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Symposium Helps University of Northern Iowa Students Become Entrepreneurs

Posted on: Friday, 17 February 2006, 12:01 CST

By RC Balaban, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa

Feb. 16--CEDAR FALLS -- Eric Schaefer wanted to let University of Northern Iowa students know what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. He figured the best way to get his point across would involve a little help from rap star Eminem.

Schaefer, one of the speakers at the UNI Entrepreneurship Symposium Wednesday, played Eminem's hit song "Lose Yourself" during his speech to emphasize the need to be willing to seize opportunities as they are presented.

"You look at a situation and just jump in. You hope your feet don't fail you," Schaefer said.

Schaefer, a 1991 UNI graduate, joined Andrew Van Fleet, president of Darning Pixels Inc. in Waterloo and a 1998 UNI grad, and Chris Pirillo, a 1997 UNI grad and self-professed Web geek, as speakers at the event.

Schaefer, a Waterloo native, created Advanced Business Fulfillment, a health care document and paid-claims outsourcing center, in 1997 with three friends also from Waterloo. The group sold their business to WebMD in 2003 for $260 million.

Each of the three had differing stories of how to get started toward being an entrepreneur, but some themes carried over from each talk. All the speakers touched on the need to recognize shortcomings and to access people who can make up those shortcomings. Schaefer said among his group of friends starting ABF, one person was a marketing specialist, while another was a sales wizard and still another one specialized in information technology.

"We all had different things we brought to the party," Schaefer said.

Van Fleet said one of the benefits of becoming an entrepreneur is that it allows a person to see everything they can do. He created Darning Pixels in 2001 after leaving a dot-com business.

"Unless you start up your own business, you may never realize your own potential," Van Fleet said.

Pirillo has worn many hats since he left UNI. He started www.lockergnome.com, a technology Web site and content publishing company. The Web site led to Pirillo hosting a radio show on WHO 1040 in Des Moines, which led to a television show in San Francisco. Pirillo has since splintered off into several ventures, including tech conventions and book writing. He told the audience at UNI that his opportunities came from simply finding a starting point and rolling with it.

"The hardest part is starting and just doing it," Pirillo said.

Schaefer reminded the audience that even though being an entrepreneur takes lots of effort, people cannot lose sight of priorities.

"Your family typically is where you draw your energy from and you can't forget that," Schaefer said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa

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Source: Waterloo Courier

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