BrownHEN / BrownHEN.org

Interview with Sheeraz Haji, President of Convio, Inc.

BrownHEN interviewed Sheeraz Haji, Brown '94, President of Convio, Inc., Austin, TX – Offices in Berkely, CA and Washington, D.C.

1.  Sheeraz, you have done many interesting things in your career. Do you believe a new college graduate should plan out the succession of jobs to be sought or do you recommend that s/he simply be open to new opportunities?

I believe new grads should stay open to opportunities as they arise. When you are fresh out of school, it can be difficult for an individual to recognize his or her shortcomings. My advice is to seek out individuals who motivate you, and from whom you can learn. Avoid pigeon-holing yourself into a certain profession simply because you think it’s where you belong. Keep an open mind and explore new opportunities as they present themselves. It may take a while to find the ideal one, but it can be worth the wait. I speak from experience—I studied civil environmental engineering at Brown and ended up in an exciting career in software.

2.  What is GetActive and how did you start this software-as-a-service company for nonprofits?

GetActive provided software to help nonprofits raise money and run advocacy and marketing campaigns. While I was working at Digital Impact—a provider of online direct marketing solutions for enterprises—I noticed that nonprofits weren't taking full advantage of the internet to interact with their constituents. I had the good fortune to connect with a number of talented technologists who were struggling with the same issues from within a nonprofit (Environmental Defense Fund). To address this gap in the market, we co-founded GetActive in 2002.

3. Please share with us the analysis process you went through in deciding to merge GetActive with Convio.

At GetActive, we took pride in looking after our clients and focusing on their long-term interests; we also wanted to be forward thinking in terms of the company’s strategy. We were committed to delivering as much value as we could to our clients, so we decided to marry what we were best at—advocacy and content management—with what Convio is best at—fundraising.

4. You began your career as an engineer for a medium-sized company. You then worked with a respected consulting firm before co-founding a startup. Would you share a bit more about your background and compare the learning experiences at these respective companies?

I started out working for an environmental engineering company because I was, and still am, passionate about the environment. I wanted to solve environmental problems. When I was at the engineering firm, I realized I also needed business skills to complement my engineering skills. I was advised that McKinsey would be a good place to learn about business, so I contacted them, participated in a rigorous interview process, and was offered a position. McKinsey provided lots of resources and useful training; their consultants know how to solve business problems. My time at McKinsey was a fabulous learning opportunity and provided me with great exposure to how large companies operate.

At McKinsey everything was very structured, whereas in a startup environment like GetActive, I was required to wear different hats: operations, strategy, marketing, to name a few. GetActive offered plenty of opportunities for development and growth. I quickly learned that startups were a perfect fit for me. I also discovered that I was more effective in a startup because of the time I had spent in established companies.

5.  Much software creation is being outsourced to Asia these days. Do you see opportunities for entrepreneurs in managing outsourcing?

Yes, I do, but it is not as easy as people once thought it was. In some ways, outsourcing to Asia has come full circle, and we are now seeing a rise in outsourcing to Eastern Europe and Africa. While it may be cheaper to outsource, there is no shortage of communication and operational challenges in trying to coordinate a development team that’s on the other side of the world.  Unquestionably, the opportunities exist, but so do the headaches that accompany them.

6.  Are you presently involved with a not-for-profit organization working for social good? If you are, describe the organization and why you are involved.

Yes, I am. The organization, Direct Change, builds grassroots financial support for community-based African projects that are directly helping children. I am involved for a number of reasons. First, I know the founder (Ken Deutsch) and think the world of him. Second, Africa needs our help; and third, Direct Change focuses on children’s health and community building, both of which I believe are critical to long-term change in Africa.

7. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

• Passion - it should be evident to everyone you interact with.
• Positive attitude – an optimist’s perspective, especially when everyone tells your venture is not going to work out.
• Leadership – the ability to convince people to follow you when you have no cash, no product, and no clients.
• Ability to notice trends that are not well understood.
• Strong work ethic.

8. And how does one learn to spot trends?

For me, I learn by talking to clients and spending time to understand their needs and how those are changing. Talking to industry experts can be helpful, but the analysts don’t always understand what customers really want—in the short and long term. If I spend a day with customers, I always come away with a better appreciation for their needs, what’s working and what’s not working.

9. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment?

For me, definitely a motivation. There were times during GetActive's early days when I was concerned about running out of cash and not making payroll. When you hire people to work on your team, you feel responsible for them and you want to make sure you take care of them. The fear of disappointing colleagues and clients was highly motivating!

10. What advice do you have for entrepreneurs who possess some of the qualities you mentioned above, yet at times get stuck because they haven’t been able to figure out how to adjust their product line, meet their revenue goals, etc.?

My advice is to think big and dream big. Envision your success and then understand what you need to accomplish in the short term to make progress towards your goals. Work hard until your dream becomes a reality.

11. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

Events happen. It’s up to us to decide how we interpret them. For example, if a large enterprise decides to compete with your company, you probably had no control over that. You could interpret this as a negative event, stress out and worry about potential revenue loss. Or you could focus your team's time and energy on finding a creative way to make this development work to your company’s advantage.

12. So the outcome depends on how you choose to respond and on your decision to focus on the positive.

Exactly!

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Copyright 2007 – BrownHEN.org

Interview with Chad Billmyer, Director, Nelnet, Inc.

BrownHEN interviewed Chad Billmyer, Brown '01, Director of Peterson’s High School Solutions, Nelnet, Inc., Lincoln, NE

1. Chad, your startup Foresite Solutions has merged with a much larger organization, Nelnet. Do you feel you can still be entrepreneurial in the context of a larger organization, and if so, how?

Absolutely. Part of the attraction to Nelnet—the company that acquired our startup—was their entrepreneurial culture. In fact, we were merged into a division that has a charge to develop new products and businesses. Not all companies embrace entrepreneurial spirit or have the risk tolerance to innovate from within as Nelnet does. For every business opportunity, we analyze whether to build, buy, or align. I have had ample opportunities to pitch new business from within the walls of our new parent company.

2. What advice would you like to share with aspiring entrepreneurs?

You will need partners to support you. Daily obligations and needs grow quickly. A good set of partners can balance the enviable tensions that exist in every decision that the start-up will need to make. For some decisions, emotional influences may lead to a non-optimal decision. A good partner can offer objective decision-making when one partner gets too emotionally invested in a particular decision.

You should also sign a founders’ agreement early. From the first date of inception, each day that passes the company will inevitably get more and more successful and more dollars will be involved. With each day that passes, it will become harder and harder to agree to and sign a founders’ agreement. A simple founders’ agreement can cover basics such as whether inventions belong to the company and when and how a founder may exit the company. The agreement can always be amended, but far too often, the absence of an agreement does more harm than good.

3. When you were at Brown you were a leader in campus activities. How did that experience relate to your entrepreneurial success? Do you recommend people wishing to be entrepreneurs be active on campus?

I highly recommend active campus activity involvement for prospective entrepreneurs. I would argue that there isn’t a class at Brown that can teach you how to get the people around you to perform at their highest potential. In many ways, this is what leadership is about: setting up your peers for success. Leadership skills grow from experience, and a campus activity—the Brown Daily Herald in my case—is a great laboratory to develop leadership skills that will be critical for the business to succeed.

