I find myself writing this introductory blog in the foyer of the Best Western hotel by San Francisco International Airport. After 28 hours travelling I finally arrived in the Bay Area, ready to throw myself into the four months of internships and projects I have undertaken. However, before I discuss the things I'm hoping to get involved with over the next four months I think I should do the polite thing and introduce myself!
Born and raised in Glasgow, I caught the venture bug at a young age. While I was still at school I was always on the look out with friends, dabbling in such high flying project as importing sunglasses, running discos and even making dish towels. Some fell flat on their face but some were actually profitable to my parents’ amazement. From there I studied Engineering at Glasgow University which culminated in my design for a netting that mitigated car bombs in the final year. Following Glasgow I took a trip down to Cambridge to carry out my masters. It was there that I discovered the science behind entrepreneurship and start-ups!
For the past few years it has always been my ambition to come out and experience the venturing culture that is so abundant in this area of California. On the back of my studies I have kindly been given a Global Research Award by he Royal Academy of Engineering to research how companies’ priorities evolve as they grow. Now believe it or not, this isn't just another piece of academic drivel that will never see the light of day. I am actually going out to speak to a host of exciting start-ups, established firms, private venture funds and, what I think will be the most interesting, failed ventures.
The chat that I’m most excited about is with Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla, the electric car company. His thoughts on the possibilities for small firms to benefit from this growing electric auto infrastructure should prove gripping!
In addition to this project I will be spending two and a half months interning with Heyzap.com, a start-up with a focus on flash games. It has just celebrated its 1st birthday, an achievement in itself, after passing through the famous YCombinator incubator. Other notable graduates of YCom include Loopt and Xobni. However the interesting point with Heyzap is not its current path, it is the fact that its two founders are young Brits who refused to set up shop in the U.K, instead packing their bags and heading out West. Surely alarm bells must be ringing that there will be more to follow.
Anyway, I hope I haven’t spent too long rambling on about my past and have actually stimulated, at least a bit of, interest in the future content of the blog.
Andrew McCalister will be blogging on his experiences working within a US-based start-up over the next four months