Contacts in Hong Kong and Shanghai?

I visited Hong Hong and China once back in the 1980's and have always been intrigued with them. Lately as I look around for new work I have been trying to do some out of the box thinking and have been contemplating living and working in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Maybe it was reading James Clavell's epic novel TAI-PAN about Hong Kong that helped to spur my thinking. I haven't yet pursued the matter seriously or even casually, but the idea keeping popping into my head with increasing frequency. Besides the simple fact that I haven't the foggiest clue what it would be like to live and work over there these days, the most immediate obstacle is that I have no professional contacts over there. Zero. Not even a single one.

 

So, I put out this simple query: Anybody have any technical/professional contacts over in Hong Kong and Shanghai that would be interested in having a conversation with a modestly adventurous American?

 

If I had the money, I would simply hop on a plane and check out local technology groups and businesses when I got there, but unfortunately such "larks" are not within my current budget.

 

One idea I have had is to pursue the concept of "virtually living" on the Internet, with all the photos, videos, web cameras, and discussion forums on the Web these days. This would allow me to experience a fraction of what life is like in some distant locale without the cost physical movement. For now it is simply a thought, but it is a thought that keeps popping into my head.

-- Jack Krupansky

Getting into Prezi

I am finally starting to get into Prezi. It is in fact a very cool way to prepare and make presentations.

 

I don't yet have any hard-core, really serious presentations yet, but here's my "workspace" on Prezi:

 

http://prezi.com/user/jackkrupansky/

 

I am going to try to organize some of my thoughts on software agents in the form of Prezi presentations. I have already made a couple of initial stabs at that link above, but please consider it all "a work in progress."

 

I am just using the free offering, which means all of my work is public (which is perfect for an entrepreneur.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Is the business card dead?

I traveled out to Colorado recently for the EntConnect technical entrepreneurs' conference and not once traveling to or from the conference or at the conference did I ever pull out and offer a business card. In fact, I never saw anyone else offer a business card to anyone else either. Okay, sure, most of us knew each other, but a few of us had not met before. I wonder if this is yet another sign that the business card is on its way out, headed the way of buggy whips. What with email, blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google search, who really needs business cards these days?

 

Personally, I would still feel naked without a few "emergency" business cards in my pocket or wallet, but apparently gone are the days when one needs to carry a stack of them.

-- Jack Krupansky

Agent Server is a product without a name

My new agent server does not have a formal name. I have done this intentionally. I don't actually consider it a true "product" or commercial "service" at this point in time. It has no real packaging (okay, it does have a downloadable zip file and a home on GitHub) and you can't "buy" or "subscribe" to it per se. From my perspective it is still "raw" technology. Yes, it is packaged to make it easy for people to access the technology, but it is certainly not "ready for prime time."

 

I vaguely considered whether to give it a name, but decided that all such "marketing" effort would be a distraction from focusing on getting the technology working and available for evaluation. Any kind of true marketing is still down the road.

 

For now I use one of the following descriptive names to refer to the technology:

• Agent Server
• Software Agent Server
• Base Technology Agent Server
• Base Technology Software Agent Server
• Any of the above with a suffix of "Stage 0" (e.g., "Base Technology Agent Server - Stage 0")

Once I start getting some feedback on the technology and refine it a bit more, then and only then will I be ready to engage in some "real" marketing, starting with brand identity, naming, product positioning, messaging, and promotion.

-- Jack Krupansky

Business model for Agent Server

Although subject to change and evolution, the currently expected business model will be primarily a traditional open source model:

1. The software, including full source, is "free" and freely available (on GitHub) under the Apache License Version 2.0.
2. Consulting and contract work to support, extend, and customize the software will be the primary source of revenue.

In addition, I have some preliminary thoughts for a longer-term plan to offer a subscription-based "agent grid" network of web-based servers that are tailored to offering commercial-grade agent server support for organizations that do not wish to host and support the agent server software on their own machines. But, this option is still way off in the hazy future.

 

For now, I seek customer/partners such as large data providers (or any organization who offers a web-based API to their services) who have a strong interest in software agents that facilitate consumption of their data in a way that is compatible with their own business model.

 

-- Jack Krupansky

Moving forward with developing a software agent server

Back in the middle of January I ruminated about the possibility that after 15 years of thought and research, maybe I was finally on the verge of being ready to actually make some forward progress with developing a software agent server. About a week later I started writing some serious code in Java and two months later I now have a preliminary working version of an agent server. It is still far from finished and I would not want anybody to actually start trying to use it, but I do have open source code and a downloadable Java zip file up on github. I call it "the Base Technology Agent Server – Stage 0." Call it pre-alpha quality. after I get some preliminary feedback from some people, fill in some gaps, and finish some documentation, then I will officially make it public. For now, people can actually take a peek if they are adventurous enough:

 

https://github.com/jack-krupansky-BT/Agent-Server-Stage-0

 

I hope to get the introductory doc and tutorial in at least marginally usable shape within a week or so.

-- Jack Krupansky

My notes from the EntConnect 2012 conference

In case you were unable to attend the EntConnect 2012  conference out in Denver, CO last weekend, I have published my notes.

 

The HTML version is here.

 

The more readable and printable PDF version is here.

 

My personal web page for the 2012 conference is here.

 

My personal web page for the upcoming (in a year) EntConnect 2013 conference is here.

 

Actually, I have decided to withdraw from the conference. I still think it is an interesting conference and provides a great reunion opportunity for former Midnight Engineering readers (yes, Bill actually attended portions of the conference), but other than that reunion aspect, the conference is growing rather long in the tooth (hey, it's been 21 conferences now since the first ME SKI '92 in 1992) and not really attracting much in the way of new blood, and I "did the math" and decided that although the conference still delivers value beyond its financial cost, the value simply isn't enough to justify the investment of my time. Put another way, the conference is more of a "blue pill" crowd and I need to associate more more hard-core "red pill" types (see the "Red pill and blue pill" Wikipedia article.) I personally need to be moving at "Internet Time" times 2 or more and I just wasn't feeling that the conference was helping me out on that score.

 

In particular, I need to focus more attention on my infamous software agent project which seems to be actually coming to fruition. More on that later, although running, downloadable code can be found here.

-- Jack Krupansky

Should I or shouldn't I?

I've been poking at the edges of technology and business opportunities for software agent technology for quite a number of years now, but have been very hesitant to pull the trigger and actually try to do something to realize the potential of all of the grand visions of agents. Initially it had all seemed so promising, and that remains true, but so much of it has been more of a research program with tangible results always tantalyzingly out of reach. But, now, I'm finally at the point where I am seriously considering whether enough of the requisite technology components may be in place to at least start to move forward. I'm still not convinced or decided, but it at least feels a lot more encouraging than at any point in the past 15 years, other than the initial euphoria I had back in 1997.

 

When I step back and look at all of the pieces of technology that would be required to come together to implement true intelligent agents or at least functional, industrial-strength software agents, the view is breathtaking and quite daunting. There is still tons of hard-core research needed and a lot of the technology is simply not ready for prime time.

 

But lately I've been taking a slightly different perspective, and trying to focus on identifying a realistic subset of the vision and technology that I actually could make very real progress on in the here and now. I've made some great progress and this approach looks promising, but there is still too much that is still vague and foggy.

 

There are two critical questions that I face: 1) have I identified a small enough subset of the problem that I can actually implement in fairly short order, and 2) will that subset have the critical mass needed to be successful from both a technology and marketing perspective.

