As I type this, realizing that the spring semester is just about over, I am once again reminded how fast time flies. As mentioned here a couple of months ago, I have been on the journey of teaching entrepreneurial marketing (ENTR 320) at UMBC this semester.

What an amazing, challenging and very rewarding experience it has been. Overall, my students have been great and have adapted to my very entrepreneurial approach to the course. I tried to design a class that I would want to take if I were back in college. They say the first time around is the toughest, and although I am generally happy with the class, I definitely learned a lot by trying different things. For this first run, I was a big fan of team projects and bringing in guest speakers / Skype interviews.

My students hopefully learned the true value in content marketing / inbound marketing and the channels that support it. As a practical application, each of them blogged every week for the entire semester. Some of them flexed their creativity and used video, prezi’s, imagery, etc to compliment their publishing. You can see some of their work here: http://entr320.platfolio.com.

We also focused on team projects, the pinnacle project being the production and publishing of an eBook. A true eBook with a focus on a particular topic, with at least 20 + pages of solid information. I tasked each team with coming up with the topic, a framework for the book and a unique domain name to promote and house the eBooks at. A digital destination. The students are now having a friendly competition to see which team can generate the most downloads of their respective eBooks. They will present in class on 5/7 their results.

As promised to my students, below I am listing each one of their ebook topics and domains. If any of them interest you please feel free to download the eBook, promote them or simply share this post:

Team 1: Juice For Your Health
The Newbie guide to juicing for your health. Ton of tips & tricks, plus 15 NEW RECIPES!
Download at: http://www.juiceforyourhealth.com

Team 2: Do More in Bmore
25 Great things to do in Baltimore.
Download at: http://www.domoreinbmore.com

Team 3: The Ultimate Guide to Reducing Your Risk of Cancer
Brought to you by the self-proclaimed evangelist marketers of the AICR; this guide offers an easy-to-read “How To” methodology in reducing your risk. Download our eBook and start preventing cancer TODAY!
Download at: http://www.cancerpreventionebook.com

Team 4: The Art of Craigslisting
Craigslisting isn’t Complicated. We Promise! We will guide you step-by-step on how to buy and sell on Craigslist. Learn the Ways of the Craigslist.
Download at: http://www.artofcraigslisting.com

Team 5: Consumers Deserve Better
Have you ever received poor customer service? You deserve better! This FREE eBook teaches you how!
Download at http://www.consumersdeservebetter.com

Team 6: Quick College Money
Money Making Suggestions and Tips for College Students
Download at: http://www.quickcollegemoney.com

Got to love some of those domain names eh? Even in 2013 some good ones still exist! Thanks for reading.

It’s been far too long since I took the cap off of the proverbial pen and starting writing posts again, however, as they say, you have to start somewhere. There is a driving force behind this post, and that’s that as of a few weeks ago, I am officially an adjunct faculty member for the Entrepreneurship & Innovation minor at UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County). I have to admit that it’s pretty wild for me to be teaching entrepreneurial marketing at my alma mater. I am excited about the challenge and opportunity to impart my knowledge on the future rockstars of tomorrow. UMBC is rocking and rolling in case you haven’t heard.

I am teaching ENTR 320 which translates to “Entrepreneurial Marketing,” something I know a thing or two about. Though my degree was in English, I took a path in life that led me to becoming an entrepreneur. First, in the music industry, then followed by the marketing /technology / web world. I learned a lot along the way. Mainly how to hustle and market my ass off by leveraging new mediums and making a true connection with my “consumer / customer.”

We now live in a world where modern marketing has become a practice of strategically utilizing a variety of mediums and customer touch points to move the needle in business. We live in a world where customer service, publishing content, creating experiences, and being remarkable to the outside world are all fundamental elements to modern day marketing. The groundswell of new mediums (social, mobile, etc) has fueled and accelerated the pace of how we connect, engage and convert our audience(s), into real customers. My course is dedicated to this practice, which stems from my experience being a practitioner of these strategies over the last 12 years.

One of my initial and ongoing assignments, was presenting the concept of publishing what I call “MediaMakers” on a weekly basis. The intention being a. keeping the students thinking and on their mental feet b. getting them used to producing content c. creating multi-media experiences for their audiences, and d. to stress the importance of being able to articulate and communicate stories and messages to an audience. I figured if I am making them write every week on top of a full course load, the least I can do is write from time to time (meaning shorter than 6-7 month gaps!) .

