets me "pin" my important emails to the top, with the inbox at the bottom. (I pin "has:red-bang" to the top)

One nice feature I like is the "Drafts" being in the middle. A nice innovation. Otherwise, I almost never look in my Drafts folder, but here I can see Drafts becoming useful.

My gut tells me that having this will let me focus on key items even more easily.

In general, I'm moving far away from the "zero inbox" mentality espoused by GTD and others.

I found that zero inbox involved too much filing of unimportant items.

Rather, I am now going through the inbox and highlighting my "must respond to" with the red-bang superstar.

And the unimportant items filter down to the bottom of the inbox.

After a while (weeks), I do a mass purge of unimportant items to an archive label called "old inbox minus important emails".

Been using this system (minus the new Multiple inboxes) for several months with good results.

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 Google Voice / Mobile
919-660-1929 Office

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

Article in the Chronicle - "Entrepreneurship: The spirit is alive at Duke and Fuqua"

2010-07-09T12:20:00.001-07:00

http://dukechronicle.com/article/entrepreneurship-spirit-alive-duke-and-fuqua

Andrew Grove

2010-06-29T13:53:00.001-07:00

His 'planning' chapter on High Output Management reminds me of Reassess Your Chess.

sent briefly from my phone