Wednesday Fireside Chat

We were joined by two local entrepreneurs, Bob Young & Chris Evans, Wednesday evening at the Garage for another successful Fireside Chat. The evening began with a very exuberant Bob Young, co-founder of the noteable, local RedHat corporation. Young is also the founder of the online publishing company LuLu; which is also our main sponsor of the LuLu E-Games event. Young shared his exciting start-up story with the group, claiming all along he knew he saw the world differently. He saw his world through the eyes of a salesman, and in reality, he said, "We all see the world the way we expect to see it. Engineers see fix-it problems and finance people see the world in numbers." He believed in hard work while "embracing your failings because they stay with you forever." Young remarked on the world we live in daily as being one of "open source" whether it was traveling down a highway or being a lawyer with a winning argument. We are constantly collaborating and providing "sources" to collaborate with, which was the major idea behind RedHat''s business model. Although, the world may be one full of "open collaboration", Young was quick to remind us to "get rewarded for your work, because at some point, you will not want to give it up."

Bob Young

Chris Evans

Our second guest was Chris Evans, another technical and local serial entrepreneur. He has invested a great amount of his business life to technical entrepreneurial opportunities, such as commercial software. Evans claimed there is a common theme in most ventures, "They all become a long sequence on getting the next thing done." However, this observation is what should create fire and drive that make dreams come alive! Evans sees himself as "an engineer of non-physical things like project flaws or design." He has always had a focus on the "urgent itch" in pursuing a certain venture, but has learned the value of trust along his path. "Trust is a resource, in which people have different thresholds of," he remarked.  Evans stressed that trust is a guidance tool used in all stages of a start-up--from your team to customers--and it is critical to maintain trust with each person. He believes there is a "certain psychology" to entrepreneurship and its participants because it creates new relationships along with ideas that require trust all along the way.

We are grateful that both Bob Young & Chris Evans took time to speak with us this week! I hope those who attended enjoyed the interactive and informative discussion. G