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QUINN SCHOOL ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR
‘I very much value the lessons that I learnt when I was in my
deepest, darkest moments as an entrepreneur, and needed
to adapt and innovate and create solutions’
T
HE news, in 2000, that Philip Berber had sold the Donna’sroleasmywife,asmotherofthechildrenandkeeperof
Austin-basedonlinetradingcompanyhe’dsetupjustfive the home, was unbelievably supportive throughout my some-
years earlier for US$488m propelled the relatively timeswildideasanddreamsandmyentrepreneurialjourneyand
unknown Irishman into the media spotlight. While his adventure.
huge financial success was undoubtedly interesting, the “AndIthinkthemosttestingmomentforDonnawasprobably
factthatBerberwentontofocushisefforts–andasizeablechunk whenIcamehomeonedayandsaid,‘IwanttogotoAmerica.I
ofthefamilyfortune–on‘AGlimmerofHope’,thecharitablefoun- haveanopportunityofsellingandmergingthecompany,willyou
dationsetupbyhiswife,Donna,wasequallycompelling. pleasecomewithme?’
Berbersayshisjourneyhasbeenpunctuatedbyaseriesofforksin “Nowwecanlookbackandsmile.NowDonnafeelsthatithas
theroad.AfterleavingWesleyCollegeinthemid-Seventies,hetook beenatremendousadventureofpersonalgrowth.Ourliveshave
thesurprisedecisiontodotheBComminUCDratherthangoingto beensoexpandedasaresultofmovingtotheUS,andtheadven-
Trinity,liketheprevioustwogenerationsofhisfamily.“Thatwasthe turesandexperiencesandopportunitiesthathaveunfolded as a
firstforkintheroad,whenIbrokethemould,”hesays.“Iactually result.”
feltthattheBCommdegreeatUCDwasabetterwaytogo.”
Hisinitialplanwastobecomeanaccountant.“Afterayearof The CyBerCorp phenomenon
doing the BComm, I discovered marketing, through Frank ThefamilyinitiallylivedinHoustonbeforemovingtoAustinin
Bradley in particular. That kind of changed my course. the summer of 1995. By Christmas 1995, Berber had formed
Marketing and the four Ps and consumer behaviour: all of that CyBerCorp, which enabled stock market traders to buy and sell
spoketomemoreanditmadenaturalsensetome.” stocks online at high speed. Berber attributes its eventual phe-
Inhisthirdyear–thistimelargelyduetoFrankRocheandJohn nomenal success to coinciding perfectly with the growth of the
Murray,hesays –hediscoveredenterprisedevelopmentandentre- internetandofdaytrading,andthetremendousrallyintheUS
preneurship,whichwasthenbeingtaughtaspartoftheBComm stockmarketbetween1995and2000.
forthefirsttime.“Andthatchangedmycourseagain.” “Wecaughtthosethreewaves,andwereveryfortunatetodoso,”
hesays.“Thetimingcouldnothavebeenmoreperfect.”Somuchso
Taste of enterprise thatbythetimethecompanywassoldon,ithad3,000dailyusers
On graduating, Berber moved to London, where he spent five andbrokerageincomeofaroundUS$500,000aday.
yearsworkinginmarketingrolesatthreelargeAmericancorpo- Berber’s previous experiences of both success and failure pre-
ratesbeforebecominginvolvedwithhisfirststart-upat26,when paredhimwellformanagingtheopportunitiesandthechallenges
he joined fellow BComm graduate Brian McCaba at Expert at CyBerCorp, he believes. “Over the 15 or 20 years of entrepre-
InformationSystems.“Thatgavemeaflavouroftheexcitement neurship,Ihadtastedsuccessandmadealittlebitofmoney,and
andtrialsandtribulationsofwhatitistostartabusiness:raising then I had gone back down and was very broke twice,” he says.
funds, the business plan, hiring people, the whole journey,” “MuchoftheexperiencesIhad,particularlyofmanagingfailure,
explainsBerber. rather than managing success, had equipped me very well for
Spurred on by this, in 1988 he set up his first company, preparinganddirectingCyBerCorptoitssuccess.
Financia,whichusedadvancedtechnologiestopredictfinancial “Ithinkthatourgreatestlearningopportunities,personallyand
market movements. The company was bought by a financial professionally, are when we are facing our greatest challenges.
markettechnologyfirminHouston,Texasthreeyearslater.“That WhenIlookbackatmycareer,Iverymuchvaluethelessonsthat
wastheopportunityformetoleavetheUKandmovetotheUS,” IlearntwhenIwasinmydeepest,darkestmomentsasanentre-
he says. “Moving to the US, for me, was the lifelong dream – preneur,andneededtoadaptandinnovateandcreatesolutionsin
going to the land of entrepreneurial opportunity. That’s how I ordertochangethecourse,inordertoturnfailureintosuccess.”
vieweditanditturnedouttobehowitunfolded.” In2000,BerberfacedthechoiceoftakingCyBerCorppublicor
Atthetime,Donna,didn’tquitesharehisenthusiasm.“Myjour- strategicallyseekingtosellthecompany.Hehadalreadydeclineda
ney as an entrepreneur has been a rollercoaster,” says Berber. couple of offers. “When Charles Schwab approached us around
“Manypeopletodayperceivemeintermsofthesuccess.Thetruth Christmas1999,itwasverycleartomethatbeingabletoselland
wasthatitwasafter20yearsthatIbecameanovernightsuccess. mergeourtechnology,ourfirmandourcustomerbasewiththeNo1
UCD BUSINESS CONNECTIONS 11
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