Entrepreneur offers sound advice for successful business

VALPARAISO -- Those who see the future of the city economic development as medical technology had a visit from the kind of success they want to attract.

However, the man who created the bio-medical company that ranked higher than Microsoft in "USA Today's" top 25 performing stocks of U.S. companies had a mixed outlook on the future of American business.

Dane A. Miller, one of the four creators of BioMet Inc. of Warsaw., Ind. was the third and final speaker in the Greater Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce's Insights lecture series.

The retired chief executive officer of the company talked Wednesday about how he started an orthopedics company in 1978 worth about $17,000 and led it to a worth of more than $2.5 billion.

It's once-maligned titanium replacement joint is now industry standard.

"This is the epitome of a small start up company that's gone through the stratosphere, and our goal is to create companies that have this kind of result," Charlie McGill, executive director of Entech Innovation Center, said. Entech is the city's business incubation project that hopes to make Valparaiso a center of medical technology innovations.

Entech is trying to develop partnerships that can attract that kind of talent, McGill said.

The question is whether the current economic crisis will allow that.

Miller offered advice for innovations:

n Make quality products. "I have never believed the orthopedic market was a commodity market," he said. "If someone wants to buy a cheap product, BioMet's not the place."

n Ask the customers -- in this case the doctors -- what they need, "Rather than trying to sell them something they don't need," Miller said.

n Worry about talent. "If you've got the right people in place, get out of their way," he said. "Executives should never make decisions."

n When global, decentralize and let places run themselves according to local standards. "In all the major markets in Europe, we need to feel like a local company," Miller said.

n No one fails from lack of capital. "They fail from improper utilization of capital," Miller said.

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