Top 5 COFFEE SHOPs to get it done

By Mari Senosiain

Sometimes one needs get out of the house and find a coffee shop to get some work done. It could be that home is too loud, there is a lot going on or it might even be too quiet. When you have some assignments to get done you need the right environment. So here is my top 5 coffee shops around town to get stuff done.

#1 Cenote

1010 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX 78702

Found in East Austin Cenote is a large house on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Medina. My favorite part is the shaded Patio that is great for the Texas weather.  My favorite drink is their House Made Iced Chai.

Great for team meetings as well, you can find a spot inside or outside (I recommend outside) but don’t forget your charger, plugs are hard to find.

#2 Mozart

3825 Lake Austin Blvd

This is an Austin classic. Just on the river and with an ample collection of desserts and gelato you could be here all day! Personally I always go for the ColdBrew. It’s a great place to hold team meetings in great part for its relaxed environment, great views and the fact that you can always find a table.

#3 FlightPath Coffeehouse

5011 Duval St, Austin, TX 78751

Hidden away in the middle of Hyde Park, Flightpath is ideal for individual work sessions. Plenty of tables and plugs can be found throughout the place. You might not even need to bring your headphones, people here are quiet and productive. They have an excellent cold brew but are open to whipping up any time of coffee based drink you desire.

#4 Houndstooth Cafe

 401 Congress Ave

Ever have one of those days where you have so much to get done but you’re still asleep and can’t seem to get up? You need to head over to Houndstooth. A little on the pricey side but as long as you’re not picky about where to sit after having one of their specialized coffees you’ll be ready to tackle your to do list.

#5 MEDICI 

This is one of MSTC’s best kept secrets, I’ll let you figure that one out for yourselves.

SXSW McCombs Entrepreneurship Night Recap

In case you missed it the Texas MSTC program cohosted the annual SXSW McCombs Entrepreneurship night where successful McCombs entrepreneurs from the Texas MSTC Program showcased their startups. It was a great time to reconnect with old friends, make some new ones and check out all the cool things alumni and classmates have been up to. Meet the exceptional Texas MSTC startups that we showcased this SXSW:

Fishviews this startup creates 360-degree HD waterway maps of rivers, coasts and shores that can be delivered to desktop, mobile or VR devices. In other words, it’s similar to Google Street View, except watching a video feels like you’re heading down a river.

Mednoxa is an early stage medical device company bringing effective and affordable oxygen generation and delivery bandages to consumers to accelerate the healing process, reduce pain, and reduce scarring. They are now finalizing a minimum viable product in preparation for production.

Alafair Biosciences is an emerging medical device company developing a novel suite of products based on a non-cell adhesive hydrogel technology that protects and manages advanced wound healing. They just received FDA 510K clearance for VersaWrap™ Tendon Protector in 2016.

Gitty  is simplifying tech recruiting using AI.  Their mobile-first sourcing tool designed to uncover superstars of the software engineering world and is used by recruiters at Fortune 100 companies including Google, Facebook, Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital and more.

Apptronik offers robotic engineering services as well products that are a result of their innovation. Now anybody from hobbyists to advanced researchers can use the same components used in leading robotic programs.

Texas Free Market Surgery are bundling together all the elements of surgery into one coherent platform and an upfront all-inclusive price making surgery simpler and less costly for patients, purchasers and healthcare providers.

She Started It: A Documentary on Women Tech Founders

By Sheena Moore/UTexas MSTC ‘17

The facts are alarming at the start of She Started It, a documentary film empowering the next generation of women founders. Women create only 3% of tech startups; receive less than 10% of venture capital funding, and run only 4% of Fortune 500 companies. The film highlights five women: Thuy Truong (Vietnam); Stacey Ferreira (Phoenix/LA); Sheena Allen (Mississippi); Brienne Ghafourifar (Palo Alto); and Agathe Molinar (France). However, it’s Thuy and Stacey that the camera follows for over a year, as they attempt to bring their technologies to the market.

Thuy is CEO of GreenGar, a real-time whiteboard: collaborative drawing app. With over 12 million downloads, her technology shows creativity, innovation, and successful user experiences. However, Thuy faces a challenge that many of us don’t think consider. A language barrier. Selected to participate in the 500 Startups, Truy and her team struggle through the pitch competition, not because they lack a problem to solve, or because they didn’t know their financial projections, Truy struggles with the inflection of her voice when she pitches her idea. Afterwards, other participants comment that she was a bit loud or they were unsure of the messages wanted to convey. Although not her fault, Thuy’s tone just didn’t set the right message for investors. As a result, Truy’s company GreenGar, did not receive additional funding from investors and she goes back to Vietnam to start all over again with a new technology company.

Stacey Ferreira started her first startup, MySocialCloud with her brother after graduating from high school. After being acquired for an undisclosed amount, Stacey ventures out to start her own tech company, Admoar. Packed with a list of over 100 potential investors and companies, viewers watch tirelessly as Stacey pitches her idea over and over again. Each time, you notice a look of defeat as she exhausts every contact on her list. After she has contacted several investors, she realizes that maybe her struggles have to do with her being a female. At one point during the process, she says, “I wonder if my brother was fundraising if we would have the money already?” Unsure of what her next steps should be, Stacey appeases her parents and returns to school to work towards a college degree in business.  Stacey goes to school full-time and continues to pursue her dreams to start a tech company on the side.

She Started It explores what is it’s like to be told “no” multiple times, gender bias that tech world, and the importance of having women mentors. It’s refreshing to see a film that celebrates the voices and technology of women. Although, the women struggle, they push through and remain determine to see their technologies change the lives of others. For more information on the film go to: http://www.shestarteditfilm.com/

Sheena Moore is a MSTC (Master of Science in Technology Commercialization) student at The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business.

 

The Golden Age of Technology

By Maricarmen Senosiain MBI ‘16/UTexas MSTC ‘17

As we enter our final semester of the MSTC program, I’ve started to count down the days to graduation. This past year has been a blur with so much wisdom imparted not just by the MSTC faculty but from my classmates and alumni as well.  As a wise man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Well this week I took a moment to attend one of the MSTC sponsored events and had the opportunity to meet Brett Hurt, founder of Bazaarvoice. It wasn’t long ago that he was a commencement speaker for the Class of 2015, since then life has moved really fast and he’s started a new venture Data.World, a social network for data people.  I went back to  some past posts to search for the speech he gave to the Class of 2015 and I thought I’d share it again.

“From a long-time Austinite and a fellow Longhorn, I would like to start us off with a big, friendly, Texan “HOWDY YA’LL!”. Can I also get all of you to do a “HOOK ‘EM, HORNS!” with me?! 1, 2, 3… “HOOK ‘EM, HORNS!!”

It is an honor and pleasure to be here with you today, on what will be one of the days you remember best in your hopefully very long and prosperous lives. I want to sincerely thank Dean Gilligan and Director and Dr. Cadenhead and all of the McCombs staff for inviting me to be here with you today. I hope to inspire you and also give you some tips for being prosperous – both personally and professionally – in the years to come. Because both are equally important.

I want to start with a bold statement. This is the most exciting time in the history of the world for you to graduate with this degree. Let me repeat that – this is the most exciting time in the history of the world to graduate with this specific degree, your Masters of Science in Technology Commercialization.

This, my friends, is because we are in what I call the new Golden Age of Technology – and this is very different than the infamous Dot-Com Boom and Bust of the late 90s. This time in history will be remembered as the professionalism – indeed the professionalism of the world’s most advanced technology commercialization – in the history of the world. And here you are – lucky you – on your graduation day from one of the most prestigious institutions in the world – with the tools, degree, and network to capitalize on it.

But yet it doesn’t always seem like such an exciting time, does it? We are bombarded by a 24/7-cable news cycle, which amplifies the worst of our 7.3 billion people in the world. As I tell my friends, there is bound to be something bad going on somewhere in the world with that many people. But this ignores all of the good, doesn’t it? We sometimes romanticize periods like the Middle Ages – or maybe we used to before watching Games of Thrones – but I can assure you we wouldn’t want to live in those times if given the choice. My advice to you – embrace the good in the world, which by far outweighs the bad – lift up your spirit and feed your soul with all of the positivity out there to be found. And stop watching so much of the news. Read great books instead – a tremendous amount more thought was put into them; they capture the wisdom of the ages.

Yes, this is the time. Quality of life throughout the world has never been better. Possibility has never been higher. You are living in the new Golden Age of Technology and now the key question on this day – your graduation day – is, “What are you going to do about it?”

The invention of the Internet will surely go down in all of history as the most transformational invention in all of humanity. At least to date, that is. Because we are just beginning. Because now the professionals are moving in to capitalize on the world’s grandest challenges. A shortage of water. A shortage of food. A shortage of energy. A shortage of education. A shortage of medicine. A shortage of land. And so on. And as I look around, all I see are possibilities – and what the world needs is more people to believe in themselves and each other to grab a hold of these challenges and solve them through grit and innovation.

You may think I’m a blind optimist. How can Uber be worth $40 billion? How can SnapChat be worth $15 billion? How can Facebook be worth $226 billion? And buy WhatsApp for $19 billion? How can Alibaba – a Chinese company – be worth $232 billion, more than Amazon and almost as much as Wal-Mart? These companies are all so young – aren’t they overvalued? Didn’t we live through this during the Dot-Com Boom and Bust? Haven’t we learned our lesson?! The answer is easier than you may think. It is because of the combinatorial technologies that are available to be snapped together today combined with the largest and most efficient network invented in history (something that we can partially thank our own Bob Metcalfe here at the University for).

And I would propose to you that we are getting smarter about leveraging these combinatorial technologies and network effects than ever before. We are becoming better at commercializing. SnapChat can be worth $15 billion because of what has happened with Facebook. Facebook can be worth $226 billion because of what has happened with Google. In short, the Internet and its derivatives are becoming professionalized. And with your degree you are exactly the type of person who is best positioned to advance that professionalism.

Computers are making everything faster. All of us carry around a supercomputer in our pocket. We have the ability to tap into the cloud for an unlimited amount of computing power at a minuscule fraction of the cost just a decade ago. Consider that when Brant Barton and I started Bazaarvoice – just 10 years ago – there was no iPhone, no Android, no open Facebook (it was closed to the public), no Twitter, no Uber, no Pinterest, no SnapChat, and so on. That was Just. 10. Years. Ago. When I started Coremetrics, we spent over $15 million on our initial infrastructure – in our own (would you believe it) data center. Today, it would cost us nothing for the first few months because I can get a credit from Amazon or Google for free, and I bet it wouldn’t cost any more than a few hundred thousand dollars in the first year.

Yes, my friends – now is the time. This is the new Golden Age of Technology.

But it isn’t just limited to the Internet. There are major advances being made in artificial intelligence, robotics, personalized medicine, 3D printing, biotechnology, nanotechnology, virtual reality, and so much more. Everywhere you look – if you look hard enough – you’ll find major advances being made. It would be fair to say that the Internet has made this acceleration possible. But it would also be fair to say that advances are being made in the most archaic of industries. These industries are becoming more professionalized – yes, that word again – and more innovative than ever before. These industries are also being disrupted at a faster pace – and that includes industries like this fine University – than ever before.

One of the great ironies of this time – at least to me – is that California is close to running out of water. And Dean Gilligan chooses to return to California. But that is a very cool job, Dean. Yet Silicon Valley is the more innovative it has ever been. Why is this ironic to me? Well, the answer lies just to the east – in Israel. Israel recycles around 75% of its water. It is completely sustainable when it comes to water. But yet it is in a desert. How is this possible? Through innovation. Through the necessity to believe in each other and to invest in solving the grandest challenges. California’s answer is actually easier than you may think. It is a subject near and dear to your heart. It is… Technology… Commercialization. In all seriousness, all California has to do is commercialize on the technology that the Israelis have already developed.

And there are opportunities like this for all of you … everywhere.

I challenge all of you to focus on solving some of the world’s grandest challenges through technology commercialization. Read books like Abundance and The Second Machine Age and think deeply about them. There are literally hundreds of thousands of good business ideas in Abundance [note, not part of the speech: my summary]. And The Second Machine Age [note, not part of the speech: my summary] will give you a balanced view of the rapid innovation occurring in this new Golden Age of Technology and how it could shape society for both better and worse. I choose to focus on “for the better”.

I have a few tips for you as you embark on this challenge.

First, always live within your means. Even though I guess you would say I’m financially successful now, that wasn’t always the case. The life of an entrepreneur is not always filled with riches. After earning my Masters, I remember my fellow graduates buying homes and cars while I was earning nothing. I graduated from my Masters in 1999. I bought my first home – and it was a modest one – when I was 32-years old. I drove modest cars back then too. There is an old saying that you will always feel rich if you live within your means. I would add to this that you will always be able to pursue your dreams if you live within your means. The bottom line is that living within your means gives you the financial optionality to pursue your dreams. The best career decision I ever made was starting Bazaarvoice. But it was only because I lived within my means during my Coremetrics years that I was able to do so.

Second, always take the time to reflect on what you’ve learned and where you’re going. I took four to six weeks of vacation time each year at Bazaarvoice. It was considered unusual but it was so worth it – it was my most important space for deep reflection. During the time I was CEO, I can tell you that during this time I made the most pivotal decisions for the company. This included whether or not to keep some executives or to hire others. This included some of our biggest strategy shifts and opportunity identification. This included some of the most important cultural ideas and my recommitment to those already in place. In short, if you don’t take the time to reflect then life – and your company – have a way of running away from you. Grab life and sieze the day. Give yourself some space to do so. Don’t become a part of the hamster wheel that spirals out of control to no clear destination.

Third, don’t ever forget your family. When I started Bazaarvoice, there was something very new in my life, after eight years of an incredible marriage. That something new is here with me today – it is our precious daughter. I was very fortunate to have parents who believed in me – and who were there for my most important moments in life. I have my dear mom (rest in peace) to thank for buying me my first computer at age 7 – and learning how to program alongside me in 1979. And her to thank for keeping everyone out of my way so that I could program for around 40 hours a week from age 7 to 21. She realized I had found my passion and she knew the importance of that. My parents were there for me and I vowed to be there for our daughter, and later our son (who is now five-years old), and my wife, who I’m about to celebrate 19 years of marriage with. If you study the regrets that people have when they are on their deathbeds, the number one is that they missed their children’s best years or they didn’t spend enough time with their spouse. One of the most inspirational people in Austin that I know is Michael Dell. And I can tell you with certainty that he has not only won so big in business – he has in family as well. In short, you’ll always feel stressed and you’ll always have excuses not to spend with family. But only you can make that choice – and it really is a choice. Michael proves that you can be incredibly successful in all areas of life. If he can do it while building a Fortune-50 company, you can too.

Fourth, and finally, nourish your soul. If you find one day that you aren’t passionate about the cause your company is pursuing then you should stop pursuing it. Or if you are considering taking that job or starting that company just for the money, don’t do it! Meaning in your work is incredibly important to the nourishment of your soul. ReadMan’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, for more – it is one of the most important books that any human being should read and internalize. If you find one day that you aren’t giving back – whether that is to your community or through your company – then start doing so. As I look back on my proudest moments at Bazaarvoice, it was the establishment of the Bazaarvoice Foundation which is one of the most important to me. Yes, companies have souls that need nourishment as well – and your own soul will be nourished in the process. And it is the fact that now 23 companies have been founded by former Bazaarvoice employees that feeds my soul. The generosity of spirit in the people of Bazaarvoice was – and is – constantly inspirational to me. Generosity even became one of our seven core values. And finally, don’t forget your health. My grandfather, who grew up during the Great Depression as the oldest child of five with a father who deserted the family, always told me the importance of money. But he told me that there was one thing that was more important than family or money. And that was – your health. Because if you don’t have your health then you can’t do anything else. You can’t enjoy your family, you can’t enjoy your career, and you can’t enjoy your money. So remember to take care of you. The inner journey is every bit as important as the outer journey.

My sincerest congratulations to all of you. I wish you much success – both personally and professionally, although now you see that the two are actually the same. You are very lucky to be in the position you are in today. You are living in the most transformational time in the history of the world and you have the ultimate degree to capture the opportunities at hand. I would like to close with one of my favorite quotes from the man himself, Theodore Roosevelt. He spoke these words in 1910 while in Paris and it is about the man – or woman – in the arena.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Congratulations again, and thank you very much for this honor on this most special of days in your lives!”

You can find the original post and more here in Brett Hurt’s official blog.

 

 

How the MSTC works with your MBA

By Rod Lee CSU MBA ‘13/UTexas MSTC ‘17

I know a lot of people have considered the MSTC program, but have asked the question: “Why do I need this business degree if I already have a MBA?” Well, since we are past the halfway point in the program, I can now make an honest depiction of my MBA experience, my MSTC (to this point), and how they can complement one another. I started my MBA a year after I finished my bachelor’s degree, while still serving in the Air Force with the intent of learning business practices to start my own venture. However, what I learned was how to go about doing business in a variety of climates and in fully-functioning corporations. I learned a lot about global economies/markets, business law, operating a business, etc.

In the MSTC program we’ve learned how to go out and gauge technology value and whether or not it has a feasible business opportunity. That is something that I don’t think many get the opportunity to learn or even knew existed if they do not come from this world. My eyes were opened to a new way of becoming an entrepreneur. I always thought I would have to create something new and innovative or an improved version of something popular. While that is a portion of the MSTC, the first thing we learn about is true tech commercialization and how to make money off of others’ ideas (which sounds a lot easier than it is). From the ‘Quicklooks’ process, to building a marketing plan, to new venture creation…I feel like I’ve learned so much pertinent information that can be used in my current job as well as venturing off on my own. My MBA gave me a lot of insight and ideas of how run my business, while I feel the MSTC gave more background on how to get to that point.

Now I am not saying one is dependent upon the other or that it is necessary to have both. I am just stating that they both have takeaways that complement the other, especially if a new venture is what you are looking to pursue. I’m not sure that there is an order in which you should do them if you decide to pursue both, that really depends on your entrepreneurial spirit I guess. I know that I feel my order has worked best for me. My MBA has helped me advance quickly through my industry in the last three years, from product line rep to a Sr. Product Line Manager. Now that I have my experience, I feel that the MSTC will assist me in going out and starting a business with confidence.

My MBA colleagues ask me about the MSTC program and why I would go towards another Master’s program rather than pursuing a doctorate. I give them a tidbit of information and they are instantly drawn to wanting to apply or at least attend an info session. Many of my associates have shown interest in the MSTC now more than before. I really feel like the MBA/MSTC combo gives me an all-encompassing view of the business world and how these huge corporations that started in garages came to be. My friend and I were talking intensely about the UT EMBA program that is taught in Dallas down the street from our old office, since it was conveniently located and I felt a better in with the McCombs name to it compared to my previous MBA. After being in the MSTC program a week, I knew I was in the right place and that the 195 mile drive down to Austin would be well worth it. HOOK ‘EM!

_________________________________________________________

Rod Lee is a graduate of the MSTC Class of 2017. He is an accomplished Product Manager, with proven leadership and supervisory skills in the operations, flight line, and back shop environments. He is currently managing parts procurement, trading, sales and people in numerous capacities.

SmartCities: Economic Development with Innovation

The following is an excerpt from a Mexican National Journal written by a Javier Cabrero an MSTC Alumni. You can find the full report here

SmartCities: Economic Development with Innovation

Javier Salvador Cabrero

The present study constitutes a Personal Application Project (PAP) designed as an
economic development plan based on entrepreneurship for the municipality of San Luis Potosí. This plan was developed using the experience acquired in the GeT-In program in Germany to propose a model that consists of two phases:

1) Diagnosis,

2) Implementation.

Its importance lies in laying the foundations  to make San Luis Potosí an intelligent entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Initially, an analysis of the economic and social needs of the metropolis is proposed, to generate a support system for entrepreneurs and local Potosina companies, and with that guarantee the incorporation of innovation processes and commercialization of the products and services that are offered in regional and international markets.

What benefits does the project generate? Positive and measurable economic and social impacts are expected for the people of San Luis Potosí, such as: reducing the unemployment rate, reducing talent leaks and promoting San Luis internationally as a fruitful destination for innovation and business development.  

Objective of the Personal Application Project (PAP)

The present personal application project (PAP) was created within the framework of the Professionalization of Transfer and Innovation Managers (GeT-In) program. It consists of an economic development plan based on entrepreneurship, for San Luis Potosí and some neighboring municipalities.

The main objective of the Municipal Economic Development Plan is to achieve the economic development of the city of San Luis Potosí through measurable impact both economically and socially, using the strategies of commercialization of science and technology perfected with the Contributions from the GeTIn program, which was verified in Germany.

The creation of this plan was requested by representatives of the Ministry of Development Office of San Luis Potosí to the Marketing Coordination of the Knowledge Transfer Office of the Potosino Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (IPICYT) in mid-2015.

Activities in the context of PAP

San Luis Potosí is a metropolis with little more than one million inhabitants, has conurbation zones, a very convenient geographical position in the center of Mexico, as well as a semi-desert climate.

In San Luis Potosí there are just over 54 thousand economic units. According to the National Statistical Directory of Economic Units (DENUE, 2016), economic units are understood to be commercial or physical persons in the area.  Of these, 35% are registered as economic units with 0 to 5 employees and dedicated to retail trade. The high concentration of microenterprises and entrepreneurs in San Luis Potosí is an indicator of the industrious activity in the area.

San Luis Potosi has important research centers. One of them, IPICYT, manages five lines of research focused on the exact sciences: molecular biology, environmental sciences, applied geosciences, applied mathematics, and advanced materials. It also has four national laboratories: The National Supercomputing Center (CNS), the National Laboratory of Agricultural, Medical and Environmental Biotechnology (Lanbama), and the National Laboratory of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research (Linan); As well as the new Research, Innovation and Development Center for the Dry Areas (CIIDZA), which recently opened at the end of last year. Today, more than 60% of IPICYT’s annual budget comes from own resources generated by the link with the companies.

On the one hand, the agents that make up the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Potosi are made up of business chambers, civil associations, Incubators, accelerators, universities and research centers; all driven by public policies and resources that have been operating together to promote innovation and economic development in San Luis Potosí for several decades. On the other hand, key pieces are lacking for the optimal functioning of the entrepreneurial ecosystem such resources such as investors, private capital groups, a greater culture of entrepreneurship and innovation and other sufficient specialized human resources to facilitate the process of innovation in companies and Potosino entrepreneurs.

In addition to the primary and secondary research acquired for the realization of the project, networks are also being created with companies, academia and industry experts to generate the best economic development strategies and policies that seek to follow the established guidelines for Smart cities. The work has required constant negotiations between the stakeholders and the work we did on the communication and networking issues during the GeT-In program have proven to be valuable tools for further development of the project as the it progresses to a standstill.

Thanks to the GeT-In program, we were able to meet again with Dr. Blanca García (The Northern Border College), an expert on knowledge society issues at the last Smart City Expo Puebla. We had the opportunity to exchange experiences and collaborate on the inclusion of San Luis Potosí in the K-City Benchmarking survey of the World Capital Institute.

…..Continued in Reporte CESOP No. 98 “Derechos Sociales en México”

The Winning Pitch: How Team Flipped Health Nailed the TVL Investment Competition

By Pitch Academy

We’re excited to announce that on February 5, 2015, our very own Flipped Health won the 2015 Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition!

Read on to find out what set Flipped Health’s pitch apart from the other teams to come out as champions with a $5,000 check…

On the 32nd anniversary of TVLIC, more than 20 startup companies pitched their business plans to a panel of some of the most notable venture capital investors and entrepreneurs in the industry, including partners from Austin Technology Incubator (ATI), Bunker Incubator, and PuraVida Ventures.

So, what set the winning team apart?

They told a story.

It was more than a presentation. It was an engaging story that followed a sequence. The most captivating stories always start off with a carefully crafted beginning – and this story was no exception!

Think you know what your beginning slide should look like? Think again. In order to reel the investors in, the very first slide began with the story of The Broken Vaccine Cold Chain. Contrast that title with the title of the original first slide they began with, The Dry Vaccine Process – does this get you excited about team Flipped Health and their solution?

This is the traditional beginning slide that most teams start off with, where the first words out of a speaker’s mouth are “Hello everyone, we are Team X…” effectively losing the audience, and likely, their chances at winning a chunk of cash.

But Flipped Health isn’t your average team, and neither is the solution they were trying to sell – after an overhaul by yours truly, the first slide in the deck started the story off with a bang:

We coached them to jump in with a relatable anecdote, emphasizing the “what is” to describe the current landscape with a personal example that all of the judges could identify with. After 30 gripping seconds, the speaker emphatically reinforced what the audience was now beginning to understand: “This is a scary and expensive problem.” After setting the baseline of “what is”, they moved on to describe “What could be” – their solution.

AriVax, a drug delivery platform that improves vaccine stability, reduces vaccine wastage, and enables delivery to emerging markets that can’t meet temperature-controlled supply chain (cold chain) requirements.

It was jargon-free.

One of the biggest mistakes made by high-tech teams is acting like they are presenting to other people who are deeply embedded in their respective industry – not investors who probably don’t know the first thing about vaccines and the issues surrounding the cold chain process. The visuals didn’t just get a makeover – the words did, too. Moral of the story? Lose the jargon, NOW.

They connected to the audience with a metaphor.

Here’s where the tried and true STAR method, comes in: drive a big idea home by giving the audience members Something They’ll Always Remember. We came up with a way to communicate the ease of the AriVax solution that shifted the momentum of the pitch and got a laugh from all of the investors… AriVax is easy as Kool-Aid!

Seamless transitions.

It may seem small, but every single speaker clearly announced topic shifts throughout the presentation. This served to make the overall pitch absolutely seamless.

By taking care to verbalize the movement to the next major part of the story, “I will now hand it off to Jason, who will explain the current need in the global market…”, Cheryl ensured that the judges would have no questions about where one topic began and ended.

Confident answers to every question.

With a total of 15-20 questions asked by investors, the presentation was comparable to an investigation. Investors probed into areas like cost breakdown, use case validation, alternative solutions to the one they were proposing, and valuation; at every turn, a team member was prepared with an analytical + emotive answer.

Straightforward slides.

We can’t stress how important it is to have clean, aesthetically appealing slides that communicate the key points – and only the key points. Flipped Health’s slides were strategically placed, easy to follow, and served to enhance the overall message.

All of the above strategies helped Flipped Health come out of the Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition with the 1st place spot, an automatic entry to Global TVLIC, a 1 year launch package at Austin Technology Incubator, and this giant check:

Congratulations again, Flipped Health!

The above points are some of the key aspects of Flipped Health’s pitch that propelled them to first place. We had a blast getting to coach this stellar team to success, and we hope the points we’ve described here will help you and your team achieve the results you want to see. Remember, it’s all about selling yourself AND your ideas, and you can count on us to keep you up-to-date with the latest communication insights and analysis on modern pitching strategies.

Find out how The Pitch Academy’s coaches can customize our innovative approach to get your ideas sold and your team funded – contact Melissa today!

Building a Winning Advisory Board for Your Startup (Part 2)

The following post is written by Garrett Eastham, Co-Founder of Edgecase and Chief Data Scientist.

Step 2: Leverage your advisors correctly and efficiently

Building your advisory board is only half that battle. Once you’ve put together the best set of individuals you can find, you need to learn how to leverage them effectively in order to get the most benefit for your business. For those who have worked within a board of directors dynamic, a key thing to remember is that your advisory board is less like a board and more like an extension of your executive offsites.

  • Schedule meetings far in advance: This is important! Your advisors are likely much, much busier than you – perhaps growing their own businesses to the next phase. Remember to work with their assistants weeks / months in advance so they don’t have to dread your “Can I get some feedback?” text message.
  • Bring them well-structured problems: A benefit of having specific types of advisors is that you can do a lot of work ahead of time to segment specific problems into key areas that your advisors can tackle independently. Not only will your advisors be more effective if you bring them clearly articulated problems and desired objectives to discuss, but you will also find benefit in working to put structure on your business issues as your organization grows.
  • Consider hosting an advisory board meeting: While I do not advise trying to restrict advisory board meetings to a strict schedule; it can be helpful on occasion to get several of your advisors together for a broader, cross-discipline discussion. They also might appreciate the chance to meet and network with the other thought leaders you’ve worked so diligently to assemble.

Step 3: Empower advisors to help you both win

Inherently, your advisors have relatively low incentive to dedicate time to you and your business’ problems. The hour they spend with you undoubtedly has a high opportunity cost as they forego customers issues, sales calls, or product brainstorms to help you break through the mental barrier. Thus, it is absolutely pivotal that you learn how to create incentives that make them excited to get to that hour you’ve scheduled together on a Friday afternoon.

  • Align their incentives with yours (financial and emotional): Aside from providing equity-based incentives (make sure you do proper contracts and everything), many entrepreneurs forget the emotional motivations that most advisors have for wanting to spend time with you. For many of your industry veterans who have already built successful businesses, they will never have the same early experiences building companies again as their networks will already be in place; however, they often love sharing in your emotional ride (think of them like grandparents who get to share in the joy of helping you raise your children). Remember to capitalize on this and make every email, meeting, or text full of energy and excitement – even if it’s not good news – because great entrepreneurs love rising to the occasion and want nothing more than to share in the excitement of overcoming challenges together.
  • Make it easy for advisors to connect you to their network: A lot of what you will ask your advisors for is often email introductions to people within their network on your behalf. While this can sometimes feel like asking for handouts, you can turn this around by thinking of ways to turn the introduction into a chance for your advisor to strengthen that particular connection as well. It doesn’t take more than a strategically crafted email and an understanding of your advisor’s own goals to allow them the chance to kick off an email correspondence with an old former client by introducing them to your business while also creating a new lead / opportunity for his own sales team.

It takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to build a great business; however, I think the old adage “it takes a village” seems more apt to describe the entrepreneurial process. As an entrepreneur, you will always be focused on building the right team around you, and that process can start from day one and zero employees by focusing on building the right advisor support team around your idea.

Building a Winning Advisory Board for Your Startup (Part 1)

The following post is written by Garrett Eastham, Co-Founder of Edgecase and Chief Data Scientist.

When I left my full-time job as a product manager at one of Austin’s fastest growing companies to pursue my life dream of building a successful enterprise marketing technology company, I knew next to nothing about how to go about doing such a thing. I had about twenty grand to my name and a personal runway of less than 10 months to figure it out. In less than a year, I had raised $3.5 million in venture backing, built a team of seasoned ecommerce executives, and signed on our company’s first IR100 client. None of it would have been possible if I hadn’t spent most of that year developing a winning advisory board.

As a new entrepreneur (especially if it is your first venture), the single highest leverage task you can perform with your time is identifying, pitching, and developing key advisors. An advisory board serves several purposes, however, all too often entrepreneurs treat them as names on slides and people to hit up for investor contacts when it’s time to fundraise. The best advisory boards – ones that are carefully crafted and honed – will function as an extension of your executive team (and if done correctly, one you probably could never afford at market rates).

A winning advisory board will serve multiple purposes. They will help you evolve both your business idea and your business model in ways you would have never imagined. They will introduce you to your first cohort of potential customers (who will close at a statistically above average rate). And they will help connect you to that rockstar engineer who otherwise wouldn’t even respond to your tweets. But for this to be possible you must build your advisory board wisely.

Step 1: Seek the right mix of advisors for your problem domain

One of the most common mistakes I see young entrepreneurs make is naively asking the first notable entrepreneurs who take their coffee meeting to join their advisory board. While these folks will most certainly be flattered, the best ones will advise that you first consider the particular skillset and make-up that you want at your table.

Above all, let your problem domain dictate the requirements for your advisory board. All lasting businesses solve real, tangible problems for customers, and much of what you accomplish from building a business comes from learning how to adjust to the needs of a particular market’s response to how you solve these problems. Once you identify the core problems you want to (someday) solve, focus on building a mix of types of advisors.

  • Industry Leaders / Veterans (Ideally Entrepreneurs): Some of your best advisors will be existing successful entrepreneurs within your target industry. At Edgecase, I have had the immense fortune of working with many of the early Bazaarvoice executives – including Brett Hurt, Sam Decker, Michael Osborne, and several others. As a young entrepreneur attempting to build a SaaS company selling to the enterprise ecommerce market, I could not have asked for a better set of minds to debate ideas with and learn the inside secrets from. If you’re concerned about whether a seasoned entrepreneur will take your call, just remember – aside from being boldly persistent – these types of people are typically personally invigorated to meet impassioned entrepreneurs as it can often remind them of their own personal experience in starting their businesses.
  • Technical Experts: Depending on your problem domain, it will likely be necessary to seek particular expertise when building your product or offering. As a business trying to solve a particular market problem, you will need to bring some new insight or IP that does not exist; therefore, you can get significant leverage by seeking out key product managers, designers, developers, or data scientists. You will likely not be able to afford them at the start (or possibly ever) and therefore, landing these types of people can help bring your product into a different competitive landscape. Great examples of this type of leverage are notable scientific advisory boards – like the one that has been built at Helix – where the difference between solving a market problem and successfully selling that solution depends on your ability to convince the market that you are technically capable of pulling it off.
  • Customers (Existing & Potential): Every business founder will engage with customers at some point – ideally every chance they get if they’re doing their job correctly. Adding customers to an advisory board is a great way to get honest feedback that might be held back otherwise in the traditional customer relationship. For those selling into the modern enterprise, it’s great to have high-profile potential customers on your side (such as a key executive for the top brand in in your industry); however, do not think that doing so guarantees that company as a client. In fact, you will most likely not have the big fish customers on board early on – it’s often just too risky for a large enterprise to trust their assets with an unproven enterprise, no matter how strong the executive champion. Don’t worry though, you’ll spend plenty of time courting and closing those big fish while trying to move from Series A to B.
  • Market Thought Leaders: Many entrepreneurs get so focused on customers or product development that they forget there are often extra-market factors that reside outside of that otherwise important interaction. Every industry – whether consumer, small business, or enterprise – has market thought leaders that its constituents respect: analysts, famous bloggers, celebrity Instagrammers, etc. While having these individuals on your advisory board does not guarantee you a place in the next Gartner Magic Quandrant, it can go a long way in showing providing an important 3rd party voice in customer / product interactions.
  • (Possibly) Investors: While it might seem like a straightforward benefit to have folks that could write you a check when the times comes on your advisory board, keep in mind that these individuals are already strapped for time running from one board meeting to another. Also, most investors are spread across different product categories and industries (typically because they invest in patterns of business models versus specific markets); therefore, their impact will not be as significant when you are in the formation phases of determining just how to win at a given market (read – finding product market fit). On the other hand, if part of your problem domain is to figure out how to apply a new business model to a legacy market problem (think Uber / Lyft on consumer transportation), it can be invaluable to find an investor that has a particular passion around certain kind of new / emerging business models – like on-demand, SaaS, PaaS, etc.

(Stay tuned next week for Building a Winning Advisory Board for Your Startup :Part 2)

Key Takeaways from the Texas MSTC Class of 2015

Just over a week ago, The University of Texas at Austin’s Master of Science in Technology Commercialization (MSTC) Program’s Class of 2015 walked across the stage to collect their diplomas from program director, Dr. Gary Cadenhead, and Dean Tom Gilligan of The McCombs School of Business.

Whether you ask our students, our faculty members, or our program staff, there is one answer that is identical across the board: MSTC is a whirlwind. Students start classes in early May, and just one year later they’re celebrating their completion of the program to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance”.

Throughout our one-year business master’s degree program, our students learn a lot: a lot about business, a lot about innovation, a lot about each other, and–to be just a bit trite–a lot about life. With that in mind, we asked a handful of the members of the Class of 2015 to share with us their biggest takeaways from the Texas MSTC Program. We hope you enjoy their advice as much as we do!

MikeTulkoff“It is hard to believe that one year ago, I was waking up on a Sunday morning after launch week and thinking about how much there was to do. Now I’m up on Sunday morning thinking about how much we all have done. The best part of this program is all of the interaction between the students as well as between students and the fantastic faculty. I have learned a lot from all of them both inside and outside of class.

My key takeaways from the program are; recognize a market pain, figure out how to ease it, plan, plan, plan, and be persuasive. Throughout this year we have learned quite a few processes, tools, and frameworks that will suit us well going forward.”

-Mike Tulkoff, Independent Technology Consultant

Karyl

“The MSTC program was tailored directly to my interests and within the team structure, we were able to hone those interests even further. I am now leagues more confident in my business knowledge and can speak about concepts both abstractly and tangibly with confidence. With the curriculum, classmates, faculty and the McCombs brand behind me, new opportunities have presented themselves, and I have been equipped to take advantage of them. Now I have a new job fusing technologies together to help other companies see their innovations to fruition in the market, and it is incredibly fulfilling. I think I appreciated my degree a thousand times more after talking through a product manufacturing flow a client on my first day at work and likewise as I help formulate the stories we will tell to market to prospective clients. It was a marathon of a year, but I am so glad I did it.”

-Karyl Fowler, Business Development Specialist, Novati Technologies

 

Jonathan Cartmill
“Reflecting on how I have changed over the past year, I recognize my presentation, oral and written communication skills have dramatically improved. I am a very outgoing individual and have no fear of public speaking but this program definitely expanded on my communication skills. I also notice I approach problems much differently than before. I have learned how to ask the right questions and how to think about challenges in ways that will help drive a positive outcome. The best part of the program, however, has been my classmates because they come from many walks of life and have different professional experiences that truly enriched my MSTC experience.”

-Jonathan Cartmill, Technical Sales Representative, National Instruments

 

RainyaMosher-HeadShot-BlackAndWhite“I did accomplish what I set out to do and have successfully transitioned from Engineering Management to Product Management. This program certainly helped me reposition my personal brand and make the transition far more easily than it otherwise would have been. The conversations I am able to have today regarding markets, pricing, and general “the idea is great, but will anyone pay for it?” (with accuracy, gusto, and confidence) would not have been possible a year ago. The network of my fellow MSTC Class of 2015 is the real gem, of course! I am thankful to have grown my network by 70 or so amazing people.”

-Rainya Mosher, Product Manager, Rackspace

 

Britt2“The Master of Science in Technology Commercialization (MSTC) program was a significant game-changer for me. I retired out of the Navy with a solid grounding in risk assessment, operations, and execution – both at the tactical and strategic level – but quickly realized I did not have the vocabulary and foundation that my civilian counterparts had regarding how the corporate side functions. The MSTC program was a perfect bridge to creating that foundation. The conversations, questions, and concepts that I partake in today would absolutely not have been possible without the focused, rigorous curriculum that The University of Texas McCombs School of Business assembled in the MSTC program. It is hard to believe the difference between how I approach problems now and how I approached problems on day #1 of the program.” 

-Britt Talbert, Senior Program Manager, GM

 

If you’re interested in learning more about the Texas MSTC Program, we invite you to explore our website and visit a class. We hope to see you on campus soon. Hook ’em!