A primary purpose of this blog is to communicate my experiences as I transition from a large company to a startup. Towards that end, I’d like to use this post to provide some updates on some things I’ve gotten involved in as well as some new opportunities that have arisen.
Mentoring
As I have previously written, I’ve applied as a mentor to several Boston-area incubator programs. My thinking is that this provides a great way to get more deeply exposed to the activities and challenges of startups, to meet other entrepreneurs and mentors, to get myself better known in the startup community, and of course, to help one or more startups achieve their goals.
So far I have been accepted as a mentor to one program (MIT Clean Energy Prize) and am waiting to hear from a few others. Tomorrow I am attending a kick-off dinner for the MIT Clean Energy Prize where I’ll meet the team to which I’ve been assigned.
Education
I am three-quarters of the way through the MIT Enterprise Forum’s Start Smart class. This is an eight-week class touching on startup basics such as positioning, recruiting, fundraising, pitching, etc. I’m finding much of the material familiar to me as it seems geared towards people with less business experience than me. However, I really like the format as each week’s class is taught by a different experienced entrepreneur. Even though most of the concepts they present is familiar to me, hearing about them through these entrepreneurs’ experiences is something I am finding very educational. In addition, there is always a long Q&A session after each entrepreneur’s talk which invariably strays into a wide range of startup topics. Having an experienced entrepreneur do this each week is a great, unique resource. All in all, I’m glad I signed up for this class.
One Old Opportunity
A recruiter contacted me six weeks ago with a very interesting senior position at a Texas semiconductor startup. I had noted this earlier but had not written about it since. I won’t go into further detail other than to note that nothing came of this. As is typical in these recruiter situations there was no feedback as the recruiter moved on to other candidates he or the hiring person must have judged more suitable.
Some New Opportunities
I’ve suddenly been contacted in recent days regarding three separate, potential opportunities. This week I’ve had meetings to learn more about them. The first two are unlikely to be what I am looking for but the third I am finding very interesting:
- A software startup: an ex-colleague recommended me to a friend who is CEO of a company developing a tool to create animations for PCs, mobile devices, and the web. This person is seeking business help to obtain funding, develop the strategy, and grow the business. While I did find his vision interesting, the technology and market are far outside my set of experiences. I will be meeting this person again but my immediate reaction is that this is not the right opportunity for me.
- A small semiconductor supply company: another ex-colleague recommended me to a friend who is a long-time equipment supplier to semiconductor wafer fabs. This person, in turn, has a friend who is seeking someone to run his materials supply company and thought I might be suitable. This also, is not likely the right opportunity for me as it appears to lack the technology development element that I am seeking. Nevertheless, I will consider this further before finalizing my views.
- A building power efficiency startup: the founder of this company contacted me yesterday via LinkedIn as he thought my background would be helpful to his company. The company has an energy efficiency solution that I found very compelling. It involves both hardware and software and is closely related to the work I had been doing at Analog Devices. I am currently reviewing materials this person sent me and will be speaking with him again next week.
That’s it for now. I hope the above provides some flavor as to what I’ve got going on beyond networking. It seems like every day brings some kind of unexpected development be it a new avenue to explore, a new person to meet, or a new opportunity to consider. The days are flying by and are full of interesting encounters and thought-provoking possibilities. I am enjoying the entire experience.