Angela
A. Brown
Angelique X. Irvin
David
Ashley Morrsion
David Niu
TEACHING & LEARNING
Consulting
to Growth Businesses
Opening the Doors to Private Equity
OUTREACH
Wharton West: Back to School
Q&A with The Newly Appointed Director of The Wharton Small Business Development Center
Faces of Wharton Entrepreneurship
RESEARCH
Inside The "War Room"
John
F. Possumato, Esq.
CEO
Personal
Information
Company name /type: Driveitaway.com — partnered with Yahoo!,
Dealer to Consumer Online Used Vehicle Auctions
Education: Wharton BS, 1982; Penn Law
School JD 1985
Primary place of residence: Southern
New Jersey
It would surprise people that I….:
Have an almost complete collection of vintage 1960-70 Spiderman comic
books.
P.O.V.
(Point of View)
I
became an entrepreneur because…:
I’m basically unemployable.
Best way to respond to criticism and doubters: Ignore them
(or see if they can find work at the competition).
Best definition of a successful entrepreneur: One who sets
his own course in life.
Most challenging part of your job: Working with organizations
not staffed with entrepreneurs.
Biggest impact of the Wharton School: Specifically, the experience
at the Entrepreneurial Center in its early days with Dr. Shils, gave me
proof in the belief that successful entrepreneurship was a rewarding and
exciting life — that it could be done.
Best memory of your Wharton days: Dr. Shils’ guest lecture
classes that brought in successful, battle scarred entrepreneurs on a
weekly basis.
Close
calls
How
you started your business: Saw the growth of
the Web as an answer to an old (previous business) problem.
Pivotal moment in growing your business: Dawning of a strategic
partnership with a large Web leader.
Most interesting non-entrepreneurial job offer you’ve declined:
Foreign exchange trader
Biggest surprise you encountered growing your business: How
perseverance is probably the single most important factor to sustainable
success.
Most difficult decision you’re glad you
made: The decision to persevere.
Entrepreneur
to Entrepreneur
Favorite
Web site:
www.driveitaway.com
Book
that most influenced your thinking: Too many
to list
Favorite activity outside of business: Reading all those books.
Goal still pursuing: Figuring out what I want to be when (if)
I grow up.
Person most influential to your success: My mother, who would
still debate the presumption of the conclusion of the question.
Person you most admire: There are many, but in the context
of this forum it would have to be Dr. Edward Shils, for if he had not
founded the Entrepreneurial Center at Penn (first one in the country as
I recall), and I had not been fortunate enough to take his classes and
been exposed to successful entrepreneurs during a time when "entrepreneurship"
was not all that well regarded as a legitimate career path, I would probably
now be a very frustrated employee somewhere…
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .