Last November I spent a full week in the basement of a masonic temple in Manhattan, an oddly appropriate venue for a workshop about risk. The Real World Risk Institute was founded as a hedge against a very specific real life risk - the possibility that author and risk expert Nassim Taleb might lose (or quit) his part-time position as a professor at NYU. Tired of the bureaucracy? Why not start your own institute? »
I am elated and disgusted, inspired and despondent. I am waking up to the fact that I have been missing out on a huge opportunity. I have been ignoring a large part of the breadth of human communication – now I am realizing how it has hampered my career and the growth of my company. What was I missing? I just finished an intensive “touchy feely” workshop, led by InnerSpace and FortLight. »
We are launching polySpectra’s first product at the Cyclotron Road Demo Day next week, and I couldn’t have made a bigger mistake. On Sunday I felt a little bit ‘low energy’, but at the time it was barely noticeable. On Monday morning I was really tired, but it was Monday morning. I told my team I’d be fine after another cup of coffee. By Monday afternoon I realized it was not getting better and I needed to go home and lie down. »
It is hard enough running a ‘hard tech’ startup. Hardware is one thing, but companies bringing physical science innovations to the world have it toughest of all. Mother nature can be a very cruel compiler. Do not abandon hope! There are many tools available to help you on your journey. As with most things in life, the best ones are (often) free. Here, I have curated a short list of open source apps and tools that have been useful to us at polySpectra. »
You probably don’t know it, but you are my angel investor. This piece is dedicated to every US taxpayer — congratulations! You took a big risk and it is paying off. You didn’t get any stock, but I hope to show that you’ve created tremendous value and it is starting to return dividends. polySpectra just spun out of the Cyclotron Road program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Cyclotron Road is a hard technology accelerator program, focused on giving first-time entrepreneurs a launchpad to build cleantech and advanced manufacturing companies. »