Angels & VCs

Yesterday I attended a panel of a couple of Pheonix venture capitalists and one angel investor. I learned a few things and made a few observations. (Disclaimer: these are my thoughts based ona panel of THREE people; take it with a grain of salt!)

• VCs and angels are arrogant people; you have to stroke them. When the panel was asked about some of the mistakes people make, one of their examples was how much they hate it when someone says, "That's a good question." You may as well tell them their office smells like rhino pee. Apparently VCs know when they've asked a good question, and they don't need you to tell them. Another example comes in the form of a story about a former CFO of Intel that is now a VC in Silicon Valley. When an idea presenter began his presentation by saying, "I don't know if you know anything about international finance..." the former CFO closed his book and walked out. That presenter overestimated the importance of his idea and underestimated the importance of stroking the investor’s arrogance. The VC may have walked out on a billion dollar idea, but at least he proved his point. Now all this doesn't mean that VCOs and angels aren't nice; in fact, they were very personably. I just think it would be hard to be an investor and NOT be arrogant. They hold a lot of power and reject a lot of people. The angel told us that his group has calculated the numbers and found that they fund about 5% of the ideas that they hear (and there are a LOT of ideas submitted that they never even hear). The VCs weren't as nice. They estimated that "for every 100 ideas we hear, we find 10 we like, and one we invest in." I guess those numbers are understandable when you consider the number of ideas that fail every day. If it were me, I wouldn't be throwing my money around either.

• I also learned a few tips to making the presentation:
• Be prepared to present without your AV (in case it doesn't work; "if you can't present it on a napkin, I don't have time to hear it")
• Don't EVER say there is no competition (if there's no competition, there's probably no profits)
• Don't tell the investor how much they will make and when (they'll answer that question for themselves)
• Don't tell them you plan on buying them out at a certain time (makes them skeptical)
• Don't be arrogant (that's their job)

• They mentioned the three ways people get into a VC position (according to them):

1. Get a low level position in a firm out of college (this is the LEAST likely to lead to success)
2. Work in an industry for several years and get industry specific experience then move into VC
3. Start a successful company or two of your own then move into VC

• And finally, what is the best way to get your idea heard? Know someone. It’s all about who you know.

MBA and Baseball

I have decided that the MBA program here at ASU is a lot like baseball. We students are pitchers and the professors are umpires. Every umpire has his own strike zone; some are more liberal on the corners, some like high pitches, some like low pitches. If we want to succeed, we just need to figure out each umpire's strike zone and put the ball where it needs to go. Not every good pitch we throw gets called a strike and not every bad pitch we throw gets called a ball. In the end, what we want most is consistency. If we play the game right the odds are greatly in our favor, and the outcome is ultimately in our control.

Hot and Cold

Well, the temperature is dropping here in AZ. Today's high was only 92 degrees, and it's dipping down into the 60's overnight. We got our first full month's electricity bill of $185!! To be honest, I don't think I'd mind paying it if it meant the house was cool, but that's a lot of money to keep the the temperature at a constant 80 degrees. I put in a request to have the maintenance people come take a look and figure out where all the cool air we were paying for was going, but they showed up while we were gone and left a note. All it said was, "Checked the temperature in den and bedroom. Temperature in bedroom 20 degrees higher." Have they done anything about it? No. Are they going to do anything about it? I highly doubt it. That was a month ago. I called them the next day and left a message to have them call me back and explain it. No response. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the married student housing at the U of U may have been small, but they cared about the students. I would move back there tomorrow. The married student housing here, on the other hand, may be big, but they care much more about the money than they do the students. It's just a freaking business. Maybe I was naive to think it would be anything else, but I expected more.

In contrast to the temperature, things have been heating up at school. The classes have been getting more demanding and now the pressure has really turned on to start networking with companies to find internships for the summer. Last Thursday night they had a Company Networking Night where I was able to meet representatives from IBM, Avnet, Amazon, Target, Petsmart, Cox, Dial, and Intel. Some of the companies were very receptive to my background and MBA focus (marketing). Amazon will be recruiting at ASU in December for a marketing internship for which I think I am really qualified. That certainly doesn't mean I'll get it, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to try. Then this week I attended information sessions put on by Dell and Intel. I won't bore you with the details, but I had some very good conversations with representatives from both companies that were very uplifting. Most companies I talk to seem to be impressed with the technical background and Mandarin skills. My fear, however, is that they act impressed and interested to my face, but when it comes to putting their money where their mouth is, it will be a bit different story. Oh well, it only takes one, right?

Adria is doing well, too. When I got home on Wednesday she was still in her underwear and hadn't showered. She claims she was on the computer looking for jobs all day, but the bon bons and slippers next to the couch are a bit puzzling ;) Seriously, though, she is still working hard to find the right job at the right place that is best for our family. The job that she had planned on starting as of the last post called her up a week after settling on a salary and rescinded her offer. She's received several offers since then that she has turned down because they just don't feel right, but it is very hard to keep doing so. Our fear is that we'll wait forever for that perfect job, but eventually we'll run completely out of options. Anyway, we're very confident that the Lord has great blessings in store for us, and we'll keep praying for His guidance. Part of me wonders what I'll do when she does get a job. She does EVERYTHING around here. Cooking cleaning, laundry, lunches. My only job is to clean up the occasional dead cockroach. I can't imagine having to do all that for myself and still being able to get everything done for school. She is so supportive and I wouldn't/couldn't be here without her.

Phoenix in September (part 1)

Hi everyone!

Thank you to those of you who have been reading the posts. Sorry the last one was so long. It's been a good week for me and Adria and we thought we'd share a few highlights.

It's starting to be monsoon season around here. Last Sunday night the thunder and lightning came rolling in and it lasted for over an hour. It also poured rain for about a half hour. Adria and I just stepped onto our porch and let the rain blow on us while we watched some of the coolest bolts of lightning we've ever seen. Then in happened again Thursday night and all morning Saturday. Certainly a nice break from our usual 105F.

On Wednesday Adria got an email from the Arizona Children's Association to offer her a job. When we came down in July she interviewed for an opening there and had been asked to come for a second interview the week we moved here, but on our way here they called her to tell her they'd gone on a hiring freeze and wouldn't be able to see her. Adria was very disappointed because she really liked what they do, but they told her they'd keep her at the top of their list for when things changed. Well, it turns out one of their specialist is leaving the Association and they needed to fill her position. Apparently as soon as the director found out about the opening she sent Adria the email with the offer! We tried to finagle a little more money out of them, but on Friday Adria accepted the offer and she'll be starting this week! It's about time she started fulfilling her sugar momma role around here.

On Thursday night one of the 2nd year MBAs invited us to their house to watch the Utah vs Utah St game. They have Direct TV, so they've got the Mountain (curse word). All of the wives left to go shopping and invited Adria to go too, but she decided to stay and watch the game :) At least for a little while. Eventually she caught up with them and did a little shopping. I really enjoyed the game. Cain has a lot of work to do, but I'd say he's even a step ahead of where Johnson was when he took over. Let's just hope we don't have to suffer through another 2005.

As for school, it was a pretty rough week. I've been keeping my head above water, but we got our first paper's back in our Strategy class and the results were dismal. Our first reaction was to be angry. We really think the professor lumped our paper with some others and then didn't look at it very subjectively, but I guess that's a danger when there are so many other groups. It was comforting to know that we weren't the only group that got hammered, but we definitely don't want it to happen again. We've scheduled a meeting with him this week in hopes that we can understand what he's looking for and figure where there is room for improvement.

Anyhoo, that's about it for now. I think I might start blogging daily quick words of wisdom relating to my classes. If you're not interested, just skip over those. If you are, feel free to comment and we'll discuss!

