Posts filed under “Analysis”

The Checklist Manifesto – A hugely important book

Back in 2007 I read a fascinating article called “The Checklist” written by Dr. Atul Gawande in the New Yorker. Atul Gawande is a practicing surgeon, MacArthur Fellow, Rhodes Scholar and professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. The article described how a doctor convinced a group of hospitals in Michigan [...]

Location-based apps: Flook, Gowalla, Foursquare

A lot of people have been talking about and playing with location-based applications these days. I wanted to put my two cents into the debate, specifically on Flook, Gowalla, and Foursquare. Flook Flook is the least-known of these three apps, but potentially the most interesting. Users take photos (which are automatically geo-tagged) and then add [...]

A tale of two (entrepreneurial) cities

I got my bachelor’s degree (Aerospace Engineering) from the University of Michigan, which is located in the lovely town of Ann Arbor, Michigan (about a 45 minute drive from Detroit). As one of the top research universities in the US, the greater Ann Arbor area is home to major R&D facilities and company headquarters from [...]

Recap of feedback on “Copying Y Combinator”

[UPDATE]- I’ve written an update 1.5 years later on the original post: “Looking back – 1.5 years since ‘Copying Y Combinator’” Last week I finally posted my Cambridge MBA dissertation/individual project on the web. I was amazed at the traffic it brought! But I also wanted to address some of the things that people brought [...]

Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

[UPDATE]- I’ve written an update 1.5 years later on the original post: “Looking back – 1.5 years since ‘Copying Y Combinator’” Have you thought about starting a program like Y Combinator in your city? That doing so would not only build a startup ecosystem but would also bring a good financial return? I studied Y Combinator, [...]

Y combinator – dissertation and request for help!

As I wrote in my last post, I am writing my master’s dissertation on Y combinator and the similar programs it has spawned. Y combinator is a really interesting program, but I think simply copying it and starting it in a different city isn’t the best way to do it. This post will detail how [...]

University of Michigan – 2 out of 3 ain’t bad

I’ve long had this theory that at any given time, the University of Michigan can only have two successful sports of the three top sports: football, basketball, and ice hockey. (Aka, the sports where Michigan has traditionally excelled.) A key data point has come this year: Michigan’s football team collapsed. But to even out the [...]

Cambridge MBA curriculum – Harvard’s moving closer to it

It’s only after experiencing the Cambridge MBA, talking to my professors and doing a little research recently that I really learned exactly how unique the Cambridge MBA curriculum actually is compared to other top schools. It comes down to two simple differentiators: our small-group “soft skills” classes and the projects incorporated into the curriculum. As [...]