Texas Ventures Panel Gathering (01/20/2010)

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Texas Ventures Panel Gathering (01/20/2010)

This was one of the worse events I have ever gone to. Maybe it was my fault by being mislead by the title of "A Discussion on The Future of the Texas Entrepreneurial Economy". I thought that there might be a discussion on the future of the Texas Entrepreneurial Economy. To have all those great minds there and not have them look into their crystal ball was a total waste. I was so mad and frustrated I walked out and left. It was not worth the money and I will defiantly NOT go to the next event. The organizes should be ashamed.

21 January 2010
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over 2 years ago (Facebook) responded:

What *did* they discuss?

over 2 years ago Katrina Tolentino responded:

I would have to agree with you Wesley, and judging by the grumblings and early exits by other attendees, we weren't the only ones. I went back to the Texas Ventures events page this morning to see if I misunderstood what the panel was about, but it very clearly states "future." And as interested as I am on the subject matter that the next panel or any future panel may hold, my experience at this particular event has dissuaded me from spending that $15 again. As they mentioned last night, Austin has numerous events that compete for our attention, the opportunity cost of attending that event is high given other options. I hope the organizers are listening.

over 2 years ago (Facebook) responded:

Hey Wesley. That sounds like a really bad experience. What specific future-oriented issues were you expecting to be discussed?

over 2 years ago Wesley Faulkner responded:

I expected discussion beyond Q1 of 2010. Making a statement saying "Entrepreneurs are our future" does not qualify. At the start Tom Serres, Founder and CEO of Piryx, went to stage and said that he wasn't prepared to talk. He then went into his acceptance speech as if he just won a freaking Emmy of something. If I expected crap I wouldn't have been as disappointed.

over 2 years ago carlat (Twitter) responded:

I know how hard panels can be so I'll be a bit gentler but... you're right. The moderator did nothing to direct the discussion and his one question to the panelists was vague at best. I totally agree that these great brains were not used as they should have been.

over 2 years ago (Facebook) responded:

That's too bad. You should request a refund.

over 2 years ago tomserres (Twitter) responded:

Wes. While I understand your negative response, I caution you to understand that you're commenting on the initiatives of students. Young folks who are passionate about entrepreneurship, and not experienced entrepreneurs such as yourself. And while you might be angry and upset, I might suggest a gentler approach. The purpose of the panel was to discuss how mentors can help strengthen the abilities of young entrepreneurs. Ultimately shaping the future of Texas Entrepreneurship and Business Leadership. Someone as experienced as yourself could offer tremendous benefit and I insight to these young folks.

As for your comment on being prepred, I'll be the first to apologize. Within the 48 hours prior to my introduction I was assisting a friend who was rescuing their children from Haiti, contacting government officials about their situation, acting as air traffic controller between them and CNN for an interview, launching a website so they can keep their friends and family up to date, assisting them in transmitting their video from an airforce base in FL to CNN Washington DC, and participating in annual board meetings. As you can imagine, my energy level was quite taxed - I could barely keep my eyes open. Next time, I'll do better and pass off my role to someone else so that you might have a more heightened experience. As for the "Grammy" comment, if you're referring to me saying thank you for the hard work of Texas Ventures students - well I guess you misunderstood what I was doing. That's too bad your anger clouded your ability to notice that. For their first event, I'd say they did well. Issues were def evident, but nothing a bit of mentoship can't help improve.

Feel free to email me any time. I'd be happy to earn your respect back.

Regards,
-Tom Serres

over 2 years ago (Facebook) responded:

Hey, there.
Do they have a follow-up survey, or some way to receive feedback. I bet they would want to know that their delivery was poor.

over 2 years ago tomserres (Twitter) responded:

Lavanna, I'm sure they'd love the feedback and any advice you might have. Can you send us an email to info@texasventures.org?

over 2 years ago joshuabaer (Twitter) responded:

I have to admit that when I first started typing my own blog post about this", I had a similar reaction. I have heard a few of the panelists speak at other conferences and wasn't hearing anything new or controversial. I even spent some time taking pictures of the crowd and chatting in the back with a friend who was visiting from out of town.

But I thought about what message I wanted to convey and why and it came down to this: I am psyched to see Texas Ventures bringing together student entrepreneurs. I think the event successful and I hope that its just the first of many more.

I didn't find the panel terribly exciting, but I realize that I'm not the target audience of the panel. I frequently attend conferences with panels like these and sometimes I'm up on stage. Many of the things we heard last night were things I had heard before - but I doubt that most of the students in the audience had heard them before. I think its great that the students were exposed to a broad range of leaders from the venture, media and government communities. I went there with the expectation that the panel was going to be at an introductory level.

Most important to me was getting a ton of students together to talk about entrepreneurship and that was definitely a success. I enjoyed meeting new people and learning about some of the companies that were presenting at the tables. My main goal was to meet people, and so I was very happy that I attended. I got there early and ended up staying late talking.

Putting on an event like that is a lot of work. Just getting the venue lined up, promoted, ticket sales, serving alcohol, photographers, booths, sponsorships... there is a lot to it! I was impressed with how professionally it all came together.

I also have been watching Texas Ventures for a few years now and like many student run organizations, they have the challenge of having completely new membership every few years. This makes continuity a real challenge and TV has been fortunate to have many of its founders continue to support it after they graduated.

Texas Ventures has shown a great ability to generate interest on campus. They are planning on holding more events and I would expect that the topics will get more advanced and specific. I'd love to volunteer up some of the Capital Factory mentors for any of their upcoming events.

~Josh

over 2 years ago (Facebook) responded:

Josh, great comment. Thank you for providing an experienced perspective on the evening. As a very recent graduate, and former Texas Ventures member, I was very proud of the professionalism the students exhibited and the quality of the event.

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