The Venture Edge

As I was flying to New England today to meet with a new client, I was reminded of the power of the personal touch. Email, text messages, and even phone calls all help make businesspeople more efficient and effective. However, business is all about relationships, and the best way to build strong and lasting relationships is through face-to-face meetings.

I teach a course in entrepreneurship for engineers at the University of Southern California, so I'm used to having to persuade budding entrepreneurs whose lives have focused on technology  that it's not about the technology when you're designing a new business venture.  It's always about people, their needs and how you deal with them.  It wasn't surprising then when USC alum and successful entrepreneur Shannon Blake Gans came to class this week to talk about her company and the lessons she's learned that students figured she would focus on what her company does.  After all, it is a pretty sexy company in the film industry, but they quickly found out that although the technology is important, it's probably not the critical success factor for the business.