Silicon Prairie News

Stephanie Healy is the founder and former CEO of Vente, an online direct marketing company she sold to Experian in 2005. Stephanie is currently running Doc's Choice Pet Food, a business she purchased after the buyout. Prior to the 2010 Young Professionals Summit, Joe Olsen of Phenomblue sat down with Stephanie to talk about business skills, entrepreneurship, and more.

Here's a quick synopsis of the interview:

• Most important thing was to have a strong business background
• She learned how to make money, have a budget, manage employees, and human resources
• Anyone can have a great idea, but you have to have a business plan that makes sense
• In the beginning, she couldn't afford to hire the people that were needed, so everyone wore a lot of hats
• Wasn't afraid to hire people that were better or smarter
• There's only so much that one person can do – only way to make things big is to have people to lean on
• Businesses have to be built one day at a time
• If someone is young, start a business on the side, but go gain real-world experience
• If nobody knows about your great product, it won't go anywhere
• Find out what you're good at, and surround yourself with the people who can take you to new levels
• Have to have funding, the right people, the right product, and some luck
• Hard work makes a lot of luck happen
• Real business are built on – not eyeballs, not the next big thing – they're built on sound business principles
• Always have to have your finger on the "next sale"
• Ultimately, it's the customer that's paying your paycheck