"Summer's Here & The Time is Right for.. "

"Summer's Here and The Time is Right for..
Entrepreneuring in the Streets?"
(and checking the links below)


Time to put the pedal down! (Me too!) Just saw yet another credible forecaster point out that the odds are still climbing for a return to recession. 


Ouch! BUT.... why not think about this as.. 
          An opportunity to reboot?
          To do what you WISHED you had done when the last recession kicked in? 
          Don't you wish you had seized the opportunity to start something?  
            (And if the economy doesn't crater.. all the better, eh?)


On Wednesday I judged at Idaho TechLaunch - what fun! [a big shout-out to Steph Cook of INL and... **] It was very eye-opening as to:
a) the need to amp the advice (correction... good advice) and mentoring; let's take advantage of our global world and connect with experts all over;
b) just how much more we could be doing. Many of you make fun of my excessive traveling, but as I go around the country and the world, I see so many things that we could steal, er, adapt that would cost no more than what we spend now.


"Doctor, Heal Thyself"
All this applies to me too. If ANY of you has thoughts on what I should be doing differently, I am all ears.  The most common suggestions I get are to: 
     1) Start doing some events. I prefer being Tom Hagen but if I have to be Don, so be it.
[more on that below]
     2) Start writing down what I'm learning. To do that, here are some drafts that reflect the state of the art of what we know (and crowdsourced from experts I know)--
PLEASE READ and COMMENT!
Markers of a Truly Entrepreneurial Ecosystem (http://bit.ly/EcoSys) -
          Once I get 'notes' from you, I will turn it in into a scorecard where people can rate their communities. (Wouldn't that be a fun dashboard so communities could brag about their progress??)


A Candidates' Guide to Growing Entrepreneurs (http://bit.ly/CandidateGuideEntrep) - 
           I tried to write this in a more conversational mode but it focuses on what civic leaders most need to know about what it takes to grow entrepreneurs. Future variants (stay tuned!) include a Top Ten List ofthe 10 biggest myths and misconceptions about entrepreneurship and a Top Ten List of the ten dumbest (er, least smart) policy ideas we've seen that affect entrepreneurship. (I fear that the latter one will ruffle feathers.)


Speaking of ruffled feathers, let me repeat this link to where Idaho jobs come from and... well, READ it! ONE page, I promise! ;) http://bit.ly/GrossNetJobs  
[if not in Idaho, get thee to www.youreconomy.org to do your own.. or hire EMSI in Moscow]


But there's GOOD News! The fourth doc is almost as short and recaps the three known robust predictors of entrepreneurial activity, how Idaho is doing, and what else we could do quickly and cheaply to support! http://bit.ly/PDR3Keys


Even BETTER News
I've asked this before: Why the hell isn't Idaho the mecca for social / sustainable entrepreneurship? (And any community can ask that as well..) I was stunned at Idaho TechLaunch that nobody really knew the term (or how widespread -and powerful - it is) or about the megatrend around impact investing. My next blog post will address that - a bunch of people wanted insights into that world and I would be thrilled to turn you on to it. And...
Did You Know... the guy who runs the huge Dell Social Innovation Challenge visits Idaho regularly?
It is definitely time for a Social Entrepreneurship Weekend in Idaho... and in ALL of your communities! 


p.s. and if you scroll down, you will see some other things that we WILL be doing, such as the lean startup course.


        Have a great weekend - even if I gave you all that homework, LOL!


** and my fellow judges, the always-awesome Faisal Shah, John Fordemwalt, Tom Harrison and Steph C. I like smart people, I like 'git 'r dun' people but smart git'r dun folks? Priceless. 

Social entrepreneurship - No such thing as "Rara Avis"!

"Rara Avis" = "rare bird" in Latin...

Or think of AVIS as.... Any Venture Is Social! That AVIS better not be "rara" ;)

To paraphrase my compadre, Bill Drayton of Ashoka, any good social entrepreneur thinks like a great entrepreneur; any great entrepreneur thinks like a social entrepreneur.

Lots of hype about the "triple bottom line" and "People, Planet, Profits" but there is a reality there. Great ventures are sustainable: Environmentally sustainable, socially sustainable and economically sustainable. It is VERY hard to sustain your venture without all three.

