Back From the Summer

I'm back from my three month hiatus.  Actually, it wasn't much of a hiatus.  It's just been really really busy around here.  Lots of traveling and meetings has put the blog on the back burner for a bit.  So let me give you a quick run down of the last few months.

We, cycleWood, have been traveling to and fro Dayton, OH quite a bit.  We scaled up our gram scale process up to several hundred pounds.  Let me tell ya, that was an ordeal.  We powered through it though, spending many late nights working on this project.  It was pretty rewarding though to get in there and get our hands dirty.  Not just our hands, pretty much everything.  It was exhausting, but fun.  We've also set everything up for our next big hurdle, making bags and film.  We did several trial runs to produce pellets and we also produced some pressed films.  So far everything looks very promising.  The blown films and bags will take place in less than a couple of weeks.  We've overcome quite a few significant challenges already and are sure to come across a few more, but we are encouraged by the progress we've made so far.  We showed our samples to our technical adviser who has 35 years of working with lignin and he was astonished at what he saw.  He said he never thought he would see anything like what we produced in his lifetime.  Pretty amazing!

So that's pretty much what's been going on.  I think I will post shorter posts more frequently.  At least more frequently than one every 3 months.

Hectic Travel

I know it's been a while since my last post, but I've been traveling all over the world.  Ok, maybe not the world, but I have traveling a lot.  In the past month and a half I've been from Houston to New York City, and several stops in between.  It's been tough.

The highlights, we've been traveling to meet with investors as well as pick up awards.  Actually just one award, the Edison Award.  We were presented with a bronze Edison Award for recognition in sustainable innovation.  In Houston we got to meet up with one of our fellow U of A teams, SpatiaLink, at the Rice Competition.   They didn't make it to the finals but they did represent the University well.  There's always next year.

Speaking of which we got a sneak peak of next year's batch of competitors last week and looks like a good mix of youth and experience.  I'm sure they'll carry on the winning tradition.

I won't bore you too much with the cycleWood stuff, but we are moving right along.  We've done more testing and had more positive results.  We'll be coming to a critical point in our development in the next couple months as we scale up our process.  Can't say too much about it right now, but we are making great progress.

The graduation ceremony for the 2012 Walton MBA class was this past weekend.  Congratulations to everyone who survived.  It really is a great program, so if you're looking make sure you take a look at Walton.

I've got some pics from our travels, but haven't had time to load them up yet.  I'll load them up and post again soon.  I know this is a short post, maybe I should just post more often with shorter post.

Almost April

Well I looked up at the calender and it's almost April.  Time flies when you're running a start-up.  I'm trying to get at least one post in each month and I almost missed out on March.  Needless to say, March has been busy.

Here are the highlights for cycleWood since my last post:

• Completed our first phase of compatibility studies
• Started discussions with pilot scale manufacturers
• Attended the Informex conference in New Orleans, which is one of the biggest chemical conferences
• Secured third party logistics partner
• Secured lignin sources
• Started final composition studies

That's just the stuff I can talk about.  We are talking with some large customers as well.  It's very exciting for us.  April is going to a busy travel month for us.  We'll be out of town for 3 of the 4 weeks.  The highlight of April travels will be heading to New York to accept our Edison Award.  We know we've won one, but don't know if it's gold, silver, or bronze.

This past month we were also in Anaheim for the AUTM conference.  We were able to meet up with some of the folks from the University of Minnesota that helped us with our patent license.  We also got to check out WonderCon which just happened to be going on at the same time.  It was an interesting experience.  below are some pics to illustrate what we saw.  We happened to Stan Lee and Lou Ferrigno.

For all the Big Bang Theory fans, Wil Wheaton was also there but we didn't get a chance to see him.  For the Resident Evil fans, Milla Jovovich was there too, but we didn't get in either.  Apparently these people are kind of popular.  There were very long lines to see them.

