Recently, I read a great book, "Thunderstruck," by Erik Larson. The friend who referred it to me told me that it was a great murder mystery that takes place at the turn of the 20th Century. The story follows two characters Hawley Crippen and Guglielmo Marconi and how their lives collide.
I wasn’t as interested in the storyline about the murder, but found the story about Marconi intriguing. Larson paints the turn of the 20th century as a time of scientific inquiry and discovery. Marconi, credited as the inventor of radio, was a quirky boy with no formal scientific training who performed experiments in the attic at his father’s Italian estate where he succeeded in sending wireless signals over a distance of one and a half miles.
Marconi went to England and worked with William Preece, Engineer-in-Chief of the Post Office to help fund development of his technology. Later that year Marconi was granted the world's first patent for a system of wireless telegraphy, setting off a storm of anger and resentment among Britain's scientific community. Using the patented technology, Marconi successfully demonstrated his wireless communication system in London and formed The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company Limited.
With his family’s ties to wealthy investors (including the Jameson family in Ireland), Marconi was able to secure the funding needed to build towers to conduct transatlantic wireless communication experiments. Weather, faulty design, and interference from a German competitor led to many failures and extended the timeline and funding needs. Ultimately, Marconi succeeded in patenting several new inventions and the opening of the first transatlantic commercial service between Glace Bay and Clifden, Ireland. In addition to commercial success, Marconi won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909, gaining the respect of the scientific community after all!
It was a fascinating story that intertwined a sensational murder with the topsy-turvy path that a passionate entrepreneur took to conduct experiments, defend his patent, continually raise money, and ultimately succeed. Even though we’ve seen tremendous technological advances in the past 100+ years, the career path of a startup entrepreneur hasn’t changed much!
But, the entrepreneurs of today have one key advantage. They have the benefit of learning from Marconi and others who have gone before them and blazed the entrepreneurial path. We’ve been able to take what we’ve learned from these experiences of the past and build systems to support entrepreneurs accelerate through the stages of development more quickly and easily. Northeast Ohio’s has been called one of the strongest entrepreneurial support ecosystems; use it to your advantage. You never know–you could be the next Marconi!
Kerri Breen is the Vice President of External Finance and works directly with our portfolio companies to secure additional growth capital. Kerri brings experience in capital markets, banking, public and private offerings of debt and equity securities, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and real estate asset dispositions. Kerri received her MBA with a focus on finance from the Weatherhead School of Management and her BA in marketing from Ohio State University.