“It's a lot of fun to be around smart people . . .”

Adam Lehman has been a Dingman Center Entrepreneur-in-Residence for nearly two years. A former Senior Vice President at AOL, Lehman is currently the founding and managing partner of Rocky Ridge Ventures, a company that invests in new business projects. Lehman will tell you he gets as much out of being an EIR as he gives: “Nobody gets rich from being an EIR. There is more of an altruistic motivation involved. I love to teach and mentor, and this is a great place to do that. But I also get exposed to a lot of great thinking at the Dingman Center—from students, businesses, Dingman staff, etc. It's a lot of fun to be around smart people.”

Lehman points out that EIRs not only offer students structured and informal opportunities for mentoring, but they also play a major role in facilitating new business ventures in the region. Often, an exciting synergy is created between the two. One example of this is an event hosted by the Dingman Center called “Capital Access Network Review Day,” which gives students the opportunity to observe the interactions and participate in discussions between EIRs and local entrepreneurs.

Last year, Lehman was active in the Pitch Dingman program, “a bellwether student-focused program” that gives students practical business experience. Lehman, who describes Pitch Dingman as one of his “most satisfying student experiences,” worked closely with Matt Fleischer of Hook & Ladder, a project where EIRs got involved in every phase of new business development. “Starting a new business can be a lonely and scary pursuit,” says Lehman. “The EIRs hash out the issues with young entrepreneurs. With Matt we tackled everything from business strategy, to what's practical and what's not, to who would make the best investors and partners, to whether the beer should be bottled or put in kegs.”

This year Lehman is working with the Center's Capital Access Network program, an important way that the Dingman Center reaches out to the entrepreneurial community. “It's a way of getting businesses to think through the more substantive business issues, and to make a strong and compelling presentation,” says Lehman. Angel investors make direct investments into a new business, providing them with the all-important seed money they need to get started. “Venture capitalists often get involved in a business later in the game,” says Lehman. “The Angel Investors bridge that gap.”