TiE Con 2008 - Reflections
Being a competitive sportsman for the better part of my growing up years, the dream of competing at the Olympic Games was a natural one. Three knee injuries later, that dream has evolved to perhaps attending the Olympic Games (one that is firmly within my control).
TiE Con represented somewhat of a similar aura for the entrepreneur in me. Being there as an attendee this year can be likened to being a spectator at the Games. You are present; you can feel the atmosphere and recognize the importance to those battling to secure funding or connecting with speakers. But you somehow your life’s work does not hang in the balance like those ‘competing’.
I think my one-year here set me up decently well to work the crowd and to connect with speakers. But the contacts made – while extremely valuable would not be the highlight of TiECon for me.
Two speakers – both very aptly speaking as keynotes were what blew me away. The first was Naresh Goyal, Founder & CEO of Jet Airways. His story of going from a baggage handler in a small Indian airport to the owner of India’s first privately owned airline was truly inspirational. It might have happened in a different time, but his story was a clear reminder that success, in every definition of it, is a direct function of hard work and perseverance.
The other memorable speaker was John Wood, founder of “Room to Read”. “Room to Read” is a non-profit social enterprise that aims to bring literacy and learning to children in all the rural parts of the world. His goal is noble, like many others, but his methods and philosophy is truly exceptional and unlike any other I have seen. He believes in maximizing the donors’ dollar – more than 80% of donations go directly to the children (a staggeringly high statistic for a non-profit). More importantly, he believes these children need to be helped today and now. He answers to this belief by benchmarking his non-profit with one of the fastest expanding corporations in the world – Starbucks. In the last 3 years, “Room to Read” has opened more local language libraries around than world than Starbucks have opened coffee joints. How’s that for scalability and walking the talk? John reminded me of something I lost site of for a while – that one man can exact change in the world.
So while TiE Con was meant to be about contacts, business and understanding entrepreneurship better. It turned out to be so much more than that. It was about fanning the flames of passion and an awakening to closely held yet recently marginalized values in life.
Times are crazy but when the World starts spinning at its regular speed again, I do believe these lessons would be the ones I will carry with me through beyond my remaining time in the Valley.