Tech Ranch Austin

Why do we use the pitch practice that we do in Venture Forth?

There seemed to be some confusion last night in our  venture forth class that VF is a class that is  about making presentations. I wanted to send a note to clear up the intention, and make sure there is an understanding about the pedagogical model that we’re using for VF.

Why do we use the investor pitch and have you present it?

The investor pitch is used as a diagnostic for the venture- a diagnostic that I have used across my career from the early-idea start up to the billion dollar firms that I have built skunkworks for… a diagnostic that typically illustrates where the greatest focus for the next step is in the venture’s history.

Many entrepreneurs say to me, “I am not looking for investment.” One thing is clear- every entrepreneur needs to think like an investor… even if they are not going after outside investment… yet many entrepreneurs don’t adopt this discipline to prepare themselves as if they were considering an investment in their own companies.  This is a blind spot that many entrepreneurs have… and what’s worse… if the entrepreneur hasn’t prepared themselves for this personal review, they’re certainly not ready to be reviewed by their peer entrepreneurs- who have insight that can help over come blindness… or to put it even stronger, in getting other’s insight Alan Kay says this: “Another point of view is worth 40 IQ points”.  The secondary value of preparing an investor pitch is to quickly have others, following the “literacy” of the investor pitch review by one’s peer entrepreneurs.

Its with this in mind that I suggest, as we enter into the next week of pitch reviews and pitches… don’t think that you’re focused on the presentation, but the diagnostic of going through this practice.  All of your ventures can grow, and grow quicker, especially with the input of more eyes to help you debug what is slowing your venture down.

The TR Feed: Katherine Ruiz, KR Industries & ShearStore.com

“Consciously sharing prosperity through e-commerce product sales.”

Katherine Ruiz realized at the young age of six that she wanted to help others. Her first moment of consciousness came when a new student, who spoke barely any English from Mexico, was sitting alone in the cafeteria after others learned she had the chicken pox. Katherine, who was bilingual, sat next to the little girl when everyone else had left the table. Now, she did get chicken pox soon after the next day but credits her handful of pox marks to the good act. She realized from that point forward that doing good can mitigate the challenges that one is up against and help lead to greater outcomes for all.KR Industries 3

As a recent graduate of Venture Forth (#29 – it was her anniversary present!), Katherine has hit some major milestones with her startup KR Industries, whose first product ShearStore.com launches at the end of this year. ShearStore.com will sell “social scissors” to help manufacturers from third-world countries earn more money, improve their working standards and expand their market. While she’s been pitching and promoting herself and the company all around town, it was a bit of a roller coaster ride. After making her first wholesale in Ecuador in December 2014 she realized that her dream could be a reality. Unfortunately, she quickly realized that her original business model wasn’t going to work for the impact she wanted to achieve and she would have to re-invent KR Industries. It was at this point that she attended a Tech Ranch Campfire and signed up for Venture Forth. In her own words, “Venture Forth kept me engaged, propelled me and my business forward and created strong connections that continue to provide support, encouragement, acceptance, confidence and strength.”

[Read more…]

Meet Jeremy Enright! Tech Ranch Intern from Adelaide, Australia

G’day Tech Ranch! My name is Jeremy Enright and I am from Adelaide, Australia. I am currently on an exchange program to the University of Texas as part of my Business Management (advanced leadership) degree. While on exchange I have had the incredible opportunity to be an intern at Tech Ranch since September. Moving to Austin to study at UT and work here at Tech Ranch has been an incredible experience and one I will not forget. Being a part of the Tech Ranch community I have learned a lot about business here in the United States and also about entrepreneurship, particularly in Austin. Austin is a fast paced city with a lot of up and coming business and startups. It has been a great learning experience to immerse myself in this innovation-focused culture.

Throughout my time at Tech Ranch I have been able to see a number of entrepreneurs at different stages of their startups and entrepreneurs that have come from all different industries working together to create some amazing businesses. [Read more…]

What Happens in Vegas…Moves Startups Forward: Join us in January

Tech Ranch is excited to announce our biggest training ever. The goal? To help startups gain even more connections and traction in the days leading up to CES International 2016 in Las Vegas. As many of you already know, we have run our programs for over 5,500 internationally and are on the 30th version of our Venture Forth program here in Austin. Over the past year we have expanded our focus to include the attendees of conferences such as CES, SXSW and more.

Our team has not only attended, but hosted many events and understands the desire to make the most out of a conference experience. Through the launch of Venture Forth Intensive on-location we can help startups and entrepreneurs fine-tune their businesses, messaging and goals for the week. Our program differs from other boot camps in that we aren’t reiterating content but focusing on activities, practices and community-building for entrepreneurs as part of a cohort of their peers.

 

Our entire program will be facilitated by Tech Ranch CEO, Kevin Koym. The Venture Forth Intensive begins prior to the conference in the form of an introductory webinar, access to our learning management system and familiarization with our business. The 3-day event is followed by a 90-day engagement that includes a virtual, weekly meeting with 4-5 cohort members and 3-hour virtual “Follow-On” training. We strongly believe that you can’t move a business forward in ONLY three days, but you can set the foundation for making those strides. [Read more…]

JaxCOE Innovation Connection Conference – Finding Solutions to World Problems

This last Friday, Kevin Koym, Tech Ranch CEO, had the opportunity to speak at the Jacksonville Community of Entrepreneurs (JaxCoE)’s Innovation Connection Conference in Jacksonville, Fla. and share his vision of a world cleansed of many of its problems. Kevin’s vision of an entrepreneurial heaven, in which the ability to find the “100,000 solutions to the world’s problems”, has begun to manifest itself in Austin, and Tech Ranch hopes to foster this entrepreneurial mission in ecosystems across the U.S. and the world.

Tech Ranch is pleased to share that JaxCoE’s founder, Kate Stewart, was a former Venture Forth program participant and has taken Tech Ranch’s community building mission to Florida. JaxCoE has formed many of it’s ecosystem development philosophies after Tech Ranch, and for Kevin to travel to Jacksonville himself and meet its thriving community of forward thinking entrepreneurs, investors and students was a chance to see the future. [Read more…]