This session was originally part of the Highland 2007 Summer Startup school curriculum, which was designed to expose Summer Entrepreneurship entrepreneurs and teams to various aspects of the company creation process. Tom Stemberg shares his lessons learned and advice in building successful organizations.

Tom is a Managing General Partner of the Highland Consumer Fund and focuses on investing in retail and consumer services companies. Prior to joining Highland, Tom founded Staples and served as CEO for sixteen years and Chairman for three additional years, ultimately creating a $14 billion company. He also founded Olly Shoes, a leading children's shoe retailer. Tom currently serves on the boards of Blue Tulip, CarMax, Inc. (NYSE: KMX), lululemon athletica inc. (filed for IPO in May 2007), PETsMART, Inc. (Nasdaq: PETM), Pharmaca and The NASDAQ Stock Market Inc.