More From The Door64 Tech Fair–Tech Ranch Austin Rocked the Room!

As promised, I’m continuing my conversation about last Thursday’s Door64 (@door64_Texas) Tech Fair.  I have to say once more that Matt Genovese (@mgenovese) did an awesome job making that event a reality.  The nearly 1,000 people had the placed filled to the brim.  I put my stuff in a chair in the session room early so I could get a good seat for the sessions.

Huge Crowd at the Door64 Tech Fair

I sat in on Jonas Lamis (@jonaslamis) and Kevin Koym (@kkoym) from Tech Ranch Austin as they presented a preview of their new “Employee to Entrepreneur” program.  As proclaimed on their Web site Tech Ranch Austin provides support to pre-seed and seed stage companies that can “change the world”.  Tech Ranch Austin is a community of vibrant tech start-ups surrounded by the people, processes and materials needed to drive business success.”   Well I believe it after attending their session.  They have already provided the resources to help launch a dozen or so different start-ups.

Kevin Koym

I think that the main message Kevin really wanted us to get was that the old-style traditional  jobs of the world aren’t going to be coming back.  It’s up to entrepreneurs to start new small businesses to bring back the U.S. economy.  The Internet is driving down the cost of information, enabling the connectivity needed to aid in entrepreneurship.  In fact, its the best time in the past twenty years to start a new technology business.  According to Kevin, “The success of your endeavor is all about designing the right business around you!!”

Jonas Lamis

Some of the questions covered in the “From Employee to Entrepreneur” program include:

1.  Is entrepreneurship right for me?

2.  Is my idea any good?

3.  Can I survive without a corporate paycheck?

4.  Am I a Chicken or a Pig?

5.  How do I get it done?

6.  How do I get access to capital?

7.  3, 2, 1, Launch!

The answers to those questions and more will be covered in their classes which start May 19th.  By the way, a Chicken is a contributor, and a Pig is committed.  The classes are limited in size to 10 each, so you need to register quickly.  If you mention the discount code:  Door64, you can get a 10% discount.  Register here.

I know this sounds like a commercial, but I was totally blown away by the Tech Ranch Austin team.  So, if you are a technologist with a brilliant idea, now is the time to get it out there.  I believe Kevin and Jonas are right.  The only safety net right now is “you”.  You can forget about relying on big corporations for your stable paycheck.  Because that model–as we see right now with the demise of many historical businesses–is definitely gone.  You can only rely on yourself right now–and starting a new venture based on what you love is also the main ingredient to your personal success.  Plus, people like you and me starting small businesses–that’s what is going to get our US economy back on track!