TYE Google Calendar Now Available

TYE Students, we have embedded our class schedule in Google Calendar. You can find it under the public calendar listings. If you are a Gmail user, you should consider using Google Calendar in order to keep track of your TYE meetings and events. We'll show you a quick demo on November 8th in case you are curious. Also, be on the lookout for Prateek, he is going to show us the TYE Social Network he built.

Recommended Reading: The Go-Getter by Peter Kyne

This week's recommended reading comes from Ron Beraha. The story is called "The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How to Be One." I've pasted a review from Amazon below.

Focus and determination are the subjects of this 1921 parable about a "never-say-die" salesman who is given a challenge and gets it done. Updated by business writer Alan Axelrod, the tale moves quickly with vivid characters and well-timed suspense. By the time the parable ends, the listener is ready for the moral of the story, which is offered in the form of old-fashioned advice. The premise of being tested by a strict boss and succeeding may seem outdated in the current climate of free-agent entrepreneurial thinking. But the real lesson is the timeless one of how to identify what's important on a job--independent of what we're told--and succeed through a flat-out desire to get it done. -- T.W. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Join the TYE Social Network!

TYE Students and Staff, Prateek Sahay has set up a great social networking site for all TYE students. Please click here to join. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Pat, Hooman, or Rajeev.

We will use the site as a means to learn names, faces, and basic information about each other. As we break into groups, we will try to set up additional infrastructure to support your activities.

Just so we're all on the same page, we would like to establish some ground rules.

1. This social network is for professional use only. Please refrain from making any comments that could be inappropriate.
   
2. Make sure you post a) your full name b) a face picture and c) profile information so that we can all learn about each other. This requirement will be helpful once we start breaking up into groups.
3. Please encourage your TYE friends to join. We would like to make sure that everyone is included.
4. Please provide feedback whenever you want about the use of the social network. We want to make sure that it is being used effectively.
   

Recommended Reading: The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar

TYE Students, I'd like to take a minute to recommend a fantastic book. The TYE Co-chairs will only post extremely relevant content on the blog, so if you have a chance to check out the book The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living, please do so.

Here is a review of the book: Prospective entrepreneurs may think they know everything there is to know about starting a business in Silicon Valley. They can draw up business plans, have meetings with venture capitalists, maybe even get funded and actually launch a start-up. However, in The Monk and the Riddle, Silicon Valley sage Randy Komisar reasons that's only half the equation for success. And it may not be the important half. Komisar has worked with a number of companies--Apple, LucasArts Entertainment (the gaming division of George Lucas's empire), and WebTV among them--and has come to a rather startling conclusion: if you can't see yourself doing this business for the rest of your life, don't start it. In other words, he wants to see passion and purpose in business, not just spreadsheets and a by-the-numbers business model. To illustrate, Komisar takes the reader through a hypothetical Silicon Valley start-up, with an eager entrepreneur named Lenny trying to get funding for an online casket-selling business. As Komisar helps Lenny find the real purpose of the business, the passion behind the revenue projections, he reflects back on his life as an entrepreneur. Komisar emerges as a master storyteller, the kind of guy you'd feel honored to share a bottle of wine with. And you believe his conclusion: "When all is said and done, the journey is the reward." It's great if you've made billions on the journey, but the important thing is that you do something you can truly throw yourself into. -- Lou Schuler (from Hardcover)

TYE Students

The TYE managers can't be happier with this year's class. We've posted a collage of all of the students who participated in the "What is Entrepreneurship" session. Can anyone list all of the students? Pat has a $20 bill waiting for the person to do it perfectly (Note: proper spelling only!) If you are missing from the picture, then we did not snap a picture of you. Please send us one ASAP to be included.

Congratulations TYE on the 2nd Annual TiE Global Award!

We are very pleased and excited to share with you that TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs) Program, a TiE-Boston initiative was recognized as “Most Successful Involvement of Young Entrepreneurs” and received the TiE Global award for the second consecutive year.

