Originally published May 1, 2007.

It’s a first in business school world – which means this is really innovative or really dumb, and I’m sure an audience poll will reveal a widely polarized opinion.  Nonetheless, students at Darden are producing homemade marketing videos on YouTube promoting the school from our own perspective.  I’d really like to see these merged with the “Learning Team Linebacker” skit (that’s right, Terry Tate style) from Follies.

For some background, our school has a student-run Darden Capital Management which puts select students in charge of a multi-million dollar investment account (which returned 13.7% last year, outperforming benchmark peers in each of its four fund types).  In a similar effort to provide marketing-focused students with rewarding experiences, Darden Marketing Management launched the project to give students experience with a real marketing project with measurable impact.

Originally published April 10, 2007.

Washington DC is a great city if you like a number of things: free museums, great public transportation, the federal government, perpetually losing sports franchises, and – surprise! – entrepreneurial ventures. While DC sometimes gets a bum rap for bureaucracy due to the inescapable presence of Uncle Sam, it turns out that the greater DC area has a strong and somewhat intimate venture community with a few distinguishing characteristics that set the city apart from its west coast peers. (In a spirit of full disclosure, I will be interning at a metro DC startup this summer.) I was able to learn more about the possibilities of starting a company in the DC area through a truly special Darden program called the Batten Venture Bootcamp, a three day drink from the firehose that draws students from MBA programs at Darden, Michigan, Maryland, and Georgetown.

The Batten Venture Bootcamp ultimately pits students in teams as mock VC firms pitching investment terms to a prospective portfolio company (in our case, a real-life company preparing for its Series B fundriasing). To prepare us for our competition, we spent two days with entrepreneurs, VC investors, and legal counsel in sessions of lecture, interactive panel discussion, and social networking. To cap it off, Updata Partners - our VC hosts for the event – sat side by side with entrepreneurs they’ve invested in and grilled us to defend our proposed term sheets for Series B financing. It became a fully ingrained lesson that 80-90% of your work as a venture capitalist truly needs to be done by the time you get to the table. This event provided exactly the kind of education you hope to get during business school but are not likely to find in any classroom environment. (Other firms participating in the Batten Venture Bootcamp are listed at the end of this post.)

I was also fortunate enough to meet with Phillip Merrick, the humble, Australian founder of webMethods – a business system integrator and optimizer that foresaw the tremendous cross platform potential of XML. WeMethods made history as the biggest IPO of 2000 and recently was sold to Software AG for $546 million (not too shabby for a dot-com bust survivor). He offered a few excellent insights on the strategic positioning of Washington DC as a home for excellent startup opportunities:

• If you’re going to sell to businesses, it’s hard to pick a better location. DC gives you access to three major airports (two of which service international destinations), day-trip access to the two biggest financial centers in the US (New York City and Charlotte, NC), and proximity to dense concentrations of Fortune 500 copmanies and international business hubs as well. Not to mention one of the biggest purchasers of products and systems: the federal government.
• The workforce in Silicon Valley is somewhat fluid and (pardon the crude inference) institutionally inbred in the tech sector, meaning folks over at PayPal may have worked together at Yahoo! and Adobe previously, and Google folks may have crossed paths at HP or Microsoft. It almost seems like most folks taking a paycheck are just waiting for their next big startup idea to come before they try it on their own as well. Contrast that with the DC workforce, which is exceptionally well-educated but demonstrates, on the whole, a more stable commitment to the workplace.
• The DC venture community is something of a close-knit network of entrepreneurs, angels, and venture capitalists, making it easy to meet the stakeholders who will commit an interest in the success of the startup. The area is home to some of the very best investors and practitioners in the world.

Not to see the world strictly through rose-colored glasses, DC area term sheet valuations tend to fall below those of their west coast peers, and east coast venture capitalists tend to demonstrate a stronger proclivity for financial management than startup management.

2007 Batten Venture Bootcamp participating firms:

• Updata Partners
• New Vantage Group
• New Enterprise Associates
• Novak Biddle Venture Partners
• Arlington Capital Partners
• Intersouth Partners
• H.I.G. Ventures
• Valhalla Partners
• New Markets Growth Fund
• Toucan Capital Corp
• Cooley Godward
• Allpoint Network
• Opus 8
• Lockheed Martin Investment Management
• Network Alliance
• Harmony
• CMWare
• Appfluent Technology
• Object Video

Originally published January 13, 2007.

