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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(This guest post was written by Ryan Bukoski, start-up enthusiast)

Everyone knows the age old question, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” A similar question could be asked regarding startups: “If a startup has an outstanding product, but no one has been made aware of its existence, is it really that great a product?” No matter how amazing your product offering may be, if you’re not taking the necessary steps to market it, then it will never see the light of day, and you’ll be nothing more than any other run-of-the-mill schlub with an idea. So network you must!

In today’s social media focused, locally-centric driven environment, it is simply unacceptable to not be networking with other like-minded individuals, both in your field and in your surrounding neighborhoods. People are talking, and it’s up to you to include yourself in the conversation. It gives you the ability to get your name and your company to be heard, and it allows you to incorporate your two cents, which you can use to steer the conversation towards piquing the interest of others to ascertain what you can bring to the table.

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