S. Kent Fannon and Diane Fannon spoke at yesterday afternoon's innovation and entrepreneurship lecture.

University alumni offer tips for future entrepreneurs at lecture

By: Drew Mika

Posted: 11/9/07

11/9/07 - As part of the University of Rhode Island's Anthony J Risica Endowed Lecture Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, two URI alumni, S. Kent Fannon and Diane Fannon, spoke about entrepreneurship in the corporate environment yesterday. Their talk focused on the two types of entrepreneurs, intentional and accidental.

The Fannons presented in front of a small crowd of students and the community at Kirk Auditorium. The two began their talk by speaking about their experiences at URI and how they became entrepreneurs.

Diane said she considers herself an "accidental entrepreneur," which means she never intended to become an entrepreneur. Diane graduated from URI with degrees in English and education, but her career track fluctuated throughout the years.

Diane's first step to entrepreneurship started when she became a first grade teacher and then a design assistant in New York City. Later, she became a secretary for an advertising agency and eventually took a job as a broadcast producer.

Her fifth career started in New York City at Gray Advertising as an executive creative director and writer where she stayed for 18 years.

"American Heritage Dictionary defines entrepreneur as 'a person, who organizes and manages a business adventure,' and if you restrict your definition of entrepreneur to this you will miss out on a very fulfilling career," she said.

Kent said he calls himself an "intentional entrepreneur," meaning he set out to become an entrepreneur. Kent's presentation consisted of seven main points, each of which he explained with examples from his business background.

The first rule was plain and simple. "Stuff happens," he said.

He used an example from when he used to work at American Airlines. Kent developed a program for AA while he was in graduate school. He managed to develop the program in time series analysis, which would predict air traffic control. This worked well until the airline industry declined, thus explaining his rule.

Kent continued the lecture with several tips.

"If you are not a key asset you are not in control of your own destiny," he said.

He also discussed businesses strategies like, "keeping your eye on the environment and paying attention to what's going on outside."

Kent talked further about the buying and selling of companies and emphasized that future entrepreneurs should know their environment and know when to buy and sell.

For the remainder of his points Kent caught up with his life, talking about how he's been in the private equity world for the past five years.

"Entrepreneurship in the private equity world can either be an absolute dream or absolute nightmare," he said.

At the end of the hour, Kent discussed the pros and cons of corporate entrepreneurship.

"[Corporate entrepreneurship] tends to have more patience and you usually support a greater corporate mission," he said. "There are multiple stakeholders which means there are multiple chairpersons who are never anxious to pull the plug."

Kent said the cons of corporate entrepreneurships include corporate politics, the future and the corporation as the largest stakeholder.

Despite the cons, Kent encouraged the audience to take satisfaction from their accomplishments.

"It's not all about the money, don't burn bridges and every situation is an opportunity," he said.