Missionary NOT Mercenary
Entrepreneurs are in the business of creating rents - but never lose sight of the truth that entrepreneurs create rents for others. Ideally, they create rents (economic and non-economic) for as many of their stakeholders as they possibly can. If they're good at it, then they create rents for themselves.

I have NEVER understood how hard it is for many people - especially business professors - to get that Entrepreneurs Pay Themselves Last. ("residual claimants" in econ-speak)

Dell Social Innovation Challenge, William James Foundation, et al.
I just finished evaluating 14 proposals for the Dell Challenge, proposals from students all over the world. What a joy and what an honor to help. Many thanks to Rob Hanna for involving me. I try to never miss an opportunity to judge for Ian at the William James Foundation. Different format, but also a joy and a privilege to see if I can add value to some terrific potential (and existing) ventures.

Note: I recommend judging for these - I will hook you up, if interested!

Munich Social Entrepreneurship Weekend
Amazing to see how this was perfectly natural in Munich - they already have a Social Entrepreneurship Academy (next one this fall) and the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (www.sce-web.de) has student teams doing sustainable ventures, including a delightful focus on urban farming. (Chalmers School of Entrep's Karl Palmas was right: Urban farming will be HUGE.) The four key Munich schools are collaborating & I think we're going to see an explosion of connecting among these programs & I think the Academy will be the key driver of that. Witness Ludwig Maximiliens Univ's new IDEEN Garage [see Facebook] which will be a great incubator for sustainable ventures [see my pictures on Facebook for both IDEEN Garage and my talks at SCE],

Why aren't we doing this in Idaho?????? (and who wants to help?!)

The Godfather of Social Entrepreneurship
Bill Drayton founded Ashoka [www.ashoka.org]; he coined the phrase 'social entrepreneurship' way back in 1980. Ten years ago, I got Bill to speak to the Academy of Management. Little guy with a thin voice and overhead transparencies, speaking to several hundred highly skeptical entrepreneurship & management professors.

And he blew away the room. 

Holy crap!

Now social entrepreneurship is mainstream. If seeing opportunities is the heart of entrepreneurship, then social entrepreneurship is its soul. But if Bill read that, he'd laugh and remind me what he said back in 2002: ANY good social entrepreneur thinks like a great entrepreneur; ANY great entrepreneur thinks like a social entrepreneur.

Now Bill has agreed to do it again here in 2012, this time at NYU's great social/sustainable entrepreneurship conference that brings together the very best educators, scholars and practitioners to, yes, look how far we've come but, more important, where are we headed?

Ashoka's new mantra is "Everyone a changemaker." So how can I help YOU to make a needed change?

Entrepreneurs WILL transform the world. They're the only ones who actually can. Which means...

YOU will transform the world... My friends and I stand ready to help!

Isn't a GREAT time to be alive??

NK/ Boise, ID May 2012.
norris.krueger[at]gmail.com; @entrep_thinking; https://www.facebook.com/norris.krueger

More Lean Startup Tidbits

being (ahem) verbose, I was challenged to explain the Lean Startup model in tweets (max of 140 characters) - gulp. This is also posted on Facebook & Google+ (and the tweets went out individually)

Comments welcome - norris.krueger@gmail.com, Facebook, or @entrep_thinking

MY LEAN TWEETS series (what did I miss? What did I screw up?)
Entrepreneur up, y'all!
NK

1. What’s a “startup” anyway? Vehicle to ruthlessly test each assumption of your business model BEFORE launching. “Nail it, then scale it!”

2. LEAN = Learn Entrepreneurial Agility NOW! ;) Think of LEAN as really meaning LEARN. Although ‘business model evolution’ is sexier :)

3. OK, what’s a “business model”? 3 pieces: Value Creation (value prop), Value Delivery (how you do it) & Value Capture (how to get paid)

4. So what assumptions to test? All of them. Especially those you have 100% faith in ;) Remember: Be ruthless. Get REAL data from REAL people

5. How do I figure out my assumptions? Causal maps & cool tools like Alex O’s Business Model Canvas (www.businessmodelgeneration.com)

6. I’m still stuck on surfacing assumptions! Use a 3 year old ;) Ask “why is this true?” Then ask why again…and again. (cf. Morten map)

7. So how do I test? A) It’s a hypothesis, so try to DISprove! B) Talk to real people. Per @sgblank – “Get out of the damned building!”

