Cornell Entrepreneur in Residence 2009-10: Sean Neville

Sean Neville is the new Entrepreneur in Residence for The Johnson School at Cornell for the 2009-2010 academic year. Sean was most recently the founder and CEO of Simply Audiobooks. He is also a classmate of mine from the MBA class of 2002, and a close friend.


Sean (on right) at his other Ithaca office, The Regent Lounge


Sean and I recently co-taught a class at Syracuse's Whitman School. It was interesting how we had such different answers to the same questions. Where I tend to come at things with a perspective of "use great technology to create a global product that we sell by the millions" , he approaches entrepreneurship from a perspective of "let's find a problem that consumers have and solve it for a profit".

Since most of the startups coming out of Cornell are driven by the $650M annual technology research budget, there is a lot of similar thinking around Ithaca about how to grow a company. So much so that some of it has become conventional wisdom within our community. Therefore, with Sean's role as the new Cornell EIR, it will be helpful for both students and entrepreneurial alumni to hear a different perspective. Breakthroughs typically occur when someone challenges the conventional wisdom.

If you are interested in meeting with or talking to Sean, I encourage you to not procrastinate. His calendar began filling up before he even stepped foot on campus. You can see Sean's full bio here, and you can email him at SMN25 at cornell.edu.

Welcome back Sean!

A bunny suit means I'm helping

This is the flyer for the 2010 Creative Core $200K Business plan competition

(click on image for larger view)

Standing Out of Place
Mezmeriz is on this flyer because we won the event in 2008. What's funny about the flyer is the picture. First off, I've only been into the clean room twice. This picture was one of two times, and it was just so they could take a picture of me in the clean room. Equally amusing is that I don't ever get to touch the wafers or mirrors or anything fragile. I tend to break fragile things. However in this picture, it looks like I am Shahyaan's able and indispensable assistant. Shahyaan, You're Welcome!

Anyways, you should enter this event. It's a great focal point for any startup. If you want to hear about how to win a business plan competition, check out these videos.

Sometimes entrepreneurs get married too

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of my longtime friend Andy Lufburrow. I could tell you all about what a great entrepreneur he is and all that sort of stuff I tend to write about, but really it was about seeing a good friend take a major step in his life.


The start of a new venture
Some of you may remember Andy as a regular feature on this blog and most famously as SightSpeed member #4, others have more colorful recollections that I'll not post here. Nonetheless, he's a great guy and a great entrepreneur who I count as one of my closest friends.


Not the first time I have leaned on Andy

In closing, I'll quote Andy's brother John quoting Scottish sages:

"To make a marriage a success, you should never lie, cheat,or drink.

However, if you must lie, lie in Heather's arms.

If you must cheat, cheat death.

If you must drink, drink with us!"



Cheers!

List of New York Companies that Presented at the Department of Defense Tech Forum

I recently attended the Defense Tech Showcase in Syracuse. It was a forum for companies who are seeking, or have been awarded, SBIR grants - especially as they relate to the military. It was interesting to see all these unique companies that are doing some really high tech stuff all in one place. These are small companies that you'd never come across unless you were looking for some very specific technology.



The neat thing about these companies is that many of them have the potential to be huge companies, and the SBIR / Department of Defense launch pad could just be the start for them. At this event, they let a few of the companies stand up and give a venture-capital style elevator pitch. It was fascinating to hear about each company. Here's a list of those who presented:

Applied Visions
Binghamton Simulator
D&R Technical Solutions
Diamond Visionics
DualAlign
InterScience
Medgraph
Red Tail Hawk
Zweave



It was great to see such a vibrant, high-tech crowd at this sold-out event. It certainly lends credibility to the notion that entrepreneurship is alive and well in the region - it's just under the radar.

Homer Simpson Would Work Here Just for the Little Café

Mezmeriz and whole bunch of startup tech companies are based near the Ithaca airport in the Cornell Business and Technology Park. As much as we like to stay fueled on coffee and more coffee, we also need sugar. That's where the Little Café in the Park comes in. It's a short and healthy stroll past Kionix to get frosted goodness.

Great with coffee and friends!
The nice thing about having our own little cafe is that we can meet for a coffee and commiserate. Sure, we've got MEMS envy (Kionix again), but we figure we'll get there. And those guys help us out in their own way.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy my cinnamon swirl.

That Informal Support

I have written before about our little informal entrepreneurship club here in Ithaca. I wanted to share a few pictures of one of our sessions from the Spring. Greg Hubbell of Sound Reading was working on his venture capital presentation, and the group was there to provide support, insight, and opinion.


Have beer, will opine

The audience included CEO's and Founders from Simply Audiobooks, Novomer, Instinctiv, Orthogonal, Mezmeriz, plus a few aspiring entrepreneurs and Cornell business school students, including future members of BR Ventures.


One more time with passion

This last picture was taken slightly after Midnight when the rest of the was group long past their first beer. Greg got his presentation dialed in and was able to take his pitch on the road the next day, winning money in a venture capital competition, and attracting new professional investors to the company. He still has a ton of work to do with this promising startups, but I am glad we could help along the way.

Entrepreneurship & Innovation & Beer

I am often asked "How do people find these great technologies that become the cornerstone of a great business?". The answer is "At happy hour". Specifically, one that involves a lot of smart technical guys at a great engineering school. There's one coming up at Cornell, so if you are an entrepreneur in search of a technological spark, or a smart technologist who is looking for someone to help you start a business, you should attend this event:


This is where some great companies have started

And if you already have a great business idea, you can go to see one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Jason Springs of Geneweave Biosciences, speak. He's a great public speaker and always has something worthwhile to say.