 

Unfortunately, this whole area is still highly speculative and even if I can and do build a product, it would be more of "a solution in search of a problem" than a clear market need that I can simply plug in to fill. That is probably the biggest concern holding me back on the business side of the equation.

 

Ultimately, I may simply decide that I could build something, but then decide not to.

 

Or, I may decide that I will learn enough from the experience and accumulate enough valuable technology buzz words to put on my resume that the technology effort may be more than worth the business risk.

 

Right now, my bias is towards starting to write some code next week.

 

I'm also currently looking around for some new consulting or contracting work and struggling with the question of whether I'd rather have the certainty of a decent income versus the risk of pursuing a new technology venture. I really would prefer the latter, but I simply do not yet have a solid fix on success in that direction that I would be willing to bet the farm on.

-- Jack Krupansky

Barney Frank, Steve Jobs, brash bosses, and over-the-top petulance vs. accomplishment

There was an interesting commentary by Jena McGregor on Barney Frank's management/leadership style in The Washington Post entitled "Barney Frank and the cult of brash bosses."

Must leaders be nice to be noteworthy?

 

We don't have to look much further than Steve Jobs to see they don't have to. The former Apple CEO could be, as we all know by now, a grade-A jerk who threw tantrums, parked in handicapped spots, and was fully capable of so-called gratuitous nastiness. Some are even worried that "with the death and canonization of Steve Jobs and the emergence of the Jobs biography as a kind of sacred text for managers," writes Tom McNichol over at the Atlantic, "the ranks of bosses who see Bad Steve's nastier traits as something to imitate is liable to swell." Jobs, he writes, is considered by too many people in Silicon Valley to be "living proof" that being an ass was a big part of leading a good company.

 

Of course, Steve Jobs was not a phenomenal innovator because of his leadership style; he was wildly successful in spite of it. And no, I'm not going to draw some pained parallel between the brilliance of Steve Jobs and the ornery intelligence of Barney Frank. But it's worth considering when being a nasty boss can help and when it hurts. In a world in which extreme attention to detail is needed—like, say, technology development—or when there's a real need for motivation, there could be some virtues to having a controlling jerk in the top chair. Because many such managers are equally good at turning on the charm when needed, McNichol writes, their salesmanship could outweigh their bad sides. And occasionally, brash thinking (and unfortunately, brash behavior) goes hand-in-hand with an appetite for innovation and risk that other more measured leaders can't really summon from themselves.

 

But in most cases, it's obvious that over-the-top petulance stands in the way of accomplishment. That's especially so in a place like Congress where negotiating skills and relationship building are supposedly the keys to success. Sure, a combative and abrasive style might win leaders points in the highly polarized dysfunction that is today's Congress. But it could also cause them to lose the most accomplished legacy possible.

Maybe bosses are like (removing) band-aids, "fast or slow", choose your style of pain.

 

-- Jack Krupansky

Keys to success

From ABC News "Who Wants to be a Billionaire? 20 Keys to Success from the Superrich" here are their 20 keys to success:

1. Figure out what you're so passionate about that you'd be happy doing it for 10 years, even if you never made any money from it. That's what you should be doing.
2. Always be true to yourself.
3. Figure out what your values are and live by them, in business and in life.
4. Rather than focus on work-life separation, focus on work-life integration.
5. Don't network. Focus on building real relationships and friendships where the relationship itself is its own reward, instead of trying to get something out of the relationship to benefit your business or yourself.
6. Remember to maximize for happiness, not money or status.
7. Think about what your definition of success really is. Is it externally driven or internally driven?
8. Get ready for rejection.
9. Success unshared is failure. Give back -- share your wealth.
10. Successful people do all the things unsuccessful people don't want to do.
11. Values and ethics always come first.
12. Don't lie, cheat or steal for one penny or one dollar -- ever.
13. Business with bad people is always bad business.
14. You have to learn that you can walk away from someone that you care about for the greater good.
15. When my management teams come into the room, I hug them, I give them truth and "harsh speak" when they're in, and then I hug them on the way out.
16. The truth is cold and hard, but it's the first point on the path to hope and salvation.
17. Don't do what you do for the money. Whatever path you choose, do it because it makes your heart beat fast.
18. If you do good, good will come back to you.
19. You have to be fundamentally engaged and honest toward yourself.
20. Live your life full throttle. Take risks!

I suspect that you can just focus on the first of those keys and do quite well. Or at least a lot of them will follow from the first.

-- Jack Krupansky

Why Entrepreneurs Matter More Than Innovators

The Gallup Management Journal has a piece entitled "Why Entrepreneurs Matter More Than Innovators" which tells us:

In his book The Coming Jobs War, Gallup Chairman Jim Clifton makes the bold claim that political and business leaders pay far too much attention to innovation and far too little to cultivating talented entrepreneurs. They've got it backward, Clifton says. To create jobs, leaders must understand that great, thriving businesspeople matter far more than great ideas, which are a dime a dozen.

In short, great ideas still matter, but building a successful business is the real name of the game.

 

This book excerpt delves into the successes of Wayne Huizenga and Ted Turner, among others. To some, their ideas were "bad", not "great", but somehow they were great business successes anyway.

 

This notion of what makes an idea "great" vs. "bad" is interesting and worth contemplating, but not at the expense of building a great business.

-- Jack Krupansky

My remote control for the world

Many moons ago, years before smart phones, handheld computers, and even the Web, I had this conceptual idea for an imaginary device that I called my "remote control for the world." This was around 1985 or so. It wasn't intended to be a full-blown computer with a fancy GUI, but just a simple device to control just about everything you could imagine remotely. More of a scrolling list of devices and objects and a bunch of specific function buttons. Things like turning your home A/C or sprinklers on and off or checking the temperature in your home. Maybe even starting your car or checking its gas gauge. And your bank balance. Just about any setting or indicator that you have a personal interest in. I never bothered to write it up. I'm not sure why. But recently I was reminded of it (wanting to do something remotely) and I realized that even today its still isn't quite feasible with off-the-shelf technology.

 

The biggest breakthrough has been the Internet and Web, which provides a lot of the communications infrastructure that is needed. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well.

 

Small, hi-res graphical displays make the UI much more practical, but ultimately that was never really a major obstacle. A simple, hierarchical scrolling list and some tactile push buttons would work reasonably well.

 

We also have RFID for random objects, bad that is more passive and not interactive, yet.

 

And some household objects and "devices" are intelligent, but we are still in the "dark ages" for most devices and objects that we encounter in our daily lives. Did I lock my door? Sure, some "intelligent homes" can tell you that and control it remotely, but my vintage 1926 apartment door doesn't seem to have an Internet-ready interface.

 

Sure, you can now finally start your car remotely, but that is still more of a specialized app than a general feature of all devices and objects.

 

Thinking about my vision in today's world, I would like to "see" in my refrigerator and "see" in the relevant sections of the supermarket, or any store. Sure, we now have web cameras and other cheap cameras, but they still are not ubiquitous enough to make my vision a reality. And most cameras are still relatively low res and not even HD, lot alone photo-quality high-definition.

 

Yes, some cars now have rear cameras, but I'd like the same for when I'm simply walking down the street. Sure, you could "hack" that, but it's still not quite "there" in terms of a consumer-friendly handheld remote control device.