Peace out!
rUss

First Week of B-school

Hi Everyone!

It's Saturday morning. I made it through the first week of the ASU MBA. I had good moments and bad moments, but overall I'm determined to do better next week. Now, mostly for my mom's sake since she's probably the only one that really cares :), I thought maybe I'd run you through what will be a typical week for me. Maybe along the way I'll throw in a few specific experiences, but I'll try to keep it short.

Monday through Thursday:

5:10am - Alarm goes off.

5:11am - Stub my toe on something, turn off my alarm and go back to bed.

5:15am - Wake up to the second alarm and get on my knees and thank God for another new day.

5:20am - Go in our 400 degree bathroom and take a shower using ONLY the cold water (which isn't really cold).

5:55am - After getting all businessy, we head out to wait for my bus. I say "we" because Adria has been getting up with me, walking me to the bus stop and going to fitness classes that start at 6:10! I'm really proud of her, and she's having a lot of fun. This week she did a kick boxing class, a spin class (cycling), and a weight class (which she says she's never doing again, but I'll try to get her there).

6:05am - On the bus and off to school. I'm trying to use this time to review material for the days classes. I usually watch the sun rise from the bus. Once it comes up, there's no stopping that heat; it's 90 degrees almost immediately and it just gets hotter all day.

7:00am - Arrive at school and head to the Graduate Suite to study some more before class and shoot the breeze with some classmates.

The Graduate Suite is a card accessed section of the business building that is just for the graduate students. There's a lounge area, a quiet study room, a small kitchen, a classroom, the IT support center, and about 10 group conference rooms with big 40+" flat panel monitors on the wall. It's a cool area, but it can get crowded sometimes.

8:00 to 9:50am - Class starts. This is showtime. Monday and Wednesday I start the day with Strategic Theory and Tuesday and Thursday it's Organizational Behavior. These are the more "abstract" classes, but I think that's one thing that sets this program apart, the focus on managerial styles and company focus. These are the classes that require strict attention and heavy participation. Pretty much the entire class period is a group discussion led by the professor. Our comments are graded by another student (selected at random at the beginning of the class), and the sum of the points for each day is factored into our final grade. No pressure.

10:10am to 12pm - Let's call this the "drowsy hour" (or two hours). The second classes of the day are the more scientific courses. Mon and Wed we have Statistics and Tuesday and Thursday is Accounting. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy these subjects - or in the case of Accounting, at least understand its importance - but at this point I've been up since 5:15 and been nothing but focused. I live in constant fear of the "head-bob" during Accounting. Fortunately that's the only class of the week that doesn't have any sort of grade for class participation.

12pm to 3pm - By noon, I'm definitely ready for lunch. I'll usually either eat with a team member (they put us in teams of 4), or just sit down next to some other classmates in the lounge. I've made quite a few friends, but I'm REALLY struggling to remember names. Especially the international students names. It's one thing to try to remember Josh, Nate, Mike, etc, but for some of these international students I have to learn to bend my tongue in new ways! Just a sample of a couple of the names: Pongowtham, Nachiket, Guarav, Vineet, Praveen, Dipti, Nikhil (fortunately, he just lets people call him Nik). On the first day of Strategy, the professor had such a hard time with Nachiket that Nachiket just gave up and took his little name plate and shortened it to Nac. These are ALL great people, but it just makes the name thing that much harder. Actually, to make things worse, they all remember MY name. I hope "dude" isn't offensive in Indian, because that's what I've been calling all of them.

Anyway, after eating I try to find a place to study/sleep. It's not easy finding a place to dose off. The quiet study room is the obvious choice (it's a little cooler and it really is dead quiet), but there are times that the space is limited so they've actually put signs up that say you can't sleep in there. I've broken that rule once already. I'm going to start trying to use this time to go to the gym.