The way I have structured the assigned MediaMakers was to have all 26 of my students set up an account on either Blogger, WordPress or Tumblr. All platforms have RSS feeds which I then pump into a Google Reader account. When my students publish, I am notified. Weekly, they need to produce content related to our reading in a multi-channel format over the course of the semester. I am encouraging them to use text, images, audio, video, presentations, etc to produce their content. This Tuesday will be our fourth class and I am already seeing some really interesting efforts.

What I also think will be helpful about this exercise is that, although it may seem like a heck of a commitment (weekly posts), at the end of the semester every student will have a comprehensive body of work to point to and reference for the future. They may not realize how helpful this will be in the future if they really work the class.

Throughout the course, we will also be getting into producing email campaigns, webinars, ebooks and infographics. In addition, every week I have the unique pleasure of Skyping in thought leaders from around the industry. So far the lineup looks something like; David Meerman Scott, Rick Burnes, Jason Keath, Gary Vaynerchuk, and many many more. I’m already getting a little flack for “skyping in all my buddies” as one student said so eloquently. To which I say, hey, this is incredible stuff. If I was back in college again, this is exactly kind of course I would want to take, and that is my driving barometer for the semester.

At the same time, I am taking a very entrepreneurial approach to my coursework, and like everything else I am keeping it fluid enough to make up as I go along. Although I have a solid framework for the course, I am into the current, latest and greatest, fastest moving examples of modern marketing, and that is exactly what my students will get a consistent dose of.

Challenging, yet exciting and interesting. Thanks for reading.

As many folks know, email has been a bit of a sweet spot for me over the past decade. I’ve always been focused on the marketing side of the medium, and less on the productivity / distraction side. That said, I wanted to take a moment and write about a whole new generation of email focused productivity apps that I have been using to enhance my experience with the inbox. We all suffer from too much email, and frankly for many of us its hard to keep up with. Maybe I am just speaking for myself, however I think many share the same frustration. Inbox Zero is a far cry from reality for most of us. So, in no particular order, here are the next generation email applications that I am using today, (full disclosure, I’m an investor in 3 of them, noted below):

PowerInbox – PowerInbox caught my eye shortly after I sold Blue Sky Factory. This is the kind of service that I would have looked to integrate with if I was still running my ESP. The concept is simple, PowerApps INSIDE of the inbox. These simple lightweight apps run inside your inbox and reduce additional workflow or steps to take a particular action. This works by authenticating with a variety of services (i.e.. twitter, linkedin, facebook, etc) and then you can perform tasks right inside of the inbox. To drive the concept home, I can’t remember the last time I left my actual Gmail inbox to accept a LinkedIn invite or respond to a direct message on twitter, etc. I am an investor in the company and love how Matt and his team are executing.

Contactually – Zvi Band is the CEO and a great guy from the local region. Contactually, solves a few problems, however the main advantage and the reason I use it is because it simply helps identify decaying relationships in email. Every morning I get an email that tells me who I should be following up with based on contact frequency. Pretty cool eh? Its a contact monitoring system within your email, letting you know when your communication is slipping. Of course, its only as useful as you make it. That said, I am amazed by how many email contacts the service uncovers that have gone stale. Literally, folks I haven’t connected with in months. Its CRM for your inbox, and they offer much more than what I am writing here. Check them out.

Awayfind – AwayFind is the uber app that allows you to stay away from your inbox. The service offers individual and enterprise licensing and seeks to increase productivity in the workplace by allowing folks not to be glued to their inbox. AwayFind offers a variety of alert services (sms, IM, push notification, etc) for the folks that HAVE to get in touch with you now. Everything else can wait until you return to your computer or device. There is a lot to play with here, however the one feature that I absolutely LOVE is the calendar monitoring feature. In short, you can set a window of time (say 2-3 hours), and if anyone who is on your calendar emails you within that timeframe you get an automatic push notification. I can’t tell you how many times this has allowed me to get ahead of a cancelled meeting, or an appointment that is running late. Its been very helpful. I am an investor in AwayFind, and Jared Goralnick is about to knock it out of the park. Try it and eye it!

