Lessons Learned:

By Larry Cox

The campaign to bring a new product or service to market – to launch a new venture – is a rollercoaster ride of emotions. It taxes, exhilarates, stretches and matures the entrepreneur.

When Marsha McVicker, MBA ’99, talks, there is a weariness about the never-ending pursuit of financial resources; the inevitable disappointments with suppliers, employees and clients; and the challenge of always reaching for the next sales plateau. At the same time, there is a competitive fire that lets you know she loves fighting for Errand Solutions, the business she conceived and founded with the assistance of Lisa Stanek, MBA ’99, as students in the Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship (WAVE) program.

McVicker’s company is based in Chicago and offers a full range of concierge services to large employers in Wisconsin, Illinois, California and Tennessee who then offer those services to their employees as a valued benefit in these hectic times. The company has plans for both national and international expansion. According to its Web site, Errand Solutions is “well into its mezzanine level financing efforts, and … poised to be a major player in the errand delivery and convenience services fields.”

McVicker was one of approximately 40 MBA students in Entrepreneurship, all graduates of the WAVE program, who gathered last fall to apprise the WAVE board of advisors of their progress to date, renew friendships with fellow WAVE alumni and regale current entrepreneurship students with lessons learned – the hard way – in the real world.

Several of the students represented businesses funded with money from the WAVE venture capital fund. Nine such ventures have each received from $50,000 to $100,000 in seed capital (both debt and equity) since the $800,000 fund was established in 1998 through the generosity of James Weinert, MBA ’69.

Some of the lessons acquired après MBA by these young, but seasoned, entrepreneurs were unique, personal and, apparently, quite painful. For example, one former WAVE student warned, “Be careful with releases, waivers and the word ‘restructuring’ … understand the tax ramifications of signing personal guarantees.” Other lessons were more universal and timeless – reminders to be bold, brave, innovative, determined, passionate, generous and self-aware – to think big, be a visionary and learn from mistakes.

Chad Sorenson and Jaume Villanueva of Fluent Systems (profiled in the summer 2002 issue of UPDATE) admonished the audience to anticipate modest initial market penetration from any new technology. They explained that products like their wireless information feedback system for application of anhydrous ammonia require significant marketing resources, expanded distribution and some “soak time” before going mainstream. This may explain why Sorenson and Villanueva recently successfully sold their company to Raven Industries, a much larger and more established player.

The WAVE graduates shared their post-graduation experiences with each other and with WAVE board members Joe Boucher of Neider & Boucher; Jan Eddy of Wingra Technologies; John Komives of Lakeshore Group; Greg Lynch of Michael Best & Friedrich; Mike Mathews of Grant Thornton; John Neis of Venture Investors; Dan Neviaser of Neviaser Investments; Dan Nichols of Anchor Bank; Chuck Oehler of The Oehler Group; and Jim Weinert, the event’s originator and financial sponsor. After the reunion Weinert said, “I was extremely proud to be a part of the Entrepreneurship event. The morning WAVE Business Reviews and the afternoon sessions dramatically showed that our students have learned tough and valuable lessons about starting and running a business. It was especially exciting for our Advisory Board to get an update on the progress of these businesses and the valuable student feedback will help us strengthen our program even more.”

The graduates also spoke to current Entrepreneurship students. Lance Mikus, MBA ‘04, said, “The discussions with recent graduates, who are now business owners, were very inspiring and insightful to me. Inspiring because I was able to see how an idea can be turned into a real business by applying the principles we are learning throughout the WAVE program. Insightful because I learned a lot about how to overcome many of the challenges one faces while running a business.”

Assistant Professor Gerry George, director of the WAVE program, said the importance of managing human resources was the recurring and underlying theme when graduates of the WAVE program shared their experiences. “The most complicated issue and the greatest challenge for these young entrepreneurs is to manage their employees effectively,” George said. “While entrepreneurship students leave the School of Business well-versed in entrepreneurial finance and technology development, they may be less prepared for the thorny, distracting and often emotional problems that naturally occur when leading a group of people toward a business goal.”

The new MBA curriculum which begins this fall attempts to place more emphasis on ensuring that every MBA student receives a strong foundation in human resource management. “We intend to do a better job of directing our students to the pressing issue of managing people, while continuing to cover other choices, such as acquiring venture capital for growth,” said George.

According to the WAVE alumni, there were many lessons that they could only have learned in the midst of the fray (see box, below). The consensus was that much of the stress of being an entrepreneur comes from creating a sustainable organization, while a good deal of the excitement and joy comes from conquering a market. No matter the outcome, none regretted making the leap from the classroom to being a real-world entrepreneur. As Curt Szymanski, who has moved on from UCLID Software, the company he founded in 2002, reflected, “What I learned at UCLID was quite positive, and I am already back on the front lines involved in three new entrepreneurial endeavors.”

Larry W. Cox is director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship.