An ISU alumnus encouraged student entrepreneurs to mixed it up, be good listeners and always fail well.

Tom Kieffer, chairman of the Board and CEO of Agiliti, Inc., addressed a group of nearly 60 students Monday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union. The speech was part of the Reiman Entrepreneurial Speaker Series.

Kieffer entered the world of entrepreneurs 18 years ago, before it was the fashionable thing to do, he said. His latest adventure in starting his own business is proving to be very successful.

Kieffer founded Agiliti in January 1999, a company supplying Web-based applications and services for businesses. His company began with only 20 employees and now has more than 160 people working in business services provided over the Web. Since its beginning, Kieffer has raised $61 million in venture capital.

A1980 ISU electrical engineer alumnus, Kieffer encouraged students to get involved with Web-based companies.

“Act locally, but think globally,” he said. “We live in an idea economy and are encouraged to take risks. Thanks to the Internet and digital economy. If you want an opportunity, look for chaos.”

Kieffer said his drive to build companies and be an entrepreneur comes from within.

“It just seems to have something to do with the pass ion for building a company and a passion for learning,” he said. ” It’s not about the money.”

Kieffer has been named one of the six Twin Citians who will “transform business in the 21st century” according to the Twin Cities Business Monthly magazine.

Kieffer, a native of Dubuque, IA, told students they must be very competitive in order to survive in today’s business world. Kieffer said his competitive spirit began as a high jumper on the ISU track and field team.

“I was competitive,” he said. “And this taught me to take risks, because in high jumping the end is always a failure.”

The fear of failure is wanted continued to drive Kieffer.

In 1981 after losing his job in a mass layoff, Kieffer started working at one of the first microcomputer companies in the country.

“These were the days when you called Microsoft tech support, and you might talk to Bill Gates himself,” Kieffer said.

Six months later, Kieffer started his own company working out of his home, reselling computers and creating software for larger companies. Kieffer said his neighbors had their doubts about his office being at home.

“The neighbors would say, ‘I wonder if his wife knows he’s home,'” he said. “These were the days before anyone could spell entrepreneur.”

In 1983 Kieffer shut down his home-based business and wrote a book about networking computers. The book, “Get Connected, A Guide to Telecommunication,” helped him gain creditability in the growing technology-based business world. Currently he writes a monthly technology column for Twin Cities Business Monthly magazine, which focuses on new technology trends.

Instead of “taking a real job, ” Kieffer started a company called Connect in 1986. This information technology consulting company which had more than 200 employees, was sold in 1996 for $25 million to Norstand.

Kieffer’s final advice to ISU students was to treat their employees with respect and always work hard.

“And always work hard at being lucky,” Keiffer said.