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29th National Space Symposium...

Leonard Nimoy and Star Trek come to Colorado
3/20/2013 [832_ 4/26/10] - At the 26th National Space Symposium, Larry and Pat had an opportunity to have a discussion with Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame. But Nimoy is so much more than that. They decided to talk about other topics that help us learn more about him and what has shaped his character over the past 79 years as well as understanding his hot buttons. We started out by reflecting on some poetry Leonard read as 'whale song' was heard in the background...that was decades ago but it opened up insights to his current interests and concerns. When asked, Is there something businesses can do to motivate children?" His reply was an ouch. "I'm not a sociologist, I'm not a businessman, I can't speak intelligently about that. I'll tell you what I am concerned about; I'm concerned about how much television kids watch that is not uplifting, or educational or inspiring in any way. It's all about celebrity, and if you're celebrity, come and tell us about your celebrity. What have you accomplished? I'm a celebrity - I'm famous for having a lot of children, so I want a TV show - It's crazy. What we have descended to in our education, it's crazy! It's really sad, I could go on about that, I'm not going to." He had a great deal to say about advice he would give to someone following his career path. "The biggest fantasy, myth about my work, about being an actor is people who think a look will get you somewhere, be at the right place and time, that kind of thing - luck plays a big role, but I never believed that, not even as a teenager ...Education, it's all about education. Learn, learn, learn and devote yourself to a profession. Be professional about it." Larry asked, "Do you feel the U.S. is losing its position in terms of space?" Leonard replied, "Yes, I don't know to what degree this is true. I don't want to be an alarmist about this, but I do think we've got some work to do." We did end with a Vulcan salute. Listen for much, much more...   April 8th Begins 29th National Space Symposium...
Related Links: 29th National Space Symposium || Space Technology Hall of Fame® || National Space Symposium || Space Foundation || More About Nimoy || Keywords: Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek, Spock, Vulcan, National Space Symposium, Space Foundation, Education, Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award 4/26/10 Chnl: News bytes: 5458968
LISTEN to Leonard Nimoy, aka Mr. Spock

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Bootstrapping and Startups

Sarah Schupp, aggregating resources so that they're easy to find
1367_ 3/19/13 - We are speaking with Sarah Schupp, founder and CEO of UniversityParent. As fate would have it, we first heard of Sarah when we were on the Parents Board at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and Sarah was a bright young student who came to the University with a very good idea and that was the beginning of a successful bootstrapping startup. We've asked Sarah to give our listeners an overview. Basically UniversityParent is the number one destination for college parents to find everything they need to help their students. So it's everything from safe, off-campus student housing to nearby moving and storage facilities, to information on how they can help their student if they're dealing with a challenge on campus. The idea came up because Sarah was an out-of-state student here in Boulder and her parents had all kinds of questions about the local area as well as the university. Not surprisingly their questions were different than those of Sarah's as a student. Almost all of the information the university provided really was directed at the student population and not the parent population. This was crazy - parents are such big stakeholders in the student's education that they really need to be constructively involved and have the right resources available. So Sarah approached the university with "the idea" for a parent guide. They were supportive of the idea the problem was a lack of funding. Sarah's response? "I said, that's great, I'm glad you don't have any money, I'm going to make this into a business." Sarah walked downtown Boulder knocking on doors and asking people to advertise. Parents want to know about the local businesses almost as much as they want to know about the local content. Larry asked, "What resources do you offer to both parents and students?" Sarah replied, "Basically we are aggregating resources so that they're easy to find for families. That's everything from where is the academic advising center on campus; when is tuition due; when is spring break. Some of these questions don't seem to be serious, like when is spring break, but they're important because parents have to book flights and arrange travel." Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: UniversityParent.com || Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship || Economy Builders || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Sarah Schupp, UniversityParent, Crash Course Series for Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneurs Unplugged, New Tech Meetup, Entrepreneurship, Silicon Flatiron Center, bytes=6915451
LISTEN TO: Sarah Schupp, CEO, UniversityParent

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Ed's back with IPM

Ed von Bleichert, it's time to get rid of the pests
1365_ 3/15/13 - We are back with Edward von Bleichert, Manager Environmental Operations, for the Department of Facilities Management at the University of Colorado Boulder, a demanding responsibility where Ed almost plays different roles to accomplish these varied and important services, from capturing Brown Bears and Mountain Lions that wander onto campus, to solving the huge issues of providing solutions to recycling options. Today we're going to talk about Integrated Pest Management [IPM]. First an overview of what that means. IPM similar to Zero Waste [ZW] has many definitions but for our purposes, it is essentially a focus on safe and effective long-term control and prevention of pests. Whatever you want to determine as a pest. The point is, pesticides are a part of that tool kit we use, but they're not the first tool that we reach for. Any time we use pesticides, we're very careful, specifically speaking to indoor structures, not to impact indoor air quality, not to expose people to pesticides. Which essentially means the majority of our pesticide applications are in the form of a gel base or granulers or some type of pheromone. We do not do aerosol sprays, liquid sprays, crack and crevice treatments, perimeter treatments, we don't fog or bombs. The point is you really need to know a lot about your pests. The biology, the physiology, its behaviors and patterns. And if you can answer a few questions about what is attracting that pest in the first place, you can likely eliminate that attraction. It could be a leaky pipe, it could be poor sanitation, a broken screen, a missing door sweep. A lot of it is relying on the other shops and trades we have here at Facilities to do the structural work needed to seal up the building and roof. That's a really a big part of it. Ed answered a number of interesting questions such as, "What are some of the pests you deal with here at CU? You don't use pesticides etc. What is the alternative that you use? What could an average person or a business learn that would have to do with pests? ...Listen for more helpful ideas...
RELATED LINKS: CU wins EPA Challenge || Ralphie’s Green Stampede || Single Stream in Housing || PodCasting Directory || KEYWORDS: Ed von Bleichert, CU, Environmental Operations, Integrated Pest Management, IPM, Department of Facilities Management, University of Colorado Boulder, Pesticides, bytes=6589861
LISTEN TO: Ed Von Bleichert, Manager, Environmental Operations, CU

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Customer Experience

Michele Gebhart, Have Them Look at Business Process
1361_ 3/8/13 - We're speaking with Michele Gebhart the immediate past executive director of the ACG Denver [Association for Corporate Growth]. Now, Michele has been the executive director since 2003 when the membership was 68 people. Today membership tops 500+ and growing. Michele has a very interesting background in high tech. She tells us, "Technically I've been in operations my entire career. Most recently leading the Association for Corporate Growth and before that with Fortune 500 technology companies and a global IT consulting firm." Her strengths in systems implementation, process management and program development have helped organizations through periods of significant growth and made a significant impact on increasing their customer satisfaction. She's often been referred to as the glue in the organization because of her ability to organize and move projects from objectives to accomplishments while coordinating large teams and demonstrating specialism's in all of her interactions. She's worked with the techies, the end user/customer, sales teams, executive teams and her expertise is bringing all those together. They don't always speak the same language, Michele is the person that brings all the stakeholders together through communication. Larry asked, "With all of your experience, what do you feel is the biggest challenge businesses face today?" She replied, "The biggest challenge I keep coming across is the customer experience. And I hear that not only from external customers but internal customers. I think businesses have gotten very specialized in their hiring. They're looking for specific skill sets, but then they're missing that person that brings them all together. Ultimately the customer experience is what is going to drive the success of your business. If your internal customers aren't happy and your external customers aren't happy - you're not going to last very long. Businesses need to focus more on improving that customer experience. You know, finding the people who can help them find the holes in the business and fix those gaps." Listen for more great advice...
RELATED LINKS: Michele Gebhart LinkedIn || ACG Denver || Dell Computer || ACG Denver Channel || KEYWORDS: Michele Gebhart, Customer Experience, Business Process, Communications, IT, Customers, Sales Teams, Executives, Dell Computer, ACG Denver, Association for Corporate Growth, bytes=5403692
LISTEN TO: Michele Gebhart

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Proactive in that we're going upstream

