Michael Chasen is the CEO, President, and Co-Founder of Blackboard Inc., an eLearning company that began before eLearning was a common term. Today I had the privilege of hearing him speak at a meeting for entrepreneurs, hosted by Bisnow of Washington D.C. I’ve been in search of success stories lately and the topic of his speech today attracted my attention. He called it “I did it, so can you!” Michael provided five lessons he has learned while taking Blackboard Inc. from a company having one product and a couple of clients to a publicly held company, with thousands of clients, offering software and services used by millions of people around the world. Interestingly, a couple of his ideas are in opposition to many current business models. His lessons:
- Put your money and time into the business, not your office. He believes that many young companies are putting too much money and time into having the very best looking office space and creating a successful looking outside image. He believes money is better spent on the business itself, creating better products and services. Especially in tough economic times, this is probably good advice.
- Take the time to network. He says that networking is time-consuming but worth it. Many of his investors came from the relationships that began at networking events.
- Share your vision to everyone who will listen. He believes that many people are afraid to talk about their new ideas for fear it will get stolen. But if you aren’t sharing your vision, and the specifics of your ideas, you cannot create the energy and enthusiasm needed to make it happen. You never know when you might be talking to the next person who can help you.
- Seek advice but follow what you think is right. Michael believes that leaders have to be good listeners and they have to listen often. However, in the end they must go with their own gut feelings about the right thing to do. When you follow too many different people’s advice you end up zig zagging all over and accomplishing little.
- Have a business model that generates revenue. Seems too simplistic to even mention, yet he believes that too many businesses are giving too much away in order to gain new customers in the future. Blackboard began by charging monthly and annual subscriptions while similar companies were forming and offering their software for free. Those other companies went out of business and Blackboard soared. I guess he doesn’t believe the Facebook model will work for everyone!
Michael ended by emphasizing the importance of having passion for what you do. His 
success did not come easy. Since he graduated from college he says that he always had a passion for education and, in particular, how to use technology in education. It took long days, little time off, and focused effort to make the business a success. Because of his passion, the work was always exciting to him and even became his hobby! Imagine what the world would be like if we ALL loved our job that much!
