THE SPAGHETTI STARTUP by Kılıçhan K. Kaynak

THE SPAGHETTI STARTUP HOW TO MODEL AND DIAGNOSE YOUR STARTUP FOR RADICAL CHANGE AND SUCCESS

KHAN KAY

Copyright © 2014 Khan Kay. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system - except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper - without permission in writing from the publisher. Limit of Liability / Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book and its accompanying software, website and blog, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book, website and blog, and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not apply or be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. The accuracy and completeness of the information provided herein and the opinions stated herein are not guaranteed or warranted to produce any particular results, and the advice and strategies contained herein are not suitable for every individual, company or non-profit. By providing information or links to other companies or websites, the publisher and the author do not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at any linked websites or mentioned companies, or persons, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the publisher or author. This publication is designed to provide information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is offered or sold with the understanding that neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Neither the publisher or the author shall be liable for any loss or loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information and to download supporting material for the book, visit lasagnac.com. Cover Design: Yildiz Eviren Editors: Volkan Erkan, PhD in Business Administration, Z. Canan Uzunkaya, MBA, Yetkin Cinar, PhD in Business Administration, N. Murat İnce, MA in Economics, M. Akif Koca, MBA. DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any and all similarities with real life persons, living or dead, and companies, non-profits, public and private institutions and other fiction characters are purely by coincidence.

ISBN: 978-605-84805-0-6 1. Entrepreneurship 2. Startups – Modeling 3. Startup – Diagnostics 4. Systems Thinking 5. System Dynamics 6. Business Strategy Framework 7. Strategic Planning 8. Strategic Management

Ingredients Table of Slides5 Reading Guide: Are you a Chef or a Gourmet? 6 Prologue 1 The Spaghetti Circus 2 Spag Poisoning 6 Caddy, the Talking Cat 10 Who doesn’t Love Lasagna? 18 Midnight Spagsters Meet Lasagna 34 Benefits of Lasagna 36 Ingredients & Cooking Instructions 43 Layer 1: Control Tower for Growth Drivers 45 Layer 2: Elements of Growth 49 Layer 3: Growth Engines & Building Blocks 55 Layer 4: The Leverage inside the Blocks 66 Mom’s Lasagna Sauce 77 Lasagna as a Diagnostic Tool 82 Startup Traps: Patterns and Opportunities 82 Limits to Growth 85 ‘Shifting the Burden’ and ‘Fixes that Fail’ Patterns 86 Competitive Escalation 88 Eroding Goals and Success to the Successful 89 Tragedy of Common Resources 90 Growth and Investment 90 The Lasagnacs 93 Interview with Natalie 97 The Lasagna Band on Tour 108 Epilogue 111 End Notes 112 Suggested Reading 112 APPENDIX 1: The Master Model 113 APPENDIX 2: The Lasagna Library 114 Product/Service Engine Block Packs 115 Customer Engine Block Packs 123 Skills Engine Block Packs 127 Cash Engine Block Packs 131 Meet Khan Kay 134

Table of Slides Slide 1. Lasagna Startup Overview 27 Slide 2. Control Tower: The Heart of a Lasagna Startup Slide 3. Definition of a System 37 Slide 4. Lasagna-Lego Set Analogy 40 Slide 5. Layers of a Lasagna Model 44 Slide 6. Characteristics of a System 50 Slide 7. Inside the Growth Engines 51 Slide 8. The Seven Elements of Growth 53 Slide 9. Block Packs for Product/Service Engine 56 Slide 10. Sample Business Processes for All Engines 59 Slide 11. Block Packs for Customer Engine 61 Slide 12. Block Packs for Skills Engine 63 Slide 13. Block Packs for Cash Engine 64 Slide 14. Blocks Reporting to Block Packs 67 Slide 15. Leverage Inside Each Block / Pack 68 Slide 16. Sample Block Pack for Requirements 74 Slide 17. Brand Touchpoints 79 Slide 18. The Lasagna Toolbox 80

Reading Guide: Are you a Chef or a Gourmet? Read this part if you are the Chef type… Well, if you’re like me, you want to get to the core of it right away. You are the Chef type, and you probably hold a C-level office. You just want to get to cooking. Then I suggest that you skip the story, go to ‘Slide 1. Lasagna Startup Overview’ in the ‘Who doesn’t Love Lasagna’ chapter (around page 33 depending on the edition you hold). That’s about where the discussion on the Lasagna Strategy Framework starts. Read until you hit ‘The Lasagnacs’ chapter (page 99’ish). Then you will probably feel the urge to check the appendices for the master model and the action cards. There, I saved you about 50 pages of reading. Go ahead, call your colleagues and arrange a retreat to tweak the master model for your company.

