The magazine for alumni and friends of the UB School of Management
Issue link: http://ubschoolofmanagement.uberflip.com/i/109681
���We received a lot of support and assistance from the UB community that helped us build early confidence and momentum,��� Reich says. Reich and Weisman, seated at a conference table at Campus Labs��� offices, occasionally finish one another���s sentences. They have, after all, known each other since they were toddlers in Buffalo���s northern suburbs. The bond kept them close as they went away to college as undergraduates, and eventually both returned to Buffalo. Reich enrolled in UB���s JD/MBA program, while Weisman taught high school. Soon after, Reich persuaded Weisman to join him at UB to pursue an MBA, and they began to identify opportunities to realize their longdiscussed goal of creating a successful business. This was in the late 1990s when dropping out of college to pursue an idea was in vogue, following the model set by Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and other tech luminaries in the headlines. Reich and Weisman saw a different path to success, one they refer to as ���dropping in.��� Instead of jumping to pitch venture capitalists, they spent countless hours inside and outside the classroom refining their business plan with UB professors and administrators. Among them was John Schneider, an experienced entrepreneur and adjunct assistant electrical engineering professor. ���At first, I politely told them that I wasn���t sure I was the right person to talk to,��� Schneider says. ���But then Eric and Michael, in a very polite and professional manner, came to my office and accosted me. Basically, they said they weren���t leaving until I heard their idea and considered helping them.��� Schneider, who was charmed by their audacity and ambition, agreed to help. He met with Reich and Weisman on weekends. The idea for Campus Labs���a datadriven company to help colleges and universities measure and refine all of the important, necessary or recommended aspects of the higher education experience���was fairly sim- between its office in the Warehouse Lofts ple. But Reich and Weisman needed to test building on Ellicott Street and a smaller it. That���s where Salamone, Schneider, office in Atlanta. The big payoff came last August. Greiner and others helped out. They encourConnecticut-based Higher One aged the duo to use UB as a proving ground Holdings acquired Campus Labs for more for their ideas. ���I think it���s fair to say, in many ways, than $40 million, making the student-foundthat UB was a test lab for Campus Labs,��� says ed company one of Western New York���s most Dennis Black, UB���s vice president for univer- successful startups in recent memory. One of their mentors at the School of sity life and services, an early champion of Management, John Hannon, who now Reich and Weisman. teaches at Niagara Their idea was validated University, says Reich upon receiving the top prize��� and Weisman���s success is $25,000���from UB���s inaugural impressive because Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Buffalo, unlike San Entrepreneurship Competition Francisco, Boston or in 2001. When Reich and New York City, isn���t a Weisman graduated, in 2002 recognized hub for highand 2001, respectively, they were risk entrepreneurship. ready to take the business, then Buffalo has tradiknown as StudentVoice, into the tionally been a good marketplace. place for long-term jobs ���They worked really hard to and security, he says. Yet leverage all the opportunities the there are advantages. school made available to them,��� Because it is a smaller says Katherine Ferguson, associcity, there is less competiate dean of academic programs tion, and it can be easier in the School of Management. to gain the confidence of The initial years at people who can help StudentVoice were humbling. startups become successBoth Reich and Weisman Katherine Ferguson ful companies, he says. routinely worked 14-hour days, Associate Dean of ���I think going to UB six days a week. Weisman Academic Programs and being from Buffalo remembers worrying that his School of Management worked to their advanrusted Buick Century would tage,��� Hannon says. break down while driving Reich and Weisman, who still keep in to appointments. ���It was stressful and time-consuming,��� touch with many of the people at UB who he says. ���There was a lot of sacrifice. It helped them along the way, think so, too. The deal with Higher One, which enables certainly wasn���t a 9-to-5 job.��� By the end of 2003, however, they had a them to keep Campus Labs in Buffalo, small staff and roughly 15 clients. The long is expected to help them expand into new workdays continued, but so did the compa- markets and add employees to their payroll. ���We plan to continue to grow in Buffalo ny���s growth. By last summer, the client list reached 650, with annual sales topping $10 and hire a lot more people here,��� Weisman million. The company had 80 employees says. x ��� Cory Nealon University Communications ���They Worked really hard to leverage all the opportunities the school made available to them.��� Spring 2013 Buffalo Business 7