Happy Holidays – Blogging Break

Happy Holidays! I’ll be back in late Jan 2010.

Customer Development – BAEN 502 Version 2009 – Wrap Up

So much for doing a weekly update. I really struggled to keep up during the last 3 weeks. Good news is that it turned out very well. On the plus side, it was intellectually amazing! On the downside, like last year, I found the experience totally consuming, and exhausting. I shouldn’t be doing this on a regular basis. I’m settling back under my rock ’til next fall.

Thank You — Guest Speakers Week 4 & 5

I’d like to give a big “Thank You” to the guest speakers in weeks 4 and 5. They were great!

Ronna Chisholm of Dossier Creative talked about branding. Her definition of branding is very similar to the Seth Godin definition of branding ( ie. Design is essential, but design is not the brand ). Very cool stuff.

Michael Kuhlmann President & CEO of Colony Networks gave us a great story of Colony’s Sales/Marketing Hypotheses from inception to today. Change is hard and change is good.

Barry Hagglund supported the “Growth Mindset” theme, of day 9, with stories from Eyehawk, Argonne, PMC-Sierra, and Fujitsu.

Geri Jones brought her immense “HR in startups” experience (retired VP-HR PMC-Sierra, MPR-Teltech, and MDA) to the final day. I particularly enjoyed the Q&A session and the role of HR being a middle ground between “Executive” and “Workers”. My favorite part of the discussion can paraphrased as “If HR reports to finance then HR lacks all credibility that it represents an employees’ interest. HR can’t be a middle ground in this case.”

Thank You – Guest Speakers Earlier Weeks

• week 3 – Ken Simpson and David Helliwell
• week 2 – Bill Richardson

Thank You — UBC Admin Staff

Thank you Helen, Reaia, and Karminie for all the important behind the scenes work required to support course lecturers.

Thank You — Students

Finally, a big thank you to the students for sharing their energy and experiences to make this course a success.

Wente likes Tiger More Now &raquo: Globe & Mail

Go figure. This is my favorite comment so far.

Personally, I kind of like him better now. He seems more vulnerable, more fallible and a whole lot more human … Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail

RIP Ed Auld

Ed Auld made a big difference in my life. I’m gonna miss him.

Here is more detail on his passing from UBC Physics director earlier today.

It is with great sorrow that I pass on the information that Professor Emeritus Edward Auld passed away yesterday, in his sleep.

During a career that was passionately devoted to the Department, Ed played pivotal roles in rebuilding the Engineering Physics Programme in the 1980’s, and in the commissioning of TRIUMF.

His ongoing presence in the department will be sorely missed.

Seth’s Marketing Pitch for H1N1 Vaccine

PS if I was marketing the swine flu vaccine, I’d name it after a kid who died last season and put her picture on the release form. » Seth Godin

Seth was on a rant yesterday about how many people still rely on gut instinct to make decisions on complex issues. We’re (bad) amateur scientist’s. He says that more than half of NY parents chose to keep their kids out of H1N1 vaccine programs in its first week.

Uncle Dynamite … is LOL!

I’m loving PG Wodehouse’s Uncle Fred books. His full name is “Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham”. He’s spreading “Sweetness and Light” at the Dog Races with his nephew Pongo. He’s a “complications are the spice of life kinda chap”.

I just finished, and highly recommend, Uncle Dynamite on audible. The narrator Jonathan Cecil is great!

BAEN 502 Week 3 – Out of the Building Experiences

This weeks guest speakers were great. A big “Thank You” to Ken Simpson of MailChannels and David Helliwell of Pulse Energy for describing their “Out of the building experiences”.

On my front. I survived the marking of the first assignment. If I’ve learned one thing teaching this course it is that I have gained tremendous respect for people who mark. It is hard work.

How big is a 130nm Flu Virus relative to a coffee bean?

It’s really small. Very cool visualization of viruses versus real world items like coffee bean and grain of rice at University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center.

Try it here It works like a microscope … just zoom in and out.

tip to Kedroskys’s Infectious Greed.

MacHeist – 5 Free Apps – ’til wednesday

MacHeist has WriteRoom, Twitterrific, TinyGrab, Hordes of Orcs and ShoveBox for free for 4 more days . I think WriteRoom is a good app to try if you write a lot of stuff.

My First Week – Burn the Biz Plan

The first reading always inspires me. It’s a Babson College study that concludes

“… there is no compelling reason to write a detailed business plan before opening a new business.”

Do Business Plans Make No Difference In The Real World? A Study Of 117 New Ventures — enjoy.

tip to Steve Blank for introducing me to this reading