Entrepreneurship, what does it truly mean, and what’s required to be successful

Abstract: We all know what the terms Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship mean, but how does one become an entrepreneur and what are the challenges they face along the way? Come join me for an interactive discussion of the real-life experiences I encountered in my journey of becoming a successful Entrepreneur. We will discuss how to get started, funding the journey, structuring your team, the pitfalls you will encounter along the way and how to overcome them.

Bio: Dorsey Houtz is a 1984 Graduate of Penn State University with an AS degree in Electronics Technology. Mr. Houtz began his career working for HRB Systems where he led the Automated Test Engineering Group developing computer aided testing systems for our nations defense and intelligence communities. Mr. Houtz quickly grew through the ranks until 1991, when HRB was purchased by Raytheon Corporation. At this point, Mr. Houtz was asked to be part of a team creating a new business division within Raytheon focused on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).

Serving as the Director of Global Fleet Applications, Mr. Houtz spent the next 8 years traveling the world looking for business verticals where Raytheon could apply these technologies. During this time, Mr. Houtz also worked closely with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to set standards defining how to apply ITS in our nation’s infrastructure.  In 1999, when Raytheon decided to sell this division to Orbital Sciences Corporation, Mr. Houtz decided it was time to go on his own and founded Avail Technologies, Inc. Today Avail is seen as one of the top two providers of ITS for public transit systems throughout the U.S. and is the only vendor to offer a comprehensive Enterprise Transit Management System (ETMS) for this vertical.