2013-03-25

TEDx Talk About Entrepreneurship

Last year I was honored to be asked to speak about entrepreneurship at Rice's "Unconvention" in celebration of its centennial year. Instead of talking about lean startup, customer development, fundraising, or many of the other very well covered topics out there, I chose to focus on framework for entrepreneurship that is, well, unconventional.

My talk, entitled The Entrepreneur's Journey, proposes entrepreneurship lessons embedded in our most popular myths, legends, stories, and fairy tales. Finally this weekend, as a birthday gift to myself, I crossed "Publish my TEDx talk" off my to-do list.

Take a look at the video and the powerpoint slides (synced with audio) and tell me what you think! And please Like and share both links - after all, we need more yoda references in our global discussion of entrepreneurship!

2013-03-16

The Dude Ranch

Two weekends ago Katie and I were excited to host our first house guests since remodeling our house. Peter, a good friend from business school, and his girlfriend came into town from New York and it was the first time in Houston for both of them.

They arrived late Friday night so we just went out for dinner at Roost and rested up for a big day Saturday. Saturday began with the Houston Area Women's Center Race Against Violence 5k. Sunny and cool, we each did pretty well and then enjoyed recovery food with a brunch of almond flour pancakes.

Next we met up with the other IMD MBA 2008 Houstonian, Hernan, a recent transplant from Buenos Aires. What do three IMD MBAs do when they meet in a city that isn't native for any of them? Play ping pong, of course! We convened at the Rice Rec Center and held an epic international tournament for the ages.

Saturday afternoon we were pleased to introduce our IMD friends/guests/families to a unique cultural experience: the Houston Rodeo! From bull riding events to the livestock show to lots of Texas BBQ I think it's safe to say that we all enjoyed the experience and that our guests will always remember it!

Saturday night we went to dinner at Beaver's for some more locavore fare and Sunday our guests had to leave too early! The weather was gorgeous Sunday so it's too bad they couldn't stick around; we played beach volleyball all afternoon. Actually, as both of our guests were really, really tall, maybe it's a good thing they couldn't stay and play against us!

The weather here is still absolutely beautiful so now is the right time for us to be cultural ambassadors of Houston. If anyone else would like to visit, COME ON DOOOOOOOOOWN!