Can I buy you a coffee in Las Vegas?

I have attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for the past seven years. First with SightSpeed, now with Mezmeriz.

If it has a circuit, it'll be here

The name is a bit of a misnomer, but "All the electronics you might possibly find at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Frys, Crutchfield, Tweeter, and The Wiz" doesn't have quite the same ring. There used to be show called Comdex that involved all computer stuff, but that has also been absorbed by the massive CES amoeba.

It's the place to be, so I'll be there again this year. If you are going to be attend, drop me a line and we'll meet for a coffee and an chat.

Pencils Ready - Mez is hiring!

I am often asked "Mezmeriz sounds cool, how can I get involved". Previously, the answer has been "Work for all equity, and I'll see about paying in dollars later".

No more!

We have actually been hiring for a little while now, but doing it quietly. Today we posted our first public hiring notice for Memzeriz to Craigslist.


Engineers not using pencils can also apply
If you are interested and qualified, send us a letter and resume. Tell your friends to too!

If you are still interested in joining the company, but not a circuit design engineer, don't fret! We'll be doing more public hiring soon. Look for a jobs page to appear on our website, and lots of other fun stuff to come soon.

Save These Dates: April 10 & 11, 2008

Make attending the 2008 Cornell Entrepreneurship Celebration your New Year's resolution:


plus, April in Ithaca is spectacular!
Last year the event sold out over two weeks in advance and most events were standing room only. This thing is huge and getting bigger. Be part of it!

Click here to learn more and to get on the mailing list.

The SUV of TV's

A quote from this article in today's Wall Street Journal: "42-inch plasma set can consume more electricity than a full-size refrigerator". On average, the television is now the 4th biggest consumer of electricity in the home.

Gosh, what ever should we do?
Fortunately, we at Mezmeriz are working on a solution. Our 60" television will run on less than $5 electricity a year. If you see Al Gore, he can thank me later.

EntrepreneurKind

Fellow Cornell MBA Kevin Saliba was recently promoted to CEO of innovative art company ImageKind. Congratulations Kevin!


Serious about Artist Entrepreneurs
ImageKind allows artists to be entrepreneurs. The site allows artists to directly sell high quality prints of their work. ImageKind charges a flat fee to put the artwork on high quality paper, canvas, and/or frame it. The artist gets to set their own royalty rate. It's that simple!

PS. Mom, after you buy me a Comet Skateboard, I'd like a print of
Yeti by Christopher Bonnette for Christmas.

Big for the Unders

The new and improved Cornell Undergraduate Business Idea Competition is back and better than ever. The emphasis is on good ideas. The best ideas solve real problems with novel and cost effective solutions.


The Deadline is December 7th!
Got Ideas? Enter the Big Idea Competition! All you need to do is answer 5 simple questions. Submit your idea here.

Things Also Called Mezmeriz

Shahyaan is the one who originally came up with the name. I bought the URL and added a few "Z"'s (that's "zed" to my Canadian friends). We thought it was a pretty cool and unique name. However, with the power of the internet, we have been able to find others using a similar approach:

System of a Down has an album called Mezmerize


Steve Madden makes a shoe called Mezmeriz


Nintendo has a "game" for PS3 called Mezmerize


This stud horse is called Mezmarize and is available for breeding:

MesmerEyes is a high-fashion eyewear store at the Bellagio in Las Vegas:

Nonetheless, we like the name and we'll run with it.

Green Skateboards Go Live

Ithaca startup e2e Materials has teamed up with Comet Skateboards to make the worlds greeenest skateboard. It went on sale yesterday and they are already selling like organic ice cream on a globally warm day!


Look into my Green Eyes
You probably are thinking, "Aren't skateboards made out of wood and therefore biodegradeable and good for the planet?" The reason the answer is "No" is in the formaldehyde. It turns out that the nasty glue used to hold all that organically grown wood together is an environmental disaster.

That's where e2e Materials comes in.

