Thursday, January 28, 2010

Run It By The Pros event in Kirby Reading Room, Fuqua.

Part of the Duke Entrepreneurship Education Series and preparation for the Duke Start-up Challenge.

NAE Grand Challenge Summit in Raleigh, March 2010

National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Summit
Raleigh, NC March 3-5, 2010

Event Website: http://www.grandchallengesummit.org/raleigh-summit
Registration: http://www.grandchallengesummit.org/raleigh-registration
Hosts: North Carolina State University and Duke University

Entrepreneurship and technology innovation have the potential to raise our nation out of its economic downturn. Making this happen requires everyone to step outside traditional roles. In particular, centers of higher education have a responsibility to cultivate better marry technical fields with those of business and entrepreneurship.

With this in mind, Duke's Pratt School of Engineering and NC State's College of Engineering invite you to a high profile event designed to help prepare the next generation leaders to address the "grand challenge" level issues that will shape the 21st century. The Summit will touch on all fourteen NAE Grand Challenges through a discussion of American innovation and competitiveness and will be of interest to all disciplines. Participants should leave the Summit with a heightened awareness of the link between technology innovation and public policy on the world stage.

Why YOU should attend this conference:

Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, will open the Summit with a call to action on the NAE Grand Challenges. Immelt has been named one of the "World's Best CEOs" three times by Barron's, while GE was named "America's Most Admired Company" by Fortune magazine and listed as one of the "World's Most Respected Companies" in polls by Barron's and the Financial Times.

John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, will present a keynote address on American innovation and competitiveness and will then lead a panel discussion. Chambers has been recognized as one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People," one of Barron's "World's Most Respected CEOs," the "Best Boss in America" by 20/20, and one of BusinessWeek's "Top 25 Executives Worldwide," among many other awards.

Senator Ted Kaufman will discuss Congress' response to the Grand Challenges. Kaufman is the junior U.S. Senator from Delaware, appointed for two years to fill the term of former U.S. Senator Joe Biden. As the only serving U.S. Senator who worked as an engineer, Kaufman has advocated for a renewed emphasis on science, engineering, and innovation to meet the increasing challenges of a competitive global economy.

Jeffrey Wadsworth, the president and Chief Executive Officer of Battelle Memorial Institute, will also participate in a broad ranging discussion on American economic competitiveness and innovation. During his Battelle career, Wadsworth has led a period of rapid growth as Laboratory Director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he presided over the Lab's emergence as the world's leader in neutron science, nanoscience, and high-performance computing. In 2005 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in recognition of his scientific contributions to their literature and for scientific leadership supporting national security.

The cost to attend the Summit is $20 for Duke students and faculty.

The Grand Challenge Summit Series (http://www.grandchallengesummit.org/) represents a commitment to sustain critical dialogue and engagement with grand challenge problems and to change the way we educate our students in order to better prepare them for the challenges ahead.

Come join in this important endeavor.

NAE Grand Challenge Summit Series
c/o Duke University
dahill@duke.edu

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 mobile

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Notes from Bob McDonald talk

Bob McDonald p&g
1 Living a life driven by purpose is more meaningful and rewarding than meandering through life without direction.

2 everyone wants to succeed , and success is contagious.

Leadership is time inefficient.
We're all time starved.
We work on what's going wrong rather than what they are doing right.

People buy shirts of winning teams.

3 putting people in the right jobs is one of the most important jobs of the leader.

How do you know if someone likes their job? Ask them

4 character is the most important trait of a leader.

Put the needs of the organization above your own. Take responsibility for organization results.

As leader in Army, got food after his troops.

4 choose the harder right than the easier wrong.

5 diverse groups of people are more innovative than homogeneous groups.

Change almost always comes as a surprise because things don't happen in straight lines. Connections are made by accident.

Things almost never turn out as expected.

Connect disparate nodes.

6 ineffective strategies , systems, and culture are bigger barriers to achievement than the talents of people.

Did total quality research w Dr. Deming.

Try to get all red beans. There were some white beans.

He yelled at me.

After, the holes were drilled differently. And it was impossible to get all red beans.

Purpose. Values. Principle.

7 after giving people the benefit of the doubt. There will be some people in the organization who will not make the journey with you.

Treat them well.

8 organizations must renew themselves.

Read the fifth discipline.