4. What areas of software look promising for entrepreneurial ventures now?

I like to read the blog techcrunch.com on a daily basis to track some of the newest and most innovative Web-based software ventures. I am often inspired by start-ups I read about and try to find ways to apply bits and pieces of their business models to a business issue I might be working on. I also get a daily Venturewire.com e-mail each morning to track what is getting funded.

5. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

I can’t help but reference a few of the qualities found in a great document on this topic authored by Fred Beste at Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds. The document is titled, “The Twelve (Almost) Sure-Fire Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success.” Fred includes qualities like: “they have a sound knowledge of their marketplace, they’ve got fire in their bellies, they hire smart, and they have a sound knowledge of the financial dynamic of their companies.” I’ll add one of my own: they know when not to reinvent the wheel. 

6. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

In general I see fear as more of a hindrance than a motivator with one exception. I sometimes find that I am motivated by the fear of failure. I am not coming up with an example of how fear has played a factor in my path. I presume that means that fear doesn’t play a major motivating or hindering role for me.

7. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

A recent boss would often say, “I see it as my role to set you up for success.” To date I have led a few teams of a decent size. I find this motto to be a wonderfully concise way to describe how to make choices as a people leader. 

8. What are the biggest differences between life on the East Coast and the West coast?

I grew up and obviously went to Brown on the east coast. I moved to the west coast three years ago. In a business sense, it feels like the west coast business day is shifted forward. It starts later and ends later. This doesn’t apply to me since I work with many people on the east coast and often join calls at 6 or 7 AM. Life runs a few beats more slowly on the west coast than the east coast. People walk a few beats more slowly and have a slightly less urgent sense about life.    

9. Do you still drive a Hybrid?  Is it the same one?

Yes, I still drive a hybrid car. Back in 2001, I was the first person I knew with a hybrid. It was a two-seater Honda Insight. I now drive a Honda Civic Hybrid. I found I needed a back seat on occasion. I bought the hybrid more for the engineering than for the environment, not that there’s anything wrong with lower CO2 emissions.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Paul Choquette, Jr., Chairman & CEO of Gilbane, Inc.

BrownHEN interviewed Paul Choquette, Jr., Brown ’60, Chairman & CEO of Gilbane, Inc., Providence, RI

1. How can the General Manager of a large company like Gilbane Building encourage staff members to act entrepreneurially?

We have a decentralized structure with business units spread across the country. Our offices are relatively autonomous and of a size to produce new approaches to our customers. Best practices are then shared through peer groups throughout the company. We are a flat organization.

2. Gilbane Building is a star in the Rhode Island economy. Why has the company been so successful?

We are now a truly national company but have never forgotten our fundamental commitment to customer satisfaction. We are also committed to growth and continuously try to re-invent ourselves, essential for a company that goes back to 1873.

3. Several managers have left Gilbane to start their own construction firms. From your point of view, what responsibility does an employee have to her or his employer in terms of length of service?

We work hard to keep our managers and in the last ten years have not lost any key players. It is management’s responsibility to provide the career paths and other progressive employee approaches, for our industry has significant turnover.

4. Please discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working for a family-owned company, from the perspective of a non-family member.

In our view, advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Our people know we are committed to the long-term success of the company and our Core Values will not change. We do not offer stock options but have compensation programs that offer attractive alternatives.

5. You are noted for the contributions you have made to the Rhode Island community. How do you answer people who question the time and effort you make in service activities?

We have always given back to the communities where we work; it is good business and good for our employees. We have big challenges in this country and we want to make our contribution toward these challenges.

6. Brown athletic teams have done very well competing against schools with higher endowments. Do you see things that can be done to continue and augment that success?

There is no question, wealthier schools have better facilities and we need to improve ours. But there is a spirit at Brown that excellent coaches have and will capture. Coaching that includes recruiting is the key.

7. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to a business leader?

• Decisiveness
• A listener
• Good at judging talent
• Work ethic
• Balancing work/life

8. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

I don’t see fear as a motivator. I am a positive person and always seek a way to the goal line working with others.

9. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

You need to learn from them and don’t become decision shy as a result. All the great business leaders have made mistakes / encountered failures but rarely repeat them.

10. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

Balance in all three is key. We try to create a work environment where fun is part of the equation and family successes are shared as business successes.

11. Most male Rhode Islanders seem to have spent at lest a week at Camp Yawgoo. Would you like to share a memory of your experiences there?

It is one of the most outstanding Boy Scout Camps in the country, fitted with all of the outdoor experiences and adventures you would expect. I spent all summer there for six years, ending up on the staff.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Mark Fitzgerald, Co-Founder of Cool Foods, Inc.

BrownHEN interviewed Mark Fitzgerald, Brown '02, Co-Founder of Cool Foods, Inc., Scarborough, New York

1. Mark, please describe how you founded Cool Beans.

The founding of Cool Beans was really a happy accident. Our story is completely true! Our family was snowed in with limited rations, so I threw some cannellini beans and olive oil in the food processor. In so doing, I had unwittingly created the prototype for Cool Beans. Everyone in the family loved the dip, and we started serving it whenever we had company. It was my girlfriend at the time (now fiancée) who said we should bottle and sell it. My brother and I took her quite literally, and the rest is history.

2. What regulatory issues needed to be sorted out because you are in the food business?

Of course, you must be mindful of the FDA. It’s important to understand, however, that the FDA is not a policing body. It is incumbent upon the food producer to do his/her research and know what the labeling and processing requirements are for his product. The FDA usually only scrutinizes a product if a competitor brings it to the FDA’s attention. You will only arouse the attention of a competitor once you achieve a significant sales volume, say around $1 million annually.

3. Please tell us a bit more about Cool Beans.

Cool Beans is an “acidified food”, meaning that it is a low acid food (beans) to which an acid (lemon juice) has been added in order to achieve shelf stability. Acidified foods must be produced at a licenced acidified foods facility and must be registered with the FDA. Acidified foods must also be sanctioned by a “process authority”, such as Cornell University, through a “scheduled process”. Cool Beans is contracted manufactured, or “copacked”, which means that we contract a manufacturing facility to produce Cool Beans according to our specifications. The copacker must also conform to all the relevant regulatory bodies. Our product is also kosher, a distinction which obviously has its own requirements. We work with the rabbi who routinely services our copacker. Our product is not organic, but if it were, there would be another set of requirements for us to follow.

3. Please discuss your marketing strategy. Do you find it more fruitful (excuse the expression) to market to ultimate consumers or to retailers?

We must market to both retailers and the ultimate consumer, but with different strategies. The most important factor for the retailer is pricing. We try to offer the retailer an attractive price that will allow him to make his margin and keep his consumer happy. We also assure the retailer that we will effectively sell our product for the retailer through product demonstrations, promotions, PR, advertising, etc.
When marketing to the ultimate consumer, we try to position ourselves as a small, charming alternative to the major players. We can’t compete on price because of our size, so one way we compete is by offering a superior brand experience. Consumers enjoy hearing our story and knowing that Cool Beans is a product made by two young brothers. We disseminate our story through such inexpensive or free avenues as newspaper articles, our Web site, shelf talkers, product demos, and various online outlets such as MySpace and Facebook. Word-of-mouth is probably our most powerful marketing tool.

