Entrepreneurial Approach Worthwhile advice from the Gorogs

– “Any true entrepreneur knows they can’t be made they are born. Let your child know that you are extremely supportive of who they are and not what you want them to do for a living.” Roxio Chairman Chris Gorog

– “Every kid in the world wants to be in the entertainment business,but, understand that the only way you will succeed is that you will die if you don’t do it.” Chris Gorog.

– “Don’t have illusions that a successful venture can be put together quickly. You have to have a lot of patience.” William Gorog

May 14, 2001, was a special day for the Gorog family. Three Gorog men, all entrepreneurs, were honored at the Nasdaq exchange as the first shares of Roxio Inc. began trading that day. Grandfather, father and son, all named William, have kept up a family tradition being successful entrepreneurs.

William F. Gorog, co-founder of Lexis-Nexis, founded two companies that went public and ultimately valued at more than $1 billion each. Son William Christopher Gorog, known as Chris, is chief executive, president and chairman of Roxio, a Milpitas, Calif.-based digital media company that makes CD-burning software. His son, William Hunter Gorog, known as Hunter, launched his first business at age 6, selling coffee to parents at softball games. Now, he’s studying entrepreneurship at Babson College in Boston.

At 74, the senior Gorog is still involved in several ventures, including Intellidata, a company serving the banking industry.

“I have always been fascinated by changing the way people behave with technology,” said William Gorog, who has developed many online banking and bill-paying technologies in recent years. “Until the banks get it right, I’m not going to quit.”

Gorog, who divides his time between Aspen, Colo., Naples, Fla. and Virginia, said he initially wanted to be a lawyer, but “a war intervened.” He enrolled at West Point and studied engineering, eventually developing a high-tech photographic system used to create the maps used by astronauts landing on the moon.

He took a break from his various technology ventures to spend two and half years in Washington as executive director of the Council of International Economic Policy in the Ford administration.

Distance yields inspiration

A father of six, he admits he didn’t spend much time at home, but encouraged all his children to find something they loved and do it well.

“You need patience and resiliency,” he said. “Very often you slam into a wall. That’s when you go to the left and go to the right to find a crack to get through.”

Chris Gorog said he considers his father one of his best friends and his mentor. But, he was not especially close to him as a young man.

“My father was a workaholic, an entrepreneurial zealot, rarely to be seen around the house,” said Chris Gorog. “My relationship with him was not close, but one of awe. Rather than going into business like him, I went to film school at San Diego State University. People thought I would end up as a writer or producer, not a businessperson.”

Gorog was attracted to the business side of the entertainment industry, serving as president of the ITC Entertainment Group for many years. He also worked for Walt Disney Co. as head of business affairs. After Disney, he moved to Universal, orchestrating the merger of Universal Concerts with the House of Blues chain.

An executive recruiter persuaded him to look at Roxio, which had the technology that allowed anyone with a PC or Macintosh to pull digital content off the Internet and burn it on to a CD-ROM.

“I was offered an incredible horse to ride,” said Gorog. “The market was exploding.”

Five years ago, Roxio, still a division of Adaptec, booked $5 million in revenues. In 2001, revenues grew to about $122 million. He joined the company in September 2000 and immediately began figuring out a way to take the company public.

Plans for an initial public offering were cancelled when the market for high-tech, Internet companies went sour. Instead of an IPO, Roxio, which has about 270 employees, issued its own shares through something called a “one-step spinoff.”

“Roxio became an instant public company by giving 16.5 million shares to Adaptec shareholders,” explained Gorog. “Adaptec gave us $30 million cash, plus our accounts receivable.”

In the genes

In late September, Gorog added the chairman’s job to his resume. He admits it feels a bit odd for a guy who had little training in math and business to “negotiate all day for a living.”

“I guess I had this DNA I didn’t know about that kept bubbling up to the top,” he said. “There’s no question, my dad has been my mentor and given me exquisite advice at any pivot point in my career.”

The third entrepreneurial Gorog is 19-year-old William Hunter Gorog.

At 17, he was making thousand of dollars a week producing huge parties. He found venues, hired DJs, bartenders and recruited retired cops to serve as security guards. His father learned about his party business when a popular Los Angeles DJ mentioned the party on his morning radio show.

“Hunter is hard-core entrepreneur,” said his proud father.

The youngest Gorog said he always knew he would go into business.

“I never could see myself doing anything else,” he said. He was already chosen to serve as CEO of a student-run T-shirt company set up as a class project.

“A lot of other businesses lost money,” he said. “We had $16,000 in revenues and a $2,700 profit.”

Like his father, Hunter said he saw very little of his father when he was growing up. He also suffered through his parent’s acrimonious divorce.

“I spent the first part of my life trying not to be like him,” said young Gorog. “Now, I see myself being very much like him.”

He said he has a very close relationship with both his father and grandfather. He considers his father “a very good friend.” But he inherited a big challenge: learning how to find a balance between success in business and having a successful family life.”

“Is there a perfect balance between work and family?” he asks. “Maybe there is.”

Jane Applegate is the author of “201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business,” and is CEO of SBTV.com, a multimedia site providing small-business resources. She can be contacted via e-mail at [email protected], or by mail at P.O. Box 768, Pelham, NY 10803.