Boiled frogs. If put frog in ambient temp water, and raise temp, they will die. If put in hot water they jump out.

Showed stats 1980 vs today
10 billion vs 79 billion sales
Employees 61 k vs 135 k

We are a global.company.

Ability to continue learning.

Use children as reverse mentors.

9 recruiting is a top priority.

We only promote from within.

10 true test of a leader is the performance of the organization when he or she is absent or after he or she departs.

Build a clock or tell time.
Shall managers on last three years performance.

If you leave home, what will your mchildren do.

Touch and improve lives now and for generations to come.

List pegs to which you belong.
List beliefs.
Connect them.

Bob McDonald, CEO of P&G speaks at Fuqua at Duke University

Monday, January 25, 2010

op-ed from Thomas Friedman on entrepreneurship and education

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/opinion/24friedman.html?scp=2&sq=thomas%20friedman%20column&st=cse

More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

SHARE CLOSE

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: January 23, 2010

The most striking feature of Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency was the amazing, young, Internet-enabled, grass-roots movement he mobilized to get elected. The most striking feature of Obama's presidency a year later is how thoroughly that movement has disappeared.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Thomas L. Friedman

Go to Columnist Page »

Times Topics: Science and Technology

In part, it disappeared because the Obama team let it disappear, as Obama moved to pass what was necessary — the economic stimulus — and what he aspired to — health care — by exclusively playing inside baseball with Congress. The president seems to have thought that his majorities in the Senate and the House were so big that he never really had to mobilize "the people" to drive his agenda. Obama turned all his supporters into spectators of The Harry and Nancy Show. And, at the same time, that grass-roots movement went dormant on its own, apparently thinking that just getting the first African-American elected as president was the moon shot of this generation, and nothing more was necessary.

Well, here's my free advice to Obama, post-Massachusetts. If you think that the right response is to unleash a populist backlash against bankers, you're wrong. Please, please re-regulate the banks in a smart way. But remember: in the long run, Americans don't rally to angry politicians. They do not bring out the best in us. We rally to inspirational, hopeful ones. They bring out the best in us. And right now we need to be at our best.

Obama should launch his own moon shot. What the country needs most now is not more government stimulus, but more stimulation. We need to get millions of American kids, not just the geniuses, excited about innovation and entrepreneurship again. We need to make 2010 what Obama should have made 2009: the year of innovation, the year of making our pie bigger, the year of "Start-Up America."

Obama should make the centerpiece of his presidency mobilizing a million new start-up companies that won't just give us temporary highway jobs, but lasting good jobs that keep America on the cutting edge. The best way to counter the Tea Party movement, which is all about stopping things, is with an Innovation Movement, which is all about starting things. Without inventing more new products and services that make people more productive, healthier or entertained — that we can sell around the world — we'll never be able to afford the health care our people need, let alone pay off our debts.

Obama should bring together the country's leading innovators and ask them: "What legislation, what tax incentives, do we need right now to replicate you all a million times over" — and make that his No. 1 priority. Inspiring, reviving and empowering Start-up America is his moon shot.

And to reignite his youth movement, he should make sure every American kid knows about two programs that he has already endorsed: The first is National Lab Day. Introduced last November by a coalition of educators and science and engineering associations, Lab Day aims to inspire a wave of future innovators, by pairing veteran scientists and engineers with students in grades K-12 to inspire thousands of hands-on science projects around the country.

Any teacher in America, explains the entrepreneur Jack Hidary, the chairman of N.L.D., can go to the Web site NationalLabDay.org and enter the science project he or she is interested in teaching, or get an idea for one. N.L.D. will match teachers with volunteer scientists and engineers in their areas for mentoring.

"As soon as you have a match, the scientists and the students communicate directly or via Skype and collaborate on a project," said Hidary. "We have a class in Chicago asking for civil engineers to teach them how to build a bridge. In Idaho, a class is asking for a scientist to help them build a working river delta inside their classroom."

The president should also vow to bring the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, or NFTE, to every low-income neighborhood in America. NFTE works with middle- and high-school teachers to help them teach entrepreneurship. The centerpiece of its program is a national contest for start-ups with 24,000 kids participating. Each student has to invent a product or service, write up a business plan and then do it. NFTE (www.NFTE.com) works only in low-income areas, so many of these new entrepreneurs are minority kids.