Mailstrom – Finally, there is the Mailstrom! The latest product from 410 Labs (I am an investor). Dubbed as the smarter, faster way to clean out your inbox, I have to say, yes it is. I logged in with 41k emails in my gmail account (lots of history there), and after a few minutes I was looking at wonderful analytics about my top senders, subject lines, social network emails, and various lists that I am a part of. All displayed simply and easily. The best part is, Mailstrom lets you bulk delete emails with one click (Tame that inbox!). I took my inbox down from 41k to 34k in about 15 clicks (based on senders, subject lines and social emails). The process couldn’t be simpler. I was a bit concerned at first given the size of my Gmail inbox, but Mailstrom handled it like a pro. The synch takes a few minutes and then you are good to go. Its amazing how much “stuff” Mailstrom uncovered from my legacy Gmail account. I love what Dave Troy and the team are doing at 410 Labs. Get your beta account for Mailstrom today!

So, right now that is my current next generation email app stack. While the inbox can most certainly be a scary place, there are several new tools to help maximize the way you use it. Thanks to some really smart entrepreneurs who are focused on this space, I am confident the innovation will continue.

Thanks for reading.

One of the themes you may pick up on with my angel series is “Ultra Light Startups.” As in Graham Lawlor’s community in NYC and Boston. I’ve had the pleasure of speaking at several Ultra Light events as both a panelist and a judge. It also turns out that I’ve invested in a few startups where the original “connection” was at one of Graham’s events. Clean Plates was one of those investments:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Back in November of 2010, I was on an email panel with Peter Shankman, Chris McCann & Jason Baptiste. It was a great night and an awesome event.

That evening, I met Clean Plates founder and CEO, Jared Koch, and had a chance to listen to his vision for the company. Almost everything he said resonated with me, primarily because his company represents a personal interest of mine, and a lifestyle that I seek to follow (to various degrees of success!), that of clean eating. It always helps when your investors have a deeper connection to your company’s mission.

Clean Plates is a multi-channel media platform in the healthy eating / sustainable living / lifestyle space. A market that has been growing year over year and one that is still very much in its infancy. Jared started with a coffee table size physical book, much like the Zagat, that covers all of the sustainable and conscious kitchens in Manhattan. The database has been complied based on a unique rating system that he came up with from his years as a nutritionist and his research on healthy sustainable eating.

The book has now sold over 30,000 copies, the website has been growing in traffic, expansion into other markets has begun, and the mobile app launched earlier this year. And this is just the beginning. There is still so much exposure and education to be done in this space, and the digital products that Clean Plates offers, position it as a leader and innovator in this emerging space. The company has many unique opportunities to leverage its growing authority in this space. Traction is key, and Clean Plates has shown all of the early signs of a brand that can get big quick with the right ingredients at the table.

Why I Invested:

First and foremost, I invested in Clean Plates because its being led by entrepreneurs with a solid vision for building products and services in an enormous market that is in its infancy and growing every day. The idea is important, and the people behind it are more important because they are the ones who in the end will get the job done.

Second, this particular opportunity is a community / lifestyle media play that offers endless opportunities for content and brand extension. This brand can extend to events, digital properties, traditional media, even physical products if they wanted. Lots and lots of opportunity to seize.

And finally, as I mentioned before, I personally believe in the vision of Clean Plates, and want to see them succeed on this important mission of educating the public on clean healthy eating and making it accessible to everyone.

Occasionally, you come across a statement that resonates with you and summarizes something perfectly. Ben Yoskovitz, VP Product at GoInstant and Founding Partner of Year One Labs in Montreal recently announced he was moving to Halifax to join the team at GoInstant. I’ve been a regular reader of Ben’s blog for quite a while now and have found his writing to be on point and refreshing. Ben has also been an active advocate in building the startup ecosystem in Montreal. In his recent post, he simplifies the basic ingredients of a successful startup ecosystem. I believe he is right on point, and wanted to share this simple statement:

Really, the ecosystem is best built through super successful startups. Those startups have to grow, make lots of noise and exit. The founders and other early employees have to then re-invest in the next round of entrepreneurs. They have to spin out new startups and do it all over again. Everything else is helpful, but basically noise. Chest thumping is fine, results are key. And you measure results in the startup world by building big, successful companies that make everyone (the founders, investors & employees) lots of money. That’s how you build an ecosystem. That’s the level of focus each entrepreneur needs.

