Fire in the Belly

By Jeanette DeDiemar '88 FireInTheBelly

Growing up in Mequon, Kevin Carboni, a 1984 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, never foresaw a journey from journalism major to running an award-winning innovative creative agency in western Wisconsin. That trek, 25 years in the making, started in the classroom and spanned four years as a professional stand-up comedian followed by various gigs at several large advertising agencies, including J. Walter Thompson, one of the nation's largest. Today, as founder of the Harvest Moon Creative Agency, headquartered in La Crosse, Carboni is the creative director behind several national ad campaigns, including Country Kitchen, Ford Motor Company, Allen-Edmond Shoe Corp. and Northland Cranberries.

Is Carboni a typical entrepreneur? He would most likely say "no." But Harvest Moon's track record is a testimonial to the contrary. Carboni credits UW Oshkosh for laying the inspirational groundwork he needed to become a success. Being innovative isn't something Carboni says he set out to do. Nevertheless, the mentorship and extra effort of three faculty members helped pave the way.

After feeling over his head as a music major, Carboni found a mentor in Wally Messner, who saw something in Carboni and decided he would teach him the craft of writing songs. Carboni uses that skill today when working with music producers. And it was the journalism faculty who taught him focused, effective writing and the importance of deadlines. William Scrivner, assistant professor emeritus, and Margaret "Peggy" Davidson, emeritus professor, shaped his understanding of effective copy writing.

Taking risks
It's the willingness to take a risk that often characterizes an entrepreneur, Carboni said. "You're a gambler, marathoner, chameleon and sea captain."

KevinCarboni These skills and others learned along the way impacted Harvest Moon's successful track record and the company's philosophy. He and co-owner, Lyle Blanchard, are committed to an effective business strategy and environment of no politics and no surprises.

"We have grown every year since inception," Carboni said. "If you are a client, you won't be startled by a bill or by what a project will entail nor by the product we produce. We have hired genuine, talented people who are quick to subscribe to this philosophy. We truly strive to run an organization with no politics. Life is too short."

Carboni's viewpoint seems to resonate with today's entrepreneurial culture, said Charlie Goff, BS '73, general partner of the New Capital Fund, a private equity fund focused on life sciences and information technology. With nearly $10 million of committed capital and 76 limited partners, New Capital, located in Appleton, works with promising high-impact businesses throughout the region.

"Successful entrepreneurs are those who can visualize opportunities," said Goff, who majored in math and science at UW Oshkosh. He cites Reed Hastings, the founder of the world's largest online movie rental service Netflix, who got his inspiration after getting upset with a late fee charge from his local DVD rental store. Hastings went on to create the subscription company that offers more than 100,000 DVD titles and more than 12,000 downloadable and streamable titles without late fees. "Why didn't Blockbuster think of that?" Goff said.

Seizing the opportunity
Jere Dhein BBA '72 and MBA '80, seized his entrepreneurial opportunity by aggressively re-inventing and capturing a large market space in a reusable packaging sector. As CEO of Tosca Ltd., for the past 17 years, Dhein and his business partner, John Frey, built an impressive market share by cleaning and refurbishing the pallets used to ship large containers of cheese. Dhein, whose company shipped and cleaned its own shipping pallets, approached cheese producers who cleaned their own pallets, and offered to provide the service. Tosca's standardized cleaning and verifiable sanitization service was "music to the ears of professionals" charged with enhancing efficiencies, improving quality and reducing cost in the supply chain.

Today, Tosca, which grew from one small plant in Green Bay to an organization in seven states employing 150 people, owns a fleet of 325,000, 640-pound cheese containers and provides reconditioning services for the 150,000 containers owned by one of its major customers.

Common denominators
What are the common denominators that define successful entrepreneurs? According to Goff, it's a "fire in the belly" - the ability to live and breathe your own business and a supreme self-confidence coupled with a high comfort level for ambiguity and change.

"They are work-alcoholics, though they usually don't think of what they are doing as work, but rather as a contest of sorts," Goff said.

Paul A. Jones, UW Oshkosh's entrepreneur-in-residence and founding president of the Council for Innovation - a membership-driven organization established by UW Oshkosh to promote high-growth, high-impact entrepreneurial companies and accelerate the entrepreneurial culture - shares Goff's viewpoint.

"You've got to have 'situational awareness' - you need to know all of the players in the market you are after - the customers, the competitors, the distribution channels, the talent. And you need to know the lingo and the culture," Jones said.

True entrepreneurs, unlike most small business owners - who employ more than 50 percent of the private workforce - are the backbone of the economy, Jones said. The differentiator is that entrepreneurs are seeking to generate wealth through innovation - by creating new products or processes that allow for intellectual property protection.

Where will the next generation of entrepreneurs come from? According to the U.S. Department of Labor, nearly 80 percent of would-be entrepreneurs are between 18 and 34 years old. A 2005 Junior Achievement poll reported that nearly 69 percent of teenagers participating in a survey wanted to become entrepreneurs even though they anticipated that it would not be an easy journey.

