September 24, 2002
RICHMOND, IN – Summersault co-founders Chris Hardie and Mark Stosberg attended a weekend-long gathering at Earlham College to discuss their experiences of being entrepreneurs. Other “Earlham Entrepreneurs” as well as students and faculty attended the event, which focused on encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit in an academic setting, and learning from others` experiences as entrepreneurs.
According to an Earlham press release, “the Earlham Entrepreneurs Gathering was first suggested by Jana Matthews, class of 1962, founder of Boulder Quantum Ventures, a Colorado-based enterprise that helps CEOs, business startups and their teams accelerate their companies’ growth.. Matthews, who has founded three companies and authored half a dozen business-related books, is also a member of the senior team that founded the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.”
Hardie and Stosberg started Summersault, a website development firm, while students at Earlham College. Both worked on developing and growing the company in addition to their work as full-time students, and the company’s success continued after graduation.
“It was amazing to interact with others who had a similar educational experience as Mark and I, and who have all gone off and done these amazing, diverse things with their entrepreneurial spirit,” said Hardie. “From venture capitalists to consultants, web developers to retail importers, there was such a breadth of knowledge and wisdom in that group. We learned a lot from them.”
The Gathering, which may well become a recurring event at Earlham, attracted alumni from the Class of 1961 to the Class of 1999 and from a wide spectrum on the corporate and business scale.
Earlham College is a four-year, coeducational, residential, liberal arts college, founded in 1847 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Earlham is among the nation's academically strongest liberal arts colleges. Earlham develops in students broad and deep competencies in both traditional and emerging disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields.
Summersault, LLC, founded in 1997, is a leader in database driven web solutions. The Richmond, Indiana based firm offers a single point of contact for highly customized web design and application development solutions, as well as professional consulting services and support.
