1. As manytrue entrepreneurswill tell you,one of theirmostdifficulttasksistodescribe themselvesin
general terms. Unlike employeeswhohave atitle,performtasksandhave managedgoals,an
entrepreneurhasall andnone of those at the same time. The entrepreneurismore like parentthat
givesbirthtosomethingfromnothingraisingthe businesslike achild. A parentdoesnotdescribe ‘the
how’,butdescribestheirchild –the entrepreneur,theirbusiness.
I’man entrepreneurwithbroadexperiencesanddepthineachof my skills. Earlyinmycareer withNCR
I was givenopportunitiesonmanufacturing,salesandmarketingprojectsthat,withmycuriosityand
ingenuity,developedintomuchgreatersuccessesthaneveranticipatedbyeithermypeers or
management. These successes,Ibelieve,becamethe basisof myentrepreneurial beliefs,foundation
and can-doattitude. Todescribe eachof these accomplishmentswouldrequireaseparate chapterfor
each inthemselvesandthentogetherseemlikeacornucopiaof unrelatedhighlightreels;buttogether
describingone company’sproductexpansion,salesopportunitiesandincreasedprofitably. Myattitude
became verysimple –if MIS couldn’t/ wouldn’tdeliver(orlisten(alwaysbusywithfinancial reporting–
before functional systems)),we woulddoitourselves –I movedNCR’sinternal systemsdevelopment
fromprocessdevelopmenttodatamodeling,developingMRP,ERP,CRM, OLTP and directdata
collectionsystemsbeforethe acronymsexisted.
Thisexperience withNCRcombinedwithmyBachelorsof Science DegreefromRochesterInstitute of
TechnologyinIndustrial EngineeringandPrintingSystemsandmyMBA from the Universityof Dayton,
was the foundationformyentrepreneurial development
WhenI startedmy firstcompany,Source Information,Inc.,itsoriginalproductwastobe a
manufacturingsystemsadd-onfeedinginformationdirectlyfromequipmenttothe systemsof the day;
ie AutomatedDataCollection. My firstcustomerwasSouthFloridaWaterDistrictthroughCombustion
Engineering(NowABB). We modeledandspec’douta systemtocollectdata fromwellsand
automaticallyplace thatdataintoan Oracle database and thencreateda separate data model tofeed
theirAutoCadsystemstographicallydisplay the results(theycall itETL today).
Source Information’sfirstmajorprojectcame withdevelopingUSSurgical’s“SurgiTrak”system
(hardware andsoftware),asystemfortakinginventory,bysalespeople whileinthe hospital,of
Laparoscopictools,surgical suturesandstaples,transmittingthatinventorytoanOracle salesdatabase
and thentransmittingbacka suggestedreplenishmentorder –whichalmostalwaysbecame the order
and wasretransmittedbackintoan orderentrysystembefore the salespersonleftthe hospital. The
data model andfunctionalityare justascorrect today as theywere backthen,butthe equipmentwe
usedwouldbe antiquatedbytoday’sstandards.
We thentookthat same systemandfunctionalityand,withminorsemanticmodifications,useditin
Swank’sin-store jewelryinventoryandorderentrysystem.
We developeda“ResultsEntry”asan add-onfor PerkinElmer’sLIMSsystemwhichputSource
Informationonthe mapin everypharmaceutical,utilityandresearchlabinthe country(itseemed).
Source Informationdevelopedbeyondthe system’sintegratoritwasintoone of the premierSQR
Trainingfirmsaswell asan Oracle,Sybase,PeoplesoftandUNIXtrainingandconsultingfirm. Training
became the feedforourconsultingpractice – customersincluded,welleverybody,itseemed.
Consultantson-the-bench,beganthe modelinganddevelopmentof the ‘Out2’mediaproductwhich
spunoff as a separate companyafterventure capitalistsrequired100% focuson Out2. Source

2. Information’s trainingandconsultingpractice wassoldtoa large systemsconsultingfirmfocusingon
y2k compliance consulting. Throughthe whole processIdidtechnical speakingandpresentationsfor
Oracle,Sybase anda varietyof newmediarelatedevents.
Out2 MediaGroup is a longstoryto itself. Besidesmaintainingmytechnical expertise,Ideveloped(and
created) a first-handknowledge of NewMedia,franchise (UFOC) development,Sarbanes–Oxley,Reg-D
private funding,takingacompanypublic(SB-2Prep),Trade Mark law settingprecedence indomain
name vs Trade Marks law(commonlyreferencedintrade markarbitrationcases).
PostOut2, I continue tokeepmyhandsdirtyby assistingmychildrenwiththeirbusinesses,doingbitsof
technical consulting,developingLightsOnGraphicsandridingamotorcycle six timescross-country
visitingoldcustomerandfriends. Mysocial businesshobbiesandinterestsinclude ‘localization’of
websites,re-urbanization,newprint,newspaper’sfuture andClouddevelopment(it justmakessomuch
sense). Ihave alsovolunteeredatSCOREassistingnew business,creatingbusinessplanningcoarse work
and entrepreneurdevelopment/trainingaswell asbecomingavolunteerwrestlingcoachat myown
highschool Alma-materandthe developmentof aclub/ non-profitbenefitinglocal wrestlersandthe
sport.