 

And I'd like to trivially (without some complicated and messy UI) be able to look around corners and even "through" buildings and walls. Sure, we have a lot of elements of the requisite technology, but we're still not even close to having enough of it off-the-shelf and readily packageable to satisfy my interests.

 

Right now, right this moment, I'd like to see where the sun is and check the temperature right outside my building. I can sort of do that with a bunch of browser clicks, but not quite and not as easily as with my original vision for my "remote control for the world." In other words, we can roughly approximate a subset of my vision, but not in any full-featured sense.

 

Maybe a rudimentary version of my remote control might be available in another five years, or ten years, but somehow all of our technological advances over the past 30 years have still not done a great job of integrating our physical environment and everyday devices and objects into one "seamless" network.

-- Jack Krupansky

Hot startups

To be honest, I understand very little about what makes any of today's web-based startups "hot", but today I ran across two lists.

 

The first is "The 20 Hot Silicon Valley Startups You Need To Watch".

 

The second is "The 20 Most Innovative Startups In Tech".

 

What makes them the "hottest" or the "most innovative"? Hard to say. My hunch is that it is simply their investors touting them.

 

My concern is that we may be back into the "flip it" mode of investment where there is little concern about long-term viability and long-term profit generation, but simply whether the initial investors can flip the startup off to some unsuspecting bigger fish in the pond. A lot of these ventures really do seem to fit the bill for the old Silicon Valley adage of "That's a feature, not a product." except that most of them are web-based services rather than "in a box" products anyway. OTOH, maybe being a "feature" is a better (or at least easier) path to success than a full-blown "product." On that angle, here's an interesting commentary about Dropbox turning down an offer from Apple.

-- Jack Krupansky

How can I become a millionaire?

There were actually a couple of short periods of time back in 2000 when I was technically a "millionaire", at least on paper (plus one time when a broker error made me a millionaire for a weekend!) But, as they say, "easy come, easy go." And back in 2005 I was doing so poorly financially that I actually filed for bankruptcy. Since November 30, 2005 (the day my bankruptcy was discharged) I have gradually been slowly climbing back up the lower rungs of the wealth ladder out of the pit of gloom, primarily through regular retirement contributions but also cutting spending and saving when possible, so that now I actually have a modest amount of "investments." I'm certainly not a millionaire or in the top 1% or even the top 10%, but I'm somewhere in the top 20% now. I won't disclose my exact "wealth", but it's very loosely north of $50,000 and south of $250,000, so lets pretend that it is $100,000 for the sake of argument and to have a nice round number. So, the question of the day is:

How can I become a millionaire?

Seriously. It's a legitimate question. How likely I am to become a millionaire again is an open and essentially unanswerable question, but what options or paths to that end are available is a reasonable question.

 

Here are the practical paths that I have identified in just a few minutes today:

1. Buy a winning lottery ticket. Hey, sometimes it actually does payoff, but I won't bet on it.
2. Marry a wealthy woman. Ditto.
3. Start a successful business. Ditto, except that it actually still is a (semi-remote) possibility.
4. Join a hot startup. Ditto, but a little more possible. (Seriously, send me leads on this!)
5. A short string of wildly-successful option trades. Hey, I actually did this in 1998 and 1999, but... a long story... and not likely to be repeated.
6. Invest in a hot stock that rises 40% a year for 7 years. Technically possible, but the odds remain long.
7. Investments that rise 20% a year for 13 years. More doable, but still quite difficult.
8. Investments that rise 15% a year for 17 years. On the fringe of being practical, but too long to wait.
9. Investments that rise 10% a year for 24 years. Starting to sound within reach technically, but not within reach time-wise.
10. Investments that rise 8% a year for 30 years. Great, something I might actually have a shot at achieving, but only if my goal is to leave a million in my will rather than enjoy it during retirement.
11. Investments that rise 5% a year for 48 years. Ditto. I could reasonably expect to do this, but again not for my personal use.
12. Investments that rise 4% a year for 59 years. That rate of return is reasonable and achievable for an average investor, but won't achieve the end goal within my expected lifetime.

And then there is inflation, taxes, bad years, etc. And presuming that you have a reasonable income stream while your wealth is growing.

 

And then there is a bigger pair of questions. Once you have accumulated $1 million:

1. How do you keep it?
2. How can you live off of it in a sustainable manner?

It may seem obvious that you save $1 million for retirement and then spend it all in retirement, but that is a risky expectation due to uncertainty about the future. Better to define an allocation of money that you will be spending and money that remains dedicated to further investment. That's a topic for future discussion. Here we're just concerned with getting to $1 million (ASAP) in the first place.

 

Where do I do from here? The only things I can say with certainty are that I will continue making my retirement contributions and hopefully see some compound returns over the years. I guess I can also safely say that unless I manage to achieve 20% annual returns I won't hit $1 million when I retire in 13 years. That is at least a good starting point for thinking about where I am, what I could achieve, and what my options are.

 

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect 2011 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference in Colorado just a couple of days away

The annual Entrepreneurial Connections (EntConnect) conference is just a couple of days away, from Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011. Traditionally the conference consists primarily of a reunion of former readers of Midnight Engineering magazine and a few newbies who have gotten suckered into trying it out, but each year we try to figure out new ways to attract fresh blood from both ends and the middle of the age and experience and interests spectrums. The "official" conference kicks off with dinner on Friday evening, but there are also a day or two of optional activities before the official start.

 

Just to give you a rough idea of what the conference is like:

• Formal sessions -- speakers share ideas and spark discussion
• Informal/open sessions -- a chance for you to network with new friends and share ideas in small groups
• After hours events -- both informative and fun; some held at the hotel bar and some in the meeting room
• Relaxing encounters -- structured, optional events that provide fun and chill time

Here's a quick summary of the tentative conference schedule:

• Wednesday March 23rd:
  • 6:00 PM Beer and good company at the hotel bar.  John Gaudio will buy the first round.
• Thursday March 24th:
  • 7:15 AM Optional ski outing
  • 7:30 PM Après-ski
• Friday March 25th:
  • Optional activities
  • 7:00 p.m. dinner at The Yard House, just two blocks from our hotel. (Cost will be around $25-$35 per person.)
• Saturday March 26th:
  • Conference presentations and mini trade show from 9am - 6pm
  • 6pm-8:00pm: Form up into like-minded groups and head out to dinner at a nearby restaurant
  • Conference presentation 8:00pm - 9:30pm
  • Saturday 9:30pm-?: Texas Hold 'em poker tournament -- back by popular demand! Assorted beers and great conversations until the last of us head off to bed.
• Sunday March 27th:
  • Conference 9am - 2pm
  • Optional: Late, informal lunch 2pm-4pm

Check out the official conference Web page for an idea of what the conference was like last year. Once again the conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Downtown Denver, which is actually in downtown Denver, with rooms available at the EntConnect 2011 rate of $89. We hope to have a notable keynote speaker, but as usual the primary focus will be sessions led by your fellow entrepreneurs.

