Very Short Interview, Pt. 2

In this interview, just as before, I had the pleasure of interviewing Van Saliba. Just as a refresher, Mr. Saliba is the President of Lumbermen's LLC, a very successful private equity investment firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida who has also had consulting experience with Deloitte. On top of that, he has experience with multiple investments of his own and is the definition of an entrepreneur through and through. Ok, now on to the interview.

#1. Q: One thing of the main things that this class taught me is to not be afraid of failure. Do you believe that this an important aspect of becoming a successful entrepreneur?

A: "Well Bryce, the mistake a lot of people make is thinking that success happens overnight. There are going to be times that you fail on your way to success, or in starting a new venture, however you cannot let failure really deter you want to accomplish. I know if I did that, I would be in a much different place right now. At the end of the day, I am glad you learned this concept at a young age, because many young business people simply do not have what it takes to cope with failure in today's world."

#2. Q; As a young entrepreneur, what you recommend for me as far as starting my own business right out of school?

A: "I don't really want to tell you what career path you should take, but the one thing I would recommend is getting industry experience and learn the industry trends before diving into your own business. Experience, along with capital, are key for the growth of new businesses, especially when considering younger entrepreneurs."

#3. Q: If you could write the course curriculum for an entrepreneurship class, what would be some of the things you would include?

A: "I would certainly want them to network, attempt to raise a small amount of capital as a class, and have them talk to a lot of local businesses. Entrepreneurship is not really something that you can classify as this or that, but those, I feel, would be a few of the main components of the class. I would also like them to prepare a report about what would make them, or their company, successful in the industry that they have chosen."

In comparison to the first interview, I was much more confident going into this interview having a semester of entrepreneurship experience under me. Mr. Saliba was glad he had the opportunity to be interviewed once again, and hear about the progress that I had made throughout the class. He thought that I presented some good questions, and that I knew a bit more about what I was talking about this time around so that was positive to hear. Overall, the interview and experience went very well, and I am very excited that I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Saliba not once but twice.