8. Did you Get Out Of The Building yet? With something tangible (a/k/a “Minimum Viable Product”) that potential customers can beat on?

9. But Norris. what if, God forbid. I am WRONG on an assumption? So you might have to change elements of your biz model, a/k/a “pivot”
[n.b. Norris is OFTEN wrong... thanks to my friends, I actually HEAR about my screwups!]

10. Test alternative assumptions. Get feedback – from smart people, from industry people. FROM CUSTOMERS! And… LEARN!!!

11. Hypothesis testing? Try A/B testing. Better to brilliantly test small pieces than make Big Tests. Did I mention “And.. LEARN?” ;)

12. Did you Get Out Of The Building yet? ;) How many potential customers? Did you give them something (MVP) to beat on?

...and as someone who loved wearing 13 in sports... one more!
13. Lucky 13th: Want to learn more? From THE best & brightest? [fave: http://www.slideshare.net/sblank/successful-entrepreneurship-1] @AlexOsterwalder @sgblank @Nailthenscale @leanstartup @Lean

Lean Launch Pad! (What Do Business Model Generation & Lean Startup Have in Common with Social Media??)

What Do Business Model Generation and Lean Startup Have in Common with Social Media??

Ever notice how many 'experts' there are for social media? Who, well, aren't? It is easy to get excited about something that has great power and it's all too easy to fall into the trap of confusing passion with expertise. (I know that *I* have been guilty of this myself! LOL)

I got to talk about Lean Startup and Biz Model Generation while in Twente to a mix of people who have already found it useful and those for whom it was brand-new. Great to see them help each other. What fun! 

At the end of the month, I'll probably teach people about it in Germany. Hell, I seem to be teaching it almost weekly. (Maybe someday I can figure out how to get paid for it? LOL At least I'm getting pretty good at it...)

But in the meantime... if you need someone to coach people at this, just holler!

And... I assume you've heard of Steve Blank. If not, promise me that you'll spend an hour or so at www.SteveBlank.com (and even if you have!) Steve has created a terrific course on this at Stanford and now the NSF is using it to commercialize the 100 most promising technologies that they funded (see ""Innovation Corps"). It's a blended delivery model but before long all the classes will be fully available online... for free!

The great folks at Startup Weekend have raised the ante even further - they are encouraging local meetups to take Steve's online course and make it into a blended course. They asked (ordered? LOL) me to do this in Idaho. (If you're not in Idaho, I can help you find your own local meetup.) I've mentioned this before but I really want to see this become something exciting, valuable and fun! 

"Entrepreneurship 101"

So shall ww raise the ante even further? If people are interested in getting together to share their progress in the Lean Launchpad course... or just want to get better at entrepreneuring... let's set up a weekly class "Entrepreneurship 101". There's a pretty good model for it we can steal, so if you have any interest in doing this.. .learning? teaching? (heckling?).. let me know!

When the Lean Launchpad online course gets finalized, I'll be bugging everyone so you might as well sign on now ;)

And what topics should "Entrepreneur 101" start with??? What are YOU curious about?

Entrepreneur IS a verb, eh?

/nk

Update re "Dissidents"

Update re "Dissidents"

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your feedback! I'm glad that so many felt so strongly that we need to focus on the human element. AND that that was very much a positive, "good news" post.

If we want to turn ideas into reality, it's people with the right mindset. (And that mindset isn't easy to acquire; it's far more than skills and knowledge, it's a different way of looking at the world. Would you hire someone to be a great educator when they aren't already en route? Would you hire some to be a great researcher when they have shown no signs so far? Community connectors are no different.)

Bad News: Yes, it's true that most institutions, most bureaucracies are beyond awful at turning ideas into reality (e.g., tech commercialization) -don't be offended, just fix it. Become one of The Best!

Good News: Yes, only a handful of schools/labs/companies/etc. are rock stars at this -that makes the payoff even larger.

Really Good News: We are seeing that if you shift the mindset of an organization or community, results follow. (And if you read my blog, you'll know that the keys to mindset shift are KNOWN. Politically painful, perhaps, but known.

