This is my last weekend in Boulder before I head down to Adelaide. It's spring in Boulder, and one friend is running a marathon today while another is preparing to run the Boston Marathon in a week. (She ran the Paris Marathon last year).

When I get to Adelaide I'll be teaching the Innovate SA course on selecting and managing great teams and Advisory Boards (April 16), then doing an hour of coaching with each company in the class  (April 17 and 18).  On April 19 and 20 I will be in Sydney, speaking at several events and doing media interviews around ANZ Innovyz START.  I'll get home just about the time we close applications (midnight on the 20th). And then the fun begins - selecting our companies, informing them, doing the paperwork, organizing the press conference, and getting ready for the first day of the program (May 28). They say that life is a marathon, but at the moment I'm thinking it's going to be more like a sprint!  

We're excited by the quality of the companies who have applied thus far.  If this continues, we should have a strong group from which to select our ten companies.  But we've also been told that 80% of the applications come in during the last week. If this is true, then forget the marathon - we'll definitely be sprinting!

Speaking of sprinting, do you remember the movie, Chariots of Fire? Harold Abrahams has just lost his first race and says he'll never race again because, "I only run to win." The lovely Sybil responds, "But if you don't run, you can't win!" About then a man who later becomes his coach says he can help Abraham run faster.  And he does - Harold Abraham later wins the Olympics. Translated to our situation, that means you must apply to ANZ Innovyz START to get selected! And if you do, you'll have not one, but 40 amazing coaches who will get you ready for a different kind of Olympics - but one that will be just as meaningful!