Over the last 30 years, Eric J. Bertrand ’94 has founded, acquired, merged, and rescued companies. When necessary, he’s even stepped in and run them himself.
His career path hasn’t been a straight line, but it has always arced toward success. And while Bertrand’s diverse background allows him to view companies through many lenses, at his core he retains the entrepreneurial ethic he first learned as a Finance and Actuarial Mathematics double major at Bryant.
Bertrand’s first job out of college was with an institutional private equity firm, before leaving to found his own venture capital and private equity company.
“It was entrepreneurial in the sense that you got to work with these early-stage companies and helping them to grow and create value,” he says. “Venture capital folks either come from being an entrepreneur or go to being an entrepreneur at some point.”
“Venture capital folks either come from being an entrepreneur or go to being an entrepreneur at some point.”
Over the years, Bertrand has invested in, and sometimes led, everything from SaaS companies to a chain of eye-care retailers. Like all entrepreneurs, Bertrand has learned to live with failure: he estimates that 30 percent of the companies he invested in ultimately went out of business.
“That's the hard part because you’re working with somebody for three or four years, and sometimes it doesn't work. It’s tough because people lose their jobs. You’re super invested, not just money-wise but emotionally.”
Sometimes, the drive to keep a company afloat has meant taking over day-to-day operations, like Bertrand did after acquiring a New York post-production firm in 2007. When a bid to merge the bankrupt, family owned company with a related firm failed, Bertrand stepped in as CEO and eventually guided it to acquisition by a strategic partner.
“When I was in private equity I probably saw 10,000 business plans, so I've been exposed to literally every type of business on the planet,” he says. Being on the board of companies like Moving Images also has helped prepare Bertrand to lead businesses, whether out of necessity or desire, such as when he founded the angel investment and financial consulting firm Lincoln Road Advisors in 2005, and the company he current leads, the marketing firm Mod Op, in 2017.
“When I was in private equity I probably saw 10,000 business plans, so I've been exposed to literally every type of business on the planet."
As CEO of Mod Op, Bertrand says he has a more singular focus than he did in his venture capital days, although acquisitions are very much part of the company’s growth strategy as Mod Op seeks to bring a greater array of AI and data-driven creative and media assets together.
“I love the fact that we’re trying to make a difference in the way the model works in this industry,” he says.