We've heard of serial entrepreneurs who keep founding one company after another. It's in their DNA, they can't think of doing anything else and they are, mostly, successful at it, so it's all good.
Today's MercNews had a story on a tech entrepreneur who's starting a new company - get this - more than 40 years after the first one. It is Sandra Kurtzig coming out of decade-long retirement to launch a new venture.
The story itself focuses on the dearth of women CEOs in tech even though Sandra was a pioneer so many decades ago. And that is a point worth considering and addressing, and maybe I'll add my take on it another time. But, what grabbed me is that Sandra, apparently living the good life in Hawai'i, had an idea and was ready and willing to give it up to take on the startup challenge again. Of course, doing a startup is a lot easier for Sandra than for most of us - she's launching with over $10 million in funding from top VCs, light years away from my bootstrapping stories. Still, the funding doesn't take away from her drive and enthusiasm to take on a brand new venture. Somehow the entrepreneurial calling didn't fade away regardless of lifestyle or age (maybe there's something to this story that more than 30% of online entrepreneurs are over 50).
It is exciting to see a pioneering entrepreneur come back after so long to lead a new startup and it will be fascinating to see how she steers her company in a world that has changed so much since the last time she was at the helm. Go Sandra!
Channeling the inner entrepreneur who views life as a startup. Musings about people, their spirit, the startup ethos and the entrepreneurial attitude, with an emphasis on education and social ventures. The 'how-to'? Not so much. But definitely the why, the what and the whatever.
From here to there and back
I just read a post (originally published over a month ago) about a non-profit started by a young woman a few years ago. It 'identifies, trains and mentors' smart, promising girl students from highly disadvantaged backgrounds to complete their education and prepare for careers. The training sounds a bit like finishing school for business (and entrepreneurship) and the result is a bunch of highly motivated girls dreaming of building the next Google - in India.
The non-profit, Roshni Academy, was founded by Salma Hasan, while she was a junior at college and has significant funding from Silicon Valley philanthropists. There are a couple of cool aspects to this social enterprise:
Mentoring (along with training) is key to getting students to dream - and achieve - big, especially if they are not exposed to a high-achieving environment in their families or communities. Fortunately, there seems to be a renewed interest in mentoring in the US, maybe due to the combined pressures of the economy and an under-performing public education system. The Roshni Academy may be a timely solution. You can read Vivek Wadhwa's entire post here and watch the video and end the week feeling good about social entrepreneurs who dream and achieve.
The non-profit, Roshni Academy, was founded by Salma Hasan, while she was a junior at college and has significant funding from Silicon Valley philanthropists. There are a couple of cool aspects to this social enterprise:
- Like other Stanford students, Salma started a venture and got funding while still at school, except this was for a social cause
- The Academy focuses on teaching/building intangibles - confidence, public speaking, conflict resolution (!) - not just academic skills
Mentoring (along with training) is key to getting students to dream - and achieve - big, especially if they are not exposed to a high-achieving environment in their families or communities. Fortunately, there seems to be a renewed interest in mentoring in the US, maybe due to the combined pressures of the economy and an under-performing public education system. The Roshni Academy may be a timely solution. You can read Vivek Wadhwa's entire post here and watch the video and end the week feeling good about social entrepreneurs who dream and achieve.
How you do it matters
There's a big brouhaha over Netflix raising the price of its DVD+streaming option almost 60% a couple of days ago (read one view here). From a business perspective, a lot of people actually believe that it is a smart, and possibly necessary, action for Netflix if it wants to remain as uber-successful as it is now. But the customer reaction is mostly due to how the price hike went down - it was steep and there was no evidence that the higher price offered any customer value, which in turn caused customers to believe that the action was purely for financial gain, 'greed'. Many feel that a couple of more modest price increases tied in to some service improvements and spread out over time would have caused barely a ripple in the Netflix base.
Once again it is all about the customer. I've written before about 'knowing your customer' and how a company that was adamantly true to its mission of customer satisfaction could be super successful, but the reverse is true. Companies that lose their customer focus stumble and it takes a lot to recover. I'm personally a long-time customer and big Netflix fan, mostly due to how well they delivered on the customer experience, even through occasional problems. But Netflix insisting that customers shouldn't complain about the price increase because it is only the cost of a latte (and hence not a big deal) seems surprisingly insensitive. I'm sure there are many customers like me who'd happily pay twice that if they felt they were getting something more for the premium. All that Netflix needed to do was think about the customer - in advance - and ensure the price increase was done right and, more importantly, presented right. Or, if the reaction caught them by surprise, Netflix could/should quickly do some damage control and smooth those ruffled feathers.
Many Netflix customers were also fans of the company so this is an uncomfortable time for them. For entrepreneurs, Netflix, with its most impressive founder/CEO Reed Hastings, is a shining example of how a company should be built. Here's hoping it will make its customers happy real soon and wipe the smudge off its halo.
Once again it is all about the customer. I've written before about 'knowing your customer' and how a company that was adamantly true to its mission of customer satisfaction could be super successful, but the reverse is true. Companies that lose their customer focus stumble and it takes a lot to recover. I'm personally a long-time customer and big Netflix fan, mostly due to how well they delivered on the customer experience, even through occasional problems. But Netflix insisting that customers shouldn't complain about the price increase because it is only the cost of a latte (and hence not a big deal) seems surprisingly insensitive. I'm sure there are many customers like me who'd happily pay twice that if they felt they were getting something more for the premium. All that Netflix needed to do was think about the customer - in advance - and ensure the price increase was done right and, more importantly, presented right. Or, if the reaction caught them by surprise, Netflix could/should quickly do some damage control and smooth those ruffled feathers.
Many Netflix customers were also fans of the company so this is an uncomfortable time for them. For entrepreneurs, Netflix, with its most impressive founder/CEO Reed Hastings, is a shining example of how a company should be built. Here's hoping it will make its customers happy real soon and wipe the smudge off its halo.
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