Week's Notes: Entrepreneurs Solving Their Own Problems and Taking Action

April 15, 2021
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Another week flew by! Last week I fell behind - I plan on posting or scheduling these weekly on Tuesdays, not Thursdays. Whoops! Life happens - we know this.My XM radio was stuck on Business / Wharton's channel, seemingly. A number of segments drew me in as to how some entrepreneurs started their journeys or continued them - always asking how they could improve what they were doing, or destress, or build because they were bored. Ideas come aplenty when you're having discussions with friends, spouses, colleagues! I do find it entertaining to catch a few segments that have founders claiming opposite approaches - this week it was on funding levels. One passionately believed that if a team is focused on funding repeatedly or the necessary amount to land the funding, it would take away from the proper product building. Another talked of his experience talking to ~200 different VCs and investors to land the funding he believed was necessary to push his company further into growth. Different strokes for different folks - and it's fun to listen to each of them use their investing or fundamental beliefs in saying that it was the right way.I'm going to include a shout-out for DataScienceGo - a data science convention headed by Kirill Eremenko (@kirill_eremenko) and the SuperDataScience he has fostered and created with a number of partners. From people posting and the discussions I've had, it maintained its level of excitement and continued to foster the community further! Congrats and hope it was a blast for everyone that went!On to the notes:

Week of October 8, 2018

  • Aly Orady, Founder of Tonal Fitness (Wharton XM)
  • Had quit his job, was making him stressed and said he needed to focus on himself, somehow
  • Wanted a family and figure out what he could do
  • Took 9 months to lose 70 pounds and was feeling much better - strength training vs cardio
  • In deciding what he wanted to do next - wanted something that was out of his need to train and not having the information Trainers do exist out there but good ones are fully booked - others don't have the experience or the knowledge or practical knowledge
  • Farhad Farahbakhshian, CEO and co-founder of Naked Labs (Wharton XM)
  • Home body scanner, out of necessity and not having information to do this
  • "Honest feedback" on how fit they are and their own body - can see adjustments in privacy of home or with gym partners, etc…
  • Syed Hussain, Chief Commercial Officer for BANKEX, global fintech firm (Behind the Markets, Wharton XM)
  • Trying to get banks on blockchain for security and transactional setup Host thought it was ridiculous that 2% charge and 3% charge for customers of banks, between banks and transaction companies to consumers Should be 2-5 bps, if blockchain can bring that charge down, worth it
  • Background in IB with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch
  • Phil Libin, CEO and Co-founder of All-Turtles (Wharton Launch Pad)
  • All-Turtles, AI startup studio looking to partner with founding teams to build products
  • Before starting All-Turtles while at General Capital, was CEO and starter of Evernote (~8-9 years)
  • Talked about not having a great story, very difficult to obtain funding initially All funding outside of him and co-founder came from very active users/first adopters
  • He really wanted to build a "100 year start-up", what would that look like? Product that he could be fine with, but wasn't ultimately looking for an exit between he and his co-founder However, he also realized he wouldn't need to be CEO forever. Wasn't until meeting with GoPro founder who asked "still having fun?" If not having fun, then it was likely due to not doing the things he was good/great at and needed to get rid of those responsibilities
  • Donna Hicks, Leading with Dignity (Wharton XM, Women @ Work)
  • Talking about why many lose their dignity, due to others
  • Leading requires understanding humans and how to lead with dignity
  • She's an International Conflict Resolution Advisor
  • SC0x Week 3, Lesson 2
  • Transportation and transshipment problems
  • Variability of demand - what to incorporate More to bring in, more the model becomes difficult to solve or interpret
  • Simulation is descriptive, not prescriptive model
  • Transportation model is source nodes or demand nodes
  • Transshipment involves demand and supply, but also adds intermediate nodes
  • Anything that doesn't supply or demand flow (enforcement of in vs outflow)
  • Data requirements of modeling problems
  • Where the modeler draws the line of complexity: Realistic problem vs realism/practicality
  • Cost structure- variable costs at nodes, fixed cost/combination, concave/nonlinear?
  • Single or multiple commodity? Separate or family of SKUs? Common unit, like cases? A ton of product? What's the flow variable?