EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections conference in 2 months

The EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections conference will be held just in over two months, from Thursday, March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. This is an excellent opportunity for engineers with an entrepreneurial interest to get together and share ideas and experiences related to starting and running your own technology-oriented business. It is not restricted to technology types, but that is the main focus and primary interest.

I still do not have any details yet, but presumably it will be similar to past years, when it was held at the Sheraton Denver West hotel in Lakewood, CO.

The main part of the conference is usually a Friday evening dinner and discussion, presentations and discussions all day Saturday, dinner and more discussions and possibly a group activity Saturday evening, and a few more presentations and discussions Sunday morning. Thursday is resrved for skiing, if you wish. Friday is reserved for a combination of either skiing or some other activity (such as a tour of the Coors brewery.)

This is not a large conference and may total fifteen to thirty participants, but that gives it a more personal and interactive feel. In some sense, it really should be categorized as an un-conference since it is fairly informal and the participants help to structure the conference based on their interests.

I have my own web page for the conference, EntConnect 2008, which includes some info about past conferences, including pictures, but there is also a  Official EntConnect Entrepreneurial Connections web site as well. Also, you can check John Gaudio's A Better Blogsite for information as it may become available. John runs the conference.

The audience is primarily technical, engineer types, but also non-engineers as well as students who have an entrepreneurial interest. I would say that the audience is "eclectic." So, if you are entrepreneurial in any way and in the area or just want an excuse to go skiing in Colorado, check out this conference.

-- Jack Krupansky

The Risk of Innovation: Will Anyone Embrace It?

There is a good article in The New York Times by G. Pascal Zachary entitled "The Risk of Innovation: Will Anyone Embrace It?" which warns us that "the truth is that no one can tell in advance which innovations people will adapt to and which will become the next example of the Picturephone." This is of course why the primary focus of any entrepreneur should be to identify a need and then work on addressing that need through innovation. Unfortunately, that is difficult (if not impossible) advice to swallow for us technologists whose primary reason for existence is to innovate new technologies, hoping then to find or create a market for our new technological marvels.

-- Jack Krupansky

Achieving wealth and happiness

I just ran across this quote when reading a listserv exchange about patents related to the Semantic Web:

Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service.

- Henry Ford

Time to start focusing on services that are in fact useful.

That is in fact what I try to do, but it sure seems that a lot of ventures are filled with noise and randomness that is of only very marginal utility.

-- Jack Krupansky

LinkedIn public profile

The LinkedIn professional networking site now allows you to make your profile public and even personalize the URL for your profile. Mine is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jackkrupansky.

My own LinkedIn network is still fairly small at 91 connections, but I do get a slow trickle of incoming acceptances of old invitations and an occasional new invitation.

I still have not gotten any great business value from LinkedIn, but it is a useful "rolodex" and makes it convenient to keep track of former associates. I occasionally get an email from LinkedIn highlighting job changes for people in my network.

-- Jack Krupansky

Leantech

There was an interesting article on Portfolio.com by Russ Mitchell entitled "Would You Give This Kid $500,000?" which profiles a prototypical 19-year old technology entrepreneur by the name of Jared Kim whose new business is categorized as leantech or technology-based but with very low overhead and a very small staff. In this case he has managed to score some funding for his new online video venture.

The big question is what level of funding is appropriate for such a lean startup. Is it better to go for a significant level of funding and move into markets rapidly but with higher risk, or remain as a self-funded effort until some results can be seen?

In the current environment of an excess of capital, the "game" seems to be to get a substantial pile of cash and then "roll the dice" and "go for it."

It may be more a matter of personal style and preference.

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections conference in less than 3 months

The EntConnect 2008 Entrepreneurial Connections conference will be held in less than three months, from Thursday, March 27, 2008 through Sunday, March 30, 2008. This is an excellent opportunity for engineers with an entrepreneurial interest to get together and share ideas and experiences related to starting and running your own technology-oriented business. It is not restricted to technology types, but that is the main focus and primary interest.

I do not have any details yet, but presumably it will be similar to past years, when it was held at the Sheraton Denver West hotel in Lakewood, CO.

The main part of the conference is usually a Friday evening dinner and discussion, Saturday (and evening), and Sunday morning. Thursday is resrved for skiing, if you wish. Friday is reserved for a combination of either skiing or some other activity (such as a tour of the Coors brewery.)

This is not a large conference and may total fifteen to thirty participants, but that gives it a more personal and interactive feel. In some sense, it really should be categorized as an unconference since it is fairly informal.

I have my own web page for the conference, EntConnect 2008, which includes some info about past conferences, but there is also a Official EntConnect Entrepreneurial Connections web site. Also, you can check John Gaudio's A Better Blogsite for information as it may become available. John runs the conference.

The audience is primarily technical, engineer types, but also a few non-engineers as well as students who have an entrepreneurial interest. I would say that the audience is "eclectic." So, if you are entrepreneurial in any way and in the area or just want an excuse to go skiing in Colorado, check out this conference.

-- Jack Krupansky