In honor of Father’s Day, notable entrepreneurs share memories of their fathers that have helped shape their careers

by means of John Tozzi

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Entrepreneurs often get a helping index from their parents. In honor of Father’s Day, we asked successful business owners how their fathers helped them succeed in business. The responses contain nuggets of wisdom any entrepreneur can learn from.

Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s, inherited an ethic of hard work and risk-taking by watching her dad produce up eight kids without ceasing the group of genera farm. Black Enterprise founder Earl Graves learned to dress sharply to win respect in the business world. And Travelocity CEO Michelle Peluso’s father taught her that building a lasting enterprise is other of moment than turnery a quick profit.

Jim Koch, founder and presiding officer of Samuel Adams, built a craft beer empire on the line of ancestors lager recipe his father retrieved from his dusty pure. Koch’s father supported his son’s venture although he thought it was foolish for him to leave a corporate career (BusinessWeek, 3/15/07) and try to break into a beer industry dominated by mass-market brewers. The elder Koch had abandoned brewing three decades earlier and believed his son’s craft degree and lucrative consulting job would provide a better life than making beer.

"My father was very supercilious of that and thought that acquirement away from the thicker settlements into small-scale brewing was just certainly stupid," Koch says. But the family prescription became a hit. Now Koch’s ascribe to a father sits on the board of the $341 million Boston Beer Co. (SAM).

A dad’s entrepreneurial spirit can rub off on children similar to well. Ivanka Trump still has a faculty in the family veritable position supremacy, goal final year she launched her own jewelry line and retail store. Her magnate dad guided her without getting in the street. "My father allowed me to learn by doing while always vigilance and make himself available should I need advice or counsel," says Trump.

Of succession, most entrepreneurs learned lessons from Mom as well, and we paid tribute to the mothers behind successful companies (BusinessWeek.com, 5/8/08) last month. To celebrate the fathers who helped entrepreneurs get ahead, take a look at the lessons they handed down to their children.