Developing Entrepreneurial Focus

Nicki Zevola Benvenuti is a Pitt alumna and founder of FutureDerm, a skin care advice and product platform, and FutureDerm Media, a digital marketing agency. She shares her insights into the support she received at Pitt to become an entrepreneur and her advice to current students interested in entrepreneurship. She will be discussing risk taking with fellow entrepreneur Mark DeSantis at the next Entrepreneurial Café, Friday, September 22, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Mervis Hall, Room 118 Event Space.  E-Café is where Pitt innovators and entrepreneurs come to network and support each other with other members of the regional innovation ecosystem.

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How has your experience with the Pitt Innovation Institute contributed to your education as an entrepreneur?

When I was admitted to the M.D./Ph.D. program at the University of Pittsburgh, during the interview, the admissions officer said, “I believe you’re going to do something great with your life. I don’t believe it’s this. But you’re talented, and you’re qualified, so we’ll let you in.”

It turned out he was on to something.  While I certainly received a top-notch education at the Pitt School of Medicine, I never felt like I was, as psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would say, “in the flow.” I got sick a lot, to the point I had to have several emergency surgeries.  I was tired and out of sorts, even depressed.  I took refuge in the hours I got to work on my blog.  And it made no sense, because the opportunity offered to me in the medical school was so huge and prestigious.  But at the same time, I wasn’t in my element.

Around this time, I dreamed a lot of starting my own company, FutureDerm, and discovered the Innovation Institute, which gave me an opportunity as a professional graduate student to explore my dream without sacrificing my education.  Through the Randall Family Big Idea Competition, I was able to pitch before highly-esteemed members of the Pittsburgh business community.  I made some lasting connections.

The Big Idea Competition piqued the interest of those at Innovation Works and AlphaLab.  Through those connections, I was able to raise a successful Series A equity investment round. This enabled me to begin building an amazing team, and moreover become profitable and self-supporting for the last three years.

How have you applied those lessons to FutureDerm?

I praise the Innovation Institute because it teaches practical, implementable lessons from seasoned, experienced entrepreneurs.  While some of these entrepreneurs have built nine-figure businesses, others have built more modest businesses, but it doesn’t matter. It’s not about parading around your latest valuation; it’s about learning what needs to be done, day in and day out, to build a successful, sustainable business, regardless of its size.  The Innovation Institute programs epitomize a lot of the nose-to-the-grindstone grit, dedication to excellence, and substantial amounts of patience that have made Pittsburgh such a successful area.

What advice do you have for current Pitt students who think they might be interested in being entrepreneurial, but are hesitating, for whatever reason, to try it out.

There are so many lessons I’ve learned through entrepreneurship, but here are what I would say are the big three:

First, do at least three vital things that are essential to achieving your central goal, taking about one hour each, every single day.  It’s even better if you can get to five, but you can start with three.

When you’re first starting a business, you’re doing the sales, marketing, accounting, hiring, firing, and heck, you’re even taking out the trash.  It’s easy to confuse “busy” with “productive.”  It’s important to sit down at least once a quarter and reflect on how you’re spending your time.  If you’re not spending at least three hours a day doing activity that leads to the achievement of your central goal -- whether that’s acquiring customers, improving customer retention, or something else -- then you’re not spending your time effectively.  And you’ll end up spinning your wheels.

For some reading this, I’m sure when I say doing three hours of “essential” work sounds pathetic.  But I love this Confucius quote: “It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you do not stop.” Drop by drop fills the bucket. I’m also a runner, and runners often say that you wake up with a different set of legs every day.  But you work with what you’ve got on any given day.  Similarly, as an entrepreneur, you wake up with a different mindset and motivation level every day.  Some days you’ll think three hours is pathetic and go on for sixteen like glorified entrepreneurs do, but on others, it might be a grind just to get out of bed.  When you are your own boss with all of the pressures of running a business, during the dark times, even that can be a challenge.  It’s for those days you need the daily minima.  Consistency is key.

Second, it begins and ends with sales.  I’ve mentored a lot of companies over the past five years, and the number one issue I’ve seen is that millennials don’t want to focus on cash.  Maybe it was the banking crisis of ‘08, or maybe it was the “greed is good” tone we grew up with in the ‘80’s that revolted society in the ‘90’s, but whatever it was, you have to get over the idea that money is evil to be a successful entrepreneur.  You need sales, or else you don’t have a successful business, you have an expensive hobby.  An expensive, time-consuming, life-sucking hobby.

Another big mistake with this is that entrepreneurs nowadays focus on the product rather than the cash flow. They believe that a great product will attract customers, but it’s simply not true.  You have to sell, and don’t think you can hire a salesperson -- no one will ever sell with as much passion as the founders.  The only exception is if you hire a salesperson and you’re attached at the hip for the first few years.

Lastly, know yourself.  Myers-Briggs, Predictive Index, Enneagrams, DISC -- do them all and know your strengths and weaknesses.  Make your priorities your strengths, and hire out your weaknesses.  If you don’t, believe me, when you’re an entrepreneur, it will cost you.  I am a big-picture thinker, intuitive, goal/result-oriented, determined, compassionate, creative, and resilient.  I understand that makes me tend to miss details, refute deadlines, be obtuse to what is going on in the moment, not network as much as I should, and appear as scatterbrained and messy.  As a result of knowing these things, I have hired an amazing team who are all of those things -- detail-oriented, in the moment, social/extroverted, meticulously organized, and great with deadlines.

I have a few friends who want to jump into entrepreneurship but are afraid, and, sure enough, their test scores show they’re cautious across the board.  I advise these types to partner with a risk-taking, outgoing, sales-driven co-founder who is also conscientious and humble enough to slow down and connect with the cautious partner. The true key here is to be humble and realize you cannot be and do everything.  You need to perform consistently on your strengths, and hire out your weaknesses, as much as possible, from day one.

Overall, there’s nothing in this world like being an entrepreneur.  It’s not for everyone, and I’m the first to tell people that.  The highs are quite high and the lows can be devastating, but it’s an amazing ride and one of the best decisions I have ever made.

To meet Nicki in person and hear her discuss risk taking with fellow entrepreneur Mark DeSantis, register for the next Entrepreneurial Café, Friday, September 22, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Mervis Hall, Room 118 Event Space. 

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