I love the line, “everything else is helpful, but basically noise.”

Leaders and feeders….

Part of my reboot here on the blog is incorporating some new types of content and other perspective  into the mix. One of the topics I have been very interested in lately has been workspace design thinking, especially given the work we have been doing with the upcoming launch of Betamore.

One thing is clear, the workplace is changing and there is an interesting set of trends and thinking that are driving this change among companies of all shapes and sizes. The area I personally have been focused on is the environment for early stage companies, literally at the nucleus level. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of woking with Kelly Ennis of The Verve Partnership, and her team on our new project, Betamore, and had the chance to ask her a few questions as it relates to the concept of workspace design thinking. Here are some of her thoughts:

1. What is your current take on the future of workspace design?

The future of workspace design is going to be increasingly more adaptable and flexible to the users’ immediate needs. The notion of Long Life/Loose Fit will weight heavier on how a space is programmed from the onset of the design process. The concepts of social sustainability and community building will support the early programmatic efforts and play a key role sculpting the new workplace to support the often talked about Millennials and Generation Z.

2. What drives innovation in the workplace from a facility and space perspective?

First and foremost people drive innovation; as long as they have the tools and space to be productive. Providing many different types of spaces and settings (see #01) that accommodate many different work styles, such as collaboration, heads down space, formal meeting spaces etc give the user a choice; with choice comes opportunity. With opportunity comes innovation.

3. What segment of the market (SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise, etc) is seeing the most change in workspace?

From a change perspective only, risk adverse, legacy Enterprise markets are seeing the most “change” as they tend to be more conservative in their decision making and are slower to move. Any sort of change is very dependent on leadership, market sector and culture. Smaller and younger companies tend to be more adaptable and accepting to alternative workplace strategies as they can easily grasp the business impact space has on their balance sheet.

4. Whats the biggest change coming in the workplace?

This is a tough one, because right now there are so many different types of workplaces out there (see #03). However, if I had to choose, one big thing is the hybrid workplace. Whether it is an incubator, co-working or shared space scenario similar to what Betamore is doing, or hybrid workplaces that exist solely with in an organization, such as Macquarie Bank HQ in Sydney designed by Clive Wilkinson; these are spaces that give people the choice on how they are going to work at any given moment. (i.e. sitting on a couch in an open area, or in at a hot desk).

5. In all of your experience, what is the most important element in a vibrant workspace?

The most important thing in a vibrant workspace is creating a balance between the relationships of people, culture, and ecology. Additionally identifying the goals of the space and creating environments that are aligned with those goals encourage people to behave in new ways that support the desired results, those results, of course vary across market sectors.

I love her quote, “with opportunity comes innovation,” as it resonates deeply with me on the mission of Betamore. The theme here is that people & culture are the main drivers that lead change in workspace. I think we are on the front end of major change in how we work. Not only from a space perspective, but also in terms of completely redefining the goals and objectives of “the office.”

This is a topic I will be continuing to explore on the blog with some other leaders in the space over the next many months. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

This week, the inaugural Geeks on a Train (G.O.A.T.) event will take place on Thursday May 24th. I am excited about this effort, as I believe it is very important to acknowledge and consider a larger vision for a community of technology & innovation within the northeast corridor of the US.

If you haven’t heard of G.O.A.T., the idea came out of a Baltimore Tech facebook discussion, when local developer Mike Subelsky dropped the concept in a thread. The gb.tc, who’s mission is to be the connective tissue within our region worked with the community, and ran with the idea.

I would like to first stress, that this is NOT a Baltimore thing. This is a Northeast thing. The premise of G.O.A.T., is to think of the Amtrak Corridor, from Washington DC up to Boston and everything in between as an innovation corridor. Each city, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC and Boston have amazing things happening in each of its respective entrepreneurial, technology and innovation communities.

