Timothy “Scott” Case, a UConn alum and CEO of Startup America Partnership, will give the keynote address this afternoon at a forum for inventors, investors, and entrepreneurs – anyone looking to commercialize an idea – at the Student Union Theatre.
In January, Case was named CEO and board member of the Startup America Partnership – a private-sector initiative launched at the White House to link entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, and foundations together to encourage job creation and economic growth by supporting entrepreneurs and startup companies across the nation.
He was previously founding Chief Technology Officer of Priceline, the “Name Your Own Price” Connecticut startup turned household name that is one of only a handful of startups in U.S. history to reach a billion dollars in annual sales in less than 24 months. Case was responsible for building the technology that enabled Priceline’s hyper-growth. He also served as CEO of Malaria No More, a public-private partnership he helped start in 2006 to end deaths from malaria in Africa by 2015, and remains with the organization as vice chair.
Case also helped build a portfolio of intellectual property at the Walker Digital Invention Laboratory, and is a named inventor on dozens of U.S. patents. While still a student at UConn in the early 1990s, he co-founded Precision Training Software, a software company that developed the world’s first PC-based simulated flight instructor and photo-realistic flight simulator. In addition, he serves as the chairman of Network for Good, a national nonprofit that has distributed more than $475 million to 60,000 nonprofits and provides online fund-raising and communications services to over 5,000 nonprofit organizations. He is also on the advisory board of By Kids for Kids, Tickets-for-Charity, and ThreeJars.
UConn Today recently spoke to Case about the entrepreneurial potential in Connecticut and what advice he will give to promote private sector investments in startup companies and small businesses as a way to improve the economy.
Q What in your experience at UConn was important to your success?
A Meeting my wife, by a long shot. From an academic standpoint, the School of Engineering had a remarkable professor, Dr. Mallory Selfridge (no longer at UConn), with whom I co-founded the company Precision Software Training. It was an amazing experience for me; together we created many of the underlying patents for the company.
Q How did you become interested in technology, and what led you into becoming an entrepreneur?
A I was very fortunate to have a father who was an executive with the Control Data Corp., which at the time was a driving force in the nascent computer industry. I grew up with machines in my home and working with computers. My handwriting is so bad because by the time I was 12, I was using a key pad all the time and stopped writing. My Dad had a big influence on me, encouraging me to take things apart and put them back together again. I started my first company in high school, setting up computer networks. I’ve been starting and growing businesses all my adult life. It just went hand-in-glove with the activities I was involved in. I just expected it.
Q So what is the formula for creating a successful entrepreneur?
A I think there are common traits among entrepreneurs. They are natural problem solvers, who look at challenges as an opportunity and create value by addressing needs. They are persistent and creative, and unwilling to accept that something is impossible. America was built on the backs of these kinds of people, who took risks and pushed past obstacles to create the future they envisioned.
Q How will the Startup America Partnership help create more jobs and contribute to economic recovery?
A In the United States, the good news is that 40 million jobs have been created by startups over the past 30 years. Of course, transforming an idea into a thriving enterprise is a daunting exercise; Startup America wants to maximize the chance of success. While there is no single formula for success, Startup America has identified five critical points entrepreneurs should focus on to increase their chances of staying in business long enough to make the transition from inspired vision to actual implementation. These include focusing on issues relating to expertise, talent, support services, understanding the customer, and capital – usually in that order. When I speak with startup folks individually or at conferences, they tend to place most of their focus on financing, which is not surprising as there are always substantial concerns about how to find the necessary funding to keep the project going until customers start coming. We recommend instead that they place far greater emphasis on understanding their market, on testing their idea, and speaking to their network of advisors about whether their proposal makes sense and has long-range prospects. Invariably after going through this process, attracting capital becomes easy.
Q What’s your assessment of the growth projection for startup companies over the next two to three years?
A Acknowledging that new businesses will be the engine of our nation’s ongoing recovery, Startup America wants to make this process a little easier by building up regional entrepreneurial ecosystems to accelerate and maximize the growth of startups. Many of the elements needed for these ecosystems depend on assets unique to those regions across the country. In Connecticut, for example, historically there have been strong engineering companies, big companies like Pratt & Whitney, United Technologies, and General Electric – strong assets that create engineering opportunities. In addition, there is a longstanding excellent educational system across the state, and a history of entrepreneurship going back to colonial times. A key element to encouraging startup development in Connecticut is to create entry to markets and customers that utilize these unique assets in the region.
Q Increasingly, universities are taking inventions and discoveries from their labs and trying to find investors and businesses interested in exploring their commercial potential. Is this a viable approach toward building an entrepreneurial community?
A Absolutely. To do well, universities need to adapt. Undergraduates must become more involved in the process; entrepreneurs outside the academy must be invited in earlier and often to provide a better understanding of what this trial-by-fire process means. And universities should embrace the idea of creating startups as part of their education formation. UConn has come a long way by creating more opportunities for more connections between entrepreneurs and its deep pools of talent as formal and informal advisors, and by providing physical space for new companies to work from as incubators. These improvements are very positive for startups and their potential to be successful.