We also feel that we offer a high-quality product that offers consumers what they are looking for in food these days: the convergence of health, convenience, and taste. Cool Beans is ready to use in a variety of ways right out of the jar. It is made with natural ingredients and contains no saturated fat, trans fat, or cholesterol. It as also vegan, kosher, allergen-free, and gluten-free. Most important, it tastes great! Cool beans is delicious and creamy, which makes it a wonderful alternative to less healthy products such as mayonnaise, butter, and sour cream.

4. Do use wholesalers at all? If you don't at present, do you think you ever will?

We do not work with wholesale at present simply because we can’t afford to. We need to reduce our costs so we can sell through a distributor while maintaining a stable, reasonable price in the market. We will absolutely sell through distributors in the future. Packaged food is a volume business, and we can’t achieve the necessary volume by selling door-to-door. We need the infrastructure and leverage of large distributors.

5. How do you decide the various flavors?

We arrived at the three flavors largely through our own intuition and informal testing with family and friends. We were trying to capture a range of flavors, from sweet to spicy. So far, I think we have chosen wisely as the three flavors have sold fairly evenly. There’s really something for everyone.

6. How did you find a packer? How closely did you have to work with the packer?

We found a packer by reading the label of a barbecue sauce! We then submitted this packer to a GMP audit through an independent food laboratory. This lab determined that the facility had good manufacturing practices and was compatible with our product. We did look at other packers before settling on the one we use. Our food lab recommended some packers, and we also found a few through the Internet. The Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship at Cornell is a very useful resource. We work extremely closely with our packer. In fact we are always present at the production of our product, and we frequently speak with our packer about improving our process, finding better ingredients, procuring better ingredients. One of the advantages to working with a copacker when you are small is leveraging the copacker’s buying power.

7. Do you get much feedback from users? Is it helpful?

People certainly don’t hold back! Yes, we get a tremendous amount of feedback from consumers at the various demos and festivals that we do. Consumer feedback is invaluable to us since we can’t afford the market research and sensory testing that the major players can. We continually strive to make improvements to our product based on prevailing trends in consumer feedback. My advice is that you should throw out the anomalies, but take the trends very seriously. If people keep saying that your product is too this or too that, you should listen and make adjustments.

8. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

• Perseverance
• Naiveté
• Adaptability
• Vision
• Energy

9. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

Fear is a huge motivation! I am constantly afraid that we will not effectively communicate our idea to a broad audience. I believe that Cool Beans is an excellent product, and I would love to see it in everyone’s pantry. I am afraid that the big companies will beat us, or that our inexperience or lack of funds will catch up to us. I am also afraid to fail and be in the difficult position of having to start again. I don’t want to be passed by peers who took safer routes. I am also afraid of working for someone else in a job I hate. All of this motivates me to work harder.

10. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

Every misstep is actually a step towards better execution and a better product. How else are you going to learn? How else are you going to improve? You simply won’t get everything perfect right out of the gate, so you had better be prepared to make adjustments.

11. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

If you own your own business, you will work harder than ever before, but it won’t feel like work.
The downside about running your own business is that your life can become very unbalanced. It’s important to make time for other interests. You will actually work better and have fresher ideas if you step away from your work from time to time.

12. Who are the three individuals who have influenced your development significantly?

Oh, this is a tough one. There are famous entrepreneurs, athletes, and artists that I admire and seek to emulate, but it’s the people closest to me who have influenced me the most. Can I pick five instead of three?

My parents have created an environment in which we have freedom but also responsibility (kind of like Brown!). My brothers and I were always allowed to choose our own path. We could do anything. We just had to work hard and conduct ourselves in an ethical fashion. We had to figure out how to do whatever it was that we wanted to do. After college, I wanted to try fasion modeling. My parents gave me their blessing, but I had to figure our how to get it done. It was a valuable lesson in becoming an entrepreneur.

My fiancée, Morgan, has a very entrepreneurial spirit and is constantly coming up with great ideas. She always encourages me to do more and believes that anything is possible. For Morgan, where there’s a will, there’s a way. She’s also the hardest worker I know, so when I’m feeling lazy, I think of how hard she works.

My brother and business partner, Matt, truly makes our business go. He’s the logistics man. Our business would collapse without him. That’s the truth. He’s taught me to be a more disciplined and efficient worker. He holds us to a very high standard and sets aggressive goals for our business.

My older brother, Sean, taught me the single most important lesson for the entrepreneur: never give up. He was a salesman, and he always got off the mat and kept hammering away. I think of him on every sales call.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Randy Komisar, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

BrownHEN interviewed Randy Komisar, Brown '76, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Portola Valley, CA.

1. Randy, what is the biggest difference between being a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and working at a startup? What do you miss most about having operational responsibilities?

The great thing about being a partner at Kleiner Perkins is that I am surrounded by a tremendous amount of talent—my fellow partners, the founders and CEOs of our many ventures, the impressive management teams with whom I am privileged to work, as well as the many experts who work with our firm and make us smarter.

What I miss is the single-minded dedication to one team’s mission; the daily camaraderie amongst entrepreneurial team members who work together in the trenches, and the success of the team’s vision and passion, which serve to tie the individuals together.

2. How did an Economics concentrator at Brown and a law graduate from Harvard gain the technological background you obviously have? What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs about learning pertinent technology?

The Brown Curriculum allowed me to branch out and acquire a passable competency as a technologist. Brown’s freewheeling academic environment enabled me to take classes in computer science, biology, engineering, mathematics, and other technical and science-oriented courses that I would not have taken if I were merely focused on acquiring the highest GPA. I was able to broaden my knowledge base and education.

My advice for entrepreneurs would be to obtain a generalist background first. Many universities focus on a very narrow, restrictive curriculum. Brown is an exception; Brown focuses on and excels in undergraduate liberal arts education. At Brown, I discovered how to engage my curiosity and how to learn. The methods and processes I learned at Brown have served me well, including in my current role. Every day I go out and learn something completely new and I tap into expertise from various fields to augment my own understanding.

3. What advice do you have for entrepreneurs writing business plans to secure funding?

In a startup environment based upon taking an innovative leap of faith, all experience will be secondary and tertiary, deduced from markets and the experience of other companies. By definition, you do not have sufficient first-hand experience with the leap of faith to develop a foolproof operating plan. But you do need to put something together in order to aim the venture and to gather the money and talent you will need for the journey.

The notion of a business plan for a startup is necessary but not sufficient. The business plan needs to demonstrate to the investors and team that the founders understand the nature of the challenge they are undertaking. But the team will have to refine and of course correct along the way as assumptions based upon secondary information are tested against primary data from the marketplace.

4. When you are evaluating a particular investment what role does the social contribution, for example, to the environment or to economic justice, play?

It does play a large role, but interestingly, it is not necessarily altruistic, because our role is to create commercial value. We do ask the question, “How will this company provide significant value for others?” If you look at our firm and its investments, whether it’s Genentech, Sun, Netscape, Google or Amazon; all these companies created significant social value that lead to their creation of impressive financial value.

This significant value can be utilitarian: with Google one can find anything at anytime; with Amazon one can shop and buy anything at one’s convenience; with Netscape, one could browse something called the internet and explore an entirely new digital world. These companies did not just create social value; they revolutionized our society.

A few years ago, appreciating the threat of pandemics in a global society, we raised a fund and brought in experts to focus on investing in innovations that promise to detect, treat and prevent pandemics. Aligning our economic interests with a huge public threat is good business.

We currently have a strong investment thesis related to the environment; half of our investments focus on companies that are in the green tech—clean teach area. Al Gore just joined us as a partner to help accelerate our global efforts in this regard. Addressing a big problem, like global warming, by definition provides the prospects of creating great value for all the various constituencies.

5. Can New England, Providence in particular, hope to become an entrepreneurial center similar to Silicon Valley? What is needed?

To create an entrepreneurial center like Silicon Valley, Rhode Island needs to develop a cluster of people with relevant domain know how and a culture that reinforces entrepreneurship. Boston already has a robust entrepreneurial center.

I’ve spent time in Japan, India, Taiwan, Chile, and other entrepreneurial hot spots around the world. The question is always asked, “Why is one location more successful than another?”

What I have noted to be particularly unique about Silicon Valley is the following combination of factors: a highly educated group of entrepreneurs and scientists, a great university, and a robust business infrastructure that supports startup ventures, including attractive working and living environments, a lot of available risk capital, and access to quality legal, consulting and financial services.

But Silicon Valley is more than just a combination of its parts. Its entrepreneurial culture has taken more than 80 years to develop. Silicon Valley attracts certain personalities, which are reinforced over time. What people don’t quite grasp is that the culture is very dynamic and it is reflected at every level. People who decided to come and stay invest themselves in the local entrepreneurial culture.

The secret ingredient is how a place like Silicon Valley deals with, “failure.”
Silicon Valley doesn’t punish or brand those who fail. If you have acquired experience and you are passionate about your mission, you are given other opportunities. Silicon Valley recycles and reinvests in the entrepreneurial spirit, something that most other business cultures do not do. Successful people also reinvest in innovation; they want to be a part of the next big thing; they want to help mentor, guide and support aspiring entrepreneurs. This reinvestment is probably the most significant reason Silicon Valley is so prolific in terms of innovations.

6. How can subjects like leadership and entrepreneurship, which seem to be based on personal attributes, be taught?

I have been teaching entrepreneurship at Stanford for seven years now. Great leaders and entrepreneurs are determined by an individual’s experience and, more important, character. What a teacher or mentor can do is reinforce aspects that are aligned with leadership qualities and provide insights and tools to leaders-in training.

In business, leaders are too often judged by the immediate results posted by their companies. Over a short term, a lot of people appear to be good leaders. Great leaders should be evaluated over a longer period of time on their sustainable successes.

7. What are the top qualities you would ascribe to a leader, an entrepreneur?

• Integrity
• Intellectual honesty
• Empathy
• Good self-knowledge — who you are and what you care about
• Passion and complete absorption in one’s mission
• Perseverance

8. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

I believe fear is a negative emotion and do not find it useful. A lot of people think that if you are paranoid, it keeps you vigilant. But I do not find it beneficial to indulge in fear or to act out of fear.

9. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

Failure is not personal if you acted with integrity and have given it your best shot. In Silicon Valley, the only real failures are the people who have fallen short because they were lazy, stupid or corrupt. The inability to achieve results does not make you a failure; it can ultimately lead to positive experience that can result in success.

Most leaders with great successes have had moments of personal doubt, and have endured failures along the way.

10. Do you have a mentor who has helped you in career path / personal development?

I have many mentors. The most significant one is Bill Campbell. I worked with Bill at Claris and Go Corporation in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. We met at Apple more than 20 years ago. He is a terrific mentor. I also learn from my colleagues and associates as well as the many young entrepreneurs I work with.

Most important is that a mentor invests in your success, reinforces your abilities to succeed, extends himself/herself to you, and helps provide what you need for your own personal success, however you define that. While a teacher gives you tools to achieve an existing definition of success, a mentor helps make you a better you.

11. What motivated you to write the very well respected, “The Monk and the Riddle?”

The book started as a rant. It expressed the disgust that I felt during the middle of the dot.com boom. I feared that entrepreneurship was losing its meaning and purpose. It was being co-opted by the carpet baggers and the get-rich-quick crowd who were no longer pursuing entrepreneurship with passion and purpose, heart and soul. The book came out just in time, a month before the crash. To some extent it is gratifying that it is still so well received and used at numerous universities around the world, but its continual success reflects the fact that the base excesses of the boom are never far away.

12. Since the book was written, sometimes it seems like people are being less kind to one another than they had been. What hope do you have for the world?

That is a big question. The human condition is one where we are challenged and tempted by ego, greed, self-interest; many celebrated role models for success are aggressive, brutal and uncaring. It is hard for most people to rise above that and discover that it is the love and support for others that ultimately determine one’s level of satisfaction and fulfillment. Until we rise to that level of kindness, hope will be in short supply. But I am at heart an optimist and believe that people truly want to be kind, so I will hope for that.

13. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

To live a satisfying and purposeful life, you have to make a contribution. I find it very useful to live a life of integrity in a literal sense—to be integral—to incorporate my principles and values in my livelihood, to express my values in my daily life genuinely and authentically, and to engage empathetically with the host of wonderful people with whom I am privileged to cross paths every day.

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© BrownHEN.org – 2007

Interview with Adam Carson, Director of Finance, Intuit

BrownHEN interviewed Adam Carson, Brown '96, Director of Finance, Intuit Inc., Mountain View, CA.

1. Adam, you worked at GE and now have an important position, Finance Director, at Intuit. These companies have quite different histories. Do you find their cultures very different?

I actually find the cultures very similar because both Intuit and General Electric expect a great deal from their leaders, are open to ideas from all levels of the organization, and heavily emphasize developing people. Of course there are divergent styles within each organization due to the differences in company size, markets, and types of products (knowledge versus manufacturing/financing.)

Intuit is fortunate because our founder, Scott Cook, remains as a very active leader of our business. Scott is the personification of Intuit’s values—just as every founder is the driving cultural force in their business. When someone pours their soul into an organization it is inevitable that there is tight alignment between their personal values and the culture they create for that organization.

2. How can a person be entrepreneurial within a large corporation?

I’m going to reframe that question into “How can you better control your destiny within a large organization?” because the word entrepreneurial can be interpreted several different ways.

Decide to care about the well being of the entire organization.

Own the concept that it is your organization (although it happens to be a large one where you don’t call all-the-shots-all-the-time.) Build your skills and think how to grow the entire organization—even though you might only work in a small corner.  Solve problems and communicate in ways to make the entire organization stronger. 

The one decision you can make entirely by yourself is your mindset. When you decide to have the mindset of an owner and consistently behave that way, it will be noticed. When others do notice, share your vision and ask for their help. Large organizations require more than one person to make a change.