Ed von Bleichert Zero Waste & Ralphie's Green Stampede
1359_ 3/5/13 - "Here at CU we have one of the oldest college and university recycling programs in the country, going back to 1976." We're talking with Edward von Bleichert, Manager Environmental Operations, Department of Facilities Management, University of Colorado Boulder. Ed tells us, "Our program has some rich history as a recycling program. The term Zero Waste [ZW] is a relatively new term and tries to redefine the approach we're taking." To explain, recycling is somewhat reactive. You take the waste you're given and you try to find an outlet for it. Zero waste is really more proactive where you're looking at the inputs, throughputs, outputs, and trying to minimize waste at all of those stages. As it relates to us here on campus, it's still mostly a waste focus in terms of municipal solid waste, what would be going to the landfill as trash. But we're still being proactive in that we're going upstream, into that waste stream, and we're redesigning the waste from the beginning to make sure it's recyclable, compostable or reusable. Our biggest foray into Zero Waste started with Ralphie's Green Stampede which was the Athletic Department's initiative. It includes other initiatives in sustainability like energy and water conservation. But probably the area that's gotten the most attention is the waste elimination and the Zero Waste effort. As part of that, we literally sort through all the waste of every single home football game [the waste of 53,000 people]. Mostly to identify what is in that waste stream, and be able to design it out or find a market for it, whichever the case may be, to ultimately keep it out of a landfill. The simple definition of Zero Waste, and there are many, but for our purposes we're talking about achieving a minimum of a 90% landfill diversion rate. The campus is currently about 41% conversion rate for municipal solid waste. That doesn't include... Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: CU wins EPA Challenge || Ralphie’s Green Stampede || Single Stream in Housing || PodCasting Directory || KEYWORDS: Ed von Bleichert, CU, Environmental Operations, Department of Facilities Management, University of Colorado Boulder, Zero Waste, Ralphie's Green Stampede, bytes=4874556
LISTEN TO: Ed Von Bleichert, Manager, Environmental Operations, CU

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Overseas commerce demands

Ron McKey, When doing Business Globally
1356_ 3/1/13 - Ron McKey is the Founder and President of FlyingBeds International; and we're talking about doing business globally. Ron tells us that FlyingBeds International is a two way company, he's noticed out in the market place that FlyingBeds is an exclusive, high-end presentation of Murphy beds, the Murphy Bed concept, in America. At Ron's factory here in Denver, he manufactures exquisite, unique Murphy beds. Murphy beds meaning beds that fold up into the wall. When he's out in the market place Ron said, "when I am selling over in Germany, Barcelona, Israel, Egypt; I've run across other companies that are just as unique as me in their concept. Like the Italian bed that I bring in from the Colombo Company are the narrowest in thickness. Meaning they really fold up in 10" of space - that's amazing. But then over in Germany there is a company owned by Karl Warner, the Lift Bed Company and they take their beds and put them on the ceiling. They run them up by electric motor. That is cool. Very expensive but cool." Larry asked, "What are the most interesting challenges you face when dealing with these organizations overseas?" Ron replied, "They are always concerned with installation. It's relatively easy to decide on the design with email and the Internet, and we can over-night a sample to them and we can make adjustments and approve it."

When asked, "What advice would you give other entrepreneurs wanting to do business overseas?"
RM: "Well, you're not going to get any overseas commerce by being the lowest priced guy in the marketplace. This is my opinion, you're going to have to have something unique, either a great service or a product no one else is making. But I also bring back in products that are not available to Americans. I look at it as a fair trade. We're building a relationship with these other countries." Having worked with Ron on his website, Pat asked about the Shoji Bed and room Ron designed and created for a family living in Japan. Her question goes to Ron's background and how he does what he does. He chuckled and referred to his background as a dairy farmer from Oregon and a mechanical drawing class. He doesn't tell us about his work in the military, installing and repairing the electric wiring and cables in airplanes or his experience as a buyer or his university education in business and marketing. Pat's conclusion, there's... Listen, Watch and visit http://www.flyingbeds.com/ 

RELATED LINKS: FlyingBeds International || Video Library || Economy Builders || Blog || KEYWORDS: Ron McKey, Murphy Beds, FlyingBeds, Wall Beds, Italian Smart Beds, Colombo, Lift Beds, Germany, Barcelona, Israel, Egypt, Shoji Bed, > bytes=8021789
LISTEN TO:Ron McKey, Founder/President, FlyingBeds International

