Bill Angrick, a Notre Dame graduate from the class of 1990, spoke as a part of the "Boardroom Insights" lecture series put on by the Mendoza College of Business.
Angrick is the CEO of Liquidity Services Inc., a multimillion dollar company that specializes in the buying and selling of excess materials between businesses.
The lecture walked the audience through the various stages of growth of Liquidity Services, while also offering valuable pieces of advice on how to build a thriving company.
Angrick said in the beginning, his goal was to "provide clients and buying customers the world's most transparent, innovative, and effective online marketplaces and integrated services for surplus assets ... An eBay from business to business."
After raising capital from clients and venture capitalists, the company began to expand into buying and selling products from various sectors, Angrick said. He said he credits this growth to the "network effect."
"More supply leads to more relevant listings for buyers, which leads to more buyers. More buyers leads to more transactions, meaning better results for sellers, thus creating more sellers, which circles back to more supply," Angrick said.
He said the company received its first government contract in 2001- the US Military wanted to use the company to sell its own excess products. The company then went on to win the Defense Logistics Agency Award for Vendor Excellence four times.
Liquidity Services Inc. went public in 2006. From there, the company grew at an quickly, its gross revenue booming from $72 million in 2003 to $360 million in 2008, Angrick said. Beginning in 2009, the business moved into acquiring other companies, such as GovDeals and Network International, and taking their markets global. They also expanded into other sectors, which included electronics, consumer packaged goods, biopharmaceutical products, and machinery.
This year alone, the gross revenue of Liquidity Services Inc. was $1 billion and was on Forbes' list of Fastest Growing Tech Companies, Angrick said.
Angrick said to run a large company, one needs to have strong convictions of where one is taking the company.
He said that a key component to achievement is building great teams: cultivating top talent, bringing new employees into the mission of the company, making everyone feel a part of something, empowering employees to do their job, and making clear what the objective is, not how to achieve the objective.
Angrick said one also has to be bold and take risks, and build awareness of their brand.
At the end of the lecture Angrick reflected back on how what he had learned in his years at Notre Dame has influenced him throughout life. Angrick said Notre Dame's emphasis on strong values and faith has helped him immeasurably in his ventures, and the university's stress on community, teamwork, and excellence will stay with him throughout the rest of his life.
"It is your obligation to make your mark," Angrick said.
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