3:00 to 5pm - This is when our team gets together to review, prepare, and discuss. My teammates are great. Nate Bernosky is a former school teacher and college basketball player. Mike Stein's background is mostly in sales. And the aforementioned Pongowtham (Gowtham for short) comes from an engineering background, most recently at Honeywell. We get along well. I think at the moment our only hitch is just figuring out the group dynamic that will help us use our time most effectively.

5:15pm - If we finish our group stuff in time, this is the earliest shuttle I can catch. On Monday I didn't catch the shuttle until 6pm, but every other day I got on this one.

6:10pm - Home. The rest of the night is a struggle to stay focused. I did a pretty good job on Monday, but by Tuesday night I already felt like I needed a vacation. Adria certainly wants some attention and I'm more than happy to give it to her. Monday night she made my mom's chicken enchiladas. They were GREAT!! I ate the leftovers for dinner the next two nights. Tuesday Adria went out with the other MBA wives to go shopping, get frozen yogurt, and watch a movie. I was glad she did. I think she feels a little out of place with the group, but it's beneficial for her and me.

10:30pm - Bed time. It's a long day, and it gets longer and longer as the week goes on.

Friday I slept in until 7:15am and caught the 8am shuttle to campus. I met with the group from about 10am to 2pm. Then I went to the rec center and worked out and caught the 5:15pm shuttle home to spend some time with my poor lonely wife. When I told her I was going to be on campus all day Friday even though there were no classes, I couldn't tell if she wanted to cry or hit me. She was happy when I got home.

Now it's Saturday and I have nothing but reading ahead of me. Maybe I can do some of it by the pool.

Day before school...

Hi friends,

School starts tomorrow and I'm really not sure what to expect, so I thought I'd throw down one more blog entry in case things get a little crazy!

Maintenance finally brought an exterminator this week. We're not sure if it helped, though. They sprayed a perimeter around the walls inside the house that kills any bug that crosses it, but that just means that we have DEAD bugs all over the house. We're still sweeping up 10+ crickets a day. Last night I did battle with one that kept sneaking up into the cabinet under the sink and chirping, but it got away. At least we've only had one belly up cockroach and haven't seen any other live ones. They tell us you have to get them into the toilet quickly after they turn on their backs because that's when they release their egg. Sick.

I'll be riding the shuttle to school every morning at 6am, which is going to make for some EARLY days for me. It looks like I won't be catching it to head home until 6pm, so I won't get home until 7:15 or so. I rode it as a test on Friday. I got on with a Chinese boy so I thought I'd impress him a little with some Mandarin; he FREAKED out! He was so excited that he talked to me the entire way to the Tempe campus (over an hour) and took my number and email address before I got off. I'm still the man! Of course, when he asked me how I feel about the situation between China and Taiwan, I realized how much Chinese I've lost and how much more I have to learn.

Adria and I went to the Arizona Temple on Wednesday. We attended a 10:30 am session, but the place was still PACKED! Pretty amazing. Apparently they have plans to build 4 more Southern AZ temples, but they are a few years away. I bought my first set of temple clothes (finally); except for the pants. I'm still wearing Grandpa LeFevre's old temple pants.

Anyhoo, we're doing great down here. Adria is hot on the trail of some jobs, and I'm already super-interested in the things I'm studying. We're as happy as can be, but we're kind of dreading that first electricity bill!

rUss

Sunday Evening Bike

Adria and I went on a bike ride tonight to check out the Polytechnic campus that we're living on. Turns out the pool isn't half bad! The fitness center seems small, but we're thinking maybe there is a basement. While we were riding around a corner a skunk popped out from a bush! We had skunks around Bountiful all the time, but I NEVER actually saw one running around! I got a close look, but not too close. I couldn't imagine showing up to MBA orientation tomorrow and trying to explain why I smelled like I got sprayed by a skunk. The sunset on the way back to our house was amazing! Actually, EVERY sunset here is amazing.



