I’m really looking forward to next week’s Entrepreneurship @ Cornell University! The energy building up to this is incredible as I’ve begun to interact with my fellow speakers and attendees.
Right now I’m thinking about my topics and the most important take home value I can deliver to the students, entrepreneurs and attendees.
Before I get to Ithaca, I’m attending the 72nd Annual Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) convention in Orlando, FL. Since I’m launching a new brand project, it will give me an opportunity to further discuss packaging, branding, sourcing and overall strategy with some of the brightest leaders in the industry. Last year at WSWA I kicked off the pre-launch of Sugar Skull Rum.
This is a cool brand that unfortunately got stopped in its tracks by certain partners before we could get beyond kickoff in a few markets. Time will tell where it ends up, but the early response was terrific! There are lessons in this one I will certainly share at Cornell.
Finally, although I rooted for Wisconsin at the Final NCAA game last week, I am looking forward to hearing Mike Krzyzewski- better known as “Coach K“- head of the legendary Duke University Blue Devils basketball squad, address our group on Monday morning. Not a Duke fan generally, but definitely hold Coach K in high regard and interested in his message on leadership and winning.
Here’s an outline of my upcoming Cornell visit:
Tuesday/Wednesday – participate in and speak at the Pillsbury Institute’s
Technology Entrepreneurship Roundtable, Chaired by: Mona Anita Olsen, Ph.D. Assistant Academic Director of The Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship, Visiting Assistant Professor of Management & Organizational Behavior, Cornell University
I’m looking forward to my session with Cornell classmate Joe Tagliente, President, Lenrock and a fellow YPO’r. Our panel is called “Brand Activation Through Social & Mobile Apps and Development of A Social Mobile Company” The full program is here.
It will be catching up with fraternity brother (Sigma Nu) Zach Shulman, who I found out after committing to my visit is Director of Entrepreneurship @Cornell! Very cool!
Thursday/Friday are jam packed with the Entrepreneurship @Cornell Celebration.
In this I’m joining more than 1,000 alumni, students, faculty, and staff for two days of on-campus events including:
- Symposia on a wide range of topics including family business, social entrepreneurship, health administration and more!
- eLab Demo Day
- New Business & Emerging Technologies Showcase
- BIG Idea Competition and Cornell Venture Challenge finals
- Recognition of the Student Business of the Year
- Networking opportunities …and more!
I have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Olsen’s class called:
Technology for Bootstrapped Entrepreneurship
a topic with which I am intimately familiar!
Following class, I’m participating on a panel of distinguished entrepreneurs in what is dubbed a
Slice of Insight Social at Celebration ’15
The the rest of the day includes a keynote by Jay Walker (one of America’s best-known business inventors and entrepreneurs, has founded multiple successful startup companies that today serve more than 75 million customers in 15 different industries) and the banquet with special guest Svante Myrick ’09, Ithaca Mayor
On Friday I’m joining two other entrepreneurs in a celebration talk:
In between all this I’m visiting the Viticulture and Oenology department, with Prof. Gavin Sacks to learn about what Cornell is up to in the wine world and also to see what we can do to tie them into our 11th Annual Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS) in Napa in June.
Finally, I’m paying a visit to the Friedman Wrestling center and Coach Rob Koll, 4 X NCAA champion Kyle Dake and first time champion Gabe Dean… and later meeting up with my old wrestling coach and Athletic Director, Andy Noel... this will entail its own post after we meet up!
I look forward to writing about my experiences and all the interaction with new and old friends! Cheers!
