Junk I get....
I got this from
LEDA today, entitled:
2006-2007 Lubbock Economic Forecast
Wednesday, April 5, 2006
11:00 am – 1:30 pm
Lubbock Country Club
3400 Mesa Road
Distinguished Speakers:
Ms. Zanny Minton Beddoes, Economics Correspondent
The Economist Magazine
Mr. Angelos Angelou, Principal
AngelouEconomics
Schedule:
11:00 am Registration
11:15 am Lunch Served
11:30 am Program
Registration Costs:
$45 for individual
$315 for table of 8
All registrations must be received
by Friday, March 31, 2006.
Register online or call 806.723.8246 for more information.
Apparently, one of the speakers is from Washington, and is basically an economics professor. The other is from Austin.
Perhaps it's just me .... but WHY would anyone want to PAY $45 to go see someone from Washington, and someone from Austin, PREDICT what will happen in Lubbock NEXT year?
[Note to all: I think most entrepreneurs who made money by making things probably would say "Stay at home work on your product."]
Summer Interns
We have two interns who will be continuing on with us through the summer, and likely into their next 3-4 years at
Texas Tech. Hopefully, they'll be staying at Texas Tech.They are both diligent workers, and produce a fair amount of product (though, I can always hope for more), and each one has slowly (or very quickly) worked their way up through the frameworks we have in place -- and, in some cases, added to them. I have been pondering a few options to rewards them.
First, tuition reimbursement. Since both of them are wrapping up their senior year in high school, and will soon be attending college, they may be wanting some sort of tuition help. One of the guys has a complete ride, if he wants it. The other has about 50% paid through a Presidential Scholarship. Way TO GO! The issue I have with tuition reimbursement is that I personally don't have a degree, and don't see a whole lot of value in it in this particular industry. Certainly, a degree from MIT, Harvard, Georgia Tech, Berkeley might be different. However, there's not a lot at TTU that can't be learned on ones own, if they're dedicated. And my guys are.
So, what's the advantage of paying their tuition? They stay around -- which is great. They like me. Even better. They continue to work here. That's good. Perhaps speeding their exit out of school.
What are the disadvantages? More out-of-cash money for me. Bad. They exit school faster (and who knows what they'll want to do then?!?!).
Do I need the advantages to retain the employees? Likely not.
Second, a laptop. They have both asked for laptops this summer. Now, if we were big on working on customers' websites, or running around and showing off prototypes, I'd be all for it. I know they COULD work more with a laptop. I know it makes remote developing easier. The question is, WOULD they work more with a laptop. For that, I have no answer.
I'd want them to have a fast, dual-core laptop. They'd need both linux and Windows
(VMWare), and probably at least 60GB of hard drive space. A crisp screen. Wireless and wired networking, and a DVD drive. Decent battery life. And insurance. [Neither of them can pay for a new laptop if they drop it!] Probably around $1600 for a good machine.
Now, I wonder what type of ROI I could see on that. They'd have to work quite a few hours, on their own, to make it worthwhile. I'm about 50% convinced that they would. But I'm not convinced just yet.
Lubbock Call Center
[
Edited on May 26th, 2006 after a phone call from Dale Gannaway. This blog is, and always will be, one-sided, as it's my opinion of what I know. I'm not a journalist, per se, which goes off and check my facts with all possible sources. Take a look at my CompUSA series for some proof of this. I simply wrote what CompUSA was doing for me [nothing]. That doesn't mean that they don't have thousands of happy customers elsewhere. More on this below.]
I began looking at possibilities for a clients' call center to be placed in Lubbock, TX a few weeks ago. So far, I haven't made much progress.
I am aware that Lubbock has a high percentage of call centers, with some 5,000+ workers in the area being employed in that industry. Both in-bound, and out-bound. However, we'd be looking to setup a small operation, perhaps as many as 6 employees.
After doing some of my own research, I called the local Market Lubbock, or as they're now called ...
Lubbock Economic Development Alliance. They are responsible for bringing different businesses to the area. [
Note: There is a list of the assisted companies somewhere on their website. It's been reorganized, and I'm having a hard time finding the press releases section.]
[
Edit: I'm removing a paragraph of what is still my opinion, but after a pleasant call from one of the LEDA staff, I'm going to remove it. This is a slow-moving area, and my expectations are likely high, to see rapidly moving change in the area. I'm an East Coast guy, and I'm used to seeing entire communities pop up out of the forest in a matter of moments.]
Regardless, I got an email back from
Dale Gannaway, who's responsible for a lot of local interactions. He's in charge of the RCIC -- which, as of February, has produced
$1.9 million -- which appears to have been used to recuit Dr. Thea Wilkins to Texas Tech. Probably a good play considering the local economy's reliance on agriculture. [
Edit: We discussed some additional $12 million in play, but there appears to be no one press release about all of it.]
My company was turned down, because it was a startup (disclaimer: I did not apply via the RCIC, I went through another funding form of Texas Capital). [
Edit: I am very aware that startups have a hard time getting funding, and that the Texas government made it very clear that they would not be the first money to the table.] I was hopeful when it started that someone who could produce a product would be able to get some funding.
I do know that the
RCIC board responsible for seeing companies through to the next level has (or had)
Gary Pankonien, among others, on it. Gary is a Venture Capitalist from Emergent Technologies. [
Edit: I've removed some items here, because I'm not trying to be detrimental OR negative to anyone -- just my opinion. It looks like the board has been expanded. I'm still of the opinion that any VC / Investor on the board should ensure that there is NO conflict of interest by ensuring that THEIR companies pursue opportunities elsewhere. I have been told that this has not been the case in the past.]
[Side Note: I've met
Gary, and he's pleasant enough. I'm not 100% sure what it is, exactly, that he does .... but I know a bunch of people who are charged up about him bringing money to Lubbock. I also know a bunch of people who don't much care for what he's doing. Whatever that may be. A quick google of him shows him to be either sitting as CEO of quite a few companies or very rapidly flipping them. Of course, he is a Venture Capitalist.]
Anyway, turns out Dale doesn't do much with what I needed anymore, and passed me off to
Marc Farmer. Had a call with him about tax incentives, real estate, etc... for call centers. LAST Wednesday? Thursday? No word back from him on the stats I was expecting.
Bio Diesel
I've been working on some ideas for using
Bio Diesel in the surrounding area ... it's just absolutely fascinating to me. It would appear that there is quite a bit of federal grant money which is available to the people who want to go out and get it. For both BioDiesel and
E85, which is apparently an awesome, awesome alternative to gasoline.
Anyone know a lot about the production and conversion process of existing diesel engines?
