The Entrepreneur Bell Curve

Are you an undergrad entrepreneur?!

It is with a heavy heart that I observe that classes in entrepreneurship have bell curves.

Back in engineering school, I started to act really dumb. It was because I was setting the bell curve.  Again. When test results were posted (anonymously), people would quip: WHO SET THE EFFEN BELL CURVE AGAIN. People hate people that repeatedly set bell curves. I acted like a dumb frat boy jock so the witch hunt to discover the bell curve setter never lingered above me for very long.

An example class of entrepreneurs that has a bell curve is Y Combinator. Inside of each class, there is always a clear team of co-founders that is “setting the bell curve”. This team that sets the curve shows it week in and week out at the weekly Tuesday dinners. At these dinners, results are updated. By the end of each class, the data points from the slew of weekly dinners clearly indicates the team setting the curve.

I teach engineering entrepreneurship at Stanford University. It is for a class Engineering 145.

In the class that lasts for one quarter, teams are assembled, ideas are executed and opinions are formed. Some teams go live and pitch at TechCrunch conferences. Some teams execute Gua Gua Guacamole recipes. Some teams do not. The ones that execute genius maneuvers set the curve. When I say genius, I am not referring to my 188 IQ. I am referring to my mentor’s genius– he taught me street smarts and his name is Mark McCormack. I copy-pasted his book, “What They Don’t Teach You at Harvard Business School” into my own NY Times bestseller. I have mentioned, cited and sourced him over 720 times according to Google on my way to setting the entrepreneurial curve. Did I say 720. Google says 35,200.

A large component to setting the entrepreneur curve is to build a sequel business in the same manner, method and maneuverings that I executed in my sequel business to my mentor, Mark McCormack’s, business: International Management Group (IMG). Since three letter URLs acronymed websites where-the-business-name-is-the-business-model-and-business-description were taken, I took a five letter URL: Duck9 (deep underground capital knowledge 9. It helps CS majors understand and hack VC while paying them a reverse annual fee credit card to hack their FICO credit score)

Pay attention to what was removed from the Quora thread: “Is Larry Chiang the Paris Hilton of Silicon Valley?”. It was written by a person who is perhaps on the wrong side of the bell curve or a person who was thrown off a team that set the bell curve.

“piggybacking off people and institutions of real success. One prime example: He once clearly recommended our class to build businesses off of existing businesses and replicate names similar to existing brands. I don’t remember what term he made up for that approach. Anyone ever heard of his fake book, ‘What they don’t teach you in Stanford business school’? Guess where that name came from. Yes, ‘What they don’t teach you in Harvard business school.”

and

Unfortunately, my classmates and I had to deal with this guy being he managed to “wrangle” his way into being our class mentor. Now, as tempting as his faux innocence and charm may be, beware there’s likely something else going on.

This is the page as it appears 05-16-12

What does Larry Chiang and Paris Hilton have in common? Well they both remind people of the following words: depthless and parasitic. Not to get too negative but I hope this can be a public service. If you’ve ever met the guy, you’d understand. If you value original thinkers, entrepreneurs, genuine relationships, trustworthy business professionals, non-flaky people, etc. I’d advise you to stay away from this guy. Unfortunately, my classmates and I had to deal with this guy being he managed to “wrangle” his way into being our class mentor. Now, as tempting as his occasional faux innocence and charm may be, beware there’s likely something else going on.

He seems to like to think that he gains his so called “fame” from his networking abilities or even from his strange, intrusive social demeanor but it’s the type of strange that has nothing to do with the genius, “steve jobs,” or “mark zuckerberg” type of strange – it’s the type of strange that no informed, self-respecting person wants anything to do with. In stretch, a blogging, “guess who I’m best friends with,” guacamole, wrangling, self-promoting, “Im’ma crash that party,” child-of-a-man, silly acronym creating, likes his own facebook posts, perverse-parasitic, bully type of strange.

Almost every Silicon Valley event I attended, Larry, with no surprise, manages to ooze his way into, throwing his arms over people’s shoulders as if those individuals had any respect for this man’s rude intrusion. At Eric Ries’ presentation on his new Lean Startup book – I can vividly remember Eric Ries’ face after realizing Larry was present. It was that sudden change of face covered in cold-sweat dread that read, “*sigh…* please, not that guy again…”

Unfortunately for Larry, he probably throws himself at the idea that “any publicity is good publicity.” Indeed, maybe comments like this one is exactly what he wants. pity…

“Is Larry Chiang the Paris Hilton of Silicon Valley?” Likewise, not so much. More like the parasite of Silicon Valley who vicariously brands himself, piggybacking off people and institutions of real success.

and

April 12, 2012 at 8:07 am, it was

What does Larry Chiang and Paris Hilton have in common? Well they both remind people of the following words: depthless and parasitic. Not to get too negative but I hope this can be a public service. If you’ve ever met the guy, you’d understand. If you value original thinkers, entrepreneurs, genuine relationships, trustworthy business professionals, etc. I’d advise to stay away from this guy. Unfortunately, my classmates and I had to deal with this guy being he managed to “wrangle” his way into being our class mentor. Now, as tempting as his faux innocence and charm may be, beware there’s likely something else going on.

He seems to like to think that he gains his so called “fame” from his networking abilities or even from his strange, intrusive social demeanor but it’s the type of strange that has nothing to do with the genius, “steve jobs,” or “mark zuckerberg” type of strange – it’s the type of strange that no informed, self-respecting human wants anything to do with. In stretch, a blogging, “guess who I’m best friends with,” guacamole, wrangling, self-promoting, “Im’ma crash that party,” child-of-a-man, likes his own facebook posts, perverse-parasitic type of strange.

“Is Larry Chiang the Paris Hilton of Silicon Valley?” Likewise, not so much. More like the parasite of Silicon Valley who vicariously brands himself, piggybacking off people and institutions of real success. One prime example: He once clearly recommended our class to build businesses off of existing businesses and replicate names similar to existing brands. I don’t remember what term he made up for that approach. Anyone ever heard of his fake book, ‘What they don’t teach you in Stanford business school’? Guess where that name came from. Yes, ‘What they don’t teach you in Harvard business school.”Suggest Edits (https://www.quora.com/Is-Larry-Chiang-the-Paris-Hilton-of-Silicon-Valley#)

Engineering 145. Sign up before all my sections sell out. Again. https://bit.ly/buster14512