Some of those future leaders might enroll in Burk Tower's Business 383 Entrepreneurship class, just one of 16 UW Oshkosh courses focused on developing business acumen by focusing on the analytical and conceptual skills in entrepreneurship and new venture management. The course, which includes the writing and presentation of a business plan, brings real-world entrepreneurial practitioners into the classroom. UW Oshkosh's College of Business offers a nine-credit emphasis for business majors in entrepreneurship and small business management.

Then there is the Young Entrepreneurs Society (YES), a campus organization that facilitates and encourages the development of entrepreneurs. YES offers mentorship and resources for students to navigate through developing and implementing a business idea and plan. Students can participate in one of the dozens of internships offered through the Center for Community Partnerships or Council for Innovation and work alongside a serial entrepreneur.

Others will network with the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Network, a one-stop resource that connects small business owners, entrepreneurs and support infrastructures, such as funding resources, regional economic development partners and business support agencies.

Those who begin their entrepreneurial journey in the New North can take advantage of the Council for Innovation, which serves as a catalyst for the entrepreneurial spirit, said Meridith Jaeger, its executive director.

"CFI cultivates a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship to vault our local community's innovative companies into and across the regional, national and global economies as high-impact businesses."

And for some, like Carboni and Goff, it's the critical-thinking foundation at the core of UW Oshkosh's liberal education curriculum that prepared them for their entrepreneurial journey.

"In terms of skills needed to get into high-growth businesses, they need to know the way the world works, which is different from the big/small business world," Jones said. "Beyond that, they need to be generalists. Even the techies need to have some general awareness of the other aspects of running and growing high-impact businesses, if they want to maximize their chances for success."

And that is at the heart of the liberal education commitment at UW Oshkosh, which advocates a philosophy of education that empowers individuals with broad knowledge and transferable skills and a strong sense of values, ethics and civic engagement, according to E. Alan Hartman, interim provost.

These broad goals, outlined by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, have endured even as the courses and requirements that comprise a liberal education have changed over the years. Characterized by challenging encounters with important and relevant issues today and throughout history, a liberal education prepares university graduates for both socially valued work and civic leadership. The general education curriculum with broad exposure to multiple disciplines and ways of knowing, along with more in-depth study in at least one field or area of concentration, is an effective foundation for budding entrepreneurs. UW Oshkosh faculty are serving as a national model for the development and implementation of liberal education reform.

A healthy debate
Across the business community and in higher education, there is a healthy debate as to whether or not entrepreneurism is a teachable skill. According to Donald Kuratko's 2005 article "The emergence of entrepreneurship education: development, trends and challenges" at entrepreneur.com, "The number of colleges and universities that offer courses related to entrepreneurship has grown from a handful in the 1970s to over 1,600 in 2005."

Students From Carboni's perspective, preparing someone to be an entrepreneur requires both education and a little bit of experience in everything, "even if it doesn't seem like it is quite connected for the career or business they want to chase."

The future of entrepreneurship in northeastern Wisconsin is a topic of discussion in the classroom and throughout the region. At a time when the resolution of the global financial crisis remains muddy, attracting and retaining entrepreneurs is worth the conversation.

That's where universities and economic development agencies and venture and angel investors can impact the next generation of entrepreneurial culture.

With the instability of corporate employment, according to Goff, there are many more people considering entrepreneurial opportunities. These opportunities might be found in the next generation of hot industries, according to entrepreneur.com's "2008 Hot List," which predicts a diverse portfolio from specialty shoes and apparel to Web applications to pubs, senior services and healthcare staffing.

"Here in the New North, we are living in a region that, in many ways, is still living off the labors of the generation of high-impact business entrepreneurs that built the paper industry a 100 years ago and more. It's a great legacy, but it's time for a new generation to build a new foundation for the next 100 years," Jones said.

One thing seems certain about the next generation of entrepreneurs: A spark of ability and the essence of critical thinking are necessary to transform ideas into action.

Editor's Note: UW Oshkosh has spearheaded creative efforts and partnerships throughout the region to encourage and support entrepreneurs and small business owners. For more information visit:

Center for Community Partnerships: www.uwopartners.org (920) 424-2367
Council for Innovation: www.cfiportal.org (920) 424-1444
National Association of Black Accountants: www.nabainc.org (301) 474-6222
Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Network: www.wenportal.org (608) 263-0398
Wisconsin Family Business Forum: wfbf.uwosh.edu (920) 424-2257
Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants: www.wicpa.org (262) 785-0445

The University is recognized as a national leader in liberal education reform. For more information visit www.uwosh.edu/projects/lert/lert.php or www.aacu.org.

The graphic illustration, by Phil Sullivan '04, represents the iconic role of UW Oshkosh graduates who, having been mentored by experienced faculty through an innovative curriculum, become the entrepreneurial champions and leaders of business enterprises.

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