BOONE—There is no better time than now to become an entrepreneur, says Matthew Szulik, chairman of Raleigh-based Red Hat, an open source software company.

Szulik spoke to students and others attending the Annual Carole Moore McLeod Entrepreneur Summit at Appalachian State University. “Why shouldn’t you start a company?  What’s the worst thing that can happen, fail?” he said.

Szulik spoke of Red Hat’s evolution into a software company that focuses on the enterprise computing market. The company saw its stock prices soar from about $12 a share when it was first traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1999 to more than $300 a share before the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.

And despite the company’s ups and downs, it continues to grow and receive honors from the software industry. The company has more than 65 offices worldwide and has been ranked one of the top vendors delivering value in business application software for six consecutive years.

“This company grew from nothing in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, was built on the backs of 21-, 22- and 23-year old kids, and today is an S&P 500 company,” Szulik said.

Szulik said entrepreneurship was important to the state’s economic health, particularly during the current economic downturn when few companies are hiring employees.

“If you don’t become productive, then what happens to the economic climate of this great state? What happens to the dependencies you create on taxpayers? What happens to the investment you and your family have made to try and get an education?” he said.

Szulik said the only thing standing in the way of future college graduates and their entrepreneurial dreams is their unwillingness to take the opportunity and to make the decisions now to start their own business.

“This is the greatest opportunity that you have ever been given,” he said of the opportunities students have to begin their careers. “You are living in the most advanced country in the world that’s going to allow you to start something, to be a business creator, to leverage the talent and the relationships that you have spent four years cultivating. You don’t get a second chance, so why not seize it.”

###