Graduation Day

Written by Tyler | 06 May 2010
Posted in Blog - Acton MBA

I'm an official graduate! If you're wondering where I've been this past year, let me explain.  For those who learn best through television analogies, Acton was a lot like ''The Apprentice' meets 'Project Runway' meets 'Glee.'  We developed the tools and skills to become successful entrepreneurs from teachers who ranged from oil tycoons to bootstrap billionaires.  We received critiques every step of the way from teachers like Steven Tomlinson always pushing us on tight deadlines and saying "entrepreneurs, make it work!"  'Glee' is also an appropriate comparison because every type of person and background seemed to be represented in our class.  My teacher Jack Long would frequently quote 'Glee's' Sue Sylvester with lines like: "You think Acton's hard?  try being water-boarded, now that's hard."  A nice bit of comic relief on a few hours of sleep.

We shared the experience of 100 hour + work weeks, with frequent 4 am wakeup calls and 2 am bedtimes.  We worked through 300 business cases, the majority taking around 6 hours to work through, double the work of traditional MBA's in only a year.  We sold products door to door, with near death experiences from friendly Texans with big dogs and even bigger guns.  We worked for weeks refining the most efficient production lines possible for assembling circuit boards, cutting and installing components, praying they'd work.  I developed a new sympathy for people who work at call centers... we worked 40 hours answering phones to make operations more efficient processing airline reservations and car rentals.  Together, we presented business plans in front of Austin's biggest venture capitalists in hopes of hearing our ideas might someday change the world.  Through it all, we learned we couldn't do it alone and we needed each other.  We learned how to learn, how to make money and how to live a life of meaning.

Perhaps this last picture is the best representation of the feelings after a year of life changing work! 

Good v. Great

Written by Tyler | 27 April 2010
Posted in Blog - Napkin Toolkit

Numbers make eyes glaze over...!

Boring topics elicit a 'so what' response that's easy to forget.  People think it's a waste of time talking about it, so avoid it all together.  You're at the bottom of the value change when you talk about or create boring things.

There are two frameworks... one gives a long term payoff.

FRAMEWORK ONE

• Get some short-term results and probably a “buzz spike” for any and all of the above but if you want the “real buzz” you have to take the path that requires a lot of creativity.
• You can create stuff or provide a service that is UNBELIEVABLY bad. (Bernie Madoff )
• You can make stuff that will make people laugh really loud
• You can make stuff that will make people laugh. (A funny YouTube video – most of them will fade away)
• You can create faster, better and cheaper versions of existing products (A cheaper USB drive with more memory)
• You can create faster and better versions of existing products. (Like a faster and better hard disk.)

FRAMEWORK  TWO

• It is a path where you bring out responses from the audiences like:
• This is cool!!  I wish I had thought of that.
• What? Nobody was doing that before? It seems so obvious! (Kindle, iPod, Netflix etc.)
• Unbelievably good product/service. Wow!! (Zappos, Nordstrom etc.)
• If you are going to be making investments anyway, you might as well invest in getting the right kind of buzz.
• Bad news spreads fast. In the long run, only the “right kind of buzz” will give any meaningful ROI.

The Back of the Napkin

Written by Tyler | 27 April 2010
Posted in Blog - Napkin Toolkit

I finished reading Dan Roam's book, 'The Back of the Napkin' (he also keeps a blog called 'Visual Thinking Essentials') and I was inspired to start taking my own napkin notes.

Any problem can be made clearer with a picture, and any picture can be made using the same simple set of tools and rules.

My journal looks very similar... thank you Dan for the great idea!

Google docs = A Lifesaver

Written by Tyler | 26 April 2010
Posted in Blog - Acton MBA

How does a person organize the materials for covering 300 cases?  Google docs... after this year, Google Docs has earned a special place in my heart.

I was able to create a tiered structure with folders for Semester // Class // Case.   Each case would include the case reading itself, spreadsheets and notes relevant to issues discussed in the case.  Google Docs would allow me to be in a class discussion and search for a term.  In a couple seconds, I could have the note in front of me for anything we had discussed prior in the year.   It definitely beats toting around a file cabinet worth of papers.

The entire system is very similar to OS X on Mac, but this is all online and it's free.  When you're switching computers on a regular basis, it's a must.

Google Docs also allows for you to collaborate.   My 7th grade english teacher used to say 'two eyes are better than one...'  Thanks Mrs. Joyner, I could not agree more.