Every day it seems I hear something about a new innovation or startup company. What I don’t typically hear, however, is the work that goes into the idea, design, and implementation of such companies. In his talk at this past week’s Rose Café, Peter Cortle discussed how he became an entrepreneur at a young age, tips on how we as students can become entrepreneurs, and the plethora of resources on campus for students looking to start their own company, app, or business. As a student with a career goal of having my own private practice law firm, I was particularly interested to hear about entrepreneurship and the concept of selling yourself and your product.

Throughout our discussion, Mr. Cortle raised various points about the beginning processes of entrepreneurship that stood out to me. For instance, he said that customer acquisition and customer response to an idea or product should occur in-person, rather than through an online survey or through the phone. This point made me realize the importance of personal interaction when first implementing an idea or business. For me, in law, this means that I need to assess a specific location, such as a city, and talk to individual people in that location to hear and understand their specific concerns and different legal needs to determine if that is where I should practice law. Mr. Cortle also emphasized the alumni network of Cornell, and how many successful entrepreneurs who went to Cornell are more than willing to help and give advice to current students aspiring to be entrepreneurs and business owners.

I find it comforting the number of resources Cornell offers for prospective entrepreneurs in a variety of fields, even for future lawyers looking to own their own practice one day, like me. I found that Mr. Cortle’s talk was very informative and even helped me reaffirm my own career goal of owning a private law practice one day. I hope to use the lessons learned from Mr. Cortle’s talk, such as the idea of selling yourself, along with Cornell’s vast resources, in order to assist me in accomplishing my goal.