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Text-only version for easy printing The Entrepreneurial Edge Are you ready for the roller-coaster ride of your life? By Kimberly Swick Slover John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie took decades to become billionaires. Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Jerry Yank of Yahoo!, Meg Whitman of eBay and Steve Case of America Online became billionaires in fewer than five years. God bless the new economy! With such examples before them, more than a million Americans launched their own businesses in 2000, seeking independence and wealth. But becoming an entrepreneur is risky, and failure can be every bit as sudden as success, as the "dot-bomb" phenomenon in the stock market illustrates. "The entrepreneur today is a creative visionary, constantly in the process of identifying and exploiting new opportunities," says Mike Merenda, a 24-year veteran professor of strategic management. "But the dot-bombs showed us that while it's great to catch a new wave, entrepreneurs stand a much better chance when they have a solid understanding of business fundamentals." The Whittemore School of Business and Economics has been preparing students for entrepreneurial success for 33 years. It has just launched a new option for business administration majors called "Entrepreneurial Venture Creation" (see Educating the Entrepreneur). But everyone associated with EVC is quick to note that their purpose is not to teach people how to become entrepreneurs. In fact, they say, that's something that probably can't be taught. "Our intent is not to create entrepreneurs, but to make them successful," says Bill Naumes, associate professor of management. "By the time students get to us, a lot of social and environmental factors have already had a major impact on their orientation as entrepreneurs. They are independent self-starters and risk-takers who aren't willing to work within the structure. We show them how the basics of business apply to small, but potentially rapidly growing, companies." In preparing this article, we interviewed a number of UNH graduates who run their own businesses, asking each what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. Their experiences in growing their businesses (described by one grad as "the roller-coaster ride of my life") suggest that successful entrepreneurs are both born and made. They start with extraordinary drive and capacity for hard work, develop a healthy sense of self-confidence and a strong work ethic (shaped in large part by nurturing families and mentors), and acquire essential knowledge, skills and insight through a good education. Interestingly, none of these entrepreneurs bears much resemblance to better-known corporate icons famous for their aggressive tactics, down-sizing prowess and laser-like focus on the bottom line. Instead, they've built businesses around their interests and skills and convinced others to join them in pursuit of a vision. They've maintained a competitive edge, moved into new markets, embraced new technologies and pulled through tough times. In the process, they've empowered rather than exploited the people around them, and each has achieved his or her own version of the American dream. Recipe for Success
Jonathan King '87 When Pope John-Paul II visited Boston in the late '70s, 14-year-old fledgling entrepreneur Jonathan King '87 saw a business opportunity. He packaged and sold bags of "Popecorn" to the amused and hungry crowd. Today King and partner Jim Stott own Stonewall Kitchen, one of the nation's most successful specialty food companies. The business began on a card table at the Portsmouth, N.H., Farmers' Market exactly ten years ago, and the partners expect to mark the anniversary by topping $20 million in annual sales. King, whose cropped blond hair and boyish face shave a decade off his 35 years, strolls through Stonewall Kitchen's York, Maine, headquarters nearly every day to greet employees by name. The sage-green and beige decor of the rambling clapboarded building reflects the down-home style that has become the company's trademark. As King begins his walk, he hears laughter from the glass-walled kitchen, where a group of uniformed chefs taste their latest culinary experiments. Nearby, in an open area surrounded by spacious cubicles, the customer-service staff is taking a break. Standing in a circle, they follow the lead of a spiky-red-haired human resources director, who demonstrates how to exercise sore wrists and fingers. "Hello, Jonathan!" they call out as King passes. Stonewall Kitchen grew out of King's passions for gardening, cooking and marketing. In his mid-20s, he loved to grow herbs, vegetables and fruits and often spent weekends experimenting with new flavors for herbal vinegars, salsas, jams and cooking oils. Encouraged by friends who had received his creations as gifts, King enlisted Stott's assistance and took an assortment of things he'd made to the farmers' market one Saturday. "We sold out the first day. A lot of people had never seen roasted garlic oil or pesto and sun-dried tomatoes before," King says. "The next week the customers were back--addicted." Their quick success plunged King and Stott into intense production mode, and they headed out separately to "push the products" at every possible venue. It was exhausting, all-consuming work, and it paid off. The first summer they took in $20,000, and the next year, $250,000. "We did it all on a shoestring," says King, who couldn't even get a business loan for a used truck and had to borrow money from friends and relatives. The turning point for Stonewall Kitchen occurred in 1995, when the partners attended an international fancy food show and received the "Outstanding Product Line" award from 100 judges in the industry. "It was like a movie producer winning the Best Picture award," says King. "It launched us." Stonewall Kitchen won the same award the next year and has since become one of the industry's most respected companies. Today it earns 60 percent of its revenue by wholesaling products to 5,500 specialty stores internationally and the other 40 percent through its direct-to-consumer division, including five retail stores, a consumer catalog and an online site. In the near future, Stonewall Kitchen plans to expand beyond the