Things are moving along nicely so far.  Looks like you may be able to get you hands on a XyloBag soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Well it's been a little over a month since my last entry.  Quite a bit has happened since then.  I'll give you a cycleWood update first.

We went up to our research lab in Dayton and put together a plan for moving forward.  We had laid the groundwork in the months prior and with the help of our lignin adviser we have refined that plan and have a solid path forward.  Basically it boils down to more testing.  That's probably all I can say about that at this point.

February is going to be a busy travel month for Kevin and I.  We're headed down to New Orleans tomorrow for the Informex trade show.  It's one of the chemical industry's largest shows.  Next week we are headed down to Little Rock and Dallas.

Now the exciting news.  We've been selected as a finalist for the Edison Awards.  This quite an honor.  Some of the other finalists are Kraft, GE Healthcare, Proctor&Gamble, Nissan, Ford, and OnStar.  So you can see we are in good company.

Now lets get to some Walton College news.  This years incoming class is the largest class ever at 46.  I got a chance to meet some of them during orientation and they seem excited and full of energy.  We'll see what their demeanor is around midterms.  The Spring Social is Thursday at the Powerhouse.  I believe it starts at 6pm.  If you're interested in getting an MBA, even a little, you should show up.  Unfortunately I won't be there since we'll be in New Orleans.  It's always a good time.

As always, I'll try to post more frequently, but the trend for the past few months have been one post a month.  Maybe I'll try to double that this month.  We shall see. Until then....

Happy Valentine's Day!    

Happy New Year!

It's a new year and time for a new post.  Let's take a moment and reflect on 2011.  I graduated from the Walton College, Graduate School of Business.  cycleWood Solutions started as an entrepreneurship class project and became a VC funded start-up.  It was a good year.  The momentum needs to continue through 2012.  cycleWood still has plenty of hurdles to overcome as head towards an official product launch.  Kevin Oden and I have been working hard at it and have quite a few folks pulling for us to succeed.  Our families, friends, and significant others have been patiently cheering us on and supporting us.  We have a couple big milestones coming up in the next few months.  I'll keep you abreast of these happenings as we approach these significant events.

Now let's switch back to the Walton College of Business.  I had the pleasure of meeting this year's incoming class this past Monday.  It's a record breaking class, the largest class in the history of the Walton MBA program.  There are 46 students in this class.  That's over 35% more than my graduating class.  This is a smart, diverse, and motivated group of students.  I'm sure they are anxiously awaiting the first day of class.

In sports and entertainment news, the Arkansas Razorback football team finished the season with a Cotton Bowl Win and a #5 ranking.  Not too shabby.  That provides the team with some momentum going into next season.  Last night I had the opportunity to go see the Blue Man Group at the Walton Arts Center.  They put on quite a show.  It was very entertaining.  I'd recommend anyone to go see them.

The weather has been great so far this winter, unless you love snow.  Today was actually the first day we've seen snow this winter and it was just a light dusting.  It is cold and windy outside though, wind chills are in the teens.  It's supposed to warm back up in the next few days.  If this is all the snow we see this winter it won't bother me much.  I do like to see some snow though.  Maybe we'll get a few inches later this month or in February.

That's about it for now.  Again, I'll try to post more often, but no promises.  Good luck to the incoming class of Walton MBA candidates!

What's Going On?

Well it's been over a month since my last post.  It's been a busy month.  cycleWood is officially funded.  The ink has dried and money is in the bank.  We are moving along with the scaling of our process.  Last week we created the our first film sample literally in my garage.  It's pretty exciting.  We were in Dallas this past week giving a talk at TEDxSMU.  Pree, our chief marketing officer, delivered a very compelling talk.  I think we opened a few eyes in the audience.

This week we have a visitor in from the UK.  He's one of our mentors.  We met him while we were in Winnipeg last year.  We met up in Little Rock and had a short chat with the Secretary of State.

