Recipient TidBit: Life Lessons

As part of their participation in the Business Vitality Seed Fund, we asked each of our recipients a series of questions to get their view on entrepreneurship, the Seed Fund process, and other entrepreneurial related TidBits. The following is their answers to the question: What are some life lessons you learned while starting your business and participating in the Seed Fund?

Five by Five Tonics

"I guess the biggest lesson I am learning is time management. Once my company started to take off, it became all-consuming and I found myself constantly working “in” the business. I am working through how to move to working “on” the business by managing my time and delegating tasks that don’t require my time to others. Other than that, I suppose that I have learned to roll with the ups and downs that happen in a new business. One day everything is peachy and then the next it feels like imminent doom. The very next morning you might be on top of the world. Seems like I do better if I let the goods and bads roll off my shoulder a bit."

For more information on Five by Five Tonics, please visit their website or find them on Facebook!

Upper Park Designs

"The biggest life lesson that we have learned since starting our company is estimating time frames. Always overestimate the time something will take to accomplish. Underestimating will always hurt you, and trying to be exact is a huge gamble. It is better to aim beyond your expected date and deliver earlier then kill yourself trying to deliver on the date you said you would. Learning to give your customers a good time frame can make your business look fantastic, especially when your company is product based. If a customer is expecting to wait 4 months for a product and receives it early or even on time (if unforeseen things happen, which they will) you will still look good in the eyes of your customers and save you potentially hours of time apologizing, refunding, and trying to rebuild your company image.

It’s simple. Things happen that are out of your control. When you are giving a time frame to customers who have preordered or are awaiting a release, it always pays to plan for longer then come up short."

For more information on Upper Park Designs, please visit their website or find them on Facebook!

Social High Rise

"Many entrepreneurs will say that starting a company requires a tremendous amount of resilience to adversity. I have learned that to be the absolute truth. It's been a little over a year since Social High Rise was formed, and we have had our share of challenges. There are two things that stand out to me as lessons learned which have had the greatest impact on me personally. 

The first is to hire great people and get rid of the ones who aren't great. As an entrepreneur, your company is so fragile that you can only afford to bring on individuals who will not only do the job they're given, but will fight as hard as you will to push your company to succeed. Anyone without that mindset will only drag you down. In the early months of Social High Rise, I had to replace a few people who were not a good fit at the time. Some were not a good fit, period. I learned that if I had the wrong people working for me, they didn't just perform below expectations, but they exponentially drove the company closer to failure. I found that a large chunk of my time, energy, and emotional capacity was spent on managing these people who were not a good fit. In turn, I was far less effective and could not focus on what mattered most.

The second lesson I've learned is how important it is to focus on the things that will drive your company forward. It's extremely easy to get caught up in the day-to-day minutia of running your start-up, and you can quickly find days and weeks passing by without any measurable steps in the right direction. Answering emails, tinkering with your website, researching your competition, or crafting the perfect power point presentation are all things that may seem important at the time, but will usually not result in closing more deals or increasing retention; at least not when your company is young and small. If you focus half your time on the 2-3 most important things that will actually drive your company forward, and have the discipline to not let yourself get distracted, you will be amazed at how quickly your company will begin to move forward in the right direction."

For more information on Social High Rise, please visit their website or find them on Facebook!

CSU, Chico Center for Entrepreneurship: Future Four 2014 Judges

Bob Bozeman - Lead Judge

General Partner, Eastlake Ventures

Bob Bozeman loves being involved in entrepreneurship events because entrepreneurship is the only thing he does, and has seen true entrepreneurship work very well. Bob decided to be a judge for the Future Four event because entrepreneurs need feedback, “the best adjust based on the best feedback, so that circle is important to understand and to participate in”. He believes that the Future Four event is important for students to participate in because "students who learn from these kinds of experiments become motivated to become involved with business, and they relate to the demands and requirements to package solutions in the best way to be successful."

Marc Nemanic

Executive Director, 3Core Inc.

Both of Marc Nemanic’s parents each owned their own businesses, so he has lived and breathed entrepreneurship from an early age. Running 3Core is an exercise in change and novelty so he has to be entrepreneurial each day. “In today’s changing economy, creating new enterprises, whether for profit or for social objectives, will become the norm as opposed to the exception. Jobs will increasingly be self-developed by people as institutions shed traditional jobs and rely on a contingent workforce,” something which he has seen and experienced over many years as the executive director of 3Core, and previously as the Deputy Director of the Shasta County Private Industry Council. Marc chose to be a Future Four judge because he believes that an event like this is the first step in building momentum for entrepreneurship regionally and with partner institutions. He believes that it is essential for young entrepreneurs to get involved with events such as the Future Four because, “every journey starts with the first step. Involvement will spark students to see the possibilities and opportunities. Like-minded people can share and support each other as the journey begins. Not everyone will be a prototypical entrepreneur, but it takes many different skills and creative talents so that something is created and gives consumers something of value. Events like this open doors and minds to the future.”

