Knowing when to say no
Brad Spirrison TECH MATTERS | Entrepreneurs must balance vision with discipline when seeking new opportunities
October 1, 2007
While true intelligence might be the ability to process competing thoughts simultaneously and still function, the smartest way for entrepreneurs to build multiple businesses is to focus on one company at a time.
"I do things sequentially," said Howard Tullman, a serial entrepreneur and turnaround specialist who currently serves as chief executive of Flashpoint Academy. "Right now I have four or five business plans on my desk that I don't have the bandwidth to look at. I really try not to over commit."
Tullman, 62, has been actively involved in at least a dozen ventures since he founded insurance software company CCC Information Services in 1980.
Flashpoint, which has raised approximately $16 million in funding and opened its Loop doors to digital media students last month, is Tullman's third recent foray within the for-profit education industry. He is also chairman of immersive learning firm Experiencia, which has a management team in addition to $6 million in funding. And five years ago he saved culinary school Kendall College from preparing its own last meal.
Tullman said he benefits from the "repetitive relationships" he develops over time when he stays in the same industry.
He finds one relationship especially helpful.
"It's sort of fun to keep on bumping into the mayor," he said. Tullman previously courted City Hall when he moved Kendall from Evanston to Chicago, and later when building out Experiencia's museum-like facilities at the corner of Halsted and Chicago Avenue. "When I went to see the mayor for Flashpoint, he was already way ahead of the curve."
This Friday, Howard and younger brother Glen Tullman, who runs Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, will keynote the biennial TiECon Midwest event at the Hyatt Regency. More information about the program, which is produced by the Midwest chapter of the Indus Entrepreneur's Global Network, can be found at www.midwest.tie.org.
All or nothing
Most early-stage businesses constantly face multiple challenges with limited resources. While full-time CEOs find it hard enough to manage in this environment, trying to split operational focus among two or more enterprises is virtually impossible.
"You can't be a person leading a startup and committing only 10 or 20 hours per week," said Troy Henikoff, a founder of SurePayroll.com and other businesses. He also teaches entrepreneurship at Northwestern. "It is so hard to start a business as it is, I can't fathom reducing your odds by doing two at once."
Henikoff, who is 43 and founded his first venture in 1986, guides companies from the idea stage to self-sustainability. SurePayroll, founded in 1999, is the largest online payroll-processing firm in the country, and processes $3.5 billion in payrolls annually. Henikoff most recently ran Amacai Information Corporation.
Last month, Henikoff incorporated Free Lunch Inc., a company that builds applications on top of social networking services such as Facebook. Local venture capitalist Mark Achler, an investor in SurePayroll and a serial entrepreneur as well, is also involved in the venture.
Free Lunch is one of a few prospects Henikoff is considering for his next full-time gig.
"I have four or five opportunities bubbling up," he said. "But once I commit to something I'm all in."
Entrepreneurial polygamist
Coudal Partners, a West Loop creative communication agency whose clients include the Chicago Blackhawks and Go Roma Italian Kitchen, is also in the business of creating its own clients.
The seven-person firm operates an online advertising network, a niche media company and two retail businesses that it created from scratch. One of its creations, CD and DVD packaging retailer JewelBoxing, is generating more income than any of the firm's clients.
"We are not serial monogamists where we date one girl after one girl after one girl," founder Jim Coudal said. "We date them all at once."
On Oct. 29, Coudal Partners, in association with 37Signals and Segura Inc., will host the Seed Conference at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The one-day workshop, which will be limited to 135 attendees, will be devoted to the fusion of design, entrepreneurship and inspiration.
"We are paying our mortgages and our kids tuitions while having fun doing creative work," Coudal said. "But when we are able to do that in service of something we own, it is tremendously satisfying and occasionally lucrative."
Knowing when to say no
Entrepreneurs must balance vision with discipline when seeking new opportunities