I'm There For You, Baby; The Entrepreneur's Guide to the Galaxy

Unfortunately, few real entrepreneurs will read this excellent book!


Real entrepreneurs will be too busy starting, building and selling their businesses, then doing it all over again. They don't have time to read books; they're fighting for survival, riches, and Global Domination.

It's unfortunate for them because they could earn the equivalent of a Doctorate degree from the School of Hard Knocks in just a few hours of reading this extraordinarily well written and entertaining story of the adventures of a highly successful serial entrepreneur.

I couldn't put it down. Loved it. Highly recommend it for all future Masters of The Universe. 


http://www.amazon.com/There-Baby-Entrepreneur-Guide-Galaxy/dp/0983170428

Angelhood?

Yesterday I was approved for membership in San Diego Tech Coast Angels. TCA is formed for the purpose of investing in early stage startups. One of my primary purposes of joining was to learn more about how professionals evaluate the potential for success of business ventures.


While I am now a member of the club, I guess I'm not a real "angel" until I actually write a check to invest in one of the startups that have applied to TCA for funding. So far, I participated in 7 "screening sessions" and 3 "post-screening" sessions of different companies who have applied to TCA for funding.


It's quite the intellectually stimulating process! The members are very intelligent and experienced in a wide variety of businesses.


As a member, one of my responsibilities is to be on the lookout for startups that would be appealing investments for TCA. So if you are, or know of, a startup that would like to apply, please let me know!

Living on the edge

Home.

Home is in Del Mar, a small beachfront village just north of San Diego.  Home is filled with the sounds of the surf, the colors of sunset on the Pacific, the view to the far horizon, the fresh seaside air...  Home is filled with healthy plants of great variety, splashing fountains, hummingbirds.

Home is planned to perfection, a magical place for business meetings, providing maximum comfort, superior to any restaurant, or meeting room, or coffee shop, or other public place.

Home is Mikie's Fun House.

At the edge of a cliff, at the edge of the sea, at the edge of two tectonic plates, at the edge of mountains and desert, and the open sky above all, it is the meeting of multiple ecosystems.  The weather is always great and yet always changing, here at the edge. There is a great energy about this place.

Founder is the toughest, and easiest job

Founder is the hardest job in the world to be good at, 

but it is the easiest job in the world to get – 

you just have to start.

SneakerheadVC

To Achieve Great Things...

‎To achieve great things, 

two things are needed: 

A plan, 

and not quite enough time.

- 

Leonard Bernstein

Twitter bonus...

The great hidden bonus to using Twitter as one of many channels of communication is that it focuses the mind on abbreviating the message to its core.  The more brief the message, the clearer to message can be.

You need to get attention, fill a need, and urge a specific action, and do it in 140 characters or less, probably a good bit less for maximum results.

This is a medium which is ripe with possibility for research.

Rest: A thing done in peace exceeds ten in panic.

‎Work when there is work to do.

Rest when you are tired.

One thing done in peace will

most likely be better

than ten things done in panic.

I am not a hero if I deny rest;

I am only tired.

-

Susan McHenry

via Kathleen Shelton

On the challenges of life among the General Population

Over the past few months I have been getting out of my cave (Mikie's Fun House) and mixing with the General Population in ways not experienced in a long time.  Some of the reasons for this include:

1.  a modicum of notoriety due to the publishing of my book (The Spirit of Adventure), which has attracted visits from/to fellow aviators

2.  new transportation (check it out) that is way more fun than the pickup truck that I was experimenting with for the last year.

3.  renewed interest in a couple of stealth-mode startups I have been mulling for some time, which has, remarkably, put me

       a.  back in school, at UCSD, to learn about startup financing from highly experienced Venture Capitalists Neil Senturia and Barbary Bry.  No one could be more impressed with me than me, who knows me quite well, that I would willingly endure sitting in a room with 30+ students (all geniuses), for 3 hours at a clip, not just one time, but for a schedule of 9 weeks (with perfect attendance no less, and doing ALL my homework).  This ends next week, but since I have found the re-education of Mikie to be intellectually stimulating, I am planning on continuing with courses in physics, chemistry, and other subjects I intentionally skipped in college (because my priorities at the time were girls, business startups, girls, cars, and girls).

       b.  on the networking circuit, attending "Meetups" of budding entrepreneurs, seminars put on by Venture Capitalists and angel investors

       c.  even (gasp!) joining various groups in the VC and angel communities.

It may seem to those who have known me for many years that I have taken leave of my senses, but in fact these behaviors are simply evidence of being highly motivated.

However, because of the Law of Cause and Effect, there is a dark side to all of this public life stuff:

1.  The first thing to go is my highly treasured solitude, of course.  Rather, my many hours of solitude have been dramatically reduced, and therefore my time for yoga, meditation, writing, reading, and breathing have all been reduced.

2.   Exercise has been reduced.  It was already at a minimum, so any reduction is unacceptable.

3.   Food quality has been reduced.  While I still have the same vegan cook (and have for the past 26 years), I have taken more breakfast, lunch and dinner meetings and therefore consume the less than ideal meals found in public places.  Additionally, I am exposed to more impulse foods during meetings at Starbucks, etc.

4.  The results of the above have been to increase my weight and metabolic age somewhat, and a general decline in muscle tone.  Not a dramatic change in these areas, but changes nevertheless.

5.  Slight increase in stress due to a busy schedule.  My stress levels have been at or near zero for years!

So, the challenges are there, but as I am fond of saying: "It's not what happens to you, it's what you do about it that counts."  Well, the first step is in recognizing the situation for what it is.  Next is to reaffirm my overall goal of radiant good health.  And then, of course to create a Plan of Action, and execute.  (Think-Plan-Do-Repeat).

I am a master at creating Perfect Days, one at a time, and I will continue to focus on that.