Adria has taken to talking to the crickets in our kitchen and laundry room. Any time she's in there she starts saying things like, "Okay, I'm coming in there now, so you'd better not come out!" or "Who do you think you are, coming in my kitchen?" or "WHY ARE YOU MAKING NOISE RIGHT NOW??!! I'M IN THE KITCHEN!!!" I guess she thinks that she has some sort of deal with them. Even when she's not in the kitchen, she mumbles at them. "You'd better shut your..." or "If I have to come in there, you're gonna be..." At least I think she's talking to the crickets. Sometimes she might be talking to me. Anyway, our kids are going to have to be on edge.



rUss

ASU MBA First Impressions

Yesterday and today were the first two days of orientation for the WP Carey MBA program. So far I've been very impressed by what I've seen. I thought our graduating class was going to be about 160 students (2 cohorts of 80 students), but it turns out that the entire graduating class in only 91 students (2 cohorts of 45/46 people). The entire graduating class fit into one classroom for most of the orientation activities.

The class is very diverse. I've met students from China, Korea, Puerto Rico, New York, Boston, LA, Chicago, and a LOT from India! Like 30% of the class! Did you know that cricket is HUGE in India? Go figure! I've been learning a little about it from the students I've met in return for some information about baseball.

The faculty seem great. They've all been very approachable, and are extremely dedicated to making this a good experience for the students.

I was thinking today that it's probably been since 8th grade that I've been 100% focused on school. I'm really looking forward to giving this program everything I've got!

Funny/Maddening House Stories

I would be remiss if I didn't throw in a couple of stories of Adria adjusting to our new environment :) The first time I turned on the sink in the kitchen, I commented on how we weren't ever going to have cold water out of the tap like we were used to in Utah. She got a concerned look on her face and asked, "Is the water heater broken?" I told her that the hot water worked fine, it's the cold water that wasn't going to come. She still looked concerned and said, "Yeah, but... is the water cooler broken?" Ha ha, she didn't realize that "cold" water is just the temperature of the water in the pipes, and that in Arizona the pipes are always warm! Needless to say, we have a LOT of water bottles in the fridge. I also haven't used the hot water for a shower once!



We also have a little bug problem in the house. We didn't notice them the first night, but on our second night we killed about 10-15 crickets. I was trying to get some preparations done for the first day of orientation, but every 5 minutes Adria was yelling my name from the kitchen to come kill another one. She's sucked it up now to where she'll kill the small ones, but the 2-inch cockroach that crawled into the middle of our kitchen tonight has her a bit creeped out. Me too, to be honest; that thing was freaking HUGE! Good thing I have previous cockroach experience from Taiwan!

Blog Explanation

Hi friends!

Adria and I are now melting away in Mesa, AZ, and we've had a lot of fun things happen over the last several days. We're excited to share those things with our friends and family; unfortunately, there's just a bit too much to fit into a Facebook status or a tweet. No problem! It just so happens that before we left I started this nifty little blog. Everytime I make a new blog post, I'll post a link to Facebook and Twitter (@utesfanatic). I'll also be making posts about other things that I find interesting. If you also find them interesting, please hop on and make some comments. If we're lucky, every now and then we might spark up a sophisticated dialogue (even if it is about the top ten Simpson's episodes of all time).

Thanks everyone!

rUss

China's Work Force

Today I read in John Bryan Starr's "Understanding China" that in 1999, of the 1.3 billion people in China, 390 million (30%) lived in urban China, while 910 million (70%) lived in rural China (source: 1999 China Statistical Yearbook). What I found particularly interesting is that of the urban population 136 million (35%) were considered part of the work force, while 64% (580 million) of the rural population was considered part of the work force. Why the difference?

THEORIES:

• Rural workers start earlier and retire later
• Urban unemployment numbers are being manipulated by shrinking the size of the work force
• More women in urban settings are staying home instead of joining the work force
• There aren't as many children in urban areas

Just some guesses; interesting, though. That's something I'd like to study.

rUss