Monday, May 31, 2010

Jere Thompson, Jr. & Ambit Energy Featured Cover Story for Smart Business Dallas

Smart Business Dallas featured a cover story on how Jere Thompson, Jr. grew Ambit Energy from nothing to $325 Million in less than four years.

“Most entrepreneurs can hire what they can afford and that management team can get the company launched, but sometimes [it] doesn’t have the experience or the background to really scale the organization or to manage it — or it just becomes large,” Thompson says. “What we did was a little out of the box in that we stepped out and we hired that billion-dollar management team day one to come and get the start-up company off the ground.”

“If you’re a leader, you have to exemplify the traits that others admire and want to be around,” he says. “If you’re taking shortcuts, you’re going to lose great people. The best people will leave immediately. They want to be around honest, hardworking, smart, dedicated people. They’re entrusting their futures to you, and you have to respond by making certain that there’s no reason their trust ever waivers. The most important thing is that you conduct business life and private life in the same fashion and that’s one that will make your mother proud.”