The resins and bonding processes used in these skateboards are based on research at Cornell by e2e co-founder Anil Netravali. These new materials and manufacturing techniques result in a stronger, lighter skateboard that is completely environmentally friendly. They are like the Prius of skateboards!

Be cool, be green. Click here to buy yours in time for the holiday gift season!

PS: Mom, I'd like the one with the psychedelic space afro guy on it.

Who's That Girl?

I get a lot of wink-wink inquiries about the girl on the Mezmeriz website. I was messing around with the site tonight decided that I liked this picture a lot, but couldn't figure out how to incorporate it into the site:


Wink-wink? Drink-drink
So, who is she really? I can't say.

I used to say something cutesy like "I'll introduce you when you invest", but that kind of made me sound like a pimp. And it's not true.

I have also said, "Pretty tattooed women? Ithaca is full of them!" That used to be kind of a snarky answer, but the recent Ithaca Times came out yesterday with local fitness instructor Frances Pollack and her memorable tattoos on the cover. She's not the same person who is on the Mez website, but it does prove the statement.

Tetrapreneurship

John P. Reilly of Tetragenetics recently hosted the Cornell Johnson School Entrepreneurship Club at their laboratories in Ithaca.

John explained what they do at Tetragenetics, and it has nothing to do with those cute little painted tetra fish.


Fish? Ha, no, we make proteins
It turns out that they use a little amoeba-like organism called Tetrahymena to make special proteins. They sell those proteins to researchers who are making new and better pharmaceuticals. It's really amazing technology, and yet another promising startup in Ithaca based on Cornell technology.

Thanks JPR!

Pumpkin Head

This is my $1 jack-o-lantern:



Ok, it's not even a real pumpkin, but "plastic bowl head" doesn't sound nearly as catchy.

Rugger

I have been playing rugby with the MBA students. This is a picture after playing four games in one day in Philadelphia:


Big Country, 3rd from left
They gave me the fun nickname of "Big Country". With apologies to Bryant Reeves, I do like the moniker. A Southerner in upstate New York stands out as much as I do among these guys. Instead of "awkwardly tall guy", I get Big Country. Solid.

Lighting the Fuse

Another quick event announcement: Fuse 2007 is a conference sponsored by the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. This conference was been successful at promoting technology and entrepreneurship in upstate New York. I'll be there Tuesday and Wednesday, and I hope you will be too!

Fun with Nanotech

Just a quick note, the Johnson School is having a cool seminar this Friday.

It's a great deal at just $10! Come one, come all, sign up here!

Scrimple in the News

Local startup Scrimple.com was featured in The Cornell Daily Sun.

Matt Ackerson is a great entrepreneur. Keep an eye on these guys, if for no other reason than they have coupons for free beer!

Friggin' Lazers

If there is only one thing I wish, it's that I can have a television with friggin' lazers. As Shelbi (and Doctor Evil) might say, LaaaaZZzeeers.


I have ONE simple request - Friggin' Lazers!
Ok, enough goofing. Mezmeriz has made significant strides towards our laser (sorry, no Z) television. The demo works and it is awesome. Good times!

Startup Idol

Cornell startup Systanix is in an American Idol-like competition for fame and funding. They are finalist for the Forbes Boost Your Business Contest and they need your vote!


A Dynamite Company
You should vote for Systanix because Steve and Tyler are super nice guys. If you need more of a reason, I could tell you that they have developed an awesome new technology that will reduce the waste in pharmaceutical manufacturing by up to 90%. That means drugs, especially generics, will be even cheaper for everyone. It also means they are reducing the amount of waste that gets dumped out in the world. They help you, they help the environment - let's help them!

Click here to vote today!

Wulle Bulle

I spent a long weekend in Havre De Grace visiting my friend Andrew who lives at Bulle Rock. It's a beautiful place, so as I was leaving I grabbed a video of the club house and some of the grounds.