And now I'm getting inquiries about doing research to measure that mindset. so, thanks to you all for encouraging me. One project that could be really fun is to identify the critical competencies for technology commercialization. What if somebody wanted to create a formal certification for tech commercialization (eg, for tech transfer)? The testing and training would be based on critical competencies for success.

Should be a blast!

But I *will* need your help...
--> What DO you have to know to take ideas to reality? (at different lifecycle stages?)
--> What SKILLS are needed?
--> What deep beliefs anchor the expert mindset for technology commercialization??

/nk

"Dissidents from the Ivory Tower"??

Happy Easter from Enschede! 

I'm here to visit the University of Twente and its great tech commercialization accelerator, VentureLab, along with some fun research stuff - including serving on a PhD dissertation defense (fancy robes and all!)

And it's the topic of that dissertation by Kristina Dervojeda[1] that should excite you. We already knew this but once again... we see a most important truth.

Title? "Dissidents in the Ivory Tower"...or...
...how do we get faculty increasingly connected to industry? 'Dissidents"should be one BIG clue ;) It is the rare university where getting deeply immersed with the community (let alone industry) is a social norm - probably not 20 universities worldwide who manage to do it & do it effectively.

Why Does This Matter?
PCAST, the President's Council of Advisers for Science & Technology, is charged with identifying critical success factors for tech-based development, especially technology commercialization. Their prescriptions, regardless of party, would not contradict anything here. #1 = getting a LOT better at turning ideas into reality is the only way to grow an economy; #2 = high levels of individual[fn] interactions across boundaries matter enormously.

So how CAN a school do this? 
The second clue is "immersion". Those great programs have faculty and administrators (and students) deeply immersed in the community. (Not "engaged" but really, really immersed.)

Moreover (and even more important): the community is equally immersed in the university. This goes against social norms for universities. But those happy few are reaping disproportionate rewards.

It's PEOPLE, dammit!
What Kristina found is that there are identifiable triggers that nudge faculty toward connecting with industry, the trigger effect was weak in comparison to existing conditions. Connecting is a function of (a) people *already* connecting extensively, (b) strong pre-existing social capital and (c) real expertise at a global/national level.

ALREADY immersed. ALREADY connected. Motivated INtrinsically.

So... if you want to increase university connections with industry... productive connections, we have a few crystal-clear criteria.

1) Hire faculty (& administrators) who are already immersed deeply 
If they weren't doing it Day One without being asked or pushed or bribed... they won't be effective. Universities should not try to get people to do this via money, threats, orders or Grand Strategy. Yikes! No, go hire faculty who are already out there. You may not have much competition ;)

1') Corollary: Grand Strategy doesn't work anyway. You want to grow a community, ask the community members. As convenient as it is, don't just bring together the institutions and the power players until you figure out how to best help the innovators.


2) Hire those with broad, deep social capital 
Why wouldn't you want people who are already well-connected globally? Why wouldn't you want to hire people who are already great connectors [google "liaison-animateur"]?

3) Hire those with big-time expertise 
And being the best at something in Boise or Idaho or whatever simply will not cut it. Maybe someone with great potential is out there, but he or she is very unlikely to live up to that potential without #1 and #2 above.

Note: This fits perfectly with all the evidence on what differentiates the handful of universities that kick butt in technology commercialization. Immersion is essential. Pre-existing immersion, pre-existing social capital, pre-existing expertise... all channeled into a bottom-up vision.

Under both GOP & Democratic presidencies, PCAST has found the same conclusions about growing America's tech economy. To them, this deep co-immersion is clearly a blessing. (The right wing and the left wing both championing bottom-up development? Maybe we will get through these tough times! ;)

Selfishly, I'd also note that PCAST (and OSTP and SSTI and Kauffman and other leaders) point out that no great tech commercialization happens without world-class entrepreneurship faculty. You want to be good at tech transfer? Go get some world-class, deeply connected faculty & give 'em the keys. [2]

Ask yourself:  Wouldn't you want faculty, students & administrators who take entrepreneurial & tech development seriously. And would keep doing the right things even if ordered not to?

