On Thursday, October 22 from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Leadership Austin is hosting a full day forum on some of our community's most critical infrastructure issues - energy, water, and transportation. This event will be attended by Leadership Austin alumni and community leadership from across the region - and the last remaining seats (less than 20 at time of post) are being offered to the general public starting today. The cost is only $75 for the day, including meals and networking reception to follow. Join us as we fast forward into the future and discover what we must know today to lead these critical issues tomorrow.
fastforward with Leadership Austin
Thursday, October 22, from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm at the newly renovated LBJ Library followed by a reception and the Greenlights Fall 2009 Board Summit (optional)
Click here for a full agenda, slate of speakers, and registration information.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Venture Forth! And some resources to make your way easier
In supporting BootstrapAustin and the bootstrappers of Austin, check out the following opportunity- Over the last few months, we at the Tech Ranch Austin have been supporting entrepreneurs in launching their ventures. With the following announcement, we're taking it to a whole new level. See details below about the Venture Forth program. Its time to start the venture that you've been thinking about.
Do you have an idea for the next insanely great product or service? Are you having a hard time figuring out how you can step away from your current gig to launch your venture? Have you launched your venture and are now trying to scale it? Are you looking for the right team to make your venture pop? Do you need up to $100,000 in pro-bono services and expertise? If so, read on. Tech Ranch Austin is excited to announce our next program for emerging technology entrepreneurs: Tech Ranch Venture Forth. The Venture Forth Program is all about accelerating venture success with a goal of getting your idea to the market as quickly as possible - testing and correcting along the way.
This program is the next generation of our successful Employee to Entrepreneur seminars. But this time, we have kicked it up with up to $100k in free services and access to experts for each startup in the program. The next Venture Forth program starts in late October and your venture could be generating revenue before the end of 2009! We'd love for you to join us or share this information with someone who is itching to get their startup accelerated.
You can read the details, watch a video from Kevin and Jonas, and sign up for one of the 15 available slots here: http://techranchaustin.com/ventureforth
If you have questions, comments or ideas, please respond directly to us directly either through the comments or via email at info@techranchaustin.com
Best of luck in your venture!
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
Valley of Death Subgroup Meeting
This month's Valley of Death Subgroup meeting will be at Waterloo Ice House on 38th St., 10/12 at 6:30pm. We are pleased to have successful entrepreneur Anurag Kumar as our guest speaker.
Over the past 20 years Anurag has started and built technology and services companies in the U.S. and India. His most recent venture, AVK Global, is dedicated to helping businesses find green solutions to energy and resource issues. Moreover, Anurag continues to be an active mentor to people who want to start and grow their own companies.
As an added bonus, the members of TiE have been invited to this month's meeting. Thus there will be an excellent opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs. Come prepared to discuss this month's Bootstrap principle: constraint creates innovation (twitter: #concreanovate) Please RSVP via Facebook.
You may learn more about Mr. Kumar at www.anuragkumar.com
Please contact me at wdfloyd at gmail if you have any questions about this meeting.
Thanks,
Dave Floyd
VoD Co-Lead
Monday, October 05, 2009
Bootstrap Experience visits The Apple Store
The Bootstrap Experience subgroup has explored the Hideout Theatre, RunTex and the Alamo Drafthouse, each time asking the question: "what makes this place so exceptional at creating a lasting, favorable experience for its customers?"
This month join Bijoy and Heather as we share the Bootstrap Experience Model inside the Apple Store at The Domain. Our friends at Apple have offered us an exclusive after-hours tour to explore the service-excellence that is known worldwide as the "Apple Experience." For those who want to continue the discussion afterwards, we'll wander down to a nearby watering hole in the Domain.
Sunday, October 18 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm
The Apple Store at the Domain
http://www.apple.com/retail/thedomain/
Space is limited to the first 35 people that commit to join. Please only RSVP if you are certain to make it, and change your RSVP if circumstances change!
Link to Evite for RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/y9hacdz
This month join Bijoy and Heather as we share the Bootstrap Experience Model inside the Apple Store at The Domain. Our friends at Apple have offered us an exclusive after-hours tour to explore the service-excellence that is known worldwide as the "Apple Experience." For those who want to continue the discussion afterwards, we'll wander down to a nearby watering hole in the Domain.
Sunday, October 18 from 6:00 - 8:30 pm
The Apple Store at the Domain
http://www.apple.com/retail/thedomain/
Space is limited to the first 35 people that commit to join. Please only RSVP if you are certain to make it, and change your RSVP if circumstances change!
Link to Evite for RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/y9hacdz
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The Inner Journey and the Road of Trials
It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. - Joseph Campbell
The Bootstrap Journey has been likened to the Hero's Journey, popularized by noted mythologist, Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The hero's journey is a recurring aspect of humanity's story-telling tradition. The Hero's Journey is a monomyth, an archetypal story with a specific pattern of events. Classic examples from ancient times include The Odyssey and the stories of Buddha and Christ. More recent monomyths include The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, The Matrix, and The Lord of the Rings.