Four factors play a significant role in the program success and they are:

1. Passion and hard work of students, who make us proud
   
2. Inspiration, knowledge and mentoring support provided by TiE Charter Members, General Members and Sponsors
3. Dedication of the TYE team, and support from the TiE-Boston staff
4. Involvement of parents

Our humble thanks to all and special thanks to the donors.

Live from "What is Entrepreneurship?"

Welcome TYE students! Today we're going to cover a lot of material... if you didn't receive everything via email, let us know so we can get you up to speed. We started the morning with a couple easy ice breakers ("the IX" and the "think outside the box" exercises) and then we learned a little bit about each individual with the "two truths and one lie" game. Interestingly, we learned that one of you crashed into a horse while skiing, a few of you love your Nintendo DS, and some of you actually don't like the subject of biology. What will we learn next time?

The morning started with a presentation from serial entrepreneur and VC Ash Ashutosh from Greylock Partners. As you might remember, Ash talked about "What is Entrepreneurship?" We'll post the video here once we transcode it.

After Ash, we heard from entrepreneur Rajesh Nair from DegreeC Controls on entrepreneurial skills and values. We've posted his presentation below and will also post the video once we figure out how to upload it.

Rajesh Nair's Presentation on Entrepreneurial Skills and Values

Rajesh Nair Presentation -- Entrepreneurial Values

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

We didn't cover this material in class, but startups are beginning to hear from their investors that they need to be conservative in their spending. Remember how we said that business plans help companies to define their strategic direction? This is an important lesson in good times, and in bad. Check out what top tier VCs are telling their companies in the presentation below. Note the slide cover: RIP Good Times.

Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: depression recession)

Sample Business Ideas from TYE 2008

A few of you have asked if we could provide you with some sample business plan executive summaries from TYE 2008. We've pasted a few below. Let us know what you think... there are some great ideas in here! Our challenge for you is to come up with bigger and better ideas.

•AIM: AIM provides a low cost, high quality, online 24/7 SAT preparation

service that caters to the needs of the student while satisfying the need of the parents. The students will be native English and Spanish speakers. A quality education is essential for success – our company will help students get the best SAT scores possible, without having their score dependent on financial status.

•EVOLINK: By focusing on an unattended niche in the current networking industry, we at EvoLink are able to create a product that meets the needs of a very large consumer market. Currently, a large majority of the consumer population demands a trend toward wireless mobility, but at the same time they suffer from a lack of experience with new technology. For this reason, we have approached this situation by creating the EvoHub, a product that will tackle the two main issues we have identified before us. The EvoHub is a revolutionary wireless router that will allow for all peripherals to be wirelessly connected to any computer on the network via wireless USB. On top of this, EvoLink will stress “easy-to-setup, convenient” features. In turn, the EvoHub may likely become the next zenith in wireless connectivity technology.

•iCOOK: It is iCook’s goal to enhance the cooking experience for the common man by addressing key issues that both hassle everyday cooks and keep others from cooking. To do this we plan on: (1) Assisting cooks and aspiring cooks fill the intellectual void that they encounter in the kitchen (2) Revolutionizing the approach to cooking by automating previously limiting factors; e.g. digitized voice directions, direct grocery delivery, and meticulous organization of all your favorite recipes (3) Supplement the definition, acquisition, and transportation phases of pre-kitchen meal preparation (4) Allowing people to access any recipe whenever and wherever they want, at the touch of a button

•LIVELEG: LiveLeg Inc. is being formed as a private company offering a unique approach to the private jet industry. LiveLeg Inc. is a travel agency that works as a convenient interface between customers and private, and corporate, jets. The company also provides a distinctive way through which the “dead legs”, or empty seats on private jets, can be put to use, hence the name LiveLeg Inc.

•MySHOP: Shopping has become a gamble. It is a hit or miss where there is no guarantee that I will find something I love that fits me well. But, MyShop has made it a guaranteed jackpot. Almost every person in the US has stepped into a retail store, and most encounter the same problems, so I thought “why not make a solution where everyone can reap the benefits of the integration of the three most popular industries: retail, shoppers, and advanced technology.” From any computer across the globe, someone can shop, try clothes on their own body, and buy apparel from their favorite stores. Every partner benefits. Retailers have access to a wider market, thus greater potential revenue, they increase their online sales, and reduce costly in-store operating costs. Shoppers receive a complimentary service where they can see exactly how clothes look on their body and try on any item from all of their favorite stores. We tap into these markets by exposing them to the “next big thing,” the developing virtual technology market.

