Alex Monroe has rubbed elbows, or rather computer keys, with the likes
of Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.org, Tim Westergren founder of
Pandora.com and Tony Hsieh, the chief executive officer of Zappos.com.
As the creator and founder of
GetYourBizSavvy.com,
Monroe contributes weekly interviews with successful entrepreneurs,
entertainers and innovators to his Web site, offering advice from those
who at some point were in his shoes.
“I started the Web site in
January 2009 to give young entrepreneurs, artists, anyone pursuing a
dream, a place to start,” said Monroe ’10, a management major.
Monroe,
who is passionate about entrepreneurship, said he found a lack of
information on the topic when he started his own research.
“I wanted something inspirational, a place where I could learn from mentors, to learn how they did it,” Monroe said.
David
Bechtold, assistant professor of management, is Monroe’s advisor and
professor in his corporate responsibility class. He said Monroe has the
rare ability of not only seeing business opportunities but also pursuing
them.
“Scan through his website and you will see a variety of
interests and a remarkable number of personal interviews with successful
entrepreneurs in these areas as well as with critical thinkers in the
field,” Bechtold said. “Alex has shown the ability to recognize
opportunities, to pursue them with determination and to overcome
obstacles that too often keep most of us from achieving our goals.”
Monroe
said he has found the support of his UT professors to be very helpful
in achieving his goals. As for his future, Monroe said he’ll keep
providing interviews every Monday to GetYourBizSavvy.
“I’ll keep
it consistent until I run out of entrepreneurs,” he said with a slight
smile. “I know I won’t get bored with the number of top innovators out
there.”
Jamie Pilarczyk, Web WriterSign up for
UT Web Alerts