EMTM Profiles by Industry:
Entrepreneurs
Innovation and entrepreneurial skills go hand-in-hand — whether you’re starting your own firm or building new
business ventures within an existing multinational. For many EMTM students and graduates, the entrepreneurial drive
is strong. Some already head up their own companies and turn to EMTM for the combination of technology and business skills
they need to keep growing. Others aspire to start their own firms later on. EMTM helps them build knowledge, skills and
networks while still advancing in their current careers.
Entrepreneurs do not succeed by being the best marketer, or the best technologist, or the best financier or the best operator.
They may be very good at any one or all of these disciplines. However the true value the entrepreneur brings to the table
is the ability to create and execute a vision that synthesizes all of these disciplines at once. Quickly. Efficiently.
To an outsider this is simplistically referred to as wearing many hats. To an entrepreneur it involves a deeper understanding
of how all functions of business and technology must align to seize an opportunity. This cross-functional, multi-discipline
approach is a cornerstone of the EMTM program.
How does EMTM benefit — and sometimes create — entrepreneurs? In addition to core courses that build strong
business and innovation management skills, EMTM offers:
- Elective courses such as Introduction to New Venture Initiation, Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management
of Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship.
- A classroom environment that encourages small groups of students from varied backgrounds to work together in pursuit
of a common goal.
- Reinforcement of the role that Leadership plays within the field of business and technology through courses such as
Foundations of Leadership and Total Leadership, as well as special workshops in Communications and exchanges with experienced
guest speakers.
- Emerging Technologies Seminars (ETS) that highlight emerging technologies and their implications for new business models.
- Participation in
Wharton’s Business Plan Competition and
Venture Initiation Program.
“If I were to identify the single most important influence on my career, I would have to say the EMTM program, hands
down,” says Robert Petrie, EMTM’98, Senior Director,
Business Development, Vignette Corporation. “I don’t think I would have gone out on my own if I hadn’t gone
through the program. And launching a start-up was the most rewarding career experience I have ever had.”
When Rob founded a new company with two partners in 1999, he had a chance to apply everything he had learned about management
and technology. From an idea at the kitchen table, they built Aptegrity, one of the first managed services providers, into a
$9 million business with offices in New Jersey, San Francisco and London before selling the firm to Globix Corporation in 2003.
Carlos Valdes EMTM’05, Director of Operations, The Healthy Beverage
Company, was also inspired to move from a more traditional career to join a 2-year-old startup six months before
graduating from the program. “My degree gave me the adaptability to join a new kind of company. When I came on
Healthy Beverage was a $1 million company. Now it’s a $10 million company and operations have grown much more intense.”
From his EMTM education, the onetime “strictly operations guy” says he now has a better sense of the role
private equity, finance and marketing play in business development. In a company too small for silo divisions, being
able to understand exactly where these issues overlap is a strength. “I’m making decisions every day,
serving as the steward of our costs, trying to keep the marketing in line with our operations,” Carlos says.
“EMTM gave me the confidence to handle these challenges.”
Many EMTM grads have found a way to become entrepreneurs within their parent firms.
“When you’re a researcher, you have a certain sixth sense and you know when you’ve stumbled onto something good,”
says
Peter Gabriele EMTM’03. That moment came for Peter and
John D’Ottavio EMTM’03, colleagues at
Adhesives Research — and at the time, recent EMTM graduates — when they stumbled on the concept that would
become their next business venture.
After extensive market analysis, the duo, along with two colleagues, established a new division in Adhesives Research
called ARmark Authentication Technologies in 2005. Peter currently serves as the technical director in the new entity
and John is regulatory affairs manager, working to identify and mitigate barriers to the adoption of the technology by
the pharmaceutical industry.
“When you start a new company you have to tell a story — and that story has to be credible,” says Peter.
“EMTM gave us the solid foundation to back up our proposition. We are now able to support the business with our
understanding of emerging technologies and entrepreneurship.” (Read more about Peter and John in
Making Their Mark: EMTM Grads Harness Emerging Tech.)
Related Links
> Focus on Innovation
> Making Their Mark: EMTM Grads Harness Emerging Tech
> Wharton Business Plan Competition
> Private Equity/Venture Capital
> Technology Commercialization
If you are interested in EMTM and would like to speak with a graduate or current student in this career field, please
contact us.
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