DomoDomo@INSEAD: The Entrepreneurship Class (aka VOBM)

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

The Entrepreneurship Class (aka VOBM)

The pic is from Angkor Vat temple. The game was to find the Smiling Buddha. I kept pointing at Buddhas to the tour guide, since to me, they were all smiling. Perception.

With the Negotiations class, the Family class, and the notoriously fierce Finance 3 class, the VOBM class -to my humble advice- is the best of P3.
Professor Anderson is so passionate about entrepreneurship; the entrepreneurs invited on campus are so interesting that, for at least the time of the class, we picture ourselves as the next business success story.

After Rajeev the super cool wine entrepreneur -who oozed Bollywood and Indian jet-set- we had Roberto, the unassuming, simple, super nice, yet so brilliant French engineer entrepreneur. Roberto founded a leading edge face-recognition company a couple of years ago, in Singapore. He resisted a multi-million dollar offer because he wanted to pursue his venture freely in the directions he was passionate about, and to keep his technology available for other start-ups. His main message for wannabe entrepreneurs is, you have to be able to cross the chasm. I don't know whether it was intentionate, but "Crossing the Chasm" is also a best-seller technology book about how to bridge Early Adopters to Early Majority (of the adoption curve). For Roberto, it probably meant just that, but also surviving the toughest moments of the business adventure, when you're inches of giving up... He crossed the chasm because he was not alone, with 2 friends with whom he shared enormous respect and trust. He added that capital is money, but also human capital. Roberto and Rajeev, 2 contrasting styles, yet both were as fast, and probably will make as much money. Perception.

A couple of days ago, when having a drink with some people, we were discussing how our tough it was to have a drink with our assigned Core group (as opposed to the chosen Elective groups). That great story came out...
This guy was telling us how his group s***ed because they could not even meet for group work. Apparently, one Fonty guy (let's call him John Smith) not only never attended meetings, but also never responded to the many invitations. The whole group was upset. Then one day, they received an email saying something like: "You have been sending a lot of messages to me recently, I am an INSEAD MBA, but graduated in 2001. I think that the John Smith of your group never received your emails..." Funnily enough, the John Smith in question seems quiet and shy. He never got the information, in reality. Perception.

One reality though: Kazu, in Cuppage Plaza (off Orchard Road) is a superlative Japanese izakaya-style restaurant. Cuppage Plaza actually is as close as you'll get to Roppongi, in Tokyo. Lots of authentic Japanese restaurants, lots of salarymen, lots of expats, karaokes, Japanese clubs, and the what-you-know that makes Roppongi what it is... Highly recommended, if you -or your stomach- can't bear Chinese food anymore.