kitchen into home and bath product lines. "Stonewall Kitchen was the name brand for specialty foods, but now it's come to represent a distinct lifestyle," says King. King believes that the qualities that set entrepreneurs apart are an inexhaustible passion for what they do and the confidence to follow their own instincts. "You truly have to believe in yourself and be able to make others believe in you," he maintains. King's ability to manage and motivate employees and to identify market opportunities has been crucial to the company's success. Here his psychology degree comes in handy; he developed strong listening skills and an ability to discern what customers want and what drives employees to succeed. "We look for people who want to grow. We're demanding and expect people to excel," he says. His company offers good wages and benefits, but he doesn't think money is a sufficient motivator. "People want a sense of ownership, the power to make decisions about how to serve customers and the ability to follow through on them." King's own drive to excel sets the standard for the entire company. "The saying around here goes, 'Jonathan would like it this way.' It's my style that defines the Stonewall Kitchen look. I'm a perfectionist--absolutely. As Martha Stewart says, 'Perfection is profitable.'" Dream Weaver
Diane Jackson Cole '74 Diane Jackson Cole '74 sits before an antique wooden loom in her Concord, N.H., studio, pumping a foot pedal to change the pattern in the harness. With each motion, she adds another row of earth-toned yarn to the fabric on the loom, and intricate patterns begin to appear. Cole looks at peace in her cream-colored room, surrounded by photographs of her weaving. The piece she is working on now will likely become the prototype for a line of high-end blankets to be sold through specialty stores around the world. As a fine arts major at UNH, Cole wanted to master every artistic medium. Inspired by teachers such as John W. Hatch, Maryse Searles and John Laurent, she threw herself headlong into oil painting, ceramics and weaving. Then one of her mentors gave her some advice that would change her life. "Develop your own sense of style, and then you can use any medium to express it," he told her. Cole loved to work with color and texture, and decided that an intense focus on weaving would help her hone her skills and create that distinctive style. After graduation and study in England, she bought a loom and opened her own studio in Kennebunk, Maine. Cole began creating one-of-a-kind, handwoven pieces, from huge tapestries to throws in such subtle colors that they resembled watercolor paintings. She launched a wholesale production line, which she exhibited and sold around New England, often working seven days a week. "It never occurred to me to work for someone else," she says. "Work was never something I went to; it was just part of my life." When representatives from Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's showed up on her doorstep to order hundreds of her pieces, Cole knew it was time to increase production. She partnered with a manufacturer to start Kennebunk Weavers and hired a staff to reproduce her designs much faster, using 20th-century antique looms. After her partner's death in 1988, a minority shareholder in the small company made life difficult for her and her employees, and Cole walked out. To her surprise, 32 of 36 employees came with her. "It felt like I was being ripped open," she says. "My employees' support gave me the courage to start again." That was when Cole launched DJC Design Studio Inc., which she has turned into a successful international export business based in Concord, N.H. The company produces handcrafted blankets, throws, tapestries and clothing, and exports them to some 30 countries, where they are sold through 4,000 stores. "It was the right decision," she says. "With a new company, I had design control and the ability to treat employees with dignity and respect." Today the greatest threat to the company comes from the massive influx of cheap imports from the Third World. Since there's no way to patent textile designs, cheap imitations of Cole's designs and those of other artisans' flood the marketplace, resulting in what she calls "the Walmartization" of the industry. Though the competition has hurt small businesses, DJC Design Studio included, Cole refuses to compromise her standards. "I have a lot of loyal customers, some who've bought my pieces since the 1970s. There are still people who care about original designs and quality craftsmanship." Cole credits her success as a businesswoman to three factors: the lessons she learned from her entrepreneurial parents, who had a bakery in Amesbury, Mass.; her grandmother's support and interest in the company; and her fine arts education. In her view, successful entrepreneurs possess integrity and high standards and give their employees plenty of opportunities to grow, learn and contribute their ideas. Going Global
Michael DesRochers '86, Peter Getman '90 and Barrett McDevitt '85 The three principals of MicroArts--Michael DesRochers '86, Barrett McDevitt '85 and Peter Getman '90--are still riding high. Early this year, the company DesRochers founded as a student at UNH was acquired by one of the world's largest advertising agencies, Cordiant Communications Group, for $47.4 million in stock, with an additional $40.7 million pending. The three partners, who say their personalities are "as different as the seasons," discovered a formula for success early on and have followed it ever since: DesRochers dreams things up; McDevitt designs and delivers them; and Getman sells them. In the airy loft of a converted barn in Greenland, N.H., "creatives" such as Web designers, graphic artists, writers and photographers work in front of oversized computer screens. On the MicroArts Web site and in its promotional literature, these same people are pictured rock climbing and surf casting, hugging their smiling children or driving a tractor. A tagline runs below these images: "We are not what we do; what we do is an expression of who we are." What MicroArts has done for its own image--transforming technical expertise, vision and business savvy into a desirable commodity--is the same thing it does for its high-tech clients. MicroArts drove the makeover for SCC