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Daniels College of Business, Entrepreneurship

Stephen Miller, Sr. Director of Entrepreneurship, Daniels College
1351_ 2/21/13 - Stephen Miller, senior director of Entrepreneurship, Daniels College of Business, has been working with entrepreneurs for the last 8-10 years. Working first with the CTEK group and then opening the CTEK Stapleton Incubator Denver Ventures. That entity today is about 35 companies in a broad range of technologies, over the course of about 5 years. Part way through that time frame we started talking to the National Renewable Energy Lab as well as the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. They were looking at starting an incubator as well as a clean tech open and we're working with the folks out in California to do exactly that, and talking with NREL about being their incubator. So those forces came together and we did exactly that. We were talking about entrepreneurship more generally. This last year the opportunity to join Daniels presented itself. And the opportunity to work with Dean Riordan and her fine team led him here. Stephen said, "I think, entrepreneurship is not only live and well, but it's growing in many ways. Colorado has traditionally been known as a tech hub - and entrepreneurship has been focused more in the technology areas and Boulder to an extent has lead that charge. And of course CU has been very involved in that as has CSU and the Colorado School of Mines as well. A lot of the innovation we've seen out of Mines has been energy related both traditional and renewable. In Denver, we've seen a tremendous kick-start by leaders such as Jim Deters at Galvanize and Vic Ahmed at Innovation Pavilion. We have a former Mayor who was an entrepreneur in the beer business and the current mayor who is very entrepreneurship friendly. And it doesn't hurt that Paul Washington is head of economic development, has a history in startups as well." The University of Denver has looked at entrepreneurship as a focus for ten years or more. A lot of professors, Paul Bauer and others, and now with the leadership of Dean Riordan it's finally come to a critical mass. Alumni who are successful entrepreneurs in their own right and board of trustee members...listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: Daniels College Business || Stephen Miller || Social Entrepreneurship || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Stephen Miller, Sr. Director Entrepreneurship, Daniels College of Business, National Renewable Energy Lab, NREL, South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, Clean Tech, bytes=9156130
LISTEN TO: Stephen S. Miller, Daniels College

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Connect, Be Remembered & Repeated...

Kendall Colman & Molly Hughes - Authentic Connection
1352_ 2/20/13 - Talk about presentations and getting your message across. We are here with Kendall Colman CEO and founder of Colman & Company and Molly Hughes. These two women are experts in the field of presentations and getting your message across. So we asked for an overview of what they might recommend to a business today. Kendall said, "The place that we first work and coach with people is, first and foremost, how they connect with an audience. So all the things that you've learned through other programs may or may not work. The first real piece is really around connecting, true connecting and authentically connecting with your audience through holding their gaze for a certain amount of time before you move on to the next person. So that's fundamental. And we really think the most important part of speaking is, really two things, one is to be remembered and the other is to be repeated. So if you're speaking to an audience there really shouldn't be any other purpose but that. You want that message to be continued on. So, it's really about connecting, conveying, and then convincing." Molly said, "It is a whole different ball game when you're talking one-on-one with somebody than it is talking to a large group of people or when you get up in a boardroom, or at a big event when you're representing your company. What we've found are these physiological things that happen within a person, whether it be the butterflies, sweaty palms or the nausea or the racing heart, the sweat... So what we work on with people is how to manage that physiology. It really comes down to a couple factors of being present in the moment. We find that when you are really present in that moment, a lot of those self-conscious fears that we have when we're up in front of a group, tend to fall away. We really work with people on the physiology, try to relax them from the core." Larry asked, "When you're taking an executive or their team through this process, what are the most common flaws or areas of lack of strength?" ...get ready to take notes...
RELATED LINKS: Colman & Company || Colman & Company Events || Economy Builders || Blog || KEYWORDS: Kendall Colman, Molly Hughes, Colman & Company, Speaking, Coaching, Networking, Organizational Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Culture, Channel 4 News, CBS, bytes=5989671
LISTEN TO: Molly Hughes & Kendal Colman, Colman & Company

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Professional Athlete to Successful Entrepreneur

