B-School > News > Start-Up > 2. Keep the Fires Burning

Keep the Fires Burning...   Story of a Start-Up 1. Start Your Engines 2. Keep the Fires Burning 3. Full Speed Ahead Also See Upcoming Moot Corp® Competition About Moot Corp® Isochron.com Date: Summer 1999 Milestone: $1 million in funding Major Investors: Marc Seriff (Co-Founder of AOL), Lee Walker (Former President of Dell), Jim Armb (idealab Capital Partners, UT MBA 1996, and Gene Lowenthal (MRI, MCC, World.hire) From the Spring 1998 Alumni Magazine AUSTIN, TX - "Other entrepreneurs have told us that luck, luck, luck, and hard work are the four things it takes to be successful," recalls Erin Defossé from conversations with his entrepreneurial peers. "You definitely need a lot of luck, but you also need to be smart enough to take advantage of the apparently lucky situations that arise," qualifies Defossé’s partner Aruni Gunasegaram. MBAs 98 and Founders of Isochron Data, Erin Defossé, left, and Aruni Gunasegaram earned a year of office space at the Incubator prior to landing $1 million in seed captial. Gunasegaram and Defossé started Isochron Data Corporation last year while they were still MBA students. They won the Texas MOOT CORP® Business Plan competition in December 1997 and entered the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) the following spring—the same month they graduated from the MBA program. The two count their ATI residence among their lucky breaks: a free year’s stay in the Incubator came as part of their MOOT CORP win. In spite of the piles of unpaid school debts, the long hours, and the rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows that come with the territory, Gunasegaram and Defossé wouldn’t have it any other way. "I’m either really determined or really stupid," jokes Defossé. "But I don’t think I could ever go back to a desk job after this. We’re just enjoying the freedom to take this company wherever we can." For general media information contact director of communications: JB Bird (512-471-3314).