| The positives and perils of being your own boss BY MIKE UNGER 
Photo by Jeff Watts
Gus Iurillo speaks as other members of the Alan Meltzer CEO Leadership Speaker Series look on. The room was filled with dreamers. When William Bailey, chairman and founder of the search technology and knowledge management corporation Illumen, asked the crowd of Kogod School of Business students and other budding entrepreneurs in the Abramson Family Recital Hall who among them harbored an idea for starting their own company, a tidal wave of hands shot into the air. “There are a lot of good ideas out there, so don’t think for a moment that yours won’t work,” he said. As moderator of the Alan Meltzer CEO Leadership Speaker Series event held Jan. 26 at the Katzen Arts Center, Bailey struck an encouraging note while not sugar coating the challenges faced by those who start their own business. “As you go along, challenge the assumptions that people lay on you,” he told the crowd in the auditorium. “But you have to come to some conclusion about whether you have the talent, the wherewithal. Are you the best one to lead this company? I came to the conclusion that I was not the right person to take the company from a good idea to where it is today.” The person Bailey tapped to do just that, Illumen CEO Peter Anthony, was one of four panelists at the event. “Starting a company is not a job,” he said. “It defines who you are. You absolutely have to have transparency in your personal and professional life. This concept of work-life balance is for the guys who work nine to five.” Along with motivational tidbits, the panelists provided the audience with tips about how to pick a partner, how to vet your idea, and most importantly, how to go about raising financing. Miles Munz started InterviewStream, which provides online interviewing software used for both personal development and corporate recruiting, with a partner in 2004. “If we can do it, you can do it,” he said. “Believe me. I wasn’t the best of students. I read a Cliff Note here or there.” Munz touted the importance of a nondisclosure agreement, which allowed him to freely discuss his idea with others. He and his partner wrote down 50 bullet points about their prospective company on a piece of legal paper, and used those as the backbone for their eight-page business plan. In trying to attract investors, Munz showcased his outgoing personality to set himself apart. He opened meetings in Pennsylvania by making a joke about the Philadelphia Eagles, and he produced a 30-second video clip that he put online. “You’ve got to use unique tactics to make yourself and your company stand out,” he said. That was a sentiment all the panelists agreed on. “Thirty percent of [an investor’s] decision is based on the idea,” Anthony said. “Seventy percent they’re betting on you.” Sometimes the toughest leap for entrepreneurs to make is betting on themselves, said Gus Iurillo, owner of the Entrepreneur’s Source, a business ownership coaching firm. “Fifty-six percent of people who work for somebody else wish they owned their own business, yet only 5 percent of people ever do anything about it,” he said. “People who start their own businesses, only one in five are going to make it. You can’t just have a good idea. I would argue that you need to understand your motivation for wanting to become a business owner. Owning your own business is not the path of least resistence.” But it can be rewarding. All the panelists spoke of their immense satisfaction in seeing their idea blossom from a concept into a tangible success. “In this day and age, not only has [entrepreneurship] become a more common occurrence, but it’s become a badge of courage,” Iurillo said. |