Read the entire book if you are the Gourmet type! If you’re the Gourmet type, you take your time and enjoy the fine details of life. In this case, it is a nice fable about startup survival with a futuristic twist. How else could I have some room for creativity, and irony, y'know, to tease my past spaghetti-mode failures and the flaws in the ecosystem? Curl up with your popcorn and favorite beverage. You are in the Silicon Valley and it is the year 2025. Enjoy!

Prologue Until recently, it was always sunny in the valley of Spagtown, where spaghetti startups proliferatedâ&#x20AC;Ś They are all dying now.

The Spaghetti Circus Bored, I turned on the TV. The host was screaming his lungs out: “Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to SILICON TV’s most popular show, the SPAGHETTI CIRCUS, with Chheff SPAGIANO, thhee GRIIINNNDERRR!” It was funny to see John on TV. He looked as if he put on 20 pounds from here to the studio in the valley. And, what is with the Italian name and the frantic language!? That must be the new marketing fad, “perverted marketing”, most suitable for the show business. Add some Spartan instinct as spice, there you go... This so unbearable, I can’t stop watching it! The so-called Chef Grinder doesn’t even know how to fry an egg, but he’s on TV. No wonder, he’s cooking spaghetti, the most primitive dish in the Italian Cuisine. There is nothing wrong with it, yet, there is nothing special about it either. I wonder, although John is a dumb ass, there are many smart guys around him, why don’t they at least try making some lasagna? Show after show, for God’s sake, aren’t they sick and tired of it? Even I quit eating spaghetti altogether, John doesn’t bring them home anymore. I heard homeless people line up at the back of the building towards the end of the show and the network distributes the remainders of this rejuvenating dish for a single payment of a dollar a pound. Besides, as if John was a real chef, the network hired a ghost chef with the proceeds of the ‘Pasta Rejuvenation Campaign for the Homeless’, and had him write a spaghetti cookbook for him. Give the devil his due, though, John has good taste in sauces.

Chefs love talking, and that probably is the only similarity between John and a real chef. Cooking is a no brainer for most chefs, so they talk. And since John is also a serial entrepreneur, thanks to the show, he loves talking to other entrepreneurs. He keeps inviting them over from the valley, and obviously, there is a lot to learn from those guys, together with clear instructions and tips on boiling pasta. “It is supposed to be simple, but it is not,” said John, to the new guy on the show tonight. Matt, tonight’s guest, is one of the founders of Midnight Spag, the new startup on the block that won the “2024 SpagStart Award”, a.k.a. the Oscars of the spaghetti startup industry. John is an investor in this company, behind the scenes, with a seat on the board. This Matt guy is also a hobbyist chef himself, cooking interesting stuff, like smart phone-shaped cookies, something anyone would crave at night. That’s creative?! And what more would you want in the founder of a startup you invest in? It is a partnership anyway, and being two chefpreneurs, they are the perfect fit! And there go the ratings and valuations through the roof! John: “Tell me, Matt, about Midnight Spag, your startup.” Matt: “Hey, thanks John for having me tonight!” He was overly enthusiastic. His voice suddenly turned robotic, probably because he was holding his breath, and he continued with what he memorized and repeated tens of times before coming to the show, and in his earlier pitches. He almost sounded realistic though, at least by not losing the intonation and gestures, and the enthusiasm seemed to help. Alas, the speed was a bit too high, and the choice of clichés gave him away: “Midnight Spag is the leading provider of spaghetti online. It serves young single professionals in the Bay area, who crave spaghetti at post-clubbing hours, midnight till 5 am. We provide uncooked spaghetti and what we call ‘the fantasy’, that is, the ingredients of the sauce, together with illustrated instructions and disposable utensils for cooking.” Nice pitch, dude! John: “That sounds great! I wish we had this service back when I was still single living downtown.” Matt: “Ha, ha, ha!” 10

