Guest Speaker - Bruce Kendall

I was intrigued by Mr. Kendall and his work with Pierce County and bringing in the all important foreign dollars into our community.  I found his insight on backroom deals and working with a small group of people to be a little confusing.  I was not really sure as to what it was that they actually did, and how they secured those dollars.  Although clearly an intelligent man, I was a little in the dark I felt on what exactly he does.  He clearly does a lot of great work for the county, but as far as the details it was a little "insider info" for me.  I wish that he would have given us something more in the way of how his businesses has succeeded and failed, what steps he took to get where he is, what he would suggest we did, and what to avoid as young entrepreneurs. 

I like how he did share his enthusiasm for Pierce County and the developmental needs of the area.  How he sees that the future lies in getting foreign interests to send their dollars here.  These things did make sense, but it was sort of like watching a news special on how the flow of money comes in from the orient.  No offense to Mr. Kendall, I was just a little lost. 

Dot.com to Dot.Bomb

This presentation was very interesting to me as I was in high school when all of this was going on. I graduated in 1994 in the height of the dot com era and during the bust that followed shortly thereafter.  Although I was heavily invested in my own learning of technology, there wasnt really any classes being taught (at least in Auburn, WA) that would get me the kind of insight that Mr. Fry was able to shed on that time for us in the lecture. 

I was amazed at how much work it took, the friendships that must have been tainted and the subsequent demise of these companies.  It was a crazy time.  Who would have thought that getting in early on the dot com craze would have made people instant millionaires and then within just a few short years later bust them in the process.  I took home some important tools with me after this presentation, first, if you want to be rich in this country, you're never going to get there working for someone else (unless you get in on a start-up early on that happens to makes millions), so you got to do it yourself and start a business.  Working for state and federal government work for 12+ years sort of taught me that anyways, but understanding the game and knowing that when you take on a start up, that you need to have a lot of structure and discipline.   Knowing what is best for your company and having the right people around you is paramount to success. If you have to let these people go one day, what is it going to cost you (besides money)?.

I feel that this was one of the best lectures we have had this quarter as it gave me a lot to think about.  I have a couple of great start up ideas, but understanding what it takes to make those dreams a reality and knowing the sacrifices that come with them is one thing I think a lot of people dont think about when they take that plunge.  Mr. Fry gave us a lot of tools in recognizing our potential in this area, and seeing the pitfalls for what they are.   For that I am thankful, and also cautious at the same time.  I know now that if I'm going to make a killing in technology, its going to take having a solid business plan, the right and idea, and a group of dedicated business partners to pave that path.  Bravo Professor Fry!  You really hit it home with this presentation and it resonates with me, and will do so until I reach my goals of pursuing my start-up business and taking it to its IPO.  :) 

Film Review of Startup.Com

The documentary Startup.com takes place in the early 90's where two friends Kaliel and Tom start a business called "govWorks.com".  The company is meant to take parking tickets and process them with the state of NY, which is a multi billion dollar industry that is uncharted until then.  Along the way they start off as a 8 person company and everyone is nice and happy and working as cohesive unit.  They put in a lot of work finding investors and find out that this is a shark infested area, and that if they weren't careful they would lose control of the company to the board, which is exactly what ultimately ends up happening anyhow.   Kaliel takes on the roll of being the CEO and makes some pretty tough decisions like getting rid of one of the founding members by buying him out for $700,000 (which in retrospect he probably made out better than any of them by the end of the movie) to have more control of the company.

The film takes a turn for the worse when competition ultimately starts to put them out of business. Corporate espionage in the way of a burglary at their office costs them trade secrets that is used against them by the competition.  The biggest problem was that their site was created by people that were not software engineers and it was not functioning as it should for something that is associated with Government resources.  This failure hits them hard as many other sites pop up and are able to handle much more than they could.  Kaliel takes the ultimate Alpha male move, when he fires Tom and also sides with the board to not pay him a cash buy out.  This is not only cold, but a true testament to greed being the ultimate evil in our society.


I felt that the film did an excellent job of showing what startup companies should be on the look out for when they have big eyeballs thinking that anyone can make millions without making tough decisions.  These guys lost their friendship, relationships with loved ones (Kaliel almost losing his girlfriend until the end of the movie when he realizes that somethings are more important that greed) and lost tons of money in something that could have been better facilitated had they taken some precautions when diving head first into their venture.  I learned that before you spend money you need a iron clad business plan, money needs to be distributed in research and development and contracts need to be clear cut and as fair as possible to all founding members.  Even though I say this, its more than likely that there are many other things that can ultimately undo any startup company that are not addressed in the film, and thats why I am taking this TINST Entrepreneurship course.  :)