These are exciting times for us.  There are times when things don't move as fast as we would like and there are times when we have trouble catching our breath.  We've learned to take it all in stride and that's all part of being an entrepreneur.  I will try to post more frequently again, but again no promises.  Merry Christmas to all and to all... well that depends on when you're reading this.

Time Flies

Well here I go again, it's been almost a month since my last post. I gotta get better at this. It's been a busy month. cycleWood has been traveling around getting funding. The good news is we could be very close. We've started working with our research lab to scale up our process. It's exciting stuff.

This past week we met up with our "The Ol' Adviser." I think that's a new nickname for her, Dr. Carol Reeves. We met up to do a video for the entrepreneurship program. Some of the other teams from years past were also present; Silicon Solar Solutions, Biologics MD, Tears for Life, and Merchant View. It was great seeing everyone again. These are the folks that helped us get off the ground. Lots of great advice.

We are also preparing for our trip out to San Jose in a couple weeks for the finals of the CleanTech Open. Silicon Solar Solutions will also be along for the ride. Hopefully one of us can bring home the big prize.

In other news, Halloween was this weekend so Sarah and I decided to dress up as Lego Minifigures. We were a hit at the party we went to and won the best costume contest.

A good time was had by all. A couple of my old classmates were also at the party. It's always good to catch up with friends.

The Hogs keep winning somehow. Hopefully they'll break out of their funk this week against South Carolina. The games are definitely entertaining so I'm not complaining as long as we end up on top.

I will try to do a better job of posting but no promises.

It's Been Over a Month

So my blogging has been less frequent of late.  I do apologize, it has been a busy month.  cycleWood has officially obtained the exclusive license for our technology from the University of Minnesota.  We've also converted to a Delaware C-Corp.  We'll remain in Arkansas for the near future though.  We'll see what happens long-term.  We've also moved into a little office space at the Genesis Building in the University of Arkansas Research Center.  We've been fairly busy to say the least.

We just returned from Austin last week where we placed 1st in the Clean Tech Open South-Central region.  Silicon Solar Solutions, another Arkansas-based start-up, placed 2nd.  We'll be headed back out to San Jose to compete in the Clean Tech National competition.

We are currently working with our research lab to scale up the process, so we are moving right along.  We are also working on getting funding and hope to have a deal in place soon.  We are excited and anxious at the same time.

I will try to blog more frequently, but there may be periods of less frequent blogging. 

It's Been a Month

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post.  Time flies when you're busy.  A good bit has happened since my last post.  cycleWood has been moving right along.  The last few months have been a learning experience in negotiating.  While I would love to share the details, it will be a bit before I can fully disclose all the goings-ons.  There is still plenty of work in front of us.  We'll be doing some development work in the next few months.

We've been putting our MBA education to good use too.  All that finance, accounting, and logistics actually comes in handy in the real world.  We've been managing all the financials for our lil start-up ourselves up to this point.  At some point we will need someone else to support those efforts, but until what we learned at Walton serves us well.  On the logistics side we've been looking at different ways to optimize our supply chain.  All that stuff Dr. Hofer taught us turns out to be rather useful.  We think about what service level we want to have and pooling our risk and also modes of transit.  I think the EOQ model has been etched into my brain.

These are exciting times for cycleWood.  I constantly have this feeling of nervous anxiousness.  I wonder what will be around the next corner.

New Elevator Pitch Video

Quick update - we are awaiting the legal documents for our patent license. We are also looking at different blends to develop for varying plastic applications. There's lots of excitement around what we can deliver and we're getting requests from customers for products besides just plastic bags.

In other news, we've produced a new video of our elevator pitch.  It's a little more professional than our last attempt.  This one was submitted to the PitchUniversity competition.  So check it out and "Like" it, add comments too, as long as they're good ones.

You can see from the video where the inspiration for the elevator pitch came from. "The Graduate" is a great movie too, so if you haven't seen it I highly recommend it.  It's an older movie, but still very funny.

That's about all the news for now that I can share.  We'll be headed to Dallas towards the latter part of August. I'll keep you posted on our entrepreneurship adventures.

