730_ Build an 'A' team, create a vision, build a culture for the long haul
Larry coralled Paul Jerde, CU-Boulder, Robert H. & Beverly A. Deming Center and Larry Jones the CEO of StarTek and Chairman of the Deming Board and asked them to share the three biggest strategies that they would recommend for entrepreneurs. Larry Jones said, "The first and foremost is picking your team. Picking the 'A' team, people you know well, who you think have the expertise whether it be technical, people, marketing & sales - but building the right team, and don't compromise. Second is create a vision and a passion. Yes, you have an idea, yes you have a view of whose going to buy your product, but turn that into a vision with a very big passion. And your life is going to be surrounded by this and therefore you're going to be singing this song over and over again to your employees, to your investors and to your customers. Make sure that that is a passionate message. " Listen for more great advice. Paul Jerde recommended, "I think the starting point is always for someone to do the best job they can of finding a passion, something that just personally they are very excited about, that they feel is important and worthwhile doing, and looking for opportunities based around that area of passion. Secondly, coupling that, wherever possible to emerging areas of opportunity. The great title waves of technology advancement and IT built a lot of wonderful careers. We talked in previous interviews about areas of energy, organics, healthy food, healthcare, bioscience, biomedical; as great examples, some of the world's greatest challenges. Clearly areas of great opportunity going forward." Paul also had more to offer. Listen for more and be ready to take notes...
Related Links: Deming Center || Technology Transfer Office || StarTek || Entrepreneur Channel || Mastering Change || Deming Center Event Photos 9/30/09 || Keywords: Paul Jerde, Larry Jones, CU TTO, Robert H. & Beverly Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, StarTek, Entrepreneurs, University of Colorado > Channel: Entrepreneurs > 5934083 bytes - 11/2/09 LISTEN

Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT and in Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University. Today Yoky is an associate professor at the University of Washington focusing on neurobotics. In 2007 Her work in Robotics gained the MacArthur’s Foundation "Genius Award". The MacArthur Foundation characterizes her work as transforming our understanding of how the central nervous system coordinates musculoskeletal action and of how robotic technology can enhance the mobility of people with manipulation disabilities. In addition, Yoky started the YokyWorks Ffoundation – a non-profit to be recognized as a premier provider of practical engineering solutions for people seeking to improve their life experience. Their mission is to enable people to experience life beyond their physical or sensory capabilities. "Also I want to help my volunteers. Many have raised families and now want to have a way to contribute to society and I feel just having them exposed to this effort is giving them pleasure, and that also is extremely rewarding." Listen for more exciting details...

Meet Dr. Sara Honn Qualls, CU TTO New Inventor of the Year, Colorado Springs. Her research interests focus on family development in later life and clinical interventions; also the development of neurological wellness and assessment tools for elderly care management. Not a moment too soon as statistics from the national insurance commission reveals that by 2012 one new baby boomer will reach age 65 every nine seconds. "As we age in our society, of course more and more of us are living longer, we are living in very long term relationships. How families navigate those changes is interesting..." and this has lead Sara to a further interest in the very robust challenges faced by families in which a member has Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia. "Those families really are America's heroes. They face amazing challenges and they ante up remarkable resources and energy, and we need to figure out ways to support them." That has lead Sara to her third interest which is housing context in particular. "What do people look for when they move into a housing campus, including independent apartments or assisted living, what do they need and how can we best support them so they can actually upsize their life - letting go of space in order to create more independence and activity?" Here we have the lady working on the answers we will all need as time goes forward. 

