Corrections or additions?
NJ Resources: New Jersey Entrepreneurial Network
These articles were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on April 28,
1999. All rights reserved.
I am very reluctant to consider myself a success,” says
Abhay Joshi, founder of Discovery Semiconductors at 186
Princeton-Hightstown
Road. “This year I could be having a banner year and next year
have a bad year. In business, things change.”
By Joshi’s own account he has a long way to go before he reaches his
goal. He is working on monolithic opto-electronic integrated circuits,
which he believes will represent the future of telecommunications
(for microwave and fiber-optic technologies) and for the defense and
space industries.
His goal is lofty: to spend the next 30 years building a giant
aerospace
and telecommunications company on the scale of Boeing or Lockheed.
“I don’t claim that that is going to happen,” he says,
“but
that is my ambition.”
Joshi started his firm in 1993 and now has 10 employees in 3,100
square
feet (609-275-0011). “More than my entrepreneurship our growth
is due to my good luck in having good friends,” he says. Joshi
will make one of the six presentations at the New Jersey
Entrepreneurial
Network resources meeting on Wednesday, May 5, at noon at the
Forrestal.
Cost: $35. Call 609-279-0010.
Entitled “New Jersey Resources: all the advice, services, and
financing alternatives available to small businesses from the
state,”
the meeting will also feature Stash Lisowski of ACE-NET/NJIT
Enterprise Development Center; Ted Marks and Marvin
Wurtzelman
of T/MAC; Sal Sisto of Pinnacle Technologies; Robert
Frawley
of Smith Stratton et al; and Randy Harmon of the Technology
Help Desk and Incubator.
Participating resource organizations: Burlington County College
incubator,
Center for Technology Commercialization, Commerce Bank Central NA,
Defense Procurement Technical Assistance Center, MIT Enterprise Forum
of New York, New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, New
Jersey Economic Development Authority, New Jersey Entrepreneurs Forum,
New Jersey Small Business Development Center, New Jersey Technology
Council, Picatinny Innovation Center, Princeton University Plasma
Physics Laboratory, Princeton University POEM Center, Rothman
Institute
of Entrepreneurial Studies, Technology Help Desk & Incubator, Trenton
Business & Technology Center, and US Army, HQCECOM in Fort Monmouth.
Joshi insists that success is not related to money or good luck but
to a strong faith in one’s vision. Some of the entrepreneurial tips
he offers come from other people, and some from his own experience:
Start while you are young. Joshi, now 35, grew up in Pune,India, 100 miles south of Bombay, and earned his bachelor’s degreebefore coming to the United States in 1986 to do graduate study atNew Jersey Institute of Technology. He worked for a small companyin Princeton for six years, but his father had warned him to starta business before he became encumbered with family responsibilities.In 1993 he was determined to work for himself. He was 28 then, whenhe quit his day job and leased space in the Dataram complex. Sixmonthslater he met his future wife; a year later they were married.Be blessed with supportive relatives. “My wife,Sharon,has been a tremendous support through the venture,” says Joshi.”Her parents also have a small business and she had grown up ina business environment. When I told her I had a small business shedidn’t laugh at me. Without her it would have been very difficult.She has been the person who managed cash. I came with ideas but sheis really the one who keeps the show going, the unsung hero.””My parents had a restaurant business and I had seen the ups anddowns of starting a company. I used to talk with my father in theearly stages. He said, `Just hang in there. He gave very strong moralsupport, and he also gave me some money in those tough times.”Save as much as possible before you start. For the firstyear, says Joshi, money was very tight, and for almost one year hewas without a paying job. He taught at NJIT as an adjunct, “butthe stress level was high because of anxiety over the new venture.Since then, we have steadily won research money.”Reach out to those who can help. “When the chips aredown, whom can you reach to? I was fortunate to have really nicepeoplehelping me,” he says, citing fellow alumni of NJIT in Connecticut,Oregon, and California. Along with family members they invested inhis company. “We have been in touch since we graduated 10 yearsago. They have their own extraordinarily brilliant careers, but theyhelped me in a pinch with their hard-earned money.”Network to find resources. In the summer of 1993 RandyHarmon (now director of the Technology Help Desk and Incubator forthe Rutgers Small Business Development Center) and JoeMontemarano(now at Princeton University) helped Joshi find a semiconductorfacilityto fabricate his chips. “They advised me that state universitiesare ready to team up with small businesses and work together. ThoughI was an NJIT alumni I didn’t know the school was doing that. Randyplayed a key role when we won our first proposal with NASA.”Early