In November, a documentary movie — "Ten9Eight" — was released that tracked a dozen students all the way through to the finals of the NFTE competition. Obama should arrange for this movie to be shown in every classroom in America. It is the most inspirational, heartwarming film you will ever see. You can obtain details about it atwww.ten9eight.com.

This year's three finalists, said Amy Rosen, the chief executive of NFTE, "were an immigrant's son who took a class from H&R Block and invented a company to do tax returns for high school students, a young woman who taught herself how to sew and designed custom-made dresses, and the winner was an African-American boy who manufactured socially meaningful T-shirts."

You want more good jobs, spawn more Steve Jobs. Obama should have focused on that from Day 1. He must focus on that for Year 2.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Fwd: Company co-founded by Duke Law Professor wins US Dept. of Energy Grant

Nice win for Bill Brown. Congrats Bill!

Howie

Howie,

I thought you might be interested in this news about the company co-founded by Duke's own Bill Brown. Please pass it along to whomever else you think appropriate.

Best,

Bob

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PALMER LABS AWARDED U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FUNDING FOR ALGAE BIOFUEL RESEARCH

Durham, NC company is member of consortium awarded $44 million to turn

algae into renewable energy

Durham, NC January 14, 2010 – U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu announced Wednesday the award of $44 million in federal stimulus funds to The National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB), a consortium including Palmer Labs, LLC, of Durham, NC.

The DOE funds will support enhanced research by Palmer Labs of its patent-pending algae technology addressing both energy and nutritional applications. "Our goal is highly focused," said Dr. Miles Palmer, company president. "We take the biggest problems—currently in energy and food resources—and find cheaper and better solutions through innovative combinations of proven technologies. The DOE stimulus funds provide timely support of this pressing goal to us and our consortium partners."

"We are very excited about this announcement," said N.C. Department of Commerce Secretary J. Keith Crisco. "Palmer Labs is a great example of the innovation and creativity that are driving North Carolina's future, especially in the energy/green jobs sector, which Governor Perdue has emphasized as one of her top priorities for economic development."

"North Carolina is fortunate to have Palmer Labs consolidating its business here," said Lanty Smith, Chairman of Tippet Capital. "It is precisely the kind of firm which North Carolina needs to attract in today's business climate. They have reached out to take on-board some of the best and brightest local talent and to make an important impact on the development of new technologies in the Research Triangle."

Researchers at Palmer Labs are developing innovative methods for harnessing algae to "close the carbon cycle," said Bill Brown, Chairman of Palmer Labs and Duke Law School faculty member. "Our unique approach to algae will help provide a solution to the problem of CO₂ emissions and, at the same time, provide algae for both food and energy production."

Palmer Labs engineers are also designing and testing systems to burn algae to make renewable electricity. "This power system allows us to use algae to turn sunlight—the ultimate renewable resource—into electricity," said Dr. Palmer. "Our system is designed to use biomass, natural gas or coal while capturing virtually all the CO₂ emissions at a cost lower than present commercial systems."

"We formed Palmer Labs to help address many of the world's problems," said Prof. Brown. "As we have seen with the recent U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, policy makers are struggling to devise the solutions to the environmental challenges that engulf us. We believe that technology both delivers and is a powerful, democratizing force."

DOE announcement: http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8519.htm

For more information, please call 919-667-1800.

About Palmer Labs

Palmer Labs, LLC (www.palmerlabs.com) provides innovative scientists and technologists with the resources to transform their ideas into realizable applications in the marketplace. Palmer Labs focuses on technologies and innovations that address the critical challenges of our complex world. Palmer Labs focuses on solutions with positive environmental impacts including reduced fuel consumption, emissions, and greenhouse gases. Palmer Labs is an affiliate of 8 Rivers Capital, LLC (www.8riverscapital.com).

About NAABB

National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB) - Led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (St. Louis, MO), NAABB will develop a systems approach for sustainable commercialization of algal biofuel (such as renewable gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel) and bioproducts. NAABB will integrate resources from companies, universities, and national laboratories to overcome the critical barriers of cost, resource use and efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and commercial viability. It will develop and demonstrate the science and technology necessary to significantly increase production of algal biomass and lipids, efficiently harvest and extract algae and algal products, and establish valuable certified co-products that scale with renewable fuel production. Co-products include animal feed, industrial feedstocks, and additional energy generation. Multiple test sites will cover diverse environmental regions to facilitate broad deployment.

