For one of the final events of Global Entrepreneur Week, businessman Mark McGuire presented a speech to UW-Madison students about the road to becoming a successful entrepreneur Wednesday.
McGuire, co-founder of nameprotect.com, jellyfish.com and alice.com, divided his speech down into four steps. He said the steps were vital for him and his co-founders especially when starting jellyfish.com, which was eventually taken over by Microsoft in 2007.
According to McGuire, the steps are important in the process of creating a strong and legitimate company. The steps include, finding a partner, creating an idea, working with speed and focusing ong to come and talk to different people a execution.
McGuire emphasized the importance of not only having a partner, but having one who is easy to collaborate with. He said the execution of the idea includes the process of obtaining investors who can support and help. The last step is launching the company with speed so it can be unique and the first of its kind.
McGuire took his audience through the success of jellyfish.com, an online site that works to give consumers the cheapest prices, by using the four steps.
I hope [my career] affects college students in a way that shows them a different path for going to corporate America,"" McGuire said. ""I hope that doing stuff like this and having success in Madison shows people at the UW that things are possible.""
McGuire provided his audience with advice on how to become successful in starting a business.
""It was great insight to hear from a successful entrepreneur,"" UW-Madison senior Nate Lustig said. ""It's great that he is willing to share how to be successful with a bunch of college students.""
By re-telling his success story, McGuire reinforced students with optimism despite the failing economy.
""I find it really invigoratinnd tell them a little bit of the story and hopefully inspire people'¦about what they want out of their life,"" McGuire said. ""Being an entrepreneur is saying I'm not going to let the world happen to me, I'm going to figure out what I want in the world and do it.