There are a few hubs of venture capital and entrepreneurship in the world, but Silicon Valley is the undisputed king of them all. So, after dutifully finishing my Quarter 2 exams, I boarded a plane straight to San Francisco to check it out. Two other Darden students and I organized a trip for nearly 30 Darden students on a corporate and venture tour of Palo Alto, Mountain View, San Jose, and San Francisco. Some 14 companies opened their conference rooms (and fridges!) to us over the course of a week as we learned about companies at every stage of life – from startups that never made it, to the Google monster that’s eating Silicon Valley and the venture capital firms that finance and guide the whole thing.

In this Part 1 of my winter break reflections, I will offer some comments about the culture of starting new ventures in Silicon Valley to contrast with the comments of Part 2, which will reflect my experiences at the 2007 Batten Venture Bootcamp in the Washington, DC area.

First: Some insightful comments from a venture capitalist about working in venture capital. “Move to Palo Alto.” That’s career step number one for anyone hoping to make career inroads in the Mecca of venture capital. If you want to start a company and need to build a management team, start by asking your waiter – chances are he has a PhD in computer science and just got laid off from a tech firm downsizing or outsourcing and is just itching for a startup. Or just drive around town and start knocking on corporate doors – talent is traded pretty fluidly throughout Silicon Valley, and it seems like many folks have been part of a startup (it’s only the rich ones that you hear about in the papers) or are just waiting for the next big idea.

If you do start a company, congratulations. You’ve got the densest cluster of venture capital firms in the world to compete for an equity stake in your business. With high competition and good track records of success, you can expect generally higher valuations along Sand Hill Road than you’d fetch in Boston, New York, or DC. By the way, Sand Hill Road has got to be the most beautiful death march for some entrepreneurs, who go door to door peddling their business plans in hopes of million-dollar funding.

If you don’t start doing business soon though, you’d better make friends with some of the wealthy residents of Palo Alto who might put you up for a few nights in their home. Because real estate prices are averaging $3 million for a single family home, or about $1,000 a square foot. See that floor tile you bought from Home Depot for $4? You’d better have a grand to buy enough land to put it on. Even the investment bankers in San Francisco, who are making a horde of cash, complain about residential real estate prices.

And give up golf. Instead, invest in a good wet suit and a surf board that can hack it in the mobs of Santa Cruz or the daredevils at Mavericks. One student on our trip was having trouble finding an interview invitation at a company until he mentioned that he surfed, which sealed the deal.

If you’re coming from any other business school in America, recognize that Stanford students can wake up one day in June after graduation, realize they need to get a job, and walk three blocks down the road in a Stanford hoodie and meet with some of the biggest and best venture capital firms and portfolio companies in the world. At least the Berkeley gang has to take the train, but those two schools combine to supply a boatload of great talent into the Silicon Valley marketplace every year.

All in all, I found the venture community from San Francisco to San Jose to be wonderfully intoxicating, and copmanies are changing the world every day there. Even tech regulars like eBay and Google are maximizing the value of their business platforms by launching new services that reach millions on day one.

And my wife says hi to all you in the blogosphere.

Companies on my Silicon Valley visit (in order of appearance):

Labrador Ventures

Sequoia Capital

eBay

Google

TellMe Networks

Adobe

frog design

GI Partners

IDEO

HP

I also met Darden alumni who joined us for evening receptions from the following firms:

Piper Jaffray

Bear Stearns

Deloitte (Consulting)

SideStep

Microsoft

Originally published October 27, 2006.

Darden hosted a brilliantly funny man named Larry Keeley for a small forum on corporate innovation this week in what was one of my favorite Darden experiences thus far.  We let Larry know up front that his ability to draw a crowd was admirable since it was a) the start of a three day weekend for Darden students, b) at the same time as a presentation by Steve Reinemund, the CEO of Pepsi, AND c) going head to head with the Virginia Film Festival and a talk from Mark Johnson (The Chronicles of Narnia, Rain Man).  What a lineup.

(Photo of Larry Keeley, shamefully lifted from the Doblin website.)

Nonetheless, Mr. Keeley brought the house down in theatrical fashion, and his presentation originally slated for an hour and a half painlessly grew to two and a half hours plus as he wowed us with stories of innovation and modern marvels.  Mix two parts Stephen Colbert and one part Lewis Black, coat with innovation and design, and you’ll get Larry Keeley.  From the magic of Dell, who innovated everything besides the final product (until the acquisition of Alienware), to the enviable and highly profitable Mini brand created by BMW, to the most successful iinovators of our time (pharmaceutical firms), Mr. Keeley wove story after story of cutting edge innovation that stretched beyond the product line.  It’s no wonder he’s got so many stories to tell: he’s been doing this for 27 years.  Only recently though has innovation really landed square on the global business landscape, and in Keeley’s words, “It took 27 years for us to have an overnight success.”  Even still, he thinks innovation is just beginning to get good.  As he mentions on his Doblin consulting website (www.doblin.com), “since innovation fails about 96% of the time, it seems self-evident that the field has advanced to about the same state as medicine when leeches, liniments and mystery potions were the sophisticated treatments of the day.”   So it’s a good time to be in innovation management, and Larry Keeley is helping companies develop more disciplined, productive approaches to innovation that will lead them into the uncharted roads of value creation ahead.

