{"id":173291,"date":"2021-05-26T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=173291"},"modified":"2021-05-24T11:03:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T15:03:29","slug":"meet-super-dave-the-werth-institute-venture-builder-helping-uconns-student-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/05\/meet-super-dave-the-werth-institute-venture-builder-helping-uconns-student-entrepreneurs\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet ‘Super Dave,’ the Werth Institute Venture Builder Helping UConn\u2019s Student Entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

They don\u2019t call him \u201cSuper Dave\u201d<\/a> for nothing: David Bruno knows \u2013 and does \u2013 what it takes to get the job done.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, he\u2019s logging hours on a video chat with a student, talking about funding sources and customer discovery and next steps for their budding business idea.<\/p>\n

And other times, he\u2019s donning a tool belt, manning a compound miter saw, and wielding a power drill<\/a> to help frame out a new physical workspace for a student\u2019s growing company.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Courtesy of David Bruno)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bruno is a venture builder \u2013 a trade he\u2019s practiced for the past decade \u2013 and he lends his talent to UConn students as the resident venture builder at the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like there’s no more noble or higher calling at the moment than creating jobs and economy for people,\u201d Bruno says. \u201cI want to create jobs. I want young people to feel motivated to go to work, and they really want to do something that’s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruno honed his skills as a venture builder as the former head of innovation at global wealth manager UBS \u2013 creating and launching companies with support from the company and then selling them or reintegrating them into the firm.<\/p>\n

After returning to the United States in 2019 after 25 years living in abroad, Bruno connected with Connecticut\u2019s entrepreneur community \u2013 \u201cThere’s actually a scene, so to speak,\u201d he says. \u201cThere’s people working on startups all the time.\u201d \u2013 where he met David Noble, The Werth Institute\u2019s director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat David’s trying to do, and what The Werth Institute is doing, is helping young people find the path that’s entrepreneurial in their lives,\u201d Bruno says. \u201cAnd I\u2019m just in love with the students, basically. I love helping them find the path, because I’m older, and I have more experience, and you can give that to people and help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first student venture that Bruno consulted on was 2020\u2019s Wolff New Venture Competition winner, Pisces Atlantic,<\/a> founded by undergraduate student Peter Goggins \u201921 (CAHNR). Since then, he\u2019s worked with approximately 50 students in various programs of study to develop, refine, and take action on their entrepreneurial pursuits \u2013 including 2021\u2019s Innovation Quest winner, first-year undergraduate student Raina Jain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid Bruno has brought a sell-first approach to collegiate entrepreneurs,\u201d says Noble. \u201cHis unlimited generosity has driven him to help students that simply do not know the next step to starting a company. David has numerous creative solutions for helping students get their product in the view of potential customers, but better than creativity, his energy and ability to move quickly when an approach isn\u2019t working drives home how hard the first set of sales beyond people you already know is for entrepreneurs to master.<\/p>\n

Noble continues, \u201cDavid does what traditional professors cannot do. He pays individualized attention to students that have a product ready for the real test of customer discovery \u2013 selling what you have and innovating from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we came back to Connecticut after 25 years in Europe, it was with a purpose \u2013 I promised myself I would come back and make an impact here on people\u2019s lives,\u201d Bruno says. \u201cMeeting Werth helped me fulfill this purpose and execute on it every day. That is something I am grateful for.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a recent interview, <\/em>UConn Today asked \u201cSuper Dave\u201d Bruno for his thoughts on entrepreneurship, what students can expect from working with him as a venture builder, and his advice to UConn students looking to pursue an entrepreneurial goal:<\/em><\/p>\n

We often hear that entrepreneurship isn\u2019t just starting companies; entrepreneurship is a mindset. Is that something you agree with?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I 100% agree with it, because entrepreneurship for me came at Year 25. I worked in corporations, and I was scared to be the direct entrepreneur that some of my college buddies were. Three years out of college, four years out, they quit their jobs and started companies and sold them. Some of my friends did this, and others are still in the corporate world today, and I was always walking the fine line. What I was able to do at UBS was find a way where I could live out my entrepreneurial dreams while not quitting.<\/p>\n

And through that path you realize that there’s no one way. It’s not like there’s a clean cut, and you say, \u2018now I\u2019m a startup bro and I wear my headphones and my Patagonia vest and I live in Silicon Valley.\u2019 That’s so clich\u00e9d. There’s so many other kinds of entrepreneurs. Some never leave corporations, but they start up new business lines that employ thousands of people. That’s entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ve got to respect that.<\/p>\n

What can students expect when they come to you looking for your help?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>I had one student recently \u2013 she spent the last three or four months observing a problem. And she actually sent out surveys to people, got N = 100 feedback, and then talked to 25 of them personally, and wrote down everything about that problem.<\/p>\n

Now that’s someone who’s on a path, right? She’s just super into this problem. She doesn’t quite know how to solve it. She had a bunch of ideas. And so we just targeted in very quickly on what she could do that would get her traction, so to speak, toward solving that problem, and whether she should think about it with software, with a platform, with a marketplace, with an in-person offering, with a book, with a service \u2013 how do you do it?<\/p>\n

So that’s what I do. I interview them, triage the situation like a doctor, and then try to set them on a path where they can actually see tangible results very quickly.<\/p>\n

I do a lot of things for people, like just connect them with others who they might want to meet to get their business funded or to get a person into their company who could work on that, either technically or business-wise. I like to help, because I’m at that age where it’s more about giving than taking, and I wish more people would actually realize they hit that phase in life and do it.<\/p>\n

What advice would you have for a UConn student who has an idea, but they really just don\u2019t know where to go with it or what to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>You’re in the ultimate petri dish! I mean, UConn is the best place. There’s so many people who actually will actively help you, unlike in the commercial world.<\/p>\n

You’ve got The Werth Institute, and you have CCEI<\/a>, and you have actually 50 other mechanisms in the schools and departments themselves to help. And you’ll end up at the dean\u2019s desk very quickly.<\/p>\n

What I’ve noticed is that the students who put their hands up, whether they’re a freshman, sophomore, or a grad student, they end up on our radar. And once you’re on the radar, once you’re on the scale, you end up with people like me and others \u2013 that can be a good or bad thing \u2013 but you get attention. And attention is a hard thing to come by.<\/p>\n

So definitely put your hand up and make noise. I think that it’s what you make of it in life, and enjoy your time at university, but definitely put in and give to get, because the more you put up your hand, the more you’re going to get back from people.<\/p>\n

It’s an awesome place to be.<\/p>\n

Students can <\/em>connect Super Dave Bruno on LinkedIn<\/em><\/a>; through his venture building firm<\/em>, Red Planet Ventures<\/em><\/a>; or through The Werth Institute at <\/em>entrepreneurship.uconn.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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