SFC / Entrepreneurs Unplugged:
Jeremy Bloom, Co-Founder, Integrate
1353_ 2/19/13 - Jeremy Bloom is the market-facing Co-Founder of Integrate. He focuses on agency and investor relations along strategic technology partnerships. Jeremy launched both the Denver and New York offices. You will remember Jeremy Bloom as he began his career in professional athletics- both as an Olympics Skier and NFL Football Player. While playing with the NFL in Philadelphia for the Eagles, he completed a business entrepreneurship program at Wharton Business School. This led his transition from athletics to business. Jeremy Ryan Bloom is a three-time World Champion, two-time Olympian and ... In April 2010, Bloom co-founded the internet company Integrate.com, online ad marketplace used by Microsoft and Yahoo. In 2008, Jeremy established Wish of a Lifetime - a non-profit foundation that grants wishes to 80, 90 and 100+ year old people across the country. A year later, he launched Mdinfo.com, a health portal creating a dialogue between medical experts and ordinary people throughout the world. And in 2010, Jeremy co-founded Integrate. Most recently, Jeremy was named by Forbes as "30 under 30" in the technology space and as one of Denver's "Forty under 40" business leaders. Entrepreneurs Unplugged is a meeting place where faculty, students and community members with technical backgrounds learn about and get involved in entrepreneurship. In particular, the program offers students and faculty an opportunity to learn how a successful start up is created as well as an opportunity to network. Watch and listen to this video discussion with Jeremy Bloom, Integrate, Brad Feld, Brad Bernthal, Jill Van Matre...
RELATED LINKS: EU: Jeremy Bloom, Co Founder, Integrate || Integrate || Economy Builders || KEYWORDS: Silicon Flatiron Center, Jeremy Bloom, Integrate, Brad Feld, Brad Bernthal, Jill Van Matre, Entrepreneurs Unplugged, Online Ad Marketplace, Microsoft, Yahoo, World Champion, Olympian
YouTube Video: Jeremy Bloom, Entrepreneurs Unplugged @ Silicon Flatirons with Brad Feld & Brad Bernthal

Nurture & Encourage Talent

Speaking of Kendall Colman & Molly Hughes
1347_ 2/15/13 - We are here with Molly Hughes and Kendall Colman, discussing one of Larry's favorite subjects, entrepreneurism and the current challenges and opportunities. Colman & Company was founded and started 13 years ago by Kendall. She said, "It was really a result of a passion of hers at a very early age, based on the idea that people really do have potential that lies in them like a seed. With the right skills and talent and encouragement really can be developed." That was her personal experience as a competitive athlete; she found the coaches in her life made the biggest difference of all. Of course we all recognize Molly Hughes from Channel 4 News. After leaving CBS about a year ago, Molly joined forces with Kendall and is handling the speech and media preparedness aspect of Kendall's executive coaching firm. Molly says the Kendall found she was working with a lot of executives who then were doing great on the leadership front but there was still some work that needed to be done on public speaking. That is how their work fits together, Molly works with their clients on speech development and really anything related to communication, whether it is through the lens of a camera, one-on-one or to a large group of people. Larry asked what are the biggest challenges for companies today. Kendall believes most of us have some terrific ideas. "It doesn't take much to notice in our society, areas that can be improved. Gaining support and getting those first few people... It's always those first few people, for an entrepreneur, that make the biggest difference, who jump on board with the idea and say, I see it too. The challenge is putting an organizational structure in place so that the idea can be successful, before the home equity loan runs out." Then Larry sought out the great opportunities. Molly said, "What we're finding in the work we do is the Internet is huge, no matter what your business is. One of the best ways businesses can engage with their clients or consumers is through the use of video. It is one of the ways that all of our sensors are all at play. More and more people are turning to video as a way to really get their product or service out there. There is just explosive growth in this field right now."
RELATED LINKS: Colman & Company || Colman & Company Events || Economy Builders || Podcast Directory || KEYWORDS: Kendall Colman, Molly Hughes, Colman & Company, Speaking, Coaching, Organizational Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Culture, Channel 4 News, CBS > bytes=7774357
LISTEN TO: Kendall Colman & Molly Hughes, Colman & Company

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