###

Bob Walker

8 Rivers Capital, LLC where new ideas come to market

700 West Main Street, Suite 108

Durham, NC 27701

www.8RiversCapital.com

919-667-1800

SunRun Wins Best Clean Tech at Crunchies!

Nice to see "Duke-grad-infused" solar startup SunRun win the TechCrunch Crunchies2009 award for best clean tech startup of 2009!

http://blog.sunrunhome.com/2010/01/sunrun-wins-best-clean-tech-at-crunchies/

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 mobile

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

Everything You Want To Know About The Most Secretive Startup In The World (Next Jump)

Nice to see NextJump featured on TechCrunch. Greg Kunkel '04 is a co-founder.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/14/next-jump/

Monday, January 11, 2010

Fwd: Dogpatch Labs blog posting on EVCC

Looks like a good visit by the Duke EVCC to Silicon Valley and the Week in Cities trip. Check out the following blog post with pictures.

Howie

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jonathan Lee <jonathan.lee@fuqua.duke.edu>
Date: Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 4:03 PM
Subject: Dogpatch Labs blog posting on EVCC

Ryan Spoon blogged about us at Dogpatch's website. Check it out:

http://dogpatchlabs.com/2010/01/11/dogpatch-labs-hosts-fuqua-evcc-event/

Jonathan

Listing of Classrooms at Fuqua

From Science Drive towards the Fox Center

Dansby

Leaman

Lilly

McClendon

HCA

2008 MBA

Connally

Formica

Mosler

Rand

Sauer

RJR Classroom

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Office A236
919-617-1123 mobile

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com.
Twitter: @EshipAtDuke

Monday, January 04, 2010

Greetings prospective Fuqua students interested in entrepreneurship!

Greetings Prospective Duke MBA entrepreneurship students!

I understand a few of you follow my blog. Hope you've found some of the information useful.

Unfortunately I am unable to meet with/talk on the phone with prospective students due to the high volume of requests that we get.

Take a look, though, at the information below, and if you have specific questions, send them to me at hwr2@duke.edu and I'll see if I can answer them.

There's a strong entrepreneurial effort that has taken shape over the last several years. We are proud to say that we have a solid entrepreneurship offering.

You might enjoy checking out our website, www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com. In addition, you can also see a powerpoint of our offerings can be found at: http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dfpdp4cw_16dgwrwxdc.

Below are a few snippets you might find useful in making your decision.

Best of luck in your decision and your applications.

Howie

Some advantages of coming to Duke:

- Program for Entrepreneurs - start a company while you get your MBA

- Duke Start-Up Challenge – 74 teams from Duke. That's a fairly high number of home-grown startups.

- EVCC – strong club, good support network while in school

- Weekly Education Series – make progress each week

- DukeGEN – strong alumni support from 1400 entrepreneurial alumni

- Combining Practice, Research, and Teaching. Exposure to various schools of thought

- Access to other great schools at Duke. Medicine, Engineering, Undergraduates, Public Policy, Law, Graduate School, etc…

- Research Triangle – strong entrepreneurial community

Some recent startup ideas in our Program for Entrepreneurs:

16 Active Projects (as of 12/10/09)

- Biogenic - Cell Seeding Technology for Implantable Cardiovascular Devices

- Innovation Education International – Applying Stanford innovation curriculum for developing cities

- Medici MedTech, Medical device to treat urinary incontinence

- Methane Capture Project Aggregating business for carbon offsets generated from hog farms.

- Battery Swap for Electric Rickshaws in India - Like Blue Rhino

- General Nano Spinning carbon nanotubes (lighter and stronger than steel) into electrically conductive thread for use in multiple industries.

- eCIRK - Immunization Records Depot - Create a central repository for all immunization records

- OurEarth.org - Internet portal for environmental programs, activities, and general information

- Eye Innovations - Medical device to assist individuals with Glaucoma

- 25th Hour Media - Turning online news and blog postings into audio content available on mobile devices

- iCampus - E-learning network and platform

- Liliang.com – online platform for outsourcing work

- Greenhouse Foods – website and brand for helping people with special dietary needs

- EntoGenetics - Creating spider silk from genetically modified silk worms

- Fitness Education (FitEd) – Wii games that for autistic children

- PTP (Wind Energy) - Building wind farms in international locations

Some testimonials

Pursuing a non-traditional MBA path like creating and developing a start-up requires a lot of things, but most importantly it requires support. Fuqua has provided exactly that. From the Program for Entrepreneurs to the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club to the one on one time I get with leading RTP entrepreneurs, I have no doubt that I will walk out of B-School into my own business. I chose to Fuqua because I believed it would enable me to follow my dream. And, today that dream is becoming a reality.

