10 questions with Pronetos

Now that we are within the 24 hour window for TechLaunch, we figure its time to introduce you to Pronetos, one of the three presenting companies from this region. In a previous post, you met Jason and U2ML. Here is your chance to meet Chris and the Pronetos group. In his own words….

Pronetos, Inc. is the first venture launched by Chris Blanchard and his partners in LGM, LLC. Proentos is an on-line community for scholars and publisher of scholarly works.

Chris and Co-Founder Shane Carlson conceived of the idea for Pronetos after Chris published a paper in an academic journal and was frustrated with the slow process of peer review, and the minor distribution the paper received in print. They knew the process could be improved using the web, but in 2003 the web had not yet become a major collaborative tool. Indeed, the plans for Pronetos preceded the launch of MySpace. Once Chris and Shane saw that social networking communities were becoming ubiquitous, they set to work on the site.

The founders expect that Pronetos will be live later this week.

What is the best business lesson you?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ve learned?

Cover the downside and the upside will take care of itself. Lesson from Donald Trump?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s first book, the ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚ÄúArt of the Deal.?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù Seems to make perfect sense. It?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s a great little lesson that encourages people to take calculated risks ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì something we don?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t see enough of in the Treasure Valley, I think.

Where do you see the future of tech in Boise in 5 years?

My crystal ball is a little hazy, but I think it is safe to say that there are going to be major changes. Micron will almost certainly be gone, in my opinion. There just is no reason to have a semiconductor operation that is anything but a design shop ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì there are cheap contract foundries all over Asia ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì there?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s no reason to have this massive investment in plant, property, equipment and employees.

There will probably also be major changes at the engineering school at BSU. In my mind, this whole economy is going to have to become a software based economy, not a hardware focused economy as it is now. That is what I hope the local tech market looks like in 5 years anyway.

What new technology has you most excited about the future of tech?

What excites me most about technology today is that it isn?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t about technology at all ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì it?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s about people. The faster that people understand that the better. It?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s great that the engineers at U of I and BSU are smart enough to build better mousetraps, but the reality is that users innovate to a greater extent than scientists in labs. What happened to PARC? The Palo Alto Research Center. What happened to Bell Labs? For that matter, I?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢m not real fired up about Micron?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s 1000 patents a year, because those patents don?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t create jobs, they create lawsuits. They aren?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t innovations, they are inventions. Big difference.

Back on the topic ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì look at the big technology innovations today ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì Flickr, MySpace, Craig?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s List, iTunes, Blogger ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì these are billion dollar companies, and they?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢re not about technology ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì they are about people. They weren?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t cooked up in labs, they were cooked up by people that wanted to connect with other people. So technology itself doesn?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t impress me ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì how people USE technology impresses me. That said, I think we need to look way deeper in the economy and way deeper in our educational institutions to find the best ideas out there, because truly few of them are going to be designed within a Fortune 100 shop or lab or an engineering school.

What is Boise missing in the tech landscape?

Wow. That is an easy one: SOFTWARE. We don?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t do software here, much to the chagrin of great companies like Health Wise and ProClarity. I am sure that parting the Red Sea was easier than finding a developer to build the Pronetos web site. We talked to lots of developers in town that just kind of looked at us with blank stares when we described what we wanted to do, which really was pretty simple. My plea to software guys out there is this: when you get off of work at wherever it is that you work, go home and work on your own product. Please! We need software skills so badly in this town. I am pretty sure that Rich Breton is the only Ruby developer in town, and that is the biggest thing since sliced bread. If we don?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t get on that kind of stuff, we?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢re going to miss the ability to capitalize on great social ideas like Flickr, and all those other companies I named a bit ago.

What should Boise do to encourage/foster growth in the tech sector?

If you are a tech guy in this town you get this question a lot. I?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ve probably talked about most of the big things, but really what needs to happen is that Boise ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì the City, it?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s leaders in government and non-profits, business, schools ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì everyone ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì needs to build a culture of entrepreneurship.

Right now Boise is a lifestyle economy. That has gotten us this far. HP is here because Ray Smelek liked the lifestyle ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì not because there was a great tech economy here, or because there were great employees and educational institutions, etc. So everyone basically moved to Boise because the cost of living was cheap, and you could fish at lunch time if you worked downtown. We need to move beyond that.

