Entrepreneurship: The School of Continuing Ed

One of the least obvious but most pressing responsibilities of an entrepreneur (and even more so for a collegiate entrepreneur with little to no experience) is to become a student of the industry you're making a play in. Whether it's to monitor your competitors, analyze trends, review studies, learn the new buzzwords or stay in-the-know on current affairs, there is simply no substitute for a commitment to constant information absorption because it is ultimately knowledge that allows you to speak intelligently to savvy investors and business professionals you will encounter in your journey. Alex and I read about 2-3 hours daily, immersing ourselves deeply in relevant content to make sure that we can address no-brainer inquiries with complete confidence, medium-level inquiries with sufficient knowledge and high-level inquiries with the working knowledge to engage discussion. Despite how much we try, Alex and I will never know everything--it's impossible. However, the desire to, we have found, is a quality viewed favorably by whoever we meet and certainly enhances investor relations, networking and dynamic discussions.

If you are engaged in or contemplating an internet/tech-related start up or simply have interest in Entrepreurship/Venture Capital/Tech/Web 2.0 here are some online publications to kick you off on your quest to know all. We could list hundreds more but you'll find them so easily on your own--that's part of the fun. The blogosphere is an incredible resource (Alex and I use Google Reader to aggregate info):

1. Guy Kawasaki's Blog

2. Ask the VC

3. A VC in New York

4. VentureBeat

5. Bits: NY Times Tech Blog

6. TechCrunch

7. Techmeme

8. GigaOM

9. Slashdot

10. WebbAlert

11. Killer Start Ups

Coming up...

Watch out for these two important TextWorks dates just around the corner. The TextWorks Facebook application will officially launch on December 17th, followed by the expanded online application in January 2008.

Happy Thanksgiving!

BC Start-Up: Learning to Sell Yourself

Check out our second article in the BC Heights newspaper: Learning to Sell Yourself

BC Heights Column

TextWorks now has a column in the Boston College newspaper, The Heights. Check out the first article by A&M here: BC Start-Up: Raising the seed money.

VC Follow-Up

Steve's first presentation with Miles and Alex was at the same prestigious venture capital firm referenced earlier. The presentation went very smoothly with the three guys teaming up -- at least until the last few minutes. The firm wanted to validate EVERYTHING the guys spoke about in their presentation, including Alex's note in his bio that he could bench 360 pounds. The partners challenged him to prove it in their in-office gym downstairs.

Although Alex hadn't lifted in over two months (and was nearly frozen by nerves), he couldn't refuse the opportunity to prove himself to the venture capitalists. Luckily, he was able to get up 345 pounds - totally impressing the group of VCs.

Advice from the guys: Be prepared to back up everything you say. Seriously.

Ari Rubinstein

Ari Rubinstein joined Team Textworks as the Mobile Groups application developer in November 2007. Ari has been an enormous asset to the team in both development and technical advisory services.

Ari is currently a sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University majoring in Information Systems and will eventually be pursuing a Masters in Information Systems and Management.

Ari has worked for Microsoft, developing automated testing scenarios for Microsoft Visio 2007, for Detroit Country Day, his high school, developing a slew of applications such as laptop tracking clients, auction programs and helpdesk applications, and for Total Sports Fan, assisting in the development of one of the most popular applications on Facebook. Recently, Ari's development team placed 2nd in the OLPC Gamejam in Pittsburgh, which means that his game will be featured on all laptops given by the world-famous One Laptop Per Child not-for-profit organization.

If you want to learn more about Ari, visit his website!

Where are there over 2000 computers and 5000 monitors?

The team’s constant commute between NYC, Connecticut, and Boston can get tiring, but it also provides the guys with opportunities to visit lots of interesting places and meet many amazing people. The above photo is from two weeks ago and shows Alex on the UBS trading floor in Stamford, CT (the largest in the world). Miles and Alex received a brief tour and met with one of the managing directors.