Steven E. Bernstein and Matthew Pittinsky, two major success stories of the 90's boom whose companies continue to succeed as many startups have failed, shared their vision and time with the 68 students of the Doris and Dr. Ira Kukin Entrepreneurship Lecture Series. The seminar is a semester in length and features distinguished guest lecturers from across the business spectrum who dispense advice and address problems, dilemmas, and experiences they themselves have faced in the business world.

The course, started in 1995 by former SSSB Dean Harold Nierenberg and Dr. William Schwartz, Yeshiva University's chief academic officer, and under the auspices of the Rennert Entrepreneurial Institute through a grant by the Kukins, was initially organized and run by SSSB Marketing professor, Dr. Frederick Palumbo. In 1998, Dr. Palumbo stepped aside and Professor Lawrence Bellman took over.

The lectures, which take place on Fridays in the Schottenstein Residence Hall on the midtown campus, has only two prerequisites: business attire for the women, a sport jacket and tie for the men. Students write 3-page reports on the companies of the speaker that addresses them that particular week. Additionally, each student must have three to five questions prepared. The guest lecturer speaks from 45 minutes to an hour at which time a Question and Answer session follows.

Over the years, Dr. Palumbo and Professor Bellman have recruited such notable VIPs as Abby Joseph Cohen, Managing Director of Goldman Sachs and one of the most influential people on Wall Street; Fred Wilpon, co-owner of the New York Mets; and David Checketts, President & CEO of the Madison Square Garden. Current New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also addressed the students back in 1996.

"These people want to share their success and give back to the community," says Bellman, whose current crop of speakers this year will include David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue Airlines and Richard Grasso, Chairman & CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. Obtaining these speakers involves a series of written letters and phone calls to these people's offices.

Steven Bernstein inaugurated the eighth year of the course by recounting his two childhood aspirations - making money and helping others - and how he accomplished these two goals by founding the wireless communications firm, SBA Communications, in 1989, at the tender age of 29. Graduating from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Bernstein had dreams of becoming a "Gainesville Donald Trump." Working at MCI, directly out of college, finding sites in which to build cellular towers for the soon to be telecommunications conglomerate (MCI is now known as WorldCom), Bernstein discovered the "perfect Real Estate play" in owning, leasing, and subleasing these towers to wireless communication companies such as AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, and Nextel.

Maxing out his credit cards and investing all the money he had saved from his job at MCI, Bernstein, hopeful for the best and prepared for the worst, started SBA Communications out of a basement office in Gainesville, Florida. Today, SBA Communications is a publicly-traded company with a market capitalization of over $230 million dollars. Having spent the past 12 years working 80-hour weeks, Bernstein today splits his time between his duties as Chairman of SBA Communications, investing in and providing guidance to smaller companies, doing charity work, and lecturing to university students such as those from Sy Syms School of Business.

Last year, he even had time to run the New York Marathon, finishing the race in an impressive 5:15, using a three step formula that has brought him success in the business world: setting a goal, developing a plan to meet that goal, and monitoring that plan to ensure the completion of that goal.

Just as he demonstrated by starting the company, Bernstein runs his business through the motto: "Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst." If a business can still succeed under the worst-case scenario, go forward. If not, abandon it and move on to something else. More importantly, Bernstein stresses the importance of employing competent personnel and hiring people smarter than oneself, while checking one's ego at the door. He left the students with his unofficial mission statement that encapsulates his business and life philosophy: "Have a lot of fun. Make a lot of money. And don't hurt anyone doing it."

Matthew Pittinsky, son of Yeshiva University Finance director Bernard Pittinsky, addressed the students the following Friday concerning the difficulties and challenges faced by a 24-year old trying to find capital to build his business. Pittinsky, now 29, is the co-founder and Chairman of the immensely successful Blackboard, Inc., a private company that provides internet infrastructure software to educational institutions across the United States and worldwide. Utilizing his experience as a social studies teacher and his attraction to and knowledge of Internet software, Pittinsky and college roommate Michael Chasen combined the fastest growing medium in the history of the world in the Internet with education, the second largest industry in the world, comparing them to "two sumo wrestlers colliding."

Though initially scorned by venture capitalists for being too young, Pittinsky's drive and determination to become the "Windows of Education Online" forced investors to take notice. Pittinsky attributes his country's ability to raise $103 million in capital from such reputable companies as Microsoft, AOL-Time Warner, and Merrill Lynch to the "power of the pitch," a 5-7 minute proposal to a potential investor that is more important than the actual business plan itself. Pittinsky proudly asserts that Blackboard, Inc. will show a profit in the 3rd quarter of this year, thus validating the business as an official success. In June of 1997, Pittinsky coined his company's vision statement: "To transform the Internet into a powerful environment for teaching and learning."

Addressing students only a few years younger than he was four years ago, Pittinsky remarked: "You will be big if your vision statement is true." From the success he has enjoyed over the past five years, few people will argue with him.