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We Need More Heroes!
The Utah business community could use some heroes. When I think of heroes in this state I think of guys like Ray Norda, John Huntsman Sr. and Alan Hall. These are good picks. What makes these guys heroes?
Let me just talk about Alan Hall. Alan is a real entrepreneur. At one point in his life he lost it all. Then he came back from nothing to take MarketStar to the stars. He then has a big exit. What does he do next? Does he go off to an island and retire? No, he reinvests his wealth back into the community and is now the most prolific angel investor in the state. I met Alan last month and I was so impressed with him. On top of all that he has accomplished he is one heck of a nice guy. We could use about 20 more Alan Halls in Utah. By the way, check out this great podcast on Alan Hall.
Guy Kawasaki had a great blog post about beating Silicon Valley. In that post he talks about needing to celebrate your local heroes. Here’s the quote:
“Celebrate Your Heroes. Every region needs its heroes. These folks take role modeling to an extreme; they have names like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Ted Turner…Kids need heroes, so that they can say, ‘When I grow up, I want to be like Steve Jobs.’ in may places, a person is pulled back down because of jealousy. Sure, there’s jealousy in Silicon Valley, but our way of dealing with it is to outdo the person, not pull them back down”
Guy couldn’t be more right. Unfortunately, I see a lot of “pulling back down” around here. I think when we put our pride aside and build up real heroes we begin to see change.
What are your thoughts? Who is your Utah business hero? What do we need to do kill the tendency of “pulling people back down”? Is this even a problem? I’m I out to lunch? Is this post “too controversial”. Let me know what you think.
Chris,
Thanks for your mention about Alan Hall as a hero. I too greatly admire him for what he’s accomplished and is giving to the State. I also have to say that I GREATLY admire his wife though I ‘ve never met her. As an entrepreneur with 6 kids and he mortaged his house to save his business…good thing it worked. He said at the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum yesterday that it was a huge risk and they could have lost it all and because it didn’t he paid off his house and now his wife doesn’t have to worry about that and he gave her more money so she doesn’t have to stress…how much is he worth anyway? Geez. That is so great. It is so hard to “stand by your man” and just watch them make mistakes, but when your husband learns and makes a great decision, it is a success for you too..I’ve been married to an entrepreneur for 9 years now and we DEFINITELY have a food storage, I would never do life otherwise. We’ve eaten out of it a couple of times for extended periods and replenished…
One thing I have to say is that Alan Hall wants to help women entrepreneurs too…I was impressed with him yesterday when I asked what he was doing for us and he said, “if I knew some, I would fund them. and he asked me if I was ready to go…” I said yes and he asked me to email my plan. What a great guy. Don’t know what will happen but, he’s committed to making a difference for women in business too. He wants to support our growing women entrepreneur network, Start Up Princess…he says he wants to help us. Most VC firms aren’t interested in women type businesses (just TECH or Bio-Tech) and he’s different or at least was willing to look at my deal. Thank goodness!!! I appreciated his kindness.
Best, Kelly
PS I wish I could attend your class, I love your blog! (Janet is my friend and she told me about it).
Left by Kelly King Anderson on 09/15/2006Kelly:
Thanks for your kind words. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for helping Janet with U|Tech.
If Alan said to get your plan to him I would do it ASAP. He walks the walk and talks the talk. He is also very fair with his terms. We are lucky to have him in the state.
Left by ctknud on 09/15/2006