Dan Murray is a serial technology entrepreneur and currently serves as CEO and founder of Vertex Software. With a background in mechanical engineering, Dan is a pioneer in manufacturing visualization, inventing the world’s most popular visualization solution and ubiquitous standard for 3D manufacturing data exchange. His successful ventures include growing two prior software companies to $100M+ revenue and executing successful IPOs in the manufacturing and finance industries. Dan specializes in B2B collaboration and enjoys sharing insights that contribute to both the software development and entrepreneurial sectors.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- My partners, My mentors
- Marty Vanderploeg
- Jeff Traum
- Professor Jim Barnard
- Matt Rossi
When business started difficulties overcame:
“The challenges I had to overcome were basically getting back in gear after a few years off… it’s been challenging building a business across the street from the last one that I built. And so I have had to be very careful and respectful of my former partners and the way that I represent this new business. I have people who are interested and have come to join me in this new business and I’ve been very careful to let that happen organically and at the discretion of the people that want to join me, not doing direct recruiting. Recruiting has been really particularly challenging for me with my new business because I’m kind of walking on egg shells for the past few years so to speak”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Book by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Lincoln On Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times Book by Donald T. Phillips
Favourite Quote:
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” The Empire Strikes Back. Yoda
Recommended Online Resources:
- Google Keep – Save your thoughts, wherever you are. When and where you need it. Need to remember to pick up some groceries? Set a location-based reminder to pull up your grocery list right when you get to the store. Need to finish a to-do? Set a time-based reminder to make sure you never miss a thing.
- Evernote – is the app that keeps your notes organized. Memos are synced so they’re accessible anywhere, and searchable so you always find what you need
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Don’t give up, never give up. Failure defined you more than your success. And you are going to be the most successful if you can pick yourself up after failure quickly and get back at it and learn from that failure. I look again every day at the things that I do well but I also look at the things I mess up, the mistakes that I make, and I make them every single day and every day I am learning from myself” …[Listen for More]
More About Dan Murray:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Trust the unknown. Trust yourself. Let go of searching for answers and the answers will appear.” Brittany Burgunder
Other Quotes From the Chat with Dan Murray:
- “I love to have an impact I love to make a difference, the thing that drives me is not creating a software but creating business solutions for people that truly alleviate pain. And in the early stages of building a business no matter what level, no matter what role you play in company you are able to make a huge impact. And for me that’s addictive. I enjoy hearing from my customers tell me that they are able to get home in time to see their son or daughters baseball game or that they are able to get home in time for dinner with their family, they are able to take personal time, take a vacation they wouldn’t otherwise if it weren’t for the software that I built. That is really to me what drives me”
- “regardless of your background it is important to get out in front of prospective customers and listen very very well. So many mistakes are made when you don’t do that”
- “I believe in the concept of inverting the Pyramid and having sort of a servant leadership where the people who are accountable are the people who are enabling others in the organisation. And that the people that I truly serve are the people that serve our customers. And if I am not a CEO enabling them then I don’t believe I have any business running a business”
- “I’m not a big believer in shortcuts I think you learn from your failures”
- “never give up, keep driving, keep pushing, relentlessness. If you have an idea and you have a fit of product and market there is a way you can achieve your goals but you have just got to keep pushing, you have got to be the type of person that when you get knocked down when you have failure you have got to get it fast. The faster you get up sooner you are going to get back on the path to success”
- “I try to get out in front of change as much as possible”
- “failure defines me, I learnt from my failures”
- “the people are the most important part of the business”
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