Joe Andrieu: Carpe Diem or Caveat Emptor?

I’m off to UCLA to hear a lecture for my CS239 class. Here’s the abstract:

For the prepared and alert entrepreneur, “Opportunity knocks far more than once.” Indeed, as the subtitle implies, the challenge is to erecognize the right opportunity and then stay focused on it. Many factors can lure one into taking the wrong direction or scuttle seizing the right opportunity when it arises. Strong emotional attachments to effort already expended and the associated dream of the end game can be seductive, substituting wishful thinking for sober analysis. Pressure from investors anxious to cash out or founders coveting the image of an IPO may overcome a less sexy but correct private sale alternative. Distinguishing reality from subtly masked fantasy may well be the keystone of leadership talent. Having been through multiple ventures during the last 10 years, today’s speaker will illuminate the desiderata and pitfalls attendant to deciding when to act and which course to take among competing alternatives.

Sounds like a cool lecture. Tomorrow, I’m going to the CS201 talk entitled The First Ten Years on the Web: A Personal Perspective by Udi Manber, Chief Scientist, Amazon.com.