I had quite an interesting day yesterday that ran a gamut of interesting events, listening to some great speeches and reminiscing about the past.

My day started early because I had to be in Tyson’s corner at 7:15am – because you see, yesterday, I attended the 5th Annual Bootcamp for Growing Companies and Entrepreneurs put on by the George Mason University Business Alliance.

Phil McKinney

The opening keynote speaker was Phil Mckinney, the Vice President and CTO, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company. Phil spoke about innovation – a topic he is famously known for and that he discusses in depth in his blog and podcast.

My biggest take away from Phil’s keynote was from a belief I’ve had that he put into words by saying that today’s economy is a Creative Economy. It is innovation and creativity that we require and need – and it is being innovative and creative that will make people and companies successful. (That reminded me how glad I am that I’m an ideas person!!) 

As I listened to Phil, I did wonder about how many people in the room believed in what Phil was saying and how many were in denial about what he was saying and unwilling to face the changes that are not upon us anymore, but in full effect around us?!?!

Ted Leonsis

The other great motivational speaker of the day was the lunch keynote speaker – serial entrepreneur Ted Leonsis. I had heard of Ted (who hasn’t in this area) but I had never heard his full story, so obviously hearing first hand from Ted was pretty interesting.

Now, I have to admit that what seemed to be missing from his story were  the struggles (if any) that he had to overcome to get to where he is today. He did make it sound rather easy…definitely seems like everything he’s touched has turned to gold. The absolute humility he exudes is extremely inspirational.

I got to shake Ted’s hand and talk to him very briefly about WhyGoSolo – he told me to send him our one pager and I did that today. He already replied back to say he would take a look at it. I can’t possibly ask for anything more than that!

Other Entrepreneurs

I sat at a table with the President and CEO of Angel.com, Michael X. Zirngibl – had a short but good chat with him about what he does and WhyGoSolo. I later heard more about Angel.com on a panel he was on. I also met Daniel J. Neal, the CEO and Founder of Kajeet. Both companies have raised significant VC funding, especially Kajeet (and all out of the area) so it was good to make contacts with them. I hope to speak with them both again down the road.

Sean Shadmand

Sean is the CEO of FamilyOven.com. I first met Sean at lunch 2.0 quite a few months ago…well Sean has been pretty busy doing some big things with FamilyOven.com – the only problem is that he doesn’t realize that!!  After repeatedly offering to slap some sense into him – I offered to help him and I hope he takes me up on it. He’s done some amazing things with a niche site and frankly, I’m jealous of how well he’s doing – he’s a good story for DC.

Here Comes the Marines

As if the day wasn’t packed enough…when I was about to leave I ran into an old friend of mine – a fellow Marine I met when I was stationed on Okinawa who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. Talk about a small world, but the icing on the cake of running into him might be much bigger than anything I could have thought of being involved in – I don’t want to jinx it so I can’t talk about it yet. I can share that we had some drink and spent some time reminiscing…something I hadn't done and enjoyed in a long time.

I have to say that in the last month and particularly in the last week I’ve been getting back in touch with my roots (the Marine Corps) to help me with where I am today. The story is still unfolding and we shall see where it leads.