I wanted to launch a scalable startup but....

"Think BIG" is a familiar phrase in the startup world.  This usually translates to launching a scalable startup software company.  I tried that for a little while but shifted when I found the actual problem I was tackling.

The secondary education system in our country needs help.  This is a problem that can't be solved with software so I finally accepted the fact that I was not following the footsteps of Joe at Bronto, Aaron at iContact, Jess at Sharefile, etc.

Startup High is all about lighting fires in our young people by exposing them to inspiring people such as entrepreneurs.  We will be in 3 cities next summer and will slowly assist in solving the secondary education problem.

Creatives: The Ultimate Entrepeneurs

I've recently spent time with new friends who work at one of, if not the best, independent advertising agency in the world, McKinney.  As I've learned how they operate, it dawned on me that these individuals are the ultimate entrepreneurs since they must continually come up with ideas and execute.  While typical entrepreneurs do have to iterate, they usually only have to come up with one idea and execute really well.  The pressure to produce day in, day out is weighty and I'm in awe of those who hit home run after home run.    

You've likely already seen SPENT.  If not, it will change you for the good.

Growing Entrepreneurial Thinking on a College Campus

If a university wants to produce students who have the ability to think like an entrepreneur and solve big problems in the world, they could take a three tiered approach to starting the fire:

Sparks

This is the top of the funnel and includes all the events, classes, and interest groups that may cause a student to scratch her head and say, "I think I want to get more involved in entrepreneurship."  A campus probably can't have too many of these though they must balance these with the next two tiers.


The Fan
Internships, summer programs, and intensive projects with local companies is the next step students can take when they want to get more engaged.  The stage is crucial to help the student get a better sense of problems in the world.  Too often college students are only exposed to campus problems that may not be big enough.




Gasoline
OK.  Now you are ready to really go for it and sacrafice social time, showers, and ut oh....possibly a B in a class.  One way I've seen this done is through residential entrepreneurship.  I've spent every Saturday afternoon the past few months at InCube on the campus of Duke University.  It's been great and I'm now a huge advocate of very driven students living together and committed to launching a venture.  They are the real deal and I'm excited to see the results.

FireStarters vs. BucketFillers

 Who is the optimal high school teacher these days?  Those who can light a fire in a student's intellectual progression.  If you find something a student loves to research then by all means immerse them and help them begin to self educate.   If we light their fire, they will fill their own bucket.

In his recent book Global Achievement Gap Tony Wagner taught that it's not about how much students can retain, it's about how much they can explore.

How do we light fires?
The best fire starters are those teachers who have some type of work experience outside the classroom.  When teachers can bring in real world examples, the students can grab on to that and see the value of education.  Those teachers going from high school to college back to the classroom do not have the experience to train our students for the world.

Self Education: Our New Goal in Education

The past few months I have worked closely with college students at Duke, NC Central, and Durham Tech.  One conclusion from these daily interactions is that the traditional way of using experts (aka professors) to teach knowledge should be changing.  The reason?  Students must self educate to make it.

Example #1:
I gave a computer science student at Durham Tech a project to work on.  The project really needed to be done in PHP and HTML5.  Only issue was the student had not learned these languages.  I was proud of the student jumping in and trying to get up to speed fast so he could complete the project.

Example #2:
Duke is a fantastic school and I have grown to love it.  Liberal Arts education however was never structured to teach real world skills.  So most of the students I work with have picked up these skills on their own so they can launch their own ventures.

The Future
The ability to adopt new skills quickly will be key as technology continues it's growth.  What you learn this year must be added upon next year after you graduate.

So What?
How do educational institutions handle this?  They must have classes that encourage self education and entrepreneurial thinking.  Projects that require autonomous new skill acquisition will ensure students are ready to tackle real world problems.   For example, imagine assigning students to build a Wordpress site with little direction.  There is so much Wordpress documentation that enterprising students would have no problem learning in a couple hours how to do it.

Learn Turf Management Online?