 

Here is my traditional 30-second elevator pitch blurb for the converence:

Whether you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business or simply need a good excuse to go skiing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Entrepreneurial Connections conference (EntConnect) may be just the conference you have been waiting for. Targeted primarily at engineers (hardware, software, and other) and others with a strong technical interest, it is more of a loosely-structured "unconference", with plenty of opportunities for a relatively small group of participants (15 to 40) to network or even give their own presentations on a very wide range of topics from technology, business strategy, intellectual property and legal issues, accounting issues, finance, marketing, sales, and even selling your business. With plenty of time to ski or otherwise enjoy the mountains and Denver area (great time to visit Boulder or Colorado Springs as well), the conference is a great opportunity to "learn and share" and otherwise have an "out of box" experience. Participants and speakers range over the full spectrum from wannabes and newcomers to successful young entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet up with former readers (and possibly even the publisher) of Midnight Engineering magazine as well. The conference runs from Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011.

Visit the official conference Web site, EntConnect.org.

 

I have been attending the conference since it first started in 1992 as ME SKI '92 and then evolved into ENTCON and then Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect. Yikes!!! That means that this is the 20th year of the conference.

 

I will be attending another conference in New York on Friday morning, so I won't get into Denver until sometime in the evening. If my flight and bus are on time and I don't miss my flight rushing from my morning conference I should get to downtown Denver between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM, just in time for the usual Friday evening group dinner at The Yard in downtown Denver, two blocks from the conference hotel.

 

For a little nostalgia, check out the original ME SKI '92 conference announcement.

 

Oh, and please feel free to join the Midnight Engineers Yahoo discussion forum.

 

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect 2011 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference in Colorado is next week

The annual Entrepreneurial Connections (EntConnect) conference is now less than a week away, from Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011. Traditionally the conference consists primarily of a reunion of former readers of Midnight Engineering magazine and a few newbies who have gotten suckered into trying it out, but each year we try to figure out new ways to attract fresh blood from both ends and the middle of the age and experience and interests spectrums.

 

Check out the official conference Web page for an idea of what the conference was like last year. Once again the conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Downtown Denver, which is actually in downtown Denver, with rooms available at the EntConnect 2011 rate of $89. We hope to have a notable keynote speaker, but as usual the primary focus will be sessions led by your fellow entrepreneurs.

 

Here is my traditional 30-second elevator pitch blurb for the converence:

Whether you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business or simply need a good excuse to go skiing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Entrepreneurial Connections conference (EntConnect) may be just the conference you have been waiting for. Targeted primarily at engineers (hardware, software, and other) and others with a strong technical interest, it is more of a loosely-structured "unconference", with plenty of opportunities for a relatively small group of participants (15 to 40) to network or even give their own presentations on a very wide range of topics from technology, business strategy, intellectual property and legal issues, accounting issues, finance, marketing, sales, and even selling your business. With plenty of time to ski or otherwise enjoy the mountains and Denver area (great time to visit Boulder or Colorado Springs as well), the conference is a great opportunity to "learn and share" and otherwise have an "out of box" experience. Participants and speakers range over the full spectrum from wannabes and newcomers to successful young entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet up with former readers (and possibly even the publisher) of Midnight Engineering magazine as well. The conference runs from Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011.

Visit the official conference Web site, EntConnect.org.

 

I have been attending the conference since it first started in 1992 as ME SKI '92 and then evolved into ENTCON and then Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect. Yikes!!! That means that this is the 20th year of the conference.

 

I will be attending another conference in New York on Friday morning, so I won't get into Denver until sometime in the evening. If my flight and bus are on time and I don't miss my flight rushing from my morning conference I should get to downtown Denver between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM, just in time for the usual Friday evening group dinner. I'm not sure about this year yet, but last year the dinner was at Magianno's Little Italy, just a block from the conference hotel.

 

For a little nostalgia, check out the original ME SKI '92 conference announcement.

 

Oh, and please feel free to join the Midnight Engineers Yahoo discussion forum.

 

-- Jack Krupansky

Great advice from the pioneer of broadband DSL

Read the Forbes blog post entitled "Engineers: Ignore Critics, Follow Your Dreams, Change The World" by John Cioffi, the entrepreneurial engineer who pioneered broadband DSL. He says:

Entrepreneurial success requires passion, patience and thick skin. Entrepreneurs who also happen to be an engineers need a triple dose of all of those qualities, because no matter what the venture, real entrepreneurs often face long odds and loud critics.

He goes on to say:

As a 23-year-old engineer at Bell Laboratories in 1979, I came to believe that high-speed, high-volume transmissions were feasible via copper telephone lines. A lot of people thought I was star-struck with the projection of arcane theories that could not be practically realized. The prevailing contrary belief was that phone lines could never carry video. The prevailing conventional wisdom was that the whole network would have to be replaced with optical fiber to enable video transmission. Nonetheless, I could not see any reason why high-bandwidth video and other data signals could not be carried on the existing copper, and became fascinated with how to do it.

 

My efforts were often ridiculed and criticized, but since no one provided me a technically sound reason to the contrary, I continued. A big motivation beyond the technical challenge was that the economics of wide-scale replacement of copper with fiber was staggering, thus suggesting that this very interesting technical problem would also have large economic value. In the end, copper-based DSL technology did become a reality. The pioneering work we began twenty years ago at a company I founded, Amati Communications, now accounts for approximately 98 percent of the nearly 400 million DSL connections in the world today.

So much for conventional wisdom.

 

An interesting story.

 

-- Jack Krupansky

Only five weeks until the EntConnect 2011 Entrepreneurial Connections Conference in Colorado

It is only five weeks until the annual Entrepreneurial Connections (EntConnect) conference, from Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011. Traditionally the conference consists primarily of a reunion of former readers of Midnight Engineering magazine and a few newbies who have gotten suckered into trying it out, but each year we try to figure out new ways to attract fresh blood from both ends and the middle of the age and experience spectrums.

Check out the official conference Web page for an idea of what the conference was like last year. Once again the conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Downtown Denver, which is actually in downtown Denver, with rooms available at the EntConnect 2011 rate of $89. We hope to have a notable keynote speaker, but as usual the primary focus will be sessions led by your fellow entrepeneurs.

Here is my traditional 30-second elevator pitch blurb for the converence:

Whether you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business or simply need a good excuse to go skiing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Entrepreneurial Connections conference (EntConnect) may be just the conference you have been waiting for. Targeted primarily at engineers (hardware, software, and other) and others with a strong technical interest, it is more of a loosely-structured "unconference", with plenty of opportunities for a relatively small group of participants (15 to 40) to network or even give their own presentations on a very wide range of topics from technology, business strategy, intellectual property and legal issues, accounting issues, finance, marketing, sales, and even selling your business. With plenty of time to ski or otherwise enjoy the mountains and Denver area (great time to visit Boulder or Colorado Springs as well), the conference is a great opportunity to "learn and share" and otherwise have an "out of box" experience. Participants and speakers range over the full spectrum from wannabes and newcomers to successful young entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet up with former readers (and possibly even the publisher) of Midnight Engineering magazine as well. The conference runs from Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011.

Visit the official conference Web site, EntConnect.org.

I have been attending the conference since it first started in 1992 as ME SKI '92 and then evolved into ENTCON and then Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect. Yikes!!! That means that this is the 20th year of the conference.

I will be attending another conference in New York on Friday morning, so I won't get into Denver until sometime in the evening. If my flight and bus are on time and I don't miss my flight rushing from my morning conference I should get to downtown Denver between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM, just in time for the usual Friday evening group dinner. I'm not sure about this year yet, but last year the dinner was at Magianno's Little Italy, just a block from the conference hotel.

For a little nostalgia, check out the original ME SKI '92 conference announcement.

