Follow your dream: Great time for entrepreneurs

A dream come true. The idea I had to start MarketStar, the company I founded and led for nearly two decades, came to me one day while I worked as president of a startup company known as Net Line Inc. Our young firm needed people to introduce and promote our technology products to computer dealers nationwide. We tried several options for contacting and engaging the owners of these companies. We called them on the phone. We contracted with manufacturer reps. We met with them at trade shows. We advertised in trade publications. Sadly, none of these things worked. Then one day after weeks of frustration, we decided to hire and train electrical engineering students from nearby universities to visit computer dealers during their summer vacation. With this effort, we began to see some traction, but stopped the activity when the company ran out of money.

Happily for me, a moment of inspiration occurred — an “ah ha” moment. I saw a need in the marketplace and a business opportunity to start another business, my fifth. I thought to myself, if Net Line needed sales assistance, why wouldn’t other startups need the same help? With Net Line closing its doors and needing employment to pay my bills, at age 43, with six children at home and a very supportive wife, I began contacting small technology companies to learn if they would pay for temporary sales reps to promote their products. To my delight, the answer was yes, and we were off to the races. Now, nearly 24 years later, MarketStar is a global business with several thousand employees generating more than $8 billion in sales per year for our clients.

Do you have an entrepreneurial dream? I’d love to hear from you. Visit www.AlanEHall.com or email me at alan@doobizz.com.

Alan E. Hall is a co-founding managing director of Mercato Partners, a regionally focused growth capital investment firm. He founded Grow Utah Ventures, is the founder of MarketStar Corp. and is the chairman of the Utah Technology Council.