Enough with online education!  I was recently descending the stairs of the parking deck at NC State and noticed a flyer for a Turf Management class online and it emphasized the fact that you would NEVER have to go to class.  Anyone else find it funny that a class that teaches you how to take care of turf would not require you to ever step outside?

Online education is about filling a student's knowledge bucket.  I'm convinced education must light a fire so that the student will self educate.  I do think online education has a place, mainly in a flipped classroom model.

The Hustle Plan: Getting America Back To Work Permanently

(This is a follow up to previous post that received much interest.)

I agree that the government needs to put policies in place to encourage companies to make investments to hire more employees.  However, I believe we the people have more power on the economy than companies or government. We can do more to encourage companies to hire us.

Story time.  April of 2009 I was part of an IBM Resource Action and was among the jobless.  Instead of sitting at home sending hundreds of resumes to black holes of job sites, I got out of the house and met with people I knew.  I didn't ask, "Do you have a job for me?"  I was really looking for a company to buy.  Instead I landed a job as an investment banker.  No jobs were posted on the bank's site, but there was a position that the CEO was thinking about.  Timing could not have been better.

Based on that story and almost every other story about those who land jobs, here's the way to find a job:

1. Create online portfolio including updated LinkedIn profile.  This is in addition to a resume.
2. Develop pitch to potential employers of how you can add value
3. Attend events in your industry.  
4. Schedule meetings with decision makers who could potentially hire you.    
5. Pitch decision maker on how you will add value and grow their organization.  

Unfortunately most schools are still set up to teach traditional job search strategies of resumes and job fairs.  To ensure our generation is ready to compete in the marketplace we need to teach "The Hustle Plan."

While the TV Show Shark Tank is dramatic and not an accurate view of reality, it does represent the environment we are currently in.  Whether you are launching a new venture or attempting to find that dream job, you are going to have to hustle.  Usually you will need to pitch yourself LOTS of times before you find the right fit.

I propose that secondary educators adopt "The Hustle Plan" as outlined below:

1. Create Project Based Learning Program where students work with business to consumer organizations ( (Eg:  restuarants, churches, dental clinics, barber shops, retail shops, non-profits, etc)
2. Teach curriculum that specifically teaches students how to help organizations grow (eg. Blogging, Social Media, White Paper, Cold Calling, Web Marketing, etc)
3. Prepare students to pitch small businesses on how they would benefit from a student intern
4. Require students to pitch to teachers several times before they approach business owner
5. Students schedule meeting with business owner via phone or in person to present plan
6. Business owner agrees to spend one hour per week with student to review progress
7. Students spends at least one full semester (10 hours/week) working with the small business owner 

How will this get Americans back to work permanently?  

• Students are taught they are in control of their destiny to find a job and not wait for a job to find them
• It enhances their ability to present and sell themselves
• They experience their first real world experience with real customers.  Too often their first real world job is when they graduate college.
• Curriculum is more applicable to what they will face in the real world

Why am I confident this will work?  The concept has been developed and partially validated through the Startup High summer program (see Success Page).  

May we as Americans teach our high schoolers to create their own opportunities.  

My Jobs Plan

Since both political parties are touting their own plan to get America back to work I thought I would present my own Jobs Plan.  As I listened to both candidates speak at their respective conventions on how they were going to encourage companies to hire more people, I realized that their plans were one sided.  They hope their policies encourage companies to spend their cash reserves on new employees that add value.  What about the potential employees?  Are they simply sitting and waiting for the government to encourage these companies?  Are they sitting waiting for those jobs to be posted on company websites?

Here's the traditional way of thinking about job growth:

1. Employer posts job on their website or Monster
2. Potential Employee submits resume
3. Automated service sorts through resumes and ultimately randomly chooses who to interview
4. The lucky ones get an interview
5. A very lucky person gets the job (or more likely the person who had a friend who knew the hiring manager)

My Jobs Plan which I am calling "The Hustle Plan" requires the unemployed to approach companies with ways they can add value.  Notice the difference.  This is a push strategy vs. a pull strategy.  Potential employees are out in the marketplace hustling and pitching employers on how good they are.  Most of jobs in my career have come from this method.

