Monthly Archives: July 2013

Quest 4 Seven

random thoughts

Seven Continents


I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a marathon on all seven continents for a while now. My research brought up several questions. Are there seven continents? Maybe. Does a marathon count if it is on an island? Maybe.

I’m an old guy and I was taught geography in the US, so I think that there are seven continents. That one was pretty easy to decide. The other question was slightly more difficult, but I’ve decided to be literal in my definition of a continent. That means I’m not going to run a marathon on King George Island or New Zealand. That’s really just to be safe. I think that they are both lovely places and I may run the Antarctica Marathon after I complete my quest. The trip looks fantastic!

So the Quest 4 Seven is officially on! The starting point will be Marathónas, Greece in November 2013. That seems like a logical choice. I’ll do another post later with more details on the race. Other marathons I’m considering are:

Europe: Athens Classic
Asia: Great Wall
Africa: Big Five or Kilimanjaro
Australia: Australian Outback
Antarctica: Ice Marathon
South America: Rio, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Inca Trail (but it’s too long)
North America: Big Sur?

And the North Pole Marathon looks interesting too, but I’ll save that one until the Quest 4 Seven is complete.

Feel free to make recommendations for races or join me in the quest.

Cheers,

Larry Rich
Chief Runner

Founder Institute

founding

The Founder Institute is an early-stage startup accelerator and global launch network that helps entrepreneurs create meaningful and enduring technology companies. The four month program provides the foundation required for startups to be successful.

fi_grad_image

Applicants complete a 60 minute predictive admission test to see if they have what it takes to succeed as entrepreneur. Scores on the admission test are kept secret, but they are supposed to correlate very closely to the final rating in the program.

I attended the Silicon Valley Spring 2013 sessions of FI and graduated on July 9th. The experience was very challenging but incredibly worthwhile. Sessions are held once a week and have three main components:

1) Pitch your idea to mentors and get feedback and a rating
2) Listen to presentations by mentors on the topic of the week
3) Network and get more detailed feedback at the bar after class

Between sessions founders spend a significant amount of time on homework assignments. Most of the homework consists of things that you need to do to build your company, so it is time well spent. Founders are assigned to a working group that meets twice a week to provide support on the homework and any issues specific to their company.

To graduate, founders must pass two critical mentor reviews and incorporate a company. Some find that they are not ready to succeed and drop out voluntarily (with the option to come back to a future session at no cost). Others are asked to leave. Our class had 16 graduates out of an initial class of 42. That’s a pretty typical success rate for the program. Here is our graduation photo:

graduation

Our class plans to stay in touch after graduation to provide support for the many challenges ahead. We’ll meet as a group once a month and will be in touch individually more frequently than that. Each graduating class participates in a bonus pool which provides a financial incentive for the founders and mentors involved in the class to help graduates succeed.

FI Formula: Great People + Expert Training + Aligned Incentives = Exponentially Better Chance of Success

Sound interesting? Find out more at http://fi.co

Ragnar Relay – Sweat Tracker Style

random thoughts

It’s been a while since I did a relay. And I love a challenge. So when I looked at Ragnar Napa Valley, I immediately found the ultra appealing. When a friend asked about it I started strategizing about who we could get involved. Then I looked at the legs and realized that this will be a tough one. So I’m throwing out the challenge – who wants to do a Ragnar Sweat Tracker Style?ragnar-napaThere are a couple of options for how to break up the legs, but the one that makes the most sense to me is for each runner to do two legs back to back.

The breakdown would be as follows:

Runner 1: 10.7 miles, 10.4 miles, 11.5 miles
Runner 2: 11.1 miles, 14.6 miles, 6.6 miles
Runner 3: 7 miles, 17.2 miles, 8.8 miles
Runner 4: 9.1 miles, 10.9 miles, 5.1 miles
Runner 5: 11 miles, 12.6 miles, 15.9 miles
Runner 6: 12.5 miles, 13.2 miles, 10.4 miles

The dates are 9/20 and 9/21. Hit me up if you want to have some fun!

Cheers,

Larry Rich
Chief Runner