VentureLab Twente, my hosts [@VentureLabT]
VLT's success has grown as immersion has grown. It is very clear that University of Twente ("The Entrepreneurial University: High Tech & Human Touch") has better-than-average social norms in all of this. They do have killer faculty & grad students who are motivated intrinsically. While Twente has a remarkably entrepreneurial tradition, it's clear that my friends there "get it" but they also looooove what they do. [fn]


These are tough questions for people to ask their schools, their alma maters, their neighbors. It IS rare that we see this happen -and, sadly, for good reason. And these are questions to ask any of your key institutions, including government. (Consider the Startup America Partnership involving the feds. Can you imagine how hard it was to get that to be at least a little bit bottom up? LOL)

Easter and Passover (and the coming of Spring) carry powerful messages that the world is changing, but we need to embrace those changes ourselves. And that resurrection isn't a one-off event but something we must all do daily In our heads. In our hearts. The communities that recognize the lessons that we've just described are the ones that defied the recession and will be the ones leading the way.

So why not.. us? 
Norris

[1] Kristina finished her thesis in <4 years while working as a lead consultant for PwC. She's now a group leader. Total slacker! LOL

[2] And, no, your school probably doesn't have any :(
But you COULD! :)

On growing entrepreneurs!

Nice short piece from The Economist:
http://www.economist.com/node/21550239

Some excellent points here to emphasize --

#1. First, do no harm.
            Communities can harm entrepreneurial development (sadly) by trying to help when they have no idea of what's necessary. Seemingly logical policies/tactics can actually get in the way. But how many communities
or institutions are willing to allow the entrepreneurial community to drive the boat? (Witness how few universities do anything productive in economic development, but THINK they are.)
            How do we get communities to support entrepreneurs - provide what they want, not what we think they need?

#2.Quit obsessing over "clusters"
            I heard last year a research study that had identified over 100 different formal definitions of "cluster". LOL but research is VERY clear that:
            Clusters that evolve bottom-up can work;
            Clusters developed top-down... do not.
[If anyone speaks fondly of the "triple helix", kick them in the groin... repeatedly. Does NOT work but institutions & politics love it.. obviously.]

#3. Don't think "cluster", think "ecosystem"
            A healthy local economy is complexly interconnected -large firms and small, older firms & newer firms, rural & urban, for-profit & non-profit, even public & private sector.
           ** Understand the interconnectivity - map it skillfully, share that map
           ** Encourage "connectors", help more people to connect skillfully

#3A. The Economist makes a killer point - that these networks need to be globally connected.
           How many of your community officials or institutional players really are tied in closely to existing global networks?

#4. The entrepreneurial potential of a community is very much a function of its potential entrepreneurs
           Entrepreneurship-supportive *cognitive* infrastructure: A truly entrepreneurial ecosystem encourages & nurtures entrepreneurial mindsets broadly & deeply across the community/organization.

*** Think virtuous cycle -- the more broadly & deeply that people 'get' the entrepreneurial mindset, the easier it is for an entrepreneurial ecosystem to evolve; the more that the ecosystem evolves, the more broadly & deeply do people get the entrepreneurial mindset.

And to piggy back on Sir Richard... Just %&#$*^ Entrepreneur It! ;)

Let's all have an entrepreneurial week!

Norris



p.s. in honor of Sunday.... three theological insights into the value of entrepreneurship!

The Koran: "A truthful and trustworthy merchant is associated with the prophets" Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 50;

Pope John Paul II: 1983's Sollicitudo Rei Socialis: Enterprise and the role of the entrepreneur is a right subsumed under the right to personal economic initiative and considered this right to be co-equal to the right of religious liberty.

Dalai Lama: "Entrepreneurs Rock!"

Read. This. ............Now!

Seth's Blog: http://www.stopstealingdreams.com is ready to read and share 


Remember my earlier post about Seth Godin's notion of Type 1 & Type 2 teachers? This really builds that out.


And also remember that while most b-school educators *think* they are Type 2s, they simply are not. 
The best entrepreneurship educators ARE Type 2's


Would love YOUR thoughts - that link has free downloads in multiple versions (PDF, HTML, Kindle, Nook, etc.)

Ideas to Reality: World Class Training in Technology. Now.

Q: What’s the Best Online Training for Lean Startup?

Q: What’s the Best Online Training for Technology Commercialization?

