THOMAS S. VOLPE

Prior to earning degrees from Harvard College and the London School of Economics, Tom Volpe had worked as a furniture mover and paperboy, among other occupations. “I never had to wear a jacket and tie,” says the gregarious Braintree, Massachusetts, native. “I’d always done manual labor.” But his longtime fascination with both the stock market and inventors came to the fore when he entered the New York investment world. After setting up a science and technology investment banking group at Blyth Eastman PaineWebber, he became a partner in corporate finance with California-based Hambrecht & Quist. Within six years, he found himself leading the firm, but his own entrepreneurial aspirations were too powerful to ignore. In 1986, he launched an investment firm that specialized in rapidly growing companies. After thirteen successful years, Volpe sold the outfit to Prudential Securities. Far from retirement, Volpe spent the summer with his wife and two teenage sons at their house in Maine, cooking up plans for his next venture. “I’ve always believed if you can get at the front end of a big wave,” says the eternal optimist, “you can make a lot of mistakes and still come out doing great.”

Learned at HBS
As most people move through the educational system, they become aware of what they can’t do — their options gradually narrow down. My experience was just the opposite. HBS expanded my horizons by making me aware of what I could do, rather than imposing upon me what I couldn’t.

Best part of the job
I constantly meet new entrepreneurs who — win, lose, or draw — are fascinating human beings. To be successful you need to be a memorable person, and entrepreneurs are almost invariably memorable people.

Role Models
My folks. I think that the character of the human being is more important than his business ability, and that’s something I got from my parents.

Where the new economy is going
In any cyclical business — oil, gold, pork bellies, IPOs, venture capital — the only constant is that at both the top and the bottom of the cycle, people convince themselves it’s no longer cyclical. The Internet is a big deal, but it’s not world-changing. It’s another improvement, like the PC was. I have never been more optimistic than I am today about the future of technology.

Advice for current MBAs
It is a marathon. Don’t flip out because the job market is not as good today as it was a year ago. Think about what you love and what’s going to be important ten years from now.

Key elements in evaluating a business proposal
I’ve always been a big “bet the jockey, not the horse” guy. Management and quality of people are everything. Invariably, the Achilles’ heel of many companies is not failing to develop the technology, but figuring out how to get to market with it. How do you identify a prospect, make them a customer, sell them something, get out, have a happy customer, and make a profit?

Pro bono work
I’ve spent a lot of time and energy thinking about education. It’s one of those insidious problems that if you don’t fix today, nothing bad is going to happen tomorrow. But when we don’t do anything, it becomes a huge problem, and it’s not an easy fix.

Hope for your kids
I want them to be intellectually curious, engaged in the world, excited about stuff, doing what they love. I want them to have the nerve to pursue something that they are passionate about.

Biggest disappointment
What is, is. I don’t look back, I just focus on what’s coming next.

Proudest moments
Mostly personal moments with my family and my kids, but professionally, taking Genentech public and being involved in the birth of a whole new industry — biotech. I’m also very proud of starting my own firm and building it up.