Entrepreneurs Reveal the Secrets and Reality of Running a Business

The Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center (ETIC) at NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences and LaunchPad Long Island recently hosted Financing your Business Venture and Lessons Learned for Entrepreneurs. The event was led by several successful startup entrepreneurs who discussed the behind-the-scenes aspects of running a business and gave advice to students who dream of becoming successful entrepreneurs.

Speakers included Peter Curtis (M.S. ’95), CEO of PMC Group; Roslyn D. Goldmacher, founder of the Long Island Development Corporation; Mitch Maiman, President of Intelligent Product Solutions; and Thomas Van Laan (M.B.A. '84), CEO of CloudCalc, Inc. The entrepreneurs spoke to a packed room about the trials and tribulations of owning a start-up. They emphasized that owning and growing a business is not all “glitz and glamour” (despite popular representations of entrepreneurs in pop culture), and added that it requires a lot of hard work, long nights, and sacrifice.

Important tips included:

• Your team is important because a successful business owner cannot run the show alone.
• All of your previous assumptions about owning a business are wrong—learn to expect the unexpected.
• Raising money takes longer than you think and can be a full time job in itself.
• Surround yourself with people who are not similar to you in order to diversify the abilities and skills your company can utilize.

Learn more about ETIC and find tips on how to create your own business by checking the NYIT calendar for events in ETIC’s Entrepreneur Series.