College of Business alumnus who appeared on āShark Tankā shares secrets of success
Ģš¹ĻŹÓʵapp alumnus Garrett Ozar and former āShark Tankā contestant describes his entrepreneurial journey.
By Bill Studenc
A Ģš¹ĻŹÓʵapp College of Business graduate and former Catamount baseball player who hit it out of the ballpark with an appearance on āShark Tankā shared some personal lessons from his life as an entrepreneur during a recent-on campus presentation.
Garrett Ozar, who earned his bachelorās degree in entrepreneurship at WCU in 2009, described how a student-athlete who competed on the baseball diamond succeeded in a business venture specializing in ā irony alert ā diamonds.
Ozar is co-founder of a company that takes cremated remains of loved ones and turns them into diamonds for surviving family members. He and business partner Adelle Archer appeared on the ABC-TV show āShark Tankā in 2019, landing a shark in the form of Mark Cuban, who gave them $600,000 in exchange for a 9% stake in their company, Eterneva.
The WCU alumnus returned to his alma mater as keynote speaker during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
āI am so glad that Garrett accepted our invitation to share his story with our students,ā said A.J. Grube, dean of the College of Business. āItās so important for current students to hear directly from those who previously sat in our classrooms and have gone out into the real world to achieve success. Students learn by hearing about those life and business experiences, and they see that they also can get there from here.ā
While Ozarās time in the spotlight on āShark Tankā has a certain level of cachet, he spent much of his presentation focusing not on negotiating with Cuban, Kevin āMr. Wonderfulā OāLeary, Lori Greiner and other sharks but rather on aspects of his entrepreneurial journey.
Ozar told the crowd of approximately 200 not to be afraid of failing as long as something is learned from that failure. He described selling a previous business as a deal that, in retrospect, actually cost him more than 20 times what he earned.
āLooking back, I would not have done that. I would have not sold. But itās Ok, because it taught me,ā he said. āI look back and think, āWhat did I learn? What could I have done differently?ā And one of the things was, donāt do this yourself.ā
Thatās why he has made it a practice to surround himself with others who have expertise he does not, such as scientists who helped create the Eterneva company. He readily admits that the āengagement diamond spaceā was not where he wanted to be.
āWe had conversations with scientists. Diamonds are carbon and we are carbon-based. What if you took carbon from a person and made it into a diamond, and thatās how you remembered them?ā Ozar said
āThere are two deaths in this world. Thereās one when in which you pass away and thereās another one in which people quit thinking about you. I thought about the impact I wanted to have, and I was thinking if we do this correctly, we get to help someoneās legacy or story endure,ā he said.
Ozar said that he and Archer founded Eterneva āto bring brightness and meaning to loss.ā By recruiting experts in diamond science, chemistry and precision logistics, they created a way to honor loved ones ā transforming carbon from ashes or hair into diamonds ā to offer families a ādeeply personal and unparalleled experience, fostering connection and remembrance in a truly unique way,ā he said.
Throughout the development phase, they focused on obtaining sustainability in their business model.
āThat being said, I can tell you that our company is not motivated and driven by profit,ā Ozar said. āWeāre motivated and driven by creating value for families that have lost their loved one and, in doing that, it delivers value back to us in the form of profit.ā
Ozar encouraged business students in the crowd not to simply strive for profit, but to pursue something meaningful in their lives.
āWhatever you do with your life, make sure that at the end of it, when you are sitting on the porch and looking into the sunset, whatever you did you are proud of it and that it had an impact on people,ā he said.
Ozar reminded the audience of a business school parable about the power of compound interest: Would you rather have a penny that doubles every day for a month or $1 million upfront? While many might choose the $1 million in one day, the single penny turns into nearly $6 million in just a month when it doubles daily, with larger increases kicking in about day 21, he said.
āDo you know how many people are continuing to work every day with relentless focus and then quit on day 21 because theyāre not getting results? So, donāt focus on the results at the beginning. Theyāre not supposed to be there yet. Focus on the process,ā he said.
āWeāre talking about sticking to something. Weāre talking about going all in and continuing with the process ā the relentless support of consistent action in a planned and specific direction,ā Ozar said. āWhen youāre doing that every day with consistency, something ends up being built. When you bail early, nothing ever gets built.ā
Equally as important as consistency to success is vision and direction, he said.
āIf you donāt have a specific direction, how can you be consistently doing something that will get you anywhere? A specific direction is a vision, and itās a vision that needs to be so strong that it motivates you. Itās the thing that gets you out of bed. If you donāt have something that you want to achieve, that youāre so afraid of not having, that youāre excited to wake up every day and go do this, that youāll continue to go through hell and get no results, then you need to take a step back and reflect about what your vision should be,ā he said.
āMy advice is to know itās not going to be easy. Know thereās going to be adversity. Know you have to have a clear vision and something that really motivates you, or itās going to be trouble. Stick with it every single day and, when adversity comes, do not panic. Just go back to the foundational things that were making you successful before,ā Ozar said.
Lane Perry, assistant professor of entrepreneurship, characterized WCUās Global Entrepreneurship Week activities, which also included smaller sessions on detail-oriented nuances of launching startups and real-time critiques of upper-level studentsā business plan pitches in new venture creation as āa masterclass in navigating life with an entrepreneurial spirit.ā
āGarrettās visit reinforced the importance of pursuing passions with purpose, leading with integrity and constantly seeking ways to add value to the lives of others. While he came to help inspire and teach students about business, leadership and entrepreneurship, I was struck by the focus on life lessons that were shared with these āfuturepreneurs,āā Perry said.
āI was reminded that an entrepreneurial approach to life is one that embraces resilience, curiosity and adaptability,ā he said. āGarrettās insights highlighted that entrepreneurship isnāt just about building businesses ā itās about building character, embracing failure as growth and staying committed to a vision even in the face of uncertainty, which is really how life works, isnāt it?ā
This story was produced with the assistance of students Julian Vanderhoef and Max Poku-Kankam of The Western Carolina Journalist.