Oh, and please feel free to join the Midnight Engineers Yahoo discussion forum.

-- Jack Krupansky

A high tolerance for agita

From a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Start-Ups on a Shoestring - The tales of three entrepreneurs who launched companies - for less than $150":

"Making a mistake -- or a string of mistakes -- doesn't mean you're a failure; it's part of the learning process," he says. "There's no magic formula for building a business, you just need a willingness to do lots of hard work and a high tolerance for agita."

Agita. Ugh. Not exactly something that I want to want to tolerate.

See:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703720504575376664285510930.html

-- Jack Krupansky

Success is a continuous journey

Check out Richard St. John's TED talk on "Success is a continuous journey", summarized as:

Richard St. John reminds us that success is not a one-way street, but a constant journey. He uses the story of his business' rise and fall to illustrate a valuable lesson -- when we stop trying, we fail.

-- Jack Krupansky

Eight Timeless Success Principles from Richard St. John

Richard St. John lists eight Timeless Success Principles that have been the most important factors for success since Michelangelo in the 16th century:

1. Passion
2. Work
3. Focus
4. Push
5. Ideas
6. Improve
7. Serve
8. Persist

And most importantly, this is an endless cycle, not a one-way street. Once you achieve success, you have to keep the process going, otherwise the success will dissipate.

-- Jack Krupansky

Oops, one of my Lending Club investment loans has missed a payment

It had to happen eventually, but for a year now I have managed to avoid any of my Lending Club investment loans ("notes") getting hit with a missed payment or default. Sometime over the past week one of the loans went into "Late (16-30 days)" status. No big deal yet and that loan share is less than 2% of my portfolio, but I had gotten so used to a perfect record for so long. There is no action for me to take, other than to simple watch the loan from a distance to see whether or when the borrower makes up for the missed payment. Lending Club takes care of all of the communication with the borrower. The good news is that if the borrower does catch up, they will have to pay a late fee, which will increase my return. This loan was rated E2, which is moderately risky and has a nominal interest rate of 16%.

-- Jack Krupansky

Reinvested my Lending Club cash flow in a new investment loan at 18.67%

Cash flow from my portfolio of Lending Club investment loans ("notes") over the past two weeks has given me enough cash to invest in yet another consumer loan. My current Net Annualized Return is now at 15.57%, which is finally above my goal of 15.5%, but only by a little, so on Monday afternoon I picked a pre-approved loan at 18.67% that was already 68% funded but with only 22 hours left in the two-week funding period. I was concerned that it might not get fully funded in less than a day, but by Tuesday morning I got the email message from Lending Club confirming that it had in fact gotten fully funded and was issued.

The loan grade for this loan is F2 (on an "A" to "G" scale), which is moderately risky. Lending club turns down 90% of loan applications, which eliminates all of the truly risky loans, so even a "risky" Lending Club loan is not necessarily all that risky. Lending Club says that the historical default rate for loans such as this one is about 6.56%, so that my projected return is about 11.39%. That includes Lending Club taking 0.72% as a servicing fee. My goal of 15.5% should factor in a default rate of about 3.5% or so, giving an expected return of about 12%. That is still quite respectable, especially in this economic and financial environment.

My Net Annualized Return of 15.57% puts me at the 91% percentile, so only 9% of Lending Club investors are earning more than me. I'd like to get that to 95%.

My goal is really a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June 2009.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in July (assuming my work income continues.) I was going to try to double it in June, but I just ordered a new notebook computer (and am currently getting all of my work moved over to it.)

-- Jack Krupansky

My latest Lending Club cashflow reinvestment has been fully funded and issued

Sometime yesterday evening my latest Lending Club investment loan, using money from only cash flow over the past two weeks, was fully funded and issued. This was for a pre-approved 3-year loan at 19.04%.

I'll probably have enough cash flow in my Lending Club account over the next two weeks or so to fund yet another loan.

-- Jack Krupansky

Reinvested my Lending Club cashflow in a new investment loan at 19.04%

Cashflow from my portfolio of Lending Club investment loans ("notes") over the past two weeks has given me enough cash to invest in yet another consumer loan. My current Net Annualized Return is now at 15.36%, which is still a bit short of my goal of 15.5%, so I picked a pre-approved loan at 19.04% that is already 94% funded with five days left in the two-week funding period. I expect that this loan is likely to reach full funding today or overnight.

The loan grade for this loan is F3 (on an "A" to "G" scale), which is moderately risky. Lending club turns down 90% of loan applications, which eliminates all of the truly risky loans, so even a "risky" Lending Club loan is not necessarily all that risky. Lending Club says that the historical default rate for loans such as this one is about 6.83%, so that my projected return is about 11.48%. That includes Lending Club taking 0.73% as a servicing fee. My goal of 15.5% should factor in a default rate of about 3.5% or so, giving an expected return of about 12%. That is still quite respectable, especially in this economic and financial environment.

My goal is really a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in July (assuming my work income continues.) I was going to try to double it in June, but I just ordered a new notebook computer.

-- Jack Krupansky

My latest Lending Club investment loan has been issued

Overnight my latest Lending Club investment loan reached 100% funding and was issued. I now have no loan orders outstanding. This loan was funded with cash flow (interest and return of principle) from my existing portfolio of loans.  Within a week or so my account will accumulate enough additional cash from interest and return of principle to fund yet another loan.

This is still just an experiment for me (less than a year) since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging.-- Jack Krupansky

Last loan of my recent batch of Lending Club investment loans has been issued

Overnight the last loan in my latest batch of Lending Club investment loans reached 100% funding and was issued. My new order to reinvest accumulated interest and return of principal in yet another investment loan note is now 47% funded with a little less than seven days to get fully funded.

Meanwhile, my Net Annualized Return has moved up to 15.34%, which puts me up at the 89% percentile with only 11% of Lending Club investors earning a higher return than me. I'd like to get that up into the low 90's. I have a total of 52 notes, plus the new one from yesterday that is still in funding.

Even with this doubling of my total portfolio size, my Lending Club investment is still a modest size experiment. Even doubled again it would still be modest size. If all goes according to plan (not that I actually have a plan), by the end of the year I should finally have a real investment in Lending Club loans.

My goal continues to be a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June 2009.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in June or July (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Still have one more Lending Club investment loan to get issued

All but one of my latest batch of Lending Club investment loans were issued as of Monday. Somehow I had made a mistake and inadvertently selected a loan that was not already "Approved", which means that although it had reached full funding, it failed to be issued due to a lack of final documentation from the borrower. I was out for a few days, but I just placed a new order for a new "Approved" investment loan.

I also had accumulated enough interest and return of principal to make yet another new loan investment.

Together, the two new loans average 18.67% return, with a historical default rate of 5.95% and a service charge of 0.73%, resulting in a projected return of 12%.

Meanwhile, my Net Annualized Return has inched up to 15.19%. I have a total of 51 notes, pus the two new ones from today that are still in funding.

Even with this doubling of my total porfolio size, my Lending Club investment is still a modest size experiment. Even doubled again it would still be modest size. If all goes according to plan (not that I actually have a plan), by the end of the year I should finally have a real investment in Lending Club loans.

My goal continues to be a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June 2009.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in June or July (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

All but a few of my latest Lending Club investment loans have been issued

Just a week ago I placed orders to invest in a new batch of Lending Club investment loans and already 75% of them have been fully funded and issued. And of the remaining five, two have reached full funding and are awaiting final review. The remaining three are about 75% to 80% funded and likely to be funded and issued by Monday.