John: “But I wonder, if I am too drunk to prepare it myself, what happens then? Why would I place an order with you?” Matt: “That is a great question, John! Midnight Spag also serves ready-made spag with your choice of fantasy -like you said, if you don’t want to prepare it yourself, within 15 minutes of placing your order online, we’ll send you some. We also offer a free trial when you first sign up and a 20% discount if you place your order before midnight on any day.” John: “That’s really cool, Matt.” Turning to the camera: “Folks! Just don’t forget to try it after the party tonight! Ha, ha!” Turning back to Matt: “So, how is it going with the valuation stuff? Do you have any investor interest in the company?” Matt: “Yes, John, actually, we’re in the process of negotiating a third round of investment! Midnight Spag is currently valued at $19 Million and we're now about to get an additional $53 Million, to expand our product mix, y’know, to include bigoli, bucatti, spaghettoni, and capellini and all the new chefs to be hired to make these extremely specialized dishes for the delicate taste of fellow young entrepreneurs and professionals in the Bay area.” Did he just say $53 Million? GOD! I know chefs make more than football players these days, but THAT is ridiculous! And he didn’t actually tell the audience that John was one of the investors through this fund, Spag Ventures, a company with strong ties to the show, and the network itself! Holy shit! John is doing one of his spag tricks again. Yeah, this one was good. I know on the next show, sponsored by the spaghetti manufacturer of his choice, Spag Harvest, John will boil literally two tons of water and cook a single 10 foot spaghetti, without breaking it, and prepare the world’s longest single-stick spag dish. Guinness is invited. I am sleepy. It is probably the only thing I like about being a cat, I can sleep whenever I want. That is also when I get philosophical. I am curious. Did SILICON TV create this spaghetti culture spreading like crazy around the world, or the culture the 11

channel? I wonder whether the government is involved, or a big shot company. Any college? Or an accelerator, maybe? I bet other VC’s and funds of funds are definitely in this. After all, this is more an entrepreneurship show than mere spaghetti. Conspiracies are not as exciting as they used to be. I’ll doze off for a while. “Hey, author! Khan, was it? Could you turn off the TV for me after I am asleep, but please don’t forget, John literally pinches pennies when it comes to overhead.” God! I hate the Spaghetti Circus, I really need to sleep over that $53 Million! I could build Cirque du Soleil with that kind of money.

SOME PAGES ARE OMITTED FROM THIS PREVIEW. Matt: “As I said, our foremost challenge is with managing cash flow. That is about to be resolved with the third round, but still, it keeps recurring as new funds start depleting, despite the growing customer base. It was the same with the first two rounds as well. This is not shocking, I mean, it is expected, right? In the high growth stage, you burn more money? But I doubt maybe there are other things we need to check.” Caddy: “You’re absolutely right, Matt!” Matt: “The second more important thing in my mind regarding our challenges is about the teams and functions. I feel like we cannot build the kind of relationship among our people, I don’t know, it is not only about management versus staff. Something seems to be missing at every level.” John: “Wow, I thought you guys were a great team?! That was why we invested in you in the first place!” Matt: “Well, yeah, as the founding partners we were initially great, but then things started changing as new people joined us and roles and levels kept changing. I don’t know, John, something is shaky here but I cannot explain what it is.”

Caddy: “I understand your concern, Matt, and I believe I have at least a couple of suggestions in that regard.” Matt: “Great, I mean, these softer sides of management don’t seem to be my thing… The other thing that concerns me is the competition and the market demand. Sure we’ve done some analysis about the market and the competition, but still, I feel like we may not be headed in the right direction. These three are my major concerns that make me lose sleep. And then of course there is the day-to-day operational stuff.” Caddy: “Thanks, Matt, for sharing your concerns and challenges. As I said, I will not answer your questions right away, but proceed with an overview of Lasagna and I think it can help you find your answers. “OK, here is an overview of the Lasagna Framework (Slide 1). We have five rectangles representing the four growth engines for any startup –remember your answer to this question and the challenges you listed- and the fifth rectangle represents the control tower, which includes the four drivers of growth and the laws of survival. When we examine a startup with a systems perspective, these growth engines are your stocks, where value accumulates, or in other words, they are your system stocks with flows in and out of them.

