Kevin Koym

“Friday Evening Experiments” fetch Nobel Prize

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It doesn’t take much time to profoundly impact science and the world.  Dr. Konstantin Novoselov devoted 10% of his time to “crazy things that probably won’t pan out”. One of these experiments did… that he’s now being recognized with the Nobel Prize.

The style of Geims lab which Im keeping and supporting up to now is that we devote ten percent of our time to so-called “Friday evening” experiments. I just do all kinds of crazy things that probably won’t pan out at all, but if they do, it would be really surprising. Geim did frog levitation as one of these experiments, and then we did gecko tape together.

via Konstantin Novoselov Interview – Special Topic of Graphene – ScienceWatch.com.

Reconnecting with Chile

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Its hard to ever know how seeds once planted will grow.

This and next week represent an exciting reconnection of my work with Chile.  For context, in 2003, I took an early version of what was to become the blueprint of Tech Ranch Austin to Chile.  I was convinced that I needed to open the next door of my life, in not just starting yet another tech startup, but instead, starting a platform, some might say a revolution :-), of startups working together.

Its exciting to see how these seeds have grown. Two really quick areas that I’ll mention here.  This next Thursday, Paige Brown, Founder and CEO of Tripeezy heads to Chile, as one of the winners of Startup Chile.  Startup Chile is a program where the government of Chile is investing money in her startup.

Secondly, three executives are coming from Chile- two from Antofagasta- where the major copper mines of the world area, and another long term colleague and friend coming from Santiago.  We’ll be talking about specific technologies that the executives from Antofagasta are looking for.  Moreover, we will explore ways to shape the innovation culture of Antofagasta in specific, and Chile more generally.

I am excited because the work that originally took me to Chile, including perhaps the simple concepts, and my naive understanding of these concepts and my work has now blossomed into a much bigger opportunity that includes many businesses and early stage entrepreneurs.  Feeling like a proto-entrepreneur for the Startup Chile program (before there was a program years ago) its exciting to see doors open where there were once walls and a bunch of dreams.

Entrepreneur: your light, and your responsibility

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Entrepreneurs…. this is a call as a reminder… there’s no small game to play with regard to being an entrepreneur.  I’ve often been told of the following quote from Marianne Williamson (often attributed to Nelson Mandela) where Marianne tells us flat out to stop playing a small game.  In the words of a spiritual butt-kicking, here’s her quote.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Now there’s another side to this… and anyone that’s been a successful, reflective entrepreneur knows that this is true.  There’s no place to hide when it comes to not playing small.  Whether or not you get the spiritual side to this quote above, there’s the cold hard facts, in a business context, that if its to be, its up to you, the entrepreneur.

Building a business, or a socially focused non-profit, or whatever your venture might be… there’s no place to hide whether or not you get there.  I’ve often thought that this could be a perceived downside to the quote above.  Marianne is calling us to a higher level… yet, if an entrepreneur doesn’t make it to his / her goals, there’s a litany of reasons that they did not make it… but the buck stops with the entrepreneur.

Listen to Marianne. Reach for the skies.  Pull out all of the stops.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  And realize that if you make it, or not, is your responsibility.  Show your light. Don’t hide it. Be willing to risk not making it.  Be willing to be responsible for whatever happens, good, bad, or ugly.  Once you’ve felt the power of the stretch feeling of going for it, then and only then will you understand as well the power of being responsible for making things happen. And once you’ve felt this feeling, you’ll be drawn to turn your light on even brighter.

Keep your eye on the Prize

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A recent discussion around the Bootstrap Austin Network is worthy of sharing here, for it rings true for every entrepreneur trying to make a difference through his/her venture.  An entrepreneur was contemplating legal action on an issue that was not core to his business.  Several entrepreneurs got into the discussion. Barry Thorton, founder of Clear Cube and several other successful companies, admonished though to “keep your eye on the Prize”.  Be true to the core of the business you’re building, and blow off all other issues that are not core to the business (especially in the case of considering legal action on something that did not protect the core of the business).  Here’s a small excerpt from his statement:

This story of yours suggests that you have guided yourself far afield from your business.

I always push the MLK saying  “Keep your eye on the Prize”.

I would suggest that you have drifted far from that Prize and you are now asking others time to join you in that pursuit.

You know what your Prize is, you have been pursuing it for years.

Does this seriously threaten that Prize?

How much time have you spent on this and how has it gotten you closer to the Prize?

Relax, tend your field, it is your Prize.  Don’t get distracted, it will only cause pain.