The running of the Bulle
Interesting local trivia factoid: the gabled house I pass was featured prominently in the movie Tuck Everlasting. Oh, and they play a major golf tournament here too.

New Additune

Pickin' hot, Pickin' cold
I was downloadin' into overload
It was extreme
Some iTunes were high, some low
So low, there was nowhere to go
From a baaaad song

Now the songs are uncrossed, turntables got unturned
Never knew I had such a lesson to learn

I'm feelin' good from my headphones to shoes
It tells what song's I'm likin' and just what to do
It tidied up downloaded iTunes
I got a new Additune


I'm in control, my worries are few
'Cause I've found songs I love that never knew
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
I got a new Additune

I'm listenin' to new songs, new tunes
Brand new beats, as a matter of fact I've changed for good
It must have been the cool code, free ware, new site
I don't have to pay them but I feel like I should

Somehow the wires uncrossed, the turntables unturned
Never knew I had such a lesson to learn

I'm feelin' good from my headphones to my shoes
It tells what song's I'm likin' and just what to do
I tidied up my downloaded iTunes
I got a new Additune

I'm in control, my worries are few
'Cause I've found songs I love that never knew
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
I got a new Additune

my sincere apologies to the lovely and talented Ms. Patti Labelle


Ok, even if you don't like my silly song lyrics, please check out the new startup by my good friend Justin Smithline, Additune. It's a fun, free way to find great new music in iTunes!

Thousand Ideas

This past weekend a group of Ithaca entrepreneurs took a trip to the Thousand Islands. It was a weekend of delicious beer, great food, and enthusiastic entrepreneurial chatter.

House of Big Ideas
In attendance we had Tom, Fox, Jon, Andrew, and John. A creative and hard working crew to a man. We kicked around some big ideas. John taught us all about Blue Ocean Strategy, and Fox taught us how to catch huge pike:


Big Fish from a Big Thinker
Entrepreneurship can often times be a lonely activity. Having smart and motived like minded peers like these guys makes all the difference.


The next big opportunity is right there

A special thanks to Jon's father in law for letting us stay on his private island, Club Jer.

Leaving Sage, For Now

Zach and I shared an office for past the year. It's a nice office. Today is the last day I depart it. This is a video of my journey each day for the past year.


Out is the Start of the Next New
The path through the atrium and out the stairs is special to me. As a student MBA at Cornell at the beginning of this millennium, I cherished this entrance. Leaving meant going home after a long day of MBA stuff.

Sage Hall has always been a welcoming and special place. As a result, departing is bittersweet. Each time it hits me.

I'll be back, that is for sure. As I said to my team at SightSpeed, "This is not a goodbye, just a 'See you later'".

Ciao Sage.
-------------------

Free Mystery Beer is the Best Beer

Is there anything better than free beer? I have the answer: Free mystery beer. Who doesn't love a mystery? Who doesn't love beer? Put them together, and you have a virtual heaven guarded by Colonel Mustard in the Library with the Candlestick. But I digress.

My good friend Matt has scored the complete hook up for all of us. Free mystery beer, via Scrimple.com:


Scroll, scroll (down on the page) for the mystery!
The website Scrimple.com has all sorts of great free coupons. I used to hate coupons. Coupons are for scissor wielding weirdos. No more. I just print and scrimp. And then I get free beer. I now love coupons.

Thanks Matt! Thanks Level B!

Wells Falls

Out my window I can hear a waterfall. Recently I went for a jog down Water Street to Giles Avenue and discovered that not only is there a beautiful waterfall, but it is an awesome swimming hole.

Cool me down, oh sweet falls
This waterfall is called Wells Falls. It is where Giles Avenue crosses Six Mile Creek. There are two great jumping-off points, as highlighted in this terrible PaintShop mock-up.

I had been used to looking at a frozen Well's waterfall for the better part of a year. Swimming in it is much nicer.

