Entrepreneur reflects on his successes and failures

Before he even graduated from Wharton in 1992, Joseph Ansanelli had already launched himself into the world of entrepreneurship. With Trio Developments, a class project he worked on with two Engineering students, Ansanelli created, marketed and sold a personal management program to Claris software company -- the makers of ClarisWorks. Since then, Ansanelli has pursued opportunities with Apple and Macromedia, plus founded the company Connectify. All the while, he's gained a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship and marketing. And Ansanelli came back to Penn to share some of his leaps into the business world, as the final speaker in Wharton's Musser Schoemaker lecture series. The series, which Ansanelli actually helped create in 1991, is run by a committee of Wharton undergraduates and a faculty advisor. Several times a year, the committee invites business and government leaders to speak. Previous speakers have included Robert Hurst of Goldman Sachs and former Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown. With the aid of PowerPoint slides, Ansanelli spoke to about 30 students in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall yesterday, discussing topics from the "dot-com graveyard" to tips on starting and managing a company. "One of the best places to start a company is in school because you have this cradle around you," Ansanelli said. "Naivete is actually a positive thing because if you knew about the hardships of entrepreneurship, you probably wouldn't get into it." He also addressed some of his failures, such as the Newton, Apple's unsuccessful attempt at a pre-Palm Pilot digital assistant. "In failure, we reflect, whereas in success, we celebrate," he said. In regards to the Newton, he added, "We did not fail enough." After the lecture, 10 students, selected by lottery, had a chance to eat dinner with Ansanelli. "I was interested in the topic of marketing," said Esther Hsu, a Wharton and College freshman, who was among those dining with Ansanelli. "I read his bio and was impressed at how he was so successful." Other students said they thought of the event as a better learning environment than class. "It's a very sort of personal viewpoint you came away from it with that you don't get in bigger lectures," said Engineering junior Prashanth Jayaram. "It was very inspirational."

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