Startup (in)Sanity: 7 Tips from a Serial Entrepreneur
Groves asks, “with a failure rate north of 90%, what can you do to tip the odds in your favor when starting a company?” He will share some of his keys for how to succeed in starting your own business, including where a Grinnell liberal arts education fits in the picture.
After majoring in economics at Grinnell, Groves went on to earn an master's degree in business administration from the University of Iowa. He has held various leadership positions in sales, business development, and mergers and acquisitions at AltaVista, iAtlas, InfoUSA, MFS Communications, SBC (AT&T), and Citigroup. Eric has also served as a board member for LogoWorks (sold to HP) uTest, BigCommerce, and More Than Words.
Prior to co-founding Alignable, Groves was senior vice president of sales & business development at Constant Contact for 10 and a half years. He led the company’s go-to-market efforts, growing the business from start-up stage to 400,000 customers and $200 million in revenue.
Groves authored The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing and is recognized as an expert on engagement marketing, email marketing, and local business. He has appeared on MSNBC’s Your Business and contributes to Small Business Trends, Fast Company, and Yahoo Small Business.
Alignable works to provide small business owners with a free place online to gather, make connections, collaborate, and work together to find answers to challenges and paths to new customers. It has rapidly gained attention. In late September 2015, Deborah Gage of the Wall Street Journal said “Since launching in January 2014, with virtually no marketing, Alignable has spread to about 7,000 communities in the U.S. and Canada and generated 500,000 connections among small businesses.”