Richard Portelance
Founder & CEO
CareerPath
New Milford, CT USA
“Entrepreneurship is synonymous with perseverance and grit.”
Milestones
My road in life has taken me all over.
I joined my first digital marketing agency in 1996 and had the opportunity to work with some great companies, like IBM, Rhodia, Savin and Burns Guitars. It set my passion for digital tech in motion.
In 2001 I was fitted for my first set of hearing aids. I didn't realize that I had probably been hearing impaired throughout high school and college too. It was a humbling turning point for me.
Post 9/11 the agency I was working for went under. I started my first company, which lasted for 2.5 years, before running out of capital and closing shop. A painful lesson in cash management!
I spent 4.5 years as the Digital Director for a private secondary school, and recreated myself. I was at the front edge of Educational Technology, and found a passion for helping young people succeed.
In 2014 I founded CareerPath, and our first client was Dartmouth College. We were flying high!
In 2017 CareerPath won the ReSET Accelerator Venture Showcase Pitch competition—it felt great to have our hard work acknowledged!
I led a group that completed the Presidential Traverse in New Hampshire's White Mountains with my son and a group of adult leaders and boy scouts. It was an awesome accomplishment for us all.
We had high expectations this year, but COVID-19 changed our plans. Another lesson in entrepreneurial resilience and grit. We have gotten back on track, but our perspective has changed slightly!
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Canterbury School
Canterbury School
Career
Founder & CEO
I innovate digital products that help students and job seekers discover pathways to future opportunities.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Entrepreneurship
Education
Helping People
Day to Day
Building digital products with the team, and partnerships with everyone and anyone out there. I enjoy making connections, engaging people, listening and learning. As a CEO, you need to absorb a ton of information, disseminate it, and make decisions on what applies to your company and why. Growing a company required both partnerships and sales, so I also spend time working on marketing and sales strategies, and meeting with prospects and clients.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
To be an entrepreneur you have to learn to be a creative thinker and a business person, which are not always in alignment mentally. I would work for some start up companies, watch and learn, while also continuing to educate yourself on how to successfully run a business. The other super important aspect is to know how to market and sell something. It's great to have an idea, but if people don't buy it, it's not worth much!
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Peers:
"As an entrepreneur, you tend to hear 'no' an awful lot. Especially if you try to raise money for your organization. We often heard our idea was cool, but we didn't have enough traction—that we needed to prove it out further. It's a real gut check."
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
