Keep your wits and follow your heart
I spent a good chunk of today at the Silicon Flatirons “Putting the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Perspective” conference in the Wolf Law Building on the University of Colorado campus. It was a wonderful day of top notch speakers from Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to top local VCs, academics, and of course entrepreneurs sharing thoughts on what it takes to have a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem. I was interested in the conference for a few reasons. The main of which was to learn more about the makeup of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Boulder area as part of the ongoing demographic research I do for Design Matters Home.
Lots of ideas were covered from Governor Ritter talking about the 4, now 5, pillars of the state’s economic drivers with the addition of ICT (Information and Communication Technology), to Karl Ulrich’s (The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania) very interesting concept of Innovation Tournaments, to AnnaLee Saxenian’s (Dean, School of Information University of California at Berkeley) thoughts on moving to regional ecosystems from corporate hierarchies with tons of great discussions and ideas in-between.
To form the discussions of what it takes to have a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem many thoughts were shared on the needs and drivers of entrepreneurs themselves. One of the obvious ones repeated throughout here, as it is in all entrepreneurial makeup discussions, is the immense passion entrepreneurs have to take the big risks required to make their ideas become a reality.
Another bit of advice shared by Paul Berbarian (Co-Founder Raindance Communication) based on his own learned lessons was the importance of entrepreneurs to not get too caught up in the moment. When you are starting something from scratch so many things, many of which you are experiencing for the first time, are flying by you at rates you did not think possible. It is tempting to jump on or react to everything all the time but the smart entrepreneurs know when to hold em and when to fold em as a wise country singer once told us.
I made it home in time to read a bedtime story with my seven year old daughter. We started “Dark Day in the Deep Sea” by Mary Pope Osborne this evening. As we got to the end of chapter one where Jack and Annie were talking to Teddy and Kathleen about their next mission we hit a section that resonated perfectly with a common theme of today’s sessions.
“‘I wonder who the ‘others’ will be on this mission,’ said Annie. She looked at Teddy and Kathleen. ‘Maybe you guys?’ ‘I fear not,’ said Kathleen. ‘You must find the third secret on your own.’ ‘Just remember to keep your wits about you,’ said Teddy. ‘And listen to your hearts,’ said Kathleen.”
I love it when I get timely reinforcement of ideas from unlikely places, especially books for children. For all entrepreneurs in small business or startups with grander visions the statement of keep your wits and follow your heart could not be more to the point of what you have to do EVERY DAY to help your dreams become a reality.
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