Entrepreneur's Barbecue

This Friday June 29th is the annual Finger Lakes Entrepreneurs Barbecue. Delicious eats and lots of tales of wild pre-IPO companies taking on the world from the shores of beautiful Cayuga Lake.


BBQ and Weird Interlocking Rings = Entrepreneurship!
There will be stories told, resumes inflated, and investors chastised. A good time for all entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, former entrepreneurs, friends of entrepreneurs, or people looking to meet entrepreneurs. Heck, everyone with $17 who can spell "entrepreneur" is invited!

Click here to learn more and sign up today.

An Open Letter: Introduction to the Cornell Entrepreneurs in Residence for 2007-08

Dear fellow entrepreneurs,

As many of you know, my final day as Cornell's Entrepreneur in Residence is June 30th. It has been an exciting year that has flown by. I have enjoyed the experience immensely. I want to especially thank Zach Shulman and Scott MacFarlane for making this role happen.

Between now and then, I want to make sure that I am able to smoothly hand-off the EIR duties to my competent successors. I am pleased and flattered to have spawned a position that will be carried on by Jim Quest and Cliff Lardin.

Jim Quest was appointed the Entrepreneur In Residence for the Hotel School in the spring of this year, and has embraced the role with vigor. He is an experienced entrepreneur and mentor who is a truly remarkable addition to the Cornell entrepreneurship community. His varied and successful career spans over 40 years. I encourage you to learn more by reading Jim Quest's official bio.


Cliff Lardin will take over my specific role within the Johnson School. While this position originates from the Entrepreneurship at Johnson program, Cliff's reach is university-wide. Cliff's strong entrepreneurial and technical background in a number of successful technology companies makes him an excellent fit fostering the type of high-tech businesses that are so prevalent at Cornell, without leaving behind the creative low tech companies that are spawning from the university. I encourage you to learn more by reading Cliff Lardin's official bio.

It has been a delight and a thrill to have this position, and I look forward to staying in touch and hearing about the continued success of every single Cornell entrepreneur I have had the pleasure of working with. If there is anything that I can do between now and June 30th, please do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,
Brad

___________________________________________
Brad Treat
Entrepreneur In Residence
Cornell University

Hey Brad, What's next?

Someone formerly close to me randomly asked "Hey Brad, what's next?". I take that question as a challenge and sincere inquiry. The entrepreneur's lifestyle is full of fluidity and variation. I was asked that question recently by a reporter, and he wrote about it in his article that I would call "Hey Cornell Entrepreneur In Residence, now what?"

My next big thing is Mezmeriz. We are going to make a thin television that is

• 10x lighter
  
• 10x cheaper
• 30x more energy efficient

We have unique and patent pending technology developed by my co-founder. This is a $25BB market that is growing at 30% a year. It's hot space that is going to get hotter when we come to market.

As a side note, I still find it weird when people call me Mister Treat. My dad was Doctor Treat, so it's not that father/son identity thing. My sister is a legitimate Dr. Treat (*and veritable lost children saint).

I'm just Brad. Hi, nice to meet you.

About Starting My New York Story

This Wednesday at 5pm I will be the guest speaker at the Syracuse Technology Garden business roundtable where I will be discussing my experience and observations on Starting and Growing a Business in Central New York.

It should be a fun time. I am gearing up for a discussion that is both a little bit of help, and a little bit of plea for improvement. I look forward to a lively discussion and I hope you can be there. Click here to learn more.

Inland Surfing

One of my favorite bumper stickers is "Surf West Virginia". It's a reference to whitewater kayaking in that beautiful state. Since they beat us to it, and New York has actual ocean waves, a "Surf New York" bumper sticker doesn't have quite the cache, but it could.

This spring I taught a whitewater kayaking class at Cornell and we had such a strong crop of students that many of them were surfing river waves by the end of the second day on the water!