What economies have typically done is engaged in a ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚Äúrace to the bottom?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù in the effort to attract new companies. We?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ve played that game big time. There was the notorious ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚ÄúAlbertson?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s Bill?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù that Kempthorne wrote to keep Albertson?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s here, and there was Dolores Crow?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s silly capping of Micron?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s property value to give them a tax break. The problem with this strategy is that companies play the states off of each other ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì the race to the bottom. Micron comes to Idaho and says, ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚Äúhey, well, Utah is giving us this, and Virginia is giving us this, what are you going to do for us??ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù So we all throw tax dollars at the problem and no real economic development really occurs. What we need to do is create a ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚Äúrace to the top.?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù

Let?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s agree that we are going to add entrepreneurship as a component to everything we do in the schools. That would be revolutionary ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì no one else is doing that. Let?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s have kindergartners running lemonade stands at school ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì I don?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t know ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì but entrepreneurship should be a component of everything we teach in school. Let?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s race the other states to the top of the entrepreneurship heap.

And can?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t we agree that we can be better than Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, and Montana? Let?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s be the best of that bunch, and then start gong after the other states. Let?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s race to the top on education and infrastructure spending. Our state is SO underdeveloped ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì ITD and ACHD are badly underfunded. The Supreme Court had to order the legislature to maintain schools. This is ridiculous! Let?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s race our neighbors to the top on entrepreneurship, education, and infrastructure. Our airport is a GREAT example of what I am talking about. One of the best airports in the country, and one significant reason for that is free Wi-Fi. If you are a tech guy and have traveled, you know what I mean.

What?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s your biggest failure/mistake as an entrepreneur/business leader?

Pronetos is really my first venture, so we?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ve made every mistake in the book ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì but who cares? That?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s not a reason to NOT innovate and become an entrepreneur. We?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ve always operated under the Trump mantra ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì when we make a decision we ask if the downside is protected ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì if it is, then we roll. Does it end up that sometimes a better option may have been available? Yep. But as long as your mistakes don?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢t cost you the ranch, and you learn from them, then failure and mistakes are essential to the process. At least the first time!

What RSS feeds/blogs are you subscribed to?

Oh my goodness ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì tons. I of course read the great local ones ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì Tech Boise, New Comm Biz, and the Idaho Business Review. Then there are some discipline specific things like Peter Suber?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s Blog, Andrew McAfee?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s Blog out of Harvard B-School, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

As far as blogs and feeds that I think are great for anyone to read ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì I read Guy Kawasaki?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s blog, Seth Godin?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s, and Ben McConnell?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s. I also read John Cook?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s column in the Seattle P-I ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì he does a great job of covering the VC market and new technology companies in Seattle. It is always interesting and a bit frustrating to see what is going on in Seattle. Every day you pick up the paper and some former Microsoft guy has a new start up and $15 million in VC money in his pocket. I wish that was happening here with Micron and HP!

Who is your mentor?

Man that is a toughie. I?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢m not a Hillary Clinton fan, but as far as mentors go, I guess I subscribe to the ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚ÄúIt Takes a Village?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù theory! I credit so many people with my success. My parents have been fantastic my whole life. I also had an incredible experience as a student at BSU, and guys like Dan Huff, Todd Shallat and Larry Reynolds, were always big believers in me. So that?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s probably my list of mentors that have really impacted me for the long haul.

What book(s) are you reading?

I just finished up ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚ÄúWikinomics?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù which I think is essential reading if you plan to be a part of the 21st Century economy. It?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s funny, I say that but as I read the book, I?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢m saying to myself ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚Äúthis is what Shane (the Pronetos Co-Founder) and I have been talking about for 4 years!?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù Still when we came up with Pronetos, it was before there was such a thing as MySpace, and the real potential for mass collaboration. But if you are not up on the new Wiki economy, you need to read this book.

I read ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚ÄúThe Long Tail?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù recently, and I have a stack of Seth Godin books on my desk.

The one I am in the middle of now is ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ö‚ÄúFounders at Work: Stories of Startups?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ Early Days.?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?Ǭù Super cool book ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì the VC author went out and interviewed everyone under the sun ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì the founders of Apple, Hotmail, Yahoo!, PayPal ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì you name it they are in the book.

What?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s your passion?

From a business perspective, I just dig new ideas. Pronetos was really the first idea that the founders of that firm had. We?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ve come up with a few more and are working on those too. We?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢ve put together a holding company (LGM, LLC) so that we can exist in perpetuity after the Pronetos exit. I want to continue innovating and creating new ventures until my last breath! Serial entrepreneurship, you know ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì

Outside of the business world, I am an experiential type. I wanna see everything, go everywhere, taste all the food and wine that the world can cook up, have a drink in a bar in Mogadishu, have a pet cheetah, ice skate on a glacier ?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Ǩ?ì and do it all with people that I like and love. That?ɬ¢?¢‚Äö¬¨?¢‚Äû¬¢s living.

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