See them now

Coming soon… Video from the Boat Cruise and Pitch Party.

Big Thanks To: Fernando Gonzalez for the talented photography

Thanks to our sponsors, HomeAway, who provided our cash prizes, and Microsoft, who gave away a XBox/Kinect and paid our bar tab, we are happy to announce the winners of the 10th Annual Pitch Party:

#1 Prize: Natalie Barnard

#2 Place: Daniel Appel

#3 Place: Rishi Kumar

Microsoft Special Prize (XBox/Kinect): Larcombe Teichgraeber

HomeAway Special Prize: Josh Tinch

More Details, Photos, and Videos to Come…

See presentation here.

Can you do better than these guys?

1.) We need to collect dues from all of you who have not paid. Please bring a check to school made out to Entrepreneur Society for $60 and it in Jon Spillman’s mailbox in Carpenter. This will be the easiest method for us, so we do not have to hunt each and every one of you down to collect checks and confiscate adult beverages from those who do not pay.. IF you must, you can bring a check to the ES Boat Cruise. If you insist on paying in cash, that’s fine, but we prefer checks. Again, the $60 covers your lifetime dues, your ticket onto the Boat Cruise and grants you a $10 discount to Start Up Meet Up in the spring.

2.) For those of y’all with PayPal accounts, please send $60 to  EntrepreneurSociety@mccombs.utexas.edu  (Make sure to specify it’s personal or friends & family so that PayPal doesn’t deduct $2)

3.) To start off the semester right and welcome our new members, we are having an ES sponsored boat cruise on Thursday, September 1st. The boat leaves at 6:00pm, but try to get there at 5:30pm. The boat will return to the dock at 8:00pm so that we can head to the Think N’ Drink.

Ladies, we will make a stop to drop you off at 7pm if you are going to be at the GWIB event at at Garrido’s. Please see this link for parking information and directions to the dock where the boat will be departing.

Boat Cruise Map and Directions

The dock is on the Lady Bird Lake running trail on the South bank, west of Congress, just behind the Hyatt Hotel.  Please call any of the ES officers if you need help finding the place.  We will provide adult beverages and water…and light snacks will be served so plan accordingly.

We look forward to seeing everyone there!

[Show as slideshow]

Companies Confirmed:
Affinegy
BabyEarth
Bazaarvoice
campus2careers
Enspire Learning
Infochimps
Knowbility
Mutual Mobile
Patronism.com
SpareFoot.com
TabbedOut
vConstruct

The Entrepreneur Society hosted three McCombs graduates for a panel entitled, ‘MBA… Now What?’ A paraphrased transcript follows:

Panelists

Luke Jones, Class of 2011 President, opened up the session with a few questions and then opened it up to the floor.

What are the merits of getting work experience before starting your venture versus launching it directly out of your MBA program?

Brian mentioned that the “thought of joining Microsoft was the last thing” on his mind coming out of school, but it was helpful to pay off debt and buy some time while he looked for key partnerships, a point he reiterated throughout the night. He pointed out that the “golden handcuffs” are very real, meaning that there’s a 3-5 year window where those that go the corporate route have before they can’t walk away from the MBA salary. He recommended “don’t buy the BMW” if you don’t want to be tied down to corporate life. Instead, “fly your entrepreneurial flag” at your company to hook up with others interested in entrepreneurship and find partners.

Eric mentioned that it’s “hard to raise money, but it’s harder still to raise money with just an MBA.” In his opinion, getting experience with a larger organization will help give you legitimacy when talking to investors, but that experience needs to be relevant; working in oil & gas won’t really help you much if you want to get into tech.

He also mentioned that although the allure of money is real and it’s almost impossible to leave once you get sucked in, you can start a company on nights and weekends while you’re still drawing a salary to hedge some of your risk.

Looking back, what would you have done differently in the MBA program?

All the panelists agreed that sales is hard to learn, is undertaught in MBA programs, and yet it’s the lifeblood of organizations. Naruby recommended what has been said before in other circles – “take an internship selling door-to-door – even if it’s knives – just to get sales experience.”

Eric suggested taking plenty of opportunities to travel on a personal level while your opportunity cost of time is still cheap, but also to get involved and meet people, build your network. Take advantage of the concentrated network of bright, motivated people while you can – don’t just hang out with the same people all the time. He said he gets calls and emails from friends and acquaintances from business school all the time to come work with them.

How did you use the alumni network to help your startup?

The panelists agreed that the McCombs brand is a “known quantity” and to use the alumni network to help, but to remember that there are tons of other organizations out there that can help as well. Check out austinentrepreneurnetwork.org/resources-for-entrepreneurs for an encyclopedic list of Austin area entrepreneurial resources.

What are other good resources to use?

The panelists suggested that in addition to your network, your professors, specifically John Doggett, Jim Nolen, and Rob Adams. Pick an advisor that you’re not pitching to for funding and have them help you refine your story, business plan, pitch, etc.

What classes were more or less beneficial?

Doggett, Nolen, Adams’ classes – all of them – were great, said the panelists. In addition, Rueben McDaniel’s Managing Complexity was highly recommended, as well as Advocacy by John Daly. Entrepreneurial Law and Corporate Governance were also mentioned as great entrepreneurial classes.

How do you establish a culture when all of your employees aren’t in the same location?

Brian said they use a look for the best person regardless of their location; this creates an issue where they have employees all over the world. As a result, they advocate more of their budget to travel; Brian visits all of the employees often. Additionally, the CEO must be an effective cheerleader, uniting employees behind the cause.

To Naruby, what has been your experience raising capital?

To date, Naruby said, Ordoro has been trying to bootstrap. However, experiences such as New Venture Creation (Rob Adams’ class where you write a business plan from scratch and then pitch it in a business plan competition), Texas Venture Labs’ Business Plan Competition (Moot Corp), and interactions with some of the big entrepreneurial professors will prep you well for standing in front of investors.

How do you prepare for the higher amount of risk you’ll carry as an entrepreneur?

It’s tough, the panelists agreed, but the key is to have confidence in yourself. Eric said that in every successful venture, the founders were told their idea wouldn’t work at some point. Be prepared to be told “no” many times over.

Brian suggested that partnering up with someone else who shares the risk, pain, and reward can help a lot, especially in the beginning when the path is the scariest and darkest. Passion and confidence will have to carry you.

What steps should you take to make sure your partnerships are positive ones?

Brian talked about how a potential new CEO didn’t join because he wanted to hammer out the brass tacks of the ownership structure and vesting equity. Brian couldn’t do it because their culture was built on trust, and if it’s not right at the beginning, your relationship isn’t going to get better over time. It’s kind of like dating, the panelists agreed.

VPs: Kim Bell, Christine Chen, Adam Glick, David Isquick, Ben Pruden, Jonathan Spillman