•RVRtech: RVRtech is a fresh, new company aimed at changing the way we look at radio. Our plan is to release a radio unit, called an RVR, that has all the capabilities of a modern DVR found in any new cable box. This means that our unit will give listeners the chance to interact with their radio in a way never before experienced. Just like the DVR changed the course of cable, so too do we hope that the RVR will forever change the course of radio.

•U-CALL: U-Call provides a combined package of services directed to eliminate the drudgery and distractions of college in the life of the student of today; this allows them to focus first and foremost on their primary objective: an excellent education. U-call will be providing our customers with a number of services such as: Moving, laundry, school supplies, hotel accommodation, transportation tickets, on-campus tickets, end-of-semester parties, restaurant reservations, groceries, student card that doubles up as a debit card outside campus. The demands for each service by each student can be placed through either talking to us at our main office on campus or through the website using their U-Call ID.

TYE Ground Rules and Expectations

All, please find below our TYE Ground Rules and Expectations for the 2009 Calendar Year. The following list is derived from common sense, respect for people’s time, and our experience from past years. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us.

1. The Program is only available to high school students
2. Pre-high school students are allowed to monitor two classes
3. Class sessions meet every other Saturday until the competition phase
4. Classes run from 9 am to 1:30 pm
5. Students are expected to be present on time (we recommend that students arrive 15 minutes early to every class)
6. Students are not allowed to miss more than 2 classes
7. Parents are not allowed in class room sessions
8. The facility we are using is generously provided to us at no cost, therefore it is mandatory that everyone cleans their space before leaving. We must respect the facility (no chewing gum or sticking gum on furniture, no littering, students are allowed to use the classroom and general cafeteria area, students are not allowed in other floors)
9. Every student needs to have a notebook and writing instruments for class
10. The winners of the $10K Competition in 2009 are not allowed to compete in future years. They are allowed to mentor and learn, however.
    

What is Entrepreneurship: Speaker Biographies

We are excited to start our first class: "What is Entrepreneurship?" As promised, we've posted the biographies of our speakers. We'll post more information as it becomes available.

• Ash Ashutosh: Partner, Greylock Partners

Ash is a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners. While being a recognized leader in the storage industry, Ash’s areas of interests include semiconductors, systems, storage, software and utility and cloud computing. As a serial entrepreneur, Ash has over two decades of operational and strategy experience in founding, building and advising companies. Ash was the founder of three companies in technologies ranging from semiconductors, systems and enterprise software, each of which led their respective markets and had successful exits. He also worked for and has been a member of the board or the advisory board of several large and small technology companies. Prior to joining Greylock, Ash was Vice President and the Chief Technologist at the storage business unit at HP, responsible for strategy and development of next-generation data center technologies. He joined HP as a result of the acquisition of AppIQ, a company he founded in 2001 that became a leader in standards-built Storage Resource Management (SRM) software. Ash currently serves on the board of Delphix, a company developing radically innovative database management solutions. He is also a charter member of TiE Boston. Ash holds a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and a Masters degree in Computer Science from Penn State University.

• Rajesh Nair: Founder and Chairman, Degree C Controls

Rajesh Nair is the President, CEO and co-founder of Degree Controls, Inc. He bootstrapped DegreeC with $60,000 in 1997. Under his leadership DegreeC grew to a $13.5 million company in five years without any external funding. He has been involved with thermal management designs, products and services for the past 12 years. Rajesh has several patents in thermal sensing and control design. He was recognized as the Entrepreneur of the Year, 2001 by the New Hampshire High Tech Council. Ernst and Young selected Rajesh as one of the Finalists for the Entrepreneur of the Year, New England in 2002. Rajesh has a BS in Physics from Kerela University; BS in EE, and MS in Electronic Design from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India; and an MS in Manufacturing Engineering, U Mass, Amherst

Meet the TYE Leaders: Co-Chair Backgrounds

A few of the students and parents have asked us about our backgrounds, so we thought we would post some information here. Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts.

