Entrepreneurship Week at Stanford University: Opening Ceremony!!!

Hi guys,


today I would like to tell you about our visit at Stanford University!!!
The campus is very huge...and it would have been very nice to go around it...unfortunally Saturday was a raining day...so we couldn't have a trip around this wonderful campus!!!



On Saturday, February 24th, there was the "Opening Ceremony and Launch Party" of the

Speaker Line-Up:

* John Hennessy, President, Stanford University
* Carl Schramm, President CEO, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
* Steve Jurvetson, Partner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

The President of Stanford, Mr. Hennessy spoke about what makes Stanford University such a successful Entrepreneurhip center:

1) Develop the willingness to approach problems in a high innovative way!

2) Freedom to Pursue ideas and dreams!

3) Community that embraces change and challenge people!

4) Has a lot of young people who sees a glass half full and not half empty!

5) Willingness to take on challenge in building unique team of people, innovators and entrepreneurs!!

After the prsentations, they spoke about the Challenge Competition:

The challenge is to use an everyday object - A PAD OF 100 3"x3" POST-ITS - to create as much "value" as possible

"Value can be measured in many different ways... How will you measure it?
Tap into your entrepreneurial spirit... Get your creative juices flowing... And, create as much value as possible!
To be successful you will need to challenge assumptions, seize opportunities, and be creative!"

Unfortunately, we can't partecipate to this Competition because it is only for Stanford Students...but it will be interesting to see what they are going to create!!!!

I'll let you know....

The Fulbright Girls at Stanford in front of The Electrical Engineering Building

See you soon

Cheers,

Vally

HELLO EVERYBODY!
How are you?
I fell all right!
Last week I took my E-Commerce mid term exam and it was great to have the possibility to put myself through the hoops!!

But….after this labour of Hercules (?!?!?) we needed some days off ..as my room mates told you!
Anyway, even if hanging around in these beautiful places is so nice, on Thursday we started working again, attending classes and doing networking!

In fact yesterday we went to a seminar in Berkeley.

The seminar, managed by the Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum and hosted by the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/forum.asp), was about:
"Your Brain in Ten Years—New Startups Advancing Technologies to Keep Your Brain Healthy and Happy, and to Enhance its Abilities"
The speakers invited belong to different companies involved in Neurotechnology that is to say that their aim is to create drugs, devices and therapies to help ensure your “brain’s future health”.
These speaker were:
John Doback, M.D., Founder of Innercool therapies, the technology leader in temperature control therapy.
Zack Lynch, Founder of Neurotechnology Industry Organization, a non-profit trade organization that represents a broad spectrum of companies involved in Neurotechnology.
David Summa, CEO of Acumen Pharmaceuticals, a pre-clinical drug development company that is developing the first effective therapeutics and diagnostics that prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Jeff Zimman, CEO of Posit Science Corporation which provides “Brain Fitness Program”, a series of computer-based exercises that are scientifically proven to improve important brain functions.
And finally the Moderator Jim Glasheen who joined Technology Partners from CIT Venture Capital, where he served as Managing Director, leading the Group's efforts in Life Science investing.

This seminar was very useful to better understand the relevance of this field of study, investment requirements, research and development challenges and regulatory milestones, the Neurotechnology industry should face.

After the seminar since fitness isn’t just about your body but is also about your brain and your heart we were invited from some friends of us for dinner! Max is a really good cook and he prepared for us a delicious Italian pasta!!!thanks Max and Ale..we felt at home!!

See you later guys!!
Micol

On the crest of a wave...

Hello guys!

welcome back...today is a sad rainy day...we don't feel like being in California :-(

Anyway last week end we went to Capitola, an intimate beach village tucked in a river valley in Santa Cruz County on the Monterey Bay. The City’s wharf and riverside areas remind one of a village in France or perhaps a Mediterranean coast in Italy...we really met a piece of our beloved country over there..and actually it was so sunny that people were on the beach just tanning and surfing..and it's only February!!!

A surf board on every car...
Then, after the longer week end due to the President's Day, lessons started again on Tuesday: we have received results of the mid-term exams and we are pretty satisfied! Yesterday, we attended a seminar of the SC leadership lecture series.
www.scu.edu/business/sc-leadership-lectures
It was held by Ms Peg Wynn, senior vice president of Human Resources at Adobe Systems Incorporated. She manages the recruitment, development, compensation and benefits programs for more than 5000 emplyees wordwide!!! She's super! Moreover, before joining Adobe, she had several experiences in consulting, strategic planning and management. Starting from her background she focused on 10 main principles which describe leaders virtues....and that I want to share with you..

