Yaron Brook speaking at UMich

This Oct. 6th, I plan on attending a Yaron Brook speech at University of Michigan on the topic "Capitalism without Guilt". I watched an earlier version of this presentation given last year and really enjoyed it. Of course, every video I watch of Yaron simply blows me away. His his knowledge of philosophy, business, and history are incredible. But his Q&As are fantastic. His ability to dig to the philosophic root of a question and yet do it in a respectful fashion to the questioner, has not been matched by any other speaker (except Ayn Rand) to my knowledge. It will be great to see him in person.

Many of the GLO members will be there. Link to the Facebook event. Hope to see you too.

Do you need a free website?

During the Winter semester, student groups enrolled in my web development class will design and build web sites for non-profit organizations and small businesses as an ASL project. Because this is an introductory web development class, only web sites that are more informational in nature will be considered. I do not expect that many students (if any at all) will be able to handle any complex, data driven web development.

The process:
If your organization's web project is in alignment with student skills, it will be added to a list of potential projects. Student groups will then contact potential organizations and decide if the project is a good fit (organizations have the same option if they are not comfortable with a group of students). Once selected however, students must use a specific methodology that ensures that the project meets the organization's expectations. It is my job to make sure they have the skills to make it a success.

Another caveat - although not a requirement, I've found that student proximity to the organization usually facilitates higher quality products due to face-to-face interactions resulting in better communication. If you are not located in southeast Michigan area (near Detroit and/or Ann Arbor areas), be aware of the potential problems this entails.

Contact me at john.drake(at)emich.edu or at 734.487.2454 if interested.

Concentrate

I am proud to note that my name appeared in the online magazine Concentrate in a feature story about the SPARK Boot Camp in which I mentored two companies, Switchback (the focus of the article) and Anti Goodbee. Switchback and Anti Goodbee are two start-ups in the Ann Arbor area.

Jon, the author of the story, sat quietly in the corner of my mentoring session with Switchback taking notes. I had almost forgotten his presence until he emailed me a link today with the completed story. The story is very well written and accurately captured the essence of the boot camp. Well done, Jon!

For any visitors from Concentrate, drop a note. I'd love to hear from you.

Appreciation luncheon

Yesterday, I had lunch with Ann Arbor SPARK at their mentor appreciation luncheon for their Entrepreneurial boot camp. What a great time! I meet several serial entrepreneurs including Mark Lundquist (Fulcrum Edge, Inc. and SellMyBusiness.com) and Dave Harriman, who now works in the Office of Technology Transfer at Univ. of Michigan. I love talking to productive businessmen creating value for themselves and others. It is inspirational.

I also meet several SPARK staff members who help make the boot camp run smoothly - Scott Olson, managing director of entrepreneurial business development and the person who recruited me as a mentor - Chuck Salley and Anik Ganguly, two of the boot camp's drill instructors. Anik is working with two companies that I may mentor. The first is a business designed to connect service provides (i.e. plumbers, carpenters, etc.) with end consumers by providing web advertising to this generally technology adverse group. The second business is an existing web development company looking to expand their business by selling a proprietary content management system.

The two other businesses I'm interested in mentoring are both web based. One is a web-based virtual trainer. The other is a web-based personal shopper. Both have good potential and I'm interested to see where they plan on taking these enterprises.

I'm loving it. So much so, that I'll probably return for the next boot camp, assuming SPARK wants me back.