3. When you were at Brown, you were interested in team building and experiential learning. Are these aspects of management important to a Finance Director?

These aspects of management are critical for all leaders because we need to work with others to accomplish any difficult task or create lasting change. The process of creating an organization where people show up to give the best of themselves and work to help others grow is difficult. Many things can hurt this delicate process. Leaders can use team building tools and experiential learning to establish a common set of values and behaviors to help people consistently work together towards a goal.

4. What do you enjoy the most about your job?

My number one joy is when people invent new solutions or find better ways to accomplish a goal AND then share the discovery with others.

That behavior means the organization is firing on all cylinders:
• People are so engaged in their jobs that they experiment with changes
• The culture encourages new ideas, embraces risk and does not fear change
• People want the entire team to win and they share broadly

5. What do you feel you gained from business school?

My approach is to constantly learn and expand my awareness in areas where I know very little. Learning directly correlates to an increased number of options I have when I need to react to a situation. Increased options can produce more appropriate responses to ambiguity.

Business school was an opportunity for me to acquire a great number of tools in a very short time. Oh, did I mention the debt?

6. Are you involved in social service work outside of Intuit? Why?

Absolutely, giving to my communities is an important aspect of leadership because it demonstrates my caring for others and helps to foster trust and credibility. My activities are creative, social, and educational (improv comedy, alumni involvement, and teach leadership at Santa Clara University.)

7. How, specifically, can small business owners benefit from using Intuit's products? Are you concerned that they do not understand how they would benefit?

I am glad you asked! We are incredibly customer focused and work to help small businesses get the most from our offerings as possible with support, training opportunities, and a thriving network of accountants.

Intuit has many products and services that help solve problems for all types of businesses – from basic cash flow management via our free SimpleStart software to complex system integration for Mid-Market firms via our Solution Provider Network.

Our QuickBooks product line is known for both ease-of-use in managing financial tasks and an interface that enables owners to see their firm’s big picture at a glance. Ease helps firms save time and money. In addition to our products, Intuit hosts several communities designed to help small businesses. Our jumpup website (www.jumpup.com) is designed for entrepreneurs thinking about starting a business.

8. Do you use Intuit products in your personal life?

Absolutely! Quicken is a near daily ritual.

9. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

Fear is not a motivator for me and I do not use it to motivate others. The emotions and behaviors fear creates are exceptionally strong and come with very steep costs to individuals and organizations.

Like many leaders, my best moments are now possible because I encountered difficult times and, as a result of those challenges, decided to grow and change.

10. Do you have a mentor who has helped you in your career path/personal development? Who are three individuals (dead or alive) who have influenced you?

I have several mentors that I go to for advice on difficult issues. In addition, I am constantly trying to observe leadership behaviors I can apply in my life.

Three people who have influenced me are:
• Dean Hazeltine – Constantly learn & teach; treat everyone with dignity; live by the highest ethical standard
• Rebecca Stockley (improv coach) – We are each unique; embrace failure because it means you are taking risks; work hard to make your partners look great
• Paulo Coelho (author) – Be a warrior of light; make mistakes; rise to challenges; both know and act on what is best for yourself

11. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

Suzanne and I just celebrated the one month birthday of our twin girls. So lately my thinking is about this new journey.

A mentor of mine shared a quote recently that I have been pondering, “Build a strong and tough support system and give far more to it than you receive.”

•••••••••••••

 

© BrownHEN.org – 2008

 

Interview with Jorge Casimiro, Executive Assistant to the President - Latin America Group, The Coca-Cola Company

BrownHEN interviewed Jorge Casimiro, Brown '98, Executive Assistant to the President - Latin America Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Mexico City, Mexico.

1. Jorge, you have a senior position at Coca-Cola. Do you feel you have much opportunity to be entrepreneurial?

Absolutely! There are always opportunities to be entrepreneurial.  Being entrepreneurial is a mindset, a way of being and a way of acting, regardless of the size of the enterprise or the position you occupy. The moment you allow yourself to think a certain situation won’t allow you to be entrepreneurial is the moment you start limiting yourself.

2. Your responsibilities include the entire Latin American region. What are the pitfalls a citizen of the United States faces in working internationally?

My parents were born in Cuba, so I had a pretty international upbringing that has helped me tremendously; and my time at Brown only added to that. In general terms, I wouldn’t say that there are any pitfalls for U.S. citizens working in Latin America. The pitfalls exist when one–regardless of nationality–is unwilling to understand different cultures and different mindsets, thus limiting oneself from working within those contexts to meet goals and objectives. 

3. How do you learn the cultural nuances in the various countries Coca-Cola works?

Obviously language is a big plus. However, the most important thing to do is to listen and engage—whether it’s the taxi driver taking you from the airport to the hotel or the country operations manager walking you through the latest business plan. Keep an open mind, be respectful and ask questions. Allow that natural curiosity we all have to come out, without worrying about what people will think.  This understanding, aside from enriching you personally, will provide you with keen business insights into that market.

4. The U.S. market seems to be moving away from carbonated drinks. Is the same true in Latin America? How do you forecast trends in people's taste?

Sparkling beverages continue to grow and represent a tremendous opportunity for The Coca-Cola Company worldwide. On top of that, the entire nonalcoholic ready-to-drink market is also growing. In fact, The Coca-Cola Company’s worldwide volume grew 6% in each of the first three quarters of 2007, and Latin America volume grew 7%, 9% and 9%, respectively, in those same three quarters.

Forecasting consumer preferences, tastes and trends is at the heart of our commitment to offer consumers the beverages they want, when they want it and how they want it, all in a responsible way. Obviously, a lot of research is involved, but we don’t limit ourselves to just research. We also take time to listen and establish a relationship with consumers; it’s this relationship that has helped us become the world’s largest beverage company that today is #1 in sparkling beverages (with four of the world's top five nonalcoholic sparkling brands, including Diet Coke/Coke Light, Fanta and Sprite), #1 in juice and juice drinks, #1 in coffees, #1 in teas, #2 in sports drinks, and #3 in bottled water.

5. You were a highly respected leader on the Brown campus. Do you feel that experience is valuable to you now?

Highly respected? Wow, thanks! I think the lessons I learned as a campus leader had to do with listening to many different opinions and taking action. And by listening, I don’t mean waiting for people to come talk to me; I mean identifying who you need to talk to and really engaging them. The other part, action, is also critical. You can’t be afraid to make decisions (just make sure they’re smart ones), and you really can’t be afraid to check yourself on past decisions and adjust as necessary. 

6. You seem to be relatively young for the responsibilities you hold. Do you feel your youth is a problem in dealing with other managers?

I’ve been lucky in that The Coca-Cola Company has a firm commitment to developing its employees to their full potential and to removing barriers that get in the way. My current assignment is my fourth since I joined the company in 2001 and my second as part of the Latin America Group. At every step, I’ve had tremendous support, have worked my brains out and have learned a great deal— earning some grey hairs along the way.

7. Is most of the company business conducted in English? Do you recommend that Brown students learn a language in college?

