Deirdre Sartorelli is the Director of the Angle Center for Entrepreneurship at Endicott College, where she also serves as Assistant Dean. In her role, Sartorelli’s focus is connecting and facilitating Endicott’s entrepreneurial network of students and alumni with the greater North Shore community. Previously, she worked as a managing principal for Rogue Wave Advisors where she specialized in lean startup consulting. She was also a partner at New Ventures, a small real estate development company. Her background is in technology and she has held a variety of senior sales executive roles with communications companies like Verizon, Avaya and Cisco.
Enjoy our pre-podcast interview below. You can listen to our BSU podcast discussion on any of your favorite audio platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud). Enjoy.
Where did you grow up? Revere, Massachusetts, a city north of Boston.
How would you sum up your childhood? Happy and immersive...childhood was about playing, doing, studying.
What word would your loved ones use to describe you? Fun. And she really needs to work on her golf game.
Who has been the most inspiring figure in your life? Easy answer. My father and mother. My father because he grew up in Chelsea, MA, joined the Navy and then worked for (then) the phone company. I get my work ethic from him. My mother because she instilled in us the “why” of why education is important.
When did you know you wanted to help entrepreneurs? Ironically, when I was working for a big company, Cisco Systems, at the dawn of the dotcom age and we were looking at these small technical startups...I thought…”hmm, there is something here”. Later on, in my own practice, I realized by helping startups, you can have the most impact on moving the needle for them.
What is the mission of the Angle Center for Entrepreneurship? We’re dedicated to helping students and the greater regional community accelerate and maximize their business ideas.
How has your role at the Angle Center for Entrepreneurship changed over time? Students will always be at the core of what we do. However, as we have added programming open to folks on the North Shore, more and more people who want to get involved with that programming as mentors, coaches and instructors. So I now see one of the important roles for the Center is now that of being a “connector” for all of the region’s entrepreneurial assets.
Why develop an entrepreneurial program for the North Shore? Our region has a rich history of innovation. We also are a short ride into one of the nation’s hotbeds for entrepreneurial activity: Boston. The North Shore can be, and, is, a natural conduit, in both directions for that activity. Boston’s rents are high. There are plenty of places on the North Shore for startups to settle in to and yet, still access all that Boston offers. The North Shore is home to many highly accomplished entrepreneurs...and the reason for that is that the North Shore is a great play to live, work and play.
What innovations excite you the most right now? Top of mind right now, I am very excited about Crop Shop, a startup launched out of Endicott. Crop Shop is an app that makes “farm to table” easy by connecting small-scale farmers find the restaurants and chefs who want high-quality ingredients. I am also following Gloucester Innovation, headed by “Ric” Upton. They are bringing the Internet of Things to the lobster industry, working out of Gloucester. Part of our more far-flung innovative community is Paramount Planet Product, led by Ariadne Dimoulas. She and her partners took part in a local NSF program put on by North Shore Innoventures, a community partner of ours. They are working on cellulouse technology that can be applied to lids and straws with the goal of diverting plastic from the oceans.
The Angle Center for Entrepreneurship at Endicott College has recently received a grant of $100,000 from the “$100k for 100” program. How has this grant helped the entrepreneurial network? This grant money has been transformative for the Center. First, we have been able to add an entrepreneur-in-residence because of the funding. The grant money has also let us support the build-out of a regional network for women entrepreneurs. We have partnered with a terrific local startup, The Spark Collective (www.thesparkcollective.org) led by Meghan Fennell, and held some impactful local events to bring together women on the North Shore. We are aligned philosophically with the Cummings Foundation as it likes to keep its impact local, while still having a national presence.
What experiences led you to be so passionate about higher education? There is no job more difficult and more rewarding than sharing your knowledge with others. And let me be clear, this goes two ways. I learn from our students and colleagues as much as I can ever hope to impart. When you have someone say to you “you made me think differently about myself and what I can achieve”, what more can you desire? My job is to help light the spark and then get out of the way.
How can the cross-over of entrepreneurship and higher education be improved? Let’s democraticize entrepreneurship and that’s a small “d”. That’s what is great about Endicott. Our students’ entrepreneurial ideas run the spectrum from the life sciences to running a multi-generational family business. The job here is for us to ensure everyone, who wants to, can see themselves in the shoes of an entrepreneur. So let’s take the mystery out of it and minimize the barriers. All I ask for is that students bring grit to the equation.
What is a current project, either from the Center or from your life, that you are excited about? We are working on a project with the International Business Innovation Association to develop an e-book on how to build centers for entrepreneurship in emerging urban areas...we’ve also begun to think about how to stitch together some of our partners to help with soft landings for very small international startups...likely with a life science focus...that is a thought in its very early stages...and, of course, our 3rd annual SparkU, our startup bootcamp weekend that we open up to the community...that’s in November.
What is one thing you would like to improve in the North Shore, or Greater Boston area? Making it easier, in one place, for entrepreneurs to connect...and find one another...and the resources they need...there’s two things startups don’t have much of...time and money. I want the six degrees of separation to be far less than six for people who have great ideas and the drive to make them happen.
You can follow BSU on Twitter at @BostonSpeaksUp and discover more inspiring stories at the Boston Speaks Up blog; and you can recommend BSU guests by contacting bostonspeaksup@gmail.com.