Corporation, a software company based in Portland, Maine. SCC had been focused on the health-care industry, but hoped to transform itself into a business-to-business (B2B) technology-services company in 2000. MicroArts forged a new name, identity and mission for SCC, introducing it with fanfare as "I-Many"--the go-to company for the technology infrastructure that builds solid B2B relationships. This new image was promoted through the Web, trade shows, national advertising and direct mail campaigns, positioning I-Many as the new market giant. Perception becomes reality faster in the high-tech world than elsewhere, and in July 2000, I-Many launched a successful initial public offering (IPO) for its stock. That's the kind of work MicroArts is doing today, but it wasn't long ago when selling a $200 ad would have been a big deal for the company's founder. In 1988, DesRochers began producing "Welcome Back" coupon books for UNH students, filled with advertisements from local businesses. Getman, then a business administration major, joined the business, and the two scraped by on advertising revenue. "I had money in the bank for the first time, just as I was learning about debits and credits. It was fortuitous that I was able to apply what I was learning to the business right away," he says. After college, DesRochers recruited McDevitt, a struggling artist who jumped at the chance to learn computer graphics. "I thought, here's my opportunity to do what I love and actually make some money at it," says McDevitt. "(UNH professor) John Hatch gave me the confidence that I had the talent to make it as an artist, but I didn't want to be a starving artist." As high-tech industries exploded during the '90s, MicroArts reinvented itself continuously to capture new niche markets. It emerged in the late '90s as a hybrid agency that delivers cohesive brand identity, advertising and marketing campaigns across all electronic-communication channels. "There's a short life cycle in technology markets, so we have to move quickly to bring products to market," Getman explains. "The 'build it, they will come' philosophy doesn't work; our campaigns drive customers to our clients' Web sites, which is the most cost-effective way to do business." As MicroArts grew, the partners worked constantly to strengthen their partnership, set the next milestone and nurture a dynamic corporate culture. They believe in replacing themselves with even brighter, more talented employees who can do their original jobs better than they can. The acquisition by Cordiant marked the beginning of another new stage in the company's development. Over the past six months, MicroArts has focused on serving Cordiant's Fortune 5000 clients and building a new global brand identity for its interactive group. "The acquisition gives us the resources to take what we built in Greenland to a global scale," Getman says, adding that the pressure is still on MicroArts to perform. "Cordiant has made a substantial investment in us, and we're committed to making sure they get a good return." Doing the Right Thing
John Laymon '73 If you have ever ridden a "people mover" down an airport corridor or taken the subway in New York or a trolley in San Francisco or Singapore, chances are you've used one of John Laymon's products. His company, Pittsburgh-based JRL Enterprises, builds and reconditions many of the transit vehicles used by travelers around the globe. Laymon '73 grew up fast and poor in Pittsburgh, the son of parents who never completed junior high school. He was one of 30 young African-Americans who attended UNH under full Martin Luther King Jr. scholarships. Laymon earned his engineering degree at UNH and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and then rose through the ranks at a large engineering and construction company. He had been with the company for a decade when his division was sold, and Laymon found he was part of the deal. "I felt like a piece of meat," Laymon says, recalling the day when he was informed he'd have to leave the company and his hometown. "I'd done all the right things, but suddenly I had no control over my future." It was this jolting experience that prompted him to start his own business. He put his deep technical, management and marketing experience to use, yet it was hard for him to establish credibility with potential clients and the banks. "Initially, credibility is always an issue, especially for minorities. I'd say, 'I'm the owner, the manager, and the technologist,' and they'd tell me, 'No, you can't do all that,' even though I'd been doing it all along." From the outset, Laymon believed in giving people--particularly historically repressed minorities--a chance. One of his managers is a former drug addict, and one of his best supervisors is a former prisoner. "I believe in being socially responsible and creating opportunities for others. People can change, if you give them the chance," he says. He finds great satisfaction in seeing people succeed and become able to support their families and own a home. Laymon's own hard work and his ability to hire and train good people with positive attitudes helped the company to grow and prosper. He now owns three plants and employs nearly a hundred people, and the company's annual revenues exceed $14 million. Yet in spite of that success and his company's demonstrated ability to perform, he still has to prove himself to many people. "People look at me and automatically assume our success is due to affirmative action," he says. "It's frustrating." In Laymon's view, a successful entrepreneur must be trustworthy to earn a good reputation and attract repeat business. It's essential to establish good credit, both personally and professionally, in order to secure funds that will fuel the business's growth. A solid understanding of business principles is essential, and so is the ability to step into many different roles and to attract good people to work with you. "You may be a great engineer and have a better mousetrap, but if you can't do the marketing and financials, or you don't have good people who can do those things for you, you won't be successful," he says. ~ Kimberly Swick Slover is director of communications at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H. Return to photo version
See also: Educating the Entrepreneur |