Read more on the Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship blog…

• Babson University outside of Boston, MA – ranked #1 for their 1-year MBA in entrepreneurship by Entrepreneur Magazine for the last 17 years.
• The Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship in Austin, TX – a relatively new, radically different MBA program founded in 2002 by an entrepreneur and two ex-University of Texas MBA professors.

I decided that I wanted a one year MBA program, which both of them offered. There is not only a higher cash cost for attending a school for two years, but an even higher opportunity cost (because of what you could be making).

I researched and visited both programs, both of which were far superior to traditional Top 10 MBA programs that are great for corporate ladder climbers or future consultants, but useless for entrepreneurs.

Even though I received financial aid from Babson, I decided to choose Acton. Here’s why:

• Classroom environment. Although when I visited Babson I sat in the best classes with the best professors, Acton had a more engaging, energetic classroom environment. If you are the least bit interest in getting an MBA in Entrepreneurship, then visit Acton’s classroom and I guarantee it will blow you away.
• 100% of the classes at Acton are case method. I had been recommended by entrepreneurs that the case method is the only way to really learn what the real world is like. At Acton, when the teacher would ask a question, 10-20 hands would bolt up in the air to have the first chance to respond. It was just incredible how much energy there was in the classroom. Babson had a good number of case method classes, probably around the 50% mark.
• 100% of Acton students want to be entrepreneurs. Although 25% come in to Acton having founded a company and 40% start a company right after school, these statistics are much higher than the single digit percentages shown by other top entrepreneurial MBA programs. A good chunk of Babson students want to be entrepreneurs, but I’d put it in the <25% range
• Every Acton teacher is a full-time entrepreneur. This means they teach part time, which most schools and students would consider a turn off. But as an entrepreneur, it’s exciting. That means the teacher can bring in real world examples from his or her own business rather than just live on theory.
• Types of classes. Rather than arcane topics like Accounting or Organizational Management, at Acton I’ll be taking classes like Life of Meaning, where I’ll discover my innate strengths and interests, talk to successful entrepreneurs about what’s important in life, and learn how to contribute my skills and talents to the world. I’ll also be taking a class called Customers where we’ll practice sales techniques selling door-to-door. In our Operations class we’ll simulate and run real assembly lines. In the People class we’ll learn how to find, motivate, and keep the best people, investors, and partners.
• Philosophy. Although you may discount this reason, it was very important for me. Over 99% of businesses in the US are started by bootstrapping, credit card debt, and friends and family. Why then do most programs (including Babson), continue to focus on venture capital and private equity backed businesses? Acton believes that good business is one that generates internal cash flow, thus doesn’t need investors. This was a very important philosophy to me because I don’t want VCs meddling in my business (if I wanted a boss I’d go get a job). Acton also had some other philosophies I believed in, including that every business is made up of only two parts: Sales or Operations. Also, yes writing a business plan can be helpful, but what’s more important is execution. Then why do so many schools focus on business plan competitions?

When I was making my decision, here were the concerns I had about attending a relatively new program:

• Reputation. Babson did have a much better, and longer, reputation than Acton. But as an entreprenur, what matters most? The pedigree of your institution or your track record. I decided it would be my track record that would attract investors, partners, and employees, but the pretty piece of paper on the wall.
• Cost. A really tough part of this decision was because of the fact that Babson would have been cheaper with the financial aid. However, after talking to friends and family, I decided that the difference of $10-$20k spread over a lifetime is minimal, especially when you consider that if I learned one important concept at Acton that I wouldn’t have at Babson, that one concept could make me millions as an entrepreneur.
• Workload. Acton is known for its ultra intense workload of 100+ hours per week (I thought I could get by with less but after talking to several alumni they say its impossible). I was and still am worried about this, but that’s the price of cramming 2 years of knowledge into 9 months. Had I gone to Babson, yes, I probably could have run my business(es) on the side. But now that I’m going to Acton I’ve had to train my team to grow without me.

Even when I wasn’t sure what to do, I decided that it was best for my entrepreneurial future to go with my gut, and so I went for Acton.

**As a closing remark, I’d like to point out that because I’ll be in Acton’s intense entrepreneur MBA program for the next 9 months, I probably won’t have much time to blog. Once I’m out of the program though I do have some big plans for this blog.

Bryan Daigle

If you accept that change is the only constant, then life suddenly becomes much simpler.

