Question
Who would be good presenters at the HBS Entrepreneurship Conference on Nov 6, 2010?
Answer
I expect the usual suspects (Eric Ries Vivek Wadhwa, Steve Blank etc. from the lean startup movement) are already on the radar.
Some unusual suspects you may want to consider if there is interest in casting a wider net and providing some stimulation from outside the normal echo chamber.
I think the theme of human resources/talent is under-represented at such conferences, so I'll make suggestions in that department (I believe, like Larry Collins etc., that good people+bad process will beat mediocre people+good process every time, so I think the talent/people side of entrepreneurship is far more important than the processes/concepts side).
Getting these 5 people and an appropriate MD for the last department together might work wonders on a "State of the Talent Wars 2011" panel. I'd definitely want to listen to such a killer panel. Ideally, give 'em each a 5-minute pitch to cover 30 minutes total, and then have 'em discuss a couple of focused questions for the next 30 minutes, to create a great hour.
Some unusual suspects you may want to consider if there is interest in casting a wider net and providing some stimulation from outside the normal echo chamber.
I think the theme of human resources/talent is under-represented at such conferences, so I'll make suggestions in that department (I believe, like Larry Collins etc., that good people+bad process will beat mediocre people+good process every time, so I think the talent/people side of entrepreneurship is far more important than the processes/concepts side).
- Peter Cappelli of Wharton/author Talent on Demand, might be great for bringing in a big-picture talent market theme. http://mgmt.wharton.upenn.edu/pe...
- Rob Salkowitz might be a good choice if there is interest in entrepreneurship outside America in markets with young populations and the relationship between demographics and entrepreneurship.
- Yishan Wong might make a great speaker on effective hiring.
- Joel Spolsky of Smart, and Gets Things Done fame, and Steve Yegge of the counterpoint, (Done, and Gets Things Smart) might be able to shed light together on great engineers/10x engineers etc.
- Micah Baldwin might bring some great insight to the theme based on his post, Hackers and Hustlers:http://learntoduck.com/micah/hac...
- Perhaps actual experts on things like Asperger's disease and dyslexia, given how much the entrepreneurial community discusses the relationship between things like that and startup success.
Getting these 5 people and an appropriate MD for the last department together might work wonders on a "State of the Talent Wars 2011" panel. I'd definitely want to listen to such a killer panel. Ideally, give 'em each a 5-minute pitch to cover 30 minutes total, and then have 'em discuss a couple of focused questions for the next 30 minutes, to create a great hour.