We were privileged to have Prof Tom Kosnik to share with us entrepreneurial lessons from Silicon Valley. I am sure Prof is more “happening” than us, with the many interesting analogies that he gave using the music videos (e.g. Carrie Underwood, Dixie Chicks- Not ready to make peace).

Here were some learning points:

1)    Entrepreneurial partnerships are likened to “dating” and personal relationships, while revolving on the basis of trust, commitment and exclusivity. Each type of partnership (earning, strategic, limited and learning) can influence revenue and profit potential. We were introduced to the partnership risks and pragmatic challenges. The lesson about partnership made us ponder about how we can apply them to our organizations.

2)    SV has developed a relatively small geography and population into one of the most productive economies in the world. These are some of the success factors:

a)     Rich talent pool and social networks

b)    Early adopters of new technology

c)     Established infrastructure for outsourcing

d)    Entrepreneurial spirit

e)     Venture capital industry

3)    Lessons from SV face a double chasm as they go global

4)    Context, clusters and the circles of influence

5)    The 7 paradoxes of SV

Throughout the talk, I was especially inspired by Prof’s passion for life, and drive for bringing entrepreneurship to new heights. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.