Surf Upstate
We were on the lovely Salmon River, surfing a fun spot called Titanic. Here are some of the stars of the show strutting their stuff:



Mike surfs Titanic

Brendan surfs Titanic

James surfs, then swims Titanic
We had a wonderful day and everyone was happy and tired at the end. And the best news is that half of the students are shopping for kayaks! Whooo!

Mezmeriz at the DFJ NYC VC Event

On Monday, Shahyaan and I participated in the DFJ East Coast Venture Challenge. We were presenting Mezmeriz and competing against a truly remarkable field of startups.


Tangerine Tie Dreams
We didn't win the $250K first prize investment money. That went to the truly deserving team from Princeton, SteriCoat. The judging of these competitions has got to be tough because how do you really compare a TV company (us), to a sterilization company, to a truck aerodynamics company, to a dishware company, to a video search company? Apples to oranges to crab cakes. They are just so different.

The question I heard the most after we presented was "aren't you nervous about finding out the winner?" Oddly, the answer was no. The most nervous part is the lead up until the presentation begins. Once I have the microphone and get going, my nerves are smooth. The thing I worry about more than anything is falling down as I walk to the lectern.

The session closed with Tim Draper singing "The Riskmaster", a song he commissioned via a charity auction, and really sums up his perspective on investing. The one way to summarize this guy is that he loves gutsy entrepreneurs, and they love him back.

PS. My thanks to Dean Collins for taking the picture.

Reading My Own Press

I usually don't re-post my own press, but I especially liked the recent cover story in Small Business Technology Magazine about, well, me (and six other people):


Grinning about what's next
I especially like this because they asked a lot of fun questions. You can only see a third of the interview online free, but if you see a copy of the paper version, there is more fun stuff beyond including what my favorite movie is, and why.

Thanks Joanna!

Through the Macrotrees to the Nanoday

Today I am at the University of Maryland's Nanocenter for their Second Annual Nanoday Conference. I drove down here via the Baltimore-Washington Parkway:

Lush
The foliage is in full bloom in Maryland. While the leaves are just peaking through in Ithaca, driving down the BW Parkway was like driving through a forest. If the cars weren't buzzing through, I think the trees would take back the road.

Re Union of the Sage

Johnson School force is ready
I knew this was no big mistake
There's a fine group drawing
My friends together
For a June reunion break



If I listen close I can hear them singers
-ooh ooh Sage-
Voices of old friends heard in atrium echo
Re Union of the Sage is on the climb
Moving up they’re gonna race they’re gonna break
Tompkins county line

Carbombs at the Chappy
Give me strength make my head light
Give me anything even Ithaca IPA
Those Canadians will go all night

The Union of the Sage is on the climb
It's gonna race it's gonna break
Gonna move up Tompkins County Line

(my appologies to Duran Duran and anyone who knows how to properly use photoshop)

Snow Truck

Yesterday I was in sunny Chapel Hill. Today I returned to snowy Ithaca. More driving video:

Strangers in the Snow
Soundtrack courtesy of Frank Sinatra. Frank in the snow. It's poetic, beautiful, and damned annoying.

If you don't care for that music selection, here are two other road videos in the snow with different soundtracks:

• The Fat Boys
• Bon Jovi

Driving to RDU

Shahyaan and I are in North Carolina this week presenting Mezmeriz at the Venture Capital Investment Competition at the University of North Carolina business school.

I had set up a series of meeting up and down the east coast, so I ended up driving down. I had to wait a little bit before picking up Shahyaan at Raleigh-Durham airport, so I shot this video


So Sunny
When Shahyaan left Ithaca, it was 22 degrees and sleeting. It was 70 and sunny at RDU.
Beautiful.

List of Current Cornell Startups

Recently Cornell published a list of startups that use patents and intellectual property develop at the university. They highlight Achronix, Novomer, and Tetragenetics. Those are great companies to profile. However, I want to highlight a few more:

Afrik!: Fritswa's designs merge imagery from the countries of the African Diaspora with modern hip hop fashion, serving as a way for young hip hop minds to consider their heritage.

