For startups, people trump ideas

Four Princeton University alumni entrepreneurs give their views at forum

By: Alex Gennis
   A viable business proposal that can fund itself is essential to starting any company, said four alumni entrepreneurs at a Princeton University panel recently.
   John Beyer, Ted Nadeau, Suzanne Martin and Peter Kellner gave advice about their experience starting up companies to over 75 Princeton students gathered at the university’s Friend Center.
   "You need to orient your business around viability," said Ted Nadeau, a longtime entrepreneur and the director of information technology at Root Markets Inc., an information marketplace. "Make sure that you can pay yourself adequately and that you will not kill your best friend if (your venture) fails," Mr. Nadeau said.
   A talented, committed team is more important than great ideas in starting a business, the panelists said.
   "Grade A people and a grade B idea make it much more probable that you’ll succeed, than a grade A idea and grade B people," said Peter Kellner, a co-founder of Endeavor, a nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurs in emerging markets.
   Knowing consumers needs is essential to ensuring the viability of a venture.
   "If you don’t have adequate demand, you have to figure that out really early," Mr. Kellner said. "I’m always checking myself: Is there a real market for this? Are people going to buy my product?"
   Mr. Kellner, who headed several start-ups in emerging economies, added that despite the inherent risks and challenges to starting a company in less developed countries, entrepreneurship and venture capitalism are crucial components of economic growth.
   "We really do believe that it is the power of entrepreneurship and innovation that drives economic development," he said.
   Suzanne Martin, a founder of a health care consulting firm, spoke about the importance of delegating responsibilities and working in a field that you are interested in.
   "Figure out the things that you are good at and get help with things that you are not good at," she explained. "(You have) to get involved in something you really care about."
   She added that failure is part of entrepreneurship.
   "If your business doesn’t go well and you get out of your business, you shouldn’t consider it a personal failure," she explained.
   John Beyer, who in 2001 as a freshman at Princeton co-founded Terracycle, a natural plant-food company, underscored the advantages of being a young entrepreneur.
   "Being entrepreneurial is very difficult and it takes a lot of hours. It is hard to do it with a family," he said. "There are a lot of advantages to (being a young, independent entrepreneur.) People are a lot less hesitant to invest in you."
   He also said that not having much initial capital can serve as a driving force for innovation.
   "When you have very little money, you really have to figure out how to do a lot with almost no money," he said. "It forces you to come up with many good ideas."
   Mr. Beyer’s company minimizes costs by making everything from waste products — an approach that is both efficient and environmentally friendly.
   Willingness to experiment is more important to successful entrepreneurship than formal knowledge, Mr. Nadeau said.
   "Any system of knowledge is a system of ignorance," he said. "Define success and what you are interested in doing yourself."
   He said that his key to entrepreneurial success is being unsatisfied with the status quo and asking a lot of questions.
   "How are things not perfect? Why can I not get to this particular place? That’s being entrepreneurial," Mr. Nadeau explained.
   While the four speakers ranged in age from Ms. Martin who graduated from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson Graduate School in 1974 to Mr. Beyer who graduated from Princeton in 2005, they agreed about the great potential for innovation facing today’s college students and encouraged them to be bold in their endeavors.
   "Today’s world is a lot more complicated but also has a lot more opportunities," said Mr. Kellner. "You’ve got time and liberty to experiment."
   Veneka Chagwedera, one of the student organizers of the event, said that she hoped the event would serve as an inspiration for Princeton’s future entrepreneurs.
   "I hoped that in organizing this panel, students would graduate from Princeton inspired to reach out and start their own businesses," she said in an e-mail. "Being the road less traveled, this career path takes gumption, creative ideas and the drive to bring them to fruition. The opportunity to hear from alumni about their own experiences has, therefore, been invaluable."