The third speaker in our fall DPELC-MSL Speakers Series was James Larsen, CEO of Datagiene, Inc. Datagiene focuses on “data hygiene” – its goal is to help businesses manage their data in a way that assures compliance with legal requirements and applicable regulation. Datagiene also helps businesses assess data value and streamline data request workflows. Prior to forming Datagiene, James earned a JD-MBA at Northwestern; in fact, his interest in entrepreneurship was nurtured through classes he took at the law school and through his experience with the Donald Pritzker Entrepreneurship Law Center.  Before law school, James had worked at Gravity Payments, where he managed the sales teams for the western United States, and at Vulcan, Inc., where he focused on marketing and public relations.

James focused his talk on key lessons he has learned on his entrepreneurship journey. Here are a few of those lessons:

• Lesson #1: Never start with the solution! Just because you have a clever solution doesn’t mean that you have a profitable solution, or even a valuable one. It is almost always better to identify the problem first and to understand the contours of the problem before you focus on solutions.
• Lesson #2: Try to establish your professional identity as an enabler and a facilitator, not an obstacle. If you treat all of your interactions as if they are arguments, or if you act like you think you know more than everybody else, no one is going to want to collaborate with you. Be curious and ask questions. Take time to learn about how other roles operate and function. Try to figure out common ground and shared objectives with your colleagues.
• Lesson #3: Never fall so in love with your idea or your product that you are too stubborn or unwilling to change. Don’t fixate on your first idea; instead keep a flexible mindset. Even when you are very excited about what you are doing, try not to get ahead of yourself.
• Lesson #4: To fully embrace the process of discovery, you have to get out of the lab (or your basement or wherever you are working)! Don’t isolate yourself. Rather, get out into the world and talk to prospective customers. Test your ideas.
• Lesson #5: Clarity of roles, responsibilities, and ownership are very important to a new business. Who is going to do what and who is going to own what should be clearly defined from the start. Problems inevitably arise when teams put off specifying these important matters.
• Lesson #6: Discuss performance metrics with your VCs! Establish metrics, schedules, and expectations up front so that VC’s can’t move the goalposts on you. You are the expert in your space, and you know what your company can do; it is always best to be super clear about these things.
• Lesson #7: Take care of yourself and keep things in perspective! Prioritize your health and relationships.

The meaningful lessons James imparted were based on his significant experience as an entrepreneur, but he also traced some of them back to the experiences he had as a student participating in DPELC and taking classes in entrepreneurship. It is always great to see our former students experiencing so much success!

A very special thank you to James for being part of the DPELC-MSL Speakers Series.