CleanTech Academy and Travel Woes

The CleanTech Academy ended this past Sunday.  It is now Tuesday and I am still not back in Fayetteville yet.  That's the travel woes part of this post.  I'll get to that in a bit.

The CleanTech Academy and Investor Conference was ok.  The Investor Conference portion didn't have as many investors as I would have thought, but it was ok.  I went solo on this trip.  It was different doing everything by myself, but very manageable.  There was an exhibit fair, it was ok.  The Academy itself provided a good overview of what to do win the competition.  We've been through most of this already due to our great adviser, Dr. Carol Reeves.  We prepared an elevator pitch.  If you've followed us through the competition circuit you know that we did fairly well with our pitch.  There were some good speakers sprinkled throughout the weekend.  I think what made it just ok was that for being in the middle of Silicon Valley there were a lot of technical glitches.  Mics didn't always work, website was very slow, and internet was worst than 56k.  I understand there were a lot of people using up that bandwidth, but this is Silicon Valley.  There was also a lot of information crammed into the weekend and the days were long.  Many of the participants were exhausted by the flood of presentations, most of which were good and some were well... not so good.  I'm sure I could say that about most of the competitions and event we've been to, but part of the purpose of this event is to network.  They skimped on social activities and left little time to network individually.  Overall it was a decent event.  Some things that could make it better is more technical preparation, firmer schedule, and smaller sessions.  For some of the topics smaller groups would've definitely been beneficial, while for keynote speakers it was fine to have everyone in one room.

And now I'm sitting here in Little Rock waiting for a flight to Dallas then transferring to a flight to Tulsa, then driving back to Fayetteville.  I started in San Jose flew to Los Angeles then got delayed by the dust storm in Phoenix, missed my connection to Tulsa and so here I am.

As you can see it was a bit of a beast.  I guess it's been an adventure of sorts.  All part of the roller coaster ride of being an entrepreneur.

Negotiations and Challenges

cycleWood Solutions is in the final stages of negotiation for a patent license.  While this is definitely not a trivial step, it has taken longer than I thought it would.  We've been through several rounds of negotiation and we're getting close to an agreement that works for all involved.  It has been a learning experience.

We have other challenges as well as we move forward in the business.  Some of these challenges we foresaw, while others have sprung up.  We knew there would be things that would come up that we had not anticipated, so in some ways we were prepared for these challenges.  I can't go into to much detail on these as some of the information is proprietary.  One of the necessary skills for a successful entrepreneur is to be able to overcome the expected and unexpected hurdles that arise.  Being quick, nimble, and flexible allows entrepreneurs to navigate their way through the challenges of starting up.

We are somewhat limited in what we can do until the patent license is signed, but we haven't been sitting idle.  We have been talking to investors, mentors, and customers.  We've also talked to suppliers and manufacturers.  These are things that we need to do anyways so we're trying to get a jump on that so that as soon as the deal is signed we're ready to go.  Being proactive saves time and shows initiative.  It's easy to say we're waiting on this to get done or that to get done.  There are plenty of excuses, but in order to be successful you have to be resourceful and efficient.

Speaking of resources, Molly Cunningham with businessadministrationdegree.com recently wrote an article about some specialty search engines that could be helpful for any business student.  Her article is titled "30 Specialty Search Engines and Web Databases for Business Students."  Check it out, there's some good information there.

More Travels and Intellectual Property

I'll be headed to San Jose for a few days this month.  I'll be attending the CleanTech Investor Conference July 14th and the CleanTech Academy July 15th through 18th.  It'll be the first trip I take without any of my teammates.  The main purpose of the trip is to learn and network.  Participation is mandatory to compete in the CleanTech Open.  Silicon Solar participated last year and told us that they found it very beneficial.  One good thing about the CleanTech Open is that you can compete more than once.  So if we don't win this year we could come back next year.

