On June 20th, the BIP interns from the Center for Innovation, Business, and Entrepreneurship
visited Tony Unfried 03’ at Platform 24 in Carmel, Indiana. Tony has achieved much success in
entrepreneurship where he has founded, managed, and sold various tech firms. A few of these
include Archon Tech Strategies and CSA 360, which he still runs today. Tony is a strong
supporter of Wabash and much can be learned from his hard work and passion.
As soon as we met Tony, it was clear he was eager to be with us. Tony brought much energy
and enthusiasm and took a genuine interest in connecting with us. He began the meeting by
asking us to share our stories and career goals. He shared valuable advice specific to our
aspirations and questions. Our talk with Tony fostered much engagement and curiosity.
One takeaway from Tony is the importance of a strong work ethic and willingness to do the dirty work. An example of this is Tony’s first job at Conseco Fieldhouse, where he managed a security force of over 300 people. He worked long, grueling hours, once working 40 days in a row. In order to be successful, you cannot be entitled to your time and must be willing to put in
the extra work. Tony carried this work ethic into his career as an entrepreneur, allowing him great success.
A piece of sales advice from Tony is to always think of one customer at a time. At first, this seemed bizarre to me, especially when most businesses deal with hundreds of customers a day and hope to expand by the thousands. However, so often in business and life, we get carried away with ourselves. We look at the big picture and often miss the little things necessary for success. It is only by mastering the little steps that we can grow and change the world. The interns of the Business Internship Program thank Tony Unfried for his valuable time and effort. We thank Platform 24 for hosting us, as well as Cassie Hagan and Bryan Biddle for all the work they put into the CIBE.