Thomas Villa

Product Director, Education Products & Services, Verizon Wireless

“In today’s business environment, innovation and entrepreneurship go hand in hand.” Thomas Villa has over 20 years of service and management experience both domestically and overseas within the wireless industry, and throughout that time has worked for some true entrepreneurial companies. Those companies have in common the ability to look out into the future, identify needs, and translate those needs back to present day roadmaps that deliver disruptive, innovative, value added products and experiences. Tom loves that CSU, Chico’s Center for Entrepreneurship is promoting an environment of Ideation, “free thinking that could change our lives”. Being given the opportunity to judge this event where students are “at the bleeding edge of changes that could and should occur…it would be difficult for me not to support that both professionally and personally.”

Lance Blanshei

Managing Partner, Blanshei Partners, Brand & New Products Development Consultancy

Founder, Tea Innovations, Inc.

Lance Blanshei has had over 20 years of driving food and beverage innovation vis-a-vis new product and brand development for Fortune 100 CPG firms. He also created what is described as the most innovative and successful foodservice tea concept in the country. Lance chose to be a judge for the Future Four event as he is pleased to support Peter Straus and his amazing program. Lance believes that the Future Four event is, “an exceptional opportunity for CSU, Chico’s aspiring entrepreneurs to realize the potential of putting their ideas and passions on the line in a competitive review”.

Jeff Spence

Serial Technology Entrepreneur

Jeff Spence has been involved in buying, building, and selling technology companies for more than 15 years. He has raised capital and built teams on six continents across dozens of countries, and currently advises a half dozen technology companies. Jeff chose to be a judge for the Future Four event because he believes that “entrepreneurial leadership skills are learned, not inherited at birth” and that “these skills will have the greatest impact on our economy and society over the course of the next 20 to 50 years.” Jeff believes that an event like the Future Four is important because the type of competition allows students to gain the benefits of in-market successes and failures without having to endure the typical time and expense of these in real life. He says, “the business and innovative discipline that participants have to exercise to be successful in these competitions is difficult to teach through traditional classroom business curriculum.”


Louis Stewart

Deputy Director, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz)

Louis Stewart’s current role is to help California develop an ecosystem that encourages entrepreneurship, promotes long term economic growth and facilitates job creation through innovation. He wanted to be a judge for the Future Four because he saw it as an “excellent opportunity to get involved at the grassroots level of entrepreneurship as well as become aware of up and coming innovation in the region.” Louis believes that events like the Future Four are important because “students are the future of innovation and I believe innovation drives the global economy so it is imperative for students to participate in events such as these so that we understand how to reduce barriers based on what is presented and they inform us about what is coming.”

Julie Indvik, Ph.D.

Associate Dean of Business (interim), CSU Chico

Julie Indvik’s involvement with entrepreneurship has been “layered”. As the department chair in the early 2000’s, she initiated the development for the CSUC Entrepreneurship Program in the Management program. In 2007-09, she redesigned the academic program as the current major for Business students and the current Minor available to any student on campus. “Our program is definitely an example of bricolage: making the most of the resources at hand to create something new.” Being so involved with the Center for Entrepreneurship since its development in 2005, it was an easy choice for Julie to be a part of this landmark event. The academic entrepreneurship program, the Center for Entrepreneurship, and the student club Collegiate Entrepreneurial Association have spent a great deal of time offering tools, practice, experience, and guidance so that students can start new ventures. “This event is the culmination of many faculty and many students across the four campuses working and learning for months to turn creative ideas into viable ventures.”

Dan Ripke

Director, Center for Economic Development and Northeastern California SBDC

Dan Ripke has spent 26 years of his life supporting entrepreneurs, and works with approximately 3,000 small businesses annually. He has been a strong supporter for student entrepreneurs across 23 counties, so being a judge for the Future Four event was an easy decision for him. Dan believes that it is essential for students to be involved in events like the Future Four, because “students need to understand the important opportunities created by applying their technical skills, natural talents, and energy to start new enterprises.”

3Core, Inc. is proud to be a partner with the Chico State Center for Entrepreneurship, and to sponsor eWeek.