Larry Keeley is working in a breakthrough confluence of business and design, teaching at the Illinois Instiitute of Design and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.  I’d like to see some of that work filter down to Darden and the University of Virginia, and potentially match up with the design wonks at VCU AdCenter, who recently scored huge in the Innovation Challenge global MBA competition.  Congratulations VCU!

Originally published Sept. 28, 2006.

A brief spat of hail and a full afternoon of rain drove me off the golf course today, but it didn’t stop Darden Dean Bob Bruner from meeting with me and the other 65 students in the Class of 2008’s Section D for an evening reception.  In a room bedecked with shrimp cocktails, sushi rolls, chardonnay and longnecks, I had the good fortune to chat with the Dean about his strategic vision for Darden. 

One of Darden’s most powerful traits is the quality of its teaching.  The faculty here are driven to build students into “future leaders in the world of practical affairs,” as goes the Darden mission statement.  As a studnet, this is one of my favorite features of the Darden experience.  Professors are here to teach, and they provide an outstanding classroom and co-curricular presence around Grounds.  To date, this has been a tradeoff against the quality and quantity of research coming from the faculty halls however.  Darden’s partnership with Good to Great author Jim Collins is leading us to embrace the “Genius of the And” – to achieve great research while maintaining top teaching performance as well.  (You can check the Darden BusinessCast after Friday, Sept. 29 for a podcast about Darden’s Good to Great partnership with Jim Collins.)

Darden is currently continuing a multi-year celebration of its 50 years of business education (2005 was the actual anniversary).  Dean Bruner provided a very inspirational message envisioning our Class of 2008 arriving at the 100 year centennial anniversary, where the school leaders of that age will look back on the people of 2006 and say, “They did something right.  They made smart choices, took wise risks, and succeeded in bringing Darden squarely into the global top ten business schools and a central feature of a lifelong learning environment.”

(Darden’s front steps: Saunders Hall) 

We at Darden believe in the power of this school, in its dynamic teaching, in the rigor of the aggressive case method, and in the dedication of our outstanding Career Development Center.  We have a Dean with an inspiring vision to ratchet up Darden’s global image and performance levels, and students and faculty who love what this school is and what it can become.  If you’re ready to work harder than you ever have in your life, if you’re ready to make something more of your life and more of our school, if you’re ready to join us to lead throughout the world of practical affairs – then join us here at Darden.

Originally published August 14, 2006.

I just finished an invigorating read through Jim Collins and Jerry Porras’ best-seller, Built to Last.  I love the way these researchers capture the epic mythology of doing great work – of finding purpose and meaning beyond the dollar signs.  Their research showed that “visionary companies,” as they defined them, are more often built with some motivating purpose other than making money when compared to less successful competitors.  This point is one that captures my entrepreneurial spirit – to do something that matters for the long haul, something that makes a lasting impact on the world around me and improves the lives of others. 

The MBA program guides and consultants I reviewed during my application to business schools all seemed to have one thing in common: discussing the ROI of business school.  The rationale was always the same – since you’re going to business school, now’s a great time to examine the return on your investment!  It’s generallly a winsome argument, since many MBA graduates leap ahead to substantially higher salaries among multiple job offers than their pre-MBA careers would provide.  But this argument woefully discounts the non-financial return of two great years of investing in one’s self and a tremendous network of peers who are capable of leading the next generation of world-changing organizations.  To put it more directly, the prospects of learning extensive practices to create and guide organizations have much more value than the immediate salary commanded by MBA graduates.  That is why my MBA admissions essays focused on learning to make an impact on others more than making more money for myself.

As I see it, my MBA studies are a priceless time to learn about the development and management of organizations, a time to learn more about how to impact teams of people motivated toward a common goal.  I expect my education to be valuable both in my professional career and in my volunteer efforts, as I join the leadership of my church and community non-profits to make lasting impacts in the social sector as well.  While I do find it important to believe that my education will pay for itself in career successes, I also believe one of the greatest advantages of an MBA education must be to share it with those who could benefit from my service but could not otherwise afford it.

