What led me to talk to Jon Maroney, and what I really liked from our conversation, is his commitment to helping create connections and community within Oregon’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. This concept really resonated with me, particularly the effort he describes as, “Creating Opportunities for Serendipity,” which to me is really what makes networking and community so powerful. So, with all that in mind, I think you’ll really like hearing what he has to say.
Topics Discussed
- Jon’s role at Oregon Venture Fund, and his philosophy on creating a community that will support the next generation of startups and entrepreneurs
- Jon’s own introduction to entrepreneurship, his “Entrepreneurial MBA” at a startup
- His vision for OEN and Portland’s entrepreneurial community
- Creating “clusters” around areas Oregon excels at
- What makes a great entrepreneurial leader and team
- Jon’s biggest “turn-off” when meeting with founders
- Jon’s advice for entrepreneurs: start with something you know.
- What makes someone an entrepreneur?
- The power of “informed intuition”
- Another core trait for entrepreneurs? Curiosity
- Advice? Fundraising is often not the answer to your problems. Spend those six months on figuring out how to grow the business and get profitable instead of on fundraising
- Jon’s lesson for leaders
- Jon’s lesson for pitching your company to investors
Book recs: Give and Take by Adam Grant
The Lean Startup
The Undoing Project
http://www.oregonangelfund.com/perspective/
You can find and connect with Jon, and learn more about Oregon Venture Fund at http://www.oregonangelfund.com/team/
Music for this episode is by Cambrian Explosion, whose music is so hot that Elon Musk is sending albums of it to Mars to melt the polar ice caps and help make the planet habitable for future colonists. You can find them steaming it up live in Portland as well as Spotify, iTunes, and cepdx.bandcamp.com. Thanks for listening.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:34 — 25.4MB)