The Making of an Entrepreneur: Nature vs. Nurture, an Interview with Mel Baiada

"We do not hear the term compassionate applied to business executives or entrepreneurs, certainly not when they are engaged in their normal work. Yet in terms of results in the measurable form of jobs created, lives enriched, communities built, living standards raised, and poverty healed, a handful of capitalists has done indefinitely more for mankind than all the selfserving politicians, academics, social workers, and religionists who march under the banner of compassion.

- Nathaniel Branden1

Executive Summary

Mel Baiada is a man who has created jobs and enriched lives as president and CEO of Sengen and Base Camp Ventures. He has been one of the New Jersey's most successful technology entrepreneurs.

In 1989, four years after obtaining his master's degree from Drexel University, .Mr. Baiada began his entrepreneurial career when he founded Bluestone, Inc. to provide technology expertise to Fortune 1 000 companies and government organizations. Under his direction, Bluestone rapidly grew to a multi-million dollar company, earning its inclusion in the Inc. 500 's list of the fastest growing, privately held companies in the United States for three straight years, from 1994 to 1996. One year later, Bluestone divided into two separate entities, Bluestone Software, Inc. and Bluestone Consulting, Inc. Bluestone Software underwent a successful IPO in 1999 and achieved industry recognition in the web application server marketplace with its flagship product, Sapphire/Web, which led Bluestone to a market capitalization in excess of $1.5 billion. In October 2000, Bluestone became Carly Fiorina's initial Hewlett Packard (HP) acquisition. HP acquired the software company for a reported $476 million.