I started it, unofficially, in 1991. The sale was finalized in late 2007. I started with loaned equipment from DEC, on an empty factory floor, with just myself and a fellow grad. He was a CS grad and we would later part peacefully. He never had ownership.

My toughest moments were people related. I never took any fancy business course that taught me how to manage people. I tried to micromanage and had a hard time letting go.

Eventually, we'd have three offices along the East Coast and a satellite office in the middle of the country. We had about 235 employees when i sold. What I learned was to stop trusting vendors.

I learned that I'd hired these people to do things that I could not do. If I could have dne them, I'd have not needed to hire them. Give them the tools they ask for, the room to do what they need, and clear goals.

They were different times. It was a Wild West sort of environment. It was hard enough getting engineers and programmers to wear shoes and a lot like herding cats. But, give them freedom and respect. Remember, you hired them because they were the very best you could find and they can do things you can not.

Advice? Be in the right place, at the right time, with specific skills, and in a position to take risks. Had I been unable to complete my first contract, the penalties were great enough that I'd still be paying them off - slight exaggeration.

It's pithy to say study hard and work hard, but that helps. I worked my ass off, often putting in 16 hour days. I'd continue to do this, even after being the sole custodial parent for my two kids. My ex wife is a bit of a mess. I missed a lot of their youth and they were often home with a girlfriend or a nanny.

But, find something that is missing and do it. Find something that is hard, and do it better. Right now, things look like a more intensive struggle for efficiency. How can you make transportation/logistics more efficient? How can you make it better? What services are lacking?

In my case, there weren't even many traffic engineers back then. The field, as applied by computers, was very young. The existent algorithms didn't scale or translate well to computers. I'm a horrible programmer, but I am a mathematician. I fixed that.

Similar processes applied to fleet management and to pedestrian traffic. Similar processes relate to outflow of people in buildings such as skyscrapers, shopping malls, and arenas. Even certain outdoor events need evacuation plans, for which modeling pedestrian behavior is important. Even your grocery store has probably modeled how you will move through it.

We had more work than we could do. I couldn't hire enough people and we just kept growing. I liked field work, so I tried to get as much time out in the field as I could. It also meant that I was on-site, a lot. I kinda hate dealing with government workers. They mean well, but they are tied to a dysfunctional environment.

Anyhow, soft skills matter. Be nice, polite, and an active listener. Listen for what they need, not what they are telling you they want. Be ready to try to provide both.

Sorry for the verbosity and disjointed post. I don't have words of wisdom, only my own experiences. I hate to admit it, but going to a good school probably helped a great deal initially. I went to MIT and just that was enough to open the doors. DEC literally loaned me equipment, both during grad work and to start the business. MDOT gave me loads of help and even followed my research from a fairly early point.

I'm open to continued responses, but I don't want to derail the thread too much.