This weekend I attended the 10th Babson Entrepreneurship Forum at Babson College, Wellesley, MA. As advertised on the website, it was full of amazing keynotes, panels, networking, contests and more!
So let me walk you through my learnings and experiences.
Saturday started with Dev Patnaik talking about Hybrid Thinking. Dev explained how in today's age to make it as an entrepreneur, technology isn't enough. Today's entrepreneur is made up of part humanist, who can understand the social problems of today, part technologist who can harness technology to solve problems and part capitalist who can make this one whole business. Hybrid thinkers who live incognito amongst us, every day, are moving beyond the shackles of being specialists and emerging as leaders of tomorrow. They are feeding their thirst for knowledge and doing the unimaginable. One such emerging leader is Ankur Jain, who was our second speaker of the day. Ankur is the founder of The Kairos Society and through bringing together different thoughts from different cultures, he has founded one of the most successful multi-national-innovation-feeding foundation. In Ankur's terms, this is bridging the gaps between disciplines, cultures and generations that stifle transformative innovation. The peak of the speech was when Ankur went on to explain how the Kairos Society has essentially privatized democracy!
As we winded down from keynotes and moved on to panels, my wife and I found ourselves in panels where serial entrepreneurs shared their experiences. We had serial entrepreneurs ranging from those who had started their first startup at the age of 9 to those who'd transitioned from traditional corporate jobs such as engineering to business roles on to start and nurture their own "startups". There was a lot to learn in these panels; and if you want to know it all, you should participate at the next Babson Entrepreneurship Forum ;-) ; but I will share the highlights of the learnings here:
So let me walk you through my learnings and experiences.
Saturday started with Dev Patnaik talking about Hybrid Thinking. Dev explained how in today's age to make it as an entrepreneur, technology isn't enough. Today's entrepreneur is made up of part humanist, who can understand the social problems of today, part technologist who can harness technology to solve problems and part capitalist who can make this one whole business. Hybrid thinkers who live incognito amongst us, every day, are moving beyond the shackles of being specialists and emerging as leaders of tomorrow. They are feeding their thirst for knowledge and doing the unimaginable. One such emerging leader is Ankur Jain, who was our second speaker of the day. Ankur is the founder of The Kairos Society and through bringing together different thoughts from different cultures, he has founded one of the most successful multi-national-innovation-feeding foundation. In Ankur's terms, this is bridging the gaps between disciplines, cultures and generations that stifle transformative innovation. The peak of the speech was when Ankur went on to explain how the Kairos Society has essentially privatized democracy!
As we winded down from keynotes and moved on to panels, my wife and I found ourselves in panels where serial entrepreneurs shared their experiences. We had serial entrepreneurs ranging from those who had started their first startup at the age of 9 to those who'd transitioned from traditional corporate jobs such as engineering to business roles on to start and nurture their own "startups". There was a lot to learn in these panels; and if you want to know it all, you should participate at the next Babson Entrepreneurship Forum ;-) ; but I will share the highlights of the learnings here:
- Skills matter, but your relationships can open up avenues that may seem not to exist, so spend time in developing your networks.
- Entrepreneurship is about working with fanatic discipline towards a strategic goal infused with task management for the short term.
- Unlike established products and established companies, new product development does NOT need to be perfect. Do not wait too long to push things to customers.
- One the same lines as above, launching something is more important than doing things right for too long.
- If issues develop amongst you and your partners, do not wait for too long to discuss them; these are unpleasant conversations not hard conversations. A lot of times you will find out that both sides appreciate such discussions.
- You have to go with effectual reasoning in a startup as opposed to causal reasoning that big companies use
- Believe in the strength of people around you. Know when to let go and trust others to carry forward the idea
- Don't focus on your mistakes too much. Learn the difference between "good decision-bad outcome and bad decision-bad outcome. Both have things to teach.
- Nurture your mentorship network. Have multiple mentors.
- If you cannot sleep at night with the amount of risk involved in your startup, entrepreneurship is probably not for you.
- When working on international ventures, show up in the country where you wish to bring up your venture. Go to the gemba!
- Family life along with a highly intense entrepreneurial life takes its toll on the former. When you do spend time with your family, do it fully.
After lunch we were not just kept awake but on the edge of our seats by the finalists of The Big Idea Competition . It was wonderful and encouraging to see entrepreneurs working across countries, cultures, time zones and ages towards their passion!
The afternoon took me into an area I have never looked at before - Funding your Startup. After the pleasant surprise that I could understand most of the vocabulary in the room, I managed to listen to the panel and the discussions that went between them and the audience. Although it was a great panel, I don't think any of my learnings would be new for the seasoned. So let's move on; shall we?
For a late afternoon session, the panel on mass-customization was a great one. The panelists were again young, budding entrepreneurs who had established businesses in mass-customization. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur looking for an area with low barriers to entry, mass customization may be for you!
We winded down on day one with a keynote featuring Mark Albion, Charlie Baker and Rick Aubry on the need for social focus in business; followed by drinks and non-pizza from Stone Hearth Pizza.
The day was finally over and we were ready for Day 2!
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