Somehow I made a mistake and inadvertently selected a loan that was not already "Approved", which means that although it has reached full funding, it could still be declined if the borrower does not finalize proof of income. I should be okay on this one (as I have been for most such loans in the past), but it does add some uncertainty.

It has been ten days since I started this investment batch by initiated a transfer of funds to my Lending Club account from within the Lending Club web site. Assuming the remaining loans are issued on Monday, that will have been a two-week investment cycle, which is about what I would expect with a moderate size batch of loans, a bunch of which were less than 50% funded when I selected them, and includes the time for the transfer of funds from my bank account to settle in my Lending Club account.

Meanwhile, my Net Annualized Return has inched back up to 15.08%. I have a total of 52 notes (assuming the latest batch all get funded.)

Even with this doubling of my total porfolio size, my Lending Club investment is still a modest size experiment. Even doubled again it would still be modest size. If all goes according to plan (not that I actually have a plan), by the end of the year I should finally have a real investment in Lending Club loans.

My goal continues to be a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June 2009.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in June or July (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Finished investing my new Lending Club money in more investment loans

This morning and this afternoon I invested in the last two investment loans (notes) to complete the investment of my latest infusion of money into my Lending Club account. One was at 18.30% and the other at 17.56%, so I think my average for the new batch should be roughly at 15%, give or take. I had hoped to be up at 15.5% or even 16%, but 15% is fine.

Two of the batch of 20 loans have already been fully funded and issued. Three more have reached full funding and should be issued on Monday. The rest are all "Approved" but in various stages of funding. A couple of them might not reach full funding by the two-week deadline, but overall they are in great shape to get issued within the next week to ten days. My work is done (unless some of them fail to get fully funded). I'll check up on their funding status every couple of days (just for fun, actually), but otherwise my account is on auto-pilot.

It was only Monday that I initiated the transfer from my bank account in Lending Club. I didn't even expect to be starting the loan selection process until Monday. being ahead of the game is quite satisfying.

The only other comment I would make is that I would have been done yesterday if I had doubled or somewhat increased my loan slice size to minimize the number of loans I needed to select. Twenty is a lot to do all at one. Sure, the Lending Match feature can be used to do a batch of automatically selected notes all at once, but I prefer to carefully vet each note and to select only those that are already "Approved."

Meanwhile, my Net Annualized Return has moved back up to 15.07%. I have a total of 52 notes (assuming the latest batch all get funded.)

Even with this doubling of my total porfolio size, my Lending Club investment is still a modest size experiment. Even doubled again it would still be modest size. If all goes according to plan (not that I actually have a plan), by the end of the year I should finally have a real investment in Lending Club loans.

My goal continues to be a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June 2009.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in June or July (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Rate of innovation headed for technological Dark Ages

Here's an interesting article that posits that our true rate of innovation is declining:

One of the strangest portents of the end of progress is the recent discovery that humans are losing their ability to come up with new ideas.

... "The number of advances wasn't increasing exponentially, I hadn't seen as many as I had expected — not in any particular area, just generally."

... the rate of innovation peaked in 1873 and has been declining ever since. In fact, our current rate of innovation — which Huebner puts at seven important technological developments per billion people per year — is about the same as it was in 1600. By 2024 it will have slumped to the same level as it was in the Dark Ages, the period between the end of the Roman empire and the start of the Middle Ages.

Huebner's insight has caused some outrage. The influential scientist Ray Kurzweil has criticised his sample of innovations as "arbitrary"; K Eric Drexler, prophet of nanotechnology, has argued that we should be measuring capabilities, not innovations. Thus we may travel faster or access more information at greater speeds without significant innovations as such.

Huebner has so far successfully responded to all these criticisms. Moreover, he is supported by the work of Ben Jones, a management professor at Northwestern University in Illinois. Jones has found that we are currently in a quandary comparable to that of the Red Queen in Through the Looking Glass: we have to run faster and faster just to stay in the same place. Basically, two centuries of economic growth in the industrialised world has been driven by scientific and technological innovation. We don't get richer unaided or simply by working harder: we get richer because smart people invent steam engines, antibiotics and the internet. What Jones has discovered is that we have to work harder and harder to sustain growth through innovation. More and more money has to be poured into research and development and we have to deploy more people in these areas just to keep up. "The result is," says Jones, "that the average individual innovator is having a smaller and smaller impact."

See: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article575370.ece

I would summarize the problem as that our main focus is to be extremely good at repackaging and repurposing old wine in new bottles.

In my view, we have far too much "fake innovation". Even worse, we place far to great a value on fake over true innovation.

To make my point: Here we are a whole decade into the 21st century and NOBODY is knocking on my door or accosting me on the street and demanding that I should do some true innovation. Nobody. Oh, sure, some people want to cure cancer or prevent climate change and such, but nobody wants to pursue, for example, ... "progress of the human mind" (Kurzweil seems to want to eliminate it as if it were a form of cancer.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Invested most of my new Lending Club money in more investment loans, averaging 14.88%

My latest infusion of money into my Lending Club account became available today, a day earlier than I expected. It was only Monday that I initiated the transfer from my bank account in Lending Club. I was pleasantly surprised to see the email message from Lending Club in my inbox when I got back from my noon walk.

I decided to keep the size of each slice of investment in any individual loan relatively small, at $50. I started out with the goal of shooting for a return of about 16% on these loans, but there simply weren't enough of them that were already "Approved" which is a personal criteria that I use to assure quality and increase the odds that the loans will be issued and in a timely manner. About half of my new loans are above 15% and half below 15%, averaging 14.88%. That is below my ultimate goal of 15%, but I actually held back 10% of the new money so that I could try on another day to get a couple of loans up in the 18% range to see if I could move the average above 15%. After all, new loans are appearing on Lending Club every day.

Some of these loans were mostly funded so I should see them issued within the next couple of days. Others were fairly new and may take a week or more to become fully funded.

Here's a hoot: One is for debt consolidation for an investment banker at Citigroup here in NYC who has a six-digit salary. Excellent! Competing with Wall Street on Wall Street -- that's the way to stick it to the banks for all of the pain they caused so many of us. Yeah!

Even with this doubling of my total porfolio size, my Lending Club investment is still a modest size experiment. Even doubled again it would still be modest size. If all goes according to plan (not that I actually have a plan), by the end of the year I should finally have a real investment in Lending Club loans.

My goal continues to be a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%. I was briefly above 15% a couple of weeks ago, but then I fell back to 14.88%. Yesterday I finally crept back up to 14.99%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June 2009.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in June or July (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Doubling my Lending Club portfolio size (again)

As I had been hinting in recent posts about Lending Club, I am going ahead and doubling the size of my investment loan portfolio since my work started up again at the beginning of April. I also switched banks, so I had to wait to verify the new bank before initiating the funds transfer on Monday. According to Lending Club the money should be available for investment sometime on Friday or Monday. I am actually using money from my federal tax refund.

I still need to decide whether to invest in $50 or $100 loan slices. The larger amount means fewer loans which is easier to vet and manage but greater exposure to risk of any loan, while the smaller amount means more effort but less risk. Or, I could pick a number in the middle. What I really need to do is think about what investment activity I expect in the future so that these investments are consistent with that goal. I'll probably double my portfolio again within three or four months, so I am leaning towards the larger loan size.

