In theory
there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice
there is.
Yogi Berra
Gary is the work-study kid that works in my office. Gary looks wholesome, sports a crew-cut, is
remarkably good-natured, affable and earnest.
He looks 14 although he is a sophomore in the business program – so he
is probably 18 or 19. And like all
sophomores, I figured he would plug along, wind his way through his remaining
coursework– take a job, and go on with his life. Frankly, from where I stood, interacting with
him daily, if I had even given it any thought, he would surely have been indistinguishable
from the hundreds of other students I see every day.
But the Gary I saw at the New Tech Haven competition a
couple of nights ago was another person altogether. He stood in front of 15 judges (I was one of
them); he stood poised, perfect diction, cool-as-cucumber, fielded questions on
finance, marketing, operations all related to the business he was pitching
vying for the $5000 seed-money award that New Tech Haven had promised to the
winner of the evening. He displayed skills that grown professionals would kill
for. Guy Kawasaki:
Gary’s in the house.
Gary’s project was an app. Betraying keen insight and ingenuity, Gary’s app was a regional variant of the E-Bay juggernaut model. Gary’s conceit was that he understood the apprehension of millions of E-Bay users that had been burned by unethical counterparties – the bane of online bid markets – and a continuous problem despite great efforts by the industry to expunge them. Gary understood the principles of what are known as two-sided markets, where platform developers (an app is a platform) must appeal to two different sets of customers. In his case – he understood how he had to individually appeal to those who would be inclined to use his app to sell and those who would use his app to purchase. And that both sides of the market will come to the app – the platform – if they are confident that there are users on the other side. He understood the limits of what E-Bay could promise, he understood the idiosyncracies of the local New Haven and regional Connecticut market. He talked about economies of scale, and forecasts and burn-rate and the particulars of the underlying programming code. The judges razzed him hard – and he hardly broke a sweat.
Gary got selected, he got to present, he got to pitch, because
he had a good idea - naturally. But he
GOT there because of Larry Flanagan, and John Rosen and Mike Driskoll and Murat
Akgun. Flanagan is the founder of New
Tech Haven – the UNH incubator that invites students at the beginning of the
school year to propose their ideas, encouraging hundreds of budding
entrepreneurs and innovators by promising them an audience. They select the most promising. And then they select the best among
those. They run them through their
training program. And then they call in
the judges.
The team that Flanagan has assembled is a veritable dream
team of advisors ANY real-world business would pay considerable fees to
retain. Rosen is a proto-genius
marketing expert who owns his own, highly successful marketing company MCA Works– with a bunch of Fortune 500
clients. Driscoll is a retired CEO of Winchester Electronics a
successful manufacturing Connecticut multinational – a man who in his life-time
raised operations to an art-form. Murat Akgun
is a former Wall Street trader – who eats finance for breakfast. All these guys are there for the love of the
game – for the kids, for UNH. And ‘twas
this dream team that took a bubbly, bumbling kid with a gleam in his eye and transformed
him into a bona fide professional, versed in all matters of import for prospective
venture capitalists. Gary will never be the same; Gary would never have gotten
that boost, that experience, that learning in a traditional business program.
It’s only a matter of time – before one of these young entrepreneurs
makes it to the show. But the true, true
value of what New Tech Haven is doing goes far beyond what they taught Gary and
those other lucky ones selected and nurtured.
Their true value is in creating the immensely valuable opportunity for
those who will come next. Their true
value is that New Tech Haven exists. Other UNH students, incipient innovators
will know that there is a place where experienced businessmen will carefully
appraise their business concept and train them, and mentor them; a venue where
they can benefit from the considerable networking resources that the dream team
assembled. The judges that gathered evening
– were all bona fide local and regional business leaders gathered there
beckoned by Larry Flanagan’s charm and cajoling. If anyone was going to move, finance, and
encourage innovation and entrepeneurship around these parts – it’s this
group. Check it out: Allison Schieffelin
Walker, Anthony Rescigno, Elena Cahill, George Heudorfer, Gino Pereira, Ron
Harichandran, James H. Gatling, Kate Harrison, Lee Tiernan, Mark Klein, Pete
Peterson, Rick Tuchman, Rick Flath, Paul Sessions, Stephen Tagliatela and Sukh
Grewal. I know I’m not worthy of being
with that crowd that’s for sure – but Larry said he needed me so he could tell
others that Arod was going to be among the judges (he didn’t give them any details). Next year, wanna-be judges will be tripping
over themselves to get in even without having to serve the hot tamales they served
up in the post-event celebration.
Gary Crawford came in second that night – although had me
from the git-go. The winner was James
Comeau - who had created another variant of a two-sided matching market. James devised an app that cleverly matches
what I now understand is a keen demand for individualized soccer instruction
with carefully selected soccer coaches in the area. As an interesting aside – the Nobel Prize in Economics
this year was awarded to Alvin
Roth
(jointly with Lloyd Shapely) for establishing the foundations in the game
theory field of matching markets. The third
proposal – by John-Paul DiTomasso - was an ingenuous additive to
artificial-turf, a product that would reduce the buildup of staphylococcus
aureus bacteria and other bacterium that affict sportsfolks. All worthy, all real cool.
Gary now sports a new found confidence in his walk, his
demeanor oozes pride of accomplishment – for he went to the brink and he
prevailed. But Gary was not the only one transformed that day. I’m pretty sure that the experience of the
other competitors was singular – that they will never again approach life’s
challenges in the same way. And I know
the judges had to walk home thrilled to have been a part of a successful and
unique experiment in pedagogy: experiential-learning-cum-unadulterated, raw
venture capitalism.
And I; I was transformed.
No longer will I have to waffle and haw whenever a student comes up to
me for entrepreneurial advice, with a business project or idea. I know I will send them to New Tech Haven –
the UNH incubator - where they will have – truly - the best experience of their
life.
Cheers to you: Larry, Mike, John & Murat. Lord knows that
among-the-last-in-the-nation-in-job-creation Connecticut needs sparks and
innovators and creative thinking. Perhaps
with you guys around our little state will perish neither from the lack of
wonder nor the lack of wonderment.
arod
5/30/2013