Good luck, Barry

I think that many of us as entrepreneurs, as we are passionately slaving towards a goal, loose sight of the prize that we’re working towards.  As an example, around the Tech Ranch Austin, recently I recognized that one of our entrepreneurs, who is passionate about serving persons that have diabetes, was talking about how to go get investors here, and investors there… yet had yet to just serve the constituency that he is passionate about.  He’s now has the first 10 diabetics that he is serving… and the business has taken on a whole new tone of possibilities.  It does not matter what the distraction is… anything that is not core to the business can distract you from the Prize (as it has me too). Keep your eye on the prize.  Build your business.  Create success for yourself, and those that you serve. And through doing this, you’ll be making the world a better place.

Getting your startup out of Starbucks

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There’s a recent article that several people have forwarded to me given that it rings true to what I am talking about around the Tech Ranch Austin all of the time…  Called Getting your startup out of Starbucks, James Reinhart has a point that he’s singing to the choir (me) about.

The whole point here about this idea is that although certain entrepreneurs might be able to be successful in working out of coffee shops 100% of the time, I’ve seen a need that for tech entrepreneurs that are building companies (not just freelancer businesses) need a dojo / community of practice / incubator to really make things happen fast in their businesses. Working in at a coffee shop alone (or just working out of their houses) limits what’s possible for the company.

I am going to take my own spin at James’ list of four points, and add three that I see a specific spin at around the Tech Ranch Austin.

1.  Not as productive.  Distractions abound in a coffeeshop or at home.  Either way, if you are constantly being distracted, you’re not going to be able to get into the deep concentration that you need for thinking and cranking in building your startup

2. Virtual tools are poor substitutes to the office. Humans have been getting together working around specific physical locations since the beginning of history.  Humans have evolved to work together. As James points out, virtual tools are poor substitutes for face to face interaction. Use virtual tools as supplements, not substitutes to having a real office.

3. Separate work from play. I love my work around the Tech Ranch (and many of the startiups that I’ve been a part of over the years)…. Yet, I’ve learned the hard way that its critical to separate work-play from just the play of being at my home or being at a coffee shop for just having a cup of coffee with a friend.  Make sure to separate your workspaces from your pure playspaces, and your brain will have more capability to produce.

4.  Cheaper than a $4 latte. So anyone that reads my twitter feed knows that I love mochas.  Yet in trying to work at a coffee shop, buying a bunch of lattes or mochas, you’re going to spend more money than you will for having an office or access to one of the new type of incubator or co-working spaces that are developing around Austin or around the world.  And if you are at the Tech Ranch, you’re sure to get caught up in some strong biases towards even higher quality coffee than you’ll get at many coffeeshops!

5.  Leverage the community. Heard of the “water cooler effect”?  That is, at a larger company how stuff happens around the water cooler where two people randomly run into each other and then some new idea comes out of that interaction?  These types of interactions can happen anywhere… but in an environment like at Tech Ranch, we’ve wired the place to produce daily random productive interactions.  Community members around the Ranch know that creating the water cooler effect is one of the reasons that they are there…. and so its natural that we see interactions every day that are producing results that would not have happened any other way.

6.  Leverage experts. Around many of the accelerators like YCombinator or Tech Ranch we’ve collected experts that have a lot of scar tissue… who’ve been there, done that, and perhaps they’ve learned the hard way… An environment like Tech Ranch might just create the right conversation with the person that’s been there and screwed it up before so that you, in building your startup, can avoid the pitfalls, and learn from their mistakes without having to make your own mistakes. (and I say this as an entrepreneur that’s been screwing up things since 1994.  Let me tell you- I can help keep your startup out of some of the screwups that I’ve done).

7. Leverage both. Ok, so as I write this, I am sitting in a coffee shop, having a mocha, and enjoying having a slight different change of pace.  There’s no reason to have a strick either or decision concerning being in an incubator / accelerator and enjoying a coffee every once in a while for a change of pace.

The real challenge is moving as quickly as possible with as few resources as possible in building out your company.  Come try out the Tech Ranch and see how it effects your progress on your startup. Or, if you have one of these places in Central Texas or around the world, initiate a conversation with us.  We’re putting together the playbook that shows how to take these interactions to the next level. As well, for the entrepreneur at the Tech Ranch Austin we’re fairly liberal about making the risk and barrier for entry low (we ask for 30 days notice).  In 30 days at one of these locations, you’ll notice a major positive difference.  That’s my commitment to you at the Tech Ranch.  Building a company alone and isolated is hard.  Come crank on it with others to really make things happen fast on your startup.

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