Aside from preparing for the CleanTech Open, we have several other irons in the fire.  We are finalizing our patent license and engaging investors as we move along in the process.  We are also refining our intellectual property strategy.  Fresh from our trip to the LES conference in London, we were eager to put what we learned to good use.  Besides patents, there are several other forms of IP that we can develop and put to good use.  For example, we can develop trade secrets which may be more beneficial than patents.  Trade secrets, unlike patents, are not exposed to the public.  When a patent is filed the technology is open for review by the public.  Other IP that we plan on using our brands and trademarks.  As we learned in marketing, brands add value by forming a bond with consumers.  Consumers trust brands and are willing to pay extra for that sense of security.  These are just a few of the myriad of things that we have been busy working on the last few weeks.  Entrepreneurship is not all fun and games, it can be quite exhausting.

cycleWood Versus Silicon Solar

cycleWood has made it to the semifinals of the CleanTech Open.  One of last year's teams also made it, Silicon Solar Solutions.  We are going head-to-head in the semifinal round.  The top three from each region are selected to move forward.  We are both in the South Central Region along with eleven other teams.  Douglas Hutchings, CEO of Silicon Solar, has a hunch we might both get through to the finals in San Jose.  That would be great for the state and the University.

The entrepreneurship program at the University of Arkansas is developing a reputation of producing real start-ups.  With each coming year the enthusiasm generated by past year's teams creates a sense an expectation and sense of responsibility to carry on the tradition that's been building the past few years.  The meetings for next year's teams have already begun.  Every year Dr. Reeves gets previous team members to come back to share their experience.  The continuity of the program is one of its strengths.  So if you think you may be an entrepreneur, take a look at the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business MBA program.

Competition Season Ends

We made it back stateside this past Friday.  I've gotten over the jetlag.  My sole focus is now on building cycleWood.  This should be great news for investors out there.  They've been ready for us to be off the "show circuit" for some time.  School is finished and now so are the competitions.  The only other one that we've applied to is the CleanTech Open which wouldn't be til this Fall.  That would be a different competition as we would compete as a post-graduate team.

So let me tell you about London, first off don't forget to bring your walking shoes.  If you want to see London the best way, in my opinion, is on foot.  You can venture into the old cobblestone alleyways and explore the rich history and character of the city.  Stop at a neighborhood pub and enjoy a nice draft at cellar temperature.  It's not so bad, but I do prefer an ice cold beer.  They do have those as well.  There are bridges, cathedrals, towers, and museums to see.  We explored as much as we could in the spare time we had.  We crossed the Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge, and also London Bridge.  We stopped at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral.  And we ventured into the Tate Modern, Science, and British Museums.

We had a great time in London, but now it's time to focus.  Good ideas are a dime a dozen.  If you have a good idea, chances are someone else has probably had that idea.  The odds of having a truly unique idea are not that great.  What makes a start-up successful is execution.  There are many talented people who can put together a great plan, but being able to execute that plan is a different story.  cycleWood has a great business plan, but there are unforeseeable hurdles that we must overcome.  It's how we face these challenges that separates us from the rest.  We recognize these hurdles and do what we can to get beyond them.  However, there are times when the hurdle is a wall that, despite our best efforts, is not ready to be broken through.  We try to be as clear as possible to any investor that we have a great team and we have a great plan, but there are still risks.  There is no such thing as guaranteed success, ask Lebron James.

Crossing the Pond to London

cycleWood is heading to London this afternoon for the LES competition.  We are one of six finalists.  The competition is this Saturday.  It's only Kevin and myself headed to this one.  We've never presented with just two before so this should be interesting.  One of us is also going to give the elevator pitch.  This should be interesting considering we've never done it.  It's always been Pree or Jack.  Luckily it's not for a prize, it's just to introduce our idea to the audience.

We'll be in London for a total of eight days.  The competition is only one day.  The rest of the time will be spent at the LES Conference which is supposed to be a great networking opportunity.  We'll be taking advantage of that for sure.  We were also invited to a black tie affair by a friend we met while in Canada at the Stu Clarke Investor Competition.  It'll be good to see him again.  We got tuxes and shiny shoes for the event.  Should be fantastic.