• Curriculum: Hooman Hodjat

A proven leader in execution of strategic initiatives, Hooman’s goal is to build his own enterprise, creating value by leveraging technology to address a market opportunity. He is currently doing so at his startup iRelai, a startup focused on the last mile of e-commerce. After completing his MBA at Babson, he combined knowledge and experience in business and technology as the director of IT for an international sporting goods retailer and manufacturer. There, he successfully implemented strategic and operational initiatives to support the profitability and expansion of the business. Hooman’s career background includes Senior Technology Management, Project Leadership, Management Consulting, Technical and Product Marketing, and Software Engineering. In addition to spending time with his wife and baby girl, Hooman enjoys playing soccer, golf and has passion for martial arts and skiing.

• Curriculum: Pat Noonan

Pat Noonan is an Associate at Commonwealth Capital Ventures, a leading early stage venture capital firm based out of Boston. Prior to joining Commonwealth, Pat worked for the strategy arm of Capgemini, a global management consultancy. Based first in the firm’s Cambridge, MA offices and later in its London, UK offices, he advised start-ups and Fortune 500 companies in the telecom, media, and entertainment industries. Pat graduated from Harvard University, where he serves as Second Class Marshal (Vice President) of the Class of 2003. He is a graduate of the TiE Young Leaders Program and is an active member of TiE, where he manages the Entrepreneur Forum at TiECON East.

• Finance: Geetha Ramamurthy

Geetha Ramamurthy is the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development of Venus Capital. Ms. Ramamurthy is a seasoned management executive, innovative leader and motivator. She has built a global network comprised of successful entrepreneurs, leaders and corporate executives. Prior to joining Venus Capital Management, Ms. Ramamurthy was the Executive Director of the Boston chapter of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs). As key member of the leadership team, Ms. Ramamurthy has developed TiE-Boston into the second largest chapter globally and the leading entrepreneurship organization in the Northeast. She was responsible for developing and managing sponsorship, membership, events and education programs, and provide oversight and supervise staff and volunteers. In 10 years the membership grew to 800 members and events to over 60 annually, including the flagship annual TiECON and thematic workshops relevant to current sectors like Cleantech and Lifesciences. Ms Ramamurthy was instrumental in establishing several best practices and new initiatives like TiE Women’s Initiative, Alliance Partner program and the TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE). TYE has received the Global award as the unique education program and has received national media recognition. In addition, she plays a pivotal role in the TiE India Connect program, which promotes the direct partnership with participating chapters and entrepreneurs in India. Ms. Ramamurthy founded Legends n Leaders, a platform for global leaders to network, empower, inspire and share ideas. Also, she founded G. Ram, Inc. an accounting and tax services and business advisory firm and co-founded Palsan Business Solutions a business support services company. She is the Managing Director of Carmine Leo Associates, a leadership development firm and director of the board of Trax, a banking services company. She serves as chairman of the board of MITHAS (MIT Heritage of Arts of South Asia) and as the advisor to several startup companies. She began her career as Medical Technologist at Children’s Hospital, Boston, where she played numerous leadership roles.

• Finance: Praveen Sahay

Praveen joined VIMAC in 2003 through the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program—a program designed to select, educate and train future leaders in the venture capital industry. Praveen brings 13 years of eclectic experience to the firm, including 3 years of venture experience. Prior to the fellowship, he was an Associate at Updata Venture Partners, an early-stage investor in IT and communications startups in Northern Virginia. He has also served as a Strategy Consultant to technology corporations and private equity investors during his tenure at Dean & Company. Prior to his venture career, Praveen managed retail operations for a mutual fund company, explored for oil and gas deposits in the Arabian Sea, and helped build quantitative tools to optimize equity portfolios. While serving as a Deputy Commandant, he led armed troops in situations involving threat to national security in India. He was also the National Elections Coordinator (CIVPOL) at the United Nations Operation in Mozambique where he played a key role in the country’s transition to democracy. More recently, he served in the management team of iCode, an early stage enterprise software company in Virginia still operating and growing successfully. Praveen has an MBA from the University of Chicago and an MS in Nuclear Physics and BS in Physics from St. Stephen's College in New Delhi.