In fact, I don’t know about you, but I enjoy change. Of course, I like change on my own terms, but most of the timing is not up to us. I expect whatever it is I’m doing, wherever I’m living, and whoever my closest friends are, will change. Actually, in the next few months, all of those things will change.

• I’m going to get an executive MBA for entrepreneurs
• I’m moving from Ann Arbor, MI to Austin, TX
• With the move and going back to school, I’ll be making new friends and probably losing some old ones

That’s just life.

Of course, if you don’t have change in your life, it makes it easier. However, without change you don’t get to live your life to the fullest extent. It’s like going to the same restaurant everyday for every mean and ordering the grilled chicken sandwich. Now I love grilled chicken sandwiches, but not everyday. And not for every meal.

A related question that pops up in my mind is, how long will I be making the Headset Buddy? It could be months if all the cell phone and PC manufacturers decide to standardize their headset jacks. It could be 10 years if we keep growing like we have been. It could be 1 year if someone decides to buy the Headset Buddy brand. Who knows? Life’s funny and I look forward to one day looking back and laughing.

Daigle

My answer . . . yes, it will. And it’s way too easy.

Now that you know that your product will be copied, how do you best protect your product from copycats?Conventional wisdom says you should get a patent. But as I’ve mentioned before, patents are only useful for blockbuster mass market products and licensing deals.

Your question should be, “How do I protect my non-patented invention?”

Actually, it’s less about your product, and more about the way you make, deliver, improve, and stand by your product . . . i.e. the business you’ve created around your product. It’s easy to copy your product, and factories in China are more than willing to do so. However, they can’t copy your business. They can’t copy the way you interact with customers. They can’t copy your distribution channels. They can’t copy your brand and reputation. They can’t copy your energy and ambition. They can’t copy your SEO skills (especially since their Engrish is poor).

So, yes, you can differentiate yourself with your product. But to protect your product, profit margins, and livelihood, you need to build a business around the product that CAN’T be replicated.

This is what Coke has done. This is what Crest Toothpaste has done. If you look in your pantry or bathroom, this is what most consumer goods manufacturers have done. They’ve built a product-based business that can’t be replicated.

Following the lead of these successful businesses, my company, Webko, has built a successful business around the Headset Buddy, and because of it, we are #1 in most of our markets.

Our first shot at packaging the headset adapter

I asked a couple of people at potential retail stores about the packaging, and incorporated their ideas into round two of packaging the product.

So to beef up the look, I decided to put the adapter in a clamshell. That would not only help the perceived value, but just plain make it easier for consumers to understand its value and what it does. Once I have a photo, I’ll post it up here (just finished re-packaging some of them last night). Next step, time to talk to more retailers!

- Bryan Daigle
Inventor of The Headset Buddy – Use Your PC Headset With Phones

So how can Billy get away with selling all these products and not protecting them? Here is his philosophy…

So many inventors think they are out to make millions of dollars. However, studies have shown that only 3% of patents are commercially viable (MIT study). So the number of products that are both commercially viable and make millions of dollars, is a very, VERY small number. For most inventors, you’re lucky to make a profit, and really lucky to earn an full-time income from a product.

That’s where Billy’s philosophy really kicks in. If you assume your product will only make at most $200,000 or less in sales per year (what 99.9999% of inventions make), then why spend $20,000-$40,000 applying for, protecting, and litigating for a patent? In fact, if you are like most inventors who sell their product in small quantities to niche markets, then you don’t necessarily need a patent. Why would a Chinese company or an American company want to make your product if you’re only selling less than $200,000 of it per year? It is not worth it for them to copy it.

Copycats and big companies only want blockbuster products with potential sales in the millions. So what may be a treasure to you, making $100,000 selling your product, is peanuts to a corporation. The trick to creating a successful product that sells well enough for you to earn a living is this . . . create a product in a niche big enough for you, but too small for anyone larger. For example, Billy spun off a line of metal detectors for hunters, so they can detect bird shot in their catch of the day. That’s a niche. That’s a product that sells well, but doesn’t need a patent.

I think it’s calming to know that if you create a good, niche product, then you don’t have to worry about all the money, time, and energy you would be wasting on a patent.

Using this philosophy, Billy has created 59 products that sell well enough for him to live the good life, but not well enough for it to be worth it for companies to copy his products.

- Bryan Daigle

Hey Mom, I just wrote on your Facebook wall

I must say I was taken aback. She never asked if she should get on MySpace. She gets my Dad to upload her photos to her computer. i.e. She doesn’t tweet.

