Entrepreneurs, Wade Larson and Janice Cheam, in Comm 101 on Thursday, November 8, were both very enticing and captivating in their guest lectures. Janice talked through the concept, start-up, and continuanceof Energy Aware (a company selling meters measuring your energy consumption and its cost). Wade swiftly guided the audience through a brief history and explanation, as well as the future of UrtheCast (the first high-definition video platform of Earth). Both highly successful businesses started from scratch.

The lecture caused me to wonder: why do it?

Janice’s story spoke of long days trying to get Energy Aware off the ground while tutoring every night for months. Between the stress of launching a company while continuing to work and trying to pay the bills, I wonder: was it worth it? The opportunity cost of not only the money she and her family put in, but her time seems astronomical. I can only imagine that to want to push through all that, you have to want to be the CEO from the get go. The business surely could have flopped just as easily and all would be for naught.

Wade made me wonder what the biggest pull to become an entrepreneur is. He was in a good job, with 4 (almost 5) kids, a mortgage and bills to pay. What incentive is so strong that he decided to risk it all, and go for it? His project, involving millions of dollars, is an even more daring attempt than Janice’s.

I wonder if the two of them ever thought five, maybe ten years ago, that they would develop their own business, or if it was just a sudden click in their minds that they could and should.