A few of weeks ago, Start Philly took the opportunity to check out Swarthmore College’s annual Lax Conference, entitled “Sailing in Any Wind: Risk and the Entrepreneur.” The agenda was an exciting one that included a plethora of round table discussions, panels, presentations and opportunities to network.  A surprisingly large turnout included a mix of current students, budding entrepreneurs, and founders/creators of successful start ups.

The conference opened up with a keynote speech by Peter Schwartz, Co-founder and Chairman of the Global Business Network, and a partner of The Monitor Group. The speech, both dynamic and engaging, encouraged entrepreneurs to look at risk in new ways. Mr. Schwartz asserted that entrepreneurs would have to learn how to “embrace failure” while noting that  one of our biggest cultural barriers is the idea of “instant success” which is becoming increasingly hard to achieve post-1990s. It was hard to feel discouraged as he maintained that future successful entrepreneurs would be those that had a willingness to persist.

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