Entrepreneurs aren't made-they're born, Overall Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Richard Caruso told an audience of Penn and Drexel University students in Huntsman Hall yesterday.
At an event hosted by the Undergraduate Entrepreneurial Group, Caruso said the Declaration of Independence laid the foundation for entrepreneurship in America by emphasizing the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
For an entrepreneur, he said, this pursuit of happiness can be very rewarding, but also bumpy and risky.
"Entrepreneurs do not assume they are taking any risks since they believe so heartily in what they want to accomplish," Caruso said.
He worked as an accountant before he grew bored with it and became involved with start-up companies and financial organizations.
One of the first deals he was involved in was with entrepreneur Fred Smith, who wanted to create a company that could compete with the United States Postal Service by providing overnight mail. That company went on to become Federal Express.
Despite hits like FedEx, Caruso said he also had some misses.
He turned down another entrepreneur, Ted Turner, whose idea of a 24-hour television news channel is now known the world over as CNN.
After successfully working for 20 years in the financial industry, Caruso went on to become the founder and chairman of Integra Life Sciences, which he said has revolutionized the field of regenerative medicine by developing synthetic skin that can be used to treat burn victims, as well as technology that can create new nerves and other bodily tissues.
Throughout his talk, Caruso continually stated his belief that everyone is born an entrepreneur, but, with time, individuals put constraints on themselves and their ideas that prevent free thinking.
By being afraid to make mistakes, a person's entrepreneurial spirit is curtailed and therefore cannot reach its full potential, he said.
A person can only become truly successful by becoming "an entrepreneur of your life" and pursuing one's dreams, he said.
"Take control of the enterprise of [your] own life," Caruso said. "When we are able to take control of enterprise of life, we can become ourselves. Decide who you are, liberate yourself and allow yourself to become passionate about your dream."