SLIDE . LASAGNA STARTUP OVERVIEW “With the product/service engine, we’re talking about the value you generate and the experience this value creates for your customers. And the customer engine includes all the eyeballs, that is, your leads, prospects, paying and hopefully returning customers. The skills engine is not only about who you hire, but your founders, partners, outsourced skills and their networks. The cash engine is about your cash flows and net worth. And the control tower is about how you exercise power, establish and sustain control, and your ability to maneuver, and obviously I am not talking about dictatorship here. By the way, one of the primary reasons startups fail is because the founders become dictators, micromanagers or simply jerks as the company grows. “These growth engines are also your decision/action pools around which you need to think and make all of our critical decisions in any business environment, but especially startups. And they are dynamic, they keep changing based on the decisions we make and the actions we take. The ultimate objective is to increase them all, but not infinitely, just to their optimum with the optimum rate of growth at any given point in time. You don’t see a cat the size of a man, right? And you also don’t see a cat grow up to whatever size in 3 days! I am not saying that you need to slow down right away. All I am saying, for now, is that you stop focusing on crazy growth rates as your only way of survival or success. This is also about a flaw in the overall ecosystem. Governments push growth, professors or other authorities keep talking about growth, and obviously the investors want their portfolio to grow as soon as possible, so that they can make the most of it and exit, and so on… “The idea here is to not rush or keep pushing without understanding the dynamics of growth. And this dynamic includes limits to growth that will certainly show up as you grow, and the ability to recognize those limits before they even appear will ensure sustainable growth as opposed to cancerous growth. At this point, all you need to do is to acknowledge that there will certainly appear some limits to your growth down the road, and that you can foresee and plan for them with Lasagna thinking, in which case you’ll grow faster in the long run, surprisingly so with a slower rate. So, 14

I’d suggest that you reconsider your latest investment round. More money is not always the solution, it can even push you further in the wrong direction.

SOME PAGES ARE OMITTED FROM THIS PREVIEW. Lasagna as a Modeling Framework & Library “Now, when complex things need to be created, changed, integrated with something else, and the actions around them needs to be managed and coordinated, they need to be modeled first! And modeling a startup, or any business for that matter, ain’t easy and requires one thing: “Lasagna thinking”, which is the backbone of the Lasagna System. Why? Because, a startup is not just another economic activity, it is a system in the first place.

SLIDE . DEFINITION OF A SYSTEM “Take a look at this slide (Slide 3) for a proper definition of a system. Your startups fits this definition, right? And it is not just another system, it is a complicated system as 15

you launch it, but then it quickly turns into a complex system. And being a social system, it needs to continually adapt to its environment. It is what we call a complex adaptive system in academic literature. And it is next to impossible to sustain the viability of a complex adaptive system with traditional ways of thinking. When you look at the survival rates of startups, it is less than 30% within 10 years of inception according to the Small Business Administration, and for high-tech startups, some research claims it to be 1 out of 12 within 3 years. Why? Well, research shows that typical entrepreneurs make many decisions that reduce their chances of success. In other words, they suffer from both omission and commission. That is, they either unknowingly omit actions that could have made them more successful, or commit to actions that ensure failure. “In a nutshell, the numbers are not in favor of startups, and what I propose for survival is instituting Lasagna as the backbone of your culture. And since Lasagna starts out with systems thinking to understand the structure and behavior of a business as a system, it comes with a practical framework and a language that ensures better communications and easier understanding, modeling and construction of systems.

