Wil Schroter is a powerful speaker; his experiences and success at such a young age are remarkable. . . . His tremendous story regarding his personal struggles to obtain success kept the crowd completely entertained during the entire presentation.
Wil Schroter is a serial entrepreneur.
Wil founded his first company, Blue Diesel, as a 19-year-old student at the Ohio State University. Three years later, he merged Blue Diesel with inChord Communications where, as CEO and Board Member, he helped grow the company to over $700 million in capitalized billings within 5 years. In 2003, the company was purchased and renamed inVentiv, which now generates over $2 billion annually and employs 13,000 professionals worldwide.
Following the sale of Blue Diesel, Wil founded Virtucon Ventures, an idea-stage incubator for Web startups. There he helped conceive and launch a number of well known companies including Swapalease.com, Unsubscribe.com (sold to TrustedID), Startups.co, and Fundable.com. Virtucon's portfolio of companies has attracted more than a dozen prominent venture funds, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Founders Fund, Bessemer Ventures, and Charles River Ventures.
In 2012, Wil's passion for startups came full circle with the launch of Fundable.com, the largest business crowdfunding platform. Within two years of launch, Fundable drove $140 million in funding commitments to startups in every industry. Fundable has expanded quickly with the acquisition of Launchrock.com and now serves over 500,000 startups who have attracted 10 million backers, investors, and supporters. The sites within the Fundable network now serve over 15 million visitors annually.
When Wil's not starting companies, he writes about them. His columns have been nationally syndicated in business newspapers across 40 major markets, and he is a frequent columnist for Forbes, Entrepreneur, and The Wall Street Journal.
Wil's awards for entrepreneurship and business achievements are numerous and include being named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Association and Business First's Top 40 Under 40 (which he's now too old to qualify for).