Issue date: Dec 5, 1999

In this article:
Keys to success as an entrepreneur

By Dennis McCafferty

ECOMING A MILLIONAIRE isn't just the newest craze behind TV game shows. Far from Hollywood -- or Wall Street or Silicon Valley, for that matter -- students at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln are among 800 nationwide learning what it takes to launch their own company and possible road to IPO (initial public offering) riches.

In only its second year, the Entrepreneur Internship program has placed nine students at today's high-tech start-ups for a shot at starting tomorrow's Microsofts or eBays. Available to both undergraduate and graduate students, the program offers a chance to contribute to a young company's early success while getting a reality check on what it really takes to get one off the ground. "The president of the company is right here," says business-student intern Andrea Torres. "I'm sitting right next to him. He asks for my opinion. In a larger company, there would be no way to get that kind of exchange." Torres, 30, is developing new business plans for Nature Technology, a biotech start-up in Lincoln.

Other interns have equally key jobs. Several are scouting out sales accounts worth as much as $1 million each. Another is lining up mega-million-dollar venture-capital investors who can make that dream of a public stock offering payoff come true.

The Nebraska program has a notable track record. Of the 15 students from last year's first class, at least four are running companies of their own.

For young companies, the program has the distinct advantage of providing badly needed help at a time when shortages of qualified workers can break a business. Nature Technology CEO Clague Hodgson is all ears. As a genetics researcher, figuring out how to raise millions from investors isn't his strong suit. "An egghead like me has no business running a company," he says. "I'm hoping Andrea will be polite when she critiques our business plan."

This week, colleges nationwide are scrambling to meet the Dec. 10 deadline to apply for grant funding from the Kansas City, Mo.-based Kauffman Foundation, now supplying $1.2 million to enable Nebraska and 82 other schools to take part in entrepreneur internship programs. Kauffman launched the effort in 1996 with just 26 schools and fewer than 400 students taking part.

Nebraska graduate student Brooke Conover, 28, believes she's getting valuable experience from the hands-on program. In a previous job in hotel marketing at Disney in Orlando, Fla., she had only a chance meeting with celebrity CEO Michael Eisner when she showed him to his room while filling in as a concierge. Now at Xodiac Inc. in Lincoln, Conover works a couple of cubicles away from the big boss and his two-person executive management team.

"I'm sticking my toe in the water and figuring out whether it's -- whew! -- too chilly," Conover says, "or whether working in this environment fits my expectations."

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Keys to success as an entrepreneur

• Drive. Expect long hours and high stress. Great stamina is required.


• Multiple thinking skills: creativity, critical thinking, analytical abilities, originality. Not only do you need to envision the Next Big Thing, but you also must devise a strategy to make it work.


• People skills. Motivate employees. Negotiate with suppliers. Convince lenders. Sell customers. Can you adapt to these demands? Source: U.S. Small Business Administration