In Latin America, most business is conducted in Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil) and English in that order. However, everyone has a working level of English in order to interact with our headquarters in Atlanta and with colleagues around the world.

I would definitely recommend learning a second (or even third) language in college, but I would also add that it’s not about learning the language per se.  Learning another language opens your mind to another way of thinking, another culture and other experiences. Even though you may not master the language itself, the process will enrich you both personally and professionally. 

8.  What are your tips for coping with air travel?

Try not to work on the flight unless you really have to—read a book or watch a movie. Make sure to get a good night’s sleep the night before and during the trip. Drink vitaminwater and, if vitaminwater is not available, make sure to take your vitamins and keep hydrated with plenty of water. Honestly, exercise is very helpful (the few times I’ve actually exercised on travel). 

Also, make sure not to spend all your time in an office or hotel room. Even if it’s just 30 minutes, go out and explore a bit.

9. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?
• Creativity and an open mind
• Discipline and focus
• Fun
• Responsible
• Not afraid to get your hands dirty

I find many people have some of these qualities.  However, when you find someone that has all of them at once, hire him or her!

10. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

Hindrance. No question. However, I’d be lying if I said it’s never played a factor in my life because we’re all human. I think the key is recognizing fear when it rears its ugly head and then making sure not to make decisions or act based solely on fear.

11. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

There’s always more than one way.  We all tend to get stuck in certain patterns of thought and action; but when you’re experiencing a setback, I think it’s important to step back, look at the situation from different angles and consider different alternatives and solutions.

12. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

I’ve been married for almost two years now and it’s amazing how much my life has changed (for the better). I guess the insight is that, just like marketplace dynamics are always changing and shifting, your life and your priorities are always evolving. In the same way that business should be nimble and responsive to these market forces, so should you. 

Your priorities when you begin your career as a 20-something are different from when you start a family or from when your metabolism starts slowing down or from when you begin thinking about retirement I think most of us tend to get stuck trying to make these transitions from one phase of life to another.

From a business perspective, the need to identify these personal and professional changes is critical because if your priorities aren’t matching your actions (or vice versa), you’re not contributing your full potential.

13. Who are the three individuals who have influenced your development significantly?

My family, definitely. As immigrants who arrived to the US with literally nothing, they instilled in me a strong work ethic, a responsibility to family and community and a sense of self. And they haven’t just influenced (past tense) my development, they continue to do so everyday. 

My wife, Elizabeth, is another. I’ve found that having a partner who offers unconditional support (and puts up with all the other “stuff”) makes all the difference in the world both inside and outside the workplace.

Collectively, I’d also say the Coca-Cola system. Whether it’s the support and advice of my friends and colleagues, the unique perspective of stewarding the world’s favorite brands in more than 200 countries, or the incredible satisfaction of working for an enterprise that is truly committed to the communities it serves, Coca-Cola has definitely influenced who I am as a professional and as a person.

•••••••••••••

 

© BrownHEN.org – 2008

Interview with Danny Warshay, Managing Director at Dew Ventures, LLC

BrownHEN interviewed Danny Warshay, Brown '87, Managing Director at Dew Ventures, LLC, Providence, RI.

1. Danny, when you were an undergraduate, you co-founded a software company that became part of Apple. Looking back on that experience, what do you believe undergraduate entrepreneurs need to know most?

I’m often asked about that experience and about whether it makes sense to start something as an undergrad or soon after or get some “experience” first. My answer is that it depends mostly on whether you have an idea that is a legitimate opportunity. If you do or think you do, in many ways, there’s no better time to pursue it than when you are young–free from other responsibilities like a family, a mortgage or something else that make you much more conservative later in life.

When we started Clearview, I had nothing to lose, and could afford to live on no salary and eat a lot of macaroni and cheese. My wife and kids these days would get sick of macaroni real fast. The other benefit to pursuing something early is that in some ways, knowing too much can be a hindrance.

When I was graduating from Harvard Business School, I began to realize that I had learned a ton of ways to find fault with businesses and ideas, and had been trained over those prior two years to be critical of the thousands of cases we had studied. One of the voices that I paid the most attention to at that time was that of my entrepreneurship professor, Jeff Timmons, who reminded us to ask, “What can go right.”

When we were starting Clearview, I had virtually no business experience and could barely turn on a Macintosh. A couple years later, I think partly because of our naiveté, we had developed a successful Macintosh applications business whose acquisition by Apple I was helping to negotiate. I hesitate to say this too strongly, especially because I am teaching entrepreneurship at Brown these days, but I sometimes do wonder whether knowing or at least thinking too much can cloud your judgment.

The bottom line about whether to start something when you’re young, though, is that the decision is not like a typical career decision and question, "Should I take a job at McKinsey or start a software company?" The alternatives, a normal job or doing a startup, are much different. If you have a passion for creating a business and a compelling idea for a product, go for it. If you don’t have both the passion and the idea, then the decision is made for you until you do.

2. Please tell us more about your website RoundOne.com and what it intends to accomplish. Will it meet some of the needs you described in Question 1?

RoundOne is a platform that empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to take a few key first steps. Its content (now well over 3000 blog articles by entrepreneurial experts and supportive RoundOne community members) covers a wide range of critical topics, in easy-to-read, practical bite-sized pieces. To avoid the information overload and analysis paralysis I referred to in the previous question, the pieces are not a dissertation on the subtle distinctions between an LLC and an S-Corp, but the practical “dummies” version.

The networking platform enables you to meet fellow aspiring entrepreneurs from all over the world. We have members from dozens of countries–even places I had never heard of—and I cannot imagine how they would have connected with each other without an online platform like this. Finally, we have a suite of collaborative project management tools that enable a newly formed team to take a few substantive steps together (e.g., develop a business plan, upload and store documents, schedule team meetings and even conduct them online). We conceived all of this functionality with a focus on aspiring entrepreneurs, people who for the first time are looking to start a business but have never done so before. According to Capital One and Consumer Action, over 54% of Americans are interested in starting their own business but “don't know where to begin.” Our mission is to help them do so.

3. Most of your professional life you have been associated, successfully, with startups. However, you did spend a few years at Procter and Gamble. Were they valuable years for your present career? Do you recommend aspiring entrepreneurs work at a large company for a time?

I learned a lot in a short time at P&G. As my wife, Deb, smartly reminds me from time to time, the most important thing I learned was that a place like P&G is not for me. And that is a valuable life lesson—to figure out what is for you by experiencing what is not. Even beyond that, I learned a lot about how to build and run consumer businesses on very large scales, and about how to sweat the details. In subtle ways, I find those lessons expressing themselves in my entrepreneurial work more often than I might have expected. So for me, P&G was valuable, and while I would not want to prescribe any one type of experience for everyone, I do think that in general, especially if you go into the experience being clear about what you want out of it, that employment at a big company can teach you a lot.

4. You were a leader in creating the magnificent new Hillel Center at Brown. What are your aspirations for that building?

That it inspires the next generations of Jewish community leaders.

