TEDGlobal: 10 things I didn't expect to learn, and a question...

The first time I went to Rio was 35 years ago, as a na?ve student with no money . I had barely earned enough to pay for my ticket. But I was determined to explore new horizons in the short summer gap between school and university, and I wasn't worried because I literally had nothing to lose and everything to learn. I ended up with a group of similarly wide eyed explorers and it was an amazing awakening.

But what would Rio be like decades later, joining a brilliant group of people at TEDGlobal?

Well at least one measure of a great conference is that it endures well beyond the event itself. So as I find myself home finally the week after TEDGLobal, I'm still reflecting on some of the wonderful things I heard, people I met and conversations I enjoyed. And since TED is all about "ideas worth spreading", let me share just a few morsels from the exquisite banquet we feasted on:-

“To step away from the world isn’t to draw back; it’s actually a way to tune in.” – Pico Iyer, on stillness

"You need to find the right question. There is nothing worse than answering the wrong question well."- Alejandro Aravena

Thank you Alejandro, this was a great reminder that I used in my class this week at the Harvard Innovation Lab on Mastering Mentorship - see here

And the right question turned out to be a key thought as Glenn Greenwald discussed Privacy in the face of Mass Surveillance. Enter Andy Yen:

"How can we fix privacy, without rethinking our internet economic model? It cannot be ad-based where WE are the commodities!"

Andy, many people agree with you and it has become a huge inhibitor in cloud computing for example. See slides 57 and 58 here

"The bigger your dream, the easier it is to get people to go along with it" - Haas & Hahn.

I love to hear entrepreneurs dream and help them to balance vision with execution. So it was great to see how Haas & Hahn painted a street that runs through a Brazilian favela, in the style of a Japanese river.

For more see favelapainting.com. @favelapainting

Then when you think of converting slums into art it's easy to agree with this…

“Art can make people see the invisible superheroes of society, remake one's identity and transform preconceptions.” - Mundano, @TEDFellow and street artist.

Celebrating youth, we got to hear some great speakers at TEDUniversity including Bel Pesce:

“Your overnight success story is always a result of everything you’ve done in your life until that moment.” - @belpesce.

So true Bel! And on two dimensions imho. Both the importance of what you did in your life that positioned you uniquely to address an opportunity, and on the reality that most 'overnight successes' I've seen as an entrepreneur and investor are 7-10 years in the making. See 3 examples of what it takes to build a billion dollar business..

Another wonderful thing about TED is the stories beyond success, of great causes. Bel's thought was just as relevant a precursor to a man who has dedicated his life to saving Antartica.

“Antarctica is a moral line in the snow. We have a chance to leave one place alone.” - Robert Swan, explorer, since aged 7.

This was appropriately followed by:

"We humans have extraordinary potential for goodness, but also immense power to do harm." @MatthieuRicard, sometimes called the "happiest man in the world".

The quote is just a teaser for his talk, which simply has to be heard here. In my world as a VC, I reflect on this often. How do we enable and empower innovators and entrepreneurs rather than disable and distract them from their raw potential?

Moonlight fishing under the shadow of Sugarloaf

Ricardo Semler brought it home for me with this thought:

"If you are giving back, you took too much." as he discussed wealth and charity.

I have spent my life as an entrepreneur focused on building and as an investor on returning value, yet only in the last few years turned to teaching to give back. I clearly still have so much to learn!

And that's where TED is much more than the incredible talks, its a bumper car adventure in a culturally eclectic mix of equally curious minded attendees. And as people and ideas collide it sparks thinking and best of all for me, asks new questions to test our assumptions.

Full Circle? Student to Entrepreneur to Investor to Teacher to Divestor...

So Rio, Brazil and TEDGlobal didn't disappoint. But not for the reasons I expected. I arrived feeling more experienced than I had as student 35 years earlier, and left questioning what I needed to divest in order to return to that studious state of mind; to make room for new connections, adventures, learning and experiences ahead.

May we all find time and make space to stay open and curious. With thanks to all those I met for a surprising and inspiring week!

Moonset and Sunrise over Copacabana and the TEDGlobal stage

Oh and by the way, if you're counting, that was actually 9 things. The 10th was that thanks to Bruno Giussani, I learned what a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse was, and got up at some crazy hour to photograph it. See above and below. And for an explanation of the phenomenon and more Rio photographs, see here.

Moonlight on the Statue of Christ the Redeemer

In the spirit of TED, please share your ideas worth spreading in the comments below...

At Underscore VC, Michael and his team partner with daring entrepreneurs to invest in founders and build from inception to market leaders. As a former entrepreneur turned VC, Michael has backed and built teams that have created billions of dollars of value focusing on large, market-changing technologies such as Cloud Computing, IoT and Big Data as well as disruptive business models such as Open Source and SaaS. Current representative investments include Acquia, Cazena, Demandware (NYSE:DWRE), Mautic and Salsify.

Follow Michael on LinkedIn, Twitter @mjskok, his website, and in his Harvard Innovation Lab class, Startup Secrets. Follow Underscore VC on the web and Twitter @UnderscoreVC.

Cover Photo: ? Michael Skok.