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BetaKit Most Ambitious | Larry Smith: What I Learned

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Larry Smith was hired to teach the principles of economics. Feeling his students were missing something, Smith asked if he could add a class on entrepreneurship to the curriculum for one semester. Forty years later, Smith calculates that he has taught one out of every five of the school’s engineering students. His now legendary classes have informed generations of Canadian builders, many of whom cite him as an ongoing source of inspiration and insight. Michael Litt, the co-founder and CEO of Vidyard, said the perspective he gained in Smith’s class (class of ‘11) formed the spine of his entrepreneurial career. “It keeps me patient in downturns, bold in moments of inflection, and relentlessly focused on building the next curve,” he said. “Whenever the future feels messy, I imagine Larry saying: ‘Change is just time reorganizing value.’” Here, Smith reflects on the lessons he tried to impart, what makes Mike Lazaridis thoughtfully ambitious, and whether Canada can do audacious things. I t

BetaKit Most Ambitious Larry Smith University of Waterloo Larry Smith was hired to teach the principles of economics. Feeling his students were missing something, Smith asked if he could add a class on entrepreneurship to the curriculum for one semester. Forty years later, Smith calculates that he has taught one out of every five of the school’s engineering students. His now legendary classes have informed generations of Canadian builders, many of whom cite him as an ongoing source of inspiration and insight. Michael Litt, the co-founder and CEO of Vidyard, said the perspective he gained in Sm

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