|
Entrepreneur Files
Foresight Consulting
UT Connection: Dustin Dumas, MBA 96
Location: Sunnyvale, California
There’s no doubt that her UT MBA education gave Dustin Dumas the skills and confidence she needed to start her own investor relations firm, but what really inspired her to just do it was her experience as a team member on the eco-challenge-survivor type reality show “No Boundaries.”
Dumas surprised herself by being selected for the show. “I am not a reality-show-kind-of-person,” insists Dumas, who had only watched one reality show, MTV’s “The Real World,” in its first season back in 1992. “But I just kept thinking if I didn’t do it, I’d always regret it—how many times in your life do you get the chance to do all this great outdoor stuff in the Canadian wilderness?”
The premise of the show is that a group of 15 people from different walks of life are presented with all manner of individual and group challenges, and the first one to make it to the Arctic Circle without being removed from the show is the winner. Participants found themselves kayaking, swimming, rock climbing, rappelling, and fishing, among other exciting activities.
“I thought being on the show was a lot like being in graduate school,” Dumas reflects. “There were those people who knew what to do and just did it; those who knew what to do and wanted everyone else to know they knew; and then those who didn’t have a clue.” Dumas said she knew what she had to do and just did it, whether it was gathering wood for a fire or pitching a tent. There was a lot of jockeying for position. “I just went for the fun of it, but some people were very, very serious about winning. I was serious about winning too, but I felt integrity and good sportsmanship were the most important things.”
Dumas returned to her life in Silicon Valley after her six-week long “No Boundaries” experience with a new perspective. “So many MBAs graduate and do just what they’re supposed to do or they do something they hate because it’s safe,” says Dumas. “Being on the show made me realize that I enjoyed the challenges I had taken in my life up to then, living and working abroad, working for start-ups, but I also realized that I needed to continue to challenge myself in new ways and that there’s more to life than just working for someone else.”
Dumas started Foresight Consulting (www.ForeSightConsult.com), an investor relations firm, to help early and later stage companies with investor and business strategy and investor preparation. She started the company because she saw a need for the service and felt that she could leverage her broad experience in international investment banking, corporate finance, and trading.
“The most rewarding thing about starting ForeSight Consulting is that I have many different experiences and meet many different people. It’s very challenging, but I have learned a lot,” says Dumas. She says that she uses many of the things she learned in business school everyday since every client is at a different level.
Since the show is still airing, we can’t tell you if Dustin made it to the Arctic Circle, but follow her progress on the Outdoor Life Network starting September 30. The show is currently scheduled to run weekly on Monday nights at 8 p.m. Or check out the Web site at: www.noboundariestv.com.
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
