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Jason’s Talk at Cal Tech on This Week in Startups #135

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TWiST #135: Jason Speaks at Cal Tech

Jason recently spoke at California Institute of Technology’s Entrepreneurship Club to a group of students and entrepreneurs, offering advice, inspiration and some anecdotes to learn from.

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1:00-2:00 How many people in the crowd want to be entrepreneurs when you grow up?
2:00-3:30 Jason gives a brief history of his career as an entrepreneur.
3:30-5:30 The importance of ideas, action and iteration.
5:30-6:30 Why pivoting is underrated and hard work is paramount.
6:30-8:30 How many entrepreneurs here agree that it’s hard, lonely work?
8:30-10:30 Why Twitter is a great example of successful product iteration.
10:30-12:30 It’s not about the idea, it’s about the space.
12:30-15:00 How Jason learned the hard way that you can’t fundamentally change people and what to look for in startup employees. (Watch the clip.)
15:00-15:45 Why consensus can hurt a business.
15:45-19:30 The trend of investors looking for people who actually build the product (developers and designers).
19:30-22:15 Money is free–if you have a good idea.
22:15-25:00 Don’t underestimate the importance of a good domain name.
25:00-28:00 Jason’s past companies, Silicon Alley Reporter and Weblogs, Inc., and his current company, Mahalo.
28:00-30:30 Discovering that video was the differentiator in how well pages on Mahalo did.
30:30-35:30 Question from the audience: How do you make a company ok with failure?
35:30-38:00 Question from the audience: How do young people find mentors? (Watch the clip.)
38:00-40:00 The difference in the Gen Y mentality about winning and success.
40:00-42:00 Question from the audience: What’s the difference between an inventor and an entrepreneur?
42:00-46:45 Question from the audience: How do you build a team?
46:45-50:30 Question from the audience: What would you do differently next time? (Watch the clip.)
50:30-53:30 Why entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone and why you should just go for it.

Multilingual? Translate this episode of TWiST into another language and email the transcript to translate@thisweekin.com

FOLLOW ON TWITTER

Jason: @jason
Cal Tech: @caltech

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  • Manny

    That was a great talk…Great advice and I think the words on iteration and pivoting were huge! I do want to say though I am also 40 with 3 small kids and although I get what your saying re being single helps I think people with families can still make it. If you build the idea and get great co founders and teams why would all the work be left to you? I think being passionate and working hard is important but we also need flexibility. At the end of the day staying in the office 14 hours a day versus mixing your time 10 hours in an office and doing another 2 at home is not going to make or break a company. Building and resourcing the right team and iterating is more important than working silly hours just for the hell of it. Thats my only point but otherwise loved it all. You were very generous with your input and very humble too…thanks!

  • Kafka

    Anyone know what the theme song is at the beginning?

  • http://www.RenegadeToolCo.com Timothy Lemnah

    Probably, the best speaking performance I have ever seen of Jason. I could really feel the genuineness of him and not the evil genius side he plays on his show. Sorry Jason, I just had to quote Mark. Lets see some more of this side of you on your show!

  • Lz

    Worried about the middle of the country and not California? People on the west coast live in a bubble. Are you not aware of California’s financial problems? If you want to be worried about something, worry about that, not some book publisher.

  • Anonymous

    Great episode, Jason! The only advice to cameramen & directors: it would be nice to get to see the audience: their reaction, how many of them are there. It just makes any talk more professional.

  • Blair Zajac

    Great talk.

    For those of us who went there, Caltech is not spelled “Cal Tech”, but Caltech: http://styleguide.caltech.edu/wordmark .

  • http://camcollins.com Cam Collins

    Wow! This presentation blew away your presentation in Europe (I believe it was in Germany). Likely because you felt right at home at Caltech (gotta make sure I spell it right – LOL). But like Manny, I agree that entrepreneurship isn’t reserved for the 20-something set only. When I was in my twenties I didn’t get it. I worked in the tech industry in my twenties and thirties, and really only got the web in 1999. I was fortunate enough to sell my company at the time to Interwoven (NASDAQ:IWOV) who had a good run in 1999 and 2000. 

    The payout wasn’t enough to buy my dream house in Belize, so I’ve been working in and on various businesses ever since. I’ve been taking swings as you say in the presentation. Am I washed up? Maybe…Let’s face it as a forty something now, there are a ton of things I simply can’t do – like play professional sports. But is being a successful entrepreneur one of them? Is it going to be harder? Abso-f@#$ing-lutely it will. And I totally get the “take a chance when you are in your 20s” thing because that is when you have the least amount to risk. I didn’t take the chance. I played it relatively safe. I played it safe because I lacked confidence, street smarts and the wear withal to execute. Now as I approach my mid-forties I’ve overcome those demons and the entrepreneurial bug is buzzing louder than ever.

    In one of my businesses, my other forty something partner and I talk all the time about how if we were in our twenties we could go faster and do so much more living off Raman noodles and playing BeerPong when we get bored. Like Manny we both have kids and need to be more careful in how we approach risk. Does that mean success will completely elude us? One of the things smart and attentive forty somethings do have is experience and the ability to look back at past mistakes, whether I made them or someone else did and say “I’ve seen this before – time to change course”.

    Thanks @jason for all you do. You are a big inspiration to us all! 

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  • http://twitter.com/_sf Steven Fruchter

    Good stuff. The ones where you speak from your heart are my favorites. Like the Penn State one (“Walk like you’re a Samurai”) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eteKxftz_Y4

    Thanks for all the hard work and openness.

  • http://twitter.com/rjh2ks rjamiel

    Plain and Simple! FN awesome J!