2010

PART 4
FREE

MEI LING IN THE US

OUR 3 WEEK TOUR DISCOVERING

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM
ENDED IN SILICON VALLEY, THE
START-UP FACTORY IN CALIFORNIA.

Silicon Valley: it’s up in the air

Okay I am infected by the Silicon Valley
virus, but it is difficult to protect yourself
against it.Cutting edge technology, sunny
weather and smart people: what else do
you need to fall in love? Walking around
at the campus of Stanford University
makes it attractive to train the brain
24/7: open buildings, terraces and flowers
to support you. The students start
experimenting with starting small
businesses in class. Doing projects on
new applications for Facebook and
developing iPhone apps for fun. Windows
seems to be illegal amongst students.
Then there is this whole ecosystem
around it that fosters further
development. Law firms that do not want
to be paid until the start-up gets
financed. Their business model is based
on the start-ups success, now that’s what
I call a synergetic collaboration.
Incubators that invite Venture Capitalists
over every week, to ‘chat’ with the
entrepreneurs. Some say there is enough
investment money here. To give an
illustration, a Twitter-like website that
exposes personal expenses (connected
to your credit card) got1.6 million dollar
to gain ‘proof-of-concept’, the CEO
couldn’t explain his final revenue model
to me.. Most social activities involve
networking, which is done in a very
systematic manner. It’s hard to drink a
coffee without exchanging at least one
business card. Oh, and the parties people
go to are called ‘the-Rewind-get’s-
acquired-by-Google-party’. Just some
ingredients to design an area that is fun,
smart, creative and profitable for some...

GET READY TO NETWORK! DOING BUSINESS AT GOOGLE NATURAL INSPIRATION

S TA N F O R D U N I V E R S I T Y

‘IF YOU WEAR A SUIT HERE, PEOPLE THINK YOU ARE

SELLING CARS’.

‘FAIL FAST, SUCCESS SOONER. IF FAIL, FAIL

EARLY. THE FOCUS IS ON QUICK PROTOTYPING AND
DIRECT CUSTOMER RESPONSE. DON’T WASTE TIME
ON ANALYZING THE MARKET, BE THERE’.

‘THE TEMPTATION TO START YOUR OWN COMPANY

HERE IS VERY HIGH. JOBS SIMPLY DON’T PAY THAT
GOOD, AND ARE OFTEN VERY INSECURE’.
Differences US and
Europe
Brilliant insights of Daniel Hulme (Kauffman
Global Scholar 2009)
Networking is an attitude
In the US they live by the rule of reciprocity.
They believe that whatever they give, it will
come back to them. They are always open to
make introductions between people. They are
not afraid that a bad introduction will badly
reflect upon themselves. Try to explicitly ask
other people to whom they can connect you
in your field of interest, 99% chance it works!
T H O U G H T S O N S I L ICO N VAL L E Y
S U C C E S S FAC TO R S
CULTURE | SOME SAY THAT THE HIPPY MOVEMENTS IN ’70 WERE
DECISIVE. THERE WAS ALWAYS A COUNTERCULTURE TO DO THINGS
DIFFERENTLY THAN OTHERS.
TECHNOLOGY | THE US DEFENSE INDUSTRY IS LOCATED IN THE
AREA. THIS CAUSES A CONSTANT NEED TO DEVELOP NEW
TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS.
UNIVERSITY | THERE IS NO ACADEMIC HOSTILITY AGAINST
COMMERCIALIZATION HERE. THE AREA HAS 284 OUT OF 1000
TECH WORKERS INSTEAD OF THE US AVERAGE OF 51 OUT OF 1000.

THINK REALLY, REALLY BIG. IN

THE US PEOPLE BELIEVE IN IT,
AND THEY MAKE IT HAPPEN. NOT
IN MILLIONS, BUT IN BILLIONS.

Dating culture
In the US dating is more systematically
arranged than in Europe (where you secretive
connect during a party and kiss afterwards,
when you are lucky). In the US you can date
multiple people at the same time. People are
exploring their options by drinking coffee
together.