Although every city is its own unique ecosystem, the broader vision is much more powerful in terms of a united region. In short, this is all about bridge building across the corridor. Over the last couple of years I have been spending time not only participating as an entrepreneur, investor and connector in Baltimore, but also in NYC, watching carefully how they have amped their innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. In doing so, I have also found the leaders in NYC to be very helpful, open armed, and willing to share their resources, successes and failures. It turns out, DC, Philly and Boston also have a community of leaders who are open sourcing their ideas and resources as well. My hope is that this will continue.

Yes, we all need to focus on our own cities and regions and build on the foundations of what is in our backyards, but we need to be thinking broadly about how the corridor can work together as well. Many things are possible if we have an interconnected and cooperative corridor. Think talent, workspace, funding, partnerships, events, education, and a critical mass of each.

I am pretty pumped about the G.O.A.T event, and look forward to spending it with community members from the northeast corridor. We leave Union Station in Washington DC at 7am Thur, and make stops in Baltimore & Philadelphia before getting off the train at Penn Station NYC, for a NYC Meetup at The Hatchery. After a lunch and meetup, we head north and end the day in Boston where we will congregate at the Venture Cafe in the Cambridge Innovation Center for dinner and networking.

If you would like to join us, the event is open to all, you just have to cover your own expenses for train and lodging. You can register here (registration is for head count purposes only)

Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the inaugural edition of my “Angel Series” posts. As promised, I will be writing individually about the companies that I have invested in, both as an individual angel and as a member of the Baltimore Angels.

My first highlight is on Argyle Social, a leading social media marketing platform that helps marketers tie social media to revenue.

Here is CEO, Eric Boggs giving the sub-2 minute pitch:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Why I Invested:

Argyle was an interesting investment for me due to the backstory of my relations with the founders. To me, this is some of the most important “stuff” when an angel makes an investment.

First off, I had known of Eric Boggs and Adam Covati from the email marketing industry, as they had both worked for Bronto. They both did a great job raising their profiles and clearly standing out as emerging leaders within our industry.

My colleague, DJ Waldow bridged the gap in person a few years back during one of the spring marketing conference tours we used to do back in the Blue Sky Factory days.

At the time I was getting to know Adam, I also happened to be looking for a VP of Product Development. There was a very small window of time between Adam leaving Bronto, and starting Argyle. I was about to make Adam an offer, when he let me know that him and Eric were going to make a go at it. As a fellow entrepreneur, I wished them nothing but the best and let them know I would help them in any way I could.

As it turned out, my company Blue Sky Factory, was one of Argyle’s early alpha & beta testers. Adam and Eric spent a lot of time with DJ Waldow, Chris Penn, myself and others on our team, providing feedback on early versions of Argyle Social. Once they launched, we became a paying customer.

What was really cool, was watching them go from 1 to 100 customers in a very short amount of time.

While the Argyle team was cranking away, I was busy working on the Blue Sky Factory acquisition. Once the dust settled, I received a phone call from Eric Boggs who updated me on their traction, and on the details of their current raise and asked me if I would consider being a part of it.

As it turned out, this was the only investment I have ever made without doing deep diligence. Eric and Adam are solid entrepreneurs, with a great offering in a big market, and have my full confidence that they will do everything they can to succeed.

The investment terms were fair for where they were at, and not only did I know the founders personally, more importantly I watched them execute for close to 2 years. I saw the evolution and the traction of Argyle from the beginning.

I also invested because much like Blue Sky Factory, they are a BtoB software as a service (SaaS) player in the mid-market. They play ball with real companies, with real marketing departments who are looking to measure real revenue through social channels. This is almost identical to the experience and market knowledge that I had from my 10 years running Blue Sky Factory. I understand that market very well.

So, in the end, in turns out that Adam and I get a chance to work together after all, just in a completely different way.

I recently gave a talk to a group of students, faculty & staff who participated in Career Week at my Alma Mater, UMBC. The talk was titled: “Blue Skies & Beyond: 5 Lessons from an English Major Turned Entrepreneur.” The theme was “real life after graduation.”

I was not only honored by the opportunity & experience, but it was also an amazing opportunity to look back on life a bit, and think about some of the important things that I’ve learned along the way. The list began to get very very long, so I had to force myself to filter the list down to a few key lessons that are embedded into the fabric of how I operate today.

I also thought about what might be motivational or inspiration for the audience. What kind of information may help them take the next step or make the next move to go for their own WIN, in all of their pursuits.

