Day One

LS9

We started out our tour of "The Valley" with a trip to LS9, a biotechnology firm which specializes in producing a renewable petroleum fuel as diesel. LS9 is based in the South San Francisco area, about a 45 minute drive from our hotel.

At the office/laboratory we learned a lot about the companies vision and the process of acquiring funds to get your ideas further off the ground. Similar to many other great companies, their idea started with two guys in a garage (which I think is where I should start my business, there appears to be a trend). It is not currently a profitable business but has millions of dollars in funding from venture capitalists. Above all, we learned about the process many entrepreneurs in the valley go through to turn their visions into reality through funding, raising capital and branding. We talked about the risks you must take and how you have to be able to look past the risk, but know when it is too much. We also talked about being able to present your ideas and keeping your focus on your purpose.

I found all of the topics we covered very interesting and it was helpful to have a scientific background because I was actually able to understand how the process of turning sugar cane into bio fuel works. Aside from my feelings about "green" alternative fuels, the presentation was extremely informative. John was very knowledgeable and had excellent answers for any questions we had for him.


Sarah Lacy

Sarah is the author of the book, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good. Although I have yet to read the book, our discussion with her was very informative. She had some great insight into life in Silicon Valley. She gave us great information based on her experiences on what to do and how to do handle situations in the entrepreneurial world. I was clearly able to see the passion she has for what she does and as she told us, don't follow the money. If you have passion and love what you are doing, the money will follow you.

From what I could gather from our meeting, she was a very genuine, friendly person and it has translated to her success into journalism and PR. She was one of the first journalists to interview people such as Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg and Digg creator Kevin Rose. It was not because she was the best journalist or because had the most connections, it was because she believed in these people before they were successful and gave them the time of day when nobody else would. She put in the time to get to know them in a sincere way before anybody knew who they were, not because she knew it would help her in the future, but because she was interested in their ideas. The idea of being above somebody was something that crossed her mind and has now led to her being able to catapulte somebody into wider fame through her reporting. In media's terms, she was the first one on the scene. Everybody else was a few months too late.

Sarah seemed to be the person who is able to look past the craziness in peoples ideas and see that they can be useful and that is what Silicon Valley is based upon. Negativity is contagious and I hate it. For instance, it started with a crazy idea such as a computer, which I am sure was shut down my many cynics, and now has completely changed the way we live. People should try their ideas and see how they work out, regardless of who says it cannot work. It is the ideas of many entrepreneurs that have formed an entire community and has attracted people from all walks of life to take part in its development here in Silicon Valley.

We still have the night free, but thus far I have already attained a lot of knowledge from just two meetings. I have been presented with a great opportunity to learn from a lot of very intellegent people. Their stories of success and failure are something I can really use to better prepare myself in a ever changing world.

Until next time,

Create, inspire and be inspired.

Silicon Valley

Arrived in San Jose this afternoon at about noon local time. Checked into the hotel and grabbed a bite to eat before vising the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose.

Weather is awesome! 70 and sunny while I hear the Midwest is getting pounded by snow.

Tomorrow we are heading into San Francisco to meet with LS9 in the morning and two authors in the afternoon, Sarah Lacy and Brian Solis. Check out the link to our schedule here.

Stay tuned for more updates on our travels in Silicon Valley.

Create, inspire and be inspired.

New Years Resolutions

I never have been a huge fan of New Years Resolutions. I think that if you have to wait to a New Year to create new goals, then you are probably five months behind on what you should be accomplishing anyways. In the past, I have never written down any resolutions or even considered thinking about them because I (like most people) never hold true to them.

The problem is that we all are procrastinators. I am guilty as chagred, it's January 5th and I planned on writing this New Years day. The reason it because we get stuck in the dreaming phase about how things could/would be. We all know what we want, but we have trouble committing to the needs to get there. People fear commitment because they fear what may they may become, they could be embarrassed, they could be rejected. People actually fear becoming healthy because they won't receive the same amount of attention as when they are ill. Thoughts like this are absurd!

Too many times we shine all of the light on the negative aspects of our goals. When you focus on the negative it zaps all of your motivation right out of you. People continually talk their goals down, justifying to themselves that their goals are unattainable or unrealistic. The truth about goals is you are either working to get them accomplished or are making excuses to why they are not getting accomplished.

Accept the fact that you may fail. You might fail and people may laugh at you, but who really cares? The only person who you have to satisfy is yourself, because as much as you (and I) think people are paying attention to all of our actions, they are NOT.

As bad as it sounds, have low expectations for yourself. Once you exceeded those expectations, it will become easier to establish new goals and accomplish those. You can't just expect to lose 25 pounds this year without having the simple goal of getting one workout in a day.



Right now is the only moment you ever have.

Start your dreams and goals now.

Create, inspire and be inspired.


"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman

Happy New Year!

May 2009 bring you peace and prosperity.

Have a great start to your new year!

Create, inspire and be inspired!

Winter Hike

Aj and I went down to the bike shop and rented some snow shoes. These things work great and we were able to cover close to four miles in a little over an hour in a half in over 2 feet of snow. It is really cool "paving" you own trail and cutting through the woods in the snow.

Check out some pics:


Stay warm!

Finals

Nothing beats a week full of final tests along with below zero temperatures....as if getting out the door to go take a comprehensive could be any more motivating when you have to wear three layers.

Finals are officially half over for me, I had my Marketing test on Monday and my Chemistry final last night. In the past I have never been to rattled by finals week but this year I have let Chemistry get to me. I do not enjoy the class very much and have a hard time putting the time into the class that I should. Nonetheless, I crammed on Monday night and all day on Tuesday and I feel alright about how the exam went.

Up next I have my Kinesiology final on Thursday morning at 8 and my Entrepreneurship exam at 10:15 then my brain will shut down for break. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my family and seeing AJ for the first time since September. It will be a nice way to close down the year and start a new one.

Take care and stay warm!

ITS COLD!!!

Man, it seems every year I forget how fricking cold it gets here!

It is currently 5 degrees outside (-13 Celsius for those crazy Brits) and that's not including the wind chill. It is beginning to become a bit embarrassing walking into class and it appears as if I am crying because my eyes water while biking in the cold.....maybe I can convince my professors that they are tears of joy for being in their class (yeah, right!).

The winter is always a hard time to try and accomplish things that require more energy than cuddling up under a blanket and watching Christmas movies. The days are cold, daylight is limited, and we are more apt to staying indoors. What happened to the days when it was sunny outside and it's easy to be upbeat and motivated to get out and take on the day, workout, ect. Nothing seemed harder than those 6 am lift and run practices in January for wrestling only to have another punishing practice at 4 later that afternoon. I dreaded waking up to that alarm, sleepwalking outside only to be met by the below zero temperatures and the upcoming hell I was about to go through. But somehow it got done.

I didn't feel as if I had anything to say before I started writing this blog so I talked about the weather and it has now led to motivation and getting something accomplished. Pretty ironic that I feel negative about the cold and I am now talking about motivation. So maybe the lesson is that although you may feel lousy and down because of the weather, but don't let it affect your outputs. Feel lousy and do it anyway (fittingly the motto for all wrestlers, right AJ?). Just know that with time "this too shall pass," tomorrow is a better day, and now is a better now.

Until next time,

Create, inspire, and be inspired.