In the latest Leadership and Entrepreneurial Aspiration Development (LEAD) series of lectures organized by Asian School of Business, Dr. Cliff Zintgraff, CEO at DaVinci Minds & Program Manager at IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin interacted with students related to topic “Entrepreneurial Research, Innovation & Idea Generation” on 22 September 2018.
Dr. Zintgraff emphasised that Entrepreneurs bear the costs and risk of launching a new venture, developing a new product or service, commercializing the invention, adopting new technology and entering or creating a new market. He started the lecture with some experiences of his and went on to say that at the core that is required, you’re either entrepreneurial or you’re not, there’re no two ways about it.
As per him, entrepreneurs don’t wait for the right idea, but pick up any idea, rather a potential problem that might ask for a solution in form of a new idea. As per him, such ideas need not to be technological breakthroughs necessarily, but the ones that might be of any help to the society as such are deemed to succeed. He emphasized that the people who have zeal for entrepreneurship start taking risk early, because one needs to start sooner than later in order to take charge of the things. He talked about how an individual can think about any problem that he might be encountering with and just imagine some possible solutions for the same and maybe, he might come up with a solution that is implementable and sustainable and that is what entrepreneurship may be all about rather than using difficult words or explanations to describe it.
Just to add that Dr. Zintgraff has authored academic articles and book chapters on topics including corporate innovation, STEM education and economic development, professional volunteers in STEM education, regional cyber security programs, learning technologies, and educational philosophy. Till date he has raised about US$2.8 mn while developing innovative education programs.
As an entrepreneur, he leads a business delivering STEM education products and services. His service to the community has included co-founding and leading the Board of STEM services and advocacy non-profit in San Antonio, Texas, USA and also that he has received several awards for his contributions in field of research and service.
He also responded to the queries raised by students regarding various aspects like initial financing, cash flow management, balancing out the risk etc. The guest lecture not only created awareness among students related to “Entrepreneurship” but also inculcated entrepreneurial spirit and motivated them to engage in entrepreneurship in the time to come.