5. You have taught entrepreneurship in Israel. How did the students there differ from Brown students?

In ways that surprised me. Since they were Executive MBA students, I expected them to catch on to the HBS case method quickly, and to my surprise that approach threw many of them at first. I am still not exactly sure why, but I think one reason is cultural. At the risk of generalizing too much, my Israeli students tended to be very professionally focused and tended to think black and white. Many of them initially wanted to dispense with the ambiguous process of a case discussion and cut to the chase. “Just tell us the answers” was literally what many of them said to me in the first couple of classes. I resisted and by the end of even the condensed course, most had caught on and appreciated the “no right answer” approach.

That experience made me even prouder of my Brown students who tend generally to catch on to the case approach quite well. I think one significant reason is that Brown students are used to dealing with ambiguity in a liberal arts environment. I also saw some of what I discussed in question one above (thinking about what could go wrong) although in some ways the Israelis were able to apply their years of professional experience to the cases. For many, that experience inhibited their creativity, while the inexperience of my Brown students sometimes enables them to think more freely.

6. You are well known for the effort you put into teaching at Brown. What makes teaching rewarding for you?

First of all, I owe all of this experience to Barrett who knew me better than I knew myself, and detected a latent passion for teaching. Simply put, I love everything about it. I love motivating and inspiring my students to work their tails off and grapple with challenging problems. I love using the Socratic method, which feels a little like tight rope walking without a net. Although I have a general sense for the issues I want to cover, I never know exactly how the discussion is going to flow, what issues students are going to find worthy of interest.

In their course evaluations, some of my students have referred to me more as a coach than a professor and I can see that. I work hard on their behalf to make sure their experience in the classroom is worthy of Brown, and I advocate for them far beyond the classroom (e.g., finding them internships while they are still students, finding them jobs when they graduate, helping them with startup ideas, writing them recommendations). My core, advanced COE course, “The Entrepreneurial Process: Innovation in Practice,” is demanding, rigorous, and challenging. And those students see how much effort I put into it on their behalf and they respond accordingly. By the end of the semester, we have been through a lot together, and we all feel a sense of accomplishment. Finally, I am sure I learn from the students as much as they learn from me. It’s an honor to be able to teach them.

7. What are the top five qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

Mostly I think of qualities relating to execution more than breakthrough thinking:
• Ability to prioritize
• Ability to get things done
• Persistence: not accepting setbacks or failures, and
• The classic quality from Howard Stevenson who is an entrepreneurship guru at Harvard Business School: ability to pursue an opportunity without regard to the resources one currently controls.

8. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

I guess I’ve adopted more of a Zen-like approach to success and failure, as I have gotten older. Sometimes, what at the time I thought was a supreme success later paled compared to other more important things and even seemed like a detriment. And in contrast, what at one time seemed like a horrible failure later seemed like nothing or even a valuable experience. Perhaps it’s all the yoga I’ve been doing, but I try to have a more balanced opinion of what may seem like success or failure.

9. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN? If not, do you have a motto that you would like to share with BrownHEN?

I think we can all learn a lot from Curly, Jack Palance’s character in City Slickers. He says that the most important thing in life is for each of us to find our "one thing"—our passion. For some that’s their family, for some that’s intellectual achievement, and for some that’s about inventing new things. I guess like Curly, what I’ve found over the course of my career is that everything else falls much more easily into place once I have figured it out and can focus on that “one thing.”

10. How did the name "Danny" come to be?

Short for Daniel.  I’m definitely not a Daniel or a Dan – just Danny.

Note: Danny is currently in Cairo, teaching a condensed version of his Brown entrepreneurship course to a group of Egyptian executives, heads of NGOs and entrepreneurs.

•••••••••••••

 

© BrownHEN.org – 2008

 

Interview with Katherine Cohen, CEO & Founder of IvyWise and ApplyWise

BrownHen interviewed Katherine Cohen, ‘Brown ‘89 – CEO & Founder of IvyWise and ApplyWise, New York, NY.

1. Katherine, how did you get into writing books? Was that part of your plan from the beginning?

No, it was not. I entered the profession of college admissions and I wanted to organize my thoughts for myself and high school students. So I created a manual, which ended up as my first book, The Truth About Getting In.

2. Did you have to raise funds to start IvyWise? If so, please describe your strategy?

No, I started out in my apartment, with $5K saved. My business had the barebone basics. I am still the sole owner of IvyWise. In late 2007, Liz Hamburg (Brown ’86) and I launched a sister company, ApplyWise.com, an online college counseling and management tool, which is affordable and accessible to more families globally. We did bring outside investors into ApplyWise

3. What percentage of your time can you now spend advising individual high school students?  Would you like to spend more?

In the last year and a half, due to family priorities, I have only spent half of my time on advising individuals. I have hired other counselors to work with the growing market of students coming to IvyWise and have been spending more of my time with the launch of ApplyWise.

4. Please compare working with high school juniors and seniors to working with college sophomores.  How do you adjust your advising strategies?

When I was working with college sophomores at Yale, I was counseling students on course selection, personal and academic problems, and wrote recommendations for students seeking summer employment or social service experiences. 

IvyWise now works with students of all ages and stages.  However our core business is counseling high school students and students as young as eighth graders for the college admissions process. We help them make an impact in their classrooms, campus and community.  We help them focus on the soft factors: we help them develop mature responses to setbacks, work better with their teachers, and find joy in what they are learning in school.  If students are making the most of their high school experience, this makes them become better college applicants. We help them tap into their potential and empower them with skills to contribute to their school / community.

5. You have contributed strongly to the Entrepreneurship Program at Brown. What do you think can be done further to support Brown undergraduate entrepreneurs?

Brown EP is doing a great job; it is nice to see its growth. The Board members are exploring more ways to get involved and to get more mentorship.

6. What is your vision of the future of IvyWise? How can it be structured to reflect your ideals as it grows?

Our mission focuses on empowering students to achieve their academic and personal goals; we are adhering to this everyday.

We envision growing it slowly and steadily to maintain quality control. We do not want to dilute our services. I have hired and trained only a handful of new counselors, all who have great experience in admissions. Our approach reflects my vision, which is that while each student works one on one with an individual counselor (and each counselor is limited to 20 students); behind the scenes IvyWise counselors work together collaboratively as a team.  This way, each student gets the entire team’s expertise and feedback and several sets of eyes on each essay and application. We interact like a real admissions committee, which sets us apart from most independent counseling services.  I am very excited about the growth opportunities for ApplyWise, which can reach a broader group of families around the world.

7. What are the top qualities you would ascribe to an entrepreneur?

• Know what you know and what you don’t know.
• Do not do it all; delegate.
• Be a great leader.
• Be a great listener.
• Recognize that you are not always right; listen to clients/customers and colleagues.
• Be flexible; business changes and grows according to customer needs.
• Be a multi-tasker who can wear different hats.

8. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

Fear is a underlining motivator: not being successful, not making enough money, not leaving a legacy behind. Fear may play a part in many of the things that I do, but it is certainly not the driving factor.

I also don’t think fear is necessarily all bad, but I try not to let fear overcome me. If there is one bad article written about my company, if I lost a big sale, it’s time for me to step back and look at the big picture, regroup, and find the best path forward.

10. What is the latest insight / book(s) (about life, work, play) that you picked up and would like to share with BrownHEN?