The talk was probably the most personal I have ever given. Thats not too surprising since it was about my story and my journey. I started from my early days in high school and went all the way through starting & selling Blue Sky Factory, and finished with the efforts that I am working on today. The talk was a great framework for future speeches, and can be greatly expanded on.

So, with that I wanted to share the 5 lessons that I spoke about, with a little bit of commentary on each:

1. Never Doubt Yourself: You are capable of FAR more than you can ever imagine.

When I was in high school, my high school guidance counselor told me not to bother applying to college. Given my performance in high school, he felt I was best suited to attend a vocational school in hopes that I could obtain a skill like an electrician or a carpenter. The theory was, develop some kind of skill set now, so that I would be employable after I graduated from high school. The message was loud and clear, university was not in the cards for me. This was the best advice that my high school guidance counselor had for me.

I’ll never forget the UMBC commencement in May 1997, and the sense of achievement that I had when I personally mailed that high school guidance counselor an invitation to attend my commencement ceremony. Needless to say, he didn’t show up

The important thing here is to realize that occasionally life delivers you experiences when others doubt your abilities, and sometimes, if we don’t persevere in our own right, we can fall into the “trap” of believing those people. This lesson is really about never falling into that trap.

I can only imagine what my life would have been like if I had taken the advice of that high school guidance counsellor.

2. Be Curious: Experience as much as you can.

Many folks don’t know my back story, and the very odd path I took to entrepreneurship. I came to UMBC for an Emergency Medical Services degree (they have one of the best programs in the country). When I was 16, I had been a cadet on my local first aid squad in New Jersey. I quickly became a certified EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) for years before I moved to Baltimore in 1992.

I was two years through the program when I had an epiphany about my life. I quickly realized that I no longer wanted to go down the path of a career in EMS. I pondered for a semester while I picked up some elective courses, then decided on an English degree. My thesis for English, was that no matter what I did in life, I would need to know how to read and write well.

My path to entrepreneurship was a culmination of experiences and exposures throughout college. Think about this: I’m a former student of emergency medicine, turned English major, turned marketing technology entrepreneur. A wild road indeed, and it was a series of events and experiences that exposed me to the people and things that would shape my thinking, interests and ultimately my opportunities.

When I was a student at UMBC, I was busy living and being active in a variety of activities outside of my studies. I was involved with the Student Events Board, a fraternity, held an on campus job as the tech crew manager, was an off campus promoter, etc.. its no wonder I didn’t have a 4.0 GPA, I was busy living at a young age

So, how did I find my way to entrepreneurship? I truly believe that it was my sense of exploration and curiosity, and having a generally open mind that led me to a series of collective experiences that put me where I am today.

As I said during my talk, when I was a senior at UMBC if you told me I was going to start, scale and sell an email marketing company, I would have told you you were nuts

Keep your mind open and always be learning and exposing yourself to new things. You never know where you will find your calling. Keep that sense of curiosity flowing.

3. Trust Your Gut: Your sixth sense never fails you.

When I tell the story of Blue Sky Factory, I’ve been known to say that I ran the company for 10 years purely by my gut instinct. I’m known to say this because its true. All of the constant managing, maneuvering, strategy, developing the vision, thinking ahead, hiring, making timely big decisions, etc.. all of those things as I look back on them were yes sometimes made with the help of facts, but ultimately most were made on my “gut feel.”

I know many great entrepreneurs who feel the same way as I, and in my talk I mentioned the large amount of test data that I have on this

When I look back on the things that never sat right in my gut, or didn’t “feel” like they were in the flow, and also when I allowed myself to be influenced by other people even when my gut was crawling, those were things that ultimately either didn’t work out or had less than desirable outcomes. I am not sure how you describe the feeling I am talking about exactly other than, you just know. Its innate in all of us.

I recommend reading & tracking that barometer closely.

4. Make Bold Moves, Take Risks: They move you further than you could ever imagine.

There is no doubt you’ve heard the saying before, no risk, no reward right? Many of you know that its a true statement. One example I would like to share with you follows: In life, we are presented with a variety of options for our career paths, and much like the earlier thought on continuously nurturing your curiosity, sometimes the comfortable option, or the path of least resistance, is not always the best option in the long run. And sometimes when you DO introduce a little bit of risk and challenge into your life, things can change, forever.

