Ever since entrepreneur Marc Steren started his first business—mobile ticketing company ZebraPass—in the late 1990s, finding solutions to problems has been his “life’s work.”
“People think of entrepreneurs as people out there just earning dollars,” Steren says. “The reality is that great entrepreneurs, and I certainly don’t consider myself one of these, are out there for just that smile and that service when they see the solution making someone better off in life. That is really exciting, captivating and gets you up in the morning.”
The Gaithersburg resident, 53, has founded companies involving technology, real estate and franchising. He is the former co-director of the Georgetown University Summer Launch program and in 2020 was named director of the Lab for Entrepreneurship and Transformative Leadership at The Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville. He’s also the author of three books, including The Student’s Guide to Entrepreneurship.
Steren’s latest venture, with longtime business partner John Jabara, is University Startups, a Bethesda-based tech company that offers an online curriculum to help students from low-income communities. The idea is to build personalized pathways to college, job opportunities and career success by fostering an entrepreneurial mindset.
“Entrepreneurship teaches you empathy. It teaches you to listen; it teaches you to get feedback,” Steren says. “You become less risk-averse by going through entrepreneurship. You’re willing to try new things. That’s what life’s about.”
Here are five things Steren says every entrepreneur should know.
Don’t partner with a buddy.
“Many people will say, ‘I’m going to work with someone who has the exact same skill set as me, thinks like me.’ That can be a recipe for disaster for two reasons: One, there’s no pushback. Two, when a venture capitalist comes in, he says, ‘You guys are exactly the same, I don’t need both of you, so one of you is going to have to go.’ You need to bring on people who have a skill set that you just don’t have.”
Find a mentor.
“One day you think you have a unicorn company and you’re going to be on a private island, and another day you think you’re going to go out of business. So you need someone to just talk to, to get advice from. But you need someone who you trust, who will give it to you straight, be sympathetic and empathetic, but someone who will listen to you.”
Your speed is your secret weapon.
“Speed of action is the really competitive advantage of any startup. Imagine an organization that goes into a community, listens, understands their problems, builds solutions quickly, gets feedback from the customer as to what works and what doesn’t work, and builds something out within a week.”
Investment is not validation.
“People confuse the two. Validation is customers using and paying for your product. People think, I’ve raised $5 million from ‘X’ investor. That’s not validation—it’s a belief that you may turn it into validation.”
Keep learning.
“I read or listen to over 100 books a year. I’m a junkie for learning. It is the exponential competitive advantage that I have as an entrepreneur.”
This story appears in the March/April issue of Bethesda Magazine.