"Men wanted for hard journey. Small wage. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of safe return."
-- excerpt from want-ad run by Sir Ernest Shackleton for his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition and the definition of entrepreneurship as co-opted by author Barry Moltz.

To be a successful entrepreneur you have to not only have passion and resiliency, but also luck and timing, so said a panel of self-made business people, including keynote speaker Barry Moltz, author of "You Need to be a Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business. The panel addressed more than 100 students on the Glendale campus February 18.

People who choose to run their own ventures must be "genetically optimistic" in order to deal with the rollercoaster ride of good days and bad days, Moltz said. Anybody who wants to start their own business must be prepared for failures, and to understand that those failures will actually make them more successful in the long run, he said. The only way to "develop true confidence is by coming back from failure," he said.

It is a myth that people start businesses to make money, to have more control or because they are risk-taker, he said. Entrepreneurs are "leapers and jumpers," not risk takers.

"The only reason to start your own business is because you have some sort of passion inside of you," he said. But, he warned, a good idea is not enough to sustain an entrepreneur. "Business is not about ideas… it is about the execution of ideas," he said.

In addition to authoring a top-selling book, Moltz started a countless number of businesses, most in Chicago and most recently co-founded Prairie Angels Capital Fund (www.prairieangels.org), which invests seed money in start-up companies. There are three elements Moltz said he looks for when valuing investment opportunities: "management, management, and management."

"It's all about the people," he said.

If an organization has strong people who can effectively sell and market an idea, that is often the difference between success and failure, he said.

The other four entrepreneur panelist were: John Florence '89, Lenora Peppers '02, Paul Hynek and Tim Porthouse. Steve Lindstrom'95, a business professor at the University of Arizona and Thunderbird, served as the moderator.

Florence has launched businesses in such diverse areas as computer consulting, virtual reality entertainment and pet toys. Peppers started her successful marketing firm "Kick Start Marketing" immediately after graduation from Thunderbird. Hynek is co-founder and CEO of Spitfire Ventures, a product development and marketing company, and Tim Porthouse is president/COO and co-founder of Calence Inc., a leading national network integrator. The event was sponsored by the Thunderbird Entrepreneurship Club