SOME PAGES ARE OMITTED FROM THIS PREVIEW. “So, to be able to create an alternative approach to make practical use of systems thinking, I merged it with design thinking, and dissected a startup into its constructs and identified and listed all critical decisions and actions associated with each construct to give you a headstart. Just to give you example of how it works, think of Legos, it’s a modeling tool, too. You create models of real-life things. And it’s so much fun, the Lego Group turned the concepts of modeling into celebrated toys loved by millions. Now, let’s take a look at one of their products called the Architecture Studio (Slide 4). You can build several different buildings with this set of legos, using the same sets of blocks. This entire box of legos correspond to the framework part of Lasagna. The way individual lego blocks are designed so that they can be fitted to each other is the language part of it, and the catalog that comes in the box is its library. In other words, Lasagna, in a way, is your ‘Business Architecture Studio’. 16

SLIDE . LASAGNA-LEGO SET ANALOGY

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Ingredients & Cooking Instructions “Now, let me quickly show you the stages of developing a Lasagna model. Well, it is really simple, just like cooking real Lasagna. You start with the base layer, add some sauce, add another layer and repeat, right? Same here, but our layers take us deeper into our model by adding more details. In practice, you won’t need to do much about the first three layers and the sauce, just some tweaks perhaps, as they lay the foundations of our framework. The fourth layer is where you’ll spend the majority of your time. Here, let me show you briefly what we do with each layer.

SLIDE . LAYERS OF A LASAGNA MODEL “As you see on this slide, we’ll start with the base layer, which corresponds to the Control Tower of our businesses. I’ll tell you about the Lasagna Laws and the four drivers of growth. And then in Layer 2, I’ll introduce the four growth engines. In Layer 3, we’ll take a look at what is inside an engine, the seven elements of growth, and in Layer 4, we’ll examine our decisions and actions as they relate to the growth drivers, engines and elements to create leverage for growth. And finally we’ll talk about the Lasagna Library and the sauce of our Lasagna as your branding. “After this overview of what is coming up, let’s start with our base layer, the Control Tower.”

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Layer 2: Elements of Growth After the break, especially for those in need of medical help, we started again. It was touching to see John run around with a glass of water, rubbing people’s eyes. I had to repeat parts of what I went over at John’s place. Now I remember… This was one of the reasons I quit academia, too much repetition!

“OK, guys, now if I could have your attention please, this is important! I’ll ask about it in the exam, ha, ha.” Canned laughter. “Once you’re done with identifying the specific elements of your four growth drivers, you can turn your attention to the four growth engines, or your decision/action pools. This is also where you identify your critical business processes. But before we proceed with constructing your growth engines, let’s take a quick look at the characteristics of a system, so that what I am about to tell you about the engines makes more sense.

SLIDE . CHARACTERISTICS OF A SYSTEM “Basically, our startup, when we look at it as a system, has a structure, and I don’t only mean its organizational structure, try to think in broader terms, please. Now, this structure exhibits some behavior, and in the case of a startup via its business processes.

“Going back to our growth engines, we then need to understand an engine’s structure and behavior. I just did that and plotted a typical growth engine (Slide 7). When we look inside an engine, it includes a box that sets the imaginary boundaries of the business processes inside that particular engine. These business processes and the four main feeds going in and out of the box represent the high-level structure and behavior of your startup. In other words, your teams (ACTORS) process (via BUSINESS PROCESSES) the INPUTS to your engine, under the limitations set by the CONTROLS, and transform them into OUTPUTS. When the four growth drivers we talked about earlier, and these system elements inside each growth engine work together flawlessly, they generate power and deliver it to the market, like the 4x4 powertrain of an SUV. Let me give you another example...

SLIDE . INSIDE THE GROWTH ENGINES

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Layer 3: Growth Engines & Building Blocks Caddy: “So far, we covered the seven elements of growth that reside in a growth engine. They are essentially the parts that build the engine and make it work effectively and efficiently when the engine is started. But it is way too abstract for the 20

time being, so, let’s dissect them further into their constructs. I call the first-level of constructs the ‘block packs’ of the model, just like the lego blocks packaged into small boxes when you buy a new set. Remember the Lego Architecture Studio example? When the box comes, there are packs of blocks inside. The Lego Group packages the blocks according to functionality, shape, size, etc. And what we will do is very similar… I’ll introduce packs of blocks that are structurally and behaviorwise related to each other and are the constructs of your inputs, outputs, actors and so on. And that will give you a more detailed overview of your business. “Take a look at this slide (Slide 9) that lays out the block packs for the Product/Service Engine. Each arrow here represents a block pack, that is, a collection of blocks. This is a convenient way of seeing the overview of your blocks and their interactions. We started out with a systems view of your startup, then focused on the four engines and the four drivers of growth as subsystems. And then we looked into a typical growth engine and identified the seven elements that build it. Now we’re taking a closer look at these seven elements. The inputs, outputs, actors, controls, business processes, externalities and feedback can all be represented as sets of block packs. If you’re wondering what a block pack is all about, beyond their representation in the model, they are your leveraging decisions and actions that make the engine work. In other words, to be able to strategically manage your startup without overlooking anything important, you need to make critical decisions about all these block packs and take actions accordingly.

