Lindzon Wows MIT Enterprise Forum Group of Phoenix

It was fun and kind of surreal to listen to my friend and mentor, Howard Lindzon speak at the MIT Enterprise Forum at the Hilton Hotel in Scottsdale, and not just because he used the kind of colorful language on stage that would have been bleeped on public airwaves. I hadn’t seen How in awhile so I heard about some developments that wouldn’t be news to a regular Howard Twitter follower or reader of his blog. Apparently Inc. Magazine recently said his blog is a must read for entrepreneurs. (Sorry but I couldn’t pull up that quote online, please send me the link if you have it.) The other news – that Howard recently got to open the market and ring the bell for NASDAQ which he told me was a life long dream. I also heard that one of Howard’s many disciples, a guy named Cole, has help found DeedStreet.com, another Twitter application - for realtors. Now savvy agents will be able to instantly trade information on listings, buyers, and sellers. How smart is that?

So, Howard has already shared in his blog that he only got to about page 4 in his Powerpoint while addressing the group. (I think it was at least 12 pages; the MIT Enterprise Forum Group should be sharing the presentation in its entirety soon for anyone interested.) Instead of sticking to his slides, he got on tangents including an inspiring rant about how he has cold called many people, which has lead to a lot of big business for him including early investments from infamous local Life Lock to a lesser known but equally successful company called The Gripp.

He also shared some of the influencers he reads on a daily business making a good point that there’s so much out there on the Net, you definitely have to focus on your area of interest. He said the Internet is about filtering and discovery. His list includes:
Upside Trader
Fred Wilson
GigaOm
Seth Godin
Investors Business Daily
Brad Feld
Techmeme
Techcrunch

It’s always good to be reminded, as Howard said, that failure is part of the process. When I asked him during the Q&A what was his biggest mistake, he answered that he had been working with a partner in the nineties in his hedge fund. They were successful, and Howard said he had a big ego and in his own opinion was way too flamboyant, so his partner ultimately ended up stealing from him which was a very painful experience. Later at dinner we laughed as he recalled having to move out of that office and personally wheeling his leather desk chair across Camelback Road in the middle of the summer.

Howard also joked about his massive Twitter following. People get so mad at him for some of the things he writes, that they send emails to let him know that they are going to stop following him. He said, “I didn’t ask them to follow me!”

One of my favorite remarks of the evening?
How said, “I learned from Mark Pincus you can hate people and make a fortune on social networking.” This was after referring to Mark as a prick several times. Like my other favorite Howard (Stern), I can’t wait to see what he says next. Find out yourself by attending the upcoming Fourth Annual Entrepreneurship Conference November 12 at the Desert Willow Conference Center where Howard will be one of the main speakers.