-Adam Mangone '10
Former Marketing Director

The competitive advantage of entrepreneurship at Duke is the incredibly interdisciplinary campus - you could connect with students in the undegraduate campus, medical school, engineering school, business school, school of the environment, and law school all within a few minutes walk from each other, to start a diverse range of business ideas from social non-profits to software companies. The resources and support provided at Duke and Research Triangle Park for student businesses is quite amazing and should motivate anyone with ambition to give it a try!

- Gautham Pandiyan, MEM '09
Worked in biomedical research, licensing & start-up business development

The best part of my Duke MBA was the experience and education in entrepreneurship. The diverse resources including seminars, one-on-one coaching, and start-up funding through the Duke Startup Challenge allowed me to capitalize on my previous experience while gaining valuable, practical skills. I found solid business partners and mentors within the Duke community which helped me actualize a new business venture

- Jonathan Gibbs '10

Worked in Social Entrepreneurship before coming to Duke

I came to Fuqua with a business idea and the goal to start a company during my MBA. Through the activities and events sponsored by the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation I am finding the inspiration, the support and the tools that I need to develop my idea an put it into practice.

-Carla Viana, '10
Worked in Consulting and Marketing before coming to Fuqua

I came to business school with the goal of immersing myself in the study and practice of entrepreneurship and eventually starting my own business. Through the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Fuqua I joined a classmate in participating an independent study project focused on bringing a new technology to market, became co-chair for a weekly panel of entrepreneurship experts that advises budding student-entrepreneurs and joined a start-up support group. I found all of these opportunities in just my first term at Fuqua! But this does not even scratch the surface of the great depth of offerings related to entrepreneurship in virtually any field available at Duke.

- Thomas Thekkekandam '10
Worked in the Non-Profit sector and Market Research Consulting before coming to Fuqua

I've been impressed with the many new initiatives around Entrepreneurship at Fuqua this year. I have also noticed a significant increase in interest for entrepreneurial classroom and hands-on learning from students. These are factors that enable such a dynamic environment in which you can only thrive and continue forward with your own mission and goals. The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), has been an incredible support in my endeavor for a new triple bottom line venture through the Start-Up Support Group. There is also more integration between CEI and the other great centers at Fuqua, meeting the many different student entrepreneurial interests.

-Liliana Valle '09
Worked in Supply Chain Management consulting, IT, and operations for IBM before coming to Fuqua

After running a start-up software company for several years, I wanted to expand my entrepreneurial knowledge by attending a well-suited business school. Fuqua was the best choice for me, largely because of their vast expertise and resources dedicated to the field of entrepreneurship. By being a part of the 'Program for Entrepreneurs', by attending entrepreneurial education events held by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI), and by taking part in events such as the Duke Start-Up Challenge, I am truly gaining a wealth of entrepreneurial knowledge not found at many places.

-Rasheed Wiggins '10
Entrepreneur and former founder of a software advertising company

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
919-617-1123 mobile

Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Duke - www.EntrepreneurshipAtDuke.com
and read our Duke Entrepreneurship Manual - www.dukeven.com

Howie Rhee's Blog

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Run It By The Pros event in Kirby Reading Room, Fuqua.

NAE Grand Challenge Summit in Raleigh, March 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Notes from Bob McDonald talk

Bob McDonald, CEO of P&G speaks at Fuqua at Duke University

Monday, January 25, 2010

op-ed from Thomas Friedman on entrepreneurship and education

More (Steve) Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Related

Times Topics: Science and Technology

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Fwd: Company co-founded by Duke Law Professor wins US Dept. of Energy Grant

SunRun Wins Best Clean Tech at Crunchies!

Everything You Want To Know About The Most Secretive Startup In The World (Next Jump)

Monday, January 11, 2010

Fwd: Dogpatch Labs blog posting on EVCC

Listing of Classrooms at Fuqua

Monday, January 04, 2010

Greetings prospective Fuqua students interested in entrepreneurship!

Blog Archive