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Thanks for helping to make Paolo Volpati-Kedra's EFNE Cafe a huge success!
"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to voice my entrepreneurial issues and interact with such a stimulating and lively crowd. Count me in on your future events."
~Paolo
?Failure is Not an Option?
Paolo Volpati-Kedra is half of the husband and wife team that runs Sauces n Love. Sauces n Love creates different lines of pasta toppings made from fresh ingredients and packaged in heat-and-serve containers. They have self-stable and refrigerated sauces. Paolo?s homemade gourmet pasta sauce business started as an experiment. When Paolo began his business on the side, he used to hand write the jars of sauce that he would sell. Afraid to leave the comfort of a bi-weekly paycheck, he got laid off and decided to start his business in a small kitchen five years ago. Paolo calls this a ?blessing? to have been laid off and appreciates the beauty of entrepreneurialism which allows him the ability to learn everyday.
Paolo comes from an interesting background; he is a world traveler who has lived in ten different countries. Due to this fact, he was able to experience different flavors and techniques of food. He attended Boston University and earned his degree in business and worked in the corporate world. Everyday was the same thing, the learning curve was stopped and stunted, but Paolo tried. Paolo explained that ?you are the owner of your own learning curve.? Thus, when he started his business he embraced ?learning from scratch.?
Passion and Dogged Committer
Paolo?s two entrepreneurial qualities are connected to the perfection he demands from his line of pasta sauces. He feels that his passion comes from within and is fueled by the desire to create authentic Italian food. Passion is what underlies everything that Paolo does. In the beginning, it was a personal challenge and Paolo had to have the passion to complete it. Passion and perfection permeates everything from food prep, to packaging, to communications, to the words Paolo uses. He sees the material growth and thus the passion is fueled even more.
The passion to succeed is also connected to Paolo?s deep commitment to details. Almost to the point of obsession, Paolo demands perfection. ?The devil is in the details? and in Paolo?s mind if there is not perfection, then success will not be achievable. All you have to do is create one bad batch and your out of the game. Paolo?s need to portray a neat image of himself, his sauces, his company is what he believes helps him gain trust. In contrast to Paolo?s perfectionist nature, is his wife Tessa. She is the free-spirit that believes in improvising.
Practice: ?Passion as fuel, passion as disciplined perfection?
Paolo?s grandfather was a well know pianist and his mother wrote music for the movies. Paolo?s art is the food. ?How you interpret food is living and sharing it.? Not only does Paolo have a love for food, he has a love for sharing his food with others.
Paolo commented on the fact that he did not have mentors and was had to learn through doing. There are new challenges as the business grows and expands. Sometimes, being an entrepreneur means being alone. There are walls that come up and an entrepreneur must figure out how to get over it or around and onward. ?Today, I?m the fortunate, or unfortunate, keeper of my future.?
Each day Paolo must answer three questions: What did I do to satisfy customers? What did I do to grow the company? What did I do to satisfy the investors? It started with the creation of a five-year plan. Year one was specific, two was somewhat specific, and there was a dream for years three to five. Still operating under the basic plan, Sauces n Love is now five years old and has new goals and challenges. The challenges are what leads to fuel for Paolo, but there is also frustration with being stuck in the office chair. Paolo writes stuff down all the time to remember. To gather his thoughts for the day, Paolo takes a long 15-20 minute shower. At the end of the day, Paolo uses his commute home to think.
There is a creative tension between romance and operations. If you get stuck in just the operations mode, it will kill you. Financial resources are always limiting in a small, business environment. The money is always being stretched. Paolo expressed his desire to have enough money to hire an assistant so he could spend two hours in the kitchen, travel to industry shows and Italy in order to learn and have a better business. In his company, there is a constant need for money because of his 35% growth rate per year. There is pain, paying bills, increasing bottom line, how do you save money? The two driving forces ? following the dream and paying the mortgage are what helps drive Paolo.
There is the day-to-day nightmare and problem solving that must occur. As the owner, he is pulled in 1,000 directions. Its important to try and look to the future, but the phone rings, there is a knock on the door, the interruptions are constant.
Paolo also described his personal struggle to be himself. Often in his business environment, an entrepreneur?s personal life is neglected. There is a struggle to be a person because everything is given to the company. All of his time, energy, days. Paolo joked that he doesn?t even know what a national holiday or day off was; a feeling that many entrepreneurs can relate.
Wild Card Questions
1)What movie best describes your type of entrepreneurship and leadership? Big Night.
2)What business buzz word bugs you the most? Deductions.
3)What do you do to slow down and relax? Go fast, that is fly planes and race cars.
4)What is the craziest thing you have ever done? Marry Tessa.
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Featuring Paolo Volpati-Kedra
Failure is Not an Option
EFNE features innovation practices that build 21st century business models. Paolo Volpati-Kedra is founder and owner of Sauces 'n Love a line of homemade pasta sauces, made using only the freshest ingredients. Sauce n Love was born from Paolo?s love of food, his wife, and perfection. Our conversation will talk about his two major entrepreneurial qualities: passion and dogged committer. We will get under the hood of his entrepreneurial practice, ?Passion as fuel, passion as disciplined perfection,? in growing from nothing to a boutique sauce company known for authentic Milan, Italy tastes in America.
Registration is Closed
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