Even with this doubling my Lending Club investment is still a modest size experiment. Even doubled again it would still be modest size. If all goes according to plan (not that I actually have a plan), by the end of the year I should finally have a real investment in Lending Club loans.

My goal continues to be a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%. I was briefly above 15% a couple of weeks ago, but then I fell back to 14.88%. Yesterday I finally crept back up to 14.99%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June 2009.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in June or July (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Successful EntConnect 2010 is now history, get ready for EntConnect 2011

The EntConnect 2010 Entrepreneurial Connections conference is now history, as technical entrepreneurs now look forward to EntConnect 2011. EntConnect 2010 ran from Thursday, March 25, 2010 through Sunday, March 28, 2010. I didn't blog or twitter or wiki about it since my notebook PC screen died as the conference was about to get underway (I bought an external monitor at BestBuy last night when I got back to NYC), but new attendee and presenter Jeff Duntemann, former publisher of PC TECHNIQUES magazine, has posted an outstanding write-up at Report: EntConnect 2010. Old-time attendees and Midnight Engineering writers Matt Trask and Bruce Boyes came back to the conference and recounted their adventures over recent years. Newcomer, keynote speaker, and retireed entrepreneur (that's an oxymoron, by the way) Dave Grenewetzki, former President of game publisher Sierra On-Line, definitely added a lot of adventurous tales to the proceedings.

I don't have an exact attendee count, especially since not everyone was there at all times, but I counted about 26 people on several different occasions. Small, but very focused and very interactive.

Some of us enjoyed getting rides in a Tesla all-electric sports car after the formal conference on Sunday. Others had more fun driving their own go-karts on Friday.

Hotel details for EntConnect 2011 -- the 20th Anniversity of the conference -- are still up in the air, but the anticipated dates are Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011.

Oh, I almost forgot, there is a special reduced price for those who register for EntConnect 2011 by the end of this week.

Check out the official conference web site, but here is my 37-second elevator pitch for the conference:

Whether you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business or simply need a good excuse to go skiing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Entrepreneurial Connections conference (EntConnect) may be just the conference you have been waiting for. Targeted primarily at engineers (hardware, software, and other) and others with a strong technical interest, it is more of a loosely-structured "unconference", with plenty of opportunities for a relatively small group of participants (15 to 40) to network or even give their own presentations on a very wide range of topics from technology, business strategy, intellectual property and legal issues, accounting issues, finance, marketing, sales, and even selling your business. With plenty of time to ski or otherwise enjoy the mountains and Denver area (great time to visit Boulder or Colorado Springs as well), the conference is a great opportunity to "learn and share" and otherwise have an "out of box" experience. Participants and speakers range over the full spectrum from wannabes and newcomers to successful young entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet up with former readers (and possibly even the publisher) of Midnight Engineering magazine as well. The conference runs from Thursday, March 24, 2011 through Sunday, March 27, 2011.

I have been attending the conference since it first started in 1992 as ME SKI '92 and then evolved into ENTCON and then Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect.

For a little nostalgia, check out the original ME SKI '92 conference announcement.

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect 2010 gets underway tomorrow

24 hours from now I will out in Denver for the EntConnect 2010 Entrepreneurial Connections conference, which runs this week from Thursday, March 25, 2010 through Sunday, March 28, 2010. The main conference is on the weekend with activities, including skiing on Thursday and Friday. The weather looks fine for Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

Here is the current weather forecast:

• Thursday, March 25: Mostly Sunny, high 48F.
• Friday, March 26: Mostly Cloudy, high 52F.
• Saturday, March 27: 40% chance of Rain/Snow Showers, high of 45F.
• Sunday, March 28: Sunny, high of 55F
• Monday, March 29: Mostly Sunny, high of 61F.

Check out the official conference web site, but here is my 37-second elevator pitch for the conference:

Whether you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business or simply need a good excuse to go skiing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Entrepreneurial Connections conference (EntConnect) may be just the conference you have been waiting for. Targeted primarily at engineers (hardware, software, and other) and others with a strong technical interest, it is more of a loosely-structured "unconference", with plenty of opportunities for a relatively small group of participants (15 to 40) to network or even give their own presentations on a very wide range of topics from technology, business strategy, intellectual property and legal issues, accounting issues, finance, marketing, sales, and even selling your business. With plenty of time to ski or otherwise enjoy the mountains and Denver area (great time to visit Boulder or Colorado Springs as well), the conference is a great opportunity to "learn and share" and otherwise have an "out of box" experience. Participants and speakers range over the full spectrum from wannabes and newcomers to successful young entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet up with former readers (and possibly even the publisher) of Midnight Engineering magazine as well. The conference runs from Thursday, March 25, 2010 through Sunday, March 28, 2010.

I have been attending the conference since it first started in 1992 as ME SKI '92 and then evolved into ENTCON and then Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect.

For a little nostalgia, check out the original ME SKI '92 conference announcement.

-- Jack Krupansky

Move over Kiva, MicroPlace helps the working poor and gives an investment return

Microlending is a great concept. Kiva provides a way for average American consumers to participate and fund microloans for the working poor around the world. But, Kiva does not offer any financial return to investors. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Nothing. Sure, as a charity, Kiva is great. But it doesn't fit into any investment strategy. Lending Club and Prosper do provide decent investment returns, but focus on lending to creditworthy consumers in America who are a number of rungs higher on the economic ladder than the working poor in third-world countries. What was missing was something in the middle, offering a modest return for microloans for the working poor. Enter MicroPlace, which does exactly that. I do not know a lot about it yet, but I just got an email from PayPal alerting me to its existence. PayPal is part of eBay and MicroPlace is part of PayPal. So, it is not some fly-by-night operation. I will be checking into them over the next few weeks.

From their web site:

MicroPlace Mission

MicroPlace's mission is to help alleviate global poverty by enabling everyday people to make investments in the world's working poor.

Our idea is simple.

Microfinance institutions around the world have discovered an effective way to help the world's working poor lift themselves out of poverty. These organizations need capital to expand and reach more of the working poor. At the same time, millions of everyday people here in the United States are looking for ways to make investments that yield a financial return while making a positive impact on the world. MicroPlace simply connects investors with microfinance institutions looking for funds.

The result: more microfinance in the world, satisfied investors, and above all, fewer people living in poverty.

Also, this is another GREAT way to thumb your nose at all of those big Wall Street banks with their giga-billion bailouts. You don't need their 1% interest while they use your money to make speculative bets that churn the stock market and push commodities prices higher. Put the same money in MicroPlace, get a higher rate of return, and actually do some good in the world! At least that's the theory. Stay tuned for details.

-- Jack Krupansky

Reinvested ongoing Lending Club cashflow in a new investment loan at 17.19%

Cashflow from my portfolio of Lending Club investment loans ("notes") over the past eleven days has given me enough cash this morning to invest in yet another consumer loan. My current Net Annualized Return is now at 15.02%, which is still a bit short of my goal of 15.5%, so I picked a pre-approved loan at 17.19% that is already 78% funded with nine days left in the two-week funding period. I expect that this loan is likely to reach full funding within a couple of days.

The loan grade for this loan is E3 (on an "A" to "G" scale), which is moderately risky. Lending Club says that the historical default rate for loans such as this one is about 3.74%, so that my projected return is about 12.73%. That includes Lending Club taking 0.72% as a servicing fee. In truth, my goal of 15.5% should factor in a default rate of about 3.5% or so, giving an expected return of about 12%. That is still quite respectable, especially in this economic and financial environment.

