Day 5: Gone Swimming
Today we basically got to shut down a small company so they could talk to us, so that was pretty cool. I also went swimming. That seemed link a tenuous enough connection to title the blog.
Meeting a start-up
We started out the day by walking over to SURF Incubator, the offices that rent out space to several startups in Seattle, in order to meet with Brad's friend John Herlocker. He left a cushy job at VMware, a company that makes virtual machine software, in order to start up Tignis. I'm still not entirely clear on what they're doing (though that may be deliberate), but in general, they offer software assistance so that vendors can watch their machines to ensure that they're getting adequate performance from them. An interesting idea, for sure. When I say we shut down the company for the morning, we actually came pretty close. There are currently six employees at Tignis, and we got to meet with four of them throughout the morning. Pretty cool to say we demanded over half of a company's resources for a time.
After lunch, we headed over to Pike Place market, since Erik and Tyler hadn't had a chance to go during the day. We walked around the market, trying samples, and we made a visit to the gum wall on one of the lower levels. We all felt a strange mix of interest and disgust at the sight. That being said, we all added our piece to the wall. Bonus points if you can clone one of us.
Talking books
As part of the course, we are all reading a book on entrepreneurship and at some point will lead a discussion on the topics of the book. Erik lead his this afternoon on The One Minute Entrepreneur by Don Hutson, Ethan Willis, and Kenneth H. Blanchard. The book follows a fictionalized, parable-like, account of the founding of a business and the hills and valleys that go along with that. An interesting note at the end of the book is the list of the top twenty traits of successful entrepreneurs. Eric had us all pick out a couple that really spoke to us. Having talks on my mind from the past few days, mine were "curious" and "determination." Curiosity is so important in life, in my opinion. If you aren't investigating and learning about new and interesting things, you're wasting time. It doesn't have to be strictly academic learning either. Just diving into a new hobby and learning what there is to know about that is also being curious. Determination is pretty obvious, I think. Any computer science major needs to be determined in order to keep banging our head into the wall to make our code work.
An easy night
It's been a long week. I didn't guess that meeting so many new people and walking all over downtown Seattle would be this exhausting. By the time we got done with Erik's book talk, we were all pretty done for the night. Erik, Jacob, and myself decided to head back over to the Belltown Pub for a light dinner (since we were all still full from lunch). I had fried mac and cheese balls, which were the perfect comfort food for the moment, and light enough that I didn't feel terrible after eating them. Erik and I decided to hit the pool (after waiting our requisite hour), and came back refreshed, but even more tired. Hence why this blog post is a little late. Oops.
Tomorrow is a free day, so we'll see what I end up doing. I'm thinking about going to the EMP (the Experience Music Project), a pop culture museum in the downtown area. Whatever happens, it should be a fun day!
Meeting a start-up
It's definitely day 5, not day 4. Oops
We started out the day by walking over to SURF Incubator, the offices that rent out space to several startups in Seattle, in order to meet with Brad's friend John Herlocker. He left a cushy job at VMware, a company that makes virtual machine software, in order to start up Tignis. I'm still not entirely clear on what they're doing (though that may be deliberate), but in general, they offer software assistance so that vendors can watch their machines to ensure that they're getting adequate performance from them. An interesting idea, for sure. When I say we shut down the company for the morning, we actually came pretty close. There are currently six employees at Tignis, and we got to meet with four of them throughout the morning. Pretty cool to say we demanded over half of a company's resources for a time.
"All right, act like you're in a board meeting"
We got an interesting perspective from John that we haven't really been able to see yet on this trip--that of a CEO in the very early days of his company. As he admitted, they don't even have a business plan yet. He was able to give us interesting insights into the world of trying to fund a startup company, as well as teaching us about the variety of routes there are for funding. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea how a startup would actually get money. I just assumed it would be personal investment and starting to sell a product. That or loans from the bank. Turns out that there's also the possibility of getting venture capital funding, "angel" investors who invest personal money in other companies, government grants, and convertible notes. The more you know.
Working at a startup
We also got to talk to three software developers at Tignis--Brady, Alex, and Charlotte. With incredibly different experiences, it was interesting to hear what incentivised them to work at a new startup. Having worked at a larger company this past summer, I know the feeling of being able to change some things, but having to work within a larger framework. On the other hand, Brady, Alex, and Charlotte all mentioned that they were able to have a real impact and to decide where things were going and how they were being done. However, that kind of freedom doesn't come without drawbacks. They all mentioned the difficulties of not having a real support net if things fail, and the importance of recognising when to ask for help. That's definitely something that's been coming up a lot in the past couple of days. And in another Amazon-style, "have backbone," moment, their last advice for us was to make decisions, but always be able to justify them. It makes defending them a lot easier.
Out to lunch
Who is Tat? I'm not sure.
After our meeting at Tignis, we broke off to find lunch and walk around until we met up again later. A small group of us headed over to Tat's Deli, on a recommendation from John.
Yum
It's a small, hole-in-the-wall type place that happens to serve amazing sandwiches and subs. I got the New Yorker, which is pastrami and corned beef with swiss and spicy mustard on rye. It was large enough that it kept me full for the rest of the day, so be warned if you head there.
The gum wall at Pike Place. A mix of interest and disgust.
Talking books
As part of the course, we are all reading a book on entrepreneurship and at some point will lead a discussion on the topics of the book. Erik lead his this afternoon on The One Minute Entrepreneur by Don Hutson, Ethan Willis, and Kenneth H. Blanchard. The book follows a fictionalized, parable-like, account of the founding of a business and the hills and valleys that go along with that. An interesting note at the end of the book is the list of the top twenty traits of successful entrepreneurs. Eric had us all pick out a couple that really spoke to us. Having talks on my mind from the past few days, mine were "curious" and "determination." Curiosity is so important in life, in my opinion. If you aren't investigating and learning about new and interesting things, you're wasting time. It doesn't have to be strictly academic learning either. Just diving into a new hobby and learning what there is to know about that is also being curious. Determination is pretty obvious, I think. Any computer science major needs to be determined in order to keep banging our head into the wall to make our code work.
An easy night
It's been a long week. I didn't guess that meeting so many new people and walking all over downtown Seattle would be this exhausting. By the time we got done with Erik's book talk, we were all pretty done for the night. Erik, Jacob, and myself decided to head back over to the Belltown Pub for a light dinner (since we were all still full from lunch). I had fried mac and cheese balls, which were the perfect comfort food for the moment, and light enough that I didn't feel terrible after eating them. Erik and I decided to hit the pool (after waiting our requisite hour), and came back refreshed, but even more tired. Hence why this blog post is a little late. Oops.
Tomorrow is a free day, so we'll see what I end up doing. I'm thinking about going to the EMP (the Experience Music Project), a pop culture museum in the downtown area. Whatever happens, it should be a fun day!
Comments
Post a Comment