We were pirates. And we still are. My business partner and I have been “stealing” our time away from Corporate America since the age of 19. So far, it’s working!

When we began building our first business years ago, we had to be “creative”. We didn’t have office space or computers so we had to “secretly” use computer labs and library study rooms for our business needs. We didn’t have money to attract top talent so we had a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver to whom ever we thought we needed to have working with us. We couldn’t advertise (digitally or in print) around campus because we were for-profit and certainly not interested in sharing what little profits were we making with the university. My point being, typical business hurdles aside, starting a business as a PSU student was tough.

Today, you have a brand new experience because of Lion Launch Pad. As noted above, my basis for saying this is because of my experience. In recent years, I have thought PSU to be a place that could be the next Silicon Valley - the place that creates the next wave of influential startups. The facilities are here to do so. The talent and the money are everywhere you turn. The semi-isolated location minimizes distractions from silly trends. With the addition of LLP, you now have a purposeful support system in place. Most of all, Penn State has a competitive pride that can serve as the very reason that we can, and should, compete with the Harvard’s and the Stanford’s of the world.

Entrepreneurship is more than just a money march. It’s about pride in creating something that people want in a way that they are willing to pay for it. It’s about waking up in the morning encouraged to work. It’s about creativity and craftsmanship. But much if it, if not most of it, is about time. It’s about stealing hours that you may have otherwise spent chasing a paycheck.