ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN HARD TIMES

Hard times can actually be the best of times for would-be entrepreneurs, says Kanwal Rekhi, a Michigan Tech alumnus, advisor and supporter who became a highly successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Rekhi tells about "the entrepreneurial journey" and explains why a bad economy can be a good thing for someone who wants to become an entrepreneur. Rekhi founded Excelan, a pioneering computer networking company and one of the first to commercially develop the TCP/IP protocol. In 1989 Excelan merged with Novell, where Rekhi served as executive vice president, chief technology officer and a member of the board of directors.

To find out more about his lecture at Michigan Technological University, refer to Professor David Orozco visit this site.www.proforozco.com


Entrepreneurship in Hard Times
Posted March 5, 2009 by proforozco
Categories: Entrepreneurship

Dr. Kanwal Rekhi’s innovations provided the foundations for the Internet. His start-up company, Excelan, developed and sold the computer hardware that allowed distributed computing to flourish, helping to usher in the age of the network. Dr Rekhi eventually sold Excelan to Novell and then eventually became a venture capitalist, helping to fund more than 50 companies in Silicon Valley. Six of them went public.

Michigan Technological University had the honor of hosting this very distinguished alum. Dr. Rekhi received his masters in electrical engineering in 1969 from Michigan Technological University.

(Professor David Orozco)had the unique pleasure of hosting Dr. Rekhi in his Entrepreneurship class. He also attended his lecture on “Entrepreneurship in Had Times” on March 4, 2009. Dr. Rekhi gave an amazing an inspiring speech. During this speech he spoke about the virtues of bucking the trend, and starting your own business during tubulent times.

These are Dr. Rekhi’s top 10 traits for an entrepreneur. They readily apply to anyone who aspires to innovate:

Top Traits of an Entrepreneur

1. Intellectual honesty. Brutal honesty. You can never fall in love with your business. If you do, you will fail to make the hard but necessary decisions.

2. Humility.

3. Accountability to yourself and your team. You ultimately have to be able to say that you accomplished something or that you did not. If not, why not? You cannot ever blame others. If you fail, it is on your shoulders — no excuses. If there is no accountability at the top, others below also will not feel accountable.

4. Fairness. You have to be able to make sure the rewards are proportional.

5. Economics. You have to be able to determine values and prioritize these values. The highest value-added issues get prioritized. You also have to understand the fundamentals related to costs and margins.

6. Expertise. You have to be an expert when it comes to your customer and competition. Although you also have to quickly become a generalist. You don’t have enough money when you start out to hire specialists.

7. Execution intelligence. Investors pay a premium for this rare skill. For every great idea that you have, there are 10 very smart people with the same idea. What will make the difference is the ability to execute. Ideas are a dime a dozen.

8. Leadership. When times are tough, pull everybody up. Inspire others to look beyond today. When times are good, keep everybody grounded; don’t get too exuberant.

9. Self-reliance. Entrepreneurs do not need any approval. This comes from within. Also, there is little daily satisfaction; success comes in the long run.

10. Confidence. Success loops are long, so you need to be confident and patient to reap your rewards.

MCCG thanks Dr David Orozco for sharing this information at this most critical time.
contact him at www.proforozco.com

to review Dr Rekhi's lecture:

Entrepreneurship in Hard Times from Engineering Michigan on Vimeo.

RENDERING OF URBAN HEALTH PLAN SIMPSON STREET EXTENSION

MANAGEMENT CONSULTING AND CONTROLS GROUP NAMED AS ONE OF TOP 500 EMERGING BUSINESSES IN THE USA

MCCG IN DIVERSITY.COM

PICTURES FROM PLAZA DEL SOL - CORONA QUEENS, NEW YORK

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

MCCG was honored for its service to Urban Health Plan at a recent reception held at the Bronx Botanic Gardens this month. Managing Director Lewis Spann accepted the award on behalf of the Management Consulting and Controls Group.

Urban Health Plan is a 30 year old Federally Qualified HEalth Center located in the heart of the South Bronx it is one of the largest community health centers in New York State and the organization has been recognized as one of the leading Latino non profit organizations by Hispanic Business Magazine (www.urbanhealthplan.org)

MCCG AROUND TOWN - URBAN HEALTH PLAN QUEENS MASQUERADE BALL AT TERRACE ON THE PARK NEW YORK

Center, Lewis Spann, Managing Director of MCCG and Construction Project Executive of Urban Health Plan's new Plaza Del Sol Center in Corona Queens, New York at reception prior to masquerade ball honoring Queens Borough President Helen Marshall at Terrace on the Park on October 2, 2008.

At his right Jason Martin, Managing Director MCCG and to his left Jack Flanagan Chair Emeritus Urban Health Plan.