Keith Thomas: The Successful Entrepreneur Recipe

President and CEO of Vive Crop Protection suggests several key ingredients to the making of a successful entrepreneur

By Fatima Syed, Staff Writer

You might be at that stage where you’re wondering what to do next. You’ve almost finished university or you’re bored with your job, and you have to take that ‘next step’. Now it has to be big, because we’re a generation that believes in making an impact, so you go to Google (obviously!) and start browsing through its infinite resources. That new movie about Steve Jobs is coming out soon; Microsoft bought Nokia, Marc Jacobs has a new perfume. “I want to be them,” you think. . .and an entrepreneur is born.

It’s not that simple. Inspiration is great. Ideas are even better. Actually starting a business, however, well that’s the hard part. There are tons of things to think about. Where’s the money going to come from? Where’s it going to go? Whom do I contact? How’s it all going to work? Most importantly, is this the right thing for me to do?

Bold Baby Steps

Keith Thomas is well versed with this process. With an engineering undergraduate degree and an MBA under his belt, he started his first startup 12 years ago during the dot-com boom, after working extensively in the corporate and banking industries for a while.

“I didn’t start off as an entrepreneur. In the back of my mind I always wanted to do my own business at some point, but I didn’t start right away. I chose instead to actually go through and get some more experience beforehand and also pay my student debt off,” says Thomas.

Thomas’ experience included work in strategy and operational consulting within larger companies, which helped him build skills, including how to finance companies, talk to bankers and operate and re-structure companies.

Thomas took his first step after deciding that he had enough background to really go for it. “I talked to a number of my bosses and mentors along the way – they were in their late 30s or 40s – who would all say “next year I’m going to do it” or “I really want to do this”. I didn’t want to be that way. I didn’t want to be sitting at my desk wishing I could have done it.”

“So I decided now’s a good time. I’d saved up some money. I thought if I blow it I could go back and do a job but at least I had enough time before I retire to go back and recover.”

Starting up

Most articles on entrepreneurship say the recipe for success requires a few ingredients. The first is an idea. The second, more essential, is drive.

“If you have a really good idea, there are certain things out there that don’t require a lot of money or experience in an industry. So things like mobile apps or social media can be started right away. Other things require technical knowledge and respect in your chosen field to be, say, an entrepreneur of a chemical company. So your decision depends on a whole range of things: the industry you want to be in, the idea, the amount of cash you need to get the idea going, and so on,” explains Thomas.

Potential entrepreneurs usually overstate the risk factor, as there’s risk in everything, says Thomas. If you choose to work in a large company, the market could change at a moment’s notice, or you might end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time and lose your job. Complete security is non-existent in any kind of work you choose.

“It all depends on the personality type. There are people out there who would be fantastic entrepreneurs because they like working in chaos: they like the ability to pull things from various areas and build something new and they like the ability to have impact. Then there are other people who like comfort and security that doesn’t change too much day after day,” says Thomas.

In today’s work climate, entrepreneurship is becoming even more attractive because the job market for larger companies is already saturated with thousands of applications and only a few seats to fit them in. “Entrepreneurship then comes out of necessity for today’s graduates,” says Thomas.

Thomas describes that a first time entrepreneur should have “two mutually conflicting thoughts alive in their head.” First: this is going to be the biggest thing they’ll ever do, and here’s where it’s going to go. Second: They’re going to run out of cash tomorrow, and they need to keep this thing alive

“The odds are against you,” says Thomas, so it’s important to be positive and idealistic.

Surrounding yourself with the right people

Being practical is important as well, since there is no guarantee. Thomas has witnessed many of his colleagues in banking, consulting and other fields who set up their own businesses at the same time as him and are now back in their banking or consulting jobs after losing a lot of money.

“What I found very helpful was having friends and advisers whom I trusted – people who were a bit older that could say, ‘you know what, this is a great idea, and I think it’s great because of this, this and this.’ I had people around me who had known me for a long time and who were very frank in telling me whether it was the right time to do something or not,” explains Thomas.

Thomas related that his current position as CEO of Vive Crop Protection is not a product of his entrepreneurship. It was a PhD student’s idea that impressed him enough to make him an investor and help build it.

“It worked out well because there was somebody who had the experience – somebody the investors would feel comfortable with – who could act as a mentor and help to train the younger individual who had the technical knowledge and drive. It’s a great balance of the two.”

Setting up a business isn’t all about money and investment, argues Thomas. “A lot of success is about actively seeking people. It could be alumni at the university, the executives-in-residence at various schools or family friends, but they need to be people who are willing to tell you things as they are.”

Mentorship is especially important when starting up. “You can spend your time working 12-14 hour days or you can have somebody say ‘don’t waste your time on that, just do this’. Then you can have more reasonable days and you’re more productive because somebody nudged you in the right direction.”

“Listen to everyone,” says Thomas, “and if entrepreneurship still makes sense to do, then you push forward.”

“Not everyone is made to be an entrepreneur”

“Entrepreneurs are like people who expect their kids to get into NHL for hockey . . . but only a small few get in. You don’t hear about the failed cases,” says Thomas.

Failure and entrepreneurship often go hand-in-hand. Thomas too had his failed startup experience the first time he tried it. He and his two partners were told by his lawyer that their business should be shut down because it was not doing well.

“But the three of us worked really well together, so we sat down and figured out a business that really made sense,” says Thomas.

Failure is often hard to hear about, but Thomas argues that it’s a defining moment for the entrepreneur. It can help them decide whether it makes sense for them to continue – like it was for him – or to decide that entrepreneurship is not for them, not necessarily because it didn’t make enough or had that great impact, but because “it did not make you excited to go to work every single day.”

“Not everyone is made to be an entrepreneur. Same as not everyone is made to be a doctor or lawyer. And that’s okay.”

Choose Wisely

At the end of the day entrepreneurship is all about the person, what they want out of life, what kind of work they want to do, where they want to be in ten years.

“Whatever you decide to do becomes your lifestyle, so if you have a lot of ideas and drive then you can push forward,” advises Thomas.

Thomas adds that, “some of the best entrepreneurs I’ve seen are those who just know how to get in there. Quite often they’re not the A students or the B students; they’re the C students, but they’re good at networking and reading people. They may not be book smart but are very street smart.”

It’s a complicated recipe: ideas, cash and drive. Add to that will, want, dreams, intuition, knowledge, skill and ambition. With all that in hand, maybe entrepreneurship can work for you.

Fatima Syed is an aspiring journalist studying English and International Relations at U of T. An idealist at heart, her dreams involve finding a better tomorrow and seeing the world. In the meantime she reads obsessively, rants frequently, analysis everything and lives the best she can. You can follow me on LinkedIn (http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/fatima-syed/60/999/586 or Twitter (@fatimasyed401)