{"id":1921,"date":"2013-12-14T14:34:56","date_gmt":"2013-12-14T18:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/?p=1921"},"modified":"2013-12-14T14:39:51","modified_gmt":"2013-12-14T18:39:51","slug":"using-fred-smiths-sequel-business-to-close-deals-as-an-undergrad-founder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/using-fred-smiths-sequel-business-to-close-deals-as-an-undergrad-founder\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Fred Smith’s Sequel Business to Close Deals as An Undergrad Founder"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Larry Chiang<\/div>\n
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Holy crap!<\/div>\n
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<\/td>\nLarry Chiang (@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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12\/14\/13, 8:56 AM<\/a><\/div>\n
“My generation doesn’t FedEx”<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I wanted to call this article…<\/div>\n

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<\/td>\nLarry Chiang (@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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12\/14\/13, 9:57 AM<\/a><\/div>\n
How to Close a Deal Via FedEx as an Undergrad Who Is a USPS User Virgin #LABCS3360<\/a> #LABCS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Don’t laugh at old people who don’t email because you are generationally challenged as well. As a Gen C-er, you’re 18-21 years old and have never mailed a letter via the 44c USPS maneuver<\/div>\n

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Did you know FedEx used to be Federal Express. Which is a sequel biz to us Postal Service. I mean it is no where near “Federal”. So, Fred Smith’s Express is a sequel business that risk minimized and pattern replicated. <\/div>\n
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The Cautionary Tale of FedEx here in Silicon Valley. A bunch of smart Ivy League undergrads were flown in by Sequoia Capital– They’re cool like that. It’s called Stanford University eBootcamp<\/div>\n
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During a session lead by a VC not at sequoia, the VC said: “My wife wants me to bring in more Illinois into my (summer incubator).” It’s one of those sweet-ass “Free $50k (USD $50,000)-get-incubator’d-for-the-summer”<\/div>\n
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He was wearing a Cubs hat. <\/div>\n
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the UNDERGRADS said: “Hey what if we are three engineers from Urbana?”<\/div>\n
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The said: “Cool, you’re in”<\/div>\n
I said: “That’s a public verbal contract. Right!?”<\/div>\n
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The VC said: “Right”<\/div>\n
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Me and Ryan Shea (audience member and undergrad at the time and Princeton Entrepreneurship president and engineering 145 (#ENGR145) alum) just stared in half dis-belief \/ half amazement.<\/div>\n
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We just watched a deal close on a Saturday morning<\/div>\n
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God, I love Stanford eBootcamp*<\/div>\n
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So what happens next, breaks my heart and should serve as a cautionary tale (or not serve as a cautionary tale). The founders refused to follow-up with a $75.oo delivery expensed, FedEx package<\/div>\n
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Paying 75.00 for the $50k seemed wrong. <\/div>\n
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Sending a Cubs bear to the VC who wore a cubs hat with the Cubs fan wife with the new cubs fan baby seemed wrong. So the undergrads from Urbana decided to not fedEx<\/div>\n
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They said: “It’s a generational thing”<\/div>\n
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What’s more, I had the FedEx number of Sequoia (a fed ex shipper number allows you to charge the package’s shipping cost to the holder of the shipper number \ud83d\ude42<\/div>\n
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It’s like postage. <\/div>\n
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Disclosure: I’d have gotten the tracking number and then text the Roelof Botha “Yo dude. 3 engineers just hit your FedEx account for 75 bucks. I’ll leave a $75 gift card for Cindy or just cut all y’all a check for 75. U pick!”<\/div>\n
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He’d text back a week later: “Don’t worry about it. Was that you at the CapDyn investor annual meeting? Anything good??”<\/div>\n
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But the FedEx package never happened<\/div>\n
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The Urbana, University of Illinois engineers never picked up the free $50k. I’m documenting the usage of FedEx and USPS TO CLOSE MORE DEALS AS ENGINEERS LABCS 3360<\/div>\n
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Live <\/div>\n
Action <\/div>\n
Business <\/div>\n
Case<\/div>\n
Study<\/div>\n
3360 = <\/div>\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nLarry Chiang (@LarryChiang<\/a>)<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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12\/14\/13, 9:57 AM<\/a><\/div>\n
How to Close a Deal Via FedEx as an Undergrad Who Is a USPS User Virgin #LABCS3360<\/a> #LABCS<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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ENGR145’s live action, just in time engineering knowledge for being a co-founder<\/div>\n
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<\/a><\/div>\n
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Call to action<\/div>\n
Text me on my cell phone down below: “I’m a USPS virgin. De virginize me please” to my PDA 650-283-8008<\/div>\n
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Women… <\/div>\n
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CEO of Duck9<\/div>\n
Stanford University Entrepreneur in Residence, Emeritus<\/div>\n
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Duck9 = “Deep Underground Credit Knowledge” 9<\/div>\n
125 University Avenue\/ 100<\/div>\n
Palo Alto CA 94301<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/ass<\/a><\/a><\/div>\n
650-566-9600<\/div>\n
650-566-9696 (direct)<\/div>\n
650-283-8008 (cell)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
****************<\/div>\n
Editor of the BusinessWeek Channel “What They Don’t Teach at Business School”<\/div>\n
https:\/\/whattheydontteachyouatstanfordbusinessschool.com\/blog<\/a><\/a><\/div>\n
CNN Video Channel: https:\/\/ireport.cnn.com\/people\/larrychiang<\/a><\/a><\/div>\n
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Read my last 10 tweets at https:\/\/www.Twitter.com\/LarryChiang<\/a><\/a><\/div>\n
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Author, NY Times Bestseller<\/div>\n
https:\/\/whattheydontteachyouatstanfordbusinessschool.com\/blog\/?s=Ny+times+bestseller<\/a><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“What They Will NEVER Teach You at Stanford Business School” comes out 11-11-14<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/embed\/c0d4562ea2049<\/a><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
52 Cards. Two Jokers. What They DO Teach You at Stanford Engineering<\/div>\n
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Emergency swings and cutting deals as an 9 year old<\/div>\n
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##########<\/div>\n
Duck9 is part of UCMS Inc.<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.ucms.com<\/a><\/a><\/div>\n
630-705-5555<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Larry Chiang Holy crap! Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) 12\/14\/13, 8:56 AM “My generation doesn’t FedEx” I wanted to call this article… Larry Chiang (@LarryChiang) 12\/14\/13, 9:57 AM How to Close a Deal Via FedEx as an Undergrad Who Is a USPS User Virgin #LABCS3360 #LABCS Don’t laugh at old people who don’t email because you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1921\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.duck9.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}