Please do not misunderstand me: I am not opposed to earning high salaries and ensuring that one’s MBA education earns significant results.  I am, however, suggesting that making an impact on others is more important than will be reflected in one’s salary, and that the financial rewards of doing good work are best invested to increasing the impact of future work.  For those who share this vision (particularly those who are  Darden MBA students), I look forward to meeting you and exploring the possibilities.

And, as a post-script, it turns out the purpose-driven “visionary companies” of Built to Last dramatically outperformed their comparison companies and stock market indices…

Originally published May 10, 2006.

One of the pre-matriculation requirements for Darden students is to complete a battery of self-assessment tests using a product called Career Next Step.  It’s a bonanza of web applications that prompt you to respond to inductive questions (“What kinds of activities energize you?”  “What might this figure (in an ambiguous sketch) be doing?”) in order for you to build a series of analytical statements about your own personality, preferences, and professional “fit.”  The goal seems to be to avoid job search strategies that rely too heavily on following the buck (i.e. who’s hiring now) and focus more on matching your own preferences and predispositions to a suitable and rewarding career.

While the process is lengthy and the web applications seem to be early in their development, Career Next Step does seem to be a marginally useful and comprehensive tool with the aim of creating some target professional goals and profiles for each student by Day 1 on campus.  As I understand it, this Career Next Step process will be complemented by a full Myers Briggs Type Indicator (I’ve come up ENFP twice before), other large scale assessments, and career/industry presentations during the first week.  All of this seems to build towards a holistic, individually-tailored plan for career development that begins the day you set foot on campus to the day you retire.

So, while some students head for MBA-land with the intent to advance their career in a predetermined industry, other career-hoppers like me are hoping to see more of the business world and find a new place in it.  Already, I’m grateful for Darden’s support in finding a career that will match my own sense of happiness, meaning, and success.

Has anyone already benefited from Career Next Step, or another career development process?  Has anyone discovered a whole new career field because of their MBA studies or career coaching?

Originally published April 14, 2006.

At the Darden School’s recent “Darden Days” welcome weekend for admitted students, I serendipitously met Professor Jeanne Liedtka, the director of Darden’s Batten Institute for entrepreneurship and innovation.  We talked briefly after a “mock case” discussion that introduced the prospectives to the case method, and I learned more about her courses in strategy and research in corporate innovation - my own fields of interest.

Well, BusinessWeek just turned out a few excellent pieces on innovation, so I thought I’d create a little home for them in this blog as well.

I was really caught by surprise by some of the answers in this Innovation Quiz.  (I scored 5 out of 12, apparently good enough for the quiz to recommend me as chief innovation officer for my company.)

There’s also a great Innovators in Our Midst slideshow (one of my favorite features of BusinessWeek online) on corporations leading innovation in all kinds of industries.

Then there’s the fine analytic piece, Innovative Writing on Innovation, offering five themes emerging from a survey of corporate leaders.

Finally, I’ll add the link to 25 Innovators, 6 Industries.

Hope that’s enough to spark the creative business thinker on a rainy Friday afternoon!

Originally published March 8, 2006.

American business mythology seems to imagine each worker as some sort of pinstriped Sisyphus pushing their resume up the corporate ladder. Those that make it to the top of the ladder are revered as gods. Nobody seems to want to mention the Hades that meets those who fail to reach the top of the corporate ladder (though I suspect it’s not all that bad, especially for those who trade the corporate ladder for the pursuit of their own dreams).

But where are the leaders who will push entire teams to new heights, and all along the way offer praises for the successes of the team? Where are the leaders who embody a fierce devotion to the significance and development of others (not only themselves)? My sad sense is that MBA students are made more to fashion a brand of themselves and demonstrate their individual successes rather than seeking to build the successes of teams they work for and with.

While the design of business education may lend itself to this self-promotion, I currently feel this pressure most acutely from MBA information centers, MBA career advisory firms, and other sources that cater to the power-driven and power-hungry. I don’t want to be a leader who competes to differentiate myself from other individuals. I want to be a leader who builds teams that differentiate themselves from the norm, who rise to incredible challenges and conquer enormously complex challenges. At the end of the day, I’d rather hear praises for the teams I work with and build than personal praise for my role in that team.

In a culture of American individualism, where a company’s CEO may be given sole credit for the success (or failure) of an entire corporation, I often feel that my perspectives on team leadership are out of place. Am I too idealistic? Will American individualism crush the dream of team-oriented leadership? Is a massive reform possible to create opportunities for a new generation of team-builders, of humble giants looking to hoist others onto their shoulders and pave the way for success throughout the corporation and community?