00064. How Paul Berberian — Serial Entrepreneur and CEO of Sphero, Sold His First Business for Millions and Subsequently Built Several More

On today's episode of Gritty Founder, Paul Berberian talks about his journey building seven businesses over the course of his career. Paul shares valuable advice on staying future-focused, optimistic, and gritty.

Paul Berberian is the former CEO and co-founder of Raindance Communications, a web and phone conferencing services company acquired by West Corporation in 2006. Before founding Raindance, he was co-founder and CEO of LINK-VTC, a video teleconferencing company, which was sold in 1995 to Frontier Communications. Paul is a distinguished graduate of the US Air Force Academy.

Some Questions Paul Answers:

When did you decide you wanted to start a company? (7:39)
- What was your first tech company? (11:08)
- What do you think is the most important ingredient for a founder? (36:41)
- What is one thing that you believe to be true that most people would disagree with? (40:18)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

About Paul’s background and how he became an entrepreneur (4:30)
- How Paul built and sold his first tech business, LINK-VTC (12:21)
- The story of how Paul and his co-founders took Raindance Communications public (30:28)
- Founders need to be future-focused and optimistic, but also realistic about what has been created (36:58)
- Thoughts on why people have trouble following their dreams (42:56)

Connect with Paul Berberian:

Twitter
Sphero

Also Mentioned on This Show...

Paul’s favorite quote:
“You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time.” —Paul’s father

Paul’s book recommendation:
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

More resources:
Reboot by Jerry Colonna