Here's The Hustle Plan in practice:

1. Job seeker ("hustler") goes to lots of events to meet lots of people 
2. Hustler researches companies they want to work with
3. Hustler designs website or video outlining how exactly they can help that company
4. Hustler searches wide network on LinkedIn (see step 1) to find a friend of a friend who works at company
5. Hustler asks friend of friend to send info to decision maker
6. Company is curious and asks Hustler to come present to company
7. Company likes presentation and wants Hustler to "hustle" for them

And that my friends is how our future generation will survive in the marketplace.  A future blog post will spell out exactly how we can enhance our education system to embrace our current economy.

"It came to me while sitting in an Airport Terminal..."

(Note: Jeb will be participating in Startup Madness on March 14, 2012)

As freshmen roommates attending Boston College, Tom Coburn and Jeb Thomas knew they wanted to start a business. They had a few ideas, none of which panned out. That summer, they started a business in SEO marketing, which introduced them to the world of online advertising. Witnessing firsthand the pitfalls of CPC advertising, they knew there had to be a better alternative that was more engaging for the user and more cost-effective for the company.

A few months into their sophomore year, Tom traveled cross-country to participate in his Club Golf team's national tournament. While watching an ad in an airport terminal, he came up with the concept that would become the heart of Jebbit - Cost-Per-Correct-Answer (CPCA, for short). Back at BC, he, Jeb, and Chase created a new form of advertising - one that was both fun and rewarding for the user and cost-effective for companies. It launches March 12, and you can check it out here.

18 ACC teams participating in Startup Madness

As a volunteer in rural Peru, Joseph Linzon saw a problem. Residents needed electricity for cell phones, laptops and iPods, but they didn’t have a ready source of power. As he traveled through remote villages on foot, the idea came to him. “As you walk you produce energy – kinetic energy, and I was thinking, “How can I convert this kinetic energy, that’s created with the swinging of a foot and charge a battery?” He’s now awaiting a patent and plans to use his prize to develop a prototype and pay legal fees. He calls his invention the Power Sole – with the slogan, “empowering the powerless, one step at a time.”

Joseph, a student at University of Virginia, is just one of 18 student entrepreneur teams from Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Miami, NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest participating in Startup Madness on March 14 in American Tobacco.

Angry Birds is like the Power of the Lord?

Last Sunday morning I caught my 5 year old son playing Angry Birds on my phone. We typically don't play games on Sunday. When I recounted this rule, Andrew responded, "But Dad, Angry Birds is like the power of the Lord!" I smiled and said, "Really? Tell me more." He continued, "It's like the birds are the power of the Lord and the pigs and structures are Satan's kingdom. When the birds hit them it's like destroying Satan's kingdom."

He got to play the game a little longer for that thought process.

Mark Cuban and the Missed Opportunity

As I was listening to Mark Cuban in August 2010, I looked around Bay 7 and saw mostly middle aged business leaders. I did see one younger kid and thought, "Those are the type of people that should be at this event!" It was a missed opportunity.

Startup Madness will be a similar opportunity where the younger generation will be able to engage young entrepreneurs from many of the top universities on the East Coast. I know high schoolers may have school, but I am happy to write a note to any principal! If young people want to understand the world they are about to enter, there is no better event to attend.

Wonder if Mark would come back on March 14 and crown the Startup Madness winner among the ACC schools?

Channeled Madness: Austin Rivers vs. Newt Gingrich

Last night's Duke vs. Carolina game was epic. Duke vs. Carolina fulfilled every bit of hype. Austin Rivers was walking on water and virtually unstoppable. Why? After the game he said he was "pissed off" because Carolina said they were going to win.

Austin had what I call "channeled madness." He used his aggression in a positive way and had extreme focus on the court.

Let's contrast that with another prominent figure: Newt Gingrich. His madness is getting the best of him and it shows. He is so upset that it is controlling his actions. This is usually the beginning of one's downfall.

If I was building a startup team in the business world, I would love to have employees with the "channeled madness" of Austin Rivers totally focused on taking out the competition. This year's Startup Madness participants will come to Durham with a similar spirit.