SLIDE . BLOCK PACKS FOR PRODUCT/SERVICE ENGINE “I have collected all such potential block packs in the Lasagna Library. It comes with the details of block packs and lists of blocks for a typical startup, but if you ever find yourself in a position to figure out what could possibly be a block pack or block, ask yourself this question: ‘Is what I am considering a real-life object or rule? Such as a machine, a supply, a role, a policy or a team? If so, then you have a block or a block pack. All you need to do then is to place it at the appropriate location in your model? Is it an input, an output, an actor and so on? Does it fit under any of the existing packs? This is basically how you could proceed with the customization and expansion of your model as needed.

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Lasagna as a Diagnostic Tool “Now that you’ve learned what Lasagna is all about, I would like to give you some extra guidelines to help with the evaluation of your individual cases. These guidelines are about patterns of tricky behaviors that have been commonly observed in any system. The idea is to give you clues about what to look for when modeling your

startup. This will help tremendously in diagnosing your problems and incorporating preventive measures into your design.”

Startup Traps: Patterns and Opportunities “As I mentioned earlier, your startup is a complex system, albeit a small scale one. And it needs to adapt to its environment. That’s why startups qualify as complex adaptive systems, and cannot be managed with conventional wisdom or the wisdom of your MBAs, engineering or design degrees, just because they don’t usually teach you this crucial part at school, not that your degrees are useless ;-) “Now, the viability of your complex adaptive system depends on heuristic, intuitive and experimental decisions most of the time, especially so in a startup environment, where ambiguity prevails. The purpose of these decisions are either to fix a problem, or to reach a desired future state. And your decisions are mostly constrained by the controls of your engines, as well as the inputs, outputs and actors of each engine and their interrelationship with other engines. Are we all on the same page so far?”

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Limits to Growth “The limits to growth is perhaps the most important systemic pattern of all for startups, if not for all businesses. That’s why I’ve included it in the CONTROLS of all growth engines. “It simply states that there is no world where you can keep on growing without any restrictions. There is a limit to growth for every system, and as your company approaches it, the returns on your efforts will start diminishing. Now, remember the third Lasagna law, behavior gets better before it gets worse. So, whenever you make a ‘symptomatic’ change to your system, like injecting more money that does not address root problems or support a fundamental action, it will first trigger growth, sometimes exponentially, but it will eventually come to a halt and even start diminishing. This is given. It always happens in any system. The challenge lies in how 23

you react to this limit you encounter. Most companies tend to reinforce the growth engine without first identifying the limiting force, spend more money and expedite their demise.

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Meet Khan Kay Having personally screwed up several startups, I realized I shouldn't waste my extraordinary skills and exceptional talent in doing this, so I decided to write a series of books on how not to screw up a startup, from the perspectives of an entrepreneur, an investor, an educator and a policy maker, to cover all stakeholders in the ecosystem. This is the first book in the series and I hope you enjoyed it. Before my post as a serial entrepreneur, I used to work for an international organization in Washington, DC, focusing on innovation-driven entrepreneurship and its financing, mostly as part of mega-projects. Before then, I had the opportunity to teach at a reputable college, and work for emerging economy governments and private companies. Basically, I have been all over the ecosystem in various roles dealing with startups top down, bottom-up and sideways, literally. I also have a diverse educational background with multiple advanced degrees in engineering, business administration and lastly in Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University. And I recently applied to the local medical school. Just kidding! The diversity of my background is important for three reasons: First, it enabled me to draw from multiple disciplines when designing a solution to improve startup viability and success. Second, I had multi-dimensional exposure to entrepreneurship. And more importantly because I was not even close to success in my earlier startups with the given background. But why? I guess I found the answer to that question and wanted to share it with you. Currently, I am a senior adviser to a newly industrialized country government to help develop their entrepreneurship ecosystem strategy and policies.