So What? Who Cares? Why You?

The Science of Sports

I'm talking a lot these days about the "science of business" -- scientists, researchers, and pretty much all inventors take comfort in the idea that there's a methodology or a process to follow to articulate the value of their ideas.  Well, imagine the same idea applied to professional athletes.  If you think about it, most athletes training for the big leagues don't know what it feels like to play the game at that level -- that's what they're trying to achieve -- kind of like an entrepreneur isn't it -- he/she wants to be a global player but it's a dream and they're looking for coaching and skills to take them to that stage.

I had never really thought about this until this morning.  I  opened my email to find this article in my inbox.  Mike Gough Athletic Edge Sports is recognized in North America as one of the top sports and conditioning trainers for professional athletes.  Mike has trained professional athletes from the Chicago Bears, Miami Hurricanes, Indianapolis Colts, and a long list of others. 

I should declare my bias here :-) since Mike is my brother-in-law - so it's not just that I wanted to recognize his success, but more to talk about the parallels to our businesses which are quite interesting.  And plus, he's an entrepreneur building a business in a very interesting space.

Mike teaches athletes the science of sport -- the specific tools and approaches to get to their peak performance -- and in this game, .5 seconds in a 40 yard dash can make or break you.  Check out his web site.  It's comforting to see that we entrepreneurs aren't the only ones "sweating the details!!".

Nice to see that just like in the game of commercializing an idea, even professional athletes look for ways to increase the odds.

Enjoy your journey!

Wendy

author/advisor/lady with the flipcharts
www.wendykennedy.com

Out of Sight and Out of My Mind!!!

Hello folks,

Rather than launch into a song about being so absent from the online world, let me just point you here so you can see for yourself.

I've been doing some really neat things but alas, it's the struggle of a startup to keep all the balls in the air, and suffice to say i'll never be a juggler!!!  So my blogging has fallen below the line.

Let me share with you some of my travels.  I've had the good fortune to meet some great inventor and entrepreneur groups over the past little while.  One I introduced you to earlier in the summer -- Young Inventors International - www.younginventors.org.  This member group has about 1400 young inventors worldwide and recently i held an online webinar on So what? who cares? why you? tools to help them tell a clear and compelling story to investors.

If you're interested in listening to the recorded version, it's available to members only right now, but I highly recommend you consider membership if you happen to be a young inventor (ie. university or younger). 

Last week I was at Georgia Tech in Atlanta speaking at the Technology Transfer Society annual conference.  I was speaking about how tools such as So what? who cares? why you? can be used by technology transfer offices to help scientists, researchers, and faculty bridge the gap between good ideas and great business opportunities.  The conference was attended by people as far away as Hong Kong, Finland, Mexico, with two days of multi-tracked presentations. 

It's nice to see that even with more rigid due diligence and nervousness by early stage investors, the percolating of new ideas is still alive and well. 

Next week it's off to Penn State University, home of the Nittany Lions (i'm now learning about college sports!), to speak at their CrossOver Conference. 

I'm looking forward to this for sure!

Hope to get some cycles to update my blog with some new articles and books too. I've been collected a pile of these during my travels.  Alas, another ball to juggle!!!