Education
The impact of academic organizations on the
economical welfare is huge. In the US there is
more balance between basic and applied T H E C U LT U R E O F YO U R
research. This creates opportunities for
scientific growth as well as business
COMPANY
opportunities. It is very important that
universities have ‘academic angels’: professors
that have been entrepreneurs themselves. In ‘A GOOD ATTITUDE IS THE ONLY THING I AM LOOKING
the US many serial entrepreneurs are FOR IN MY PEOPLE’, ISADORE SHARP, FOUNDER FOUR
professors i a later stage of life. They have the SEASONS HOTEL.
ability to spot talent and motivate students to
VALUES - OBJECTIVES - STRATEGY - TACTICS -
innovate and create companies. They can
CONTROLS, THEY ALL MUST BE CONSISTENT
furthermore become personal advisors in THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE COMPANY.
their careers as well as members of the Board
of Advisory for their companies. VALUES ARE NO VIRTUES BUT DIRECTLY OBSERVABLE,
Media OFTEN SHOWN IN HOW THE BUDGET IS SPENT

In the US success in celebrated. They help
start-ups to grow by giving them positive
attention. In Europe there is a tendency to
criticize start-ups and write negative stories,
which can bring an entrepreneur down.
OBJECTIVES MUST BE SIMPLE, ACHIEVABLE AND
MEMORIZABLE. EVERY EVERY EMPLOYEE MUST DREAM
THE COMPANIES OBJECTIVES.
S I L I C O N VA L L E Y

ONLINE TOOLS I USE DAILY COME SUDDENLY SO

CLOSE. TALKING TO DEVELOPERS OF FACEBOOK,
TWITTER, AND GOOGLE MAKE ME MORE CONSCIOUS
ABOUT HOW THESE COMPANIES STARTED AND WHAT
HOW THEY MAKE MONEY TODAY.

IT ALSO MAKES ME THINK OF WHAT THE FUTURE

LOOKS LIKE. I SEE SO MANY PEOPLE WORKING ON
SOCIAL MEDIA (ONLINE NETWORKS) THAT I BEGIN
TO WONDER WHAT THE IMPACT WILL BE ON
PEOPLES LIFE IN FUTURE.
SAN FRANCISCO

WE DID THE IMPOSSIBLE IN SILICON VALLEY:

TAKE A WEEKEND OFF TO CELEBRATE YOUR FREE
TIME.

BUT WE DID IT THE SILICON VALLEY WAY,:

COMBINING IT WITH NETWORKING (SANDBOX
DINNER), A GOOD WORK OUT (UPHILL BIKING),
AND A VISIT TO VERY CREATIVE AND SUCCESSFUL
PIXAR (SEE NEXT PAGE).
 V I S I T TO P I X A R

Next Time: My Work Life in Boston with the Ernst &

Young Venture Capital Advisory Group

TIPS Many thanks to....

S THAN
1. MAKING NICER PRESENTATION ....Wendy, your program rocks!
POWERPOINT: WWW. PREZI.COM
......Thomas and everybody of
(FACEBOOK,
2. SURF IMAGES OF THE WEB
GOOGLE, YOUTUBE ETC.) IN A NEW
the team at SenterNovem for
OM
DIMENSION: WWW.COOLIRIS.C making it happen...
3. MAKE YOUR OWN UNIQUE BUS
INESS .....Mike for showing us Pixar
FOR
CARDS WITH OWN PICTURES (50 behind the scenes
$15): WWW.MOO.COM
ATE A NING
......Global Scholars and
4. ORGANIZE YOUR GROUP: CRE
NETWORK: WWW.NING.COM Faculty, for making the last
INTERNET weeks so amazing for me
5. CATCH UP WITH THE NEWEST
M
NEWS ON WWW.TECHCRUNCH.CO
DESIGN
6. NEED A LOGO OR ANY OTHER
GET ? WWW.
FOR A VERY LOW BUD
99DESIGNS.COM