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Entrepreneur Advice:
Brad Feld
www.feld.com
About Brad Feld

Brad Feld is currently a Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital and has been with the firm since 1996. Prior to Mobius, Brad founded Feld Technologies, which was sold to AmeriData Technologies in 1993, where he became Chief Technology Officer. Brad currently serves on the boards of a number of private companies, including Atreus, Comergent, ePartners, FeedBurner, Gold Systems, Judy's Book, Klocwork, NewsGator, Quova, Rally Software, and StillSecure. In addition, he is on the board of The National Center for Women & Information Technology, The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, and The Colorado Conservation Trust. Brad has previously been a member of the board of directors of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and founded the Boston and Colorado chapters. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.



Recent Article:

Can Anyone Be A Major League Pitcher?
- For more on Brad Feld visit www.feld.com

Alan Shimel has a fantastic post up titled Do they have to grow up? As I read it, I thought of some of the great lessons my dad taught me when I was a little kid and how hard they must have been for him to carry out.

Amy and I have a regular discussion about whether or not it is helpful to tell a child "you can do or be anything you want." Amy's reply is that she could never be an NBA center and neither could I. While the metaphor is a good one (e.g. "don't let anyone limit your aspirations or dreams"), accomplishing things - especially amazing ones - requires a huge amount of hard work, perseverance, drive, skill, genetics, timing, and luck. Alan nails it:

"At some level I guess it is part of growing up and realizing that you are not the next Nolan Ryan or Josh Beckett. It is similar to a truth I come to grips with every day. That is as I get older with each day, there are going to be some dreams and hopes that are going to go unfulfilled in my own life. There are going to be mountains I am not going to climb. As I have gotten older I have come to grips with this reality and even accepted it. "

I must be brutal to be a father and have to teach this lesson to your child. My first reaction to Alan's approach was probably similar to some of the parents in attendance - namely - "make the madness stop." But there's a big part of it that is brilliant. It's one thing to be told something, it's an entirely different thing to experience it.

I've just read Alan's post for the third time and it gets better with each read.

"But I felt I had to do this. I think they had to learn this lesson, I just wish it were not the hard way. After the game I gathered the team and told them baseball is a team sport. Each member of the team contributes in their own special way. They each possess a unique set of talents and skills that allows them to help the team, but not everyone is cut out to be a pitcher or a catcher. I think they all realize it now. Some of the kids accepted this and told me they did not want to pitch anymore. Other kids said they would practice and try to get better. "

I've had my share of lessons I've learned the hard way - say Interliant, my biggest failure and the source of some of my greatest lessons, or my first 8.01 (MIT freshman physics) test which I got 20 (out of 100) on. Failure is when you really learn things. I just keep practicing and trying to get better.

Read this post in Brad's blog.





Can Anyone Be A Major League Pitcher - To learn more about this author, visit Brad Feld's Website.

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John Power
John Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals.

She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com   Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences.  Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

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- Visit Stephanie Robey's Website


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