Aside from that we plan on seeing a good bit of London while we're there.  The hotel we are staying at is right by Westminster Abbey.   I bet the souvenirs from the royal wedding will be on sale.  We'll pick up a few to bring home. 

This should be a very fun trip.  Our adviser, Dr. Reeves, is also coming.   I'll make sure to take plenty of pics.  Look for them in the next few days.

GSB Summer Social

The GSB Summer Social is coming up Friday, June 10th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at Powerhouse.  If you are thinking of applying for the MBA, MMBA, or MAcc program at the Walton College of Business you should try to attend.  It's a great way to network and meet some people who will work with you and who have been there.  Some professors will be there, as well as staff and administrators.  So if you have any questions or wondered who was on the other end of the telephone or email here's your chance.  Talking with current and former students will give you a feel for what the program is about.  You can also get a first hand perspective of the pros and cons of the program.  Besides all that, there's plenty of food and drinks too.  It's a good time to be enjoyed by all.  If you do go out there, make sure to say hi to Rebel and tell her I sent you.

Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Competition Results

Well we went out to Las Vegas and we did alright.  We walked away with more money than we came with.  That's always good especially in Las Vegas.  Arkansas did well overall.  In the undergrad division John Brown University swept the competition taking 1st, 2nd, and also the elevator pitch.  Congratulations to Craftistas for taking 1st and Agricultural Food Systems for taking 2nd and also winning the elevator pitch.

cycleWood took 2nd in the graduate division and also won the elevator pitch.  While we would have liked to win it all, the competition was tough.  However, we remain undefeated in elevator pitch competitions. 

Next Thursday we are headed out to London, England.  It should be a very exciting trip.  This will be the final competition for a while.  We have applied to the CleanTech Open, but won't find out if we made it to the semifinals for a little while. 

We are pushing forward with the business.  There are some hurdles we'll have to overcome as we scale up the production process.  This morning I spoke with a supply chain company to see if they could help us in our endeavors.  They do a lot of work for McDonalds and have quite a few connections that could be very helpful.  We have some momentum now and we want to keep that going.  Wish us luck!

Vegas!

cycleWood is headed to Vegas tomorrow for the Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Governor's Cup.  We'll be competing against teams from Nevada, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  The other Arkansas team is our fellow team, TiFiber.  There are six teams for each division, undergraduate and graduate.  First place is a $25,000 cash prize.

Next week we'll be headed to London for the Licensing Executive Society competition.  We'll be over there for eight days.  This competition focuses on our intellectual property (IP).  I've never been to Europe so this will be first trip across the Atlantic.  I'm sure there will be plenty to see.  I will definitely be posting some pics from that trip.

We have also decided to enter the CleanTech Open.  This is a competition that focuses on green technologies.  There are regional competitions and a final competition.  Silicon Solar Solutions won this competition last year and said that it was a great experience.

On another note, the weather around here has been very unstable lately.  Last night the severe weather included heavy rain, strong winds, hail, and tornadoes.  A large tornado touched down in Joplin, MO tearing the town apart.  So far, 89 deaths have been confirmed from that tornado.  This has certainly been one of the worst, if not the worst, weather year I can remember.

Commencement

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. I finished up my MBA, took my last test for a while. Commencement was yesterday. It was bittersweet. I'm glad to be finished with my MBA, but I'll miss the wonderful people I've gotten to know the last year and a half. Below are a few pictures from the past few weeks.

As one chapter closes, another one begins. We'll be starting up cycleWood Solutions in the coming months. There's still plenty of due diligence to be done. It's exciting and scary at the same time. We are in the current issue of Fortune. It's their Fortune 500 issue.

While this marks the end of my MBA, I will continue to blog to keep you updated on how we are doing.  Stay tuned, there's still plenty to come.