1) Change and adapt..or you'll rust!
2) You can weather any storm with a good team!
3) What you have in your mind will shape your future!
4) Build a portfolio of skills
5) Get outside your comfort zone
6)Be hold or go home. Be willing to upset the status quo
7)Challenge people to be their best
8)Know when it's time to leave
9) Figure out a way to have it all!
10)Pursue your dream!

I have really appreciated these suggestions, I found them so interesting and concrete, mostly because for each of them, she told us about a related personal experience she faced. I am sure you will enjoy them as well...

Now I have to run because Kevin (http://www.scu.edu/business/cie/about/mngmnt/)
is waiting for us for our weekly meeting!!!


See you all later,


Yours



Elizabeth

President's Day

Hello folks,

sorry if I haven't written to you for

such a long time

but I was

really busy to study for the mid-term exams!!!

We hope they went well...we did our best to pass them...

...and now we are crossing our 's fingers!!!

However..today is The President's Day and I would like to take this chance to wish you all the best!!!

Today we went to Palo Alto for a football match "North vs South of Italy"...and the players are Italian entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley...it was really nice and fun!!!

This event was organized by Mr. Michele Libraro.

Mr. Michele Libraro is the President and CEO of Global Startups, LLC. As one of Silicon Valley's influential insiders, Mr. Libraro has played a pivotal role in the life of many important projects including leading Cisco's expansion in to the European Service Provider market, and helping startups like P-Cube be successful in the European market. Mr. Libraro currently leads all client projects for Global Startups. A key component to his approach that brings immediate value to clients, is helping to identify the business case behind new ventures.

We met Mr. Libraro at a meeting at SCU last Tuesday. It was very interesting because he gave us a lot of advice to create a start-up in Italy.

He told us that the Silicon Valley’s Favorite F-Word is:

Failure

.........you have to failure to be successful!!!

After the football match...(just for your information, The South of Italy won the match...) we went to eat all together to an Italian Restaurant. It was a very important opportunity for our networking!!!

In the afternoon, we went to Gilroy Factory Outlet to shopping!!!

We found a lot of convenient sales...I suggest you to go there absolutely..it's worth a visit!!!

Finally, we went to eat to "IN-N-OUT"...it is a typical Californian fast food!!

That was our President's Day....

See you next week

Cheers,

Vally

Work in Progress!

Hello everybody!

This week we are very very busy because of the midterm exams... E-commerce, Finance and so on.. so we regret to inform you that we won't be posting any message on this blog till next week BUT..., dont' worry, this means that next we 'll have more info about us to share with you.

We just want to say ourselves for these exams ...

BREAK A LEG!

..a meaningful experience..

Hello everybody!

How are you?
Here everything is going well!

First of all I would to thank people who came to our party last Saturday! It was enjoyable cooking Italian food for everyone!!

On Tuesday we got the chance to attend the second lecture of our Leadership course. If you remember Elisabeth and Emanuel told you about the first one we have attended.
I want to share with you this experience because it was really exciting and very interesting.
The speaker was Bob Phillips, President and CEO, Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Guide Dogs is the largest guide dog program in North America, serving over 3000 blind.
The core value of this organization is matching a skilled dog with a blind person to create a guide dog team.

I was totally involved in his speech because he talked as a man and not as a leader and he let us see the idea of leadership from a different perspective.
He started his speech asking us the following curious question…
What are you lacking from inside of you to receive your success and your goals?
And the answer was…
NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Maybe you have only covered up some of your extraordinary qualities!

In fact he told us that to become a leader “from heart” first of all you have to become a fully man!

A good leader is someone who is able to listen to other people, to get in touch with them, to help them.
A leader has to feel and to live his personal and business life with head, mind and especially with heart because, he said, life is love and to be loved!

He said that a leader should create a deeper connection with world around him by love, joy, compassion, forgiveness, legacy, well-being and interdependence!
There is a huge power in collaboration!

The take home message I had was: TRUST IN YOURSELF and HELP other people with your energy!!

I was in tune with him because I think that with love and collaboration we can really change the world!!!!!!!!