I’ve also come to realize that there are very defining moments in life when you make a decision to either do something or not to do something, and that decision could literally be a fork in the road. The decision you make can impact your future in a very big way.

Before I started Blue Sky Factory, I briefly worked for a startup in the Emerging Technology Center in Canton for a year, it was the only job I ever had after I graduated from UMBC. When I decided to leave that company at the age of 27, I was being courted to join another startup based out of Philadelphia as a regional biz dev rep here in Baltimore. The job came with a $90k salary, a commission plan, and equity in the company. A rather compelling offer for a 27 year old who was making $50k at the time. I was greatly pondering this opportunity versus starting my own company.

Clearly, the job offer was incredible and would have been the comfortable choice and most definitely the path of least resistance for me. It was either that or starting up a business in an absolutely horrible economy with no money, and no chance of getting any investment.

So, what did I decide to do? Of course, I turned down the job offer and started up Blue Sky Factory in one of the worst economic climates (March 2001) with no money, being forced to bootstrap ie. white knuckle it. A defining moment in my life for sure.

Much like the story of my high school guidance counselor, if I had taken the “advice” or in this case “the easy path,” the past 20 years of my life would probably look a lot different. If you are new to my world, the story of Blue Sky Factory ended very well. As for the company in Philly, they closed the Baltimore office a year after they offered me the job, and closed their doors for good a couple of years ago.

In my life, as I look back so far, there were many defining moments based on decisions that were bold and full of risk. In all of our lives we are presented at one time or another opportunities like these. These can be defining moments, ones that you find out what you are made of. So, in short, be bold and take risks! If you continuously play it safe and take the path of least resistance, you are going to be leaving a lot of personal growth, self discovery and overall awareness on the table when it comes to life. Just my personal $0.02.

5. Stay Humble & Have a Sense of Mission

“Check your ego at the door.” You may have heard that statement before as well, and I have found that its a very POWERFUL statement as well as a POWERFUL practice, and has served me well in both life and in business. Lets face it, no one really likes to be around with someone with a big head or who comes across as if they are above everyone else in the room. I call those folks “Oneupsmen,” No matter what, they are always bigger and better in everything being discussed and their head is BIG.

There are many lessons in life, and in business, and I believe if you take each of your lessons to heart, they should ideally lead you to a state of humility. You should continuously be in a state of thanks and humility for every lesson you receive in life. My life’s work currently is focused on helping other entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. I take the lessons very seriously, experience & knowledge gained is critical in every situation.

When I think back on my early days at bootstrapping Blue Sky Factory, and what I learned from the UBER lean days, when there were just a few dollars in the bank, and when often there were no dollars in our pockets. Back when we lived on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and the mere thought of taking out our then girlfriends, now wives, couldn’t even enter our minds as a possibility. Times like that will humble you. You don’t forget, nor should you. Give thanks for everything you have no matter what, and try to help others achieve their dreams if and when you can. In short, karma is what karma does.

This was the overall theme and thesis of the 5 lessons that I chose to share with the audience at UMBC. I had about 12 pages written out and I read, off paper, for the first time, a very personal speech that gave a little insight into the fabric of this entrepreneur.

The feedback overall was great, and I enjoyed talking to the future generation for quite a while post-event. In closing, these are just some of my truths based on my own experiences. My only hope is that some of the above either inspired or moved you in some way. I would love to hear your thoughts, reactions and additions in the comments. Thanks always for reading.

Another writing initiative that I’ve been looking forward to getting started is a blog series on my angel investments. I’ve been an active angel investor for the past three years, and currently serve as the managing member of the Baltimore Angels group.

Why? Simply, I’d like to highlight and talk about the companies I’ve invested in, and more specifically, why I invested in them. I want to do this in order to present a layer of angel exposure that I wish there was more of. I don’t pretend to be someone who knows it all, or has the crystal ball etc.. In reality, though my personal experiences in entrepreneurship were always bootstrapped, I’ve helped many startups raise a LOT of money over the last few years.

Over the next several months, I will pepper the blog with a highlight of one of the many companies I have invested in. To date, my portfolio consists of the following companies below, and in no particular order I will be writing about each of them in individual posts.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the series.