• Operations: Mona Chopra

Mona Chopra is Vice President at Bank of America’s Global Wealth and Investment Management group. She is an entrepreneurial executive and has worked with technology firms such as Keane, Sapient and Segway in various management roles. In each of her roles she had opportunities to manage, lead and/or support innovative product launches. Among all, the launch of Segway HT remains her personal favorite where she worked with the inventor Dean Kamen in marketing the product to college campuses and universities and international markets. Mona also co-founded Ferns N’ Petals, a retail floral boutique in India which she sold to her client prior to coming to the U.S. Mona is actively involved with the Bank’s Diversity Network and Asian Leadership Group. She co-chair’s the TYE (The Young Entrepreneur’s) program that prepares high school kids to create a winning business plan and compete in the Business Plan competition. Mona holds an M.B.A. from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College in Wellesley, and a MS in Economics from India. She currently lives in Wellesley and enjoys visiting museums, collecting art and promoting the indigenous arts and crafts from India.

• Operations: Ron Beraha

Ron has over 25 years of national and international management, process, optimization, education and integration experience with Sun Microsystems, Pioneer Investments Group, Liberty Mutual group, Fidelity Investments and Digital Equipment Corporation as well as a variety of start-up companies. Ron earned his Masters Certificate in Industrial Sciences and Economics from the Weitzman Institute at the Jazrael Valley, Israel and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University. Ron is a member of the MVVF Board at Umass Lowell and is also on the Board of NECC School of Entrepreneurship and the Chairman of the TYE Mentorship SIG and the Merrimack Valley High Tech Council. He is a member of TIE-Boston and NECINA. Ron has co-founded and sold MMM, a media company in the 80s. He helped raise funds for JGR Engineering in the mid 90s and founded, raised capital and sold Horizon Translations in the late 90s and Moon's Tail Enterprises in 2001. Recently Ron has been a co-founder of BridgeGao Strategic Services.

• Technology: Rajeev Arora

Rajeev is a technically accomplished and entrepreneurial-spirited management professional from CCR Pyramid. He has eight+ yearsof hands-on IS and IT expertise including three years of IT management and offshore management experience. He has a track record of success in deploying solutions that increase operational efficiency and ensure optimal interface/experience. He is a graduate of the Wentworth Institute of Technology.

TYE Launch Event Recap... What a Night!

Thanks to the 75+ attendees who showed up last night: it was a fantastic showing from a phenomenal crowd. Throughout the day, we'll post a full recap of the event. We promised you that we would post materials and pictures on the blog, so let us know if you have any trouble accessing the content once it is posted.

Below is the introductory presentation. As you may remember, Rajeev gave us a great overview and background into the program. Feel free to email any one of the co-chairs to get more information.

TYE Launch Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: leaders young)

In case you didn't receive a handout, we have provided a digital copy of the brochure below. Most of this information can be found throughout the blog, but please let us know if you have any questions.

TYE Brochure - Upload a Document to Scribd

As you know, we also heard from the founder of Paragon Lake, a Massachusetts-based startup focusing on the custom jewelry market. Imagine if you could design your own ring and view a 3D model before buying it. Now you can! Check out the 3D model YouTube video below for a sample demonstration of what Paragon Lake wants to bring to customers.



Matt also offered us an interesting story about entrepreneurship. Three men are sitting on a bench and a fly lands on each of their shoulders. They all react differently. The first waves it away, the second brushes it off, and the third eats it...! Another fly comes along, but this time the entrepreneur of the group snags the fly and offers to sell it to the one who previously ate the other one. The point of the story: an entrepreneurs finds opportunity in every situation.

Here is another video of the Paragon Lake virtual showcase: