Recently I was asked about my background, and what I had worked on- what the common theme had been across the many companies that I had been involved with.  My answer, that I ended up presenting in a power point slide as part of a longer response to the questions that had been asked was entrepreneurship, specifically focused on disruptive innovation.  That is, technologies, that when applied correctly, create a disruption in the market.  It seems, based on this graph, that that is what my whole career has been about- across a number of startup companies.

Here is a copy of that graph:

As you can see, I have been involved with a number of career changing, market different technologies… the reason that I present this is not to necessarily say something about my background as much as a recognition of what the market is continuing to embrace- constant change and chaos, over and over.

The disruptions that I have gotten to participate with:

1.  OOP- object oriented programming… What makes the programing languages of Java, Python, and Ruby so  valuable to software developers today?  Two things- first being able to run software written in these languages on a number of platforms.  Secondly, these languages are “object oriented” meaning that they support rapid assembly and high quality software development.

2.  Internet- I was using the internet for my work all the way back to 1989, and programming the internet by 1993, an artifact of working for NeXT Computer (now a part of Apple).

3.  eCommerce- a year before Business Week had written a front page article asking “Is eCommerce a passing fad” (in 1997) I had already built eCommerce engines for companies the likes of Dell Computer Corporation.

4.  Affective Computing- imagine computers that can read emotion.  Back in 2001, there were very few people thinking about how computers could read emotions of their users, and how this could be applied to business (imagine support reps at companies that learned how to be friendlier as they solved problems for us).  The MIT Media Lab was doing some of the coolest stuff in this area, as well as Carnegie Mellon University.  I was pulling technologies from CMU and the University of Texas to solve some of these problems in helping support and sales reps be more emotionally intelligent.

5. Linux as appliance. The operating system Linux, designed and programmed by thousands of developers around the world is one of the most disruptive technologies that the world has seen… why?  Because it allows entrepreneurs to experiment at multiple levels in building products for the world.  I specifically was a part of a startup that was using Linux to build VPNs and firewalls.

6.  Smartmobs.  What I am presently doing in my startup Enterprise Teaming  and in Bootstrap Austin (a group of 600+ Austin based bootstrapping entrepreneurs) is exploring on how mass collaboration can be used to unleash innovation across the enterprise (whether that is one corporation, or a number of loosely connected entrepreneurial startups).

What I will endevor to do in the coming days, weeks, and months is to illustrate the coming disruptions that I see on the horizon… especially with reguard to the massive opportunity of working together building companies (and social entrepreneurship organizations) at a scale that the world has never seen before.

A recent article that I was reading from Verne Harnish had me thinking as well of a conversation that I recently had with Ed Perry… about finding one’s calling, not just one’s mission.  First the quote from Verne:

The power of purpose — George Lucas, Film Director and Producer — “You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don’t have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle.” I love this quote. What jazzes me is finding the best, most practical, resources for growth firms.

Ed shared the following idea as well, in a related way, about how we, especially as entrepreneurs are on a path to find our calling… or as Verne has called it, our purpose.  Ed shared with me the following graph, that I believe that was originally sourced from the Kellog School of Management.

The idea here is that we all start early in our work history with jobs.  For me, this might have been back in high school, although I was fortunate to quickly have a chance (while in college) to work for Southwest Research, IBM, Motorola.  We quickly proceed to earning cash, and start working on a “career”- perhaps in a field that is financially rewarding, but not inherently aligned with our internal purpose or meaning.  And then at some point, some of us have the courage to wake up, realize where we are at, and start working on our mission…. it is only for the ones that continue to apply themselves that find their true calling, where our true work and financial rewards are aligned.  It was great to see this, as I remember the years of being a financially successful consultant, to set out and find my life’s true calling, step off into the uknown, find myself squarely in my mission (missing the financial rewards of consulting) and slowly, but surely finding and creating my true calling.  Best of luck and patience in creating yours as well. 

technorati tags:motivation, meaning

This quote from Edison just came to me… and is a good reminder for all of us as entrepreneurs to keep the faith:

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ~ Thomas A. Edison

Keep the faith.  Get the right people involved.  Ask the right questions…  Success is always close by.

I recently received a link to the following article on “What makes entrepreneurs entrepreneurial?”.  This is a great paper- with at the author Saras D. Sarasvathy‘s analysis of two types of reasoning- causual reasoning and effectual reasoning.  Causual reasoning is what I would call more traditional “MBA” reasoning… that is, a given, specific goal is targeted within a given set of means to achiving the goal. Effectual reasoning imagines a number of possible goals, given the available means, allowing for a selection of the right goal given the means available.  Or in the words that some of my clients and friends will recognize, Casual reasoning is convergent, effectual reason is divergent (analysis versus synthesis)… Metaphorically speaking causual reasoning is about being a settler, while effectual reasoning is about being an explorer.  What makes this particular version of this article interesting is that it is hosted at Khosla Ventures’ website… and the commentary that is handwritten on the article gives the original article much more depth in contrasting the view of the author’s academic focus with the commentor’s entrepreneurial focus.  All in all, this is a great article discussing the distinction between the two reasoning styles.  Data for the basis of this article was taken from 27 different entrepreneurial firms, all that had been grown and run to the tune of $200 Million to $6.5 Billion.

What is important to think about when reading this article is how you are approaching your venture, especially with regard to what stage your venture is in.  Neither method of reasoning is “more right”… and both must be employed in getting a venture off the ground and successful.

Over the holidays I found out that my friend B.J. “Billy” Stanberry has been busy with his solar power startup, called HelioVolt.  Billy has come up with a new way to both increase the output of solar cells, as well as a method for making it very easy to apply / install / almost “paint” the solar cells onto a target building (or surface)… and due to the innovative nature of his process, he is being recognized for it…  TIME Best Inventions 2006″>Time has awarded him one of the “Best Inventions 2006”, and the Wall Street Journal has awarded him two Wall Street Journal Innovation Honors.  Congratulations Billy!  More than just adding new solar products to the marketplace, Billy is changing the dynamics of what is possible with solar power.