THINK POSITIVE!

See you soon

Micol

Science: A Business Perspective

Hello everybody...

don't be scared..I don't want to be too serious tonight..the title of my blog is just the title of the seminar I attended tonight in Palo Alto, at the Parc (Palo Alto Reasearch Center).

http://www.parc.xerox.com/

Seminar has been organized by AWIS, Association Women In Science, in Palo Alto. AWIS is a non-profit association which works to promote women's activities in all scientific fields, from mentoring to scholarships to job listings.

http://www.awis.org/

Speakers invited, with their broad expertise in IT and Pharma/Biotech sectors, have talked about paths followed in their careers, challenges facing business development and advice for developing careers. It has been a really interesting meeting, mostly because speakers, two successfull women working here in the Bay Area, come from Accademia, but decided to move from the bench to the business, so they represent a great example for us joining the Fulbright-BEST program!!!


This is a brief summary of their fantastic career:

Kathleen Gilligan - Kathleen is currently President of Ramco Systems and holds an MBA from Stanford University's AEA Executive MBA program. Kathleen's 25-year career encompasses a rich mix of organizational expertise in enterprise and channel sales, marketing, communications, training, and executive management.

Monica Rosoff - Monica is currently Senior Manager, Commercialization and Product Transfer at Genentech. Her responsibilities include coordinating the execution of technology transfers of drug manufacturing to new facilities (e.g. manufacture of Avastin to Genentech's Oceanside facility), project management aspects of new product launches (such as launch of Lucentis in 2006) and coordinating communication with Genentech partners, including large pharmaceutical companies.

It has been a great experience to hear from such successfull women, also because they gave us a lot of suggestions about career, private life and, why not..how to approach with the opposite sex in business activity!

What they emphasized most is the necessity to

• do what you really enjoy


• be opportunistic and create opportunities for yourself


• communicate


• respect yourself


• use common sense


• make networking...it means to take care about people,to look for relationships, to help them!

And last but not least, SMILE!!!!!

I hope you will enjoy these wise suggestions as I did tonight...

Take care

Yours,

Elizabeth

P.S.: thanks to Andrea Rossi who suggested us this event!

Lessons for Future Scholars Part 3

Carissimi,
benvenuti di nuovo nella mia rubrica “Lezioni per i futuri studenti BEST”, come avrete notato oggi per la prima volta per la prima volta il mio blog è scritto in italiano.
Spero che questo sia un incentivo a lasciare un commento per tutti quelli che mi stanno seguendo o mi seguiranno dall’Italia.
Oggi focalizzeremo l’attenzione su alcuni aspetti di carattere organizzativo, riguardanti lo studio e la vita quotidiana.



REGISTRATORE DIGITALE
In primo luogo quando arriverete inizierete dopo pochissimi giorni le lezioni il primo consiglio che vi do oggi è quello di comprarvi un registratore digitale, sicuramente non avrete tempo di riascoltarvi tutte le lezioni, ma risulta molto utile specialmente all’inizio, quando ancora non ci si è proprio ambientati e adattati all’inglese, avere la possibilità di riascoltare magari un concetto che è sfuggito.

ALL-IN-ONE
Un'altra cosa estremamente importante anzi direi essenziale è l’acquisto di una Stampante/Scanner oggi esistono degli all-in-one a poco più di 70$. Avere subito dai primissimi giorni una all-in-one vi risulterà utilissimo sia perché dovrete compilare molti documenti cartacei che così potrete digitalizzare ed inviare per posta elettronica sia perché potrete stampare il materiale che vi verà dato in classe dai professori.

SODDISFATTI O RIMBORSATI

Infine vi voglio dare qualche dritta sulla vita quotidiana, qui negli States qualsiasi cosa che comprate potrete restituirla, qualora non vi riteniate soddisfatti entro un mese (15 giorni per il materiale elettronico).
Esiste un poi un Harddiscount che vi consiglio spassionatamente chiamato COSCO (per poter acquistare bisogna acquistare una tessere che costa 50$) che oltre ad avere prezzi molto competitivi permette di restituire ogni cosa acquistata entro 1 anno e vi voglio ricordare che voi rimarrete per soli sei mesi.

