This week, I heard Tim O'Reilly speak at the annual dinner for the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley (who's new president, my friend Doug Park, is planning a bunch of new programs that have finally gotten me to join, after 15 years back in the Bay Area).
The theme of the talk was "Alpha Geeks" and my takeaway is that there are people in the world who are so passionate about technology that they "create the future" right now…and that the opportunity for entrepreneurs is to help bring that future to the masses. Think Bill Gates and the Wright Brothers. These Alpha Geeks share many traits, including a can-do attitude, an idea that Tim wants to bring to government. Instead of setting up infrastructure and committees, how about getting out the wood, glue and paperclips and building it ourselves?
Much of my work is in helping companies establish infrastructure to make things operate smoothly and consistently over time. But the best companies have a bias to action, to trying things themselves and to making things happen. Infrastructure works best if it is designed after someone has proved that there is a need. Testing can be fast, messy and informal, not always, but more often than we think.
