Like many entrepreneurs, Belk College of Business alumnus Bryan Delaney ‘03 wears many hats. Among those, he is co-founder of Skookum, a technology services company that was recently acquired by GlobalLogic. The UNC Charlotte Foundation board member also helped create the EO Accelerator through Entrepreneurs’ Organization Charlotte, a program that helps already-established businesses surpass the $1 million annual revenue mark.
Delaney sat down with Jeffrey Jones, director of Executive Education and Continuing Education at the Belk College, to offer some insight into the entrepreneurial landscape in Charlotte and how its evolving, especially in the face of COVID-19.
The interview is for Charlotte Business Buzz, a new podcast mini-series presented by the Belk College and the Office of Industry and Government Partnerships.
Many cities boast attractive spaces and services for entrepreneurs to sprout businesses. What makes Charlotte unique?
Charlotte's very much a growing city looking for its unique identity. You can move to Charlotte and really make a difference. I think there's an influx of talent coming from all over here. Everyone knows we have a world-class airport, you know high quality of life and you can certainly raise a family here.
Charlotte strikes me as a place that's big enough to feel like a city, but small enough for you to still make a mark here, and I think that's attractive to a lot of folks. I really don't think there's a lot of cities around the country that kind of fall into that Goldilocks zone.
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting everyone. What pandemic-related challenges are Charlotte entrepreneurs facing and how might they overcome them?
I've been in business for 15 years or so and I never remember a time when the government was telling us to stay home. That's very difficult as a business to counteract that. But I think one of the best things entrepreneurs can do right now is try to broaden their networks with peers, and connect with other entrepreneurs. There's a lot of pain and a lot of mistakes that are being made right now. So I think there's a lot of benefit in connecting with other entrepreneurs so you don't have to only learn from your own mistakes.
Unfortunately, Charlotte's entrepreneur community particularly outside of tech has been fairly disparate and fragmented. So that makes connecting with other entrepreneurs very challenging, but you know this also gives us an opportunity in business to take a step back and I think most businesses are going to have to pivot right now through all of this. So, how do you pivot in a direction that makes your company better? I think we really have to look critically at our businesses to make sure that we can survive this time period.
“We need that corporate community to support the local entrepreneurs. … All businesses need capital, especially in times like this, and the cheapest form of capital is revenue.”
Many entrepreneurs operate in tight spaces, or co-working offices - how do you see this changing?
One of the great benefits that co-working spaces give you is that ability to connect with like-minded people and peers in your space. Unfortunately there's just not a ton of places like that in Charlotte right now. So, I think folks who are working in those spaces have to make a tough decision for themselves.
PPE was nice, but I think it's also hopefully insufficient assuming this pandemic continues to drag on. Just like many companies have moved into working virtual and digital, I think a lot of the networking entrepreneurial community or a connectivity in town has done that as well and will continue to do that. I do think those co-working spaces serve a vital purpose in our ecosystem. You know they're running against how to pivot on these in these times just as much as the rest of us are.
You mentioned folks working remotely. Have you noticed anything surprising in your own experience?
One of the things that I've realized is that people seem to have less tolerance for what I would “call meetings that should have been an email.” So where people get frustrated and show up to a meeting, it's not what they wanted to deal with.
Right now, if you're not catching people's attention in the first what 10 minutes of a Zoom call, you start to see the participation drop off and people are unapologetic about that, which I don't think that's the worst thing in the world right because it makes the content providers think differently about what they're putting out into the world and making sure that it is as impactful as possible.
What more can Charlotte do to support entrepreneurs?
I think this is really simple ... but it is especially relevant after COVID: buy from them. You know this is a popular narrative we're hearing right now, especially for service-oriented companies like restaurants, bars, and places like that. But it applies to other businesses as well.
Charlotte is a very corporate town, we have a lot of Fortune 1000 headquarters here, and then we have outposts of other very large companies that are here. We need that corporate community to support the local entrepreneurs. … All businesses need capital, especially in times like this, and the cheapest form of capital is revenue. So, buy from Charlotte companies if you can personally and especially if you're in a position to do that for your company.
If you had a minute to give a pep talk to an entrepreneur starting out in Charlotte right now, what would you say?
That aspect of finding entrepreneurial peers is huge, but the other thing I would say is that if you are just starting out, take the leap.
I think entrepreneurialism is in vogue right now, and that creates a lot of what I'll call want-treprenuers. You just gotta take the leap and see if you can make it work. I saw this cartoon once that said “an entrepreneur is one who jumps off the cliff and builds the plane on the way down before it crashes.” There's a lot of truth to that because a lot of the successful entrepreneurs I've known – sure, maybe they had a business plan and things of that nature, but ultimately – they just took the leap, and they believed in themselves more than anything else. That's what leads a lot of folks to be successful, is that undying belief that they themselves will succeed.
Delaney is currently involved with the EO Accelerator Program through EO Charlotte. Note: The interview has been edited for clarity and space. The full interview is available through Charlotte Business Buzz.
Green and Gold Drive Business
The Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte has been driving business for more than 50 years. Established in 1970, the college offers outstanding business education programs at the undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and executive levels. The Belk College is one of the Carolinas’ largest business schools, with more than 4,600 students, almost 100 full-time faculty, and more than 33,000 alumni. Accredited by AACSB International, the college is committed to building strong partnerships in the greater Charlotte region and beyond as North Carolina's urban research business school. Learn more about how the Belk College is driving business at belkcollege.charlotte.edu, and on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