Con quest’ultimo consiglio vi saluto
e vi aspetto la prossima settima
Saluti dalla California
Abramo

Saturday February 3th...Vally's Birthday Party

Hello folks,

Today I'm going to tell you about the BIG CELEBRATION: my birthday!!!!

We organized a party at our house to celebrate...It was very nice and fun!!!





For the occasion, we cooked some italian pasta...

Unfortunally, people arrived late..not for food but for drink and dance...
so now we have to eat everything...probably after this, we don't miss italian pasta anymore!!!

The party was a great occasion to meet friends of friends and to increase our networking!!!

I'm pretty aware that this week my blog is a little bit poor of contents but I would like to take this chance to....................

.......first of all...to thank sincerely my flatmates as well as companions of this fantastic adventure in the USA for helping me to organize this party...


"Elisabetta, Micol, Emanuele and Abramo
thank you very much...I'm very happy to have met people so smart, funny, clever, sociable, and so on, like you!!!"

.....and then...to say hallo to my family in Italy...
I miss you a lot!!!

This is a picture of my family (my dad, my mom, and my 2 sisters, Anna and Nicoletta) made through webcam....

...what a great discover is Internet...isn't it?!?

The only sad thing of my birthday party is the absence of my sister Anna with whom I have always spent all my birthdays...she is an attorney and she is only 18 months older than me...we are always together...she is the most important person of my life and I miss her a lot..but she is coming here to visit me for the spring break..I can't wait to see her!!!

See you next week

Love,

Vally

Take a stand!

Nice to chat with all of you, guys!

It's my turn.

In the wake of the other Fulbrighters I want to share with you my impressions about the first seminar of Leadership I attended.

The speaker was Mike Selfridge, head of global products division, Silicon Valley Bank.

I’m really struck by his speech and so it has been difficult for me to condensate all the . First of all he spoke with great convinction on his experience from which he directly learnt what he said to us all. Certainly he dealt with a great deal of topics but I would like to underline the issue concerning the relationship existing between ethics and leadership.

-Fortunately all the MBA people had the possibility of reflecting on his speech because we had to make a reflective essay as an assignement.-

In my opinion he presented a really interesting and new idea about it (or at least in my eyes, but i'm utterly convinced that all the people there had the same impression).

Basically, at the beginning of his speech there was something odd... “is it possible that a leader could speak about “your example is more important than your advice” or “personal attributes and ethics””? This question suddenly raises another one: “which ethics is the speaker referring to”? His? Or a common ethics in leadership has to be defined? This questions inspired my reflection. I’m sure there’s not only one answer to this questions. But I’ve tried to find mine. That was really food for thought! I'm really enthusiastic about Leadership seminars because this subject will really give you a lot of indications on how to be a leader in your own reality, I mean, not only at work.

M. Selfridge really said something applicable to my own reality. I join a research team as a researcher and sometimes i have to be a leader for my team. In a research team you have to face the problem of how to innovate and to manage your scientific experiments. Which one is the best to invest on? Which are the risks? As a leader I have to "take a stand"! In this case i really agree with Selfridge when he said “fear might be a great motivator but only for a short time”. Great Mike, thank you for this!

Let's get this show on the road! [Emanuele]

...trying to do our best...

HY GUYS,

HOW DO YOU DO?

I hope all goes well!

What about us?

We’re close to our mid-term exams and for this reason we’re studying hard.

It’s stimulating to study topics so different from what I have studied at university.

In reality not only the topics are different but also the way of teaching.

In fact the main approach teachers usually use is the “learning by doing” approach.

It means that we’re not only attending classic “frontal” lessons but we have also to develop individual and group projects.

I think that this kind of approach is very challenging because, first of all you are directly involved in classes and second you have to learn what “work in team” means and which is the most useful way of exchanging your ideas .
As we have learnt from the Leadership course we’re attending in this quarter, the skill of working in team is important not only in the workplace, but also in everyday life.
On the other hand, carrying out individual project could give us the ability to handle and to solve different kind of situations by ourselves.
So….we’re trying to do our best!

Anyway, I don’t want to bother you and I don’t want to give you the impression that we are too diligent so…
Going out with a bang..

This is one of the last restaurant we tried, is located in Palo Alto and they serve very good food and very good Margarita!
We went there with some friends we have met here in California..
NETWORKING GUYS!!!!!
from the left side: Paolo, Valentina, Tony, Emanuele, Elisabetta e Ale.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

See you soon,

Micol