Rob Ryan earned national attention when he grew his 1989 start-up company, Ascend Communications, Inc., to more than $500 million in sales by 1995. Lucent Technologies acquired Ascend in 1999 for $23 billion, in what was termed at the time, the "largest technology merger ever."
Back surgery sidelined Ryan from Ascend in June of 1995, but soon after his recovery he reinvented himself as a "boot camp mentor" at his Montana ranch and began helping budding high-tech entrepreneurs formulate winning business plans and teaching them how to sell their ideas. Since Entrepreneur America began, Ryan has counseled dozens of aspiring entrepreneurs and as a result, 18 companies have been founded and mentored by his organization. Three of those companies rose to billion-dollar valuations.
Ryan received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University.
I'm an entrepreneur by nature so when I'm building entities, I'm building them from ground zero where there is absolutely nobody and just four walls and a desk so I am very used to looking for superstars, you know, triple A plus type individuals and very,...(Full transcript available to logged in subscribers.).
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