An inspiring talk with young entrepreneurs at Penn State

Sometimes you hear comments from people concerned about future generations.  After my recent trip to Penn State, I’m here to say that the future generations will be just fine given the opportunity.

I was honored to be invited to speak at the Penn State Entrepreneurship Seminar last week along with Martin (“Marty”) Nealon and Kirk DeForest of Medical Consulting Solutions. Marty, Kirk and I were asked to share our insights about starting and running our own businesses with young entrepreneurs from multiple disciplines at Penn State. The seminar was part of a relatively new cross-discipline entrepreneurship program at PSU. The program is gaining a lot of traction as a result of the dedication of mentors like Bob Beaury, the Interim Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurship Minor at PSU.

I was thoroughly impressed by the enthusiasm and motivation of these student entrepreneurs. They were engaged, asked smart questions, and had some great ideas for businesses. A highlight of the event for me was talking to the students individually after the presentations. Several were already well on their way with budding business of their own! It was inspiring.

Marty and I graduated from Penn State in 1993 and went on to work for large corporations most of our professional lives.  We became frustrated with the politics and lack of innovation in the corporate world at about the same time in our careers.  Ultimately, we branched out as entrepreneurs to do things better.  We were both fortunate to have incredible partners, mentors, and employees that believe in what we are doing and who go over and above to make our companies successful.

I joined Marty and Kirk at the Penn State event to give a little something back.  But I was reminded that mentoring works two ways. After a day of talking to a room full of intelligent, confident and savvy student entrepreneurs, I came away from my alma mater even more inspired myself.