BinOptics: Alex and his team are making lasers that are smaller, cheaper, and more precise than anything out there.

Colinsworth: They have created a suite of technologies and services that allow people to safely buy high valued items on eBay without fear of fraud or counterfeiting. Disclaimer: #1: I am on the advisory board.

e2e: Makers of a cheaper, better version of particle board; all from bio-friendly materials. Fiberboard is a $7BB industry that creates a product from petroleum (bad) that pollutes offices with formaldehyde gas (also bad).

Fingerlakes Aquaculture: They grow fish. Indoors. You would be blown away by how high tech this operation is. The technology is around how well they clean the water, allowing them to reuse 99% of it. Next time you order a fresh, delicious tilapia filet in the northeast, there is a good chance it came from these guys.

Kexster: Find your next house or apartment on a map. This free service lets you see prices and availability.

Mezmeriz: Revolutionary new miniature high-definition video projection system which is based on proprietary new microelectronic mechanical (MEMS) mirror technology. That is tech lingo for "awesome new TV's". Disclaimer #2: This is my current startup.

Gene Network Sciences: Colin and his team are helping make drug discovery better and faster.

Mitegen: Tiny scoops for picking up tiny fragile crystals. If you are moving crystals around at a micro-scale, these guys are the only game in town.

Pure Yummies: Delicious organic health drinks naturally sweetened with pure miel de agave. Berry Beautiful is my favorite.

Scrimple: Matt and his team are collecting free coupons for all the things a college student could want.

Simply Audiobooks: Rent, buy, or download your favorite audiobooks. I love listening to books in the car, and these guys do it better than anyone.

SightSpeed: The world's best video conferencing software. The software rocks and is free. And the "World's Best" claim is courtesy of PC World, who have given SightSpeed that award for the past four years. Disclaimer #3: I am the founder of this company too.

Systanix: They have developed a way to revolutionize the way drugs are manufactured. They will enable new pharmaceuticals to come to market cheaper and faster than ever before. And they will drive the cost of generics even lower. These guys are the epitome of "disruptive technology".
___________________________________________

These companies are just the tip of the iceberg. I carry with me a sheet of over 70 Cornell startups in progress. The entrepreneurial spirit emitting from Ithaca and the Cornell community couldn't be stronger. Go Big Red Entrepreneurship!

Polly Sees Polly

Justin, Adam, and I were working on Mezmeriz this weekend in New York City. Adam brought his little fluffy dog so I shot this video of Polly.

Fluffy and Ferocious
It's easy to get Polly worked up into a tizzy. A you have to do is point the webcam at her. When she sees herself on the screen, she gets agitated. Since I had my computer connected to a projector, the extra large image of herself caused her to be extra agitated.

But really, it's the little pink sweater that seals the deal here. You Gotta give her credit for attitude, but really, how scary can you be when you weight 8 pounds and are wearing a pink sweater?

High Above Cayuga's Water, on the Other Hill

I am part of the innovative Pre-Seed Workshop. This time they are holding the workshop at the former home of National Cash Register's Adding Machine Division in Ithaca.

The factory was shuttered completely in 2000. Since then it has been renovated and is now called the South Hill Business Campus. The north hill is the hill revered in the ubiquitous Cornell alma mater. The south hill is home to Ithaca College, and this view from the former NCR board room:

It all adds up to a great view
At the end are the people on my pre-seed team working on their brain surgery software. Enjoy the view!

Flattery by Improvement

Charles Caleb Colton famously said that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". I could not have been more flattered than when the Cornell Hotel School chose not to imitate, but to improve on the Entrepreneur In Residence role by selecting Jim Quest to serve in that position for their college.


The Man with the Perfect Entrepreneur Name!
Jim Quest was recently announced as the Cornell Hotel School Entrepreneur In Residence. Congratulations Jim!

I have seen Jim in action and he knows how to stoke the entrepreneurial flame burning within his students. They could not have picked a better guy. His addition to the educational ranks sets a new high mark for excellence by bringing more real-world experience to the top hospitality school in the world.

Dean Johnson, well done!

It's a Celebration!

The biggest Cornell Entrepreneurship event of the year is just around the corner. Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration 2007 is April 19 & 20, and everyone is officially invited!


Come Celebrate in Ithaca

• To register, click here.
• To see a list of events, click here.
• To see who's already coming, click here.

To paraphrase the eloquent John Jaquette, "Celebrating entrepreneurship is a beautiful thing". I look forward to seeing your name on the list of attendees!

No Shoes, No Problem

Adam and I are in Florida. We played golf at the Chi Chi Rodriguez Golf Club today. Beautiful grounds; tough course. We played our modified version of a Skins game. He won. Barely.

After golf, we hung out by the pool at our hotel. Free beer, wine, and nachos at the pool. I decided to capture the moment on video.


No wine? Problem!
We are going to watch some Toronto Blue Jays spring training baseball tonight. It's 36 degrees in Ithaca. It's 81 in Tampa. I'm barefoot. It's awesome. Aaaahhhh...

Recording Me Recording You

The recently released SightSpeed 6.0 allows you to record live calls. I recorded this video conversation of SightSpeed CTO Aron Rosenberg talking about it.

I record you
I posted this up to YouTube, and they do their image quality down-sampling. The original if this is really sharp, but you get the idea. It's a cool new feature added to a bunch of existing cool features.

Zero 7 on Eighty 3

I travel a lot. I prefer to travel by car. On Monday I was driving on I-83. It's late in the winter and it looks like even the roads are tired. It's a somber feeling and I was in a somber mood so I put on Zero 7. In order to break my emo mood, I decided to nerd it up and take a SightSpeed video blog.

Different places to me
The audio sounds so-so, and you can hear me eating carrots. But it's a nice snap of a mid-Atlantic road in winter.

Addendum: I have had reports of my highway video not working. If so, here is the original Zero 7 video :

Venture Bracketology

This weekend I traveled to Toronto with a team of MBA students from Cornell who were competing in the Venture Capital Investment Competition.


Meet Jon, Mohan, Ash, John, Eric
The VCIC is a unique competition where the student teams act as if they are real-life venture capitalists and they analyze real companies. The whole thing is run by college basketball powerhouse The University of North Carolina. As all things in Chapel Hill are influenced by basketball, so is this competition. They have adopted the bracket philosophy in that the winner of each round advances to the next round. Fortunately for the Cornell team, they had such a strong showing that they won first place in this round and will advance to the next round at NYU!


Cornell Wins!
This is the third time I have attended this event. The first time was as an MBA student. The second time SightSpeed (then called QVIX) presented as one of the entrepreneurial teams. This time I attended as a faculty observer. It's a great event, and encourage every MBA student interested in either venture capital or high-growth entrepreneurship to attend.

Blizzard Day

In my native state of North Carolina, two flakes of snow shuts the place down and gives everyone a snow day. In my current home in Ithaca, New York, it takes a snowy icy blizzard to get anyone's attention. Mother Nature's Valentine's Day gift to us was a record snow storm. Of course, I shot video:

Happy Snowy Valentine's Day
In all clouds there is a silver lining. Fellow entrepreneur (and practicing venture capitalist) Zach Shulman and I took an excursion in his burly 4x4 to Greek Peak, Ithaca's premier ski destination. With fresh powder on almost every run, and absolutely no lines, it was nice to have a snow day. Correction; It was nice to have a blizzard day.

Big Idea Cash

Each year Cornell's student run venture capital fund BR Ventures holds a Business Idea Competition. This is a simple, fun way for aspiring entrepreneurs to move their business forward.