I must admit though, in the 2-3 months leading up to this question I noticed some of my over-40 relatives all of a sudden joining Facebook. It was like a virus. It started with some distant relatives in New York. Then my sister in Louisiana. Then my cousin in Dallas and one in Austin. THEN my Mom!

Facebook must be doing something right if she is asking that question. Twitter didn’t prompt her to ask that question. Neither did craigslist, myspace, friendster, or any of their predecessors, spin-offs, and look-a-likes.

Okay, to get to the point of this post, what did I tell my mom when she asked if she should join Facebook?

I have issues with facebook. Although I’m in the target facebook crowd – actually maybe a two or three years older than the original facebookers (now 24-25) – I don’t like to use it that much. I admit, it’s been a great way to find old friends from when I lived in Dubai. Or check out what the ex is up to. But is that stuff that really better’s my life?

Does it better your life to know what some random dude from your middle school is up to? What about high school acquaintances? Actually, when I first joined facebook, I spent WAAAAY too much time on it (as I’m sure others have had issues with as well). There were two things that convinced me that I needed to minimize my interaction with Facebook.

1) Facebook is just another website in a long line of similar sites. In 3-5 years, there will probably be another, much better site. Internet sites come and go. Remember AOL? Remember Prodigy? Shoot, remember Yahoo? Soon, we’ll be saying remember Facebook? And when that time comes, we’re all going to have to start our profiles, networks, etc. from scratch. So I decided I didn’t want to put too much time into one social network site because they fizzle and pop. Although facebook is bigger than I thought it would be, which I’m happy for because maybe it’ll stick around and all my time spent won’t go to waste, it still burns through cash like me through Girl Scout thin mints.

2) I realized that my building my online social network, I had less time for my actual real-life social network. Some people spend so much time on the site, they don’t actually interact in person with any of the friends.

This is what I told my Mom. I told her that she probably didn’t need to join. I told her that she would wind up spending so much time catching up with people that aren’t really in her life anymore, that she would have less time for the people THAT REALLY MATTER AND ARE IN HER LIFE NOW.

Of course not everyone may agree with me. And I still have some marketing tricks I want to try on Facebook, so I’m glad it’s there. But I just don’t want to spend time on my social network at the expense of my friends.

- Daigle

Don't talk, just tweet

All this has happened in just the last few weeks. I first noticed everyone was mentioning Twitter when I heard something on CNN about Twitter. Now I’ve known about Twitter (and pondered on whether/how to use it) for over 2 years.

A guy by the name of Marc Nathan with the Houston Technology Center was the first person I knew to REALLY use twitter. I’ll admit I don’t know why people use it. I didn’t even get a texting plan until last month. I don’t enjoy texting, so I don’t know why people would want to text to Twitter and tell other people what they are doing. And what about the followers? I have enough going on in my life, do I really have time to follow other people, most of whom I’ve never met or had a real conversation (much less an email) with.

In Inc or one of the magazines I read, they did a cover article on the guy behind Twitter last year. So it’s nothing new, but all of a sudden, tweeting is the thing to do.

I made me really appreciate two things, Macolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point theory and the publicity snowball.

First I wondered if Twitter was just an early adopter thing, and not really meant for mainstream . . . that was until one of the major news channels picked it up. I wonder if that news channel helped Twitter get over that tipping point, because since then, it’s been all about Twitter this, Tweet that, I just Twooted.

Second, it made me appreciate the snowball (or lemming-like if you prefer) mentality of publicity. Yea, Twitter had made the rounds in the early adopter world. But that was just a small snowball compared to getting press on CNN , Headline News, Fox News, etc. So I’m not sure if CNN was the first to do the cover story, but for whichever big news outlet was the first, did they just add some significant size to the Twitter publicity snowball?

Publicity as I’ve come to find out, will build on itself. Start small, build up. Don’t try to go after USA Today right from the get go. Use your past publicity to slowly, but surely, climb up that publicity ladder. The Twitter publicity proves the snowball effect.

And is there really a difference between the snowball effect, and the tipping point? I’d have to think a little more on that. But whatever your opinion, you gotta admit Twitter is one big a** snowball. I wouldn’t want to get hit by it!

Now onto tweeting about this blog post. (PS I’m still trying to find a good way to use Twitter without getting cramps in my thumbs.)

Daigle