A: Steve Blank’s new Stanford-based Lean Launchpad class

http://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad/
[more on lean: http://bitly.com/bwC3XF & especially http://bitly.com/dOv5zh ]

The Start: Maybe the premier technology entrepreneurship course at Stanford, Lean Launchpad [http://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad] teaches the Lean Startup model (eg, Steve Blank’s Customer Development model) in-person to advanced science & engineering students at Stanford and Berkeley. Can you imagine getting brainiac techies actually talking to customers? And does that mean there is hope for some of you! ;)

Proof of Concept: The NSF put this at the heart of their new Innovation Corps to serve the 100 best technology commercialization teams for novel NSF-developed technologies.

The Payoff (for Us): The course is being offered now as an online course (over 60K has already signed up, including me!) as a series of 10 1-hour video lectures bundled with its textbook, The Startup Owners’ Manual. Free, except for the textbook.

But Wait…There’s More! Why Not a Blended Course?

My dear friends at Startup Weekend have commissioned (and threatened, LOL) people to organize local meetups. The video lectures will likely begin later this month but the pacing is up to us (lectures are archived).

It probably means 10 weekly 2-3 hour meetups or more likely 5 weekly/biweekly meetups of 4-5 hours for us to share what we are doing, what we are learning and how we can help each other. This is for anyone willing to take the plunge – I’m a b-school PhD in entrepreneurship and I’ve been a tech entrepreneur and I’m taking it! (Of course, my past “experience” means I’m the perfect candidate, LOL)

Initial feedback will let us set the schedule (most likely a weekday evening, though I’m hearing that many meetups are scheduling Sunday afternoons).

The Startup Weekend crew will be sending me Eventbrite invitations to share – expect a ping as early as this weekend. We estimate a ticket price of $50 to cover the text and refreshments. (Not bad for a Stanford MBA/MSEE-level of education even without the meetup!)

Obviously sponsors and prospective hosts are welcome …and anyone who’ll provide coffee, beer and/or pizza ;) Please email me: Norris.Krueger[at]gmail.com if interested!

For You?

Plan A: Respond “Yes!” to the eventbrite invitation & let me know your best/worst days

Plan B: Be hip but boring and simply sign up for Steve’s class & do it on your own 

Plan C: Wear a permanent “L” on your forehead & not even try to take Steve’s class ;)

p.s. But, Norris! I don’t live in/near Boise!  So host your own meetup – I will help!

Can you or your organization host/sponsor? Call me.

Want to do this outside of the Treasure Valley? Call me.

Want to seize this incredible opportunity? Say “YES!” to the invitation.

Entrepreneur UP. Y’all!

Norris

Growing jobs is inherently entrepreneurial....

... bureaucratic processes simply cannot generate serious entrepreneurial outcomes.

ONLY entrepreneurial processes yield entrepreneurial outcomes. So.. why do we keep trying to 'tweak' bureaucratic processes when we should know it just doesn't work?

Back in 2004/05 I was commissioned by the City of Boise to do a white paper on what it REALLY takes for communities & universities to collaborate to drive economic development. Thank you for the great feedback so far- it needs an update, so comments still welcome! [http://www.slideshare.net/norriskrueger/bridging-town-and-gown or http://goo.gl/h848J ]

In my world this is a hot topic - and it is scary to realize that globally there probably aren't more than 20 universities who are truly moving the needle. But interestingly, these pretty much overlap with the <20 schools who are off the charts on "getting" technology commercialization [one version here:http://www.vcplist.com/].

When 'best practice' = 'worst practice'?
We've been studying these role models and what they do differently. They share several vital, necessary characteristics. (You will be 'shocked' that the key practices are polar opposites of what almost every university does. Ouch.)

For Idaho?
Bad News => we are not even average
Worse News => the average university is dreadful
but...
Good News => it can be fixed.
consider that list of the 'best of the best' in 2005/6 would've been shorter BUT you'd also see Boise State's name.

We know how to get the mojo back.
Want to try??




p.s. Thanks to all of you who have responded with questions, kudos and the occasional (deserved) brickbat over my recent blog posts and Facebook/tweets. Even when we don't agree, it's nice to know that I'm sharing useful stuff.(In fact, when we don't agree = the best kind of feedback. Only way to learn!)