Bootstrappers answer the Call to Adventure in the Ideation stage and cross the threshold onto the Road of Trials when they enter the Valley of Death. Entering the valley of death is an initiation. As with all initiations, once the hero crosses the threshold of death and rebirth, the personal metamorphosis has begun and their world is forever changed.
On the Road of Trials, the hero meets a succession of challenges and ordeals. Some of the experiences may be uncomfortable, others terrifying. The heroic Bootstrapper faces the dragons of fear and insecurity and the monster that is the Shadow Self, time and time again. Some battles are won and some are lost. Patience, persistence, and a willingness to tolerate uncertainty and physical and emotional discomfort are essential.
Part of the hero's quest is the discovery of their true self. The hero navigates the Road of Trials and experiences the death of the false ego. The false ego is a reflected center. When we are young, our sense of self develops through the eyes and words of others, a distorted perception not unlike mirrors in a fun-house. The psychological term for a person's perception about what causes good or bad in one's life is locus of control. A person with an external locus of control attributes what happens in their lives to external forces (i.e. people, events, chance, the Divine). People who have an external center sometimes feel victimized, dissatisfied, and depressed by life events. People who develop a strong internal center feel they have some control over what happens in life, that their actions and attitudes make a difference. People who accept personal responsibility are more likely to meet challenges head-on. Research shows that successful entrepreneurial leaders have a strong internal locus of control.
Although the hero's journey is personal, they are not alone. They always have allies. One of the delightful and beneficial aspects about Bootstrap is its community, which includes the discovery of all kinds of allies: wise mentors, courageous peers, and energetic neophytes. With a little help from their friends, the hero eventually navigates the Road of Trials and comes out on the other side wiser, more authentic, and farther along the path of self-actualization.
Meet new allies that can support you and your (ad)venture at the Inner Journey subgroup meeting on October 14th, at 7p. I will be your guide for gentle yoga and a deep meditation on nurturing a relationship with your true self. After the meditation, we'll share another delicious potluck dinner and talk about how to nurture a powerful and enduring internal center. Please RSVP to the Facebook invitation. Join the Inner Journey yahoogroup to receive invitations directly to your email. Feel free to invite your friends.
The Bootstrap Journey has been likened to the Hero's Journey, popularized by noted mythologist, Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. The hero's journey is a recurring aspect of humanity's story-telling tradition. The Hero's Journey is a monomyth, an archetypal story with a specific pattern of events. Classic examples from ancient times include The Odyssey and the stories of Buddha and Christ. More recent monomyths include The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, The Matrix, and The Lord of the Rings.
Bootstrappers answer the Call to Adventure in the Ideation stage and cross the threshold onto the Road of Trials when they enter the Valley of Death. Entering the valley of death is an initiation. As with all initiations, once the hero crosses the threshold of death and rebirth, the personal metamorphosis has begun and their world is forever changed.
On the Road of Trials, the hero meets a succession of challenges and ordeals. Some of the experiences may be uncomfortable, others terrifying. The heroic Bootstrapper faces the dragons of fear and insecurity and the monster that is the Shadow Self, time and time again. Some battles are won and some are lost. Patience, persistence, and a willingness to tolerate uncertainty and physical and emotional discomfort are essential.
Part of the hero's quest is the discovery of their true self. The hero navigates the Road of Trials and experiences the death of the false ego. The false ego is a reflected center. When we are young, our sense of self develops through the eyes and words of others, a distorted perception not unlike mirrors in a fun-house. The psychological term for a person's perception about what causes good or bad in one's life is locus of control. A person with an external locus of control attributes what happens in their lives to external forces (i.e. people, events, chance, the Divine). People who have an external center sometimes feel victimized, dissatisfied, and depressed by life events. People who develop a strong internal center feel they have some control over what happens in life, that their actions and attitudes make a difference. People who accept personal responsibility are more likely to meet challenges head-on. Research shows that successful entrepreneurial leaders have a strong internal locus of control.
Although the hero's journey is personal, they are not alone. They always have allies. One of the delightful and beneficial aspects about Bootstrap is its community, which includes the discovery of all kinds of allies: wise mentors, courageous peers, and energetic neophytes. With a little help from their friends, the hero eventually navigates the Road of Trials and comes out on the other side wiser, more authentic, and farther along the path of self-actualization.
Meet new allies that can support you and your (ad)venture at the Inner Journey subgroup meeting on October 14th, at 7p. I will be your guide for gentle yoga and a deep meditation on nurturing a relationship with your true self. After the meditation, we'll share another delicious potluck dinner and talk about how to nurture a powerful and enduring internal center. Please RSVP to the Facebook invitation. Join the Inner Journey yahoogroup to receive invitations directly to your email. Feel free to invite your friends.
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