Daniel Bowen '07
Position: Director of Corporate Development at RealPage, Inc.
Industry: Real Estate, Computer Software
Lesson Learned: I can't do it all myself. I need to team with people who have strengths in areas where I have weaknesses.
Shortly after graduating from LMU, moving cross country and getting married, I realized I was financially savvy from a business perspective, but not from a personal perspective. As a result, I founded youngandfrugal.com, a website dedicated to teaching business and personal finance to Generation Y. Up to this point, my entrepreneurial ventures have all been side projects, but I believe my next venture, a restaurant concept in Dallas, will turn me into a full-fledged entrepreneur.
Since graduating, I’ve held an entry-level finance position in a Fortune 500 company, an upper management position in an Inc. 500 company and a senior management position in a private equity-backed chain of dental centers. The role I'm in now is highly entrepreneurial and has me involved in every aspect of the business. I love it, but hope to venture out on my own in the next couple of years.
Some people say you can't teach entrepreneurship, but they’re wrong. Teaching entrepreneurship is about changing the way people think. The entrepreneurship program at LMU helped me harness my passion into something productive and taught me how to capitalize on it. Most importantly, it taught me how to work effectively toward my dreams.