‘Fireside Chat with Liz Elting ’87’ Focuses on What It Takes to Build a Business

The Trinity College community gathered recently for a discussion between alumna Liz Elting ’87 and Jess Lynch. The April 22 event in the Dangremond Family Commons was co-hosted by Trinity’s Career and Life Design Center and Entrepreneurship Center.

After graduating from Trinity with a B.A. in modern languages, Elting founded the translation services company TransPerfect from her NYU dorm room in 1992, and in the following decades grew it into a multi-billion-dollar institution. She currently serves as CEO of the Elizabeth Elting Foundation and recently published the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Dream Big and Win: Translating Passion into Purpose and Creating a Billion-Dollar Business.

Lynch, a serial entrepreneur in the realm of startup venture capital and co-founder of FoundersEdge, engaged with Elting in a conversation on a number of issues focused on starting and building a successful business.

The common thread through most of Elting’s advice was hard work. She regularly returned to the refrain, “Work today like no one else will, and you’ll build a life where you can live and give like no one else can.”

Elting spoke of the long hours and difficult work of getting TransPerfect off the ground, securing its first client, and delivering the sort of service that turns one small job into a major revenue stream.

Recalling the tumultuous experience of selling TransPerfect, Elting advised students to work with attorneys early on to establish the correct business structures. Lynch agreed, adding the importance of finding an attorney specializing in the unique needs of startups. Elting also stressed the need to have a majority stake in a startup, as a purely equal partnership can leave too much room for conflicts without a clear resolution.

Students from Trinty’s Entrepreneurship Center were eager to connect with Elting and Lynch, extending a question-and-answer session more than 20 minutes beyond its planned time. Following a group photo, the speakers stayed for a book-signing and continued their candid conversation with the students.