Last month's TiE event focused on entrepreneurship. Not just "successful entrepreneurship," but as the event's moderator, UW Professor and CantaMetrix's John Castle ("JohnC") put it, 'unsuccessful entrepreneurial experiences as well.'

"Innovation drought" may have become a buzzword among venture capitalists, and while this may be true to a certain degree given the current state of the economy, the five panelists dismissed this notion - collectively, they founded or co-founded more than twelve startups, and were CEOs of many more ventures.

The event attracted over 75 attendees and judging from this event, it was invigorating to see that at least entrepreneurs are apparently as busy as they ever were, lack of angel and venture funding not withstanding. The event got off to a lively start, with JohnC coaxing the panelists to discuss not only their successes, but their 'dumbest mistakes' as well. He observed that the immutable laws and principles of business have remained intact - including customers, revenues, and profits - though arguably, these did take a backseat during the euphoric boom years of not so long ago.

The audience sat fixated after Icopyright's Mike O'Donnell opened the discussion with what he considered as one of his smartest moves and what any founder-entrepreneur should consider, "Always reserve the right to cash out [from the startup] at regular intervals" despite this being perceived by the venture's investors as taboo. Goodwell Technologies' John Cofano cautioned the would-be entrepreneur to "take a step back, and remember that the world has existed so far without your amazing new product, so why would anyone want to buy your incredible invention?" Almost intuitively, Mike countered, "If you are able to sell your [as yet unmade] product first, it would be easier to figure out later how to make it."

Photo.net's Rajeev Surati spoke about passion, talent and common-sense all being tremendously important too, and should constitute the basic building block in any entrepreneurial venture. All panelists also agreed that human capital was by far, the most important aspect of any successful venture. John Cofano described passion as "the number of Saturdays you work!"

In response to a question from the audience, Tatum CFO Partners' Chuck Gottschalk agreed that having a mentor was very important for any entrepreneur and it certainly increased the probability of success in an entrepreneurial venture. When asked if an MBA is a 'requirement' and possibly even a prelude to entrepreneurial success, JohnC remarked, "Could be so, depending on the field of work, but in general, an MBA is not as important as the person behind the MBA."

There is no known formula for guaranteeing a startup's success, but 'right people + right place + right time + right product' comes pretty close. The panelists also agreed that lady luck indeed had a role to play in any startup venture's success. Entrepreneurship can be learned but not taught, and JohnC concluded the evening's agenda in a timely fashion, by reminding the audience that while all entrepreneurs must possess mounds of persistence among other assets, knowing when to quit is also a unique virtue!