Editor’s note: Suzanne Altobello, Associate Professor of Marketing at UNC Pembroke, reports on the most recent Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington event. Rather than discuss how to create a startup or his own businesses, entrepreneur and author Bobby Martin led the crowd through advice on how to navigate the first 3 to 5 years of a startup. He stressed principles explained in his book: “The Hockey Stick Principles: The 4 Key Stages to Entrepreneurial Success.” Her report follows:

WILMINGTON, N.C. – At the most recent Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEWilm.com) event, almost 100 entrepreneurs and business people gathered at Ironclad Brewery in Wilmington, NC to hear author and entrepreneur Bobby Martin talk about his book, The Hockey Stick Principles: The 4 Key Stages to Entrepreneurial Success.

Bobby had a connection and many friends in the local crowd, having lived in Wilmington for a decade in his 20s. He started his first business here, First Research, which became a leader in sales intelligence and sold for $26 million to Dun & Bradstreet in 2007. In fact, one attendee of the recent event, Michael Byrd, President of Worldwrightweb, a local graphic design and marketing agency, brought an old sales folder from speaker Bobby’s first company from over a decade earlier.

Rather than discuss how to create a startup or his own businesses, Bobby led the crowd through advice on how to navigate the first 3 to 5 years of a startup. Martin’s research on successful entrepreneurs on over 100 companies included well known North Carolina based companies including LendingTree, iContact, SAS and nationally known such as Netflix.

The analogy of the hockey stick is a relatively flat line during the “tinkering” and “blade” years of low growth, followed by a growth inflection point and (hopefully) a very steep linear trend of surging growth.

The three main strategies for takeoff are

(1) discover an enthusiastic market

(2) discover a moneymaking business

(3) ramp up a newly discovered model.

Using North Carolina business examples, he visually demonstrated that the hockey stick effect is more steep in VC backed companies, B2B companies, companies with founders who have no industry experience, and companies that focus on tangible products.

The Q&A session was lively and spirited, spurred by the free giveaways of Bobby’s book and Bobby’s funny banter and honesty. Attendees could also text the word “hockeystick” to the number 66866 to receive the free research publication with data on which the book is based.

Upcoming event

At the end of the event, NEW founder, Jim R. Roberts, announced that the next NEW event would be a “supersized” 3 day event, with events held throughout Wilmington on October 4, 5, and 6. Paul Singh, cofounder of 500 Startups and venture investor, along with Anthony Pompliano, founder of Full Tilt Capital, are looking to make several $100,000+ investments in underserved markets and outside of traditional entrepreneurial hubs. All the players in the startup ecosystem in Wilmington have joined forces for this event, with activities scheduled all over the downtown, campus, and midtown areas.

If you are a local entrepreneur, you do NOT want to miss these events!

For the schedule and to register, visit http://nvite.com/RJTechTour/e3ee.