My goal is really a 15% return, but I figure I need a little buffer so that repayments (and maybe even defaults) don't push me below my goal too frequently. I may in fact keep pushing upwards with loans in the 16% to 18% range until I get my return up to 16% and then gradually work the average back to 15.5%.

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in April (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect 2010 just a couple of days away - weather update

One of the annoying "traditions" of the EntConnect Entrepreneurial Connections conference in Denver is that somehow the weather has managed to be uncooperative half of the time. Last year there was a major winter storm the Thursday a lot of us were arriving. So, maybe this will be the half of the time when the weather is more cooperative. The EntConnect 2010 Entrepreneurial Connections conference is in Denver this week from Thursday, March 25, 2010 through Sunday, March 28, 2010. The main conference is on the weekend with activities, including skiing in the days before. The weather looks fine for Thursday and the weekend, but there is currently a Winter Storm Warning in effect for Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon. I'll be arriving from New York (Newark, actually) on Thursday, so I should be okay, unless there is some major air traffic disruption on Wednesday.

Here is the current weather forecast:

• Wednesday, March 24: 60% chance of Snow Shower, high of 35F.
• Thursday, March 25: Sunny, high 50F.
• Friday, March 26: Partly Cloudy, high 58F.
• Saturday, March 27: 40% chance of Showers, high of 41F.
• Sunday, March 28: Partly Cloudy, high of 52F
• Monday, March 29: Partly Cloudy, high of 56F.

Check out the official conference web site, but here is my 37-second elevator pitch for the conference:

Whether you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business or simply need a good excuse to go skiing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Entrepreneurial Connections conference (EntConnect) may be just the conference you have been waiting for. Targeted primarily at engineers (hardware, software, and other) and others with a strong technical interest, it is more of a loosely-structured "unconference", with plenty of opportunities for a relatively small group of participants (15 to 40) to network or even give their own presentations on a very wide range of topics from technology, business strategy, intellectual property and legal issues, accounting issues, finance, marketing, sales, and even selling your business. With plenty of time to ski or otherwise enjoy the mountains and Denver area (great time to visit Boulder or Colorado Springs as well), the conference is a great opportunity to "learn and share" and otherwise have an "out of box" experience. Participants and speakers range over the full spectrum from wannabes and newcomers to successful young entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet up with former readers (and possibly even the publisher) of Midnight Engineering magazine as well. The conference runs from Thursday, March 25, 2010 through Sunday, March 28, 2010.

I have been attending the conference since it first started in 1992 as ME SKI '92 and then evolved into ENTCON and then Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect.

For a little nostalgia, check out the original ME SKI '92 conference announcement.

-- Jack Krupansky

EntConnect 2010 barely over a week away

I have been so busy on other things that the upcoming EntConnect 2010 Entrepreneurial Connections conference in Denver at the end of the month (Thursday, March 25, 2010 through Sunday, March 28, 2010) has started to sneak up on me and is now barely a week away. I don't have any additional details since my last post. At this stage it is mostly a matter of finalizing preparations for traveling to the conference next week.

Check out the official conference web site, but here is my 37-second elevator pitch for the conference:

Whether you are an entrepreneur or thinking about starting your own business or simply need a good excuse to go skiing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Entrepreneurial Connections conference (EntConnect) may be just the conference you have been waiting for. Targeted primarily at engineers (hardware, software, and other) and others with a strong technical interest, it is more of a loosely-structured "unconference", with plenty of opportunities for a relatively small group of participants (15 to 40) to network or even give their own presentations on a very wide range of topics from technology, business strategy, intellectual property and legal issues, accounting issues, finance, marketing, sales, and even selling your business. With plenty of time to ski or otherwise enjoy the mountains and Denver area (great time to visit Boulder or Colorado Springs as well), the conference is a great opportunity to "learn and share" and otherwise have an "out of box" experience. Participants and speakers range over the full spectrum from wannabes and newcomers to successful young entrepreneurs and seasoned veterans. The conference is an excellent opportunity to meet up with former readers (and possibly even the publisher) of Midnight Engineering magazine as well. The conference runs from Thursday, March 25, 2010 through Sunday, March 28, 2010.

I have been attending the conference since it first started in 1992 as ME SKI '92 and then evolved into ENTCON and then Entrepreneurial Connections or EntConnect.

For a little nostalgia, check out the original ME SKI '92 conference announcement.

-- Jack Krupansky

Latest Lending Club investment loan fully funded and issued

Only Friday morning I put in an order to use recent cashflow (and an early repayment) from my portfolio of Lending Club investment loans to invest in a new loan. Over the weekend that loan reaching full funding and early this morning Lending Club issued the loan. Wow, that was fast!

My current Net Annualized Return remains at 14.47%, but it should rise as I start to receive payments from the new batch of loans I made in February. My goal is to hit 15% (or maybe 15.5% to keep the average above 15%.)

So far, my Lending Club portfolio has been perfect, with no delinquencies or even late payments. I started investing with Lending Club back in June.

This is still just an experiment for me since I have no prior experience with this type of investment, but so far in has been very encouraging. I intend to double the size of the experiment in April (assuming my work income continues.)

-- Jack Krupansky

Secret to having happy employees: fire the unhappy ones

There was an insightful blog post on The New York Times by business owner Jay Goltz entitled "The Secret to Having Happy Employees". Thankfully, he provides the answer without forcing to buy a book or read a long-winded essay. Put simply, "I fired the unhappy people." And he's not joking. He offers impeccable reasoning for this harsh approach and I have to agree with him.

Personally, I have not spent much time as a manager and thankfully never had to fire anybody, but I have had plenty of experience as an unhappy worker. Nobody ever fired me, but I can't say they did me any great favor by keeping me on as unhappy as I was. Maybe I have just always had the good sense to move on before my unhappiness interfered with my work. Managers may not like having unhappy workers, but managers really love people who get the job done. Still, I partially feel that managers would have done me a big favor by either outright firing me or at least "counseling" me that if I couldn't find a way to get over my unhappiness then I should move on of my own volition.

I have always remembered from years ago reading about the founder of Marriott encountering a waitress in one of his Hot Shoppes restaurants who was unhappy or providing bad service to a customer and he basically told her that if she could not be happy working there then she shouldn't be working there. That made perfect sense to me. I wish I could have personally taken that advice on many occasions or at least if people could have reminded me of that philosophy, but somehow performance and my desire for income have always trumped happiness, for me.

In any case, I heartily endorse Mr. Goltz' and Marriott's philosophy. Specific implementation details can and should vary from organization to organization and even person to person, but ultimately unhappy employees have to go.

Mr. Goltz has a follow-up post entitled "More on Happy Employees" to clarify that when he refers to unhappy employees he is not simply referring to their level of cheerfulness: "Perhaps I could have been clearer when I said that I fire unhappy people. Instead of unhappy, I probably should have said disrespectful (to others, not me), incompetent, unreasonable, undependable, irresponsible, unproductive, dysfunctional (I did say that one), angry, whiny or mean -- and beyond a manager's ability to repair (actually, I said that, too)."

The real point is that employees need to do their jobs without having a significantly negative emotional impact on those around them, whether they are other workers or customers.

-- Jack Krupansky