Lessons from Lifelong Entrepreneurs

I attended the MIT Enterprise Forum of Atlanta today to hear from Jim Stratigos and Steve W. Chaddick in their “Entrepreneur’s Uncensored” talk. Jim and Steve both graduated from Georgia Tech in 1974 with degress in electrical engineering.

Jim and Steve met in 1967 over ham radio and have been friends ever since. They each have participated in a number of startups in their careers. During the Q&A, I asked them how lifelong entrepreneurship had rewarded them personally over the years. I was curious how their personal return on the entrepreneurship investment could be profiled over the many startups in which they participated.

The answer was that for each of them there was a single startup that yielded virtually all of their personal return. For each, every other startup was a rounding error to the one that produced the most return. For Jim, that startup was Media4. For Steve, it was CIENA.

Other interesting words of wisdom from these entrepreneurs included elements relating to luck, which is a theme of this blog:

• Innovation, Creative Thinking, and Entepreneurship are Non-Linear Processes
  • …that depend on luck
  • …timing
  • …having a diverse set of experiences
  • …an open mind
  • …a deep network of friends, colleagues, collaborators, and advisers
• Create your own luck
  • Every big problem is a big opportunity!
  • Success is just as much about the people you know as the technology you know. Network!
  • Be intellectually restless!
  • Get out of your comfort zone! Give yourself permission to take risks, and to fail.
  • Seek a variety of rich, diverse experiences, both business and technical. Collaborate with different thinkers.
  • Don’t wait to be noticed/appointed-be proactive!

Finally, they began their presentation with the classic “Knack” Dilbert video. Enjoy!

What lifelong lessons have your learned from serial entrepreneurs?