Is your idea worthy of $10,000?
This competition is easy to enter, and open to everyone. The best submissions are well written and easy to understand. As your friendly neighborhood entrepreneur in residence, here's what I suggest you explain in the first three sentences:

1. What do you do? (in simple language my mom would understand)
2. Why is your idea for a company special?
3. Why are you going to make tons of money?

The submission deadline is March 4th. If you have multiple ideas, you can submit multiple times.

Good luck!

Babies and Puppies

I often joke that the main thing people use SightSpeed for is videos of babies and puppies. Since baby Gage is wearing his puppy sleeper, his parents covered both topics in one blog post:

1 Month!!!

Hey guys! We've made it! We're now 1 month old to the day. Really we're 4 weeks and 3 days but who's counting? So, I thought I'd share with you what a typical morning looks like lately. Here he is...in all his morning splendor. Enjoy!!!

One Hundred Year Old Haircut

I got my haircut yesterday at the Cornell Barber Shop. This place is frozen in time, in the best way.

They have been giving the same haircut the same way for 100 years. You can go in and ask them for whatever style you want, but you are going to get the same haircut as the crew team. Here's what happened to my shaggy locks:

Regardless of the limiting fashion options and the fact that a crew cut provides no protection against an Ithaca winter, the experience is pitch perfect. Everyone knows everyone. They don't have a phone and they don't take reservations or credit cards. They are going to either call you "coach" or "moose", based on your age. And they use hot lather and a straight blade to do the finishing shave. They have been doing it this way for 100 years, and will probably keep doing it for a 100 more.

Andy's got a job

My good friend and business partner Andy Lufburrow recently took the first job of his entire life. A lifelong entrepreneur, he decided to take a job with IBM. He posts this note and video message in his blog, Luff's Stuff:

Andy in Armonk


Well, it's official now, I am a real IBM Rational Employee. They flew me to the IBM Learning Center in NY to learn all about IBM, and being a part of Big Blue's culture. It's pretty exciting seeing how I never worked for a company over 20 people my entire life, and now I am one of 330,000... IBM swag for everyone!

River Vids

When not shilling for SightSpeed, or teaching entrepreneurship, I am an avid whitewater kayaker. In the late Spring, I even teach whitewater kayaking at Cornell.

Kayaking with Brad is Fun!
The basic kayaking class is geared towards anyone, but this semester we are going to teach an intermediate whitewater kayaking course at Cornell as well.

These courses are open to everyone - not just students. Everyone from the community is invited. I can guarantee it's a good time, and hopefully one day you will be as good as my co-instructor Jamie. See him demonstrate his advanced skills in these two videos from Cascadilla Creek in Ithaca:

Jamie on Cascadilla Creek, Part 1

Jamie on Cascadilla Creek, Part 3

Bruce on the Rio Negro

Bruce sent out another awesome video from Brazil. This time he took this video while racing down the Rio Negro river in a speedboat.

Boat to the Heart of Rioness

Then he had their guide explain what the Rio Negro was all about. You may think it is all about water, but as this video history of the Rio Negro explains, it is much more!

Pointing out the History
One of the most interesting things he says is that this area doesn't have many mosquitoes. How awesome is that! It's warm, tropical river with no mosquitoes. Sounds like heaven.

Brazilian Monkey

Bruce went to Brazil and caught this video of the friendly monkeys.

Monkey Dance!
As many people know, I am a big fan of monkeys. There are fewer things funnier than a monkey. Adam would probably say a donkey is funnier, but I maintain that monkeys are still in the lead in the competition for funniest animal.

Starting with Sin, ending with Sin

Funny place this Las Vegas. I was in town for CES, and I should be used to the gambling and all that, but really, do you need it right as you get off the plane? Apparently the answer is yes. It's comical in its own way.



Lucky Flight!

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised - it's Vegas. You gotta give'm credit the full embrace of the place. Pretty soon those guys with the little flippy cards with "escorts" on them will be in baggage claim. Vegas.