in the learning curve, attend meetings and classes.”Randy Harmon was a good resource in the early stages and he keepson helping us. He tries to bring information on doing business tothe entrepreneur,” says Joshi. “I was on a learning curvefor six years and I used to go to meetings, but lately I am goingto fewer meetings. Last Monday I went to the New Jersey EconomicDevelopmentAuthority’s capital conference and found it useful. Last fall Randyinvited me to a valuation seminar; he knows where I am, that I mayneed to know the value of my company. I am glad someone like him isthere, who does that kind of work. Information at your fingertipsis always useful.”Believe in the vision, no matter what. “During theearly days of the venture, that is when you get really cold feet,”he says. “You are not sure that it is going to work. All theworriescome into play. You think, `Will it be a failure? Will I be a laughingstock?’ You are basically by yourself at that time. You are anuntestedguy and nobody believes in you. That is why you need to have a strongambition and a strong faith in the vision.”Evaluate the odds for getting capital. “The bestoptionI thought I had was to leverage the Small Business Innovation Researchprogram. In my previous company I had worked on the proposals, andI was familiar with the system. The chances of winning with a proposalfor the SBIR were one in ten. The chances of winning with a businessplan for a venture capital guy were probably 1 in 100.”Leverage the expertise of your colleagues. Joshi sayshis CPA accountant, Patrick Alia, has been very helpful, ashas his corporate attorney, David Sorin of Buchanan Ingersoll.Build brick by brick but move toward doing everythingin-house.”The only thing we outsource now is the chip fabrication itself.All the other aspects of manufacturing we do in-house — design,testing, sales, and marketing — with low overhead,” saysJoshi.”If the business looks very healthy in the next 12 to 15 months,we will be at a major fork in the road. At that time we will makea decision to build our own facility to manufacture chips.”Citing “Only the Paranoid Survive” by Intel founderAndy Grove, Joshi reiterates his desire not to be thought of assuccessful.”The irony was that while he was writing that book, Intelcompletelyunderestimated the strong current for cheap PCs. He made a big wrongdecision that hit Intel dramatically, and it is no longer the darlingof Wall Street.””Look at Compaq computers. In one month their stock has droppedin half,” says Joshi. “Don’t call me a success. Don’t praiseme too much.”– Barbara FoxTop Of PageSexual HarassmentMany companies assume that sexual harassment does notand cannot happen in their workplace and turn a deaf ear to reality,says Carol J. Northington, of Northington-Doviak, a humanresources consulting firm that conducts training and investigatessexual harassment claims. Her partner, Lucille A. Doviak, addsthat many companies do nothing until something happens. Their measuresare “remedial instead of proactive” she says.Every company needs to maintain a strong sexual harassment policyand it has to be communicated to all employees of the company, sayNorthington and Doviak. This decreases the likelihood of a sexualharassment situation and employees feel that the management caresabout them, says Doviak.Northington and Doviak both majored in business, at Rutgers Universityand the College of New Jersey respectively, and have more than 40years of experience between them. They were employed in humanresourceswith Mobil Corporation at its research facility in Pennington formore than 20 years. They co-wrote and presented a program that wasused to formulate the sexual harassment policy at Mobil. When thefacility closed in 1996, Northington and Doviak founded their owncompany.The partners will be presenting two “Sexual HarassmentPrevention”training sessions for officials, managers, and human resourcesprofessionalson Wednesday, May 5, at 8 a.m. and at 1 p.m. at the Holiday Inn, Route1 South. Cost: $175. Call 609-924-9711 to register.The workshop will cover a company’s legal responsibilities andpotentialliabilities with regard to sexual harassment. “Managers andsupervisorshave to be constantly vigilant,” says Doviak. “They can bepersonally held liable. As agents of the company, they constitutethe company’s sanction of it and hold the company liable as well.”The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission defines sexualharassmentas “any unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors,and other verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature. This behaviorconstitutes sexual harassment when submission to such conditions isa term or condition of employment, submission to or rejection of suchcontact by an individual becomes the basis of an employment-relateddecision, and when such conditions have the purpose or effect ofunreasonablyinterfering with an individual’s job performance or create a hostile,offensive, or intimidating work environment.” This has recentlybeen expanded to include any hostile or offensive conduct by reasonof the employee’s gender, says Doviak.Companies should provide appropriate