INPEX Inventors University™ Speaker Highlight: Barry Moltz
Barry Moltz has been running small businesses for 15 years and is the co-founder of Prairie Angels, a private group that invests in local companies during their early stages of development. He also is on the Advisory Board of the Angel Capital Association, which is the national professional alliance of angel (seed phase) investors. His book, "You Need to Be a Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business", describes the ups and downs and emotional trials of running a business.
Barry speaks at 100 business events per year throughout the country. He has received numerous awards, such as Angel of the Year, and was inducted into the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2004.
Inventors Community Speaker Q & A
Inventors Community: For someone who has not already read your book, "You Need to Be a Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business", what is the most important lesson someone should learn after reading it?
Barry Smoltz: First and foremost, you should not start a business simply because you want to make money; you should do it because you have a passion to see your ideas work or fail. Another important lesson is that you need to have the resiliency to ride the good and bad times in business.
IC: What do you get out of coming to INPEX?
BS: I will meet unbelievably resilient people who are interested in having their own businesses.
IC: Have you ever come up with an invention or invented anything?
BS: I have created three service-oriented businesses, which I believe count as inventions.
IC: What do you hope exhibitors will get out of your presentation?
BS: They will learn the myths of business start-ups. I tell the truth: you really do have to be crazy to start a business. I give iconoclastic, honest advice about the intricate relationship between start-up business, financial health, physical and spiritual well-being, and family life.
IC: What is your best advice for an exhibitor or potential exhibitor?
BS: The biggest part of doing well is to 'just keep showing up,' as Woody Allen is fond of saying.
IC: What are three traits every inventor should have?
BS: The first three that come to mind are hopeless optimism, resiliency and humility.
Presentation Date and Time:
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.
Presentation Topic:
"You Need to Be a Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business"
Barry will deliver an irreverent, straight talk about the complex intersection of start-up business, financial health, physical well-being, spiritual wholeness and family life. This perspective is augmented with other personal tales from the entrepreneurial front.
