TROY -- As Ryan O'Donnell waits to present his business plan, he doesn't look at all nervous.
He ought to be. Only 10 days before he walked across the stage at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to accept his diploma and to shake the hand of President Shirley Ann Jackson.
Now it's May 27, and again he's wearing a suit, again he's waiting his turn to take the stage. This time, he's at the monthly Venture Bplan Series at RPI and when he goes up before this audience, he'll be alone.
In the crowd are some of the region's savviest venture capitalists, looking for promising young companies in which to invest.
O'Donnell is here mainly to hone his presentation and get feedback. But he wouldn't say no to an offer of, say, $10,000.
O'Donnell, 22, of Guilderland, is co-founder of TekAlert LLC. He's partners with Keith Lareau, 21, whom he met at RPI only a few months ago.
How short a space it is, from college senior to CEO. While college buddies are still celebrating their graduation, O'Donnell is about to give a corporate pitch to a roomful of "suits" at the Heffner Alumni House.
He stands, walks to the microphone: poised, confident, PowerPoint-equipped.
He's looking at the audience, making eye contact. He's also looking beyond.
To the future. To success.
In the corporate world, success is a word fraught with disclaimers. Take a look at any corporate earnings projection: page after page warning about "forward- looking statements," listing without apology the many risks in the vast minefield of competition we call doing business.
That's for a profitable, experienced, self-sustaining company. How much more difficult, then, for the fledgling business.
Perhaps beginning is the hardest step. Most dreams stay only dreams.
"I think the thing that separates entrepreneurs from the rest of us is taking that step," says Jon Lemelin, executive director of U-Start, a Union College-sponsored business incubator in Schenectady that nurtures young businesses on the road to self-sufficiency.
"Everybody in their work, in their hobbies, has come across things and said to themselves, `Wouldn't it be neat if somebody made this?'
