The CEO Speaker Series, held on Friday Oct. 21 by the McGill faculty of management, introduced young business students to three successful entrepreneurs, all graduates of Desautels.
The three CEOs discussed their business successes and failures. David Segal, who graduated in 2004 with a BCom, is now the CEO of David’s Tea, and Alexandra Schwartz, who graduated with an MBA in the same year, is the CEO of Studio Breathe, a yoga studio. Samer Saab (MBA ’96) is the CEO of eXplorance Inc., a software development company.
Many students attending the talk were considering their future career prospects in business, including Maritza Godinez, a U3 general management student.
“[I came] because I have no idea what I’m going to do after graduation and so I thought it’d be beneficial to come and hear about other experiences people have,” she said.
Second year MBA student Alex Brzostowski spent the past year organizing the talk and acted as the master of ceremonies at the event.
“It’s been really great having CEOs coming in and sharing their experiences,” he said.
The three CEOs conveyed the challenges and the joys of being entrepreneurs. Saab spoke about his first experiences in the working world.
“I always wanted to sell things, [and] had to work and get jobs at other big corporations like Nortel and Bombardier,” he said. “But eventually I went out at the right time, there was no success right away, I had lots of pain first.”
Though all three eventually found success in the business world, they all described their early entrepreneurial attempts as a rollercoaster of optimistic startups that were met with disappointment.
“I was a serial entrepreneur, [was] my first business when I was 18 selling first aid kits door to door, [then] I started a software company in my basement for two and a half years,” Segal said. “That didn’t work, then I found tea and got lucky; [I] found a phenomenal partner with deep pockets and it worked.”
Schwartz spoke about the difficulties of launching her business after 12 years of working in retail in an entrepreneurial environment with very little corporate experience.
“When I choose to pursue my MBA in my thirties, after working, I didn’t do it to learn to be an entrepreneur, which I figured I knew how to do already which was work, work, work, and just focus on how much can we sell [and] how much can we do,” she said. “Overall you need determination, patience, and resilience and to believe in what you are selling.”
“I go by the seat of my pants, you have to quickly learn to guide the ship,” Saab said. “I have a CFO, a marketing director, I have an office of 45-50 people, and 700 people in the retail guide. But I am still very involved and I read every email that comes in and every one that goes out.”
Schwartz emphasized the commitment needed to run a company. “I have two kids so my day starts at four, I want to be able to check 300 emails and to prepare nice documents and check every bank statement, but every day is just work, work, and work,” said Schwartz.
“The hours are very flexible: you can work any 23 hours you want,” Segal joked.
Despite the long hours that they work, all three CEOs still spoke about their jobs with eagerness and enthusiasm, delivering inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs at McGill.