I believe you need to have passion for what you are doing; you must absolutely LOVE what you do everyday. I am lucky because I love my work.  I had a baby about a year ago and it has been a challenge finding the balance between work and family.  It is easy for entrepreneurs to be workaholics. Work should not be about money because in one hundred years, no one is going to know about your business or care how much you had made; this gives me perspective. I have been practicing yoga since high school; it is a constant in my life and it teaches me to focus on the present. I make time for myself, and time for reflection (in fact, that is where my greatest business ideas come from!), which is crucial to my wellbeing and growth.

11. Who are the top three individuals / sources that have influenced your development?

One is my uncle, a corporate lawyer and my life mentor. He helped me set up my business, go through work-related trials and tribulations, taught me the art of negotiation and has helped me see many business situations from different perspectives. 

Second is my husband, who is my best friend and perfect mate. He is very grounded; he is a calming force who thinks before he acts. He helps me in my relationship with work, reminds me what is important in life, and brings me a lot of joy.

Third is my daughter, who teaches me that I can’t control things all the time.  She showed me the infinite capacity for love.  Now a new motivation for my work is to provide her with a good life.

•••••••••••••

 

© BrownHEN.org – 2008

 

Interview with Kevin Mundt, President of Vestar Resources & Managing Director of Vestar Capital Partners

BrownHen interviewed Kevin Mundt, Brown ‘76, President of Vestar Resources & Managing Director of Vestar Capital Partners, Boston, MA.

1. Kevin, you were a highly respected consultant in a major firm. Do you recommend that a person interested in entrepreneurship spend some years with a consulting firm?

Not necessarily. I will say that a consulting career does provide incredibly steep learning curves. One can take advantage of the exposure one can acquire in a short time in various industries. So it’s an attractive career experience, but not a requisite for success as an entrepreneur.

2. When you were a consultant, you were well known for your writing. Do you recommend that aspiring entrepreneurs spend time writing articles or even books?

I don’t necessarily recommend that entrepreneurs write articles or books early in their careers although successful entrepreneurs usually have a long history of successes and failures, and thus have much to share in a book.

I co-authored a book, which involved three other colleagues—including one of the founders of Corporate Decisions—who possessed superior writing skills. I think I am one of the worst writers. For me, it was a way to codify our intellectual property and get our ideas to the marketplace. It turned out that book was a fairly effective marketing tool. 

3. You were one of the founders of Corporate Decisions, Inc., which was acquired by Marsh and McLennan. What are some key lessons that you learned from starting a company?

I learned innumerable lessons from co-founding Corporate Decisions, building it and running it for fourteen and a half years before selling it to M&M.

One, every startup is bankrupt, even if you just got $100M in financing. You still have to build and prove your products and services.

Two, you will face difficulties and challenges that will eclipse everything else; these are the ones you didn’t predict, could not have predicted. Even with a great education and great consulting experience, our resourcefulness was continually tested.

Another challenge that we faced as a professional services firm—first as a startup and later when we have grown—was finding the right people. We thought the hardest thing was finding new clients and hiring new help would be easy. It was the reverse; hiring great people was a real challenge for us.

4. Is there a right time to be an entrepreneur?

Yes, I believe there is a right time and place in one’s life to start take the entrepreneurial path. Starting a company will consume you. It takes a tremendous amount of emotional energy, intellectual energy, and incredible perseverance to see your way through hard times.

As an entrepreneur, you can never divorce yourself from asking the question, “Is this the right time for me?” Not just the right market or the existence of a demand, or a vacancy in the consumer space, etc. I co-founded a company when I was in my late twenties and single, and I was able to devote myself to building it and running. It was an incredible experience.

5. Do you miss the excitement of starting and running your own firm?

When you are starting something new, it is very exciting because it brings forth things you have yet to accomplish. I’ve co-founded and built a successful company before selling it. It was a fabulous experience. At my age, I don’t miss starting a new company because I really enjoy what I am doing now at Vestar, where I work with portfolio management companies, head up Vestar Resources (research branch), and advise management buy-outs in specialized large to middle upper markets.

My work taps into all my skills and experiences from 24 years in management consulting and the last 15 years in consumer product and retail. I started advising Vestar in 1992 when the firm was three years old. I got to know many of the partners, including Vestar’s founder Dan O’Connell, Brown ’72, whom I met on the freshman football field; so it was an easy transition when it was time for me to leave Marsh and McLennan.

6. As you know, the entrepreneur’s path is filled with trials and errors, and also failures. What’s a valuable insight for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when they’re experiencing setbacks?

As an entrepreneur, you should not lose sight of what your ultimate goal is and why you are in the business; you should not allow setbacks to derail you. You also need to have the courage to be honest and realistic about the situation that you are in. Recognize what is going on, what is causing your challenges, and develop a plan of action.

7. Would you speak about fear as a motivation or hindrance toward accomplishment / performance? How has that played a factor in your path, if any?

In my case, fear of failure was incredibly motivating for me. I was able to channel it into a motivation; I learned that from sports. I think many former athletes may recognize that little bit of nervous feeling—that little pit in one’s stomach. This pushes me along.

8. Currently, you are Managing Director at Vestar Capital Partners. Please discuss how your office interacts with the head office in New York.

Indeed New York is our headquarters, our deal center and the heartbeat of all activities. Our Boston office focuses on the private equity market and portfolio companies in five vertical areas: financial services, media, healthcare, consumer/retail and diversified manufacturers. Today’s technology facilitates our communication process; we work closely with our NYC colleagues and I am usually in New York two days a week.

9. Where do you see the entrepreneurial opportunities of the future?

I think it is an amazing time to be alive. There is an incredible atmosphere in the technology, medical and media sectors, to name a few. I think there is plenty of opportunity to be creative in every segment of every business.

10. While at Brown, you earned varsity letters in football and track, and you were also a four-time All-Ivy selection in track. You currently serve as the Chair of the Advisory Council on Athletics at Brown. What role do you see for athletics in undergraduate education?

Through football and track, I learned how to work closely with a group of individuals, share a common goal, and achieve success. We found ourselves in tough situations and learned to turn them around. We suffered a bitter defeat, losing to a team that we should have beaten. As an athlete, I suffered a lot of setbacks, which taught me humility. I learned that hard work might make you better. To be the best you have to work even harder. There is a correlation between effort, preparation and success. While I possess a tremendous respect for what I learned as an athlete at Brown and have applied that to experiences in the real world, I would add that many successful individuals were not athletes. I really enjoy chairing the Council on Athletics; for me, it is a wonderful way to give back to the school.

11. What is the latest insight (about life, work, play) that you have culled and would like to share with BrownHEN?

• Never stop learning. I am still learning that it is a wonderful gift that one should give to oneself.
• Always take your career seriously, but never take yourself seriously.
• Never settle for anything but excellence, surround yourself with the best.
• So much about life is about attitude, with the right attitude.

12. You have a son who is in the class of 2011 at Brown. Is he also involved in track or football?

My oldest son Trevor was very involved in football and lacrosse in high school, but he decided not to pursue sports at inter-collegiate level. I am not sure which path he wants to pursue, yet.

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