By Marc R. Masferrer, University Communications and Marketing
USF Sarasota-Manatee will host a fireside chat with twin brothers Blake and Brock Gratton, Sarasota entrepreneurs who started and built SpringWell Water Filtration into a powerhouse brand before selling the company for more than $100 million, as part of the Conversation with a Founder speaker series from the USF Nault Center for Entrepreneurship on April 15.
Before they made it big, the Grattons had tried almost 100 startups that ended not as successfully. Their most prior venture before founding SpringWell, was a company that made aquariums specifically designed for jellyfish.
Last year, the Grattons sold SpringWell Water Filtration, which makes and markets various filtration systems, to Fortune Brands Innovations, a manufacturer of home and security products that includes the Moen faucet brand, for $105 million.
The brothers’ continued resiliency despite the setbacks, offers an invaluable lesson for students and other would-be entrepreneurs, said Allen Clary, executive director of the Nault Center for Entrepreneurship, a nationally-ranked, multidisciplinary center for entrepreneurial education.
“Being determined is the essential element of entrepreneurship,” Clary said. “Most people think entrepreneurship is about a big idea, but It's really not. If you ask the real-world successful entrepreneurs, it's really about persistence and never giving up. It's easy to have a really big idea and get excited. But when it gets hard, which it will, that's the separator, the difference between a successful entrepreneur and not.”
The Conversation with a Founder event will start with a reception in the Selby Auditorium at 4:45 p.m. on April 15, followed by the fireside chat between the Grattons and Clary starting at 5:45 p.m. The program will include a Q&A with audience members.
Attendees at the Conversation with a Founder event will hear from Grattons on how they built the business, scaled it into a major industry player and what they learned along the way from both the setbacks and the successes.
"If you have an idea, don't just let it sit there. Actually get out there and test it," Blake told the Business Observer in 2017. "If you truly believe in it, make it happen."
"We are the types that just go out and do it and learn from it," says Brock. "We aren't afraid to do a little hustling."
The Nault Center, which is part of the Muma College of Business, is hosting similar programs at all three USF campuses, and this is the second one at USF Sarasota-Manatee. Sarasota entrepreneur Pete Petersen spoke on campus during a Conversation with a Founder event in November.
For tickets to the event featuring the Grattons, visit usf.to/brock-blake.