Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
The advice of Monica Little, quoted above, seems particularly wise when one considers that she’s spent a good chunk of her lifetime, more than 25 years, being an entrepreneur.
Despite her veteran status, or perhaps because of it, she believes that a rich life must include many experiences, pursuits and passions.
She founded design firm Little & Co. in Minneapolis when she was fresh out of college, and last year was featured in the Upsize Back Page column. She joins two years’ worth of Back Page subjects, revisited here to remember and add up their wisdom.
Talent again bested experience by a wide margin for the 15 subjects reviewed. (That was true in the last Back Page review as well, published in November 2003 and revisiting the previous year’s worth of subjects.)
Each Back Page subject is asked the same three questions, starting with: Which is more important, talent or experience? Nine business owners said talent, three said experience, and one couldn’t decide between the two.
“You need both, but I’d choose talent,” said Kathy Tunheim, Tunheim Partners, in December 2003. “Talent makes value possible.”
David Carnes, founder of ArcStone Innovations, gave a Zen answer in August 2005: “Talent, because you will become experienced eventually.”
True enough, but a few still lean toward experience. Little said her views have changed on the subject, and she now favors experience. “Without experience, which tests the talent — it’s the different between being virtuous and being innocent,” she said.
Two respondents insisted on their own answer: attitude in one case, and hard work in another. The believer in hard work, Joe Heron, the founder of Ardea Beverage Co., stuck to the same answer for the second Back Page question as well: Which is more important, money or ideas?
“I really think it’s about hard work. I don’t think ideas are worth anything,” he said in October 2005. “Good ideas are like t-shirts. Anyone can make one, but you have to keep at it to be successful.”
Two Back Page subjects decidedly favored money, echoing Heron’s thought that ideas are plentiful.
“You’ve got to have capital to succeed. There are many good ideas,” said David Kristal in March 2004. He’s CEO of Embers, Joey’s Only Seafood Restaurants and Augeo.
Again, his remarks seem particularly noteworthy because he’s a man who spouts ideas fast and furious. Perhaps he sees a wide gap between idea formation and execution because he’s done the hard work to get just a few of those ideas off the ground.
Debbie Fors said in October 2004 that money was more important. She had just emerged from the ordeal of a fire at her Dairy Queen store in Minneapolis, and her insurance and disaster planning had allowed the recovery.
A dozen owners favored ideas, again mirroring the strong preference for ideas noted the last time this review was published. That includes owners who had been tested by financial struggles.
“Ideas turn into money. Money should come as a result of something,” said Tom Schmidt, owner of Urban Retreat and Schmidty’s, in May 2004. He subsequently lost his newest business venture, a spa called Pagoda, and was sued by the landlord of the building who was also a shareholder, a case that is not resolved.
Said Bruce Machmeier of Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly, in August 2004: “Ideas in the right hands will attract money.” As managing partner, he had led the firm through a year in which they closed an expensive Silicon Valley office and restructured to keep their local lawyer partners in the firm.
He said the trials at the firm ended up strengthening their bond. “One of the things we learned, it tested that culture. It’s not how much money we make. People said there’s something special about this place.”
Each of the owners interviewed for the Back Page offered a distinctive brand of business wisdom when answering the third question: “What’s one thing they should have told you about being an entrepreneur?”
“It’s not always easy, life and challenges and business. Never let bad days get you down. Turn them into a positive,” said Scott Leiferman, Harmon AutoGlass, in September 2004.
“That feeling in your gut that I’m the guy who has to make payroll. Nobody can train you for that,” said Mike Carrel in March 2005. At the time he had just sold Zamba Solutions Corp., and left for a new position with Vital Images shortly thereafter.
Gerry Fisher, CEO of Alebra Technologies Inc., summed up in February 2005 the painful truth of striking out on your own: “You better like to make your own coffee.”
The use of fractional executives — those hired by companies on contract to work a fraction of the hours at less cost than full-time hires — has been on the rise for years. That accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. John Arms, co-founder of Voyageur U, helped establish the organization to help educate free agents on what it takes to make it as a fractional executive. He’s now put that knowledge into print, recently releasing the book “Consult Your Way to a Full-Time Job.” Arms joined Upsize Minnesota Editor Andrew Tellijohn to talk about how the book can help potential fractional executives carve their new paths.
Branding expert Kate DiLeo wrote a book about how branding agencies need to do less storytelling and more listening to better meet their clients’ needs.
