When he was a student at Williams College in the early 1990s, Bo Peabody founded Tripod, Inc., one of the first Web-based communities and personal publishing companies. In 1998, Peabody sold Tripod to Lycos for a cool $58 million.
Nadia Koch ‘06, Nirav Shah ‘08, Jay Shah ‘08 and Brian Selchick ‘06.
Peabody went on to help launch several more companies, pocketing tens of millions of dollars and gaining a reputation as one of the Internet era's innovative entrepreneurs.
But to hear the 33-year-old Peabody tell it, he's no genius. What people don't see beyond the glowing headlines and lucrative bank statements of companies like Tripod, Google and others are the half-baked ideas, failures and creditor calls that preceded the rise.
“These businesses are always on the brink before they are successful,'' Peabody told a captive audience of students, alums and faculty in the F.W. Olin Auditorium Wednesday afternoon.
Peabody shared his entrepreneurial wisdom from his recent book, Lucky or Smart: Secrets to an Entrepreneurial Life. The 58-page “pamphlet'' as Peabody refers to it, played a part in his visit to campus. The tome was included in the syllabus of the class, Entrepreneurship in Medieval Europe. The father of one of the students in the class, Evan Agatston ‘07, had a connection to Peabody through his own business ventures. Agatston's father, Arthur, created the popular South Beach Diet.
Peabody's uncle, Hank Riehl '72, is a Union alum.
“Give me some credit,'' Peabody joked to the students in attendance. “How often do you get a book assigned that's as short as mine?''
Peabody attended a luncheon at Abbe Hall before heading to Olin to speak to an audience filled with members of the College's Entrepreneurship Club. He also took questions as part of a panel that included a trio who successfully launched their own businesses: Les Trachtman '77, Dennis Hoffman '85 and Mike Brody.
Peabody is the co-founder and managing partner of Village Ventures, a network of more than a dozen venture funds with more than $250 million under management. A resident of Williamstown, he also owns a restaurant there and one in North Adams, Mass.
“Entrepreneurs are born, not made,'' he said. “You don't suddenly wake up and say, 'Hey, I want to start a business.'''