A young entrepreneur and an established journalist ran onto the stage together, the entrepreneur dressed in pajama pants, in juxtaposition to the journalist’s professional sweater dress.
What followed was a dialogue between the two about young entrepreneurs in 2012 and how to succeed at starting a business.
Jake Sasseville and Donna Fenn spoke together in “The Jake and Donna ‘End of the World’ Tour (that starts and ends in Muncie),” in the David Letterman Distinguished Professional Lecture and Workshop Series.
The lecture series brings business, academic and media leaders to discuss economic issues and media trends, and it is made possible by a gift from Letterman.
Sasseville is premiering a new television show, “Delusions of Grandeur,” which is an online show after ABC dropped it in October, weeks before it was to air.
For the lecture, Sasseville drew on his past failures as an entrepreneur trying to sell himself for TV shows. At 21, he became the youngest host on late-night TV with “Late Night Republic” only to go bankrupt after the show went off air.
Fenn presented herself as the order to Sasseville’s mayhem — she is a revered journalist who writes about entrepreneurship and small-business trends as an editor at Inc. magazine. Fenn manages Inc.com’s 30 Under 30 Coolest Entrepreneurs list and has written two books.
The two debated what it means to be an entrepreneur in today’s world, and Sasseville said he qualifies.
“You’re calling me out because you think I’m selling thin air and I’m saying that’s what business is in the 21st century,” he said. “If you’re selling a product or a service, you’re not really selling a product or service, you’re selling a feeling.”
When Fenn teased Sasseville about the countless times he has been rejected in the span of his short career, he said he “loves” rejection. He described conquering his fear every day as going down a roller coaster.
“When you stop caring about what people think about you — when you stop caring if people are judging you — then life becomes really easy because you proceed as if nothing matters and you get s––t done,” Sasseville said.
Fenn offered her own advice for entrepreneurs and emphasized the success of Generation Y — or the Millennial Generation, from late 1970s to 1980s and early 2000s — success in entrepreneurship, attributing it to increased self-esteem and technology availability.
Fenn said Generation Y is the most entrepreneurial generation in history.
“Your parents told you that you can do anything you want and made you feel like a superstar. I think that gave people confidence to go out and start their own ventures,” Fenn said. “You guys grew up in a very different time, you were born digital and you have special insight into the needs of your very quirky and increasingly affluent generation.”
Fenn advised aspiring entrepreneurs in the audience not to spend too much time killing an idea by thinking about it too much and reassured them no one expects a new company to be perfect right away.
“You think you need money to start a business — you probably don’t,” Fenn said. “It’s never been easier, cheaper, faster to start a business. You don’t need a lot of money to float your idea to the public at large.”
Arielle Day, a freshman journalism graphics major, said Sasseville made the event entertaining and she enjoyed the back-and-forth between the two speakers.
“He was erratic and hairbrained but he kept my attention, which was good,” Day said. “And I learned one thing [from Sasseville] — focus [on your business] is sexy.”
