The power of imagination Max Effgen, August 20, 2011 My son recently provided this gem while playing with Lego: “I followed the instructions of my imagination.” It reminded me that I need to follow those instructions a little more often myself. Continue Reading
Questions Max Effgen, July 31, 2011 Consultants are trained to ask questions. Some good, most are bad and total waste of time and energy. This has the effect of making clients feel like you are wasting their time. I like to keep it direct and too the point. Inital client engagements are a success if I… Continue Reading
Bumblebee Max Effgen, June 27, 2011 Very excited to be working with the Brian Otis, Ken Myer, Henry Berg and Mike Clarke on the Bumblebee wireless sensor this summer. Apparently, you have to have 10 letters or less in your name to work on this project. Kidding aside, this is a very slick processor with some… Continue Reading
Aqua Sphere Goggles Max Effgen, June 5, 2011December 2, 2013 I have been in the pool most of my life. Competitive swimming started at 8 and I still occasionally do an open water race or Masters meet. Taking a page from Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way: Ensuring the Best Experience for Your Kids in Any Sport by Cal Ripken… Continue Reading
How to Look Smarter than Your Lawyer and VC Max Effgen, June 1, 2011 Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson’s book Venture Financings: How to Look Smarter than Your Lawyer and VC is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. I am looking forward to it having taking a venture financing class as part of my MBA this year. The more you know about venture financing,… Continue Reading
How to Brand You Max Effgen, May 31, 2011 Received an interesting email yesterday. One of my “mentees” from the UW SEBA mentor program asked me a question. He is a super sharp doctoral candidate and taking in internship with the World Bank this summer. He is anxious about how he will fit in a large office of a… Continue Reading
Greg Gottesman at RSVC2 Max Effgen, May 15, 2011 Start-Up Culture by VC Greg Gottesman from Foster School of Business on Vimeo. Last month Greg Gottesman accepted my invitation and spoke at Rock Star Venture Capitalist #2. He did an awesome job going through 13 characteristics of great companies as he has observed through his many years in the… Continue Reading
Solid State Drive Failure Max Effgen, May 7, 2011 Having a hard drive fail is never a great situation. I have been pretty fortunate only 4 drives have failed in 20 years. Probably about 100 drives in total which is a 4% failure rate which is about double the norm. It is infrequent, but traumatic. I can remember every… Continue Reading
Richard Tait on “Entrepreneuership is…” Max Effgen, April 22, 2011July 28, 2022 Entrepreneurship is… from Tyler Mayeno on Vimeo. Great video featuring Richard Tait on dreams, passions and entrepreneurship. I have been lucky enough to meet Richard a few times. He is nothing short of inspirational. The video will not tell you that he is a huge soccer fan and a recreational… Continue Reading
Hitting home Max Effgen, April 21, 2011December 2, 2013 Brad Feld wrote a post yesterday that really hit home: Feld Thoughts: A Message to Graduating MBAs. My career has been conventional and unconventional with the goal of always remaining relevant. For a long time this was implementing CRM systems. First Siebel then Motive. I worked my tail off with… Continue Reading