Franklin Lyons CEO & Founder of Merge Labs (Merge VR)

I find the career trajectory of all of these entrepreneurs interesting. I would have expected that after jumping from directorships at smaller software companies to the behemoth Nokia, he would have stayed there and climbed the ranks. It would take a lot of risk tolerance (read: guts) to give up that type of security and go out on your own. (Okay, I just looked down and saw that Katie has already said basically the same thing I was thinking. I totally penalize my own online students for that!) The trait I admire about this type of entrepreneur is that he is capitalizing on a very secure trend: smartphones. My concern about some AR / VR technology is that it often requires its own ecosystem of hardware, software, and a critical mass of users. Someone considering investing in this type of company has to therefore bet not only on an emerging industry, but also pick the winner within that industry. I think that winner will likely be a company that is relying on an already existing ecosystem of smartphones, apps, app stores, users, etc.

Hi Lori, great video, I enjoyed listening and watching at the same time. Frank Lyons seems like the ultimate entrepreneur. He made me want to go into business with him! He has a lot of background knowledge in working for big companies such as Nokia to gain skills through a variety of different job positions. Starting your own company takes a lot of expertise in an area of work as well as guts. It's evident Frank held a sought after position with Nokia however, he saw market potential and went for it. Starting with just a few investors and eventually seeing more and more hop on board, is a testament to his entrepreneurial abilities.