5
6
Employees drive the profitability of a business. If you do the right thing for them, you will get and retain great people, then clients will be excited and shareholders will be happy. It’s a virtuous cycle: investing in one leads to improvements in the other, all starting with employees. brian cotter ’95 Co-founder of PSG Global Solutions
7
Successful businesses begin by targeting a small, focused market segment. Trying to appeal to masses is a recipe for failure. jay weinberg ’85 President of The JAY Group
9
People shouldn’t get hung up on their initial idea. Get out there in the market and learn from people. Pivot when necessary.
8
Most success comes from being humble enough to hear bad news and making small adjustments. It’s important to have the ability to adapt and put ego aside. scott depasquale ’94 Chairman and CEO of Utilidata, Inc., and Partner of Braemar Energy Ventures
Some other company will make commodities cheaper, faster, better; you can’t win against imports. It’s very difficult to do a start-up in a commodities business. That’s one of the things I think about all the time to keep my strategy on track. david glickman ’91 President and Owner of The Vermont Butcher Block & Board Company
4317.P02-17.indd 7
david donahue ’84 Consultant, and Co-founder of BenefitsXML and Bentana Technologies
10
Make your business plan hard hitting. Ask for what you want in the first two pages. Be succinct and word efficient. Don’t let the reader get bored. joseph santarlasci Entrepreneur, Investor, and Bryant Entrepreneurship Program Faculty Member
3/28/14 12:28 PM