Colorado Mesa University

The Maverick : Winter 2019

The Maverick magazine is a great way to stay in touch with current events at your alma mater, old classmates and the bright future of Colorado Mesa University.

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP TIME Alumnus returns to campus as Entrepreneurship Day keynote speaker after selling his startup for $340 million During his time as an undergraduate at Mesa, Matt Rissell was unorthodox and independent-minded — the definition of a maverick — and he used the same philosophy to build a revolutionary mega-company in Eagle, Idaho. The dynamic co-founder of TSheets, which produces timetracking and scheduling software for businesses, promises to share secrets to his astonishing success as the keynote speaker April 3 at CMU’s 2019 Entrepreneurship Day (E Day) Luncheon. The annual E Day will also feature breakout sessions highlighting local entrepreneurs and professionals, tying classroom theory to real-world experience. “I’ll deliver a very transparent message: Here’s the TSheets story… here are some of the things we tried that failed miserably… and here’s the playbook that ended up working very well for us,” Rissell said. “I also like to invite people to interrupt my presentation and ask questions,” he said. “That way we’re talking about the things the audience wants to talk about.” Rissell, a Grand Junction native, credits his undergraduate education at Mesa for laying much of the foundation for his success. “I had professors who really made a big impact, specifically Dr. Jerry Moorman, who spent a lot of time with me,” he said. “I was interested in learning to build nonprofits and he tailored the program to fit my interest. When everybody else was doing case studies on businesses, I was doing mine on nonprofits. He didn’t try to make everything fit into a box, (he) allowed me to pursue my own interest, and that made a huge difference.” TSheets, Rissell’s sixth startup business, was founded in 2006, and was purchased in 2017 by Intuit for approximately $340 million. Rissell remains aboard as the company’s chief executive officer. The company is a multiple-year honoree as No. 1 Best Place to Work in Idaho, as well as the 2014 winner of the Idaho Technology Innovative Company of the Year Award. Rissell was honored in 2015 as RuleBreaker of the Year by a national business organization. TSheets has more than 20,000 customers in 100-plus countries. “Success is a tricky animal and can be defined in so many ways. I think of success as a journey, not a destination,” Rissell said. “To me, true success begins with my family, and it starts and doesn’t end every waking day. To that point, every night when I go to bed it feels like a pivotal moment because the next day will be an adventure in learning how to grow bigger, better, faster and stronger.” •

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