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Start It Up! Sam Clemens of Insight Squared Passes Along Advice on How Students Can Become Startup Entrepreneurs
May 4, 2012
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Popular Speaker: Successful entrepreneur Sam Clemens of
Insight Squared brought a packed house of students, faculty and
staff members to hear his recent campus presentation on the
challenges and opportunities in starting a business. |
Sam Clemens, Chief Product Officer of Cambridge, Massachusetts
startup company Insight Squared, gave Rose-Hulman Institute of
Technology students insight on how to develop a startup
business. His rapidly growing company provides a software
service product that helps small to mid-size businesses track sales
and marketing productivity.
Speaking on Wednesday, May 2, at a packed lecture hall, Clemens
described the world of venture capital and fast moving startup
businesses. He explained how to form a team, how to attract
financing, and how to take a great idea from inspiration to product
to viable business venture. He also explained the three
things he looks for in a new employee, "One, be a high wattage
personality who likes to do something different every day; two,
develop your aptitude by using your skills as much as possible to
GSD (get stuff done); and three, do something you love."
Clemens reasoned that by doing what you love, students/graduates
will do it 15 percent better, and over time that edge will be the
advantage needed to win at any endeavor. One other piece of advice
he emphasized was, "No matter what your major, learn to write
software code and to keep at it. Coding is the carpentry of the
future. Anything you want to build will require code."
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| Speaking From Experience: Sam Clemens, Chief Product
Officer for startup company Insight Squared, makes a point during
his recent presentation to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
students. |
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At 36 years old, Clemens is already working on his fifth startup
company. His first business was eLance, the world's leading
platform for online employment.
Clemens also provided invaluable insights to help students
decide what kind of work environment would best fit their
personality. From the questions students asked during the
presentation, it was clear that many had already set their sights
on being involved in the high-risk, high-reward world of technology
startups.
According to Rose-Hulman Interim President Rob Coons, "One of
our goals is to expose our students to successful technology
innovators in many fields. Sam Clemens is at the top of his
industry as a successful SAS (Software as Service) business leader.
His insights and industry knowledge have provided a glimpse into
this exciting world for our students."
The speaking engagement was sponsored by the president's office
and the campus chapter of IEEE, the world's largest professional
association for the advancement of technology. Andrew
Milluzzi, a senior computer engineering and software engineering
student, organized the event and served as Clemens' guide for tours
of campus, the Department of Computer Science and Software
Engineering and Rose-Hulman Ventures.
"Sam now wants to be more involved with Rose-Hulman," stated
Milluzzi, who will have an internship this summer at Microsoft
before starting graduate school at the University of Florida's
robotics program. "He was impressed with our product development
expertise at Rose-Hulman Ventures, in awe of our campus and our
community, and he was especially impressed that this entire event
was student organized. In his words, we have GSD."