training and have in place apolicy that prohibits sexual harassment and a complaint procedurefor employees to come forward without fear. Northington and Doviakoutline the elements of a good sexual harassment complaint procedure:Provide the option of informing the incident tomanagement.Provide an alternative route outside management. Anemployeemight not want to go to the direct supervisor, especially if thesupervisoris the perpetrator.State that confidentiality will be maintained to thegreatestextent possible.State who or which department will be responsible forthe investigation.State that retaliation is forbidden so others will notbe afraid to cooperate.Appoint male and female representatives. Though notmandatoryby law, this would be optimal because female employees may hesitateto report an incident to a man.State that unsubstantiated complaints will be closed andno action will be taken.When “friendliness” crosses the line and becomes”offensive”it constitutes sexual harassment. The line that separates consensualand offensive is so thin that both Northington and Doviak maintainthat dirty jokes, suggestive posters, sculptures, and the like, shouldhave no place in the workplace.– Teena ChandyTop Of PageTV Touts New JerseyIn an interesting twist, the long-standing wisecrackabout New Jersey — You’re from Jersey? Which exit? — wasadoptedas the concept for a $1 million dollar television ad campaign toimprovethe state’s reputation. “We decided to take something that washumorous and turn it into something positive for the state,” saysJill Scherer, a copywriter at Princeton Partners, the ForrestalCenter-based agency that came up with the idea. Prosperity NJ, abusinessadvocacy group created by Governor Whitman four years ago, gave theagency an assignment to attract new businesses to the area and keepexisting companies here.The creative team of Princeton Partners will talk about the processbehind the ad campaign at “Exits to Opportunity: The Anatomy ofan Ad Campaign” on Wednesday, May 5, at 6:30 p.m. at NJN PublicTelevision on Ernie Kovacs Place. Moving Image Professionals, thePrinceton Chapter of the International Television Association, issponsoring the event. For more information call 609-716-1737.All businesses in New Jersey benefit if the state maintains a positivepublic image, says Stephen Kukan, executive director ofProsperityNew Jersey. So far, he claims, “the ad campaign generated 200business leads, totaling up to 30,000 to 35,000 in jobs.” Someof the companies, he adds, are already in the state and areconsideringwhether or not to stay.If you want a copy of the ad to benefit your business, contactProsperityNJ at 609-984-4924.In June, Prosperity NJ will launch the second initiative in the”ExitTo Opportunity” campaign — print ads in national magazineslike Newsweek and Time. The television ads will run again in fall,covering the markets between Boston and Washington.– Mindy SherwoodTop Of PageFor Kids, TV’s Violent,& Also a WastelandThere’s nothing good to watch on TV. It’s a lamentfamiliarto many, including noted authority on the power of television,NewtonN. Minow. Minow is a Chicago-based lawyer, former commissionerof the Federal Communications Commission, and former chairman of PBS.He has been writing and talking about broadcasters’ little-knownresponsibilityto act in the public interest for almost 40 years.Minow will speak on “Television, Children, and The FirstAmendment:What Television is Doing to Children, and What We Can Do About It”on Monday, May 3, at 5 p.m. in the Betts Auditorium in the Schoolof Architecture on the Princeton University campus.This topic was also the subject of Minow’s 1995 book “Abandonedin the Wasteland: Children, Television and the First Amendment,”co-authored with Craig L. LaMay. The book is particularly criticalof the amount of violence shown in television programs and discussesits negative impact on children. For this reason alone, in light ofthe Littleton, Colorado, killings, Minow’s Princeton appearance issure to be noteworthy.Back in 1961, while serving as chairman of the FCC, Minow gainednationalattention when he expressed his views on the vacuousness of TV.Appointedas chair by President Kennedy at age 34, Minow memorably labeled themedium a “vast wasteland” during a speech to the NationalAssociation of Broadcasters. He championed the view that the airwavesshould be considered a valuable natural resource whose unfettereduse by broadcasters carriers with it an obligation to produce qualityprogramming.In 1997 he reiterated another controversial position advocating theabolishment of all paid political advertising and requiringbroadcastersto give free airtime to candidates. Minow previously discussed theeffect access to the airwaves has on national elections in his 1973book “Presidential Television.”Minow summarized his views on TV and the First Amendment in a recentinterview with the editors of the series Contemporary Authors:”TheFirst Amendment does not stand as an obstacle to improvement as longas we do not confuse the right to do something with the right thingto do.”– Caroline CalogeroNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
