MBA Entrepreneurship Students at Velocity

Thursday, February 28 th, 2008, fifty-eight of the nation’s top graduate Entrepreneurship students came together from Syracuse University, Indiana University, Texas A&M and Rice University for the three day Velocity Conference in Houston, Texas. The presenting entrepreneurs were from several different fields, managing and earning billions of dollars, while building and growing tremendous ventures across the country. There is no better way to learn than to hear it from the people that have “been there and done that.” Every entrepreneur has succeeded by following a different path than others before. However, the one thing that was fairly consistent was that, “some of the hardest times in life are some of the most valuable experiences,” as stated by Rod Canion, Founder and CEO of Compaq Computers.

Presenters included:

• Nicholas Seet, Founder and CEO of Auditude Media Verification Services
• Jim Pearson, Founder and CEO of Suros Surgical; President and CEO of NICO Corp.
• Dr. Bernard Harris, Medical Doctor, Vesalius Ventures and Former Astronaut
• Damon Spiegel, Jason Gill, and Tyler Gill, founders of Physicians Capital Group
• Rick Johnson of Johnson Ventures
• Troy Williams, Founder of Questia and PeoplePad
• Michael Holthouse, Founder of Paranet Inc.; Member of GOOSE Society
• Dr. Jack Gill of Vanguard Ventures
• Richard Scruggs of Align Solutions Corp.
• Rod Canion, Founder and CEO of Compaq

Continuously resurfacing throughout many of the speeches was the idea that a lot of attention and time should be put towards hiring the right people. Equally important is to “fire fast.” As soon as the new employee does not fit into the culture, let him or her go; waiting several weeks is too long. It will be worth it in the long run.

“When given a choice – take both!” mentioned Dr. Jack Gill, professor at Harvard, MIT, and Rice University, and Founder and General Partner of Vanguard Ventures. He further mentioned that an overlying concept was that entrepreneurs are not confined by rules, they create them. Dr. Gill offered other tips including the “Peter Principles,” such as “Start at the top then work your way up,” and “If you can’t win, change the rules.”

Concluding the weekend was a presentation by Mr. Rod Canion in which he stated, “You don’t have to know you’re an entrepreneur all your life, it’ll surface sooner or later and then you won’t be able to resist it.” This is what happened to him as he left Texas Instruments to start Compaq computers, the fastest company to enter the Fortune 500, to make one billion dollars, and the only company to make $111 million in its first year. Canion attributed the success of his company to the fact that Compaq “didn’t set out to make millions of dollars, [they] set out to make a great company.”

The participants could not stop raving about the conference. Brooks Fiesinger, an attendee from the conference, was quoted saying, “If I could have gotten 10 years older in 3 years or less, that would have been the point.” Justin Carlucci, another conference attendee, shared that Velocity “inspired those who attended to do whatever they so desired. Furthermore, the conference was an excellent opportunity to meet and mingle with some of tomorrow’s great entrepreneurs.”