At the June 24th Austin Startup Grind, our guest Kevin Koym told us the difference between a rocket and a camel. A rocket puts a lot of fuel in the tank and either goes to the moon or blows up. A camel takes the next step. In the end, the Camel will always make it across the desert.
This was just one of the many pieces of inspiration and experience that Kevin shared during the evening. Kevin started his career at NeXt working under Steve Jobs and really took to heart the “Do the right thing” culture and he learned the value of culture to a business.
In his first company he built the original e-commerce solution that Dell used, and may still use, 9 months before the next competitor. For a few years he enjoyed the build the next new thing, take a break, repeat cycle. Then he experienced a personal tragedy and realized he wanted to do more. He wanted to help the modern business pioneer. So he started TechRanch.
TechRanch offers entrepreneurs programs at different levels to build community, teach business skills and provide inspiration for their journey. The Campfires facilitate teaming and gets entrepreneurs working together. Venture Start is a first step into the Venture product pipeline. But the product that Kevin is most proud of is Venture Forth. This is an 8-week journey that starts with a focus on the individual and then focuses on the product, business and operating in the market place in succession. The most important criterion for acceptance into Venture forth is commitment to your company. This is not a product for the “entre-Tourist”. For more establish companies those with traction, TechRanch offers a Venture builder 26-week program. Some of the companies that TechRanch has worked with are Rally.org, IPX, Swimtopia (who graduated from the Venture Forth program) and Content DJ.
Kevin also spoke about his book “The Rise of the Enterprise Tribe”. He stated the most important thing that he wanted entrepreneurs to learn from it is that collaboration is not communism and not socialism. It’s the most efficient way to get things done – just like his ancestors built barns as a community.
So do you want to be the camel or the rocket? Learn more at http://techranchaustin.com